Chapter 1282

A good life always gives people infinite courage to keep living; for every extra day they live, they get to enjoy another day of this beautiful world and beautiful life. People's yearning and longing for a better life is the greatest motivation for them to keep going.

As for those living in hell, they are deeply disgusted by the prospect of enduring torture for any longer; compared to living, what they need more is release.

Perhaps this is why, in any revolution from the bottom up, there are always some people filled with a spirit of sacrifice.

There is nothing worse than being alive, including death, so what else is there to fear?

They can face death calmly and with a smile, not because they do not fear death, but because for them, death is more like a form of release—a way to escape from an endless abyss of suffering.

In fact, there are many patients in the Federation suffering deeply from illnesses; they cannot take care of themselves and live in pain every day.

Many of them have chosen to end their own lives to escape the torture of their pain. Under the same torment of illness, those wealthy people with the same problems are still struggling to hold on; they clearly have more motives and incentives that provide them with the drive to keep living.

Mo Lisi's choice did not exceed Lanse's expectations—perhaps a little, but not much. Fundamentally, his ability to choose to follow Lanse's advice meant he still did not want to die.

Lanse subsequently contacted his family, his wife and two children, and had Meiluo take good care of the mother and her two children.

Mo Lisi had a brief chat with his wife, mostly regarding his going to treat the problem with his body, as well as some arrangements in case something went wrong.

Even though everyone says that lung transplant surgery is very mature now, and Lanse has found a very suitable donor for him, there still exists a certain degree of risk.

In case something happens, such as an infection or an unexpected rejection reaction, it would become difficult for him to survive, so his family needs to know about those arrangements of his.

Although Mo Lisi "donated" most of his assets to the foundation, he still left about two or three million in assets for his wife, including the house, the car, a portion of cash, and some things like artwork.

As for the rest, it will be held by the foundation on their behalf, and after the two children come of age, it will be distributed to them in a certain percentage of cash every week, until forty years later.

This money will eventually be given to the two children; of course, they can also choose to let this money remain in the foundation.

If the day really comes when these things are needed, Mo Lisi himself will most likely not be around to see it.

In short, after he arranged the matters behind him, he headed to Zhuolan with Lanse. Hailamu also followed Lanse, taking the opportunity to have his ears checked.

His ears are recovering well—that is the doctor's word—but he still cannot hear very clearly; he describes the whole world as "buzzing."

Whether it is cars passing by on the roadside, other people talking, or the sounds coming from the television, it is all that buzzing sensation, as if someone is talking inside a leather drum; the sound is not transmitted directly into one's ears, but rather through the vibration of the eardrum, emitting a buzzing noise.

You can vaguely understand the meaning of these sounds, but wanting to hear them clearly is a bit difficult.

Fortunately, he was not born this way; he can clearly express his own thoughts, and others only need to maintain efficient communication with him through written text.

In short, the group headed to the Zhuolan region together. The matter concerns Mo Lisi's health, so Lanse must keep an eye on it.

It took only one day for the steamship to arrive at the Zhuolan pier. Lanse had not been here for two or three years.

When he came here in the past, this place gave him the feeling of a dilapidated small city, but now, it looks no different from some of the Federation's port cities.

High-rise buildings can be seen everywhere, and the spirit of the pedestrians on the docks shows a completely different appearance from the Zhuolan of the past.

More faces from all over the world—this place is evolving into a large international metropolis!

When the steamship arrived, a motorcade was already waiting at the pier.

This also kept many people observing this motorcade.

The current Zhuolan has a huge population flow; whether they are locals or "foreigners" from the Xiang Yalan region, they all flock to Lapa, flocking to Zhuolan, this first-to-reform and internationalized metropolis, to look for job opportunities.

The income from jobs here is two or three times that of other places in Lapa, and five to ten times that of other poor places in Yalan; in some industries, it is even dozens of times higher!

The streets are full of beautiful Yalan girls. Because of their ethnicity or because this place is poor and backward, their bodies look very healthy, slender, curvy, and full of temptation.

These faces full of youth and sunshine are like rays of light, illuminating the hearts of the guests who have come from afar.

Some of them are call girls; there are many foreigners in Zhuolan, and since they are selling their bodies anyway, they can clearly get a higher price here.

In short, the whole of Zhuolan looks like a blooming flower, beautiful and moving!

It is precisely because of the dense flow of people that the pier was blocked off early in the morning. Only when important guests, such as national leaders or official personnel related to diplomacy, arrive, will a motorcade appear on the pier.

People are very concerned about these motorcades they have never seen before, and they are discussing which big shot has arrived here.

When Lanse and his group boarded the prepared motorcade and left amidst the attention of the crowd, Lanse still had some feelings about the development and changes here.

"I remember this road used to be very narrow, and both sides of the road were cement—"

Lanse was reviewing and comparing the changes of the past and present based on some memories in his mind. The highest official of the special zone sitting in the passenger seat smiled and explained to Lanse, "Because the special zone and Lapa were the first to embrace the federal camp, the federal government gave Lapa many unilateral preferential policies."

"These preferential policies have allowed Lapa's economy to develop tremendously, among which Zhuolan's economic development has been the most rapid."

"Mr. Lanse, you know, once the economic engine of a region starts roaring, the first thing that needs to be solved is the logistics problem. The federal government and some businessmen invested in rebuilding the city's roads; they hope to build this place into a business card."

"Some people call this place the 'Little Federation,' which shows that our strategy is correct and successful."

Lanse's special zone is now also managed by the federal government on his behalf. For an individual to own a huge private special administrative region, the Federation would never allow him to do so.

Even if Lanse had enough evidence to prove that what he was doing was legal, the federal government would not agree.

So Lanse cooperated with the Social Party early on. This special administrative region is nominally owned by Lanse, but the actual management rights were entrusted to a management company from the Federation for the price of "one dollar."

And behind this management company are some federal politicians led by the Social Party, and there are also members of the Liberal Party inside.

This special zone can also provide Lanse with hundreds of millions in funds every year, but compared to the benefits it sends to the federal government, especially the Congress, it is still a bit behind.

After the motorcade took a tour around the more prosperous areas of Zhuolan, allowing Lanse to re-recognize this city, they returned to the special zone.

After returning to Lanse's huge manor, the highest official of the special zone did not leave immediately but got out of the car with him, which made Lanse realize that this special zone official had something to say to him.

He first settled Mo Lisi down, letting him go to rest and adapt to the hot and humid environment here, and incidentally had the doctors prepare to give him a comprehensive examination.

Subsequently, he entered his study with the special zone official.

The study had not been used for many years. Although someone cleaned it regularly, one could not see any dust inside.

But the moment the door opened, there would still be a decaying smell permeating the room, which made one clearly feel that no one had been here for a long time, and some things were slowly "disappearing" under the erosion of time.

Lanse opened the window and said

"Sorry," he had someone bring coffee and some pastries, "I haven't been here for a long time, I have to open the window to air it out first."

The special zone official smiled to show his understanding. He sat opposite Lanse, and Lanse continued, "You must have something you want to tell me."

The special zone official did not directly state the question he needed to communicate with Lanse about, "Do you know—is there news about the special zone circulating among the high-level officials in the country recently?"

Lanse shook his head, "I haven't heard of it."

He continued, "The Liberal Party side thinks that the special zone system should be abolished because they don't have more interests here, and our connection with the Liberal Party side is limited to some big shots of the Liberal Party during the Social Party's ruling period."

"Now it is the Porter ruling period. The Porter government and some newly emerging forces within the Liberal Party have not gained any benefits from here."

"Politics is like this; if you can't strengthen yourself, then you have to find a way to make sure your opponents can't strengthen themselves either."

"As long as it makes the opponent lose their advantage, it is something that can reflect one's own advantage."

After listening, Lanse frowned, "I haven't heard of these things."

The special zone official picked up his coffee and took a sip, "I also learned about these things through some special channels. You know, we actually have connections with some people in the Liberal Party."

"So I think—you should know about this, at least before this matter breaks out and makes you passive, you need to know about it."

It looked like a well-intentioned reminder, but in reality, it also contained the special zone official's own thoughts.

If the special zone were really abolished, or if the management team of the special zone were replaced, then he, the "Prime Minister" of this "state within a state," would also lose his status and power.

It looks like this is just a very small special administrative region, but in reality, the interests that exist here are very large, and it also involves many situations.

To put it simply, for example, the Lapa government prohibits the import of certain goods from the Federation. The goods from the Federation side cannot enter the Lapa market, but these goods can enter this special zone.

Then those capitalists will find ways to smuggle these goods out of the special zone and sell them.

It seems like it is "just like that," but in fact, it is not.

The more something is prohibited, the more huge profits and markets exist. This is equivalent to a complete monopoly business. Whoever can bring the goods in controls the market, and whoever controls the pricing power and the rules of sales.

Of course, this is just an example, because the inside of the special zone is tax-free. Just by using the tax difference, companies within the special zone can earn more money than companies outside the special zone.

And these are what all companies pursue. They want to register companies in the special zone, want to take root here, and use the tax-free policy here to earn more profits. These market demands will eventually turn into the power in the hands of the special zone management team!

And these powers represent endless wealth.

When the special zone official came, he had about one or two million in wealth, including those real estate properties, but in less than five years here, he had assets of over twenty million, and his assets had increased tenfold.

And the amount and speed of the annual increase are constantly getting faster. Perhaps by next year or the year after, his assets will exceed fifty million, and a few years later, he will be able to become a billionaire.

The core purpose of him wanting Lanse to notice these things is actually that he also has huge interests here, and he doesn't want to lose them.

But he himself has no way to confront the Congress side. Now, if the Liberal Party is really determined to solve this special zone problem, they have plenty of ways through congressional means to make this special zone a thing of the past—

About eighty to a hundred years ago, there were many "independent countries" in the south of the Federation. These so-called "independent countries" were actually the first batch of immigrant families to come to the Federation. At that time, there was no such thing as a country on this land, and the land was ownerless.

These people demarcated some land in the southern cities, built their own farms and ranches on this land, and kept slaves.

Some farm owners might—be relatively simple; they existed in the form of "So-and-so Farm."

But there were also some farm owners who were clearly more ambitious, but they lacked the ability to match their ambition. They gave their land names like "Kingdom of Charlie."

They appointed themselves as roles like "King."

What is more interesting is that the earliest federal government recognized these. They recognized that this land belonged to these "Kingdoms" and recognized that they exercised their own power on their own land.

But with the awakening of the federal "government consciousness," the Liberal Party at that time had clearly realized that these "Kings" in the south would be the biggest drawback to the future development of the federal government, because the development of the Federation was very fast, and eventually, it could not bypass these people and their land.

So they first tried to solve it through relatively gentle means, through negotiation, for example, the federal government would fund the purchase of their land, and then incorporate this land into the territory of the Federation, and then sell it to them.

On the surface, it seemed like a very stupid approach: buying their land and then selling it back to them, the land was still in their hands, and the federal government also promised to give them some subsidies or something.

But in reality, these practices were effective and correct, because the ownership of the land underwent a change, from "independent" land to the federal government's land, and then sold to these people, in the name of the federal government.

Although these lands became private land, at the top level, it was still the land of the country of the Federation, not some individual's independent "state within a state."

Some of the great landlord class in the south agreed, such as the Williams family, the Wade family, and the Lawrence family in New Jincheng.

They belonged to that group of "surrenderers" at the beginning, and there were some great landlord classes, those "Kings" who did not agree to these requirements of the federal government.

They thought that it would be over if they didn't agree, but soon the federal government used some despicable means, such as driving runaway slaves onto their land, and then these great landlord classes were accidentally killed by those runaway slaves.

When the federal government arrived, only the despicable runaway slaves were left. They killed all the runaway slaves to avenge these great landlord classes.

Or they promoted some wars between "Kingdoms." The federal government funded some of the independent kingdoms that were willing to cooperate with the federal government, or had already surrendered but had not yet officially announced it, sent troops in their name to launch attacks on other independent kingdoms, and killed those great landlord classes.

In short, how the federal government treated the local natives before, it later treated those kings who were unwilling to give up their independent kingdoms!

So never overestimate the morality of the federal government; they have had no morality to speak of from the very beginning.

As long as they think that doing so is valuable and meaningful to the federal government, to the Congress, and to themselves, then they will do it. They won't care whether they promised anything before; those were done by past politicians, and it has nothing to do with them.

When necessary, they can even drag those politicians out and let them actively prove that what they did was completely the result of being bought off!

So if the federal government really wants to take back the special zone, Lanse actually has no great way to deal with it.

The power of one person cannot fight against the main body of this country.

Watching Lanse fall into a state of thought, the special zone official did not express any more of his own thoughts. Every year, this place can send hundreds of millions in funds to Lanse, and he believes that Lanse would not be willing to let such a large income be blacked out by the federal government.

So he said some more about the development changes here, and after expressing his willingness to solve all the troubles Lanse encountered here, he took the initiative to leave.

Lanse watched the back of the special zone official leaving and did not take this matter completely to heart.

Because he is clear about one point: his interests are highly bound with the Social Party, and there are so many capitalists here, including some consortiums that have established their Xiang Yalan regional headquarters here.

The Congress wants to abolish the privileges of the special zone, and it is not just dealing with him, Lanse, but the Social Party, and these capitalists here.

This matter is not that easy to accomplish!