The doctor suffers from amnesia, but not complete amnesia.

The distribution of wealth was perfect; everyone present had enough to eat, except for the judge. But clearly, Anato had used other methods to persuade Oleg.

"After classification, all those infected in the late stage, or suspected late stage, or those over a certain age will be subject to coercive measures—but not by soldiers, because we must consider the psychological trauma to soldiers and the waste of war materials caused by carrying out such tasks."

"In addition to the issue that infected individuals become sources of infection after death, we believe that euthanizing this group of people in a closed environment using a gas that will not react violently with Originium would be a better option—and this would also facilitate the settling of active Originium dust, thereby producing Originium fragments."

As Yefim read this part, his face twitched involuntarily, but he continued reading anyway.

"Based on the current test results, carbon monoxide gas is the most economical and effective solution. Except for a certain special situation, it is very much in line with the actual requirements."

"What special circumstances?"

Valery interjected with a question.

"Uh... the corpse will turn pink."

"puff."

Andrei scoffed.

Bang!

Valentin stood up, his face pale, knocking over the chair behind him.

“I—I shouldn’t have mixed vodka and anise.”

He stammered out a weak excuse, disregarding his rudeness, and stormed out of the meeting room.

Anatoly looked at his second-in-command, Yefim nodded, stood up, and followed him out.

"Alright, friends, let's eat something else, otherwise it would be such a waste if those exquisite dishes lost their best flavor due to cooling down."

A friendly smile returned to his face.

After all, everything seems to be under his control, doesn't it?

Chapter Forty-Two: The Undercurrents Beneath the Curtain

"Mr. Valentin, how are you?"

“I’m fine, yes, I’m fine, thank you, Yefim.”

Valentin took the towel offered to him and wiped his face.

"Perhaps you'd like a cigarette? The meeting's paused; everyone's enjoying their food."

Yefim took out a cigarette and handed it to the man.

"Ah, I do need one—but I don't have the means, Yefim, thanks for your concern."

Only after watching the other person leave the restroom did Valentin's face darken again.

"Pink... Andrei, that madman! He's absolutely incomprehensible!"

His hand holding the cigarette trembled slightly, but he still brought it to his lips and took a deep drag.

After leaving, Yefim did not return to the meeting room, but went straight to the kitchen.

He picked up a cup, poured himself some water, and drank it all in one gulp.

"gentlemen?"

"Get me some sedatives, mix them into water, and put them on my seat."

The colonel gripped the cup tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

"Sir, do you not like the food we made?"

The chef asked nervously.

Yefim glanced at him.

No—I didn't eat a single bite.

-------------------------------------------------

"Your Excellency Qiao Yelan, what would you like to eat?"

Yegor asked rather solicitously.

"Thank you, could I have a glass of water?"

"Ok."

Although he asked Qiao Yelan what she wanted to eat, Yegor didn't eat anything; he simply picked up a glass of wine.

"What do you think?"

"We were just dragged here to be spectators. They had already prepared everything, and all they wanted was for us to shut up and cooperate."

Qiao Yelan looked at the snow outside the window and spoke casually.

"I thought that your previous vehement rebuttal, at least—"

Why don't you go and tell Oleg and Alexander this?

The man turned his head and met the eyes of the Labor Minister.

Yegor remained silent.

“Anatole has prepared everything, from the implementation of the policy to our inquiries—so opposition is impossible, at least not at this meeting.”

"If it's impossible to even object at a meeting, then there's nothing more to say."

He sighed.

"Minister Yegor, would you mind if I visited you privately?"

"Of course not. This is my business card with my address at Saint Eagle Castle. You are welcome to visit anytime. If I am not here, my wife will call me and I will return as soon as possible."

Yegor handed Qiao Yelan a business card.

"Thank you—could you please push me back to my seat?"

"of course."

Yegor pushed Qiao Yelan back to his seat, then sat back down in his chair with his wine glass in hand.

Seeing that the people opposite had not returned yet, Qiao Yelan lowered her head and spoke in a very low voice to Alexander, who was sitting on her right.

“Mr. Alexander, would you please ride with me in the same car after we leave? My driver is trustworthy.”

The man looked up in surprise, but in the end he didn't say anything, only nodded slightly.

Qiao Yelan glanced at Oleg, who had turned into a clay sculpture, and said nothing, simply waiting quietly for the meeting to resume.

However, since Anatoly has already said so much, the rest is just a formality.

The formalities were quickly completed, but to avoid making things seem too awkward, the other party asked, "Does anyone else have any objections?"

Naturally, no one answered.

"You are not allowed to take any of the documents with you. You must memorize them and then submit them to your respective superiors in a well-written report. This report will be reviewed by Colonel Yefim before submission."

The meeting then came to an end, and all ten people present stood up, packed their things, and prepared to leave.

"You are responsible for organizing all the recording tapes. Have the recorder copy them tomorrow. The confidentiality measures must be taken to the extreme, including the typewriter shaft. Any items that may leave traces must be disposed of."

Anatoly gave Yefim some instructions.

"clear."

In that short moment, they missed the scene of Alexander pushing Qiao Yelan away.

"The Grand Duke of Cosice's envoy has brought some documents to submit to the parliament and asked me to go and take a look."

This is what Alexander told his driver.

After the two got into the car and drove out of the villa area, Alexander looked at Qiao Yelan across from him.

"Is there something you want with me in private?"

"May I pay a visit to the Speaker?"

"You can apply or send out invitations; it all depends on whether Speaker Witt will—"

"It's urgent—it concerns this meeting."

The man stared at Qiao Yelan.

"Don't you find it strange? Anatoly implied that His Majesty the Emperor and His Excellency the Speaker agreed, but the order was indeed issued by Grand Duke Nicholas. Don't you suspect that this implication was actually Anatoly trying to trick you?"

Alexander opened his mouth wide. It is indeed an unspoken rule in politics not to finish what you're saying—but what if there really is only that little bit to say?

“Speaker Witt was born a commoner and was promoted by His Majesty Vladimir. He united with other commoner officials he had also promoted to fight against the nobles in the parliament.”

"And His Majesty was personally taught and raised by the late Emperor. Whether it is the governing principles or political methods, they must have inherited them from His Majesty Vladimir—do you really think the two of them would agree to this?"

Qiao Yelan's words brought light back to Alexander's eyes, who had been wandering aimlessly.

Yes, I had gotten caught up in my habitual political thinking and almost forgot about the conflict between Grand Duke Nicholas, the Speaker of the Parliament, and His Majesty the Emperor!

"And think about it carefully, if His Majesty and the Speaker really agreed to this, why would Grand Duke Nicholas let his own son do it? This is a job that will get your hands dirty, and it might even be a debt that can never be cleared up!"

“You’re right! Nikolai could have done it with anyone else, but Anatoli was definitely not the one to do it! And now that he’s in charge, there must be some reason that forced them to make this choice!”

Qiao Yelan nodded seriously.