Shadow Empire

Chapter 977 Eagle
All of my federal assets have been frozen.

Not a single penny was left for Diego.

Of course, those real estate properties, such as villas, are still there, but they are also frozen and cannot be traded or entered.

In other words, even if he went to the Federation now, things would probably be very bad.

His last escape route was suddenly blocked by the Federation.

This made him both angry and extremely distressed. He sat there, widening his eyes as much as possible, tilting his head slightly upward, and looking straight ahead.

His gaze seemed to pierce through the void, allowing him to see those he hated, those who had caused all of this!

The president of the Union, the senators in Congress, and that damn Lance!

Fake!

He slammed his fist on the table with great force, making a loud "bang" sound, and his fist turned red!
He slowly placed the receiver back on the phone stand, knowing that no matter who he called, it wouldn't solve the problem.

If anyone ever tells him again that the Federal Bank is the safest bank in the world, he'll shove their head up their ass!

Fake!

He cursed again, and then his breathing became rapid. That bad feeling returned; he felt dizzy and his attention was scattered.

It's like there's a demon hiding in his brain, and it's growing, trying to break out of his head!
After letting out a painful scream, everything in front of him went dark, and he saw himself fall to the ground, unconscious.

When I opened my eyes again, it was two hours later.

After President Diego woke up, the Lavila family's private doctor gave the housekeeper a few instructions and then left.

Diego lay on the bed and turned to look at the butler at the door.

After watching the doctor leave, the butler returned and said, "Master, you fainted again just now."

Diego patted his head in pain. "Damn it... high blood pressure."

The housekeeper did not correct his incorrect description, but simply repeated what the doctor had said when he left, "The doctor said that you should not get angry easily now, as anger is a major trigger for your high blood pressure."

"This issue must be taken seriously. If you continue to get angry and faint frequently, it will have a significant impact on your lifespan."

Diego was silent for a moment, then said with a hint of helplessness, "You saw it."

How could I not be angry in this situation?

"Tens of millions of federal soles of wealth, my houses, stocks, and bonds are now frozen."

"They're pressuring me, you know that?"

Diego stared wide-eyed at the butler, though he tried his best to widen his eyes, they still looked like he was squinting.

The butler bowed slightly but did not speak; he could neither answer nor resolve the question.

Diego didn't intend to get any further answers from him. He turned to look at the ceiling, as if to himself, "I just mentioned leaving Lapa, and they froze my accounts. Do you know what that means?"

The butler could only feign ignorance on this matter, saying, "Master, I don't quite understand."

Diego chuckled twice. "You do understand, but you just don't dare to say it."

"This means that someone in the family has also sided with the Federation. Otherwise, they wouldn't be so sensitive. I just said that yesterday, and today they've blocked my escape route."

"They want me to stay in Lapa!"

He said this and sighed.

Previously, he didn't have much of a concept of "great power." When chatting with heads of state from other countries, especially the president of the Czech Republic, the other party always revealed a sense of unease about the rapid development of the federation.

The heads of state of the eleven countries of Asia and the Netherlands sometimes sit down for a chat. The Republic of Germany is developing very rapidly, and it is inevitable that some heads of state hope to learn something from them.

Diego also visited the Czech Republic and had a face-to-face conversation with their president.

At the time, he couldn't sense the other party's sense of urgency, and he even wondered if the president of the Czech Republic had paranoia.

Diego saw no downsides to the rapid development of the Federation; on the contrary, he was able to enjoy even more.

All of the Federation's products suited his taste perfectly, leaving him with no reason to wish for the Federation's development to slow down.

Movies, operas, and various small household appliances.

There was nothing locally produced on Diego's plantation; everything was imported from the Commonwealth.

Now, he understands.

He understood why the president of the Czech Republic looked so uneasy when talking about the Federation—because the Federation was too powerful.

It's like an unfair boxing match, with Diego and the Federation in the ring, representing the red and blue sides.

Now Diego wants to kneel down and admit defeat; he's not playing this game anymore.

But the Federals forcefully helped him up, refusing to let him kneel down or even surrender, insisting that he finish the entire game.

They wanted to kill him in the ring.

What he wants most right now is to stay alive.

Alive.

Everyone is alive and will continue to live, but some people may not be able to survive.

As for living freely, or anything else, it was something he couldn't even see in his life.

This feeling of not being able to control one's own life is truly awful.

As the ruler of a country, he had never had such an experience or feeling before. He seemed to understand why the people at the bottom of society would fight him and the country to the death.

He raised his hand and waved it; the butler bowed slightly and then left.

After lying there thinking for a while, Diego called Lance.

"This is Lance."

Diego's eyebrows instinctively shot up when he heard Lance's familiar yet annoying voice coming through the receiver.

However, it quickly relaxed again.

"I want to talk to you, to meet and talk, just the two of us."

Lance considered it for a moment, but did not agree immediately. "I may not have time in the next few days."

Diego didn't believe his lies. "Lance, I know you have time."

“The federal government just called me and said my account has been frozen. I have a gut feeling that this might be directly related to you.”

Lance laughed and said, "That's slander, Your Excellency."

"Even though you're from Lapa and I'm trying to communicate with you, you can't use that to slander me."

He paused. "What do you want to tell me?"

After a brief silence, President Diego said, "Let's talk about the future."

"If you're worried, you can choose a location yourself, and I'll come to meet you. This is my greatest sincerity!"

This is indeed a very sincere approach, after all, he is the president of a country, and his security is related to the future development and trend of the country.

The fact that he went to the place Lance had arranged meant that he had entrusted his safety to Lance and completely trusted him.

Lance considered for a moment, then said, "Let's go to the golf course."

There is a golf course on the outskirts of Zhuolan, which covers a large area with 22 fairways and three building complexes.

Even in the federal government, such a standard is considered quite high.

There are probably fewer than a thousand golfers in the entire Lapa region, but to provide a good place for these thousand golfers to play without having to take a ship to the Federation, they built this huge golf course in the tropics.

Sometimes, the extravagance of the ruling class is beyond the imagination of the lower classes.

This is what people at the bottom of society can see—they can only see the gates of the golf course, not what's inside.

Because this place is not open to the public, and poor people are not allowed to enter.

Diego agreed without hesitation.

Lance arranged for someone to clean up the golf course first, and then he waited for Diego to arrive.

It must be said that the fairways here are very well maintained. He heard from the course manager next to him that they spend more than 400,000 federal soles every year on the maintenance of the golf course.

Lance had previously seen some data about Rappa, and the amount of money they used to help the poor was only about 100,000 federal soles.

This was very Lapa, and very bureaucratic. Not long after, Diego arrived, leaning on his walking stick.

Although he was using a walking stick, he still walked with a limp, and even a short distance made him covered in sweat, especially on his forehead.

Just as he got closer, Lance swung his club. It was a par-5 fairway with a very wide field of vision.

The crisp sound of the club striking the golf ball was very pleasant, and regardless of how well the shot was hit, Diego would always say, "Good shot!"

He staggered over, wiping his sweat with a handkerchief.

Lance handed the cue to the manager, who jogged toward the spot where the ball had landed. Only Lance and his men remained, along with President Diego, his butler, and two guards.

Diego raised his hand in a gesture, and the two bodyguards behind him quickly moved away from him, standing a little further away, giving him and Lance space to talk.

Lance nodded, and the two bodyguards moved away a little, but Madol was still by his side.

As the two walked towards the landing point, Diego said, "They called me today and said that all my accounts and assets have been frozen."

Lance wasn't surprised, because that's what he'd asked Tom to do, but he wouldn't show it, much less admit it. "What terrible news!"

He even expressed a hint of "regret," which made Diego burst out laughing in anger. "You're such a despicable person!"

Lance slightly lowered his chin. "That's actually a compliment, a compliment for success, Your Excellency President."

Listening to Lance's shameless words, Diego suddenly felt that he was still too "naive".

He shook his head and continued, "Actually, you, you should know, I do have thoughts of giving up on this place and leaving. Isn't that what you want?"

He looked puzzled. All the Federation people were doing was trying to get Lapa, right?

Now that he wants to leave, why won't they let him go?

Seeing the confusion in Diego's eyes, Lance didn't mind explaining it to him.

"First of all, Your Excellency, you must understand one thing."

"The federal government is the federal government, and I am me. We are not one entity, and we have no direct connection."

"The federal government has never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, nor would it do so, so your accusation is wrong and unfounded."

Diego fell silent, realizing even more clearly that it wasn't just Lance who was shameless, but also the federal government.

And the president of the Federation, all those people in the upper class of the Federation, they are all shameless, despicable, and vile scoundrels!

Using the word "son of a bitch" to describe them is an insult to the word "bitch"!

The two continued walking, and Lance gave Diego time to process what he was saying before continuing, "The reason I'm not letting you leave is because your work isn't finished yet."

"Your Excellency, you see, the civil war is not yet over, the people have not yet been redeemed, and the uprising has not succeeded."

"As the greatest villain in the eyes of most people in Lapa, you, Diego Lavila, represent chaos and evil. How could you leave so unexpectedly?"

Diego struggled to walk on the lawn, constantly wiping away sweat; it was too hot.

In the tropics, this damn August is like an oven, extremely unfriendly to the fat man, who is now completely soaked.

He took a bottle of chilled juice from the butler and took a big gulp, which made him feel a little better.

"What exactly do you want me to do to be satisfied?"

Lance turned to look at him, a half-smile on his face, "Just like I said above, your work isn't finished yet."

"civil war."

Diego was a little confused. "Could you please be more specific? What do I need to do to satisfy you?"

Lance pursed his lips. "We don't actually expect you to do anything special. We just want you to continue being yourself."

"You are a tyrannical dictator. Your goal is to fight and struggle to eliminate all rebel armies. Do you understand?"

Diego couldn't help but growl, "But you're always supporting those anti-government forces, there's no way I can eliminate them!"

Lance shook his head in denial, "No, you can."

"A person only has one life. Once you die, you can never come back to life."

“When those who have clearly stood up against you are all dead, there will be no new rebels. On that day, your work will be done.”

As they spoke, they arrived at the spot where the golf ball had landed. Lance took the golf club from the manager, glanced at the golf ball on the ground, and said, "There's some weeds."

Actually, there were only two weeds growing out of the lawn, blocking the path of the golf ball.

If left unaddressed, it could affect the direction and trajectory of the golf ball. From a sufficient distance perspective, even a slight deviation can eventually lead to a significant error.

The stadium manager immediately knelt down, carefully pulled out the grass, then poked it under the grass with sparse spikes that looked like a comb, and then patted it down with his hand.

He then put the golf ball back where it was supposed to be.

Diego watched as the stadium manager got up from the ground with a fawning smile on his face. Looking at the patches of turf left on the legs and elbows of his expensive suit, Diego didn't know what expression to make.

“Mr. Lance, it’s all right now.”

Lance nodded, then stood beside the golf ball, swung it twice, and then slammed it down hard. With a "thud," the golf ball flew out again.

Lance tossed the golf club to the manager, who immediately took off running towards the landing spot.

Lance then turned to Diego and said, "Look, even he knows to chase after the ball, why can't you?"

"Maybe you didn't know where that ball was before, but what about now?"

"Do you understand?"

Diego cursed Lance's ancestors to the eighteenth generation in his mind, then nodded coldly, "I think I understand."

He understood what Lance meant, but not much.

Lance raised his hand again, gesturing for them to move further away.

He walked side by side with Diego, who was slightly behind him by half a step, toward the stadium manager who was waving his arms in the distance.

"Actually, I don't really think you've figured it out."

"So I'll explain it to you in more detail now."

“If you leave, these rebel armies will quickly decide their victories, which will be very disadvantageous for us.”

Lance pursed his lips. "You know, people who get what they want through war, once they stand up, it's very difficult for them to kneel down."

“What we want is a stable Lapa that is easy for us to rule, not... a Lapa with many people opposing us.”

"So you have to wear them all down, using the government forces."

"do you understand?"

"Actually, you don't need to do anything special right now. Just continue with the policies that Fernandez left behind."

"We'll balance the rest ourselves."

"If you can't hold on any longer, we will provide you with some support if you don't meet our standards."

"If they're struggling to hold on after your attacks, then we'll give them some support."

"So like I said, you don't actually have to do anything."

Diego looked at Lance, his eyes no longer filled with anger. He simply stared at him and said, "Don't you consider how others perceive what you've done?"

Even if he were a dictator, a tyrant, he felt the Federation had gone too far.

Lance turned and glanced at him. "Who cares?"

"Besides, even if someone cares, do they have any evidence?"

"Your Excellency, making baseless accusations without evidence will come at a price."

"Moreover, this price is something that most people cannot afford."

As they drew closer to the green, Diego gritted his teeth and asked the question that had been on his mind most: "What do you plan to do with me?"

Lance shook his head and said, "You will have the kind of end befitting a tyrant!"

After he finished speaking, he smiled and walked towards the course manager, took the putter from him, aimed at the hole, and gently putted.

The golf ball rolled around for a while before going into the hole.

(End of this chapter)