Xia Fei was quite surprised learning this. Quantum Holdings had always acted in line with the laws and regulation, never once owing even a dollar to the Earth Federation. It could be said that a third of the Federation’s financial resources came from Quantum Holdings. They would most definitely not be facing such an optimistic outlook had Quantum Holdings not been bringing in billions of star coins from their trade beyond the planet.
However, a large portion of these taxes that he paid ended up getting used by the Federation for their image; they had constructed 16 thirty stories high large building complexes, decorating them so luxuriously that there were more than twenty elevators in each building.
The Federal Spaceport in Denver was an even greater expenditure loss. The Earth today did not have that many extraterrestrial spaceships making a stop, yet the Federal government had spent over a hundred billion federal dollars constructing such a huge yet useless first-class spaceport. The last time Xia Fei had been there, he had actually been the only customer.
Extravagance and waste. These were the indisputable facts regarding the Federation’s indiscriminate spending of the taxpayers’ money. Now that they were actually thinking of profiting from Quantum Holdings’ earnings once more, Xia Fei was not about to let it slide as this was simply too much.
Xia Fei’s expression turned somewhat nasty as he asked, “What reason is the Federation going to use to impose this special tax on Quantum Holdings? How much are we talking about here?”
Andre answered, “They claim that Quantum Holdings’ scale has already reached the point it’s forming a monopoly in the Federation, so they’re planning to levy a punitive tax of one billions star coins. If we are unable to pay this penalty, we may see the company be forcibly divided.”
Xia Fei could feel his anger swelling as he slapped the table with much force.
“Monopoly? Now that the Earth Federation has joined the Pan-Human Alliance, the confines of anti-monopoly laws should extend to the entire universe, not just one small planet. A billion dollars of tax, forcibly dividing the company—to think they dare say such things.” Xia Fei was furious.
Lighting a Hongtashan, Xia Fei leaned back on the sofa as his brain began working fast. These few years, Xia Fei had felt that no matter the case, Earth was his home, which was why he had specially instructed Charlie to pay their taxes in full in order to help this planet get through these tough times. After all, the Earth Federation had only just joined the Pan-Human Alliance, and there were plenty of things that needed to be done, which meant plenty of money was required everywhere.
He had never thought that he was actually kindly raising a tiger in his home; now that the Federation had become powerful, it actually wanted to turn around and bite him, which was simply such a crying shame. His every dollar had been fattening those politicians, and it was only now that he realized that they were all just ungrateful and vicious people.
That instant impulsive outburst was necessary. Xia Fei was ultimately still a man, and he was not the sort of person who would endure the bullying of others. However, he very quickly regained his composure and began to analyze the present situation very seriously and plan his subsequent response.
“We ought to have quite a few friends among the 128 members of the House of Lords, so try and find a way to stop them from passing that bill. At the same time, find out just who wants to stab us in the back like this. Be more discreet with this and don’t let anyone find out. I want to get a list of names in three days, including anyone pulling the strings from behind the scenes,” Xia Fei very calmly instructed.
Andre nodded gravely. He was actually very afraid moments ago. It was not impossible for Xia Fei to impulsively mobilize the fleet and raze the Federation to the ground because there was a combat-ready interstellar fleet on Earth, which was the escort brigade of Quantum Holdings’ protection agency.
Quantum Holdings would have lost the opportunity if that was the case. After all, the citizens of Earth had no understanding of the inside story, and no matter what reason Xia Fei gave, he would be deemed as a criminal if he bombarded the Federation in such a manner. Furthermore, Xia Fei was never one to heed what others thought of him, so he would surely have done such a thing if he acted on an impulse.
Fortunately, Xia Fei did not lose his cool just because of that moment of anger. His subsequent analyses of the situation were proof that Xia Fei was becoming more and more mature after everything he had experienced and was more and more astute as time went by.
Andre smiled. “This is why I didn’t come unprepared. I already gathered all the information that you’ve just asked before coming here.”
Xia Fei nodded, indicating Andre to go ahead and tell him what he learned. If he was a fox, that would make Andre an old fox. Xia Fei had spared himself plenty of trouble having this elderly man around the company. This situation told Xia Fei that Andre had already inquired after all the information beforehand and had already made a preliminary plan to retaliate, which was why he sought to discuss this with Xia Fei now.
“We do have quite a bit of problem on our hands now, for the person who made this special bill isn’t a member of the upper or lower House, but the President, Murati. He’s already made his move, so if either the upper or the lower House rejects this proposal, he’ll use the special privileges that come with being the president to force the bill through,” Andre said.
Xia Fei furrowed his brows. “Who is this Murati? I don’t recall the president having this name before.”
Andre laughed. “You’re rarely here on Earth, so you’re hardly aware of the changes in appointment to the Earth Federation. The current president was formerly the deputy minister serving the Ministry of Justice and Order, who recently came to this position after winning the general elections months ago.”
“He’s huge in Germany, a mix of German and Korean heritage. He is very insidious. During the height of the election campaign, scandals involving the originally two most popular presidential candidates broke out: One for committing adultery with his niece and the other for aiding his son in obtaining a large governmental contract through backdoor channels.
“Rumors have it that this intel was all leaked by Murati, and the interested parties behind him were long prepared for it, awaiting the prime period when things were heating up to drop the bomb, utterly ruining the chances of his competitors with a single move, so this unpopular candidate got elected, shocking political commentators worldwide,” Andre explained.
Xia Fei nodded. “To be able to keep important evidence like that hidden for such a long time and releasing it all at the most crucial moment, you can tell that that person is very suited for politics, sinister enough to execute such a move. However, it’s only natural for the two candidates to lose; they can only blame themselves for having engaged in such despicable acts on the sly.”
Andre laughed. “Few politicians have squeaky-clean backgrounds. Many known figures hide plenty of skeletons in their closets that the common man can never imagine doing. It’s only through the efforts of interested parties that the citizens can be kept from learning such things.”
Xia Fei mulled this over for a while before saying, “There will always only be a small proportion of individuals who are in the know. There’s a proverb that goes: ‘The masses have sharp eyes.’ I completely disagree with this. The eyes of the masses are never clear because they don’t have the opportunity to see what goes on behind closed doors; all they can do is speculate based on what they’re shown. Right, who are the people pulling the strings behind Murati?”
Andre answered, “He has quite the convoluted background, but he’s mainly sponsored by Koreans and Italians. The former provides him with the funds, while the later is in charge of the espionage. Although the mafia isn’t as powerful as it used to be, it still plays a critical role within the Federation.
“Initially when Quantum Holdings is carrying our mergers and acquisitions all over the world, even the stubborn Japanese have no choice but to concede. It’s only the Koreans and the Italians who vehemently refused to join Quantum Holdings—the latter because they’re only family operated, so I could understand why they would reject the offer, but I simply couldn’t understand why the Koreans would be so stubborn, putting up so much resistance against working with us,” Andre said.
Xia Fei laughed. “You have no idea, but as a native Chinese, I have a much better grasp of these Koreans than you do. All I need to tell you is this one thing for you to understand: During World War II, Japan once subjugated almost half of China, and plenty of the soldiers that made this possible were Koreans, and they’re even more vicious than the Japanese, massacring the common people in the tens of thousands, never once admitting their role in the act.”
