Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 195

Translator: DreamscribeAiden had been thinking of nothing but life after retirement these days.

Ever since the White House had been reduced to a Lame-duck Administration by Kwangwoon, he had lost all will to live.

He had truly despised Kwangwoon, too.

But now, his thoughts had changed.

"After joining the Trinity Guild to play games and picking up hobbies outside of politics, I started to wonder if I'd been so buried in one thing all along that I never actually enjoyed my later years."

He had been obsessed with politics when he was young, and nothing changed after he grew old.

Yet being forced into a life apart from politics because of Kwangwoon had given him a second life.

Paradoxically, it was thanks to Kwangwoon that he had found a new one.

"So what the hell is this, pulling something like this on a guy who's about to walk away from it all?"

He was done with politics.

Even knowing that Kwangwoon had created the Trinity Guild to seize control of the world, he had no desire to stop it, nor any desire to cooperate.

All he wanted was to spend his retirement in peace, playing the game he had recently taken up as a hobby.

But perhaps Kwangwoon wouldn't allow even that.

"A Civil War in China!"

They say one should watch out for falling leaves in the twilight of one's years.

Now, with less than a year left in his term, a Civil War had broken out in China.

"The situation is more serious than expected. China was already suffering from food shortages due to floods and poor harvests, and the fury has been boiling over because Party officials have been hoarding even the existing food supplies. Then the food shipment from Kwangwoon arrived by sea, and that seems to have been the trigger."

Kwangwoon again.

Honestly, it was a name that would have felt strange if it weren't involved at this point.

"China is a place where we, the United States, attempted operations multiple times, and not a single one ever worked. And yet they've been breached?"

It was an open secret that the United States had launched countless operations targeting China.

Even so, the Chinese Communist Party had never wavered.

If anything, it was far more common for American politics to be shaken by China.

"China even has an extremely tight surveillance system, doesn't it?"

"Yes. They have a system where everyone monitors everyone else, but the problem is that instead of monitoring each other, they joined hands. The system stopped functioning as intended."

The critical blow was that the Central Army, which should have been suppressing the signs of rebellion, had betrayed the Communist Party and seized Guangzhou Port.

"So, what's the current situation?"

"The Chinese central government is deeply confused as well, not by the Reform Faction, but by the Central Army's rebellion. They do appear to be rapidly assembling forces to retake Guangzhou Port, but the problem is that a careless airstrike or bombardment could destroy all the food they worked so hard to secure from Kwangwoon."

The Chinese government had to be in a bind.

Even if they wanted to bomb it, doing so would blow away their precious food supplies.

"They could try bombing around the food stores, but the commander occupying Guangzhou Port, a man named Tian Gang, has reportedly distributed food throughout the area. Specifically to prevent China from bombing freely."

"Smart move. But even so, you think the Central Army can't break through one port?"

"Breaking through wouldn't be the problem, but this isn't something Tian Gang pulled off alone. It's still unclear how many of the troops in the Southern Theater Command have turned against the central government. Some could pretend to follow the government's orders at first, then stab them in the back."

The Chinese government was worried about exactly that.

The reason they couldn't move the Central Army carelessly right now was that they had no way of knowing for certain who was actually on the government's side.

"On top of that, news of Guangzhou Port's capture is showing signs of inspiring other military units to rise up as well. In short, we could be looking at a fracturing into dozens, even hundreds of factions. If that happens, central control effectively ceases to exist, and they'll have to fight until one last man standing emerges."

In other words, China could once again splinter into dozens of territories along fractured borders.

"What are the chances this escalates into nuclear war?"

"Only President Li Jinping has the authority to authorize a nuclear launch. Even if a specific unit secures nuclear missiles, without President Li Jinping's authorization codes, a launch is physically impossible. Moreover, most nuclear missile components are stored separately, so unless Li Jinping actively decides to fire, the likelihood of a nuclear detonation within China is low."

Nuclear missiles were truly a last resort.

And they must never be handled carelessly.

Because the nuclear weapons of today possessed power hundreds of times greater than what had been dropped on Hiroshima.

Since nuclear weapons were something that should never be used even in the most desperate moments, complex safeguards had been put in place to prevent anyone from seizing and using them.

"Even when the Soviet Union was collapsing, no nukes went off, and Pakistan went through multiple military coups without its nuclear arsenal being compromised. Besides, Li Jinping isn't a fool either. Launching nuclear weapons on his own soil makes no sense, and he knows that the moment he does, the United States and every neighboring nation could launch their own, making it a suicidal act."

"So what are we supposed to do right now?"

"The only option is to strengthen our perimeter. We have no justification to get involved, and no need to."

"The real problem is production. If the Civil War spreads like this and fighting breaks out across all of China, it means every Chinese factory responsible for global production comes to a halt."

Aiden's head throbbed.

In the old days, he had wished for a civil war to erupt inside China through American operations, for them to tear each other apart and the regime to crumble.

But now, just as he was about to lower the curtain on his political life, a Civil War in China, out of nowhere.

If he could have his way, all he wanted was for China to somehow find peace again.

"But if Kwangwoon is the one orchestrating this......."

"It's 100% Kwangwoon behind it. They inserted the KW Exchange into China to fund military operations, and they shoved supplies into Guangzhou Port all at once, didn't they? There's clearly intent behind it."

In other words, this was a war Kwangwoon had set off, which meant there was no chance it would end quietly.

* * *

"......."

I was deeply shaken by the reports that came crashing in one after another like bolts from the blue.

"So you're saying that army occupied the entire area and our food shipment is stuck there?"

"Yes. They've blocked everything to prevent distribution into China. Additional forces are joining in and constructing new defensive positions centered around Guangzhou."

This was no simple military clash.

They had truly seized an entire region, turned it into a fortified position, and were preparing for urban warfare.

"At least our ships and crew weren't harmed, I'm told."

That much was a relief, at least.

But honestly, I was a little angry.

China was now in a life-or-death crisis.

Wasn't this supposed to be the most prosperous era in human history?

Famine was something that happened in parts of Africa; it was almost unheard of for a country the size of China to face starvation.

Yet with floods and crop failures driven by global warming accelerating the food crisis, China was now overflowing with people in desperate, immediate need of food.

"How can someone raise an army to hoard food all for themselves at a time like this?"

When the priority should have been calming the people suffering from hunger, someone had selfishly started this for their own survival.

"They see this as the perfect opportunity. The Chinese regime was always an impenetrable fortress, wasn't it? Their tight surveillance system made coups virtually impossible. But things are different now. Anyone could establish a new regime and seize the throne."

I didn't care who sat on that throne.

What infuriated me was simply that they were pursuing their own ambitions without sparing a single thought for the lives of their people.

"Has the Chinese government said anything to our side?"

"Well...... they didn't see this coming at all either, so they seem to be scrambling. Above all, the food shipment that was supposed to arrive is now blocked, and it looks like the chaos is only going to deepen."

"What about purchasing additional food?"

"That has come up, but they seem to be hesitating, uncertain what demands we might make this time and aware that the costs won't be trivial."

It was true that, at first, we had included the KW Exchange and charged a fairly steep price.

But with the situation spiraling to such extremes, I had not the slightest intention of playing games with prices.

"Tell them we'll set the price as low as possible, practically at cost."

"Huh? C-CEO-nim. But if we do that, the losses on our end would be......."

"We're making plenty elsewhere. And even though it's not our fault, our food delivery did indirectly contribute to this coup. Tell them we'll resupply at the lowest possible cost. No matter what, we have to prevent food from becoming the cause of a full-scale war."

It was terrible for the Chinese people, and if things went wrong, the shockwaves of that war could easily reach our country too.

That, at least, I wanted to prevent.

"As expected...... you're the only one, CEO-nim, who puts human lives before money."

"Oh, come on. Don't say things like that. Of course human lives come first. That's just basic."

"But with this much money on the line, I think I would have agonized over it for quite a while."

Department Head-nim's words made me feel a little embarrassed for no reason.

Honestly, it wasn't anything remarkable.

Money could never be worth more than a human life.

"Negotiate with the Chinese government quickly, and this time, instead of funneling everything into one port, arrange to split the shipments across multiple ports that the Chinese government can control. Oh, and with the Chinese government's permission, deploy Sentinel as well to ensure our ships and crews are thoroughly guarded against rebel attacks."

"Yes, CEO-nim. I'll relay it exactly as you said."

Israel and Hamas.

Ukraine and Russia.

And now, a Civil War erupting in China.

"......."

Is the world really heading toward World War Three?

* * *

Anthony Watson tilted his head at the directive that had come down to Sentinel from headquarters.

"What did headquarters say to do?"

"They say they're transporting food by sea to multiple Chinese ports. And in far greater quantities than before."

"And we, Sentinel, are escorting it?"

"Yes. In an unprecedented move, the Chinese government has granted permission for armed operations. In some areas, the central navy will come out in advance to provide escort."

That China had authorized armed forces in their own waters.

They must have been truly desperate.

"But this...... am I the only one who thinks something's off?"

On the surface, distributing food across multiple ports made perfect sense.

With Guangzhou Port captured, it was logical to secure food at ports still under the Central Army's control.

"But what if those ports get taken over by other Warlords too?"

"That's not all. Under the guise of escort, it's also a golden opportunity to covertly infiltrate Sentinel operatives across various parts of China."

China had always been extremely aggressive in blocking intelligence activities, making it difficult to expand that footprint.

But this occasion could change that.

"And look at the sheer volume of these food shipments. What happens if you distribute this across each port?"

"As you said, it could easily catch the eye of other Warlords and be used as military supplies."

"Exactly. Supply."

Since ancient times, the ancestors had said this about war:

For victory, the first priority is supply. The second is supply. The third is also supply.

In other words, without supply, even the finest army is doomed to collapse.

The coup that had just erupted at Guangzhou Port was precisely the result of that supply problem.

The Warlords understood this perfectly well.

That whoever controlled the food now would win the war.

"Kwangwoon must know this too. If the food goes to the central government right now, do you really think it'll reach the people? Look at North Korea. They send food aid every time, but it never gets distributed to the citizens. The regime just lines its own pockets."

China was no different.

There was no way the food coming from Kwangwoon would actually be shared with the people.

In a time when coups were about to erupt in multiple regions, the food absolutely had to be conserved.

"So this is...... Kwangwoon deliberately sending food to multiple locations."

"That's right. Kwangwoon is even sending it at cost, apparently. In other words, Kwangwoon is supplying the Warlords right now. It's practically egging them on to launch coups across different regions. And Kwangwoon has nothing to lose. With Chinese stocks getting obliterated because of the Civil War, Kwangwoon has actually been making money."

Before this crisis unfolded, Kwangwoon had placed a massive bet that the Chinese stock market would collapse.

"You'd have to figure that at least covered the cost of the food."

"But the Chinese government couldn't have been unaware of this, could they?"

"You think the Chinese government doesn't see through Kwangwoon's game? They see it and still get played. Are they going to refuse food that Kwangwoon is offering at bargain prices? They'll do everything they can to secure and protect that food. And the other side will try to take it by force."

Which meant a major military clash was inevitable.

"Kwangwoon is just sitting back, smiling, tossing logs onto the fire. And the Chinese military is the one going up in flames."

The Chinese government, fully aware of what was happening yet powerless to stop it, must have been seething inside.

But what could they do?

The logs Kwangwoon had thrown were already ablaze in the fire, burning fiercely.