Chapter 1198: Haihua City

"Unsafe?"

Bik was unusually angry.

This is a blatant threat.

Goji, you really aren't human.

He suspects that the money had long ago been taken by them.

Fifty thousand? Sending it to a beggar?

I really will go; when the time comes, I'll hire a Great Wall Security, and I'll see what you do—do you dare to clash hard with Changcheng?

After Haihua City received the secretary's call, it adopted a welcoming stance toward Bik's visit.

Let him come over and see what will happen to you Ailao if you don't cooperate with us.

Bik, who had been quite stubborn, hesitated about whether to go after learning Haihua City welcomed him.

He really fears the Eagle Seven Bureau will mess with him.

At this time, the secretary had already demanded the money, but she also hadn't received it.

To the people of Eagle Seven Bureau, a small place like theirs can't stir up much wave; they hype early, stall later, and it gradually passes—so why do they still dare to come after them?

Another important reason they don't pay is that the council now provides them with very little resources, and many rely on such means to make money.

Out of a million, only perhaps a hundred thousand might end up in their hands.

The money has already been allocated; he can't possibly pay it himself, right?

So they swindle whenever they can.

Seeing Bik hesitating, she reminded him.

"We have already offended the Yang Family before; now if we give them the cold shoulder, we could end up in a terrible mess."

"Anyway, we've already fulfilled what we promised them; it's them who aren't paying. If we hand over Haihua City, no one can point out any problem."

"If the other side asks, just say it was Haihua City that invited them."

Bik thought of Yingjiang, then of the Yang Family, then of the Qian Long Mercenaries.

In the end, he still decided to go.

He realized he had misspoken earlier; he shouldn't have told Yingjiang his plan.

So stupid.

The next day, Bik anxiously went to see Haihua City; now Haihua City already had over a thousand people and looked bustling.

Especially, the city's construction was excellent, with countless high‑tech products.

It made him feel he couldn't even walk.

He touched here, looked there, greedily wanting to take everything here back with him.

He now felt a bit regretful, regretting having turned down the Yang Family's kindness; had he agreed to their request, all of this would be in Ailao, on his own territory, his own, and he could enjoy a privilege—what's the problem?

Now everything is gone, all blaming Yingjiang.

As the resentment grew, his reason slowly faded.

Finally, after seeing the Defense Company on Haihua City, he impulsively made a decision.

"Entrust Ailao's defense to the Defense Company; it will surely protect us."

The people of Haihua City didn't greet him; they were waiting for him at the city office.

After Bik arrived at the office, the city lord welcomed his arrival and then gave him a tour of Haihua City's layout.

The massive port, the massive airport.

After looking for a while, he asked the question on his mind.

"May I ask, why does the Yang Family build such a huge port and airport in a small place like ours? We have no great nations nearby, no cargo throughput."

The Haihua City lord smiled with a hint of meaning.

"Because there is boundless open sea here, and the environment is comfortable; there are no strong waves and no typhoons."

"This sea area will attract countless people to settle here."

"We came to build the port and airport because many companies and wealthy individuals want to establish their own independent kingdoms here."

"In the early stage, construction here requires this port and airport; in the future, the population will need them."

"Globally, sea areas as large and as well‑environmented as this are few; they are scarce resources."

Bik was stunned; he had originally thought the Yang Family only wanted to build a militarily valuable port and airport.

But it turned out they were preparing the sea area for future development.

The environment here truly is excellent: no excessive waves, moderate year‑round temperature, moderate rainfall, abundant seabed life, and the seawater is clean with little pollution.

Before, the Ailao people saw none of this as useful; now it has become a fragrant treasure.

Suddenly he understood what he had lost—he had lost his future.

How big can a nation of only a few ten‑thousands be?

It essentially has no development value.

If there were a port and an airport, even just passing through could make Ailao prosperous.

But now, all of this has slipped from his hands.

It's all because of his misjudgment.

With Haihua City, who would still want to go to their shabby, corner‑of‑the‑world places for fun?

All this is led by the Yang Family; naturally they won't tilt resources toward them.

Their future will be like a slum beside a prosperous city.

No, he must make amends; he crouched low in a humble, servile manner and pleaded.

"Honorable City Lord, we Ailao wish to become a protected member of the Defense Company."

Besides, we also have a large amount of land we want to sell, and all the proceeds from the sale will be used to cover the defense company's defense expenses.

The only term to list is Defense Company; "defense fees" is not a proper noun, and "land" is generic.

I don't know if you can agree, sir.

The term "sir/madam" is a generic honorific, not a specific name, so it is not listed and there are no proper nouns.

The Haihua City Lord neither affirmed nor denied.

Instead, they smiled and said.

"Do you know what the internal situation is like in the countries that our Faction: Defense Company protects?"

"Many countries have abandoned their armies, abandoned their customs, equalized their own laws, accepted the taxes of the United Prefecture, even discarded their own independence, and introduced an entirely new administrative system."

"That is to say, if you join us, your Ai Lao may no longer be Ai Lao, but merely a locality within our entire defense area."

"You are no longer a president, but a county magistrate under our strict scrutiny."

"Whether you can be re-elected in the future depends entirely on whether you have achieved results; the old tricks of deceiving people, forming cliques, and networking are useless. Moreover, we may even need to eliminate some diehards and unstable factors."

After hearing this, Bek broke out in a cold sweat—this isn't a request to the Faction: Defense Company; it's an alternative color revolution!

It's merely that the Yang Family has put a defense-area hat on it.

And there's also accepting the United Prefecture's taxes?

Membership fees turned into taxes?

Have the Yang Family and the United Prefecture gotten this close now?

Seeing the other party's overly frightened expression, the city lord didn't say anything more.

Instead, they had someone send Bek back.

Soon, the news of Bek's visit to Huahua City was known by the people of the Seventh Bureau.

They were angry at Bek's boldness, yet also anxious about the possible leak of the insufficient funds situation; if things blew up, would someone investigate them?

"Killing to silence is the best method, but not now; wait a bit, and it's best to manufacture an accidental outcome."

"Especially, we must not disturb the Yang Family, and we must not let the Yang Family know that we are the ones causing trouble."

"Bek, you despicable wretch!"

"Let you be smug for a few more days."

"Even just doing this thing requires money—the price isn't low; for two people, it's at least two hundred thousand US dollars."