Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 1287: Chapter 983: Cooperation Conference

Spirit Reasoning Club.

Huai Shi was supposed to be suddenly enlightened or hear it loud like thunder, but he had never even heard of it.

There are too many illegal organizations in the Current Circumstances, so many that a single Ranch Owner takes up hundreds of pages in a directory, and every illegal organization at least has several vests and different names, with serious overlapping names among them...

As a result, except for the few at the beginning and the few with especially distinct characteristics, Huai Shi hadn’t heard of the others at all.

But in reality, most illegal organizations and The Church... are almost just a bunch of riffraff.

Including the one running around causing trouble in Tanbo now.

Just one phone call, ten minutes later, all the information about the Spirit Reasoning Club was sent to Huai Shi’s email.

An underground organization wandering between borders, apart from pretending to be mysterious and squeezing funds from ignorant believers and engaging in Sacred Relic smuggling and illegal Hell excavation, basically has no remarkable traits.

Almost everything that the Astronomical Society forbids has been done, but none of it is considered adept. They’ve done almost all the things without a moral line, but none are outstanding.

Internally claiming to uphold the Truth of Soul, from this perspective, they might be Believers of the Piper, but they couldn’t even touch the border of the Element of Destructive.

At best, they are the periphery of the periphery of the periphery.

About hundreds of members, but the leader is unknown, no other significant information.

Not because they are highly mysterious, but because the leadership changes too frequently and swiftly, and this shabby organization has no influence whatsoever, not worth paying attention to!

Now, such a bunch of riffraff actually dare make trouble in Tanbo?

After reading the information, Huai Shi almost laughed in anger.

What on earth did he do, for them to look down on him like this!

”Find out the truth.”

Huai Shi waved his hand, throwing the information to the Wood Cottage: ”Where did they come from, by what means did they enter, whom have they contacted, where are they staying, how many people are there, and how many are involved... where is the headquarters, how many branch offices, and how many members, find it all out.”

”Understood.”

The Wood Cottage nodded decisively, gathered the information, and turned to leave.

Before departing, he turned back to say something, but upon seeing Huai Shi lost in thought, he paused for a moment and slowly closed the door behind him.

Soon, Huai Shi returned to reality from his contemplation.

He looked up towards the city outside the window.

Tanbo, gradually becoming bustling.

He knew what the Wood Cottage wanted to say – the Spirit Reasoning Club? Not to mention one Spirit Reasoning Club, even if there were ten of them together, would they be a match for Huai Shi?

They are nothing more than pawns.

The real conspirators are still hidden behind the scenes, hiding in places away from the light...

This should not lead to complacency,

But that’s exactly the most ridiculous thing.

When you choose to stand openly in the sunlight, you instead become a target for those lurking in the shadows. As long as your attention wavers, any A-Cat or A-Dog can come and take a jab...

Something must be wrong somewhere.

This world should not function this way.

Huai Shi gazed expressionlessly out the window, at places the lights couldn’t illuminate.

After a long time, he withdrew his gaze.

.

.

Meanwhile, compared to the ever calm Tanbo Group, angry roars erupted within an old house in the old district.

A teacup shattered on the ground.

”Are you crazy, Kanda?!”

The elder man asked furiously toward the smoking man: ”What are you doing?! You triggered an explosion without my consent?”

”What are you panicking about, it’s merely spreading some small turmoil, isn’t this adding fuel to your fire?”

The High Priest of the Spirit Reasoning Club calmly flicked away ash: ”If it wasn’t for me, that informant would probably be standing in front of Huai Zhisu People by now, where would you have time to rage at me here?”

”Couldn’t you deal with the informant discreetly? Did it have to be an explosion? Aside from attracting the attention of the authorities, what else does it accomplish?” The elder was angry, coldly eyeing his companion: ”You were supposed to assist me, not cause trouble!”

”Mr. William, the tiny amount of Source Substance you provide every day isn’t nearly enough for the Sacred Relic consumption, otherwise, we wouldn’t need to seek out resources ourselves...”

Kanda’s smile vanished: ”Though we’ve collaborated with you and the Alliance of Wanderers for so long, we can’t let you impede the internal affairs of the Spirit Reasoning Club, otherwise, why would I be playing with fire under their noses?

Since you’ve already received so much money, don’t fuss any further, right?”

He delivered a meaningful warning: ”Focusing on our respective tasks is sufficient.”

William’s eye twitched slightly, for the first time feeling things gradually slipping from his control.

Perhaps, he shouldn’t have accepted that money from the beginning...

This thought emerged in his heart, but quickly dissipated amid the immense sum.

”Hopefully, things won’t deviate later on.”

He said coldly, brushing his sleeves and leaving.

It wasn’t until stepping outside that he regained his usual calm and serene demeanor.

Yet, for some reason, when he looked up at the towering Tanbo building in the distance, it felt as though he was being overlooked by a pair of indifferent eyes.

Faint unease.

Before long, this inner anxiety was replaced by a more overwhelming greed.

This city, like a gold mine, will soon open its doors to them...

Welcome freedom.

.

.

In just a few days, time flew by.

Tanbo did not halt because of a minor attack; instead, it continued to advance without stopping.

After the streets were repaired, construction persisted intensively, gradually accommodating the influx of foreign population from various borders.

The production at the pharmaceutical factories never underwent any interruption, distributing potions across Asia, while in other places, more pharmaceutical factories operated around the clock.

Until this hope for the future was placed into everyone’s hands.

In the once empty port, now sizable ships came and went daily, heavy ores were sent along railways to the mountains, and towering columns of smoke rose day and night, meeting smelting demands.

Those billowing clouds of smoke turned into a thick layer of clouds, driven by sea breezes, moving deep into the mountains.

Soon, amidst the changes in atmospheric pressure created by scholars’ laws, they slowly compressed, and the waste gases, after multiple layers of filtration, combined with dust nuclei to rapidly absorb moisture from the sea breeze, becoming heavy fog and light rain sprinkling down.

In the rainbow light within the mist, tiny sand-like metal particles blended in the water vapor, glistening brightly.

At the heart of the mountains, an entire peak was already dyed with the color of steel.

Scholars wearing respirators strolled there, holding detection instruments, repeatedly confirming the readings, marveling at the sight.

”To think that metal components could actually reverse and adsorb harmful particles from waste gases? The Forgers’ technical approach surely differs from Current Circumstances.

However, using waste to curb pollution is truly perplexing.”

”This bit of metal components isn’t even one-thousandth of the smelted product and is within recyclable range, just using some effort can reduce pollution by forty percent, what more do you want? Get to work!”

The supervisor in the monitoring center rolled his eyes: ”That’s why you interns are easily surprised, the wastewater treatment area still needs testing later, hurry up, otherwise it’s overtime tonight!”

”Is there overtime pay?”

”Are you kidding? You think this is the Jurisdiction Bureau?” Laughter echoed in the channel: ”This is the Heavenly Kingdom Genealogy, my friend, everyone works for ideals, overwork death is common, you still want money?”

”Crap, if I had known I would’ve gone to the Existence Institute...”

”The Existence Institute indeed never has overtime, but they also don’t have an off-duty term, right? Stop blabbering, get to work!”

For Tanbo, this was just another ordinary day.

And within the mountain buildings, new guests arrived.

Ota Motors, Hakushu Corporation, Urashima Machinery Works, Anzhou Electric, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Octagonal Group, Edo Electric Chemical Industry Group...

Representatives from almost half of Yingzhou’s manufacturing groups gathered in Tanbo Industry’s conference room for a cooperation meeting hosted by the Ministry of Economy and Production, as scheduled.

Even someone as indifferent as Huai Shi couldn’t casually skip such a large-scale cooperation meeting. He could only sit as a figurehead among a crowd of elders much older than him.

As a sign of formality.

Of course, specific cooperation couldn’t be finalized within a brief meeting; longer communication and attempts from all parties were needed subsequently. Here, it was merely an occasion for everyone to meet and propose an intention.

However, shortly after the meeting started, the visitors, as if having pre-arranged it, openly proposed large order demands after understanding the details.

Such a direct stance was starkly different from the implicit traditions of the Yingzhou people, their intention and enthusiasm for cooperation so strong that it even surprised Huai Shi.

Yet, their unified advances caused him to faintly sense an unexpected air amid his astonishment.

Friman, the scholar actually managing Tanbo’s operations, confirmed his suspicions.

As Isaac’s longtime assistant and the actual operator managing the assets of various departments of Ivory Tower, Friman always placed his status accurately and never overstepped.

But such a significant decision, he surprisingly didn’t even consider Huai Shi’s opinion and directly refused!

”Thank everyone for your enthusiasm, but in the short term, Tanbo Mining doesn’t have the production capacity to undertake this batch of orders,” Friman said: ”If you can consider splitting them, we can discuss further.”

Seemingly well-expected, the leaders exchanged glances and then proposed a new suggestion: ”We can assist production, purchasing patents and usage rights from your side.

If feasible, such an order quantity wouldn’t be a concern, correct?”

Friman still shook his head: ”Sorry, we don’t currently have plans or needs to expand production.”

”The market is ever-changing, opportunities are rare, we urge your reconsideration.”

”We will consider it.”

Friman smiled faintly, calmly bypassed the issue, and proceeded to the next topic.

Following that was just a long period of nonsense time.

Both parties wasted words on trivial matters, but there was no chance of reaching consensus or cooperation; it seemed like they were just courteously showing up, with scant interest in other cooperation areas.

During the midday meeting break, he finally had a brief meeting time with Huai Shi.

”This situation might not be favorable, Mr. Huai Shi.”

He straightforwardly stated: ”What they want might not be as simple as supply only.”