Chapter 426: They're all traitors!

“…Fang Huan…how much did they offer?” he asked in a hoarse voice.
An executive handed over documents and announced the figure in a completely emotionless tone.
“Three hundred billion US dollars.”
“What?!” Mark Berg jumped to his feet.
“Three hundred billion?! Are they crazy? A company that was once worth trillions, now they want me to sell all my shares for three hundred billion?!”
“We know it’s cruel.” Another director pushed up his glasses, his tone flat.
“But you have to accept reality. FaceWeb is not the FaceWeb of the past.
Three hundred billion is enough for you to retire comfortably, live a life of ease, and even make a comeback to start a new business. Isn’t that right?”
That’s what they said, but three hundred billion… that’s more than cruel; that’s ruthless!
“Mr. Markberg, you’d better accept,” another executive added coldly.
“If you don’t sell, you’ll go to jail, burdened with insurmountable debt, ruined, and penniless.
If you sell, you’ll still be a billionaire.
This choice isn’t difficult.”
“…!”
A pre-prepared contract was pushed in front of him.
Markberg stared intently at the document for a full minute, and finally, with trembling hands, grasped the pen that felt like it weighed a ton.
***
“Congratulations, Mr. President!”
“We can finally legitimately confront Fang Huan Investment!”
At the Presidential Palace in Country M, champagne was ready, and the atmosphere was jubilant.
"It's too early to celebrate," President Aiden waved his hand, but couldn't hide the smile on his face. "Let's get our chip project sorted out first."
"Yes! We'll also finalize the detailed plan on how to dismantle Fanghuan Investment as soon as possible."
"Very good, everyone. That Markberg has finally surrendered, hahaha!"
The meeting ended in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.
President Aiden felt his steps were much lighter today.
Those idiots at Fanghuan Investment thought the US government was helping them, but little did they know, they had swallowed a sugar-coated poison pill!
Next, all they had to do was lay a tight net and wipe them all out!
"Hmm? John, why do you look like you've swallowed a fly?"
However, his secretary, John, looked even worse than if he'd just been pulled from the morgue, as pale as an A4 sheet of paper.
“Mr…Mr. President…”
“What happened?”
“We…we seem to have…been…tricked by Fanghuan Investment.”
“What?!” Aiden’s smile froze on his face. “What do you mean, tricked? How could that be? They’re the ones who were tricked!”
“Fanghuan Investment…just now, announced a large-scale investment. They…bought a lot of land.”
“Land?”
“Yes…in Arizona.”
“Arizona?” Aiden’s heart skipped a beat. A very ominous premonition surged into his mind.
“Wait…Arizona, isn’t that the core site selection area for this chip project?
Could it be…that they bought the land we reserved?”
“Yes, Mr. President,” John’s voice trembled.
“They bought all the land we secretly selected to build the chip factory cluster…!
The entire area, they bought it all, not an inch left!”
Boom!
President Aiden was struck dumb, his mind blank.
“Did we… announce the site selection publicly?” Aiden’s voice suddenly rose.
“No! Absolutely not! It was top secret from the very beginning!”
“How the hell did Fang Huan know?! Can he tell fortunes?!”
Secretary John’s lips trembled as he uttered a sentence that chilled Aiden to the bone.
“It’s a mole… there’s a mole within our core team!”
Another bolt from the blue.
This project, especially the site selection phase, was arguably the most secretive operation he had undertaken since taking office.
Besides himself, only a few of the core members of his team knew about it.
"You mean, among our core members, there's...?"
"Yes, there are people from Fanghuan Investment in our very core team!"
"Impossible!" Aiden roared. "Didn't you personally vet them? You assured me that everyone selected this time was clean!"
"I'm sorry, Mr. President... I really did investigate their entire family history, making sure there were no suspicious points, before including them in the core team..."
The Secretary-General felt like dying.
To avoid the pervasive influence of Fanghuan Investment, their personnel vetting this time was arguably the strictest in history.
Even so... they were still infiltrated!
And the more devastating blow was yet to come.
"That's not all," John's voice grew increasingly desperate, "The latest intelligence indicates that Fanghuan Investment's top management is currently... in an emergency secret meeting with the Xia Kingdom government."
"..."
President Aiden wasn't stupid; he instantly understood what all this meant.
Fanghuan Investment, through its high-profile, almost ostentatious, acquisition of land in Arizona, was sending a clear message:
Your internal structure has long been thoroughly infiltrated!
The contact with the top leadership of China was an even more blatant warning:
You dare touch me?
If you dare use antitrust laws against me, I'll kidnap the entire global chip industry chain and bring it to China!
Even AMC, CloseAI, Netflix... and all its overseas operations will be transferred!
With China protecting us, we fear nothing!
This is Fanghuan Investment's true trump card!
"!!!"
Aiden's original plan was to use antitrust laws to dismantle Fanghuan's businesses in the US, forcibly retaining their technology for his own use.
But now, the other side has already seen through everything and prepared a series of powerful countermeasures!
If that were to happen, the Aiden government's first and most important project would be stillborn.
Not only that, he will also be branded as a "traitor to the nation," drowned in the spittle of his political enemies and the public!
His political life will end on the spot in the most shameful way!
"Therefore... Mr. President, we absolutely cannot touch Fang Huan Investment."
"They've shown us with their actions that they...are prepared for the most violent retaliation!" John said desperately.
Aiden slumped into his chair, his body giving way.
It turned out that it wasn't just the European Union and FaceWeb that were being manipulated.
From the very beginning, he, the arrogant president, along with the entire United States, was caught in the game, a pawn on that illusory investment chessboard!
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.
But who could have imagined that behind that oriole stood a hunter wielding a long spear!