Chapter 683 What does this have to do with us?

  Chapter 683 What does this have to do with us?

  The Union Building, the office area of ​​the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is busy at the moment.

  It has been like this recently.

  With the representatives of enterprises, colleges, and legions gathering in Dawn City, more and more small and medium-sized settlements that smell the opportunity to make money have sent envoys to the Union.

  Of course, there are people who come with sincerity, but there are also many fake ones. There are even predators who pretend to be normal settlements to make money.

  There was an example not long ago.

  The survivor settlement registered in the abandoned city two hundred kilometers away is actually a predator farm that sells people and kidneys.

  The merchants of the Free State saw the business opportunities of the large number of envoys in Dawn City, bribed the supervisor of the predator farm, set up a camouflaged radio station for sending and receiving signals, packaged the settlement as a kind little white rabbit, and used it to deceive the signal positioning detection and call back verification procedures of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain the agency authorization of the base.

  The merchant was betting that the Alliance could not spare enough energy to confirm the survivor settlement applications one by one on the spot.

  In this way, he could obtain the “diplomatic immunity” in the Alliance as a diplomat and grab benefits from various forces on behalf of a survivor community of thousands of people.

  It must be said that he accurately judged the working ability of the Alliance’s foreign affairs department.

  The Alliance’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not have the ability to conduct offline inspections of the settlements, but there was still a special group of “players” in the Alliance.

  Obviously, he underestimated the players’ enthusiasm for exploring new maps and new settlements.

  On the same day, several players parachuted into the area, and after discovering that the actual situation there was different from the mission description, they immediately submitted a report offline through the official website.

  Although the local area is far beyond the Alliance’s law enforcement scope and the guards will not be dispatched, the semi-official refugee home will issue a raider camp clearing mission based on player feedback and offer a reward for rescuing hostages.

  So far, the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is over, and then it is the work of the various corps of the Alliance.

  It is said that the Silver Corps took over the follow-up mission, and the entire battle lasted only half an hour.

  The players who captured the plunderer camp found the radio station that was verifying and interacting with the Alliance Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the base, and brought it back to Dawn City together with the prisoners captured in the battle.

  With both evidence and witnesses, the Free State merchant was finally arrested on charges of fraud and became the second Free State merchant arrested by the Alliance after Cindyson.

  Faced with the overwhelming evidence, even the Free State Foreign Minister Norregg, who participated in the Alliance’s Sticky Community Conference, could not say anything and could only accept the loss.

  Since that incident, the Alliance Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strengthened the review procedures for survivor settlements outside the Valley Province, and the workload of various departments has more than doubled.

  As usual, Cheng Yan, the Alliance’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, was sitting in his office reviewing documents.

  At this time, his deputy came in with a letter and placed the envelope on his desk.

  Cheng Yan stopped writing and took a look, raising his eyebrows and looking at him inquiringly.

  ”What is this?”

  ”A protest from the Xilan Empire.”

  Looking at Cheng Yan with a surprised expression, the Deputy Foreign Minister made a helpless expression, took out a crumpled newspaper from the file bag and placed it next to the letter.

  ”…The cause is this newspaper.”

  Cheng Yan did not open the letter, but directly picked up the newspaper and took a look. He saw that the photo on the headline was the one that had been making a lot of noise recently.

  ”…Goblin Observer?”

  The Deputy Foreign Minister nodded.

  ”Yes…but it has nothing to do with the headline, but with the news on page 2. You will know after taking a look.”

  ”I’ll take a look.”

  Leaving this sentence, Cheng Yan immediately turned to the second page.

  Unlike the “Survivor Daily”, the “Goblin Observer” is an unofficial, privately-run “entertainment newspaper”, and it is also run by residents of the shelter.

  After the Cindyson case, the Alliance Representative Conference voted to pass the Media Qualification Review Act, and the Industry Committee formulated detailed regulatory rules, but it only required that current news should not be fabricated or subjective, and that commentary news must cite news from reliable sources.

  Although some people suggested to the managers that the Alliance authorities should review the qualifications of the media, the managers did not nod their heads on this matter. Instead, they followed the principle of “experts do things, and the public supervises” as before, and handed over the management power to the industry committee composed of industry experts, and the supervision power to the representative meeting representing the public opinions and voices of the Alliance.

  In other words, the Alliance Foreign Affairs Department cannot do anything to this newspaper in terms of procedures. Even if it wants to do something, it must go through the representative meeting or the manager…

  Pressing the center of his eyebrows with his index finger, Cheng Yan looked at his deputy standing beside him and asked in an uncertain tone.

  ”Are they protesting that we took in the Moon Clan refugees?”

  The Deputy Foreign Minister sighed and said.

  ”No… they protested that we called those Moon Tribe people ‘refugees’, and then told us some fables about the Sun-carrying Bull. To be honest, I didn’t really understand what they said. Anyway, they asked us to call those people “criminals” or “sinners” or other derogatory words, and then expel them for the sake of the empire.”

  Cheng Yan couldn’t help but twitch his lips.

  ”Okay, another big-horned deer god.”

  The Deputy Foreign Minister gave him a helpless look.

  ”I told that guy that we respect their beliefs, but also ask them to respect that we are atheists… But that guy’s attitude was very tough, and he even threatened us that he would fight us to the end at the slime mold research community meeting.”

  Cheng Yan looked at him in astonishment.

  ”What… does this have to do with slime mold?”

  The Deputy Foreign Minister shrugged his shoulders and complained in a low voice.

  ”Who knows… Damn it, I feel like the Weilants are behind this. I know that those big-nosed people have no good intentions in dragging these idiots into the sticky community!”

  ”You can’t say that. The Borneo Province is also part of this land. Any voice of progress is worth encouraging… Even if the progress of some survivors is not so obvious.”

  Cheng Yan coughed and continued to ask his deputy.

  ”The important thing now is to solve the problem… Is this all the demands they put forward?”

  The deputy foreign minister hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth.

  ”They also want to summon the administrator.”

  Cheng Yan was stunned, thinking that he had heard it wrong, so he asked again uncertainly.

  ”Summon?”

  Are these guys still asleep?

  The deputy foreign minister said with an unhappy look.

  ”Yes… they think we were wrong first.”

  Cheng Yan’s expression gradually became serious.

  ”Did the Duke of Galawa propose this?”

  Deputy Foreign Minister: “I’m not sure. The one who delivered the written request to us was his entourage, a guy named Niyang.”

  Cheng Yan pondered for a moment and said.

  ”If anyone can meet the administrator for such a boring reason, our administrator doesn’t have to do anything else… I happen to be free tomorrow afternoon, so I’ll meet the ambassador of the Xilan Empire.” The Xilan Empire

  can no longer be considered a small or medium-sized survivor force. After all, it occupies an entire administrative division of the pre-war era.

  Even if the other party’s request sounds outrageous – even a little unreasonable, Cheng Yan still feels that it is necessary to listen.

  Maybe there is some misunderstanding.

  As the administrator always says, misunderstandings are caused by lack of communication, and many problems can be solved through communication.

  The slime mold research community is an organization established in accordance with this principle.

  If the survivors of the wasteland can put aside their long-standing disputes and cooperate on issues concerning the common destiny of mankind, at least on some issues, this land will have the hope of ushering in a new era.

  For the sake of the future of human civilization, he felt that he had to talk to the ambassador who came from afar in person…

  …

  The next day, Cheng Yan summoned Duke Galava and set the meeting place in Conference Room 2 of the Alliance Building.

  With a long face, Duke Galava walked into the conference room.

  He did not take a seat immediately, but looked around the circular conference table. He saw that the person sitting at the conference table was only a foreign minister, and the look between his eyebrows suddenly showed a hint of arrogance and laziness.

  At the meeting of the Sticky Community, the person who met with him at the same table was at least the manager of the Alliance.

  What kind of thing is a foreign minister ? Is he worthy

  of sitting at the same table with him?

  However, considering diplomatic etiquette, Duke Galava still walked to the conference table patiently and sat down, tapping the table with his index finger.

  ”Where is your manager? Let him come and talk to me.”

  Facing the Duke of Galawa who showed an aggressive attitude right from the start, Cheng Yan just stared at him intently and said neither servilely nor arrogantly.

  ”Our manager’s schedule is tight recently, and it is difficult to arrange a private meeting with you in the short term. But he has asked me to fulfill the etiquette of the host and take care of the emotions of the foreign guests. It is the same for me to listen to your troubles-”

  ”This is not a trouble,” interrupted him rudely, and the Duke of Galawa narrowed his eyes and said in a threatening tone, “I say it again, you are trying to provoke the anger of the empire.”

  Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Cheng Yan decided to ignore his rudeness for the time being with the attitude of solving the problem, and continued patiently.

  ”I came here to solve the problem… So first of all, what is the conflict between you and those Moon Clan people?”

  As he said, he opened the notebook on the table and picked up a pen to prepare to record it.

  However, as soon as he finished speaking, the angry protest of the Duke of Galawa rang out in the conference room.

  ”They are criminals!”

  ”Reason?”

  ”The Sun-carrying Bull——”

  ”Enough, Mr. Galawa, you know we don’t want to hear that!”

  Cheng Yan, who could no longer bear it, finally couldn’t help but interrupt this guy’s nonsense.

  Looking at the stunned Duke of Galawa, he raised his voice and continued.

  ”We want to know where your grievances come from, such as… did they kill someone of yours, or committed crimes such as theft, robbery, and human trafficking in the past. You can treat this as a hearing. We will listen to your opinions at the same time and strive to achieve a result that satisfies both of you. It would be best if we can help you reconcile… What do you think?”

  Duke Galawa stared at him blankly, as if he was looking at a strange and exotic animal.

  …Reconcile?

  He suspected that he had heard it wrong.

  Why should he, with noble blood flowing in his veins, reconcile with those lowly guys who were only worthy of kissing his toes.

  The empire did not behead them, but kept them in a shack, which was merciful enough.

  It was those guys who didn’t know what was good for them, who shamelessly fled from the Borneo Province, and even made excuses for their dirty bloodline with eloquence, pretending to be pitiful innocents.

  How do the survivors in other places view the empire?

  Seeing that he didn’t move for a long time, Cheng Yan reminded him seriously.

  ”Mr. Duke of Galawa?”

  Duke of Galawa suddenly calmed down and leaned back in his chair.

  Just when Cheng Yan thought he was finally going to communicate properly, he put his right leg on the knee of his left leg and threw down a sentence coldly.

  ”That’s not important.”

  Cheng Yan looked at him in astonishment and was stunned for a long time.

  Not important?

  ”Then… what is important?”

  ”Your Majesty said they are criminals, so they are. That is both the will of His Majesty and the will of the Sun-carrying Bull. What do I need to explain to you?”

  Duke of Galawa raised his head slightly, raised his chin, looked at the Union Foreign Minister sitting across the conference table with his nose, and continued unceremoniously.

  ”This is our own business, not yours!”

  Confirmed that this guy was not joking, but really thought so.

  Cheng Yan calmed himself down, glanced left and right at the secretary who was taking notes, then put down the pen in his hand and closed the notebook.

  There was no need to do this anymore.

  Seeing his action, the other staff members who were taking notes did the same, and they all closed the notebooks on the table.

  It seems that not only they think so, but even the foreign minister thinks it is a waste of time.

  Galava frowned slightly, unsure of what these people meant, and felt that the situation was a little different from what he had imagined.

  Before getting up from the conference table, Cheng Yan cleared his throat, sat upright and looked at him, and asked again solemnly.

  ”So… Duke Galava, I want to hear your request again.”

  Galava frowned.

  ”…What request.”

  Cheng Yan: “About what you want us to do.”

  Galava said without hesitation.

  ”Expel those criminals immediately! And apologize to the Xilan Empire in the newspaper!”

  He made some concessions.

  It seemed unrealistic to ask the emperor of the alliance to apologize to him, but it should be possible to apologize in the newspaper.

  In his opinion, he had given enough steps.

  Cheng Yan nodded to show that he heard it.

  Seeing this guy nod, Galava showed a happy smile on his face and leaned back in his chair leisurely.

  ”This way, communication is much smoother. We should have done this from the beginning.”

  Unexpectedly, the alliance is easier to talk to than imagined.

  He just put a little tough pressure on these guys and they gave in.

  It seems that he still overestimated these people. Maybe he can be tougher next time.

  ”I think so too. From the beginning, we should communicate in this easy-to-understand way,” Cheng Yan said expressionlessly, looking at the smug Duke Galava, “So… what does this have to do with us?”

  The smile gradually solidified on his face, and Galava stared at him in amazement.

  ”What did you say?”

  Looking at the stunned Duke Galava, Cheng Yan no longer hesitated, stood up from the conference table, and tucked the notebook under his elbow.

  ”You said it’s your business, let’s stay out of it.”

  ”So what does it have to do with us?”

  Galava: “???” What

  kind of words are these?

  What do you mean what does it have to do with you?

  He opened his mouth and was about to yell, but he couldn’t think of how to refute it for a while.

  Ignoring the stunned expression on this guy’s face, Cheng Yan walked out of the conference room without looking back.

  ”Wait, wait a minute–”

  Duke Galava stood up and stretched out his hand to stop him, but no one paid attention to him.

  Seeing that the foreign minister had left, the people sitting at the conference table also stood up and left the conference room.

  In a blink of an eye, he was the only one left in the huge room, standing dumbfounded at the conference table.

  Looking at the shaky half-open door, Galava retracted his trembling fist and roared angrily at the empty conference room.

  ”You…will regret it!”

  The roar echoed in the conference room, but no one paid attention to him, and no one even heard it.

  Unable to find anything to throw on the table, Duke Galava punched the table hard, and kicked the table leg with the tip of his shoe.

  Enduring the pain in his toes, he chewed up his anger and swallowed it into his stomach.

  Wait.

  This humiliation –

  he will definitely return it a hundredfold!

  …

  After the meeting, Cheng Yan, who had calmed down, went to the manager’s office and found Chu Guang to report the situation when he met with the ambassador of the Xilan Empire, and reviewed his mistakes in his work.

  ”… Sorry, Mr. Manager, I messed up this matter.”

  After reading the meeting minutes in his hand, Chu Guang did not say anything after listening to his statement, but simply commented.

  ”Don’t blame yourself, you just did what you are responsible for, at least in my opinion you didn’t mess up anything.”

  If you have to say it, you shouldn’t pay attention to that guy from the beginning.

  For example, he himself didn’t pay much attention to that useless person who talked without much nutrition at the symposium on the agenda of the Sticky Community.

  Originally thinking that he would be criticized by the manager, Cheng Yan was stunned and said after a moment of hesitation.

  ”But… you said that we should try to solve the problem through communication.”

  Chu Guang said patiently.

  ”I did say that, so we will communicate with all creatures that can understand human language, even slime molds, but if they really can’t understand human language, there is no way, we must change the way of communication. You have to understand that not everyone can communicate. And it is they who refuse to talk to us, not you who refuse them.”

  Cheng Yan pondered for a long time after hearing this, and said respectfully.

  ”I understand!”

  Seeing that he seemed to really understand, Chu Guang nodded approvingly.

  He had heard about the situation in the Xilan Empire, but he didn’t take it too seriously.

  Those people are essentially just followers of the Willant people. Like most survivor settlements, they are not too eager to solve the threat of mutant slime molds. They just hope to exchange benefits in other fields from the Alliance and other ancient survivor forces interested in slime molds.

  This is actually nothing, after all, the slime community exists for this.

  Obviously, the Legion promised some benefits to the Xilan Empire, whether it is military support or economic benefits.

  Therefore, whether the Alliance offends them or not, they will stand with the Legion.

  Such vassals who have already chosen their side are not worth winning over, even if they can’t reach an agreement.

  As for their so-called threats, Chu Guang didn’t take them seriously.

  Even the legion didn’t dare to mention military threats, let alone these followers. He didn’t think these guys really had the courage to put revenge into action.

  No matter what form of revenge.

  Putting the minutes of the meeting aside, Chu Guang looked at Cheng Yan and continued to ask.

  ”Is there anything else?”

  Cheng Yan nodded and said immediately.

  ”There is one more thing you need to decide. The Camelback Kingdom hopes that we can set up an embassy in Silver Moon Bay.”

  Chu Guang asked doubtfully.

  ”Didn’t we set up an embassy there a long time ago?”

  Outside the Alliance, the embassy is not only a dialogue channel for the Alliance to communicate with other forces, but also a save point for players.

  Especially for forces that have not established military bases, the embassy is almost the only official save point besides the player’s self-operated save point.

  ”That’s right, but the ambassador of the Camel Kingdom said… we have more people active in Silver Moon Bay than in Camel City, and he hopes that we will at least set up an office for those people to resolve disputes for the sake of those Alliance citizens. But I feel… the real reason that prompted them to make this request may be related to the recent military activities of the Xilan Empire in the Silver Moon Bay area.”

  Hearing this, Chu Guang frowned and cast his eyes on the map hanging on the wall of the office.

  After a moment of silence, he spoke.

  ”This can be arranged.”

  Ignoring the Haiya Province controlled by the Torch Church, Silver Moon Bay is the closest seaport to the Alliance, which is of vital strategic and economic significance.

  Although the Alliance does not directly control this port, its economic interests in the region are no less than those in the Lion Kingdom or the Honey Badger Kingdom.

  In order to avoid some blind guys from making small moves, it is better for him to make some appropriate gestures.

  ”Yes.” Probably guessing what Chu Guang meant, Cheng Yan nodded, took the order and turned away.

  Watching the foreign minister leave, Chu Guang looked at the map hanging on the wall again.

  I saw a railway line along the edge of the Zhuobar Mountains, passing through the battlefield where the Skeleton Corps had fought, and directly reaching the throat of the mountains, the Petra Fortress.

  Soon this railway will pass through there, enter the rich Oasis No. 4 and the port of Silver Moon Bay, and connect with the sea route to the Baiyue Strait.

  At first, the Hump Kingdom was wary of the Alliance’s railway, worried that the incident in the Stone City would be repeated in Oasis No. 4.

  However, the military pressure from the southwest forced the nobles and merchants of the Hump Kingdom to move closer to the Alliance and seek closer cooperation in exchange for security protection.

  Chu Guang actually didn’t really hate this shit-stirring stick coming from the southwest.

  Although this shit-stirring stick was annoying, it was more ridiculous to him than the actual harm, and it was not even as funny as the group of rats in the north.

  Besides, these guys brought some gifts to the alliance.

  And they were visible gifts…

  (End of this chapter)