35: When it rains, it pours

The sudden turn of events shocked the viewers in the live stream as much as Ito Hidekazu.

“How can it be played like this? Lord Ye's game design is truly ingenious.”

“Terrifying! With so many sanctions weighing down, it's simply impossible to complete the mission.”

“This is the suppressive power of a so-called world hegemon; even without military weapons, they can suppress you in all aspects.”

“This feeling is truly suffocating.”

“But if you think about it carefully, it's actually very reasonable. The countries in this instance are equivalent to Settlements in reality. No leader of a Settlement could manage their citizens through the exploitative methods Ito Hidekazu used…”

“What was said above is correct, so it's only right that these Dahe Clan people are sanctioned by Eagle Country.”

“Serves them right! I've long disliked these Great Harmony people!”

Without being personally in the instance, the viewers could not feel the despair Ito Hidekazu was experiencing at that moment.

For them, it was still just enjoying the show.

...

In the conference room of the Great Xia Clan's First Instance Research Institute.

Seeing the list of sanctions displayed on the large screen, the entire conference room fell silent.

Because these so-called “sanctions” had stunned all the researchers.

This was something that had never existed in Azure Star's thousands of years of history!

“What are all these…?”

“It feels like Lin Ye has created things we've never seen before in this non-combat instance!”

“How can one Settlement be so overbearing as to bully another? Does this kind of thing really conform to the instance's logic?”

“Dean Ding, can you explain it to us?”

At this moment, Ding Chang's eyes were also filled with shock.

Even he, living in this land controlled by the Sky Curtain, could not fully understand the status of Eagle Country in Raging Sea and what these sanction lists truly represented.

After a long while, Ding Chang slowly began to speak.

“Everyone, do not try to understand this instance according to some of Azure Star's rules.”

“In this instance, there is no Sky Curtain, and each Settlement is free to develop.”

“Imagine, if our world also had no Sky Curtain, and each Settlement could freely manufacture various military weapons, what kind of situation would arise?”

Everyone looked at each other, unsure how to answer for a moment, and finally, Zhao Jianyu spoke up.

“Teacher, according to my guess, true wars would definitely break out between the Settlements, and all the situations in the instance would play out in reality.”

“Everyone would fight for themselves, weaker Settlements would be occupied by stronger Settlements, and it's also possible that some weaker Settlements would unite to form a larger Settlement!”

Ding Chang nodded with satisfaction and continued, “Exactly!”

“What Sword Rain said is actually what is happening in Earth Online, created by Lin Ye.”

“The Eagle Country in it, perhaps just as you said, has gradually become the world hegemon!”

“And his hegemonic status allows him to monopolize many things.”

Ding Chang saw that the researchers in the room still looked bewildered, so he had to explain in more detail.

“Everyone, imagine again, if all the food in our world was not controlled by the Sky Curtain, but by a certain Settlement, what would be the result?”

“In that case, that Settlement would use food as a threat to bully other Settlements at any time,” one researcher replied.

“That's right, this is sanction! To a certain extent, this kind of sanction is actually more terrifying than military war.”

“If viewed from this perspective, these sanctions in Raging Sea are actually completely reasonable.”

The conference room fell silent once more.

Everyone pondered, and the more they thought, the more terrifying it seemed.

Because these things were simply too complex, not as concrete as military weapons, but rather subtle details covering this world.

Azure Star only focused on military research, so it had never paid attention to other industry rules.

But now, the so-called politics, trade, and public opinion displayed in Raging Sea were actually no less complex than military research!

To create all these elusive details in an instance, how strong a logic would be required?!

Lin Ye was completely creating a brand new world!

He had considered every tiny detail in this world.

This was too exaggerated!

“Everyone, let's continue to observe and see if these so-called sanctions in the instance truly exist,” Ding Chang said slowly, steadying his emotions.

“If that's truly the case… then Lin Ye cannot simply be described as a genius…”

-------------------------------------

In the command room, Ito Hidekazu was on pins and needles.

“Fake! It must be an illusion!”

“This must be an illusion Lin Ye deliberately created to deceive me!”

“There can't possibly be such a thing as sanctions. How powerful does a country have to be to have such a huge influence?!”

Ito Hidekazu muttered to himself frantically, trying to give himself some self-comfort.

“For a force to achieve this level in an instance, the Designer needs to have reasonable logic across all industries to support that force becoming a planetary hegemon.”

“For this instance, it's an unimaginable amount of work.”

“Even if Lin Ye is a genius, he's only a genius in military technology. He can't be a genius in economics, energy, and politics as well!”

Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!

Creak!

Just as Ito Hidekazu was fuming over these sanctions from Eagle Country, the door to the command room was pushed open again.

It was Deputy Commander Yamashiro Kojiro.

Previously, Yamashiro Kojiro would politely knock before entering to report, but not this time.

This time, he pushed the door open directly.

He looked very anxious, his face flushed red, and he held something resembling a display screen in his hand.

“Ito… Mr. Ito!”

“Something terrible has happened!”

“Various industries and departments on the island of Dongying have protested against our previous management, and we are being condemned by international society!”

Ito Hidekazu's brow furrowed, and a very ominous premonition surged into his heart.

Could it be that the “sanctions” mentioned earlier were all real?!

He quickly took the display screen and looked at it.

The first news item was being broadcast.

“International Communiqué: Dongying Island, due to its act of discharging sewage into the ocean, has violated international conventions and has now received strong condemnation from the entire world…”

“Dragon Country has announced that it will cancel all bilateral trade with Dongying Island!”

“Bang Country has announced that it will withdraw all foreign-invested enterprises from Dongying Island!”

Seeing this news, Ito Hidekazu's fingers couldn't help but tremble.

This situation, wasn't it the “trade sanction” that the Sky Curtain had just warned about?!

Many, many countries had cut off ties with Dongying Island; without trade, the impact on the economy was completely fatal.

He swiped his finger and continued to look at the news below.

“Dongying Daily's first report today: Due to large-scale whaling, which has disrupted the balance of marine biodiversity, seafood revenue has significantly decreased, and fishermen are full of complaints.”

“Dongying Daily's second report today: Dongying's golden signboard, Toyota cars, have experienced a large number of spontaneous combustions and explosions. After inspection by relevant departments, there are obvious signs of shoddy materials being used in the car's manufacturing!”

“Dongying Daily's third report today: Due to a large influx of adult films into the youth market, the young people of Dongying Island have become a wasted generation… Frequent instances of perverted behavior on trains have occurred.”

“…”

“Why?!”

“It's one thing for international society to mock us, but why are even Dongying Island's local media slandering us?!”

“Do they not know that such actions will cause immense harm to our own country?! This instance's setup is simply outrageous!”

The news made Ito Hidekazu increasingly angry, almost causing him to smash the screen.

“Mr. Ito, there are some things I just found out about,” Yamashiro Kojiro said, feeling somewhat aggrieved. “Actually, the entire Dongying Island has always been a lackey of Eagle Country!”

“What?” Ito Hidekazu looked surprised.

“Many of Dongying Island's businesses, factories, and even media outlets and newspapers are actually controlled by Eagle Country's conglomerates.”

“Moreover, the local populace has a natural sense of obedience towards Eagle Country; they highly trust the information transmitted by Eagle Country.”

Ito Hidekazu's head throbbed; after all this, there was actually another layer of setting.

He frantically scrolled the screen, hoping to find some good news to comfort himself.

However, he couldn't find any news that was favorable to him.

Overwhelmingly, it was all negative news about Dongying Island; any single piece of it was a disaster that could hinder economic development!

The screen only showed bad news after bad news.

When he scrolled to the very last news item, Ito Hidekazu's defenses completely crumbled.

“Wall Street Journal: Due to Dongying Island being boycotted by the international community, many countries' foreign trade previously conducted with Dongying Island has now shifted to Eagle Country. It is estimated that Eagle Country's financial report for this quarter is expected to rise by 20 percentage points!”

Bang!

Ito Hidekazu slammed his fist hard against the wall of the command room.

“Bastard!”

“Baka yarou!”

“Lin Ye, you are truly going too far!”

He could no longer control his emotions.

Disgusting! It was truly disgusting.

He had orchestrated this whole thing, forcefully suppressing Dongying Island's labor, but instead of causing his own faction's economy to skyrocket, it had accelerated Eagle Country's economy.

Had he just done all this work for someone else's benefit?

At this rate, the possibility of achieving economic overtaking within three days would only become lower and lower.

Seeing Ito Hidekazu's broken expression, Yamashiro Kojiro also trembled in fear, not daring to utter a single word.

Once Ito Hidekazu had somewhat calmed down, he stepped forward again and said in a low voice:

“Mr. Ito, besides this news, there's a more important matter that requires your decision…”

“Many people on Dongying Island have taken to the streets, protesting and demonstrating, accusing us of lacking human rights and violating everyone's democratic rights…”

“The National Assembly has already proposed an impeachment resolution against us. If we don't make changes soon, we might be directly impeached.”

“Impeachment? What's that?” Ito Hidekazu was completely confused.

This was indeed difficult for him, as many terms in the instance had never existed on Azure Star.

“Mr. Ito, as I understand it, impeachment means removal from office…” Yamashiro Kojiro slowly explained. “If it's in the context of this instance, it roughly means we would lose control of Dongying Island.”