The sun had already set.
The moon hid behind the clouds, quietly spilling moonlight over the land and draping the entire world in a thin veil of silver.
"Chirp, chirp-"
The birds driven back to their nests by the darkness were still showing off their voices, joining the cries of insects to form a symphony called "Night."
Just like any other night!
Perhaps only the lingering smell of gunpowder and blood in the air told the story of the day.
A ray of moonlight climbed over the windowsill and slipped into the President's Office.
"Send someone to tell everyone on this list that I want to see their faces in the presidential palace's conference hall at eight tomorrow morning!"
"If I don't see them, they need never come again!"
Sitting behind the desk, Sankara signed his name on a document filled with names using a pen that had belonged to the former president, then handed it to Meyev, who stood before the desk, and spoke.
"Yes, Mr. President!"
Meyev gave Sankara a military salute, then turned and left.
The moment Sankara had declared over the radio to the entire nation, "Long live the newborn Republic of Burkina," he had already become the Republic of Burkina's new president. Naturally, Meyev's form of address for him had changed from general to president.
After Meyev closed the office door.
Having confirmed that nothing needed his attention for the moment, Sankara leaned back in his office chair and called out in a voice only he could hear:
"System?"
"..."
The office was silent, with only the chirping of insects drifting in through the window to Sankara's ears.
Sankara received no response.
But the next second!
A blue, semitransparent virtual panel appeared directly in Sankara's field of vision, as though projected onto his retinas.
[National GDP Development System] Country name: Republic of Burkina Political center: Dugagu Economic center: Dugagu Land area: 274,100 square kilometers (currently administering 13 states and 45 cities) Core population: 22.1 million (Southern Buji [yellow] account for 78.4%, Northern Buji [white] account for 18.6%, Sik [black] account for 0.7%...) National GDP: 725.985 billion North African francs (approximately US$7.26 billion at current international exchange rates) Government tax revenue: 108.897 billion North African francs (government fiscal revenue accounts for 50% of national GDP, but only 30% of taxes enter the treasury; uncollected taxes total 254.093 billion North African francs) Government debt: 2.1039 trillion North African francs (interest rate: 6.1%; annual repayments required: 128.337 billion North African francs; debt has exceeded government fiscal revenue) Life expectancy: 32.5 years (global average life expectancy: 62.6 years; highest average life expectancy: 74.9 years) Education rate: 13% (of which primary school accounts for 79.8%, middle school 16.7%, high school 3.4%, university 0.1%...) National resources: gold ore [1.5 million tonnes], uranium ore [1.05 million tonnes], combined zinc-silver ore [10 million tonnes], copper [1.2 million tonnes]... (the specific distribution of different resources across the country can be viewed)
"???"
At first, Sankara thought little of it, because the presidential palace also had the data displayed on the virtual panel, just not with such precision.
But when he saw the last entry.
He was utterly stunned!
Bujinya did indeed have a few gold mines, all controlled by their former colonizers, the French.
Every year, those mines could provide them with around 12 tonnes of gold, worth 129.72 billion North African francs, or approximately US$1.297 billion!
In other words, one gram of gold equaled 10,810 North African francs, or US$108.10.
But even so.
Their combined proven reserves amounted to only 300,000 tonnes!
Yet now, the system's data showed 1.5 million tonnes!?
Most importantly, he could directly view the exact locations of those resources!
"Gulp-"
Sankara could not help swallowing.
He did not ask for much. As long as the gold content matched that of the existing gold mines, those additional 1.2 million tonnes of gold ore could provide him with at least 50 tonnes of gold every year.
Worth 540.5 billion North African francs!
That was more than 4.9 times the government's current fiscal revenue!
"Sigh-"
But the next second, Sankara shook his head again, let out a helpless sigh, and muttered to himself:
"Unfortunately, North Africa in this world is within France's sphere of influence, just as it was in my previous life. If they find out this country still has 1.3 million tonnes of gold ore... I'm afraid they'll force me to sign a new treaty selling out the country tomorrow, just as they forced the previous presidents to do!"
This world!?
That was right!
Ahro Sankara was not actually from this world!
More precisely, the soul inside this body did not belong to this world. It belonged to another world, a world called Earth!
And this world was called Blue Star!
Although the maps of the two worlds were much the same, their development and historical evolution were worlds apart.
The two worlds had nothing in common!
On Earth, his name had been Chu Xin.
But after he inherited the original owner's memories and ideals, with both of them also having yellow skin, black hair, and black eyes.
None of it mattered anymore.
His name was now Ahro Sankara!
"But leaving all that gold ore buried underground without mining it..."
"I can't do that!"
"The Republic of Burkina, already buried in debt and on the brink of bankruptcy, can't do that! And the people of Bujinya, who might not live to see tomorrow and are about to starve to death, can do it even less!"
Sankara shook his head again.
Ever since learning that 1.3 million tonnes of gold ore the French had not discovered still lay beneath the Republic of Burkina, Sankara had shaken his head more times than he could count!
It truly was a pleasant surprise, but Sankara was not completely certain he could make use of it.
"Mining this gold ore is imperative!"
"But before that, I need a sufficiently powerful force of arms!"
Sankara looked at the pistol he had placed on the desk, loaded full of gleaming brass bullets.
Those very bullets had put Sankara in his current position.
Sankara also believed that, as long as there were enough bullets inside, he could certainly get the French to sit down calmly, have some tea, and chat with him!
But how could he obtain a sufficiently powerful force of arms?
That involved a whole host of other problems.
Ultimately, however, it all came down to money. Only with money could he equip a sufficiently powerful armed force!
Hm?
He needed guns to get money, and money to get guns?
Uh... hadn't that led him into a dead end!?
After thinking for quite a while, Sankara turned his gaze to the resource listed immediately after gold ore on the virtual panel-
Uranium ore!
An unreadable gleam flashed through his eyes, and a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth as he said:
"The top dog in this world isn't the French, who hoist the white flag in war!"
"North Africa may be within the French sphere of influence."
"But I believe!"
"A certain Red Giant Bear, driven mad by its shortage of uranium ore."
"Would certainly be delighted to provide the Republic of Burkina with whatever assistance it can!"
"For example-"
"Helping me equip a sufficiently powerful armed force!"
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