Chapter 766.3: The Sprouting Hope

As they spoke, footsteps sounded outside the door, and a tall, powerfully built man entered. A pistol hung at his waist and only two attendants followed behind him, yet the LD-47 assault rifles slung across their backs overwhelmed the presence of every gang member surrounding them.

Both men were hardened veterans who had seen battle, and the kind who had charged through storms of bullets.

The man walking in front wore a lazy expression, with a trace of unruliness resting between his brows. He entered casually, paying no attention whatsoever to anyone around him.

Even so, not a single person present, Axin included, considered him arrogant or discourteous. After all, he truly possessed the right to be proud. When everyone else had been chained by the ankles, he alone had caught the gun thrown to him by that great man.

If catching the gun had merely been luck, he had then relied upon sheer ferocity to lead from the front, pushing artillery into position and bombarding the gates until he forcibly captured Camp Rowell.

Compared with a rat like himself who hid in the shadows, Axin knew very well that the man before him was the true figure of importance.

That person was Laxi, director of the Port Gallon Harbor’s Civil Defense Office. He was responsible for the militia’s strategic deployment and logistics, making him effectively the supreme commander of Port Gallon’s armed forces.

Axin had spent a considerable amount of money making arrangements and greasing palms merely to invite the important man over. Even then, the man had agreed only to meet him once and had promised nothing else.

Axin immediately stood, put on a warm smile, and extended a hand in invitation. “General, please take a seat.”

Laxi sat directly opposite him. He at least showed Axin that small degree of courtesy before coming straight to the point. “You invited me here as your guest. What exactly do you want?”

Axin signaled the attendants to serve the food and smiled warmly at him. “I heard that the General has recently been troubled and dispirited. Knowing how tirelessly you labor for the people, I merely wished to help relieve your worries.”

“Heh.” Laxi snorted, pushed aside the attendant reaching for the wine jug, picked it up himself, and poured a cup before setting it on the table. “Help relieve my worries. What the fuck do you understand? In my opinion, merchants should concentrate on doing business, commit fewer crimes, and stop reaching their hands everywhere. Otherwise, one day they won’t even know how they died. I’ll drink your wine today, but when the time comes to send you away, I won’t show mercy.”

The corner of Kunal’s mouth twitched, but with two soldiers watching him, he did not dare move his shoulders.

Axin remained completely composed. After all, that was hardly the first time someone had pointed a gun at him. “General, you’re joking. Everything I do within Port Gallon is legitimate business. I have even helped the New Alliance dismantle several operations smuggling narcotics and people. If any of my subordinates touch something they shouldn’t, I will clean house myself without needing that great man to remind me.”

“That has nothing to do with me.” Laxi waved his chopsticks, cutting him off while focusing on the food. “Get to your point.”

Axin inclined his head slightly and spoke respectfully. “There is a Moon Clan resistance army in the north. Has the General heard of them?”

“I have. Heh, and what if I have?” Laxi sneered and curled his lip. “A bunch of useless trash. A single village can produce 700 to 800 different factions. They argue endlessly without any discipline, act inefficiently, and become timid whenever something important needs doing. They use the finest equipment to fight the stupidest battles, get chased around by second-rate armies, and are worse than wandering bandits.”

Axin’s heart stirred. “Then, in the General’s expert opinion, what should they do?”

Laxi answered without hesitation. “My expert opinion? Heh. There’s no need for so much nonsense. Tell them to go east and they go east. Tell them to go west and they go west. Tell them to march a certain number of steps and they march exactly that many. Let me see who dares take one step more or one step less. If they disobey, kill them. If you want to fight a war properly, you first need to be willing to use the blade against your own people. Anyone too frightened to act should go home and farm.”

The more Laxi spoke, the angrier he became. He practically filled his stomach with rage alone and tossed down his chopsticks while shaking his head. He admittedly knew little and could not explain much military theory, but watching those people fight made him anxious. They had been at war for so long without capturing even a single settlement.

He sympathized greatly with those compatriots. The Moon Clan members of French Fry Harbor sympathized with them, and even the New Alliance sympathized with them and placed considerable hope in them.

At least in Ample Time’s view, those people had endured persecution, so once they overthrew the Xilande Empire, they would surely avoid repeating the Empire’s path. For that reason, Baiyue Strait Development Company had contacted the Moon Clan guerrillas on more than one occasion, providing them with both money and equipment.

Yet the result was that they could not even defeat a local warlord engaged in making money. Instead, the warlord exploited them, deliberately preserving the bandits to justify strengthening his own forces.

Laxi had approached Ample Time more than once, as well as several other members of the New Alliance. However, they all believed his killing intent was too heavy and worried that he could not govern the Poro Province. Every time he remembered the matter, resentment rose in his heart.

Why couldn’t he govern it?

The New Alliance’s methods were certainly good, but only a few hundred people had landed there. Could the transformation of Port Gallon truly have proceeded so smoothly without any contribution from him?

To intimidate the diehard conservatives and violent opportunists, he had killed no small number of people. He had slaughtered enough monsters and demons that none dared even breathe loudly. If told to walk east, they would never dare turn west.

Yet once Port Gallon’s transformation was complete, he became a chamber pot. With one maneuver, that gentleman ostensibly promoted him while actually stripping away his military authority, placing him in an office as a ceremonial mascot to provide an explanation to the locals.

Axin could actually understand Laxi’s resentment. After all, his own business was pretty much a resting place for where junk rested.

Port Gallon’s infrastructure projects required an enormous labor force while simultaneously absorbing immigrants drifting down the Everflowing River. An uncontrolled labor force of such scale would inevitably breed violence. Neither laws nor sermons alone could completely suppress violence in a land without the relevant traditions. There had to be a basket capable of containing all that restless strength so it would not be vented upon ordinary people.

The Assassin Gang had risen by taking advantage of precisely that opportunity.

As for Banana Head Bay, it was the escape route Axin had prepared for himself, along with his investments in the various warlords.

Once Port Gallon’s infrastructure was completed and the New Alliance decided to throw him away, he could rely upon his investments in Banana Head Bay and territory of the Xilande Empire to secure a retreat for himself and his family.

However, he was far luckier than Laxi. Port Gallon’s infrastructure would not be completed in a day or two. As long as he restrained himself beneath the New Alliance’s watchful eyes, he would not invite its wrath. At most, the Port Gallon authorities would issue him a warning.

“... I understand your difficulties very well. A man of the General’s exceptional ability should pursue his ambitions upon the battlefield, not at a dining table.”

Laxi chuckled, paying no attention to the flattery. “Stop speaking in circles and tell me what you want.”

“The Moon Clan resistance army is weak and incompetent. The Fierce Tiger Army toys with them like monkeys in the north. I believe the fundamental reason is that they lack a brave and formidable commander, someone capable of uniting them and leading them into battle!”

Axin stared intensely at Laxi and placed his right hand on the table. “With your talents, General, you are undoubtedly the most suitable candidate. Only you can twist those former slaves into a single rope! Moreover, you have studied the New Alliance’s modern military doctrine. You would certainly beat those feudal nobles until their teeth covered the ground!”

He agreed completely with Laxi’s views. His Assassin Gang had defeated the other gangs and claimed a place in Port Gallon precisely because it remained united.

Hearing him, Laxi burst into laughter. Naturally, a few words would not incite him so easily. Instead, he looked back at Axin and teased, “You’re an interesting brat. You keep inventing new ways to flatter me. I didn’t expose you, and now you’ve become addicted to it. It’s easy for the two of us to sit here and talk, but can you conjure artillery shells and bullets for me?”

He might have been a rough man, but he was not stupid. War was no game. No matter how capable Laxi was, without the New Alliance, he was nothing.

To his surprise, however, the young man before him nodded decisively and agreed without hesitation. “I’ll provide them! I’ll provide ammunition for an army of 100,000, and I’ll provide enough even if you get 1,000,000 men! As long as you are willing to come forward and drag that old Emperor from his throne, I, Axin, will support your war even if it bankrupts me! If you don’t believe me, I’ll go to the bank and withdraw the money right now!”

Laxi narrowed his eyes. The smile disappeared from his face as his stare grew hard. “... People don’t offer favors without a reason. They’re either plotting treachery or theft. I want to know what you’re truly after.”

Axin said nothing. He merely placed the issue of the Survivor’s Daily on the table and gently pushed it toward him. “I, Axin, am a businessman. When I conduct business, I seek only profit. But this matter is different. I want nothing except to reclaim our dignity... The Rat Clan was not born destined to eat soil.”

Looking at the title printed upon the newspaper, Laxi chuckled. He picked it up, lowered the leg crossed over his knee, shook out the hem of his clothes, and stood. “What a coincidence. Neither was the Moon Clan. But I cannot give you an answer on a matter this significant. Give me three days.”

After saying that, he abandoned the remaining food and even left untouched the alcohol he valued like his own life. With a sweep of his sleeve, he took the newspaper and departed with his men.

Looking at the nearly untouched dishes covering the table, Kunal felt somewhat distressed and turned toward Axin. “Boss... Do you think he’s reliable?”

Axin gently sat back down, picked up the untouched chopsticks, and spoke casually. “Kunal, what do you consider genuinely reliable? And how long must we wait for something genuinely reliable? Or rather, is what he intends to do something that requires us to decide who deserves to do it and who does not?”

“I... don’t know.” Kunal scratched the back of his head and made a troubled face.

“Whether our General succeeds is not important. It is just like how the Fierce Tiger Army conducts business with us, yet we still invest in them while simultaneously investing in their enemies.” Axin poured himself a cup of wine and spoke quietly. “The wasteland is undergoing changes unseen in 200 years. River Valley Province has been reborn amid raging flames. The Brocade River Province found hope within the fire, and so did the Ocean Edge Province. We have remained silent for 200 years. We need a fire.”

“Now is the best opportunity. The true empires are settling the unresolved problems of the old era and continuing the war that never truly ended 200 years ago. None of them has time to concern themselves with us. Someone must fire a shot now, so that all those who are beginning to stir can see what kind of thing the Wutuo riding upon their heads truly is.”

Outsiders could see only the obedience and forbearance embedded in their bones. But as a member of the Rat Clan, Axin understood better than any outsider that another word lay hidden behind those two.

Rebellious. Or perhaps an instinct to revolt.

Just like rats. Ordinarily, cats chased and toyed with them, but when cornered badly enough, they would even dare bite a human.

As he spoke, he looked around at the brothers surrounding him and smiled pleasantly. “... Come and sit down to eat. You know I dislike waste. I ordered this entire table for everyone in the first place. I can never finish it alone.”

“Didn’t you order it for Laxi?” Kunal asked doubtfully beside his ear while calling the others over to sit.

Axin smiled faintly and was the first to move his chopsticks, even though he was not yet especially proficient with them. “That great man would never dine with people like us. If word spread, it would be bad for both him and me. Drinking one cup before leaving already showed us considerable respect. His ambitions are far greater than those of a minor figure like me.”

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