People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

“Using airships, high-speed aerial warships, as carriers, blocks are connected to form mobile cities. The mobile city itself is also a super-large high-speed warship. Sky City may well be the same principle.”

Ernst wiped the cold sweat from his brow and said, "Miss Nastie, you're absolutely right."

But I really can't bring you a few hundred more Balrogs to provide energy for the airships you're talking about that will form a "mobile city".

You're not planning to let Safar burn it, are you? Even if you squeeze the last bit of fire out of him, he doesn't have the ability!

Besides, aside from the energy issue, where would they get enough building materials to construct a mobile city, let alone materials for a "sky-mobile city"?

There's no such thing as a Minecraft mod with a small wooden axe that can create buildings with a single click.

Uh... it shouldn't exist, right?

Chapter 280 The Jade Capital in the Heavens, Twelve Towers and Five Cities (Part 2)

"Build cities in the sky?"

When Christensen first heard about Nasti's dream, even she was taken aback.

Building a city in the sky is far more difficult than simply flying. In fact, flying is merely the first step in building an aerial city, the very foundation.

But after looking into Nastie's eyes and understanding the stubbornness and determination in them, Christen nodded.

She never mocked any dream, no matter how absurd, whimsical, or like a daydream it might sound.

Scientists don't believe dreams are false. Every dream has the potential to be realized. Before Kristen's parents pioneered the development of stable flying machines, how many Terrans believed they could soar through the skies like the feathered beasts?

With genius on the left and madness on the right, Kristen knew better than anyone how many people called their persistent challenge to the skies "the act of madness" after their "genius" parents died in a flight accident.

Now, Terra's brief gaze toward the sky has turned to dust in the wilderness as the remains of the two pioneers burned in flames. How many people believe that Christen Wright alone can replicate her parents' achievements and reignite Terra's interest in the sky?

Christensen herself didn't believe it. She had no intention of fulfilling her parents' dreams at all.

She wants to surpass it.

Breaking free from the shackles imposed on humanity by the earth, and transcending the limitations imposed by the star pods on the sky, she will tread upon the stars, stroll beside them, and bathe in the waters of the Milky Way.

She never sought recognition, nor did she bother with things like arousing the curiosity of the earth's fools about the sky. She was a woman of her own mind, and therefore, neither the obstruction of the state nor the condemnation of morality could stop her. She also never found a true "fellow traveler."

For her, Rhine Life Sciences was nothing more than a tool, and the heads of various departments were merely lubricants to make that tool even more convenient.

Even Saria, bound by rules and regulations, and whose best friend, who possessed extraordinary rationality and was the complete opposite of her carefree spirit, was just a best friend.

The world calls this behavior madness. If her ideas were discovered, Christensen is certain that among her original companions, the most heartbroken would be Muirsays, the most furious would be Ferdinand, the most reverent would be Palvis, and the one who would definitely stand up to stop her would be her "mirror," Seria.

So she kept this secret in her heart, concealing this dream within the countless normal business and research activities of Rhine Life, pushing it forward little by little.

But at this moment, she had a rare urge to share it with someone.

"I wonder, which dream is more insane, this one or your dream of building a sky city?"

“You’re a monster, Christen Wright.”

Nasti said this.

Even the long-lived banshee could hardly understand Christensen.

Is it worth it to use everything you've built up—your emotions and relationships, even the trust others have placed in you—as fuel to fill a spacecraft that can break through the sky?

He's definitely a madman.

If Colombia knew that the rising star of the tech city they were praising was actually a madman who was ready to put a detonator on his entire company and blow himself up, wouldn't those congressmen and the vice president go crazy?

Fortunately, they didn't know.

Anyway, it wasn't my "Kazdel" that was blown up, so why would I go and warn them?

Seemingly having read Nastia's mind, Christensen's lips curled into a charming, confident smile:

"Sarkaz, demons, devils, aren't you also called monsters?"

"It would be perfect if the monster did something crazy."

“I can promise you that when I achieve my goal, I will serve as your experimental subject and ride in the aircraft you have built to break through the barrier.”

I will fly through the barrier layer in my aircraft to test whether the city in the sky I described is feasible.

For anyone who hears this, it's no less than saying, "I'm entrusting my life to you!"

Nastya suddenly understood why so many brilliant scientists were scrambling to get into Rhine Lab.

Christensen is indeed a very charming woman.

............

"So you went on and on with all that just to tell me how charming your Rhine Life's CEO is? Are you here for a blind date?"

Ernst was speechless. Of course, what made him speechless was not only Nastie, who started telling him "Rhine Life's recruitment stories" without warning, but also a certain "charming" lady who had been standing next to him listening to Nastie talk for a long time without reacting at all!

"Kristen, why are you just watching? Do you agree to this too?"

“I don’t agree,” Christen shook her head. “People always subconsciously romanticize past memories, thus creating a perfect character in their minds. In fact, Nasti’s account just now was biased in many ways.”

She corrected him in a serious tone: "For example, I didn't actually laugh in the end."

She corrected him seriously, "When I called you a demon, I was really insulting you. After all, you just insulted me, and I don't hold grudges overnight."

She solemnly corrected X3: "And I don't deny that many scientists want to join Rhine Labs, but that has nothing to do with my charisma. As a large research company with tens of thousands of employees throughout Colombia, Rhine Labs receives considerable resources and policy support. Many scientists come for this platform, and it doesn't matter whether I'm the head or not. To be more precise, I've never even met most of them."

After all, he's the boss with the rumor that "if you can see the CEO in the CEO's office, it means the sun has risen in the west."

Ernst suddenly remembered the complaints he had heard from Seria during his visit to Rhine Lab.

Oh, right, she also seemed to have asked me to persuade Christensen to go home for dinner early... cough cough, to go back and take charge of things...

I'm sorry, I completely forgot about that.

Ernst was already sweating profusely at the thought of Saria's formidable reputation as "Invincible Iron Fist".

This isn't something you can easily resolve by calling on "Mom," since it's basically my fault. Maybe I should contact the guards right now? I know Mr. "Bridge Clip" Cliff; could I get a discount if I hired a bunch of men from Blacksteel?

Seeing that the "very charming" lady was about to break Nastie's composure, Ernst quickly stopped her:

"Kristen, I wasn't talking about the little story I just told you. I was talking about the construction of the Sky City. Do you agree to Nasti doing it in Kjerag?"

"Why not?" Christensen asked matter-of-factly.

Ernst's voice faltered, and he explained, "The very charming...Ms. Christensen, do you remember the contract we signed back then?"

“Rhine Labs helped Kjerag rebuild Tukarim, and Kjerag agreed to and assisted Rhine Labs in building the Dome Research Station on the Matterhorn.” Christen summarized the most important parts of the treaty simply, completely ignoring the additional unequal clauses that would make Justin scream and scratch.

Ernst nodded: "Building a sky city above Kjerag is not part of our deal."

"Can't we sign another one?" Christen frowned, clearly not expecting Ernst to be so concerned about this kind of issue.

This is a great experiment, an experiment that, if successful, will go down in history and even usher in a new era. What's the big deal about a few rules and regulations?

Look at that relaxed tone, look at that nonsense from someone who doesn't know the cost of living!

You don't care about the cost at all, do you?

Ernst could imagine that if Justin Bieber were here now, he would probably already be choosing a mountain that suits him.

The rope and nails still had to be bought in Kjerag. So, in a way, they were contributing to Kjerag's development until the very end.

Am I being too bad?

Christensen seemed unconcerned about costs, saying he'd give her as much as she wanted, but Ernst had to consider it.

Christensen and Nastya had done him a great favor, after all. Although it was called a transaction, everyone knew that if it had been done by anyone else, it would have been considered a scam. Since the two had helped him, Ernst naturally had to repay the favor.

He explained, “Ms. Christensen, Ms. Nastya, it’s not that I disagree with the plan, but you two still need to consider the actual situation.”

How to transport materials, how to build a city in the sky, how to create more airships, how to keep the airships functional, where to capture more Safar, and even with a one in a million chance, once all these problems are solved, how will the ownership of this sky city be determined?

Is it from Kjerag, or from Rhine Life? Or perhaps from Columbia?

Wait... Colombian?

Ernst suddenly seemed to remember something, his expression changed slightly, and he changed his words:

"However, it's not that I don't support the two of you in realizing your dreams."

"How about this, Sherag agrees to rent a test site to the two of you so you can work on your Sky City project there."

Nasty raised an eyebrow, a little surprised by Ernst's sudden softening attitude: "Really?"

“Really!” Ernst nodded. “This land covers 6 square kilometers, the ground is flat, the location is good, the transportation is convenient, and there are hardly any residents now, which perfectly meets your requirements for city construction. Sherag’s requirements are also very simple, which is…”

Nasti: "That's it?"

“You’ll have to deal with Magnus Bank yourselves.”

It's time to resolve a certain historical issue.

Chapter 281 Kal'tsit: I know everything!

Survivor bias, also known as the "survivor fallacy," refutes a common logical fallacy that only sees the results after a certain selection process and ignores key information.

For example, in an accident, people only see a portion of the survivors, but do not realize that these survivors are only a very small number of cases.

Sherag is one of the survivors. The fact that it can exist and develop peacefully today is an extremely rare case. It is due to a variety of coincidences, as well as the Sherag people's persistent struggle and walking on thin ice.

During the most difficult period when Ernst had just taken office and Scherrag was still in its infancy, lacking the initial capital to get the country on track and to give himself room to grow, Ernst chose the fastest way to make money that Scherrag could do, within the bounds of modern law.

He borrowed some money.

To be precise, he used a six-square-kilometer plot of land northeast of Tukarim as collateral to obtain a loan of 600 million Colombian gold notes from the bank from Lucerne Magnus, a major Colombian banker.

Frankly speaking, he didn't actually intend to repay the 600 million. Shelag, situated at a strategic crossroads of three countries and surrounded by mountains, is a natural bridgehead that is easy to defend and difficult to attack; its strategic importance is self-evident. When Ernst discussed this matter with Enciodis, he had already planned that if they couldn't repay the money in the future, they would simply become defaulters for the entire country.

So what if someone is a deadbeat? There are plenty of deadbeats in strange little countries. If those "benevolent rulers" in Tongliao can be deadbeats, why can't I, the prime minister of Xuejing?

You know, as the saying goes, when you're lending money, you're the boss, but once the money's been lent out, the one who owes the money is the boss! Shelag's position is so important. You're a bank, and you even have some cooperation with the military. If you dare to come and collect your debts, I, Shelag, dare to let you in. Do you dare to come in?

Are Casimir and Victoria blind? How could they just sit idly by and watch Sherag be infiltrated by Colombians?

They don't care whether your activities are legitimate or not. Even if the capitalists in Casimir manage to control the situation and realize their so-called "capital knows no borders" fantasy, the Grand Dukes of Victoria will absolutely not stand idly by. For an old-school Victorian noble like the Duke of Caesar to not cause trouble for Columbia would be a sign she didn't bring her brain with her.

Theoretically, this method is flawless. In practice, given the increasingly favorable diplomatic environment in Shelag, it's practically foolproof. The only problem is...

—It's a bit embarrassing.

If this were to actually happen, regardless of the reason, Victoria and the Kazimierz people would definitely intervene, but in the end, Sherag would certainly lose face.

Even if everyone outwardly believes this is definitely a Colombian conspiracy, some people will surely guess that the Sheraq people are using one enemy to kill another, trying to renege on their debt.

No one will investigate, but someone will always remember it. That's how the seed of cause is planted.

In the future, if Sherag were to stand up and preside over any matter with an image of absolute neutrality, innocence, fairness and impartiality, this incident would become a stain on his reputation.

Stains are a troublesome thing because people only look at stains.

A blank sheet of paper is perfectly white, but if there is even a single blemish on it, everyone's attention will be drawn to that blemish.

Even if someone has done good deeds their whole life, if one bad deed is discovered, people will still think that person is a hypocrite.

Ironically, if someone commits evil deeds their whole life but then repents and starts anew, people will praise them for turning over a new leaf, calling them an enlightened person who has laid down their butcher's knife and become a Buddha on the spot, and a good person.

The same applies to countries.

Defaulting on a debt isn't really a big deal. Six hundred million isn't a critical amount for a country of that size. To be honest, Sherag could have easily come up with the six hundred million by scraping together the land himself. It's just that Ernst had no prestige, no real power, and was under the control of the Grand Elder, so he couldn't get a single penny from the three major families. That's why he had no choice but to resort to this tactic.

But this involves "trust".

A person cannot stand without integrity, and this can become a stain on their reputation.

Sherag was at this stage. The reason Sherag dared to compete with Lateran at the World's Fair and the World's Summit was because both countries had impeccable international reputations.

One entity previously lacked any international reputation, and thus, its absence made it invincible. Another, having cultivated an image of a holy city, a paradise, and neutrality for millennia, had long been recognized as Terra's Eden. This gave Ernst the confidence to directly challenge the Pope and forcefully change the location of the expo and summit to Kjerag.

But if, at this time, his personal morality as prime minister were to become problematic, it might be magnified infinitely by those with ulterior motives, and nicknames such as "corrupt government team," "corrupt prime minister," and "country of fraudsters" would immediately follow.

Humans are the animals most eager to build towering structures, only to see them crumble.

If that happens, all of Ernst's preparations will have been for naught.

So, ever since Kjerag got back on track, Ernst has been trying to find a way to pay off the debt as soon as possible. But Kjerag now needs money for everything and is always in a deficit. While a deficit isn't entirely a bad thing, as a Paradox Interactive player, Ernst says he loves seeing green numbers.

Since the government couldn't spare the money to repay the debt, Ernst had to find his own way. He kept accumulating the royalties and profits from his "Chronicles of Erzley" in preparation for the repayment date. If he was still short of money, he would subsidize it out of his own pocket.