Chapter 334: Persuasion

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

According to the Constitution of the United States, the cabinet officials of a democratically elected government were only allowed to serve for four years, with a limit of two consecutive terms which would amount to only eight years. After leaving the office, whether these cabinet ministers intend to continue to be in politics, or to undertake a business or other occupations, it would be beneficial for them to get to know a young and generous wealthy person with wide influence.

For this reason, despite being in a terribly busy state because of the native’s attacks on Shrimp B1 Island, Duke still took the time to meet Zhang Lisheng and kept it quite polite.

After shaking hands with the young man and waited till Colonel Geller left the office, the secretary motioned to the young man to sit on the large office chair opposite him. With a slightly hoarse voice, he said, “Mr. Zhang, I have a close friendship with both Senator Houg and Howick. I know them well and know that they are honest and reliable people, but frankly, when I heard them telling me that you have a perfect solution to Shrimp B1 Island’s crisis, I still find it hard to believe.”

“It is indeed inconceivable. To be honest, my perfect solution to Shrimp B1 Island’s crisis is only a highly feasible plan but as for whether it could be successfully carried out or not, even I dare not guarantee it either.” When Zhang Lisheng saw Duke, he became much more conservative in his speech.

“Regardless of whether it’s feasible or not, let us discuss about it, shall we?” When Duke heard him saying so, a small interest appeared in his heart instead.

“Alright, Mr. Secretary Duke. it’s like this, I believe that you may also know that my job is a biologist and my main research direction is now focused on the species classification of Shrimp B1 Island. Because of this, I’d have to spend seven to eight months annually over there and most of the time, I’d be collecting research materials in the wild all by myself.”

“Oh Mr. Lisheng, I know that you’re a very good biologist...” Duke complimented him out of formalities.

“However, no matter how good a biologist is, he would not be able to live for years in the wilderness of the supernatural realm’s island that resembles the horrifying jungle in a magical movie all by himself, right?” Zhang Lisheng asked with a smile.

Duke shrugged mindlessly and said, “Maybe. Perhaps you have some tricks that nobody knows of.”

“As a matter of fact, I do. My usual explanation is that I’m a master of martial arts. You know, with this yellow skin Asian look of mine, it’s very easy to make other people believe in this reason but actually, this is not all the truth of the matter. In fact, the biggest reason why I can live comfortably and safely in the jungle of the Shrimp B1 Island is because I’m a real-life Hernándo Cortés...” Having said that, Zhang Lisheng stopped and no longer said anything. Relaxing his waist, he leaned on the comfortable backrest of the office chair and crossed his legs, waiting for the other party to finish digesting his words.

Sitting on the opposite side of the youth, Duke first frowned in confusion before suddenly widening his eyes to study Zhang Lisheng from top to bottom. “Mr. Lisheng, can you explain in detail why you claim to be a real-life Hernándo Cortés?”

“You have already guessed the answer, haven’t you sir?” the young man asked with a smile. “Relying on his concave eye sockets, his full face of hair and long chin, Hernándo Cortés made the Native American think that he’s the incarnation of the feathered serpent god and conquered Mexico. By relying on my black hair, thin cheeks, yellow face, thin facial features and thin body, I made the group of natives on Shrimp B1 Island believe that I’m the reincarnation of the tribal guardian spirit so that I can live safely on the supernatural realm’s jungle. It’s as simple as this.”

“This is not simple, Mr. Lisheng. This is definitely not simple! On the contrary, it is very bizarre and inconceivable. It’s completely unbelievable!”

“Oh Sir, is there anything more bizarre than having several hundreds of gluttonous and lazy logistic soldiers who managed to conquer a jungle kingdom with millions of people and hundreds of thousands of heroic warriors in a primitive jungle in this world?” Zhang Lisheng shrugged.

Duke was stunned for a moment again. Unbeknownst to himself, he nodded. “Indeed! Sometimes reality is more bizarre than the most bizarre drama. but, Mr. Lisheng, since you have long been honored as a god by the supernatural realm’s natives, why did you never say a word about this before?”

“What is there for me to say?” Zhang Lisheng smiled. “I’m a billionaire who has both fame and power at my fingertips. The only reason I stay on such a pristine island like Shrimp B1 Island is to do research. To me, being respected by those indigenous people is like being accepted by a group of monkeys as their equal. Other than being able to get me enough experimental materials, there’s no other benefit that they can bring for me. In that case, why do I have to announce it to the world?”

The young man’s words rendered Duke speechless at once. After some contemplation, he said, “Then, why are you telling me this now?”

“It’s because I know that the native’s riots on Shrimp B1 Island have caused heavy casualties to the new immigrants. According to the latest data, there are more than 28,000 victims now. I can imagine that after suffering from such a painful and heavy blow, the US military’s retaliatory actions would inevitably be extremely fierce and frenzied. It would not be surprising if nuclear weapons were to be used to destroy the entire island. Originally, this kind of thing didn’t matter to me, but my research has not been completed yet. If the environment of the collection site of my experimental materials changes drastically at this time, many extremely valuable results will be destroyed. For this reason, I intend to convince you to solve this problem in another way...”

“Another way?”

“Yes, another way.”

“Do you know,sSir? In fact, from the Roman era in 10th century BC, civilized people no longer use destruction to conquer. Taking age-old history as an example, every time the Gouro people defeated a country, they would build a huge stone pillar of hundreds of meters in the local area. After the advantages of their civilization to intimidate the defeated country, they would continue to let the original king rule the country, with a condition of paying a heavy tax every year. After the British in modern times conquered India, they continued to let the kings rule...”

“Mr. Lisheng, I think I understand what you’re trying to say now but did you think about the fact that 28,000 of our compatriots have died?” Duke suddenly interrupted the young man’s words with a grave expression and in a low voice.

“Of course I know this, Sir. in fact, it’s all the more reason for us to try my method, in order to avoid having more victims! Imagine this, if you don’t use nuclear weapons, how much cost would the military have to bear to completely wipe out the indigenous people on Shrimp B1 Island and the supernatural beings protecting them, regardless of whether they are the evil or the kind ones, altogether? More importantly, Shrimp B1 Island is an island in the supernatural realm. It is a part of a ‘world’, not a single independent entity and from time to time, natives from other islands would ride on wooden boats and drift to the island. If the Earthlings want to continue to occupy the island entirely, we’d most likely run into problems continuously. If we were to destroy this island completely, the set-up and opening of the island to the public previously would end up becoming meaningless. Not only that, it’d inevitably lead to more and more criticism from those human-rights advocates for after all, no matter how gloomy and ugly those supernatural realm’s natives are, they’re still an intelligent being just like us, aren’t they?” Zhang Lisheng had a taut face on as he replied solemnly.

A course of expressions ran across Duke’s face for a while before he said apologetically, “I’m sorry, Mr. Lisheng. I have been too emotional just now. I understand that you want the military to foster the indigenous tribe who treat you as a god...”

“No, no, no, Mr. Secretary. I don’t need foster, I only need to launch a few missiles as support, that’s all.”

historical

Duke’s eyes lit up right away. “In that case, do you mean that the indigenous tribe worshipping you as a god is very powerful?”

“The pronunciation of the tribe’s name is Tudenan, which was not too strong in the past, but recently, a very power supernatural creature with a lot of magical ability has controlled this tribe and led it to annex the entire northern end of Shrimp B1 Island.”

“A powerful supernatural creature has controlled this tribe, you said?” Duke frowned. “Then you’re the tribe’s...”

“Oh Sir. you don’t understand the rules of operation of these native tribes on Shrimp B1 Island.” Zhang Lisheng could hear the underlying meaning implied by the other party’s words so he smiled. “Usually, a native tribe would believe in many gods and the statuses of these gods are all different. Like me, who is considered to be the reincarnation of the god, would usually have a contribution of nothing more than passing down some knowledge so my status is not high and I can’t order the natives to do anything. However, just like MPs in parliament, even though I don’t have much influence, I still have a say in everything. Of course, because of the language barrier, I can only communicate with the natives on the surface with a lot of guessing from both sides. However, it’s still possible for me to lead a group of natives who want to expand their territories to beat a ‘drowning dog’. But of course, I can’t guarantee that it’d be successful, but it’s definitely worth a try. What do you think, Sir?’

“Mr. Lisheng, can you guarantee that the tribe who regards you as a reincarnation of the god did not participate in this terrorist attack on the human gathering place?”

“Of course I can guarantee this, otherwise I’d not have come here to see you. I don’t know why but somehow, in the traditional culture of the Tudenan, people who are tall and have smooth skin is worthy of respect in the eyes of this tribal indigenous people. To the primitive people, the tribal tradition is their constitution so nobody from Tudenan would attack humans for no reason. ”

“In that case... in that case, perhaps it may be worthy to have a try on your approach.” Upon hearing Zhang Lisheng’s reply, Duke fell into deep contemplation and muttered to himself. “But this matter is very knotty. The pressure of public opinion has already caused the President to be in a terribly busy state. If we just hand over the plan of revenge to the hand of the supernatural realm’s natives just like that, we’d never be able to quell the anger of the US people...”

“This is easy,” Zhang Lisheng pondered for a while and answered. “After the Tudenan tribe has defeated the tribes who attacked the human gathering place, I can suggest it to make a trade with the military using the gods’ bodies. After the military gets the bodies, you can combine the actual recordings of the battle when the gathering place was attacked and randomly weave a story. As long as the general public sees that the most conspicuous murderers are killed, their anger would naturally subside.”