It Would Be a Shame to Burn It to Ash

The Governor's assertiveness left Hodgson in silence.

He knew that silence was rude at a time like this, but he was truly in a difficult position.

What kind of explanation could he possibly give the Governor?

Yet, he knew he could not remain silent forever.

"I will do my best to find out who did this..."

"No." Gu Hang cut him off. "If you're just going to toss out a mercenary group or some raider as a scapegoat, then don't bother. I only want one thing: we agreed on eight days, so by tomorrow, I want to see what I am owed, not a single item missing. Either Revival City sends over a new shipment—if you leave now, you can still make it—or I can go and retrieve it myself."

Hodgson felt his throat go dry.

Sending a new shipment was absurd; one hundred tons of grain and ten thousand textile items were not things one could just scrape together on a whim. Even in Revival City, not everyone was guaranteed a full stomach.

The core point of the Governor's words lay in that final part: he could come and retrieve it himself.

Retrieve it from where?

That seemed to depend entirely on his answer.

If he could provide a satisfactory answer, perhaps the Governor would be willing to go after the people who had actually stolen the goods; he only needed to provide a name.

If he could not provide an answer, then the Governor would likely be coming to Revival City to retrieve it.

Regardless of where he went to retrieve it, the process would likely be anything but gentle.

And who would have to endure that lack of gentleness?

At this point, Hodgson knew he had no other choice.

He gave Gu Hang a name, then added, "Give me another two or three hours, and I will send you the detailed location, Governor."

"Very well, I will give you three hours as a final deadline."

After the communication cut off, Hodgson pressed another button to summon his attendant. He wanted to say something, but before the words could leave his mouth, an unbearable, intense itch forced him into a fit of loud coughing.

He coughed violently, his body wracked by the spasms.

On the other end, the attendant's voice sounded panicked: "Chairman? Chairman? Are you alright?"

Hodgson could not speak.

"I'm coming right now! Please, hold on!"

A few minutes later, two people burst into Hodgson's office.

One was the attendant, and the other was Lambert Hodgson, whom the attendant had called over—the grandson of the elder Hodgson.

By this time, Hodgson had stopped coughing; he lay half-slumped in his chair, gasping for air.

Seeing that his grandfather had not suffered a major incident, Lambert finally felt a bit relieved.

"You..."

"Don't talk about that yet." Hodgson raised a hand to stop his grandson's questioning. "Immediately find the people from the Vaughan Company. We must determine where the mercenaries they hired took the goods meant for the Governor."

Lambert was stunned. "He actually went through with it?"

"Yes."

"But..."

"There are no more 'buts.' We only have three hours."

"Is the Governor furious?" Lambert guessed.

"Yes." Hodgson sighed. "This Governor of ours is far more decisive and cold-blooded than I had imagined..."

Gu Hang did not consider himself cold-blooded.

He simply knew, and adhered to, one philosophy: one must not fall into the trap of playing mind games or political maneuvering with these people.

It wasn't a matter of whether he could win at schemes and plots; the core issue was, what if he did? It was inefficient and time-consuming, and Gu Hang did not have the time to play that game with them.

Be direct, be decisive.

He signaled his men to bring the radio, took one hundred soldiers, left another hundred behind, and set off.

Gu Hang intended to catch up with the team led by Yan Fangxu, who had departed earlier, to see if he could gain any insights at the scene of the incident and attempt to track the enemy's trail. If he gained something, all the better; if not, he would see what news Hodgson brought him in three hours.

The worst-case scenario was simply that he would have to take his two hundred-plus men to Revival City to demand the supplies he required.

His own men alone would certainly not be enough, so he might need to ask Brigadier Yelicia to provide some minor assistance.

He trusted that Yelicia would not refuse; by that time, she should be able to reap quite a few merits.

Gu Hang did not hope for that scene to unfold, but if it truly came to that, it would be unavoidable. And he would certainly employ the most thunderous and resolute methods.

What good is a sword-wielder without a sense of deterrence?

If anyone felt that the Governor's deterrence was insufficient, he would not mind using actual actions to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

He would just have to see if Revival City was willing to play the part of the chicken.

Two hours later, Gu Hang and his troops arrived at the scene of the incident and linked up with Yan Fangxu.

The naval captain had made some progress here.

"We found some clues. The raiders intentionally covered their tracks when they retreated, but their methods were quite amateurish. I've already dispatched a squad to follow them; we should have more information soon."

After hearing Yan Fangxu's report, Gu Hang nodded. "Finally, some good news. Then we wait. Let's see if Revival City responds to us faster, or if your squad finds those raiders first."

"Revival City?" Yan Fangxu asked, looking puzzled. "I thought we were talking about raiders? Do you suspect that the people in that so-called Alliance within Revival City are behind this?"

"Is that so hard to guess?"

"Uh..." Yan Fangxu scratched his head. "Yes, it's very easy to guess."

Although I didn't guess it, I'm not going to admit it.

Gu Hang stared at Yan Fangxu for a moment, feeling a bit helpless.

He's a master at warfare, so why is he so dense when it comes to this?

Gu Hang didn't say anything more. He looked around; in truth, the traces of the raid were not very obvious.

There was almost no fighting, no deaths, and therefore no corpses, not even any bloodstains. All the transport vehicles had been taken away, and almost nothing was left at the scene.

From this perspective, being able to track the raiders who committed the crime hours ago from a scene with so few clues—especially since those raiders had employed counter-reconnaissance—meant that Yan Fangxu was no fool.

Thinking of this, Gu Hang felt slightly more satisfied.

As long as his military skills are up to par, there's no need to expect him to be an all-rounder.

The time that followed was spent in patient waiting.

And news from both sides arrived almost simultaneously.

The elite marines sent out responded via telegraph, stating they had found tracks that could be continuously followed and had deduced several possible escape routes and destinations for the raiders.

On the other side, the Council Chairman of Revival City also initiated a telegraph connection with Gu Hang, providing three specific locations and ranking them by probability.

After cross-referencing the intelligence from the two different sources, there were overlapping parts.

In the end, Gu Hang narrowed down the target: Mantan Valley Manor.

It was a private estate belonging to an Alliance councilor named Vaughan. Mantan Valley Manor was his property and the place where he had made his fortune; it was one of the few pieces of high-quality land around Revival City capable of growing crops.

After Vaughan completed his initial accumulation of wealth, he not only produced grain but also participated in the grain trade, earning a great deal of money and eventually becoming an Alliance councilor.

Now, Vaughan's main business was in the grain trade, and the grain production at Mantan Valley Manor accounted for only a small portion of his wealth, yet he still valued the place highly, treating it as a vacation spot and his home base.

"Sounds like a lovely place; it would be a pity to burn it to ashes."