Chapter 208 : Escape in Progress
Chapter 208: Escape in Progress
Moreover, he had not come to Dmitria to help the Church develop its national strength. The Empress had made it clear from the beginning—he was here to help them make money. As long as he earned enough money for the Church to use, his conscience would be clear.
As for whether the money could actually be spent, that was none of his concern.
Reality unfolded almost exactly as John had anticipated, even more smoothly than he had expected.
Once the nobles and the Church spoke with one voice to build momentum for the Wokingmeh Consortium, the compensation treaty from the Derro War was also made public. This indirectly confirmed the rumors circulating among the populace, and the entire nation was instantly swept into a strange atmosphere of frenzy.
From the moment both sides of the Derro War formally signed the agreement—ceding two states and recognizing the Church’s legitimate control over the original four-state colonial territories—the stock price of the Wokingmeh Consortium rebounded from rock bottom and began to surge wildly.
From the original 5 silver coins per share, it skyrocketed at a rate of three jumps per day: 20, 50, 100, 200.
At this moment, John added fuel to the fire by settling the nobles’ annuity bonds in advance. As long as any noble wanted to sell their company shares, the moment they were put on the market, they would be instantly bought up by civilian investors.
Seeing such explosive momentum, the nobles who had originally planned to sell off and withdraw began to hesitate. The current situation was clear—selling meant immediate conversion into a large amount of cash, but holding promised even greater returns in the future.
In fact, in just that brief moment of hesitation, the stock price rose another 5%. It seemed as if everyone could hear the clinking of silver coins echoing in their ears—an irresistible temptation.
If they held on for just one more day, the value could at least double. Who could possibly resist such temptation?
Even those nobles who intended to sell were persuaded—or outright stopped—by other members of their families. Everyone had been completely swept away by greed.
However, what many failed to notice was that, due to the public bidding frenzy for stocks, the large amounts of silver coins in their hands were all flowing into the United Bank represented by John.
Behind the scenes, he was simultaneously printing money at a multiplied rate. At this time, the printing presses of the United Bank were running day and night without rest.
The bank itself already held a massive amount of Wokingmeh Consortium shares. Using these endlessly rising stocks as the basis for issuing additional currency, no one noticed anything wrong.
Money had to be spent. Under Wokingmeh’s direction, these silver coins were used to nearly buy out all machinery and equipment inventories from Alliance merchants. At the same time, massive orders were placed to import machinery produced by the Seris Alliance.
Wokingmeh used silver coins to purchase goods, while merchants from the Seris Alliance used the Church’s paper currency to frantically sweep up goods. Everything that could be bought was taken.
In less than half a year, the stock price of the Wokingmeh Consortium, which had once fallen back down, soared from 5 silver coins per share to over 8,000 silver coins per share. Large numbers of Church citizens waved banknotes as they frantically bought both wanted and unwanted goods in neighboring countries.
At first, nothing seemed wrong. Due to the earlier paper currency policies, any country with trade relations with the Church held a considerable amount of Church-issued currency. When its value rose, their foreign exchange holdings also increased—no one saw any problem.
But soon, they discovered that the large amounts of Church currency they held could not be used to purchase much within Church territory—everything that could be bought had already been bought.
Meanwhile, Seris only accepted Church currency for direct trade with the Church. Trade between other countries still primarily used silver coins, with Alliance currency as a supplementary medium.
As the largest exporter and importer of raw materials, industrial equipment, and energy chemicals, the Seris Alliance’s refusal to support Church currency in international trade effectively cut off over 60% of its circulation channels.
As a result, other nations began restricting the circulation of Church currency and shifted to silver coin trade policies with the Church.
When such requirements began appearing in the settlement policies of all neighboring countries, some people finally sensed the looming crisis. They began negotiating with the United Bank to exchange their paper currency for silver coins.
John agreed to all of it.
That very night, while entangled in passion with his beautiful wife, John plunged a dagger into her neck, cleanly and decisively ending her life.
Even in her final moments, she stared at him with wide eyes, filled with confusion and disbelief.
They had spent over five years together. Their long days and nights had gradually eroded her vigilance. Even at the moment of death, she could not understand why this had happened.
“I’m sorry...”
Closing her unblinking eyes, John steadied his emotions, quickly changed into a servant’s clothes from the manor, pushed open the door, and strode out.
Outside, two teammates disguised as servants were already waiting. The three exchanged silent nods and quickly ran toward the stables.
The manor’s stables were located at the far edge of the estate, close to an ordinary street outside.
The two were intelligence agents sent later by the Seris Alliance. They were responsible for daily stable maintenance and feeding the horses, while also digging a temporary escape tunnel.
Through the tunnel, the three moved to an ordinary house more than two hundred meters away from the manor, where they boarded a modest four-wheeled cargo carriage and slowly departed.
Near the city gate, John got off the carriage and affixed the Farhad family crest, then confidently proceeded toward the gate. The stationed guards immediately opened the gates upon seeing it and waited for them to pass.
The agent driving the carriage cheerfully tossed a bag of silver coins to the guards, who thanked them profusely as the carriage exited the city. From start to finish, no guard even thought to inspect the vehicle.
This was not their first time leaving the city at night. The carriage did indeed belong to the Farhad family. In previous outings, they had carried ordinary goods and deliberately caused trouble when stopped.
After several inspections revealed nothing unusual—aside from a slightly odd structure beneath the carriage—the guards eventually realized that skipping inspections brought them benefits. Everything naturally fell into place.
Only after they were over a thousand meters away from the royal capital did John finally relax. Laughing, he embraced his comrade across from him.
“Great, comrade, I can finally go home.”
The other patted him reassuringly. “You’ve worked hard. But don’t celebrate yet—the road ahead won’t be easy. Let’s move quickly.”
With that, he knocked on the wooden panel to stop the carriage. Taking out a Space Ring, he began pulling out various pieces of equipment. The others did the same.
Using a small hydraulic jack, they lifted the carriage, quickly removed the four wheels, and dismantled internal locking components to reduce weight. The wooden chassis was stripped away, revealing an aluminum alloy frame underneath.
They reinstalled aluminum alloy components—the drive shaft, wheel hubs, and wide pneumatic rubber tires. Inside, an agent took out a small magitech engine and fitted it into the reserved slot at the rear.
In less than thirty minutes, the two assembled a strange-looking hybrid carriage-automobile.
One agent tinkered with the engine, poured in some magic powder, activated a small crystal, and tossed it into the engine.
With a faint explosion, the engine sputtered to life. The three then drove the open-top vehicle across the land at high speed.
The vehicle was extremely crude—there were no pedals, no gear lever, and certainly no gearbox. Aside from moving forward and basic steering, it had no other functions.
But they did not care. This was merely a disposable means of transport. The small magitech engine’s power matrix could sustain nearly 300 kilometers—after that, it would be discarded.
And that 300-kilometer range was just enough to take them to the riverside waters of Olstead State, where a rendezvous team was already waiting.