I Carry a Game World With Me

Lu Feng was in a great mood. For one, Xiaozhi had handled things beautifully, allowing him to finally blow off some steam.

It wasn’t the first or second time they had targeted him. If the Xuanfeng Alliance’s conventional strength weren’t so lacking, he would have already challenged them directly.

He’d always felt that the Dragon Country’s past attitude had been far too lenient.

Unfortunately, the Xuanfeng Alliance lacked conventional strength. If he were to use his hidden assets, the likely outcome would be the enemy deploying strategic weapons, only for Xiaozhi to seize control of them.

Some might say that would solve the problem—just turn their weapons back on them a few times.

But he couldn’t forget the miniature nuclear warhead in his own inventory.

With today’s technology, the palm-sized strategic weapons from the movies—capable of destroying half a city—were no longer pure fiction.

If things ever got to that point—someone sneaking in with such a device for a spectacular "mutual destruction"—he could escape the catastrophe by entering the game, but what about the people around him?

So, as long as external threats existed, he had no desire to reveal his trump cards—especially Xiaozhi—or to completely burn his bridges with certain parties.

’Better to lay low for now.’

Once he had extracted enough technology from the game world, then he’d have a showdown and see who really held the better hand.

Lu Feng’s good mood didn’t last long.

Baguda arrived with very bad news and a document.

Lu Feng looked at the document and scoffed, "Is this Wendona an idiot? What makes him think we’d agree to an investigation of Xuanfeng Bank just because he sent us a formal letter?"

"Something about the disaster they suffered being linked to a sum of dirty money, so they want to investigate Xuanfeng Bank on suspicion? Who gave them the nerve?"

"And so what if that dirty money is in Xuanfeng Bank? Does he really think we’re a pushover?

If we refuse, are they going to pull their old tricks again? Claim we’re harboring dangerous elements in the Xuanfeng Alliance and then send in troops?"

This was the first time Baguda had seen the Governor so furious.

’Still,’ Baguda thought, ’judging by the Governor’s tone, it sounds like what happened over there really *is* connected to the Xuanfeng Alliance.’

He’d been following the news from the Beautiful Country for the past two days.

To say things were bad over there would be an understatement. It was a complete disaster.

Baguda quickly added, "His Excellency the Governor, their people have already entered the Xuanfeng Alliance. They’ve formally submitted a request to investigate."

"What the hell is this shit." Hearing this, Lu Feng really felt like his Xuanfeng Alliance was being treated like a joke.

Baguda asked, "His Excellency the Governor, how should we proceed?"

Lu Feng ordered directly, "Have Red Lizard move in. Arrest them first. Then, you issue a press release. Say we’ve captured several members of a foreign organization operating illegally in the Xuanfeng Alliance. Let them come and bail their people out. Otherwise, they’re going straight to prison."

"What?!" Baguda was stunned. "His Excellency the Governor, isn’t that a bit too drastic? What if they use this as a pretext, claim we’re harboring terrorists, and force their way in? How would we respond then?"

"They won’t come. They wouldn’t dare," Lu Feng said coldly. Then he asked, "Baguda, our official stance is still one of neutrality, correct?"

Baguda nodded. "Although we’ve accepted many immigrants from the Dragon Country, for the sake of Xuanfeng Bank, we remain absolutely neutral."

Lu Feng continued, "Exactly. Xuanfeng Bank is crucial. Do you understand why they target it time and time again? An absolutely neutral power, an international bank that has replaced Rui Shi Bank... how much capital do you think that attracts? And how much of that is dirty money from various factions?"

"I have no doubt that some of their own countrymen have dirty money stashed in Xuanfeng Bank. If we were to leverage that, what kind of results could we achieve?"

"Take, for example, a high-ranking official from a certain country whose dirty money is in our bank. If we controlled that information, how easy would it be to deal with that official? To bring him down?"

"Yes." Baguda nodded hastily.

If that weren’t the case, they wouldn’t have been targeted so many times.

That was why he truly admired His Excellency the Governor. He had not only developed Xuanfeng Bank from the ground up but had also orchestrated the decisive move by the God of Hackers behind the scenes, solidifying the bank’s current position.

One could say the Xuanfeng Alliance’s current prosperity was inseparable from those other products, but on a certain level, the impact of those products truly paled in comparison to Xuanfeng Bank. It wasn’t even close.

Lu Feng continued, "So, after you issue the press release, it’s time for you to visit the Dragon Country."

Baguda frowned. "Are we declaring our allegiance?"

Lu Feng shook his head. "We don’t need to. When you go, just go to Tianzhou City. Have Qingfeng Network Company manage the publicity. We just need to create the *illusion* of an official state visit."

"That alone will spook them. They’ll be afraid we’re about to side with the Dragon Country. They’ll have to ask themselves: is it better for them if we completely side with their rival, or if we remain neutral?"

"Unless they’re fools, they’ll know which option to prefer. As soon as they soften their stance, we can announce the truth: that you were only visiting Tianzhou City."

"The purpose of your trip there will be to discuss a cooperative project for a bullet train system. The Xuanfeng Alliance is becoming more developed, yet we lack even a decent mode of transportation."

"To get from Wind Capital to Boya right now, people still have to travel by car. Do you have any idea how much of an ordeal that is for them?"

Once we have bullet trains, regular trains, and high-speed rail connecting all parts of the Xuanfeng Alliance, it’s certain to elevate our prosperity to a whole new level.

Tianzhou City has a high-speed rail corporation just like that. I recall a certain continent only got its bullet trains with the help of a rail corporation from the Dragon Country.

He also recalled that many of the key players in Tianzhou City were his own people, under his control. Manipulating this matter would be no problem at all.

Baguda’s brow furrowed, however. "His Excellency the Governor, I know the Dragon Country’s high-speed rail is incredible. If we could build a network throughout the Xuanfeng Alliance, it would undoubtedly make us more prosperous."

"But there’s a problem. The Xuanfeng Alliance is due to make the second-phase payment to the engineering firms from the Dragon Country."

"We’ve earned a lot of money from our products, but we’re currently undertaking massive infrastructure projects across the entire Xuanfeng Alliance. We also have to support Boya, build the New Seaport, and establish a navy."

"So, could we perhaps slow our pace a little? Postpone some of these plans for later?" Lu Feng smiled. Baguda had said a lot, but the main point was simple: ’We’re out of money.’

’It was my own fault for being too generous, really,’ Lu Feng thought. The reason those Dragon Country construction companies were working so diligently was because Baguda was so generous with the payments.

Back in the Dragon Country, they’d bury you in paperwork and drag out the payment for six months or a year before settling up.

You could only say that Baguda was too upright; he hadn’t learned those kinds of tricks yet. Then again, it was good for the Xuanfeng Alliance to project a positive image as an entity that respects its contracts.

That was probably why the construction companies were working so hard. After all, where else could they find a client with a project as massive as the Xuanfeng Alliance’s who also paid so promptly?

Lu Feng then smiled and said to Baguda, "Money isn’t an issue. You just focus on getting this done. As soon as the project is confirmed, I’ll transfer a sum of money to the Alliance."

Hearing this, Baguda immediately asked, "His Excellency the Governor, how much are we talking about? Building a bullet train system, even just the initial phase, will require a huge amount of capital."

"Over ten billion USD," Lu Feng stated.

"..." Baguda was dumbfounded.

It was an astronomical sum. It was enough to build a bullet train line spanning the entire Xuanfeng Alliance, enough to cover several phases of construction payments. That money would last a very long time.

’Where in the world did His Excellency the Governor conjure up that much money?’