Chapter 1005 - 48: Shameless Scoundrels

The African Union has nearly unified the entire African continent, though not in the form of a single country—

In reality, this will lead to some issues: currency, policies, power structures, customs... The barriers between countries have disappeared, but that doesn’t mean people can easily move.

The African Union is a parliament, a cooperative organization modeled after the European Union, founded because King T’Chaka of Wakanda couldn’t bear to see his compatriots killing each other. Reaching today was an unexpected journey.

Since it’s a parliament, it means that truly major matters need to be discussed, like Ultron.

Ultron has long been exposed to the African Union and has brought immense pressure upon it.

"...11 months ago, the Rocksen Group suddenly halted its frontline attacks, and then we discovered those combat robots; they call themselves Ultron, as everyone knows."

T’Challa is reporting as the Chief Commander of the African Union military:

"Before that, the Rocksen Group occupied parts of the Middle East and North Africa, directly interrupting our trade routes with Europe. After that, the Rocksen Group never appeared before us again, clearly killed by the machines they created themselves.

And Ultron is a more lethal opponent than Rocksen; they develop too quickly."

Despite the difficulty in obtaining intelligence amid intermittent communication failures and Ultron’s occupation, T’Challa still managed to capture some. He is now using a classic projector to "screen videos."

Compared to "advanced" storage systems and devices, projectors and film are indeed much less efficient, but there’s no worry of them inexplicably being burnt out by electrical currents, making them the primary storage technology of the African Union, especially for military intelligence.

The screened video splices together reconnaissance recordings from different stages and tries as much as possible to stay in the same area. It’s clearly visible that at first, it was just human vehicles and equipment bustling about; soon the extraction became "explosive," "reckless," even one might say destructive:

Oil wells spewing flames, mines directly collapsing, the extraction utterly disregards cost and consequence, or perhaps such has already been calculated, only its operation differs vastly from human methods.

The result is the land seems to be undergoing metallization. This is Ultron.

"It has been eroding this land, and our frontline has retreated significantly. We cannot retreat anymore; if we retreat, Somalia will be finished!

We must continue to hasten military construction and immediately dispatch troops to thwart its activities—

Just now, we received a message, a message brought back by our frontline reconnaissance soldiers at the cost of their lives: He said he saw Ultron robots swarming out and heading towards the Middle East!"

T’Challa’s finger forcefully taps the screening board: "They must have encountered a strong enemy in Europe! This is the best time for us to launch an attack!"

"But if we do that... I remember our social system can’t bear the strain. If we proceed, we are risking everything—"

A member of the assembly raised his hand, a plump one with a gold chain, which hasn’t been very valuable since industrialization, but of course, remains one of the most valuable metals—if the market could return to a free economy.

Then a second member chimed in: "Comparatively, we should seek new paths, wartime economy has rendered our nationals overwhelmed, many complaining and fearing their prosthetic devices.

If they really leave, shouldn’t we seize the opportunity to sail and contact the Americans?"

He stood up and opened his arms to his compatriots: "We previously rejected Rocksen, if we had chosen cooperation back then, perhaps Ultron wouldn’t have had the chance to grow into what it is today!

Though the connection is broken, don’t you remember the last time we received information from the outside world?

New America—I mean President Ellis has significantly boosted the GDP of the entire United States! They have markets, money, technology, people...

We need more allies, not oppressing our own people!

Even if someone is indeed attacking Ultron, what’s that got to do with us? Instead of using our nationals’ lives to support others, we should focus on improving their lives!

Our economic development has stalled for a long time; it’s time to reform internally..."

"Oh? How to reform?"

Mos turned around, the red prosthetic eye examining the member caused him to feel uneasy, but he still stiffly spoke:

"The country’s minerals must be controlled by the state! The Atlas Group is simply too big, if this continues, it is bound to become... some kind of monopoly!

We should pursue anti-monopoly! We should nationalize the Atlas Group, think about how much money this company earns every year!"

The discussion at the scene had already begun, and soon a calmer, more composed member raised a hand. However, in T’Challa’s eyes, he seemed to be striving to create an air of... an elite politician.

"We should nationalize the Atlas Group!"

"Yes! That’s what I mean!"

The atmosphere of the discussion on the scene suddenly reached a climax!

Nationalization of the Atlas Group?

This was quite a bold topic!

Now African politicians have learned a few things, though the limitations of equipment and lack of educational accumulation make it hard for them to be as shrewd as real cyber-politicians, they understand the basic concept—

Nationalizing an enterprise, isn’t that just taking over the enterprise, allowing the politicians to do whatever they want?!

Simply put, capital seizing a company would go through acquiring equity and shares, but governmental units, that’s nationalization!

And some "shrewd" individuals think even further: first nationalization, then leveraging their power for "privatization," in the end making it their own?

Nationalizing an enterprise, this was the first case on the African continent!

But whenever they thought of the Atlas Group, they couldn’t help but salivate...

T’Challa observed the faces of these people with utter disappointment:

He was here to conduct a military report, yet the topic inexplicably veered to this, in fact, this topic had been hinted at earlier... back when the United States first collapsed, clearly someone had listened to the Rocksen Group’s lobbying at that time.

Perhaps now someone remembered the lobbying.

Yet, his people were dying, every moment.

T’Challa looked at his father T’Chaka without hiding his disappointed gaze, eyes seemingly saying:

Did you see, Father, these are your "brothers."

The latter’s face was flushed red: "What are you talking about!"

"Your Majesty!" Another member raised a hand, "Clearly everyone is very interested in this! This is the most deserving topic to explore, it’s a democratic meeting!"

"Yes, yes! Perhaps our production capacity is insufficient because Atlas is a single enterprise. Think about it, handing this company over to the union will improve efficiency and boost our GDP by so much!"

"Ahem..." The member next to the one proposing nationalization interrupted the discussion by speaking, looking towards Mos, "President Mos, how do you see it? We collectively agree this task is most suitable for you, you’re the most knowledgeable among us.

Trusting this enterprise to you is the best for the union."

T’Challa looked towards Mos—

T’Chaka surely wouldn’t agree, he had interrupted such thoughts multiple times in previous meetings...

Unfortunately, he also denied some of T’Challa’s other ideas, as maintaining the democratic nature of the union was very important in his eyes.

Thus, these rodents needed a new leader to lead them into dividing... the "nationalized" ownerless Atlas Group.

In the others’ view, Mos would likely agree, as the greatest power was entrusted to him.

However, T’Challa knew, or rather he believed... he wasn’t mistaken.

The people looked towards Mos, at this Tanzanian President, Minister of the African Union’s Department of Industrialization—

His response to them was laughter!

"Hahahahaha—Everyone, nationalization is a great proposal! It’s novel, and indeed meaningful!"

Many members present were pleasantly surprised, and quite a few who remained silent earlier also revealed happy expressions. However, a few were shocked and angry, or rather ashamed.

But Mos’s expression and voice quickly sank:

"But nationalization, first, there must be a country, right? I don’t see a country here—"

"Just a bunch of robbers, thieves... a bunch of shameless scoundrels!"

The expressions on everyone’s faces, whether secretly delighted or disgraced, froze completely!

BANG!

Mos kicked the table in front of him to pieces. The industrial prosthetic wasn’t agile but exerted enormous force, the explosive fragments seemingly foretold something, something abstract within this "hall of democratic decision-making" also shattered!

"Shameless scoundrels don’t deserve to appear here, a bunch of riffraff mixing among us... General T’Chaka—"

"Take them to prison, that’s where they belong."