Chapter 820: Spiraling Down

“What problem?” Natasha furrowed.

“Reminding me that I might have gone overboard, is this a KGB order, or is it a decision that you made without permission?” Jiang Chen fixed his eyes on her and then smiled.

Natasha was caught speechless.

The atmosphere in the room was a bit subtle. After a moment of silence, she began to speak slowly.

“In the last communication with the KGB’s intelligence minister, the minister used the term ‘allies’ for Future Group. I judged based on existing intelligence that it is necessary to remind you of your actions… If we lost you as one of our allies, our days won’t be too pleasant either.”

After listening to Natasha said, Jiang Chen almost laughed.

[What is this? When did the Russians start to act so subtle?] From his first encounter with Natasha in Eastern Europe, this was the first time he was interested in her poor excuse.

“What are you laughing at?” Natasha frowned.

“Nothing, it suddenly felt a little…well,” Jiang Chen coughed, putting away his impassive expression.

“I should treat this seriously.”

“That would be for the best.” Natasha paused, and then said, “The Freemasonry sent the Gatekeeper. He should have arrived in Asia by now.”

“What is the Gatekeeper?” Jiang Chen asked.

“We are not sure,” Natasha shook her head. “We only know there are many Gatekeepers. Some of them are responsible for the arrangement of the assembly venues, some of them patrol the gate to the assembly, and others hold the ceremonies for new members. One of its meaning is a sharp sword ready to strike while the other meaning is an all-knowing eye that guards the gate. Whatever it stands for—”

“It is not here to send me a membership card, right?” Jiang Chen interrupted with a grin.

“Yes.” Natasha nodded.

The Gatekeeper could be an assassin, a banker, or a general, or just a soldier, or even just a declaration of war.

A sharp sword ready to strike. If it means that, perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it the “Cleanser”?

Jiang Chen fixed his gaze on the drone that pruned foliage outside the window and began to think.

…

Madagascar’s nuclear issue continued to escalate. In addition to the anti-UA sentiment boiling in the country, the ongoing protests in the capital, Antananarivo, revealed people’s attitude toward this issue. People emancipated the signs that called for the barring of Arrow and even extended it to the banning of all UA companies. They rashly blamed the Mayotte tragedy and the nuclear explosion as a UA conspiracy.

The BBC reporter repeatedly clarified that he was British and finally got the chance to interview demonstrators without being beaten.

“It was the pirates the UA drew! Their policies in Somalia incurred the revenge of the Bel Devin warlords! The flies will always chase after sh*t! Bar the UA companies out of Madagascar!”

“Why does Arrow possess nuclear weapons? What did they consider our country? An African arsenal? Can we still trust them?”

“Get out of Madagascar…”

Young people shouted slogans in French and surrounded the UA embassy and Arrow Compounds, burned the star-spangled flag. Every Arrow’s military post on the island was forced to be temporarily closed, and the UA embassy also had to close its doors.

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Although the adoption rate of the Internet on Madagascar was not high, there was still plenty of tactics for Future Group to utilize. Once a certain kind of public opinion has formed, and the spirit of patriotism and nationalism had been propped up, then this hurricane could be easily manipulated and irrationally sweep away everything.

Forced by pressure domestically and from the Congress, Madagascar President La Jonah, who was inclined to cooperate with the Freemasonry, also had to change his previous strategy and urged Arrow to withdraw from Madagascar.

At the same time, Jiang Chen in the far away Coro Island also began to step up his preparations for war.

Since the KGB could guess he was the perpetrator, the CIB would also have the same capability.

The UA did not make any allegations because they had no evidence to prove this directly. Or even the UA intelligence agencies themselves were skeptical of this inference. Compared to Xin, Israel’s possession of nuclear possession had long been a revealed secret.

“We will protect your industry in North and South America, but Europe… I am very sorry but our capabilities are limited.”

Loki’s voice was very polite, even if he was rejecting them, it was difficult for people to produce unpleasant emotions.

“Anyway, you have been a great help,” Jiang Chen said.

Jiang Chen was not surprised that his request was rejected. After all, he could expect honesty from businessmen, but loyalty would be a big stretch.

However, it would be impossible to say there was no disappointment.

Obviously, although the alliance was formed earlier, the WASP consortium hoped that Future Group would play the role of a pawn. Before the situation played out, they would rather watch than participate. No matter who became the victim, the other side would also be severely injured. This result was a win for them.

WASP was willing to provide shelter for Future Group’s industry in the Americas. The result was not too bad.

However, this meant that Future Group’s industry in Europe would face heavy losses as it was the home base for the Jews after all.

It really did not surprise Jiang Chen.

Just on the second day after the funeral of the four soldiers, Future Group’s European subsidiary received an inquiry letter from the European Commissioner on anti-monopoly investigations, requesting Future Technology to open source virtual reality systems to Europe and allow all other tech companies to enter the market more equitably.

Future Group responded strongly to this.

On the day of the anti-monopoly investigation, the headquarters of Future Group announced that it would suspend the provision of virtual reality network services to EU countries.

It was different from the last decision in UA. Quantum communication satellites launched by Celestial Trade last year were now able to achieve global coverage. Nominally, Future Group suspended the provision of virtual reality network services to EU countries, but Europeans could still access virtual reality networks through Tunisia’s nodes.

The only solution would be for the European Union to confiscate all helmets in every European home, but that would obviously be unrealistic. After more than two years of development, the Phantom helmet had already obtained a good market share in developed countries such as Europe. Even if the European Commission prohibited the sale of Phantom helmets in Europe, it would still be unable to influence Future Technology’s business in Europe in a short period of time.

Salary remained normal, and work followed suit, It was the status quo of Future Technology’s European subsidiary. Tunisia, the smallest country at the northern end of Africa with a population of just around 10 million people, had seen its access to the Phantom helmet reach 200 million within a few days.

In addition to the huge loss of taxes, the Freemasonry-led European Commission did not gain any benefits.

However, on the other hand, the European Union put forward antidumping and countervailing cases on the solid-state lithium-air batteries. This move almost forced Ruhrka into bankruptcy because all the pure electric vehicles used Future Heavy Industrial’s batteries.

For such a result, Jiang Chen’s approach was very simple. He directly allowed Ruhrka Motors to switch off its European factory and build a new plant in the New Malaysian Special District.

Trade frictions gradually escalated. Robots such as Xiao Lin and Dragon Calvary X1 chips were also investigated by environmental protection agencies, human rights organizations, and the European Commission. With the control of the Freemasonry, these organizations handed out astronomical fines against Future Group.

Those policemen holding court summons all had a face determined to bring Future Group down.

Jiang Chen knew that Future Group had lost Europe.