Chapter 169 : “One Death Is Enough—Mine.”
Chapter 169: “One Death Is Enough—Mine.”
Being able to reach this point was already terrifying.
Thatcher no longer even knew whom he should report to—who could he still trust?
His wife, who was pregnant, had also heard the rumors circulating outside. However, she did not say anything. After returning home, she remained silent as well, merely dismissing the nanny and personally taking their eldest son to and from school, while handling all the household affairs inside and out.
“Do you already know everything?”
Thatcher suddenly asked during the meal.
His wife froze for a moment: ‘Ah? Know what?’
“Heh, so you really do know.”
‘…Mm.’
“You don’t have anything you want to ask?”
His wife’s reaction was extremely calm: ‘No. I believe you. Back then, if you had been even a little more selfish, I would have starved to death.’
Thatcher picked up a piece of egg with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth. “Yeah. Ever since I was little, I told myself I couldn’t be selfish—because if I ate one more bite, my younger brothers and sisters might starve to death.”
“I never thought that habit would later help me pick up a wife, haha.”
‘Why bring up something from so long ago?’
The wife sitting across from him immediately flushed red. She glanced at their eldest son beside them, who was watching like a curious little creature, and reached out with her chopsticks to tap his forehead: ‘What are you looking at! Eat your food!’
“I’m just sighing. Even so, we still couldn’t survive. Back then, I barely even had the strength to breathe. The grain at Manor Lord Wang’s estate was already infested with bugs, yet he still refused to share even a little with us.”
“When I felt like I was about to die, I never expected someone would beat Manor Lord Wang to death and stuff food into my mouth. I didn’t know who it was—I only vaguely saw the insignia on his hat.”
“I will never forget how I felt at that moment. That’s why my reason for entering politics was very simple: I also wanted to become someone who puts food into others’ mouths.”
“I never imagined that only a few years later, I would vaguely see Manor Lord Wang again. We lost so many people just to drive them away—how could they possibly come back?”
“This time… how many people must die before we can drive them off again?”
Thatcher walked to his wife’s side, gently stroking her swollen belly, then ruffling his son’s head. Seeing the worry in his wife’s eyes, the words at the tip of Thatcher’s tongue took a turn:
“I’ve thought about it for a long time… and I couldn’t find an answer.”
Donald had already received news two days earlier that Thatcher had softened. At the internal meeting, the project passed with unanimous approval—this was why today’s statewide live-broadcast signing ceremony took place.
At the signing ceremony, Thatcher—who was under particular scrutiny—did not cause any trouble. However, during the final leadership speech segment, he spoke with sincerity:
“The Seris Alliance is committed to creating a fair and prosperous living environment for all citizens. Her Majesty the Empress regards the people’s livelihood as the foundation of the state. I believe that the citizens of the Seris Alliance and Her Majesty the Empress will treat my wife and children kindly. Thank you, everyone. I love Seris! Long live the Empress!”
Those on stage, off stage, and even viewers watching the magical live broadcast everywhere all wore confused expressions. They completely failed to understand what Thatcher’s speech had to do with this signing ceremony.
After finishing his words, Thatcher stepped down from the podium and left without looking back.
A secretary nearby walked up to the governor and whispered: ‘The small-scale magic echo arrays have all been installed. As long as he boards the train, every sound will be recorded.’
Donald narrowed his eyes as he watched Thatcher depart and snorted. “Good thing I left myself a backup. Tell the secretary to speed things up and complete the evidence chain. Intercept the train and arrest him directly before it reaches Pralo.”
He already said that petitioning was useless—yet he insisted on trying anyway. Why bother?
Arriving at the train station and boarding the long-distance train bound for Sera City, just before entering the official carriage, Thatcher blocked the secretary’s path. He removed the Space Ring from his hand and placed it into the secretary’s palm:
“Do exactly as I say next. Go hide in the first two carriages and stay hidden. Don’t come out until the people sent from above arrive.”
‘Chief…’
Thatcher raised his hand to stop him, patted his shoulder, and said, “Your mission is very important. You must complete it.”
‘Understood!’
When the train jolted slightly and slowly began to move, Thatcher finally sat down in his seat and activated the image-recording communication magic, which could temporarily store the user’s image and voice within a specific magical frequency.
At the same time, the echo magic array that Donald had arranged earlier beneath the seat also began to function. Its purpose was to save portions of sound at set intervals and transmit them outward.
Thatcher sat upright in his chair, smiled at the screen, and said, “I’m very sorry to say goodbye to you, our son, and our unborn baby in this way.”
“Back then, when I asked you how many people would need to die this time before we could drive them away, what I actually wanted to say was—one death is enough. Mine!”
‘Boom—!’
A violent explosion suddenly erupted at the rear of the high-speed train. The moving train suffered severe damage, and a large number of citizens were injured. In the carriage where the explosion originated, one person died on the spot.
When Donald received the news, his face instantly turned pale. The state secretary beside him was in no better condition.
The non-natural death of a key leader at the Alliance’s upper level would directly bypass all conventional institutions and immediately activate the Central Special Intelligence Division and a Joint Investigation Team.
The Joint Investigation Team followed an avoidance principle based on the deceased official’s domain of authority, bypassing the provincial public security, procuratorate, and judiciary, and taking over all cases from the past six months for retrospective investigation.
The Intelligence Division would take over the local party apparatus and directly assume sovereignty over the state.
This was what Thatcher meant when he said that your enemies might be even more afraid of your death than you were. He felt that he could not pierce through that final layer of paper—so he chose instead to smash the entire board.