The Empire begins with the Fourth Scourge.

Chapter 2093 Visitors in the Dark

2094: Visitors in the Dark

"Dunn..." Palpatine's gloomy and distorted voice sounded.

Dunn Wessex hurriedly crawled out of the line, bowed and said, "What do you want, Your Majesty?"

"The Geth was released by Tang Xiao. I am very sure of this." Palpatine said slowly.

"The defense of the North is now as solid as a rock, Your Majesty. Not only that, I am also constantly searching for the home planet of the Geth. As long as we can find it, it will be crucial to unlocking the secrets of the Geth." Dunn-Wessex said.

"I have every confidence that you can stop the invasion of the Geth, Dunn." Although Palpatine's tone was extremely gloomy, his words revealed his trust and love for Dunn. "But the key to the matter is how Tang Xiao released the Geth."

Dunn-Wessex frowned and pondered. "Among the countless intelligence and stories, the one thing that is more certain at present is that Tang Xiao and his group came from the unknown star region. In the era when our history has not yet been recorded, a huge war may have broken out in the unknown star region, and Tang Xiao and his group are war refugees. My Seventh Army has been responsible for the exploration of the unknown star region for a long time, and a lot of intelligence has also been received. We are sure that in addition to the Chiss, there are countless races in the unknown star region, some of which are powerful and some are weird. The way species in the unknown star region evolve is likely to be completely different from what we usually know. The Geth may be one of them."

"Since Tang Xiao can find the Geth and control them, what about us?" Palpatine asked, "If there are still strange and powerful races in the unknown star region, find them and let them serve the empire!"

"As you wish, my Lord," Dunn Wessex responded quickly.

"Wilhuff!" Palpatine looked in Tarkin's direction again, "Can you confirm the completion date of the DS-1 combat platform?"

Wilhuff Tarkin stood up and said confidently, "Although the construction process of DS-1 is full of difficulties, we have eliminated many problems. Recently, Krennic found a talented energetics scientist, Galen Erso, who will help us solve the most difficult technology of DS-1 - the crystal energy focusing problem."

He raised his palm and said, "Five years! Five years later, while our fleet is getting ready, the DS-1 battle station will also complete its final construction! Under the joint attack of DS-1 and our invincible fleet, the Principality of Dawn will not have any chance to struggle!"

"Hahahaha! Very good! Very good! Very good!" Palpatine said several good words in succession. He seemed to be in a very good mood now. "Remember, don't use DS-1 to bomb the planet Dawn. I want to spare Tang Xiao's life... I want him to watch helplessly as everything he has built is destroyed by me bit by bit... Hehehe... Men are killed, women are ravaged, homes are burned, and land is trampled. I want him to wail in pain and despair for ten thousand years! Hahahaha..."

He walked down from the throne with a big laugh and passed through the core of the Empire's power. They were also very tactful and automatically formed two teams, led by the most favored Dunn Wessex and Wilhuff Tarkin, following behind Palpatine.

"Is there anything we can do about the recent political turmoil in the Principality of Dawn?" Palpatine asked again.

The Minister of Imperial Intelligence, Black Hole, immediately responded: "I am arranging for someone to approach Francis Underwood. I believe that with the power of our empire, the price offered by Francis will definitely not be rejected."

"Haha...you can get close to the Prime Minister of the Principality of Dawn?" Palpatine asked coldly, "Since you can get close to him, you can naturally assassinate him, right?"

"This is indeed impossible at the moment." Black Hole shook his head, "But Francis's confidant, Douglas Stamp, was forced to resign today because of a scandal. I think he will be our most suitable breakthrough point. Judge Mas Sirrah has already led his team to carry out this mission."

"Very... good... (Goooood), hehehe. As long as you can incite rebellion in the Prime Minister's Office of the Principality of Dawn, I will reward you handsomely, hahahahaha." Palpatine laughed triumphantly again.

……

Douglas Stamp raised his head and drank the whole glass of wine. Even the bartender was shocked by his drinking capacity.

"Another glass! The rain and dew wine from the planet Ceria is really... delicious..." Douglas Stamp said drunkenly.

"My advice is, don't. My friend, you've already drunk too much. Yu Lu wine has a strong aftereffect. If you continue like this, you probably won't even be able to find your way home." The elderly bartender shook his head.

"Do you think I can't afford it?" Douglas roared, raised his wrist to open the payment tool on the universal tool, and took advantage of the drunkenness to hit the bartender in the face, "I have plenty of money!"

"That's not what I meant, my friend. I own this bar, and I really don't want to earn money like you do." The bartender sighed, "Have a glass of juice, it's my treat. Then go home, or take a nap on the sofa in the back, how about that?"

"Wow! Is this drunk the one who apologized on TV yesterday?" A drunk next to him seemed to recognize Douglas and pointed here.

"Obviously you've seen it wrong! George is the younger brother of my wife's cousin! Get away from me, this guy is drunk!" The old bartender waved his hand to drive away the curious customer who came over.

"Ah..." After the drinker left, he sighed, leaned on the table while washing the cup, and whispered to Douglas, "Listen, my friend, a person like you should not be here. It's not okay for both public and private reasons. Go back, find your assistant, bodyguard, guard... anything. Just don't be here."

"Who am I? I'm just a civilian. I don't have any job, a civilian." Douglas said drunkenly, "How can a civilian have bodyguards? No, I don't. I only have my coat... Oh, by the way, if I don't have money to pay the bill, this coat can be worth 5000 yuan."

"I won't take your coat. Going back to where you should be and doing what you should do will be the best benefit for us." The old bartender shook his head.

"That's enough. I'll send him back." A man in a black windbreaker suddenly came over from somewhere, sat in front of the old bartender, and pushed a credit ingot worth 1000 No. coins over to him.

"Who are you? I've never seen you in this bar." The old bartender became alert.

"Obviously you remembered it wrong. It's okay, I'll take him away." said the man in the black windbreaker.

The old bartender was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "Oh, OK. I understand. Take him back quickly, this guy is drunk."

The man in the black windbreaker helped Douglas Stamp up and walked him out.

Just after he walked a few steps out of the door, he saw several burly men in plain clothes coming over and whispering to him, "Put him down!"

"So you are his family? Anyway, before you take this drunk away, compensate me for my coat first! This guy vomited all over me!" The man in the black windbreaker was annoyed, and his gloomy look was completely gone. Now he looked completely mercenary. As expected, he was covered with Douglas' vomit.

"Okay, here's the money. It's enough for you to buy ten coats. Thank you for taking care of my... uh, distant cousin!" One of the big men took out a handful of credit ingots and stuffed them into his pocket without saying a word. "I'm sorry. So you should go home quickly, wash your clothes and go to bed."

"I fucking want it...Oh, okay, no problem." After the man in the black windbreaker saw the face value of the credit ingot in his hand, he immediately smiled and turned away happily.

The big man finally breathed a sigh of relief, touched the invisible communicator on his Adam's apple, and whispered, "This is the Blue Team, we found Douglas... Yes, he is drunk. But everything around him is normal. ...Okay, I will arrange for the Green Team to follow that person for a while."

……

Douglas Stamp opened his eyes and found that it was already morning, and he had been cleaned up and put on the bed. A touch of warm fragrance hit him, and he realized that next to him, there was a naked young girl lying. And from the current state of the bed, it was obvious that there was a plot of at least 20,000 words between them.

He sat up suddenly, and the movement woke the girl. She smiled and leaned over, kissed Douglas Stamp on the cheek, then threw a communicator and said, "I hope you had a good time last night, sir. Now, you should listen to this communication."

After saying that, she grabbed the clothes on the bed and left without looking back.

Douglas Stamp turned on the communicator, and Francis Underwood appeared in the holographic projection. He was wearing glasses and seemed to be processing documents.

"You're awake, Doug. I hope this woman can help you vent some of your excess anger and calm you down. Don't worry, your wife doesn't know about this." Francis said without raising his head, "But you made another serious mistake last night. You drank too much and were out of protection. This makes me have to reconsider whether it is appropriate for you to stay with me."

"I swear this will never happen again, never!" Douglas Stamp quickly got up.

"How can I trust you, Doug?" Francis Underwood was still reading the documents without looking up. "I have made all the proper arrangements, but you secretly ran out to get drunk because of your inner resentment? Tell me, which of these things were not caused by you?"

"No! It was just an accident! I didn't have any other idea!" Douglas said loudly.

"Now, go home. Calm down and stay away from the hustle and bustle of politics. I will come back to you when the time is right." Francis finally raised his head and said.

"Have you given up on me? After I took the blame for you, your first reaction was to abandon me! Fuck!!" Douglas was still drunk. He cursed angrily, grabbed the water bottle next to him and smashed it to pieces.

"In our position, the first thing you shouldn't have is such an emotion, Doug." Francis said seriously, "Go back and calm down for a while."

"Don't always be so high and mighty, Frank!" Douglas pointed at Francis' nose in the holographic projection and said loudly, "Do you think I don't know? You are afraid! Afraid that Hari Seldon will be appreciated by Tang Xiao because of 'that thing'! And then he will take away your position as the Prime Minister of the Empire! You are afraid!! Once 'that thing' is successfully implemented, he will be the Prime Minister of the Empire! Not you!! Do you think you are calm? You are just as crazy about this matter!!"

However, Francis Underwood just looked up at him, said nothing, and closed the communication.

With a snap, the communicator in Douglas's hand shattered on the wall.

At this time, there was a polite knock on the door.

……

Back in the villa he bought in the suburbs of Planet Dawn, Douglas Stamp turned on the holographic projection and stared at the news that kept being broadcast.

The news was all about recent events, about the Prime Minister's Office promoting new economic policies, but being criticized for disregarding national security and blindly trying to please ignorant people. Some even said that Francis was taking this opportunity to curry favor with civilian companies that were left out during the war preparations.

"You know nothing!" Douglas waved his hand, and the universal tool automatically sensed and turned off the projection.

That’s right, these guys know nothing!

  The struggle between Francis Underwood and Helmut Zemo's party is not a struggle of ideas at all, nor is it a struggle between pacifism and militarism, but a struggle for the throne of the future Chancellor of the Empire!

Tang Xiao wanted to go one step further from the position of Grand Duke of Dawn. Helmut Zemo had been laying the groundwork for this for a long time, and Tang Xiao himself did not explicitly refuse it.

As we all know, if the ruler does not refuse on such topics, it means he agrees.

Then after taking the next step, what about the others? Will they continue to rise, or will they be washed out by the waves? It's hard to guarantee. Because Tang Xiao's mood is very unstable now, and no one can guess it.

But one thing is quite obvious, that is Tang Xiao's high regard for Hari Seldon. He has always focused on training this new generation of young politicians, and Hari Seldon has also delivered excellent results.

  If things continue like this, and Operation Zero proposed by Hari Seldon is implemented and even succeeds in the end, then no one knows whether Francis will still be the Prime Minister!

So, Francis was also forced into a corner.

Douglas sighed, stood up, and subconsciously walked towards the wine cabinet. However, after just a few steps, his steps hesitated...

That's right, you shouldn't drink anymore.

But at this moment, another voice suddenly sounded in the room, "If you want to have a drink, go ahead. Although they confiscated all your wine collection, I still brought you a bottle. It's in the first compartment of the second row of the wine cabinet...very conspicuous."

Thanks to Dangkongshan for the 100 starting coins!!