Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

----

"As for identity, thanks to you, there is no simpler question for me."

Elinis smiled with satisfaction, leaned on his cane, slowly stood up, and took off his glasses.

This was the first time Zhang Renfeng had truly seen his eyes—sharp, cold, yet filled with pride. Even though he was old and unable to move, and all his teeth had fallen out, he was still an old lion. The aura of the king of beasts had almost erased the traces of time left on him.

"No one has ever doubted my identity. And no one in this world will ever again associate me with that name. Because, according to you..."

"Right now, I should be spending another long and desperate night in the American Federal Prison."

……

Zhang Renfeng's pupils widened slightly, and for a moment, the world seemed to fall silent.

The flickering of the flames in the fireplace was so loud it was almost jarring.

The powerful execution capabilities of the secret organization.

The plan is meticulously crafted, with each step nested within the next.

High-quality letter paper.

The Isabella clothing store features some familiar Roman aesthetic styles.

A handicraft shop that started by making shoes.

And... the name "Blackwater Poison" itself overflows with malice towards everything it has built.

He had been lying low by my side for almost ten years?!

Thinking of this, Zhang Renfeng couldn't help but shudder.

"you……"

"You are Samuel Graves!"

“I’m honored,” Samuel said with a calm smile. “You still remember my name.”

Chapter 964: There Can Only Be Two Suns in the Sky

Samuel Graves, leader of the Gilded Party and former leader of the Illuminati.

This man, who once controlled the core of power in America, was the enemy he had fought tooth and nail to defeat and kill 14 years ago. Now, he sat calmly before him. He didn't even need to throw a punch or a kick; the man's body was too weak to stand or sit for long, and he couldn't even enjoy a lively banquet.

In an instant, a flood of emotions surged up. Zhang Renfeng thought of many things, but in the end, only one sentence came to his lips.

"you are still alive?"

"It's almost over," Samuel declared his death sentence in an utterly calm tone. "I won't live past this year."

"So, all of this is... a personal grudge, and it's all aimed at me?"

Zhang Renfeng squinted, "Because I destroyed everything you built on evil?"

“…Half and half.” Samuel gently set the book aside. He was a little cold and curled up in the chair, wrapping the blanket around himself even tighter. “Revenge is a fool’s game. Only someone like you would take it so seriously.”

"You mean I'm stupid?" Zhang Renfeng squinted.

“From a politician’s perspective, yes,” Samuel said bluntly. “But, in my observation, you don’t see yourself as a politician at all. Your style of doing things is more like that of an emperor in classical times… so it doesn’t really matter.”

"Unlike you, I don't have children."

“This is the decision I made when I took this step. No matter how similar the child is to you, they are not you, not even your alter ego. They cannot understand your good intentions and the effort you have put into this cause. Since that’s the case, it’s better not to have them.”

"Everything I created in my insignificant life could never be passed on to any 'descendants' as a legacy. Besides, you have already destroyed it all. Even if I had destroyed you, I could not go back to the past, so what would be the point?"

“But you still came,” Zhang Renfeng said in a deep voice, “coming here, coming to my city.”

“Yes, I want to see for myself… what kind of world someone like ‘you’ will create.” Samuel gave a meaningful smile. “Will it be different from ours?”

"The results of it?"

"To my surprise."

Samuel commented, "Although he was very naive in many ways politically, and some of his methods even seemed somewhat naive to me, it still greatly exceeded my expectations."

“If you had told me before that there was a city where people could really get out of poverty and become rich through hard work and effort, I would have thought it was a pipe dream.”

"In the North, the alliance of large capital groups, led by the reorganized Krenchikov Industrial Group, has also reached the same conclusion as me."

"This is the naivety of the political group led by you and that dwarf—you actually believe that you can maintain peace with another group of equal size but with completely different political views through trade and economic exchanges."

"What do you mean?" Zhang Renfeng asked, puzzled. "This country has already experienced a civil war. Do you really want to fight a second one?"

"They themselves won't go to the battlefield."

Samuel said casually, "Over the years, your rapid expansion has taken away a lot of the pie that rightfully belonged to them. When this squeeze reaches the point of being unbearable and on the verge of exploding, war will naturally be put on the agenda as a backup plan."

"After more than a decade of development, the Sanyuan Group has dominated all the states and counties in the south. You have a huge capital chain, your own mature industrial production chain, irreplaceable products mainly in electrical and automotive industries, a fairly powerful armed force, a unique Sanyuan Group culture, and absolute dominance in the federal governments at all levels..."

"Don't you understand? Right now, this country is essentially in a situation where it has two governments."

“One in the South, one in the North. And no competent government can tolerate its decrees and powers being effective only in half the country. When they come to your territory, they even have to be mindful of your attitude.”

"Therefore, war is inevitable sooner or later. Only by completely defeating you through such means can they reclaim their power."

……

Zhang Renfeng sat in the chair, his face gloomy.

The warm fire crackled and flickered.

Yet, amidst it all, he glimpsed a hail of bullets, soldiers being blown to pieces, dragging their mangled bodies as they crawled desperately through the mud.

A chilling scream echoed through the night sky.

"This...is...absurd!" Zhang Renfeng's eyes flashed with anger. "If we can do business properly and both sides can benefit, why do this?!"

“Welcome to the human world,” Samuel said with a smile. “In ‘our’ world, there are no fairy tales, no dreams, no win-win situations. Even if there are, it means we win two, three, four times… and keep winning forever.”

"By the way, within the Northern Capital Alliance, the 'younger generation' is currently actively preparing for war, and they are gaining the upper hand among the Holy Grail Party..."

"None of them had ever been on the battlefield."

……

Enraged to the extreme, Zhang Renfeng actually laughed in anger.

This aligns perfectly with his experience; those who constantly talk about fighting often haven't actually been on the battlefield.

War is a dangerous and perilous affair. Weapons are the nation's instruments of destruction. Once unleashed, nothing but victory is acceptable.

Even though the political group led by Igor realized early on that they and the capital groups in the north would ultimately not get along, Zhang Renfeng never thought of sending troops to attack and physically destroy them.

He could do that before, when he was still a member of the gang, but not now. He was a legitimate player, already at the table and holding a seat. Now that he had taken that seat, whatever he did had to be done with a legitimate reason.

Let's accept the loss if we have to. As long as it doesn't come to an irreversible point, everything can be discussed and negotiated.

Problems that can be solved economically should be solved economically whenever possible.

But now, it seems that retirement is possible.

The enemy assassin had already pressed the blade against White Torch City's throat!

……

"This is why I've come."

Samuel spread his hands and said quite frankly, “Those young men in the North want you to start the war first. That way, they’ll be ‘forced to fight back,’ and they can occupy the moral high ground and define your actions as ‘rebellion.’”

"And they, on the other hand, launched an army to quell the rebellion, which was perfectly justified. Their names, along with their illustrious military achievements, will be passed down to future generations, bringing them fame and fortune."

Chapter 965: Game of Thrones

There cannot be two suns in the sky.

Whether it's the Gilded Party or the Holy Grail Party, beneath their outward appearances and at their core, they all adhere to the same set of governing logic.

It may seem like there are choices, but in reality, no matter who comes to power, the strategies they adopt will only differ slightly in some minor details.

However, the Tripartite Group, which occupies the entire southern America, led by Igor, Zhang Renfeng, Mesalia, Hans, and Jimmy, implements a social operating model that is completely different from that of the Holy Grail Party and the Gilded Party.

As Samuel observed, although it appears somewhat immature and naive in some aspects, one can feel its immense vitality.

Here, whether you're the Holy Grail or have gilded credentials, your words carry no weight. Without the approval of the Sanyuan Group, it's virtually impossible for an outsider to accomplish anything.

Zhang Renfeng's desired state was to achieve "peace without interference" through economic ties—I don't care what you're doing in the north, and you don't care what I'm doing in the south; we maintain economic, cultural, and industrial exchanges. Vigorous development, everyone making more money, and living a better life—that's more important than anything else.

In fact, his reputation for "getting rich" was based on the belief that "harmony brings wealth," which is why people called him that.

However, the federal government of America could not tolerate this situation continuing.

Using the assassination of a key figure in the Sanyuan Group to instigate a war is a very dangerous signal: it means that, at least in their own opinion, they are ready to go to war.

……

"So, were you behind the Blue Shirts rebellion in Ukraine, and the recent arms smuggling case?"

“Ha…They must have complained to you, right? Saying they’re my black glove, blah blah blah…And what about me, the black glove of the Northerners?” Samuel half-closed his eyes, accepting everything calmly, and laughed, “That’s how the world is. When I lose everything and you guys carry me off the table, that’s all the value I have left.”

"You can ignore it!"

Zhang Renfeng raised his voice, his tone and eyes becoming incredibly complex, "Fourteen years ago, your double took the punishment you deserved. It lasted for a full six months in this city. After that, the name 'Samuel Graves' became history."

“You can do whatever you want. Your skills are so superb, and you are well-versed in business. You could easily use this skill to live a peaceful and uneventful life. In your words, given your wicked past, this result is already a gift from God.”

"Why get involved and become their pawns? Why?!"

……

Samuel raised an eyebrow, seemingly for the first time in this conversation that he showed a hint of surprise.

Then, he forced his eyes open, which were squinting into a slit, and looked Zhang Renfeng up and down, carefully and meticulously, as if he wanted to engrave every detail of his appearance into his mind and take it to hell.

He smiled.

"It's rare to see you... still yourself."

"What?" Zhang Renfeng was completely baffled by this seemingly random question.

"Power is a panacea, a poison. It makes people crave it but can't have it, and crave it so much that they can't get it back. Yet it is also incredibly real in destroying the emotions between people. Love, friendship, family ties... in the face of it, they are all gradually alienated and become insignificant."

Samuel glanced out the window at the dim, dark night, his expression wistful. "If you don't believe me, you can try it. Put your lover, friends, and family in the same workplace, then give them a strict, clear superior-subordinate relationship, along with equal benefits to that power relationship. It won't be long..."

"These warm feelings will slowly disappear, leaving only a strict and insurmountable hierarchy between superiors and subordinates. Superiors are authoritative and taciturn, while subordinates are extremely cautious, constantly trying to read the expressions and thoughts of their superiors."

"That's the terrifying thing about this cup of poison. No one believed it, no one wanted it, but it all just happened so naturally."

"But you, you... are one of the very few, the very few, people I've ever met who, after drinking this cup of wine, still remain true to themselves."

Samuel laughed and said, “Unfortunately, I am not. I have no children, no parents, no lover, no friends. I have no one else to confide in except myself.”

“I have given it my all, and I am very good at it. Over the years, it is the only skill I can be proud of.”

"Therefore, it has to be me, it has to be me."

Samuel grinned hopelessly. "Only by cooperating with them can I hope to get back to the table, back into the game, and back to play this Game of Thrones again."

"Even if, for me, this game is reduced to utterly boring and worthless cards like 'conspiracy' and 'assassination,' it doesn't matter. I will still do my best to play to the fullest and achieve the effect I want in this game."

"I'm going to play the biggest hand ever, completely reshuffle the deck and turn the current game upside down..."

Even if I'm not in the game in the future.

This theory deeply shocked Zhang Renfeng, causing him to take a deep breath and break out in a cold sweat.

Because he felt that he hadn't changed.

He was like he was fourteen years ago, and he should be the same now. He may have learned a lot of new knowledge and methods, but in essence, at his core, he should still be himself.

but……

Is it true?

If I drank this poisoned wine 14 years ago, can I really still be exactly the same as before?

----

"..."

A stream of blood gushed from Samuel's nasal cavity, like a thick earthworm. In the firelight, his blood appeared black, giving it a somewhat ferocious look.

“You…” Zhang Renfeng saw the cup on the low table and immediately realized that Samuel had already taken poison before he arrived. His vital signs were also rapidly declining.