Munitions Empire

As she sat on the sofa lost in her thoughts, a knock came from the door. Sofia ordered the person outside to come in, knowing that if someone was disturbing her at this time, it must be something very important.

A maid walked in and presented a telegram with both hands, respectfully handing it to Sofia: "My lord, it's a telegram from Chang'an in Tang Country."

"I understand... you may go!" Sofia felt her cheeks burn with heat; she even wanted to toss the telegram into the bin.

For her, the most difficult decisions might well be those concerning personal relationships. In business, she would never be so anxious and flustered.

What to do? At that moment, Sofia genuinely feared the telegram in her hand, worried it might be a love letter from Tang Mo.

If it were of such content, Sofia didn't know if she should refuse or accept it.

As a competitive businesswoman, she felt she should admit defeat and pay the price for losing the war. That was reasonable, wasn't it?

If Tang Mo really had such demands, she could simply satisfy his wicked desires: she could also use this relationship to threaten Shireck's competitors, secure more Tang Country technology, revitalize Shireck, and gain the upper hand.

She was confident in her body, with a beauty that could bring down empires, and there wasn't a man alive who wouldn't be interested in her face.

At times like this, she no longer dwelled on her preference for women; for someone like her, doing something distasteful was merely a matter of weighing benefits. Just think of it as being bitten by a dog! Subconsciously, that's how Sofia convinced herself.

Having pondered so long that the maid who delivered the telegram had left and closed the door, Sofia still hadn't opened the telegram from Chang'an in Tang Country.

She held the folded piece of paper in her palm, as if grasping the future, as if regaining control of Shireck's power.

A telegram for me... for me... Having started to plan how to demand the technology for weapons such as the Butcher Fighter Jet and Flying Fortress Bomber after spending a passionate night with Tang Mo, Sofia finally looked down at the telegram in her hand.

Apprehensively, she extinguished the half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray on the coffee table and nervously unfolded the letter.

Inside was a very short sentence, but not the content Sofia had anticipated: "Have you decided whether to use poison or a pistol?"

Sofia closed the telegram, then opened it again... she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

Eventually, she confirmed the content of the telegram had nothing to do with romance or affection.

There were no hints of flirtation or eroticism in the telegram; it was filled with chilling indifference.

"Have you decided whether to use poison or a pistol?" Sofia read the sentence again, picturing a young man standing before her, genteelly placing a green vial next to a pistol on the table.

All her previous coquettish rejections, all the confidence borne of being a woman, dissipated at that moment. She even began to wonder, if she liked women, perhaps Tang Mo liked men...

Staring at the telegram in her hand for a long time, Sofia finally snapped out of it: the man far away in Chang'an was not one of those vulgar ruffians who could be brushed off lightly—it seemed a bit of wishful thinking.

Thus, with a troubled expression, Sofia pressed the bell on the coffee table, and the door was immediately pushed open; a servant who had been standing outside entered the room and asked with a bow, "What are your orders, my lord?"

"Prepare the car! I need to go out!"