Getting a Technology System in Modern Day-Chapter 931: A Potential Solution I

A heavy, expectant silence filled the holographic conference. The military liaison, his projected image a stoic mask, was the first to break it. He had felt Kumakar's burning gaze on him for what felt like an eternity and knew that the silence could not hold. To let it stretch further was to invite a reaction he had no desire to witness. He bit the bullet.

"A month, Your Excellency. That is the earliest we and the other stretched forces can guarantee mobilization if we are to keep it secret from the empire's invasive eyes," the liaison repeated, his voice a carefully measured monotone. He knew the others were deliberately leaving him to answer, as the topic fell squarely within his military domain.

Kumakar's expression did not change, but a dangerous stillness settled over his hologram. "A month is a luxury we do not have, Commander. The Empire's sanctions are a blade already at our throat."

"Does that mean if we were to act openly, without concern for the Empire's sensitive eyes, it would be faster?" Kumakar pressed, his question a baited trap.

"Yes, Your Excellency," the liaison conceded, "but the gain would be marginal—a week, perhaps less. And the cost would be catastrophic." He chose his next words with the precision of a man disarming a bomb. "To do so would require another emergency Conclave meeting to change our entire strategic posture. The top fifty would never agree. They would see it as a reckless escalation. Furthermore, to justify such a move, we would have to explain what changed our mind. If the Empire is not behind these attacks, we would be handing them a reason to see us as unstable and untrustworthy. And if they are behind them," he paused, letting the weight of the implication settle, "then we would be confirming that we have removed them from our list of suspicion, inviting them to act with even greater boldness."

The commander had laid out the logic flawlessly, a tightrope walk of diplomacy and military reality. He had made the point without assigning blame for the political corner they were now backed into.

"They are behind this," Kumakar declared, his voice flat and final, dismissing the commander's careful reasoning with a single, unshakeable conviction. "We will proceed with that fact in mind."

A quiet, unified chorus of "Yes, Your Excellency," echoed from the holograms as a collective, internal sigh of relief was breathed. The immediate danger had passed.

Kumakar's gaze shifted, his focus landing on the hologram of his chief economic minister, a man named Kaelen who now looked as though he was about to be physically ill. "And you, Minister. How do you propose we keep the economy from collapsing while we wait for our military to remember its purpose?"

Kaelen's image flickered for a moment. He closed his eyes, not in preparation, but in a silent prayer. His position was largely a ceremonial one, a convenient scapegoat for when his leader's ambitions clashed with economic reality. He had little real power, a fact that had become painfully clear since the arrival of VR and cheap mana stones had centralized true authority in a way he could never have imagined. He was a man on death row, uncertain of his execution date.

He opened his eyes, his voice surprisingly steady. "Your Excellency, a direct prevention of the downturn is… unlikely. Our economy had already begun the painful shift toward a new model of interstellar integration. To reverse course will take time and will be very damaging." He spoke quickly, a torrent of words designed to build a fortress of logic before Kumakar's temper could breach the walls.

"However, our only viable strategy is not to fight the economic reality, but to control the narrative surrounding it."

He saw a flicker of interest in Kumakar's eyes and pressed his advantage.

"First, we continue fanning and redirecting the public's anger. We use the Empire's own communication channels to continue painting them as the villain, the architects of this hardship. The economic pain becomes a shared sacrifice, a patriotic burden in the face of an external aggressor. This will buy the military the time it needs.

"Then," he continued, his pace quickening, "once the operation against the invaders begins, we reveal their existence to the public. The invaders become the new focus of their anger. We will frame them as agents of the Empire, their stooges. This reframes our entire position. We are no longer the aggressors provoking the Empire; we are the noble defenders fighting a proxy war on behalf of our citizens. It makes us look strategic, not cowardly. It will unify the populace, and that unity, Your Excellency, will be the foundation of our economic recovery." freёnovelkiss.com

He finished, his chest tight, realizing he had forgotten to breathe. He was shaking subtly, waiting for the outburst, the dismissal, the punishment.

Instead, he was met with a sound he had not expected.

"Hahahah… HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Kumakar's hologram threw its head back and laughed, a booming, genuine sound that was more terrifying than any shout. He clapped his hands together, the sound sharp and final.

"I like this suggestion," Kumakar said, a wide, cruel smile spreading across his face. "I like it a lot." He saw the path forward now, a way to salvage his plans, to regain the initiative, to turn this disaster into a weapon. He did not say this, of course. That was something only he needed to know.

His expression hardened once more, the brief moment of levity gone. "Since you now have a plan of action, I expect all of you to implement your parts perfectly. You should be ready to put your lives, and the lives of your willed children, on the line. That is the price for failure. Understood?"

"Yes, Your Excellency!" The answer was a unified chorus, this time filled with a desperate, sharp-edged enthusiasm. They were still in the grasp of a maniac, but now they had a path. They had a chance to act, to fight, to survive.

Before they could raise their heads, Kumakar's hologram vanished.

For a moment, there was only the silence of the empty stateroom. Then, the other holograms flickered out one by one as the meeting ended. But the work was just beginning. In their own private channels, a new, frantic round of discussion erupted. Bonded by the shared, mortal terror of their leader's threat, they began to plan. They would do their best because they knew, with absolute certainty, that Kumakar would keep his promise.

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