by <unknown>
"Ding Lingdang!" There was finally fury and frustration in Jin Xinyue's voice. She even stopped using the formal title. "Don't think that you are qualified to be the Speaker of the Federation after you get rid of me. A bull who has more brawns than brains such as yourself doesn't even deserve to be a mayor. You will ruin the federation!"
"Whatever the battlefield is…" Ding Lingdang's voice drifted close from outside the warehouse like rumbling thunder on the ceiling. "I will win as long as I want to!"
Ding Lingdang left like a storm.
Jin Xinyue was left alone in the empty, abandoned warehouse in the black leather coat.
However, if Ding Lingdang had not left but turned invisible and stopped in front of Jin Xinyue, she would have noticed that when the saintess of demons bellowed 'Ding Lingdang' in rage, there was not the slightest anger on her face.
Instead, it was brimming with… a clever smile, like a fox that had just stolen a fish.
"What a silly masteress." Jin Xinyue yawned again and mumbled to herself, "Still, she is quite adorable in her own way."
Chapter 1680: Great Avalanche |
Every overwhelming avalanche begins with the quake of one insignificant stone.
However, before the thick and heavy snow that covered that entire mountaintop really collapsed, nobody could have foreseen that the tiny stone boasted such enormous destructive power!
The things that happened one short month before the election of the most important Speaker in the hundred years since the New Federation had been founded seemed to be further proving the point.
When, twenty days ago, a mysterious person under the name of 'Moonfall' exposed the so-called 'nefarious scandal' in various media, a lot of idle people had been debating with each other on the Spiritual Nexus about the exposure.
But honestly speaking, for every federal citizen who had received citizenship education and boasted rationality above average thanks to the edification of the game 'Civilization', which also granted them the right to vote, they did not think that the scandal alone was enough to knock Jin Xinyue down, even if some of them were Jin Xinyue's opposers.
A scandal was just a scandal. Nothing more.
The online exposure could be groundless and entirely fabricated, but even if it was true, there was still a major gap between Jin Xinyue and a 'contemporary Lu Zui'.
After all, the 'Dim Moon Plan' exposed by Moonfall's secret letter was a coup operation directed toward a different political entity beyond the federation. Also, the plan was only targeting the highest leader of the political entity in principle, and Jin Xinyue did not plan and implement it actively, either, but merely kept silent in order to gain more benefits.
Furthermore, her purpose was to eliminate all the uncertainties before the Black Wind Fleet arrived and win Firefly over for the federation.
It was completely a different deal from Lu Zui, who made multiple plans against the Speaker and his own compatriots promptly just to raise a total war, eventually getting more than ten thousand innocent compatriots killed.
All the federal citizens were mature enough to know that the real world was not a fairy tale or an online novel where one could defeat everything with mere 'passion' and 'sense of justice'.
For a regional superpower that boasted seven Sectors and a population of more than a hundred billion and was faced with a serious military threat, it was necessary to adopt certain unconventional methods at unusual times. Cultivators were 'sabers of humanity', not 'rosaries of humanity' or 'sutras of humanity'. They were certainly not the most lenient people in the world!
"Jin Xinyue did it for a good purpose, although her methods were indeed questionable."
"There is no kindness in times of war. Even if this thing is real, isn't it more proof that Jin Xinyue is more suitable to be the Speaker of the Federation?"
"Yes. We can make safer decisions in peacetime, but now that we are faced with the gravest danger since the establishment of the New Federation, only a determined and resolute person such as Jin Xinyue can lead us to defeat the Imperium at such a moment of life and death! This war will be the real rise of the New Federation!"
After the initial shock and exclamations, similar opinions were gradually spreading out on the Spiritual Nexus and won a lot of supporters.
"I don't think Jin Xinyue did anything wrong. On the other hand, Ding Lingdang or a certain guy in the Patriots Front has played a rather foul move. It is obvious that this 'Moonfall' was made up by them! As the saying goes, a family should solve the internal conflicts within the family. Even if the Dim Moon Fund did organize the operation, there is still no need to publicize it and upset our ally and the general public!
"This is obviously the Patriots Front trying to tear apart the federation without considering the big picture just to take the helm! They are talking about a 'second Lu Zui', but wasn't Lu Zui the founder of the Patriots Partnership before?"
All in all, a week after the letter from Moonfall was exposed, the obstreperous noises on the media and the Spiritual Nexus did not seem to congregate into a storm.
Both the parliament and the plaza of the Ministry of Equality and Development at the center of the storm were as peaceful as before.
However, in places that news reporters and general public could not see, an independent group made of the best prosecutors and investigators of the federation had already begun their investigation thunderously and shocked a lot of insiders of Jin Xinyue's group. The tiny butterfly finally flapped its wings, bringing forth a storm that would soon turn the world upside down.
A week after the exposure of the letter from Moonfall, the 'stone' that caused the avalanche finally dropped down.
It landed in the station where the delegation from the rightful government of the Star Ocean Republic was staying.
The appearance of Moonfall's letter disrupted all the arrangements previously agreed upon by the government-in-exile and the federation. After a week's urgent negotiations, the delegation of the government-in-exile was finally ready to leave. They were about to transfer at the 'Hundred Flowers Space Zone', which was at the center of the seven Sectors, before they directly jumped to the capital city in the Heaven's Origin Sector in order to consolidate the time-tested friendship between the two parties and their mutual destiny on the path of Cultivation.
However, the morning the delegation was about to set off, an unsolicited guest barged into the hotel of the delegation recklessly in the middle of the reporters.
However, the delegation was too well-defended to be breached. Not only had the Secret Sword Bureau set up iron walls around the hotel, even 'Team Red Lotus', the delegation's own guardian team', was the most elite special force of the government-in-exile.
The unannounced intruder was not even able to break the first defense line when she was caught by the Secret Sword Bureau and Team Red Lotus.
However, the weak, pitiful girl who seemed less than twenty years old shocked everyone the moment she started to talk after she was caught.
"Please help me! My brother is 'Moonfall'. He was an accountant in the Dim Moon Fund who oversaw the operations of the secret capital, but he has already been killed by Jin Xinyue! He sent me a jade chip before his death, saying that Jin Xinyue's clandestine deals were all stored inside! He also said that Jin Xinyue's subordinates were everywhere and that I could only be safe enough in this place under the double protection of the Secret Sword Bureau and the delegation from Firefly! Only the delegation from Firefly can release the information to the public so that everybody can know what Jin Xinyue and the people behind her did!"
The avalanche began.
From the precious jade chip brought by the girl who claimed to be Moonfall's sister, a lot of information regarding the flow of the secret capital of the Dim Moon Fund was parsed.
Although the information was not enough to completely prove the connection between the Dim Moon Fund and the CFIA or to crucify Jin Xinyue, it at least helped the independent investigators apply for higher perm
issions in their operation, which allowed them to summon tremendous Secret Sword Agents to block and search more than fifty branches, local offices, and secret bureaus of the Ministry of Equality and Development and the Dim Moon Fund in all seven Sectors. More than 3,200 crystal processors and ten thousand storage chips were confiscated.
Most of the secrets of the Dim Moon Fund were exposed to the independent investigators as well as the Secret Sword Bureau, their old nemesis.
However, things did not quite go as many people planned in the next two weeks.
The purpose of the independent investigators was to find out the connection between the Dim Moon Fund and the CFIA, or even evidence that Jin Xinyue had been manipulating the CFIA for her own benefit, through the crystal processors and the storage chips.
However, before they found the proof that they needed, they located evidence suggesting that the Dim Moon Fund had been conniving with certain high-ranking super sects that had a history of hundreds of years and were even the founders of the Old Federation!
According to the evidence, long before the 'Dim Moon Fund' was established, more than a hundred years ago, Jin Xinyue, as a saintess of the demons, had to lower her head to the great sects that in fact controlled the lifelines of the federation for the survival and rise of the demon race. She worked as their accomplice and lackey and even transmitted astronomical illegal interests to them in secret.
The Blood Demon Sector, which had just signed a treaty of surrender, boasted countless laborers who were sturdy, hardworking, and relatively docile because of the long-time edification of the Four Pillars System.
With the laborers as her leverage, Jin Xinyue managed to force her way into the secret circle of the great sects that had been passed on for hundreds of years. She began to speak for their benefits.
In the decades that followed, she even helped a few sects that were slightly weaker defeat some other sects that ranked higher. It was only with the support of the victors that she finally rose to her current position.
There was no need to mention all the surreptitious details involved in the process.
The battlefield of business was as merciless as a real one. Now that the pungent dregs that had been fomenting in the dark gutters for a hundred years had all been dug up, barely any of the few cross-Sector sects that ranked top in the federation, and especially some of the ancient sects at the core worlds that boasted a history of hundreds of years, survived.
The case of Magnificent Expanse, the case of Turbulent Ocean, the case of the development on South Funnel Planet… All the cases related to illegal operations, interest transmissions, and blatant bribery were unraveled!
The great sects that had dominated the world since the age of the Old Federation were immediately put into an awkward situation.
The whole thing suddenly turned into one where everybody was darting at a hornets' nest only to discover that quite a few tigers were actually squatting behind it. The people, the media, the Secret Sword Bureau, and the independent investigators could not help but shift their eyes from Jin Xinyue and the Dim Moon Fund to the major sects!
The reason was simple.
Judging from the evidence parsed so far, Jin Xinyue was but a 'puppet' that those important sects put on the table and a lackey to fight for their benefits. Was it reasonable to only catch a lackey without asking who was behind the curtain?
In terms of 'interest transmissions', Jin Xinyue was the briber, and the great sects accepted the benefits she offered.
Compared with bribery, people seemed to be more intolerable about the briber.
Also, based on the evidence, Jin Xinyue was not entirely doing it for herself but to help her compatriots, the poor demons in the Blood Demon Sector, to survive the harsh and difficult environment a hundred years ago and grow into regular 'people of the federation'. That was why she had been forced to bend before the major sects despite her unwillingness and fight for their benefits.
The 'Bill of Rights for General Equality' had been passed almost fifty years prior. The war a hundred years ago had long been left behind. Most people of the federation did not have much prejudice against the demons anymore.
Jin Xinyue had been a saintess of the demons before, which was a fact that everybody knew. Then, for the future of her people, she had been forced to kowtow to the 'giants' of the federation at that time and do certain ugly things while she suffered the extortion of those giants. So, she appeared to be rather… uncomplaining, which called for sympathy?
At the very least, to fight for a brighter future for her people, she shouldered all the darkness by herself. It was indeed a great sacrifice!
Chapter 1681: Revolution! |
In the three weeks, the incident kept on fomenting. Almost every major sect in the core worlds was being roasted.
In the meantime, from certain corners on the Spiritual Nexus, a brand-new opinion was quietly released and soon spread out virally.
"Jin Xinyue is certainly not right, but she is quite pitiful, too. Think about it. A hundred years ago, as a saintess of demons who shouldered the destiny and future of all her compatriots, she was merely in the demon king stage or the Core Formation Stage. Faced with the almighty giants that had controlled the Old Federation for hundreds of years, did she really have a choice other than to lower her proud head and listen to them obediently?"
"Yes. She went through so much trouble doing so many things against her will, but she earned less than ten percent from the gains. Most of the benefits were looted by the major sects!"
"Jin Xinyue was innocent. A hundred years ago, she was a kind, innocent girl. Otherwise, why would the legendary Vulture Li Yao, the dominator of three Sectors, have recruited her as a disciple? She is Li Yao's disciple, and Li Yao is our great hero. So, she must be a good person!"
"It's a shame that Li Yao left too early. Without the protection of Li Yao, how could such a vulnerable girl as Jin Xinyue have protected the future of her people and resisted the storms of the outside world on her own?"
"Those wretched giants threatened her with the future of demons after Jin Xinyue lost her master in her most vulnerable moment. They forced her to cross the line further and further, asking her to do so many bad things!"
"Jin Xinyue did not have a choice. She was so pitiful!"
"I am a demon, and I am a real citizen of the federation, but I will forever be proud of my bloodline! It was not until today that I learned that Jin Xinyue secretly carried such heavy burdens for the demons to receive equal citizen rights and that the major sects that belong to the old era could be so shameless!"
"I am also a demon. Of the hundred billion people in the federation, demons make up almost thirty billion. We absolutely support Jin Xinyue, and we will not allow any major sect to sit on our neck and manipulate us as if we are their horses and hounds!"
"Our loyalty is to the federation, and we will only fight for the federation. We will not be taken advantage of by the major sects anymore. We will not stand our leader Jin Xinyue being played by the major sects as a marionette!"
"I am not a demon, but I am from the Water Crystal Sector, one of the 'four new worlds' in the eyes of the people from the core worlds. I absolutely support the opinions of the demon patriots. The Star Glory Federation belongs to all the people of the seven Sectors. It is definitely not a property of the major sects and the ancient houses that are remnants of the old times and no longer used to the new era!"
"The New Federation calls for new sects that can really stand for the interests of all the people in the seven Sectors!"
Similar opinions swept across every corner of the grand-unified Spiritual Nexus in only a couple of days like a surging superstorm.
As the investigation went deeper and deeper, the major sects and traditional families of training with hundreds of years of history caught the attention of the independent investigators one after another. New scandals were being exposed almost on a daily basis. While all the people were dumbfounded and infuriated, they furthe
r proved the correctness of the opinions listed above.
The market reacted strongly to the 'Dim Moon Plan Incident'.
The major sects from the core worlds and their affiliated sects plummeted in the financial market like a great landslide.
Needless to say, some of the leaders of the sects and the patriarchs of noble families had already been or were about to be investigated because of the scandal.
Various sources said that the serial exposure of scandals would certainly cause a great reshuffle to the federation both economically and politically.
The ancient giants that had succeeded and expanded to this day since the Old Federation was founded more than a thousand years ago were likely to be broken up and restructured.
After they were broken up and restructured, their influence on the New Federation would plunge.
To some extent, this was an accidental but reasonable 'change of dynasties'.
The old magnates and interest groups were bound to leave the stage together with the name 'Old Federation', whereas new magnates and interest groups would rise like a morning sun and continue illuminating the land of the New Federation!
At this moment, although the voting had not begun yet, the result of the election was already preordained.
Ding Lingdang, the Patriots Front, and the new worlds were the greatest beneficiaries of the incident.
The ancient sects in the core worlds, mired in scandals, barely had enough time to take care of themselves. All they were trying to do was perform a decent curtain call. They were unable to compete with the strength behind Ding Lingdang and the angry people who were gradually choosing to side with her when they had lost most of their supporters.
The twelve most authoritative news outlets of the federation made predictions on the result of the election. The odds of Ding Lingdang being elected had been raised to above eighty percent, and the odds that Jin Xinyue was elected were less than seven percent.