383: Chapter 383 System Transformation, Blueprint Presented

Somsak nodded slightly.

All the names matched the "Purge Assessment List" submitted by the Night Owl team a month and a half ago—each name on that list had a treatment plan marked next to it: Class A (proven crimes and stubborn attitude) — death by illness; Class B (proven crimes but willing to cooperate) — house arrest or plea agreement; Class C (minor crimes and technical positions) — retention under surveillance.

"What about the media?"

"The Phnom Penh Times has had its publishing license revoked."

"The former editor-in-chief was found to have 'committed suicide' at home four days after the interrogation footage was released."

"Our 'Voice of New Cambodia' TV station and the People's Daily now cover ninety-four percent of the national television users and seventy-eight percent of newspaper circulation."

"As for the remaining few opposition tabloids, financial management has injected funds through the 'Dawn Investment Group Southeast Asia Branch' by acquiring advertising agency rights, and the editorial board will complete restructuring within this week."

Somsak closed the data pad and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Outside the window, half of the sky over Phnom Penh was obscured by a cumulonimbus cloud that had just pushed in from the west.

On the other side, the setting sun was slanting in from the direction of the Tonle Sap River, casting his clean-cut profile onto the glass.

"Three months ago, twelve hundred people were locked in this building."

"They wore headsets, reciting the same script into their phones, having just swindled the pensions of retired teachers far away in the Dragon Kingdom, before sending the drained victims to the operating rooms in Pursat Province to have their kidneys harvested."

Somsak's voice was as calm as water.

"Three months later, this building is our campaign headquarters."

"After today, it is the Office of the Prime Minister of Cambodia."

He turned around.

"Tell Naypyidaw. Mission — Phase One complete."

Naypyidaw, Presidential Palace, Strategic Command Center.

Zhang Cheng leaned back in his chair, and the main screen in front of him was broadcasting live footage from the Independence Monument Square in Phnom Penh.

Supporters of the Reform Party, wearing red shirts printed with the three-rice-ear emblem, had packed the square into a seething sea of red.

The crowd waved the Cambodian flag and the Reform Party flag, shouting "Somsak! Somsak!" — the shouting was so loud that the drone's microphone automatically compressed the volume twice.

A line of system prompt text popped up on the screen, concise as ever:

[Host's cumulative controlled territory and population have broken through the threshold again. The independent sovereign state "Kingdom of Cambodia" has been substantially incorporated into the host's sphere of influence. System upgraded to version 3.0.]

[Daily fixed points acquisition increased to: 50,000 points/day.]

[New Death Soldiers customization module — "Political Elite Specialization" has been unlocked. This module allows for the mass production of top-tier Death Soldiers with expertise in governance, high-level diplomacy, macro-finance, legal system design, etc.]

[New redemption category — "Nation-level Environmental Modification Package" has been unlocked. This category includes: large-scale climate-adaptive irrigation systems, deep mineral resource multi-spectral survey suites, basin-level water pollution nano-purification arrays, etc.]

[New equipment added to the mall: GU-9 "Manta Ray" tri-hull unmanned underwater vehicle (maximum diving depth of 6,000 meters, endurance of 12,000 nautical miles); "Sky Shield" laser anti-satellite platform (land-based mobile type, effective range covers low to medium orbit); "Weather Control Array" (local climate intervention, listed price: 1,000,000 points/unit).]

Zhang Cheng finished reading line by line and tapped his fingers on the chair's armrest twice.

"Upgraded."

He spoke, his voice not heavy, as if talking to himself, "Fifty thousand points a day."

"A month is 1.5 million points — enough to exchange for a 'Sky Shield' and add a unit of the Weather Control Array."

He stood up and walked to the holographic situation map.

On the map, the Southeast Asian continent was covered in blue areas — the Federation of Myanmar, the Kingdom of Thailand, and now the Kingdom of Cambodia, which had just turned blue.

The three blue areas connected into one piece, stretching from the Bay of Bengal to the South China Sea, with a total area of over 2.2 million square kilometers and a population of nearly 200 million.

The blue area expanded south to the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea, squeezed the border of Vietnam to the west, and faced the narrow territory of the Philippines across the sea to the east.

He drew a line with his finger in the direction of the Cardamom Mountains in western Cambodia.

"The Tonle Sap Lake-Mekong River water conservancy system — I've been eyeing this for a long time."

"Cambodia's agriculture has never been able to take off, not because of a lack of land, but because there is no water in the dry season and too much water in the rainy season."

"Tonle Sap Lake expands to 16,000 square kilometers every rainy season and shrinks to 2,500 in the dry season — with such a large fluctuation, no irrigation system can stabilize it."

He pulled up the blueprint description of the "Mekong-Tonle Sap Water System Intelligent Regulation System" from the system mall.

The core of the blueprint was: to build an AI-scheduled intelligent regulation network between Tonle Sap Lake and the Mekong River, equipped with a group of sluice dams and groundwater recharge wells, to store water in the rainy season and release it in the dry season, expanding the available arable land in central Cambodia by more than 40%, while eliminating the annual flooding disasters.

System list price: 200,000 points.

"Exchange it."

As soon as Zhang Cheng finished speaking, the system points were deducted.

"I will gift this blueprint to Somsak as an inauguration present, submitted to the new Cambodian government through the aid channels of 'Dawn Investment Group', and implemented by their own engineers and contractors — with our people as consultants, of course."

The corners of Zhang Cheng's mouth curled up slightly.

"The common people don't need to know where the technology came from."

"They only need to know that there is water in the fields, the rainy season no longer floods, and the price of rice has come down — it was done by the Somsak government, brought about by 'reform'."

"As for who is signing the points behind the scenes and who pulled out the blueprint — only you and I know."

Li Lanzhi walked in with a tablet, the screen displaying the speech draft Somsak would give at the inauguration ceremony.

"Somsak's draft."

"The last page contains the terms of the 'Cambodia-Myanmar Special Partnership' — a permanent agreement, including currency swaps, power grid interconnection, military training cooperation, intelligence sharing, and foreign advisor clauses."

"Make the foreign advisor clause broader."

Zhang Cheng glanced at it.

"Don't limit the field."

"From national defense to education, from customs to justice — he can invite as many as he wants."

"I've already had Old K draft the first batch list — a total of 400 people, covering all ministerial units of the Cambodian government."

"They aren't going there to 'advise'."

"They are going there to teach Cambodian civil servants hand-in-hand how to use our databases, our encryption systems, and our approval processes."

"A year later, even if they don't sign an agreement, they won't be able to handle any official business without our operational system."

He paused.

"How will the Dragon Kingdom react?"

Li Lanzhi pulled up Zhao Gang's encrypted message record.

"Zhao Gang sent a message half an hour ago: 'Congratulations on the upgrade. We have reviewed the technical roadmap for the water conservancy system — very interested.'"

"The Chief also added four words: 'Win-win cooperation'."

Zhang Cheng nodded.

He didn't say anything more, only turning his gaze to the Southeast Asian situation map on the wall.

Thailand — blue, controlled remotely through the puppet King.

Cambodia — blue, governed by the Reform Party.

Further south, Kelantan and Perlis at the northern end of the Malay Peninsula, where the separatist armed forces were lacking equipment.

Further west, the Federation of Myanmar already possessed control over Kyaukpyu and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Further east — the reefs in the South China Sea occupied by Vietnam and the Philippines, he was putting those aside for now.