Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: What Happened in the Western Regions (1)
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-Bam bam♪ Pa pa pa♪ Bam pa pa pa bam pa ba bam pa♪
It had been a long time since I'd last heard it.
The repulsive military reveille that announced a lively morning.
Just as goosebumps prickled across my entire body, making me wonder if I'd regressed and re-enlisted in the army,
a familiar voice reached my ears.
"Oh, Chairman. Good morning."
"Hah, this has to be the worst wake-up call in history."
"Heh heh heh. Get up already. We've got a ton of stuff to do starting now."
There stood Kim Won-cheol, chuckling with his usual goofy grin.
I'd asked him to give me a wake-up call, sure, but this? The man was impressive in all sorts of ways.
"If you stick around here any longer, you might actually end up marrying that eight-year-old little princess. Come on, let's get going."
"...No way to the little princess."
I had zero interest in introducing a modern-day child bride system. The moment he said that, I bolted out of bed.
The week-long extravaganza of luxurious banquets in Saudi Arabia had finally come to an end yesterday.
After a quick shower, I roughly dried my hair with a towel and said to Kim Won-cheol,
"Well, it's about time to head out anyway. We've got word back from that thing I asked President Michelle to handle."
"You mean that mess in Uyghur a few days ago? That... total chaos, absolute pandemonium."
The blood-soaked tragedy that unfolded in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
As I blankly stared at my reflection in the mirror while applying lotion, a pang of regret suddenly hit me.
A series of events that had lingered vaguely in my memories but couldn't be changed. And my current situation, where I had to turn them into leverage for opportunity.
Tracing back through the timeline of past events step by step, I replied to Kim Won-cheol as if monologuing to myself.
"Chaos...? The real chaos is what's coming next."
"Huh? Isn't the cleanup already done? They say they turned the streets into a bloodbath."
Kim Won-cheol tilted his head, clearly not getting it.
Of course... he wouldn't know yet.
What measures would follow. How intense the crackdown would be.
"You think they'd let it end here? Once a sprout pokes through, there's always a much deeper root beneath. That's why..."
The Islamic forces in Uyghur, where seeds of separatism had sprouted.
China's Communist Party leadership, eyeing the Kra Canal with the same tactics, would now apply the iron rod of law to their own territory.
And that sturdy iron rod, once raised high... would soon come crashing down on Uyghur. In the form of forced labor camps—powerful, brutally oppressive ones.
"They'll try to uproot it. Using methods they've never tried before, and they'll do it ruthlessly."
And I would place the Kra Canal right in front of that descending iron rod.
To make their own actions backfire on the Communist Party leadership's hand.
"I've got the puzzle pieces in mind. Let's get going first. I'll explain on the plane."
* * * *
Beijing, Zhongnanhai.
Inside Lord Zhang's grand residence was a pond so vast it could almost be called a small lake.
Chinese political and business elites waiting to meet him stood on the veranda, gazing at the serene waters.
"You idiot! Cut the bloated nonsense and do as I say right now!"
Ripples immediately spread across the pond.
Startled by the bellow from Beijing's old monster, a mandarin duck that had been quietly resting took flight in a flurry of feathers.
"The next one, please come in."
China's Minister of Public Security slunk away like he'd been chased out.
James Wang, the executive director, watched the man's slumped shoulders from behind, then slowly stepped into the old monster's room.
"It's an honor to see you again, Lord Zhang."
"Ah, you've come."
James Wang eyed Lord Zhang's mood. The old man's face was still flushed, his breathing ragged with heavy huffs.
Judging that calming the emotions took priority over diving into business, he cautiously asked,
"If now is not a good time to discuss matters...?"
"Nah, it's fine. That last fool just spouted so much drivel that I got a bit irritated."
Beijing's old monster set his gold-embossed fan on the table, lit a long bamboo pipe,
exhaled a hazy cloud of gray smoke toward the ceiling, tapped off the ash, and continued.
"You must have heard about those Islamic scum stirring up trouble in the west this time, right?"
"Yes, I have. That's actually what I wanted to discuss..."
The Malaysian intelligence he'd connected with to seize the Kra Canal. He needed to avoid upsetting the Islamic extremists they planned to use as puppets.
James Wang was about to bring it up to Beijing's old monster.
But...
'Wait, could it be...?'
A sudden strange sense of déjà vu hit him.
He swallowed the words about to escape his throat and lowered his head again.
"What is it?"
"Oh, nothing. Please go ahead, my lord."
"This guy, really. No sense of fun."
His head hung low, but his eyes lifted cautiously in contrast.
His anxious inner voice screamed at him while gauging Lord Zhang's mood.
'This feels bad. Don't stir up trouble when it's best left alone...'
Bad premonitions always hit the mark.
Soon, a single sentence from Beijing's old monster rang in his ears.
"I told them to build North Korean-style camps in Uyghur too, but apparently it's tough? How can the Minister of Public Security be such a coward!"
"......!"
He'd suspected it, didn't want to hear it, but ended up hearing it anyway.
With the floodgates of anger open, Beijing's old monster vented freely in front of James Wang without restraint.
"What an utter dullard! The moment those ethnic minorities raise their voices and run wild, the unity of the Chinese nation is finished!"
"My lord..."
He couldn't even dream of rebutting the emotional torrent.
And so... James Wang said nothing. Not even as he felt with every fiber of his being that Lord Zhang's current decision on the west would ensnare the Kra Canal region in the south.
"The One Belt One Road project you're handling will be the same. Always devote yourself to projecting the majesty of China to the world."
"...Yes, my lord. Understood."
"Good, good. Now then, I'll hear your main business. You've selected the puppets for that Malaysian intelligence outfit to use, right?"
The back-and-forth wrapped up quickly.
No waves would ripple the garden pond from Lord Zhang's shouting this time, but a stone had settled heavily in James Wang's heart.
Turning the mind of that stubborn old monster with eyes closed was more than just "difficult" could describe.
James Wang bowed and exited the room. Seeing this, Lord Zhang smiled contentedly.
"Things seem to be going smoothly."
And at that moment, his cell phone rang as if on cue.
Beijing's old monster stared at the screen reading "Minister of Public Security," then held it to his ear.
"How'd it go?"
The corners of his mouth curved upward.
He seemed to have received a thoroughly satisfactory response on the Uyghur camp construction that had displeased him earlier.
"Finally getting the picture. Start with the families of those identified in the recent riots."
As he gave detailed instructions and was about to end the call, a sycophantic request came from the other end.
"You want me to name the camp? Hmm... let me think."
He stroked his grizzled beard, pondering briefly.
With a small chuckle, a name popped into his head that couldn't suit it better.
In a pleased tone, Lord Zhang's answer was immediate.
"Call the camp the 'Xinjiang Re-education Camp.' Well, when you think about it, those people are subjects in dire need of Chinese teachings, aren't they?"
* * * *
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Urumqi. Inside a certain hotel for foreigners.
Against the bleak streetscape beyond the window, two Frenchmen faced each other.
"Michelle? Oh my God! You came in person?"
"For something this important, I had to. But this place..."
The bloodstains still lingering on the roads. And the acrid gunpowder scent stinging his nose.
"It's a disaster."
Even reaching Uyghur had been no easy feat for President Michelle.
He took the video camera from Pierre, who had witnessed the tragedy firsthand.
"I kept the footage you had me record... but how did you know I was here?"
"Well..."
President Michelle hesitated to answer the perfectly reasonable question.
A few days ago, in the midst of his business trip in Saudi Arabia, a call came from the young Chairman.
The Chairman spoke as if he knew everything, suddenly issuing a bizarre order.
'There's a guy named Pierre in Uyghur right now where the bloodshed just happened—the one you used to work with.'
The order to retrieve footage from him. When he asked for reasons multiple times, completely baffled, the Chairman just laughed and gave a cryptic reply.
'Would you believe me if I said I saw it in the future?'
Not knowing the impact that footage would have in the original history, Michelle had no choice but to let the chairman's vague answer slide.
He simply vaguely assumed it came from one of the Chairman's information channels.
"Anyway, that's how it happened. The intel team at my current company must be pretty capable."
He figured it came from the Saudi crown prince or something, muttering an ambiguous response as if to himself.
Standing, President Michelle reviewed the footage for a few minutes. Pierre, gripping his hand, bowed his head with teary eyes.
"Please take good care of this. We're foreigners here, but... these people are like brothers to me."
Having spent several years struggling alongside the locals, Pierre had grown genuinely attached.
He emphasized it repeatedly, overflowing with a sense of justice.
"Don't worry. I promise to let the whole world know."
With no time to spare, President Michelle hurriedly prepared to leave.
As he grabbed the door handle, he suddenly remembered something he'd nearly forgotten and turned back.
"Oh, and just in case."
"Yes?"
He'd brought it up himself, but President Michelle was half-doubting.
Reason told him such a thing was unlikely, yet an ominous feeling welled up inside regardless. Slowly, he opened his mouth about the final instruction from his boss, the Chairman.
"If something like a political prisoner camp... or similar shows up, let me know right away. And if possible, secure any related victims too."