Starting from the Planetary Governor
Chapter 18: A Pity to Burn to Ashes

The governor’s assertiveness left Hodgson in silence.

He knew that remaining silent at this moment was very impolite, but he indeed felt a great deal of difficulty.

What kind of explanation could he offer the governor?

But he knew he couldn’t stay silent forever.

“I will do my best to replace out who did this…”

“No.”

Gu Hang interrupted him, “If you just throw out a mercenary group or a raider as a scapegoat, there’s no need. My demand is simple: it was agreed that the goods would be here in eight days, so by tomorrow I want to see everything I asked for, not one item missing. Otherwise, Revival City can send a new batch over right now and it will still make it in time; or I can come and take it myself.”

Hodgson felt his throat go dry.

Sending a new batch was ridiculous—100 tons of food and 10,000 textiles weren’t something that could be gathered casually.

Even in Revival City, not everyone had enough to eat.

The crux of the governor’s words was in the latter part: he could come and take it himself.

Where would he take it from?

That seemed to depend on Hodgson’s answer.

If he could provide a satisfactory answer, perhaps the governor could go after the robbers, and Hodgson would only need to give a name.

If he couldn’t provide an answer, the governor would likely come to Revival City to take it.

Regardless of where he went, the process was unlikely to be gentle.

Who would bear the brunt of this lack of gentleness?

At this point, Hodgson knew he had no choice.

He gave Gu Hang a name, then added, “Give me two or three more hours, and I will send you the detailed address as well, Governor.”

“Alright, I’ll give you the final three hours.”

After the communication was cut off, Hodgson pressed another button to summon his attendant. He wanted to say something, but before he could, an unbearable itch made him cough loudly.

The coughing was intense and violent.

On the other side, the attendant’s voice was panicked, “Council Head? Council Head? Are you alright?”

Hodgson couldn’t speak.

“I’m coming right away! Hang in there!”

A few minutes later, two people rushed into Hodgson’s office.

One was the attendant, and the other was Lambert Hodgson, the old Hodgson’s grandson, called over by the attendant.

By this time, Hodgson had stopped coughing, half collapsed in his chair, gasping for breath.

Seeing that his grandfather was not in serious trouble, Lambert felt somewhat relieved.

“You…”

“Don’t say anything yet,” Hodgson raised his hand to stop his grandson’s inquiry, “Immediately replace people from the Wohan Company. We must determine where the mercenaries they hired took the goods meant for the governor.”

Lambert was stunned, “Did they really do it?”

“Yes.”

“But…”

“No buts. We only have three hours.”

“Is the governor angry?” Lambert guessed.

“Yes.” Hodgson sighed, “Our governor is even more decisive and ruthless than I imagined…”

…

Gu Hang didn’t think of himself as ruthless.

He just knew and adhered to a principle: he couldn’t fall into the trap of playing political games with these people.

It’s not about whether he could outmaneuver them with schemes; the main issue was, even if he could, so what?

It’s inefficient and time-consuming, and Gu Hang didn’t have time to play those games.

Straightforward and decisive.

He called for his men, took the radio, brought a hundred people, and left a hundred behind before setting off.

Gu Hang planned to catch up with Yan Fangxu’s team, which had set out earlier, to see if there were any leads at the scene of the incident and attempt to track the enemy.

Any replaceings would be beneficial, but if there were no results, he would see what news Hodgson could bring in three hours.

In the worst-case scenario, he would take over 200 people to Revival City to demand the supplies he needed.

His current force was certainly not sufficient. When the time came, he might need to ask Commodore Alicia for a little help.

Gu Hang believed that Alicia wouldn’t refuse. At that time, she would likely be able to gain considerable merit.

Gu Hang hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but if it did, it would be an unavoidable situation. And he would undoubtedly take the most forceful and decisive measures.

How could an Executor lack deterrence?

If anyone thought that the governor’s deterrence was insufficient, he wouldn’t mind taking actual actions to make an example.

Let’s see if Revival City would be willing to be the chicken in this metaphor.

Two hours later, Gu Hang and his troops arrived at the scene of the incident and met up with Yan Fangxu.

The navy captain had made some progress.

“We found some clues. The raiders tried to cover their tracks when they left, but their methods were rather crude. I’ve already sent a squad to follow the trail, and we should have more information soon.”

After listening to Yan Fangxu’s report, Gu Hang nodded, “Finally some good news. Now we just wait and see if Revival City’s response comes first or if your squad replaces those raiders first.”

“Revival City?”

Yan Fangxu was puzzled, “Weren’t we talking about raiders? Do you suspect someone from within Revival City’s so-called alliance?”

“Is that so hard to guess?”

“Uh…”

Yan Fangxu scratched his head, “Yes, it’s pretty easy to guess.”

Though I didn’t guess it, I won’t admit it.

Gu Hang gave Yan Fangxu a look, feeling a bit helpless.

An excellent fighter, how could he be so dense in this matter?

Gu Hang didn’t say anything further. His eyes scanned the surroundings; the signs of the raid were not very obvious.

There was almost no combat, no casualties, and therefore no bodies or significant bloodstains; all the transport vehicles had been taken, leaving almost nothing at the scene.

From this perspective, being able to backtrack to the raiders from a scene with few clues, especially when the raiders had employed counter-surveillance measures, indicated that Yan Fangxu was no fool.

Thinking this, Gu Hang felt a bit more satisfied.

As long as the military skills are fine, there’s no need to expect a polymath.

The next period was one of patient waiting.

And the news from both fronts arrived almost simultaneously.

The elite marines sent out reported via telegram that they had found a traceable trail and speculated several possible routes and destinations for the raiders.

Meanwhile, Council Head Hodgson from Revival City also contacted Gu Hang, providing three specific locations, ranked by likelihood.

Cross-referencing the two different sources of information, they found some overlapping parts.

Finally, Gu Hang roughly confirmed the target: Manban River Valley Manor.

It was a private estate belonging to a councilor named Wohan.

The Manban River Valley Manor was his property and where he made his fortune, one of the few high-quality lands around Revival City suitable for growing food.

After completing his initial accumulation, Wohan not only produced food but also engaged in food trading, making a lot of money and becoming a councilor.

Currently, Wohan’s main business was in the food trade, and the food production from the Manban River Valley Manor was a small portion for him.

However, he still valued it highly and treated it as his retreat and stronghold.

“Sounds like a lovely place; it would be a pity to burn it to ashes.”