Chapter 55: The Stellaris Version of “Seven Captures of Meng Huo”

Chapter 55: The Stellaris Version of “Seven Captures of Meng Huo”

After Burdean’s explanation, Lina and the others finally understood the true cause of the conflict between him and Dorian.

It turned out that what appeared to be a mere power struggle within the company was, in reality, a proxy war.

Two influential figures from the Glacial Hymn House were secretly waging a brutal shadow conflict through their respective representatives.

The supporter behind Dorian sought to seize the “Tears of the Deep Blue” mining rights, using that as leverage to boost their own standing within the family.

Meanwhile, the faction supporting Burdean was determined to defend their interests to the death, refusing to allow anyone to carve away even a sliver of their profits from the Deep Blue Metropolis.

Though tensions between the two sides had escalated sharply, the Glacial Hymn House strictly prohibited internal strife.

Because of this rule, neither of the two power players dared to act openly—they could only battle indirectly, centering their struggle on the BluEther Group’s mining qualification rights.

It should be noted that while BluEther Group, as the discoverer of the new ore vein, was far weaker overall than the long-established BluEssence Group—which had monopolized the Tears of the Deep Blue mines for years and operated across multiple major cities—under the laws of the New Federation, as long as BluEther Group could pay the necessary fees to the federal government and prove its capability to mine the ore, the newly discovered vein would be granted to them for development.

This regulation wasn’t just written into the New Federation Constitution, but was also unanimously endorsed by the Four Great Houses—a rule of iron that no one, not even those houses themselves, was allowed to break.

Therefore, if someone wanted BluEther Group to relinquish its mining rights to the new Tears of the Deep Blue vein, there was only one way to do it:

At next month’s shareholders’ meeting, Dorian had to be removed from his position as President, and Burdean had to take his place.

Only then would Burdean have the legal authority to renounce the new vein’s mining rights and sell them to BluEssence Group.

However, while Burdean had already managed to win over a number of major shareholders within BluEther Group, the total number of votes he had gathered still fell short of Dorian’s faction.

Thus, if he wanted to win at the shareholders’ meeting, he would have to think of some off-the-board tactics—for instance, kidnapping Dorian’s daughter and forcing him to comply.

“But what does any of that have to do with that kid sparing Yong Amsan and Claude?”

“Even if he didn’t want to kill them, he could’ve captured them and handed them over to the Deep Blue Guard. That alone would have been enough to prove your collusion with the Dark Starbearer, and you’d be rotting in a New Federation prison by now.”

Hearing Lina’s question, Burdean replied calmly:

“Dorian would never do that. Because if he really sent me to the Deep Blue Guard, the fallout wouldn’t stop with me—it would drag down the entire BluEther Group along with it.”

“Not only because I hold a fair amount of confidential information about BluEther Group, but also because there are plenty of people outside waiting for the company to stumble so they can take advantage of it and kick us while we’re down.”

“If BluEther were to fall into trouble, both Dorian and I would lose our value.”

“So, neither of us would ever willingly let things reach that point.”

“As for why he let Yong Amsan and Claude go—” Burdean’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“That was both a warning and a gesture of goodwill.”

“He’s telling me that he can tolerate my small tricks, but there are lines I must never cross. For instance… doing anything that would endanger the entire company.”

At this point, Burdean couldn’t help but rise from his seat.

He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window behind him and gazed out at the neon-lit skyline of Deep Blue Metropolis, his expression complex and unreadable.

“I have to admit… when it comes to magnanimity, I really am inferior to him.”

“If our positions were reversed, I’d have purged every last rebel who dared to defy me—even if it meant sacrificing a third of the company’s business—to make an example out of them.”

“Dorian, oh Dorian… are you really that confident that you can control everything?”

“Why is it that we’re both merely pawns on someone else’s board, yet you look as though you’re trying to step off the board and become a player yourself?”

Hearing this, Lina and the others finally understood why that Masamune kid had chosen to release Yong Amsan and Claude in the end.

To be honest, even though they currently stood on the opposite side of Dorian, they couldn’t help but feel genuine respect for the composure and broad-mindedness he had displayed.

After all, not everyone could remain rational—choosing restraint and calculated tolerance—even when knowing full well that someone was plotting against them and the people close to them.

“Then… should we leak those kids’ information to the Starbearer Association?”

“It’d take a lot of pressure off our backs.”

Faced with Lina’s suggestion, Burdean simply shook his head.

“There’s no need. I’ll concede this first round.”

“Since Dorian has the magnanimity to spare others—do you really think I don’t have any?”

“But just because I’ve lost this time doesn’t mean I’ll keep losing.”

“If Dorian truly manages to overcome the coming trials and prove himself as a capable leader, then I… will gladly submit.”

Lina nodded, “Understood.”

“Alright then,” Burdean said calmly, “we may have lost this round, but that doesn’t mean we abandon the plans we’ve already set in motion. I refuse to believe Dorian is so miraculous that he can keep dismantling every attack I launch.”

“Rest assured—so long as you all carry out my instructions, you’ll receive every bit of the payment I promised.”

. . .

“Instructor Tachibana, are you sure that if we don’t tell Tendou the truth, he won’t get angry?”

After finishing the task of wiping all surveillance and electronic data from the supermarket and nearby area, Caroline returned to Tachibana’s side, frowning slightly—clearly uneasy about keeping things from him.

At that, Tachibana chuckled, reaching out to gently ruffle Caroline’s hair.

“Caroline, you’re seriously underestimating him.”

“You should know that Tendou isn’t someone who can’t think. He just doesn’t like to think.”

“Do you really believe that if he hadn’t already guessed the reason behind what we did, that reckless, fearless brat would’ve obediently let those two Dark Starbearers go? Don’t kid yourself.”

Caroline froze for a moment. After thinking it through, she had to admit that the Instructor words made perfect sense.

Tendou’s “obedience” only ever existed when your thoughts happened to align with his.

But the moment your views differed from his, he would act purely on his own will—stubborn, domineering, and impossible to sway.

And indeed, Tachibana and Caroline were right.

Tendou had already seen through the intentions behind both Tachibana’s and Dorian’s actions.

It was simple—this was the “Stellaris Version of Zhuge Liang Capturing Meng Huo Seven Times.”

In this analogy, Dorian was Zhuge Liang, and Burdean was Meng Huo.

From the very beginning, what Dorian sought was not a shattered, weakened BluEther Group, but a unified one—a company with a solid, cohesive core.

So rather than utterly crushing Burdean, Dorian’s true goal was to win him over.

After all, even if you got rid of one Burdean, another “Burdean” would just rise to take his place.

Given that, why bother eliminating Burdean, when you could instead bring him into the fold and make him serve your cause?

Of course, all of this depended on one crucial condition—that Burdean didn’t cross the line.

And that was precisely why Tendou had said that the whole “Deep Blue Metropolis” scenario might look dangerous, but was actually quite safe.

Having already read the original storyline, Tendou understood perfectly well the kind of dynamic that existed between Dorian and Burdean—one that mirrored the legendary exchange between Zhuge Liang and Meng Huo.

On one side stood Zhuge Liang.

On the other, Meng Huo.

With that kind of matchup… how could they possibly lose?

So rather than worrying about how to complete the mission assigned by the organization, what Tendou actually cared about was something else entirely—Caroline’s upcoming birthday in a few days.

After all, that day would be the last beautiful memory shared between the two of them.

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