Capital Operations

Paris, inside a luxurious private club closed to the public, several major oligarchs of the French financial world had gathered together.

A kindly old man asked with a chuckle, "I heard that little fellow Nino ran into some trouble. How is he now? Has he completed the task?"

If one did not know him well, no one would have guessed that this kind-looking old man was the biggest vampire in France's financial world.

What made him most feared was that no matter the circumstances, he always wore the same smiling expression—even when killing someone.

"Enough, old Duke. Put away that face of yours. We're all old acquaintances here; who doesn't know what the other is like? You put on an act every day. Maybe you aren't tired of it, but we're sick of watching it."

The speaker was Dumas. Due to conflicts of interest, the two often clashed.

Conflicts were conflicts, but that did not stop them from working together to make money. For the Panama Canal project, they were now seated together once more.

To prevent the dispute from escalating, Bells, the host of this gathering, decisively cut to the heart of the matter. "You two, business comes first. Let's discuss the canal project first.

"Everyone knows about the Suez Canal. What was once thought to be a money-losing project recovered all of its investment in less than seven years after opening to traffic.

"It now provides investors with handsome returns every year, and those returns continue to grow alongside the development of overseas trade. Barring accidents, this income will continue for more than a century.

"Of course, that is an exceptional case. A special terrain like the Mediterranean Sea does not exist everywhere. Replicating the Suez Canal's success is almost impossible.

"The Panama Canal is probably the closest