Darkstone Code-Chapter 906 - 904: I’ve Blown My Cover Again

Lynch’s actions have shown many people the cunning of this young man.

Well, saying it like that is a bit off; rather, it should be said that they have witnessed his strategic skills.

No matter if some dislike him at this moment, everyone is deeply intrigued by the choice he made.

Every Moment’s potential for growth hasn’t fully manifested yet, but with the advent of hybrid cigarettes and all-baked tobacco cigarettes, cigarettes have become the "golden apple" on people’s tongues.

Every Moment’s dominance in tobacco goods like Kleve allows it to quickly establish a comprehensive brand in the cigarette industry, from brand value to sales terminals, without needing to pay any additional construction fees.

Meanwhile, the derivative value brought by high-end brands like Kleve will be fully reflected in cigarettes; when people first choose cigarettes, they are more inclined towards well-known brands rather than unfamiliar small brands.

Such shopping mentality, akin to "even if it’s not good, it can’t be that bad," can bring Every Moment a large number of highly active users.

As long as their products aren’t too bad, people will be fond of their first choice.

Everyone knows that the tobacco industry’s lucrative era is about to arrive, but simultaneously, everyone knows this industry is not easy to enter.

Companies with market values in the billions obstruct all would-be capitalists trying to enter this industry; they’re not mere tobacco companies—they’re towering mountains.

Conquering these mountains is no easy feat, which is why capitalists often warn young people not to touch unfamiliar industries.

Because failing to enter means many people crash right outside those mountains.

It’s just like Lynch’s aviation company—many wish to join this company, to acquire its shares not merely for investment returns, but even to wrestle control from Lynch.

Their goal is to use the aviation company as a springboard, to leap into the military sales field tightly sealed by the Military Industrial Group.

Without this springboard, they can’t enter this industry; various barriers mean spending any amount of money won’t get them a response—military won’t place orders, frustrating, isn’t it? 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Of course, some simply want shares to cause disruption, hindering the company’s development.

In the end, too many calls came, so Lynch told his maid to inform them that next week Lynch will host a shareholder meeting at the top floor conference room of Bupen Hotel, where any questions can be raised.

In the evening, he took a good bottle of wine and headed to the manor in the Bupen Suburbs to experience how wonderful "fine dining" truly is.

While Lynch savored his dinner filled with the essence of the Human World, across the ocean in Gafura, a group was also mentioning him.

A deep-cover spy used some methods to contact Gafura’s military, which dispatched a speedboat to unexpectedly pick up the gentleman.

The intelligence originally meant to arrive on Gafura’s homeland tomorrow reached it a dozen hours ahead.

This sacrifice of an important intelligence officer exposed deep cover intelligence personnel, which was immediately sent to the Imperial Palace.

His Majesty the Emperor, relevant ministers, and some officers jointly viewed this videotape.

The footage was not particularly clear, likely re-recorded from other tapes, somewhat blurry.

But even if it’s unclear, people can discern why someone would risk such huge losses to bring this intelligence back.

"I’ve never felt so miserable as I do now," proclaimed Emperor Gafura, like a leading opera actor, with a dramatically theatrical "line."

They’ve watched this tape several times—it’s indisputable, what’s flying in the sky is what the intelligence personnel sacrificed himself to bring back.

They know what it is; in Gafura, this thing is called "vertical fixed-wing aircraft," also known as "double-layer fixed-wing aircraft," and there are some even now in Gafura’s Imperial Capital.

These in Gafura are merely circus toys; almost every large circus has one or two, used in performing "astonishing" acts.

Moreover, audiences are frightened by these airborne things, exclaiming loudly, especially when occasionally they crash down—the audience’s emotions peak then!

They even think the crash is part of the act, fake, yet do not know it’s indeed a real crash.

The pilot didn’t escape danger; he didn’t disappear but was roasted completely.

Such a thing that nobody paid much attention to is now exhibiting terrifying destructive power, causing headaches for Emperor Gafura again.

The Minister of the Navy’s face is also grim; the explosions triggered by those aircraft diving aren’t mere artillery blasts—it’s related to the diving aircraft.

They possess a complete and refined attack system, and that’s the truly frightening part.

If the Federation’s flying technology advances further, its restraining effect on fleets will become apparent.

It moves faster, attacks more precisely, and people don’t even know where it’s coming from, where the enemy is, before suffering several rounds of attacks.

Earlier, the Minister of the Navy considered increasing the new battleship construction plan, believing the current fleet in high-intensity combat might not play a decisive role.

Because of the presence of submarines and the Federation, they have constrained Gafura from continuing to be the center of the world.

They need more giant ships to retake the title of world number one with overwhelming force.

But now, he doesn’t think that way anymore.

Currently, none of the ships can resist enemies from the air; in front of these highly lethal flying machines, Gafura’s fleet has no ability to fight back!

The Minister of the Navy’s blood ran cold instantly, he couldn’t even clearly hear the words spoken by His Majesty the Emperor.

His mind was filled with the thought that the fleet had just left the homeland, only to be saturated by attacks from these things, sinking like rocks not far from the homeland.

Then the Federation landed on the homeland as if returning home, planting the Federation’s flag on the walls of the Imperial Palace...

"Look, my minister is scared out of his mind!"

His Majesty the Emperor’s words snapped the Minister of the Navy out of his trance; he quickly realized he had spaced out for too long, first apologized, then looked solemnly at his peers.

"We must obtain further information and develop our own flying machines. Your Majesty, I suggest we immediately initiate projects for these flying machines and counter-flying machine development."

At this point, the Minister of the Army interjected, "Actually, the problem with flying machines isn’t big; many circuses have these things, with relatively mature design plans."

"Based on the existing designs, we can modify some unreasonable parts, and soon it can be put into use."

"What we truly need to do now is to quickly develop shipborne counter-flying machine weaponry, ensuring our fleet won’t suffer heavy losses under attacks from these things."

The words of the Minister of the Army slightly eased the tension among the gentlemen in the room, even His Majesty the Emperor’s headache suddenly became less severe.

It turns out we’re so capable that even circuses have these things!

Inwardly, he disparaged the Federal folks a bit, using circus tricks at the sacred level of war, while also having some expectations for domestic development.

"Quickly develop our own flying machines, and additionally... suspend the Sky Garden project..."

His Majesty the Emperor’s words startled many ministers greatly; the Sky Garden project corresponds to the Federation’s Sky Fortress project.

Many countries are conducting research on balloons and larger balloons, and some have already achieved decent research results.

Compared to the unreliability of flying machines, everyone considers airships to be the correct way to evolve warfare into the sky.

The stability of airships is enough for them to become a mobile wartime fortress in the sky, firing down at the ground from a sufficiently high altitude without worrying about being attacked, and unaffected by terrain.

This is a huge project, a vast plan, involving many interests.

Every year Gafura invests at least two to three hundred million into it, and now suddenly saying to stop is... hard for everyone to accept.

Spend so much money, and just stop?

Seeing the shock on everyone’s faces, His Majesty the Emperor sighed, "These things are too flexible, and the key is that they can drop bombs."

"I don’t know whether ordinary bullets can cause effective damage to our airship’s outer walls, but if they fly high enough and drop a bomb..."

His Majesty the Emperor shook his head; he doubted the airship could endure such a situation, let alone fight back.

He knows the airship’s lift is provided by many independent airbags with surplus lift, but what’s the use of that?

Facing agile flying machines, airships lose any advantage.

Rather than continuing the research, it’s better to invest the money in researching flying machines, which is the correct choice.

Once the national machinery starts working, it quickly takes effect, and the Sky Garden project’s research institution fully stopped the research work early the next morning.

A large number of Soldiers arrived on-site to seal all the materials; although the project has stopped, nobody knows when someone might want to restart it.

Besides, these materials were bought at a high price and must be properly preserved.

Federation spies, who had been monitoring the situation here, immediately noticed the anomaly, combined with some intelligence from domestic sources, they had reason to believe that information about airplanes had been leaked.

The Chairman of the National Security Committee reportedly smashed the cup left to him by his late father—

Before this, he had actually shattered many; his father was a small workshop owner, mainly making and selling glass products.

Later, he died of illness, leaving behind a warehouse full of glass products.

No matter how many there were, they were reduced by one with each smash, showing how terrible his mood must have been.