Darkstone Code

The silence lasted the whole night, initially, Mrs. Chris wasn’t particularly inclined to cooperate with her husband.

From her perspective, this wasn’t a qualified "deal"; their current living environment mainly relied on the President.

Indeed, from some aspects, they weren’t very short of money, after all, they still had quite a bit of savings themselves, but money wasn’t their pursuit!

Whether it was Mrs. Chris or her husband, what they always pursued was the focus of people’s attention, the spotlight, and power!

Forever!

They enjoyed that feeling, enjoyed standing in the spotlight receiving people’s praise; that was their life.

In a way, money couldn’t bring them the "dignified" life they wanted, but power could.

Neither Mrs. Chris nor her husband realized how obsessed they were with power.

Perhaps it wasn’t present at the start or appeared suddenly, but it surely went through a process.

Her husband’s continuous changes weren’t clear, but Mrs. Chris was very aware of her own changes.

When she had to follow behind Mrs. Trici with an attitude she considered "humble" and had to promptly adjust her emotions to cater to Trici’s expressed attitude, she felt worn out!

She wasn’t much worse than anyone else, so why were some people born into positions she had to look up to?

She was unconvinced; ultimately, everything she did for her husband fulfilled more of her own desire for power—

She longed to hear others say, "This is... the lady, and her husband is...".

Actually, it was the same during her school days when she loved hearing people say, this was the girlfriend of a certain Professor’s student.

After entering society, she liked hearing people say, this was a certain Judge’s wife or this was a certain Chief Justice’s wife.

This is a male-dominated society, she was very aware of it, hence she never considered doing something herself, because she couldn’t achieve it.

She was much smarter than those girls who, after hearing a few words about "gender equality," quickly took off their clothes and started collecting stamps; she knew that no matter how well she did, she couldn’t become the core, the carrier.

So from the start, it was her husband!

And now, she made a decision.

Rather than waiting for long and insincere promises, she preferred to try this path; at least this path... even if it didn’t get them the power they wanted, it could easily get wealth.

Early the next morning, Mrs. Chris said to her husband, "Besides what they promised you, we should ask for some money."

Her husband was somewhat surprised; he thought it would be harder to persuade his wife. He never really understood her.

After a brief difference, he asked, "Give me a number."

Mrs. Chris, in a relaxed voice, gave him a very large number.

A little later, he called Mr. Jeruno, telling the other party that his wife hoped to obtain five million besides their agreed transaction.

To which Mr. Jeruno replied it was too much, after some negotiations, they arrived at three and a half million, a just right price.

In another bright room, Mr. Jeruno hung up the phone and raised his eyebrows slightly.

Honestly, he had experienced some things in his life, but never had he experienced today’s event—being extorted.

Yes, in his view, he was actually extorted; this was simply... an incredible thing, but without a doubt, he was extorted or blackmailed.

This gave him a slight sense of amusement, but mostly suppressed anger.

He was willing to cooperate with that couple as a favor, as a blessing, but they shouldn’t actively demand, which ruined a kind of "perfection."

He picked up a pen, wrote the couple’s names on the letter paper in front of him, and put it into the envelope...

Then he turned on the TV, watching the news almost broadcasting 24/7 about him and the Duncan Clan.

This morning, a Member of Parliament was arrested at his residence.

The first name on the list announced by Horn was this illustrious Member of Parliament; he was accused of being involved in formulating kidnapping, abuse, harm, serious assaults, suspected of official crimes, among a dozen charges, some of which had solid evidence.

The FBI, without "investigation," directly obtained an arrest warrant, indicating that from a judicial standpoint, facts were clear, processes definite, and evidence complete.

Arrest warrants are issued by the Ministry of Justice only when enough to convict; they must ensure each judicial process is correct and just.

The report was already stirring up immense waves!

You know, that’s Congress, one of the cores of the Federation’s political system; it represents the Federation’s highest authority, yet the people within were engaged in various disturbing, even terrifying criminal acts. How could citizens of the Federation sit still in such a situation?

The conspiracy theorists’ carnival day had arrived, with them massively defaming the government, believing all this was behind Saint Harmony Association’s manipulation.