CH 32

Chapter 32 “Scenery Unique to Dahan”

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SHIT??!!

The three girls nearly blew a gasket due to how shocked and scared they were of Song meowing like a cat there.

It’s true!

Sister Song has been possessed by a ghost!

She actually came out at night to meow!

Their hearts ached for their older sister. Taking a deep breath, the three quickly mustered up their courage and was ready to run out when a series of tiny shadows jumped out from hiding.

“Meow, meow, meow—”

It’s a bunch of furballs, and they’re all gathered around the singer’s leg and looking up with expectant eyes.

“Ca… cats?!” Spirit was dumbfounded, but became relieved as well.

“So Sister Song was calling out to the cats to feed them. Thank goodness….” Music makes an enlightened face as she muttered to her friends.

On the other hand, Coco the school idol was making an extremely embarrassed face. She’s the one clamoring the most about ghosts before so it’s expected that she took the brunt of the shame.

Coming out of hiding now that the rock has dropped.

“MEEEOOW!!!”

Feeling the approach of the three strangers, the kitty cats exploded and dashed for cover while some of the meaner ones put on an aggressive stance around the singer.

“Be nice, they’re my friends, Shhh!” Song gestures for everyone for calm by patting the fluffballs.

“Sister Song, are these cats yours?” Spirit asks after coming before their older sister.

“They are all strays from this area. My husband and I used to come out here together and feed them, but because of the recent events, I forgot and only remembered today.”

Song then went ahead to stroke the orange kitty nearest to herself and made an apology: “I’m sorry, I let you go hungry…”

“They’re all so cute!” Coco’s eyes had formed a heart shape due to the adorable cuties coming back from the bushes and wanted to stroke the nearest one. Sadly, they weren’t going to be tamed so easily and deftly avoided her hand.

Spirit spat her tongue out in apology as well for not trusting the singer more, “Sister Song, you scared us to death you know. I thought….”

Openly laughing in amusement, “Think I lost my mind?”

“There… somewhat.”

“I would never. In fact, I’m quite happy today.”

“Happy?” The three girls were confused by that answer.

They didn’t find Chu Yun again so why was she happy?

“My husband’s love letter of course. I can tell he is very bitter about hiding everything from me and was ready to confess his secret. This shows he still loves me!” The singer’s mouth drew a curved arc of sweet honey before continuing, “And I believe he will be fine! If my husband left on his own then it must be for a good reason. He never lied to me before so he won’t start now. As his wife, I must continue to trust him!”

This logic completely left the three friends frozen in shock.

They’ve been worrying all night and in the end the reward was a bowl full of sweet lovers’ dog food….

……

Next day morning.

A joint statement by the three great houses had swept across the world.

“Our three great houses will stop selling black oil to the Dahan Dynasty from here on forward!”

Just yesterday they were saying the deadline would be one day, turns out it’s even less than that. There’s no negotiating against this lightning-fast sanction.

However, things were very different as well for the citizens of the Dahan Dynasty.

On the road…… There are almost no cars like usual, and even if there were, it’s mostly public buses!

Instead, the number of morning runners, bike riders, and electric vehicles skyrocketed!

On a certain road, two acquaintances met by chance.

“Yo, Old Zhang, riding your bike to work I see.”

“Yeah, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time now. Not only do I get to save money, I also get to exercise. Is that an electric bike you’re riding?”

“I bought it last night. It’s more comfortable than my old car.”

“Haha, that’s great. If I had bumped into you riding that gas trap, I would’ve lost respect for you!”

“Hahaha, how can I ever? That would be the same as shaming our own country would it not? Communing from work is nothing, there’s always a way to solve it.”

On a public bus.

“Everyone try to squeeze in a little more so we can employ the gasoline to the fullest!”

“Don’t worry driver, we all get it!”

“Humph, those vampires of the three scum houses, they will know how strong our backbones are against open threats!”

“Isn’t it just some black oil sanctioning? It’s not like we can eat or drink the stuff. We won’t die if we use less!”

……

Inside a chatgroup of a random company.

Boss: “Notice to all employees: you do not need to rush to work today. Our company’s only request is to not drive your car and take alternative transportation that’s greener!”

……

Throughout the country, regardless of industry, regardless of position, everyone had a spontaneous enlightenment of uniting together against the oppression of tyrants.

In the most confidential conference room of Dahan Dynasty, the five reigning elders had gathered again to discuss the matter at hand.

They are thoroughly moved by the awareness of the citizens by watching the live camera feed from the streets. Although there are the occasional rebels refusing to change for the good of society, that’s far and few according to their impression. As leaders that gave their all to build this country up from nothing, what more could they ask for from the people?

“Do you all see this? This is what it means to be a Dahan citizen. For the greater good of all, everyone is willing to give up something important. As long as we have this spirit, what can’t we overcome?” The Grand Elder gripped his fists with intense emotions, thrilled that their efforts in the long years of struggle didn’t go to waste. “So what’s the situation with the oil merchants?”

The Third Elder stood up and reports with a frustrated yet helpless face, “Many have turned us away at the warning of the three houses. We won’t be able to procure oil from those sources anymore. As for those that are still willing to sell, they’re raising the asking price by ten times the market rate after learning of our dilemma….”

“Bastards, a bunch of vampires who only know how to prey on the weak!” The Grand Elder huffs and puffs in anger before slamming the table with his fists. “How much can our own oil fields produce during this period?”

The face of the Fourth Elder was equally as bitter, “Our oil field are low yields to begin with. According to our date and progress report, the most we can provide is fifteen percent above the normal yield. This output won’t be able to cover the rest of the demands required for daily usage. The only way is to cut the country’s driving rate to less than fifty percent of full capacity.”

Cut the driving rate by fifty percent?

How are they supposed to do that?

That would only work in the short terms, but in the long term, people are going to start rebelling and riot. On top of that, the plan doesn’t account for the cost of essential materials. The transport cost for planes and trains will rise sharply, meaning the cost would be passed onto the consumers and jacking up the prices of all commodities.

What’s more, there’s also the matter of the neighboring nations. Once they see weakness in the Dahan Dynasty, they would surely pounce and attack. At that point, it’s no longer a matter of keeping discontent down among the citizens, it’s about survival from a full blown war!

“Not enough, far from enough!” The Grand Elder’s brow had twisted into a knot as he roared: “The difficulty of extracting oil must be improved. We may not have done it before, but there must be a way to increase the rate of the pumps. I don’t care how we do it, but double the extraction rate of the pumps by next month, and then double that by half a year!”

It’s not him being difficult, but rather the crisis was forcing him to be difficult. If the imminent crisis doesn’t get solved, only catastrophe awaits in the near future.

“This…” The Fourth Elder didn’t know what else to say.

Human will be one thing, but reality was another. Physiques won’t just bend because you desire it.

Second Elder sighed and chimes in to explain the fault in that plan, “If we do this then the cost of the pumps will rise as well. Not only will it not help with the rising price of commodities, we will also drain the oil fields in a few years. That’s tantamount to drinking a pond to quench a quick thirst.”

The conference room fell into a sudden silence due to the hard truth.