Shadow Empire

Chapter 1065 The Road Ahead and Discovering Something Was Wrong
Ethan sat there, deep in thought. He wasn't stupid, but sometimes he trusted his fists more than he thought.

He would listen to Lance. Ever since they came to the Federation together, Lance had always been able to point him in the right direction for the future.

"I will consider it," he replied cautiously.

If someone else said, "I'll consider it," Lance would just take it as a perfunctory response and would never bring up the topic again. He wouldn't even ask how the other person had thought it through; there was no need for that.

However, he knew that when Ethan said he was considering it, he really meant he would seriously consider it and even try it.

Some people are complicated, so you can't think of them as simple. It's possible that when they tell you they don't have time today, it's not that they really don't have time, it's just that they don't want to be with you.

But some people are very simple. When dealing with these people, you can't overcomplicate things, because whatever they say is what it is.

Ethan accepted Lance's suggestion that the scientific approach to sports competitions is a recent trend.

Besides administering performance-enhancing drugs to athletes, the main methods are scientific training, scientific energy allocation, and scientific competition management.

Thus, the retro faction and the scientific faction emerged.

Changes in any industry are never gradual or silent; this is bound to be another massive transformation.

Those who advocate science will certainly send representatives to prove that they have the most scientific and reasonable approach to sports management.

Regardless of whether their victory was glorious or not, the most important thing in sports is always the champion, not the process.

However, Lance didn't say much to him. After all, Ethan was already an adult and not much younger than Lance. If he was unwilling to change his current playing style, Lance would respect his decision.

After all, this is his comfort zone right now. It's not only comfortable, but it also allows him to keep moving forward. As for whether he will develop some illnesses when he gets old due to the excessive blows to his brain when he was young, we can talk about that when he gets old.

With his current rate of earning money and the guarantees Lance provides, even if he spends his entire life bedridden, he can still live a comfortable life.

Lance chatted with him for a while about things outside of the competition, such as... Morris's wedding, and other former friends who are now on the verge of getting married.

"Sean is already married, Corinna recently got a new boyfriend, and even Gerald has dated several girlfriends."

As Lance recounted these stories about his old friends, Ethan would occasionally drift into a daze.

He devoted most of his energy to training, and when he looked back, three or four years had passed, he couldn't remember anymore.

Over the past few years, he has been constantly boxing, training, and improving himself, to the point that sometimes he has forgotten about the people and things from the past.

He devoted himself wholeheartedly to this career because Lance and Erwin both hoped that he could go further in this industry.

Therefore, he must work even harder to achieve this.

"If you meet the right person, you can consider getting married."

Lance looked at him seriously. "You're not young anymore. It's time for you to get married. Besides, your wife can sometimes help you relieve some stress after you get married."

"People can't always be tense; they can relax occasionally."

Ethan nodded after listening. "I'll consider it."

Okay, it's about considering it again, but he probably really will consider it.

Lance talked to him a lot. Ethan hoped to win the heavyweight boxing title this year or next, so that he could slow down a bit and have more time for his personal life.

He was full of energy right now, and he couldn't let himself relax, because he didn't know if he could get back to his current state if he did.

Humans are inherently lazy. Once you start to enjoy life, even the slightest movement becomes a disaster.

The two chatted for a long time. That night, Lance asked Ethan to stay overnight, as there were many rooms available. However, Ethan insisted on returning to the boxing gym, as it was not the time for him to relax.

Lance actually appreciates Ethan's "foolish" self-discipline, which is much better than those who tell themselves they should stop but always can't help but start applying glue again the next day.
"Can you drive?" Lance asked.

Ethan shook his head. "I know how to drive it, but I rarely do, and I'm not very good at it."

Lance planned to give him a car, but the cars at the boxing gym looked old and worn out, not at all like the kind of ride a future boxing champion should have.

People always say that inner qualities are more important than outward appearance, but people often overlook inner qualities and only focus on outward appearance.

A high-end luxury car often brings more than just envious glances.

But it's okay, Lance is sure the coach has someone who can drive, and a pretty good one at that.

He had someone select a car worth over ten thousand dollars from the garage, and then sent Ethan along with the car to the convoy.

Over the next few days, Lance focused his attention on negotiations between the federal government and the new government of Rapa, which were progressing at a visible pace. It could be said that the new government of Rapa was now just an outer shell.

Apart from the fact that the president and those nominally high-ranking officials are all Lapas, the entire new government has been handed over to the federalists by them and rendered powerless.

However, as Lance told Pedro, whether people are happy or not does not depend on the president, or any de facto supreme ruler, whether they are of the same race or ethnicity as them.

Rather, it depends on whether the ruler, the government, and the country truly place their people in an important position.

If the Lapa people can achieve happiness under federal rule, will people still care who is ruling them?

No, they won't.

Besides Lance being concerned about these matters, many people on Detland Financial Street are also paying attention to the negotiations between the federal government and the new government of Rapa.

As the progress of the negotiations was gradually revealed, the stocks of some companies associated with Lapa began to rise to varying degrees.

In particular, regarding Hope Mining, it appears that the relationship between the new Rapa government and the federal government is much better than people imagined. Furthermore, the head of the Rapa delegation stated that they would review and reconfirm the agreements previously signed between the federal and Diego governments.

The publicly available information also confirms this, which is very good news, because the agreement on the entrusted management of state-owned assets signed between Diego and Hope Mining should also be approved.

This means that Hope Mining's stock will rise again! This "landing to pick up the people" has been very effective, with a significant increase in trading volume in the market, and people's confidence in Hope Mining has returned.

If they are willing to support the stock, the share price will definitely perform better, and for those who reboard after the plane lands or add passengers, now is the time to pop the champagne at halftime.

Cooper and his stockbroker returned to their previous extravagant lifestyle. Because of the considerable value of the stocks he held and the current favorable market conditions, the banks continued to show him exceptional leniency.

Almost 70% of his current spending is through signed contracts. The bank will advance these expenses, then settle the total bill with him and charge a service fee.

When a person spends money without actually "spending" it (referring to cash), without actually taking out real money to transact, they gradually develop a misunderstanding of consumption and become increasingly extravagant.

Because there is no "loss" in these consumptions.

In normal consumption, where money is exchanged for goods on the spot, there is a loss involved. This loss is the loss of one's own cash, as it is paid to someone else during the exchange process.

But he doesn't sign the bill. Often he doesn't know or care how much he spent. As long as the price isn't too outrageous, he'll just sign his name.

Cooper has now become part of Detland, and a successful investor always attracts the attention of many investors who aspire to success.

Cooper also began to frequently attend various investor events in Detland because of the high-value stocks he held.

Cooper once saw a statement that sounded like a joke: as long as you have a nice suit, you can live happily in Detland without going to work.

Because there are so many investor activities here.

Some investor events may conduct a qualification check on participants, but a significant portion of events do not check the eligibility of visitors.

They can sneak into various events to eat and drink, and might even get some gifts when they leave.

These gifts have a dedicated recycling center in Detland; they can recycle anything you can produce, from a pack of cigarettes to a ship, as long as you accept their offer.

These things used to be very distant to Cooper; he would listen to them as jokes and tell them to others as jokes.

But now that he's entered the industry himself, he feels that his past self was the one who was ridiculous.

You'll never understand the allure of money until you've been to Detland.

He even heard something he'd never heard before—

If you want someone to be happy, send them to Detland.

If you want someone to go to hell, send them to Detland too.

Here, heaven and hell coexist!
In early May, all issues between the federal government and the new government of Rapa were settled. The two sides signed a cooperation agreement at the presidential palace, exchanged documents, took photos, and made a commemorative note.

The former foreign minister, who represents the president currently elected by the new government, personally came to the federal government to shake hands with the president and take a photo.

People are praising the new government of Rapa for doing the right thing, and the people of Rapa will benefit greatly from their positive and open attitude.

However, many people, the vast majority of people, did not know that the former Minister of Foreign Affairs was already a legitimate federal citizen at this time.

Even back in late last year, the Minister of Foreign Affairs' citizenship issue was completely resolved; he is now a 100% federal citizen and enjoys all the benefits that only federal citizens can enjoy.

A group of people in the room were watching this scene on television.

Televisions became more widespread in the new city of Jinshi, and related supporting industries also began to develop rapidly. Cable television and wireless television are both developing rapidly, giving people who have bought televisions more choices.

Cooper sat on the sofa watching the television screen, his brow furrowed.

He wasn't the only one frowning; everyone else was frowning too.

Up to this point, the issue of entrusting state-owned assets, which was hoped to be agreed upon between the mining company and the Diego government, was not raised in the negotiations, let alone resolved.

One of the men in the room looked rather off. He was biting his fingernails, and his voice was squeezed out from between his slightly parted teeth, "Such a big thing, the federal government and this new government of Lapa should know about it."

"And I find it strange that the people from Hope Mining didn't approach them to ask them to include this clause in the negotiations."

"After all, the agreement they signed with the Rapa government is reasonable and legal, and reasonable and legal things should be protected. Moreover, some even more unreasonable things were retained in their negotiations with the federal government this time, so why is our reasonable thing not being mentioned?"

He was referring to the "new federal center," where both the federal government and the new government of Lapa recognized the existence of the concession and its 100-year lease term.

The federal government has also discussed this matter, and during negotiations, they considered creating a special economic zone around this new federal center in Lapa.

They will then contact Lance and use this area as a pilot for promoting federal policies and plans in the Asia-Pacific region, to ensure that policies that have no problems in the federal government can achieve the same results when implemented locally.

This also means that this concession may become a bellwether for domestic policies in Lapa in the future. If people want to know what their future life will be like, they can just take a walk around the concession.

If these obviously unreasonable things can exist, why don't they talk about the fact that state-owned assets were entrusted to Hope Mining?

Someone said, "Is it hoped that the mining industry didn't try to exert any effort in this matter?"

Does anyone know the phone number of their board of directors or CEO?

"Ask them what exactly happened and why these things weren't discussed!"

The people gathered here are all related to Hope Mining's stock; they are all investors, which is why they are so sensitive.

They had all met the president at an event before, so someone had left the president's office phone number.

The person who had the phone immediately stood up. "I have their phone number. I'll go call them."

When he walked to the telephone and picked up the receiver, everyone in the room focused their attention on him.

(End of this chapter)