20: Chapter 20 Fools, Poor Guys, and Air Force

"Are you crazy? You let that woman Martha go? She's bound to cause trouble when she gets back. It would have been better to just shoot her and be done with it, saving us from future complications!" Yuri muttered incessantly, chewing on an unlit cigar.

"Why do you think Martha has been able to maintain a firm grip on ninety percent of the Promethium industry?" Fu Haoran suddenly countered.

Yuri said as if it were obvious: "Her husband died, shouldn't the industry go to her?"

Fu Haoran shook his head: "You're only half right. She can control the current industry because of her direct lineage to the Haig family."

"She has been married seven times, and all her husbands have died, after which she naturally inherited all the assets."

"It's just that she isn't a smart person. Not long ago, she shot her own deputy, and the private soldiers under her have long since lost heart."

"She only knows how to suppress prices for the Iron Hand Gang, and those bastards have long wanted to rebel."

"Letting her go is more cost-effective than killing her."

"So, the reason she only brought two bodyguards today isn't because she looks down on me, but because she genuinely believes that nonsense about nobles enjoying extraterritorial rights in the Hive City."

"Ever since she was a child, no one has dared to touch a hair on her head. It's not because she's powerful, but because anyone who touched her would be invited to have tea with the Adeptus Arbites the next day."

Yuri understood: "So she isn't stupid, she's... foolish?"

"Both stupid and foolish." Fu Haoran turned around. "But keeping her is useful."

"If we kill her, her family will immediately send someone truly capable to take over. It might be her cousin who is a Chief of Staff in the Navy, or her uncle might step in personally."

"At that point, we would be facing the full retaliation of an entire family, not just a self-righteous countess."

Yuri understood instantly. In the world of the Hive City, for someone who specializes in turning subordinates into enemies to survive until now, it is a miracle in itself.

Martha can be so unscrupulous all because she has a powerful family.

Fu Haoran looked at the holographic map and said: "She lost face today. The first thing she'll do when she gets back isn't to form alliances, but to retaliate."

"She will use her own resources, mobilize troops, cut off supplies, and might even privately contact the Iron Hand Gang, promising them benefits to get them to act."

"Wouldn't that be worse?"

"No." Fu Haoran smiled. "The other nobles don't think so."

"After all, why go to great lengths against someone who is destined to die in three years?"

"So conflict will definitely break out between them. The more anxious Martha is, the more the noble alliance will fall apart."

...

At the same time, Martha's mansion.

Seven people were sitting in the hall. All of them were prominent nobles of the Hive City.

Martha sat in the main seat, her face pale, but her back was straight.

She had changed out of her blood-stained gown and was wearing a deep black dress, looking as if she were attending a funeral.

Her uncle, Count Victor, sat on her left.

The old man was seventy, but with life-extension technology, he looked only in his early thirties. He was handsome but sinister. He repeatedly rubbed three gemstone rings on his fingers—trophies from swallowing up three smaller noble families.

He slammed his teacup down. The light clinking of ceramic against the bone china saucer was exceptionally harsh in the silent hall, and the contempt in his eyes was undisguised.

"Martha, I am very disappointed in you!"

"Your performance today has disgraced the family."

"The inheritance from your seven husbands and the backing of the Silver Thorn Family name—is that all you have to rely on to bring two bodyguards to force the Planetary Governor?"

"Victor! What right do you have to lecture me!" Martha asked angrily.

"It is precisely because I am from a collateral branch that I am sitting here talking nonsense with you!" Victor's voice was neither high nor low, but his eyes had grown much colder.

"You brought two bodyguards to barge into the Governors Mansion, had your attendants killed, were extorted for five hundred thousand throne coins, and ran back in disgrace. And now you want us to help you regain your face?!"

Other nobles whispered; some nodded, some sneered. No one really stood on Martha's side.

Victor shook his head: "Even if you look down on the other party, they are still nominally the Planetary Governor."

"So what?" Martha screamed and questioned. "If a governor dies, we can just find another one!"

"Launch a war for someone who is about to die?" Victor raised his eyes, his disdain growing even deeper. "How will you win? He has troops and canned food in his hands, and the entire Underhive is spreading rumors that he is recruiting people by distributing real meat."

"He can rally hundreds of thousands of starving, red-eyed rioters with a single shout."

"They are just rioters!" Martha roared. "A bunch of untouchables. No matter how many come, they will die. They won't even be able to step through the gates of the Mid-Hive!"

"Stupid!" Victor clenched his rings tightly, his knuckles turning white as the gemstones pressed into them.

"What we need to do is immediately cut off the supply of Promethium to the Governors Mansion and blockade the cross-hive transport lines. Within a month, the Underhive will riot, and he will either have to kneel and beg us, or be torn apart by the rioters."

"At that point, both the canned food and the Promethium will be ours."

"What if he chooses to attack the Promethium Factory in the Underhive?" Martha asked, unconvinced.

"What is difficult about that?" Victor smiled with contempt. "Tell the people of the Iron Hand Gang that as long as they hold off the first wave of attacks from the Governors Mansion, we will immediately have other gangs support them."

"With attacks from the front and back, I don't see what the governor can use to fight us!"

"What if they break through the Promethium Factory before the other gangs arrive?" Martha persisted, unwilling to give up.

Victor looked at his niece with disdain, hating even more the fact that he was of collateral bloodline.

But on the surface, he patiently explained: "Impossible. The Promethium Factory is the most heavily fortified place in the Underhive. Even if they were a bunch of pigs, they couldn't lose the factory in a day!"

Watching his uncle Victor's confident demeanor, Martha suddenly felt that this uncle was even more annoying than Fu Haoran.

The meeting ended, and Martha was the first to slam the door and leave.

Victor tidied his cuffs leisurely and whispered to an elder beside him: "The direct lineage bloodline breeds such trash."

"No matter which governor takes office, our true opponents... have always been in this room."

The elder smiled knowingly and toasted.

Returning home, Victor called his confidant and said coldly: "Keep an eye on her. If she acts stupid again... I want the old guys in the council to say it themselves: the representative of the Silver Thorn Family on Planet Scylla IV needs to be changed."

...

Meanwhile, in the tactical room of the Governors Mansion.

Wade stood in front of the holographic sand table, introducing the situation:

"Sir, there are 12 open-air fire watchtowers on the outer wall of the Promethium Factory, all exposed and without cover. Two modified laser cannons on the roof are mounted directly on the concrete platform with no cover. Although they are old, one shot can evaporate our Bison armored vehicles."

"The underground passage entrance is defended by heavy machine guns, with the gun positions all mounted externally along the wall edge."

"In terms of military strength, the Iron Hand Gang has 50,000 core members, and the rioters they can pull out are conservatively estimated to be over a hundred thousand."

"Our only chance of winning is to catch them off guard, use armored troops to charge across the bridge, and blow up the main gate before they can react."

"But those turrets... they will turn the bridge into a steel graveyard within three minutes. Our armored vehicles cannot withstand that density of firepower."

Fu Haoran stared at the projection and asked: "If we launch a frontal assault, what are the estimated casualties?"

Wade was silent for a few seconds.

"If everything goes smoothly, half will die. If it doesn't... it might be total annihilation."

Yuri couldn't help but complain: "How is this any different from sending us to our deaths?!"

"Fu Haoran, if you're out of ideas, listen to me. Let's just run away. I don't want to die with you!"

Fu Haoran glanced at him: "Do you think we can run?"

Yuri choked and couldn't answer.

The tactical room went quiet.

"Is there only the frontal assault?" Fu Haoran's expression was a bit heavy.

"Yes. If we want to maximize our advantages, we have to rely on armored troops, and then the main gate is the only path."

"Any other method would only result in higher casualties. The Promethium Factory is too important, so it was designed from the beginning to be easy to defend and hard to attack. The bridge at the main gate is the only access point."

Fu Haoran looked at the fortress-like Promethium Factory and knew he had to change his approach.

Fu Haoran stared at the exposed turrets slowly rotating in the projection and suddenly asked: "Wade, are these turrets fully automatic or semi-automatic for target acquisition?"

Wade was stunned: "They are semi-automatic. They require a gunner in the tower to operate the fire control, but aiming and correction are assisted by a servo system. Sir, are you thinking of..."

Fu Haoran turned off the holographic projection: "You continue to prepare the attack plan. I will find a way to deal with the defensive watchtowers on the factory wall."

"I'm going to find some... aerial power."

Wade advised: "Sir, although the factory has weak anti-aircraft capabilities, the Iron Hand Gang surely has many man-portable air-defense systems."

"Also, we received news today that the nobles have already declared they will cut off our Promethium within a month. We don't have much time."

As Wade's words fell, the system also came out to join the fun:

【Triggered Mission: Air Support】

【Mission Requirements: Within 30 days, obtain a batch of aerial armed forces and complete the strike on the Promethium Factory】

【Mission Rewards: General Points +666, Free Attribute Points +1, valkyrie gunship x3】

【Mud-legged people without even an air force are always fourth-class citizens. But paupers have to have aerial dreams, don't they?】