Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 761 - 754: Collusion

Chapter 761: Chapter 754: Collusion

Cheng Ziang’s words left Reimer in a long silence. Noticing Reimer’s furrowed brow, Cheng Ziang sneered and then turned to leave the bridge with Hu Daoke.

He had come to the bridge to confirm Mu Lansi’s identity. Now that Mu Lansi’s death was confirmed, there was no further reason to stay.

"Damn, I didn’t understand a word you said," Hu Daoke admitted in the hallway while looking at Cheng Ziang with a mix of respect and awe.

"What didn’t you understand?", Cheng Ziang turned around and asked him.

"Well, was Mu Lansi not killed by us from the fall? How come he was killed by his own people?" Hu Daoke asked with wide eyes.

"We were the direct cause of Mu Lansi’s death, but the ultimate deed laid in the fact that Mu Lansi was already abandoned by both Mooer’s forces and the Headquarters. Otherwise, we would not have had the opportunity to carry out special operations to attack the Asirens where Mu Lansi was stationed," Cheng Ziang explained patiently, without a hint of sarcasm.

"I don’t understand," Hu Daoke admitted truthfully.

"How did you graduate high school," Cheng Ziang looked at him incredulously, "Didn’t your history textbooks teach you to analyze the immediate, objective, and fundamental causes of a historical event?"

"Isn’t that just a template answer? What’s there to remember about it? I didn’t anyway," Hu Daoke shrugged with a scratch to his head.

"That’s a method of thinking, you fool!" Cheng Ziang grinds his teeth, exuding an aura of exasperation. He almost reached out to knock Hu Daoke’s forehead but was blocked just in time.

"Hey, let’s just talk, no need to hit each other," Hu Daoke covered his head and complained.

"Seems like you’ve never been disciplined by your history teacher," Cheng Ziang shook his head in resignation.

"Hey, big brother, we were in the same class, remember?" Hu Daoke reminded.

This reminder made Cheng Ziang pause for a moment, immediately recalling their past times in the academy. Among the advance team, aside from Baiyue, the other four were in the same class.

But in an ironic twist, due to their individual flaws, the four barely interacted until they formed the squad.

"Ah," Cheng Ziang sighed at the thought and gave Hu Daoke a sideways glance, "With your uncouth behavior, I bet your history teacher didn’t dare to punish you."

"Hold on, if you have something to say then say it. Why are you bad-mouthing me for no reason", Hu Daoke frowned in frustration.

"Yes, Mu Lansi indeed died because of us, or to be more precise, because of Luoer, or to be even more precise, he was directly killed by Fulajie’er sabotaging the parachute. However, no matter how precise, these are just micro-level causes. In history textbooks, they are referred to as immediate causes," Cheng Ziang patiently explained.

"Oh!" Hu Daoke expressed a face of half-understanding.

"From a macro perspective, since the incident about the cooperation and anti-cooperation factions involving Ronisca was exposed to the Headquarters due to a year ago, Mu Lansi had been marginalized by the cooperation faction," Cheng Ziang continued explaining.

"Eh, what’s the deal with the cooperation and anti-cooperation factions? Can you explain?" Hu Daoke scratched his head and asked.

"Don’t you ever read the internal reports from the Headquarters?" Cheng Ziang glanced at him and asked.

"No!" Hu Daoke proudly said.

"I give up ..." Cheng Ziang shook his head helplessly, then continued, "The Cooperation Faction, led by Commander Mooer, has the entire Ronisca Air Force behind it, representing the interests of the rising bourgeoisie. The Ronisca Air Force, an inheritor of Chinese-Russo, naturally realizes the significance of Earth to Ronisca Air Force. Hence, they naturally became a firm force representing the Cooperation Faction."

"I see, I understand now!" expressed Hu Daoke, nodding his head.

"The anti-cooperation faction, led by Crown Prince Mu Lansi, draws its support from the traditionalist forces behind Ronisca. These people reject new changes because it threatens their own interests, so naturally, they have become the steadfast backers of the anti-cooperation faction," explained Cheng Ziang.

"Oh, so they’re at each other’s throats now?" Hu Daoke inquired, stroking his chin.

"Not exactly," Cheng Ziang shook his head. "Initially, both the cooperation and anti-cooperation factions were in an unconscious union."

"What’s an unconscious union?" Hu Daoke asked.

"To put it bluntly, the cooperation faction is using the anti-cooperation faction to garner more benefits for themselves," shrugged Cheng Ziang.

"I don’t understand." Hu Daoke admitted honestly.

"The cooperation faction are keen on collaborating with Headquarters because it brings them benefits, but not too many, as cooperation is mutual. Headquarters need something in return for whatever they give. Capital is inherently profit-seeking. Thus,Ronisca’s cooperation faction wants to trade without any initial investment—simply put, they want Headquarters to subsidize their resources," Cheng Ziang explained.

"That’s just greedy," Hu Daoke exclaimed indignantly.

"They won’t actively propose this sort of plan because they know if Headquarters gets pushed too far, their cooperation could be in jeopardy," Cheng Ziang continued, ignoring him. "So, they thought of the anti-cooperation faction. By utilising these traditionalist forces, they continually press for better deals from Headquarters, hoping they will relent. The anti-cooperation faction stirs up trouble and then the cooperation faction comes to the rescue, all the while making unreasonable demands on Headquarters to satisfy the anti-cooperation faction and alleviate the ongoing conflict."

"I didn’t really understand, but it seems like Headquarters is at a disadvantage," Hu Daoke commented.

"In simpler terms, it’s a good cop, bad cop routine. The anti-cooperation faction causes issues, they make demands, and then the cooperation faction steps in to pacify the situation. At this opportunity, they make their own demands. Despite knowing that the anti-cooperation faction is staunchly anti-cooperative, the cooperation faction turns a blind eye, allowing them to stir up trouble time after time. They then exploit these situations to seek benefits from Headquarters," Cheng Ziang expounded.

"Well, isn’t that just bullying?" Hu Daoke gasped indignantly.

"Yes, it is bullying. But from the perspective of Ronisca, there’s nothing wrong with it," shrugged Cheng Ziang.

"What happened next?" Hu Daoke asked eagerly.

"Afterwards, didn’t our Advance Team get sent to Ronisca?" Cheng Ziang reminded him.

"Oh, that incident!" Hu Daoke exclaimed in realization.

"Exactly. Actually, our mission then was to deal with the anti-cooperation faction. The High-peak people thought Headquarters was unaware of their shenanigans, but in truth, Headquarters had known for a long time, they were just being patient. But when the transport plane we were on got shot down and Luoer went missing, Ronisca finally crossed the line with Headquarters..." Cheng Ziang paused, before adding, "Or maybe, they crossed the line with Instructor Wang."

Cheng Ziang knew that Luoer held a very important place in Wang Xu’s heart, so Luoer’s danger was likely the direct cause of Wang Xu’s meltdown. As the highest-ranking officer at the frontline Headquarters, Wang Xu was entitled to resolve these issues independently.

"What happened next?" Hu Daoke asked eagerly, his eyes wide with interest.

"What happened was, the tricks the cooperation faction were playing must have been exposed by Headquarters. They gave them two choices: either give up the anti-cooperation faction or give up cooperation altogether. We don’t know what Instructor Wang and Commander Mooer discussed then, but evidently, Commander Mooer chose to continue the cooperation. Consequently, the anti-cooperation faction was inevitably discarded," Cheng Ziang explained.

"So, Mu Lansi’s death is directly connected to the anti-cooperation faction being discarded!" Hu Daoke exclaimed with wide eyes and an enlightened tone.

"You’re getting good at jumping to conclusions!" Cheng Ziang commented, chuckling teasingly at him.

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