021. No News in a Small try (Part 1)

  Twenty-six-year-old Barnum Ziegler finished his day’s work and took a private car bae.

  Although he called it home, it was actually a suite in the Joyful Four Seasons Hotel, Room 409, located at 67 Speyer Avenue, where he lived alone.

  As a GTB expatriate operative, he was quite satisfied with the aodation provided by the Grand Duchy. Opening the window, he could see the Duke’s residend the symbol of power for the entire Grand Duchy of Grant—the "Sulut Pace."

  The Frost-Pted Republic favored white and blue, painting the Twin Paces white, while the Grand Duchy of Grant, which had long revered the volo that nurtured them, paiheir pa a vibrant crimson.

  To be ho, it wasn’t that Barnum didn’t love his own try, but the red just looked mrand and lively than the white. He enjoyed ing home from work every day, opening the baly’s floor-to-ceiling windows, sitting in a chair, feeling the warmer breeze pared to Frost-Pted Republid watg the Duke’s guards ge shifts.

  Across from his window, in an apartment, there lived a kind man with a thick beard and pale skin, evidently of Outer Territory dest. Barnum khis man also enjoyed watg the guards ge shifts, but he could never remember the exact time, so he would take out a camera and binocurs every few hours to observe.

  This try, ri coffee and grains, had been blessed by the p with golden nds. The abundahermal energy allowed him to enjoy luxuries unimaginable in Frost-Pted Republic, such as hot springs, higher-powered artificial suns, and delicious sugare.

  Despite being on assig for half a year, all it took was a sugar cube in his coffee and waiting for the hotel staff to deliver cod, pork stew, and sad, and he hardly felt homesiymore.

  The clock’s hands sliced through the past like a sword, and as usual, he sat on the baly chair, ready to watch the Duke’s guards ge shifts.

  But he waited for a long time without seeing the tall, imposing guards appear.

  “That’s strange,” Barnum thought in fusion.

  He checked his watch to firm the time was corred began browsing his personal terminal for news.

  “At the GTB summit, Tianhuan’s diplomatic representative once agaied strong evidence, suggesting that the humanitarian viotions by Abyss Humanitarian Relief were likely true. A Frost-Pted spokesperson stated: ‘We are unaware of this matter’… Whatever, nations slinging mud at each other isn’t new.”

  “Red Arrow Empire raises i rates again. The exge rate between the Debi and Gallen currencies falls below 9.8. Inftion tinues, and Frost-Pted may implement strict price trols—are they crazy? Freezing priow will cause factories to shut down.”

  “Zhengxu raises immigration qualifications again, issuing only 100,000 green cards this year… Ugh, it’s getting harder.”

  As a graduate of a prestigious uy, Barnum’s ambitions were modest. With his parents deceased and no spouse, he only wao earn enough moo leave Frost-Pted, this wretched pce, and move to a high-welfare try like Zhengxu.

  No one liked Frost-Pted; women found it terrifying, especially if they gave birth to sons who would be discriminated against, and men lived in bitterness with no pin.

  On sed thought, the Grand Duchy of Grant wasn’t bad either, but it was still a y with unevenly educated people. Barnum wanted his future children to have better educational opportunities, whether they succeeded in life or not, so they could pursue their dreams.

  Ideally, he’d immigrate to Zhengxu—peaceful, fortable, and war-free.

  But Barnum realized that the Grand Duchy offered these ditions too…

  Was he really going to settle in a y?

  To be ho, Barnum had been here for half a year and had grown quite fond of the warm-hearted people. As a GTB employee, his main task was to provide energy loans.

  In a try like the Grand Duchy, which had no she of energy, his job was fairly rexed, and he spent most of his time wandering the streets.

  Over time, he developed some affe for this pce.

  Just as Barnum was lost in thought, his colleague, Zhao Senan, called him.

  “Hey, it’s me.”

  “Yo, Barnum, didn’t you graduate from Twin Star Uy?” Zhao Senan asked pyfully, curious.

  “Yes, I graduated this year. Why?” Barnum asked, puzzled.

  “Was it in the business ma department?”

  “Obviously.” Barnum replied, exasperated. Where else would a finance graduate work but at GTB?

  “That makes sense.” Zhao Senan said excitedly, “Do you remember a sed-year student named Li Huixi?”

  “I vaguely remember her. She retty, with a slim waist and long legs. At one of our mixers, my friends urged me to ask her to dance, but she turned me down because I came from a poor family.” Barnum said casually.

  “That’s what you call a vague memory? Sounds like you’re holding a grudge!” Zhao Senan teased.

  “Not at all. I’ve long siopped g. You have to be magnanimous.” Barnum replied dismissively, taking a sip of coffee.

  “Li Huixi got into trouble and got arrested.”

  “Serves her right!” Barnum smmed the table, excitedly asking, “What did she do? She’s only a sed-year student—did she get involved in financial crimes?”

  “It’s reted. Barnum, do you know about the ret ‘Li Aozi meme’ that’s been all over the pce?”

  “I don’t watch those kinds of videos,” Barnum said righteously.

  “You don’t watch them? Then how did you know Li Aozi’s speech osted on the Snake website?” Zhao Senan said disdainfully. “Holy, a friend from Law IV told me—Li Huixi is Li Aozi’s biological sister. That’s why they arrested her, to use her to pressure Li Aozi into surrendering.”

  “Isn’t that a bit too despicable…” Barnum frowned. “Taking a criminal’s family hostage makes them er than the criminal.”

  “Li Aozi is far from just a criminal. He killed over a hundred Abyss Humanitarian Relief employees and is hailed as a hero by the Outer Territories.” Zhao Senan said mogly, “This guy has disgraced the Frost-Pted Republic, sellis to other tries. His family deserves to be implicated.”

  “I’m not saying Frost-Pted is right.” Barnum retorted. “Abyss Humanitarian Relief did wrong, but Li Aozi’s sughter of unarmed civilians is also a fact. And the Frost-Pted gover’s inhumane experiments are against all reason.”

  “Someone has to take the fall, and it sure as hell won’t be us.” Zhao Senan chuckled, then said seriously, “If Frost-Pted faces iional sans, the warriors of Tianhuan might use it as an excuse to attack us. I’m pnning t my family out of Frost-Pted.”

  “Bringing them to the Grand Duchy? Not a bad idea—it’s pretty safe here.”

  “Yeah, for ordinary folks like us, it’s better to flee to the ies or tryside. Tianhuan’s soldiers show no mercy when they kill.”

  Zhao Senan said worriedly, “My wife still holds three of my savings cards. Last year, we took out a 3 million Debi loan to buy a school district house in Twin Star City. Little Na finally got into elementary school. If war breaks out and a missile hits our house, where will I go to cry…”

  “It won’t happen,” Barnum reassured him. “The only thing that could breach the capital’s defenses is a nuclear missile. On the bright side, if that happens, none of the tens of thousands of households around you will have a school district house, so you won’t have to worry about your kid peting.”

  “What you just said almost sounded human.”

  At that moment, Barnum suddenly noticed a piece of white cloth about eight feet long falling from the sky above Sulut Pace, fluttering gracefully like a butterfly.

  Cloth?

  But upon closer iion, it wasn’t just a piece of cloth; many fluttering white strips were floating down, heading straight for the Duke’s residence.

  “Barnum?”

  “Old Zhao,” Barnum’s forehead broke out in a cold sweat. He wiped it off with his hand and whispered, “You might want to keep your wife at home.”

  “What?”

  The moment, those strips of white cloth turned into humanoid figures as they he ground. wingsuits, the attackers crashed through the windows, st into the Duke’s mansion.

  Bang! Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat!

  Gunfire erupted. Explosions followed, shattering the tranquility of the city. Soon, polid military armored vehicles were oreets. Barnum watched as the windows of the apartment across from him opened, and the bearded, kind man he had seen every day hoisted a missile uncher, aimed it at the armored vehicles beloulled the trigger.

  AnnouA big thank you to [okoe Lamptey] for joining my Patreon! Your support means a lot to me.

  FAL