The underground cell at night.

Major General Ramon was using the latrine when he discovered he was bleeding heavily. The searing, stinging pain made his entire body want to twitch.

As a high-ranking officer, he had been raped for three nights now. Dignity did not exist; his only belief was to stay alive and seek revenge.

When Antonio and Caspar visited him this morning, he had secretly winked at Antonio.

Why didn't Antonio understand?

He remembered being on the battlefield, pointing his gun at Commander Bernardo; he had also pointed a gun at Bernardo in the meeting room. Why didn't he just pull the trigger back then?

He was dying of regret!

Does such a pervert deserve to be a commander?

Ramon clenched his fists until they creaked.

Meanwhile, at Ramon’s house, his wife Rosalind was in a much better mood.

At noon, Caspar returned to the hospital to report that Major General Ramon was doing quite well in the cell.

According to Caspar’s observation, Major General Ramon still maintained his usual arrogance in the cell, completely ignoring Commander Bernardo. Ordinary prisoners wouldn't dare do that.

His complexion was no different from usual, his hair was still dark, and his face remained cold and stern—maintaining the dignity of a general.

Lady Rosalind felt relieved, so she checked out of the hospital at noon.

Now, Rosalind only wanted to scold her son. Domenic had been staring at ten jars of jam for one or two hours. Today, he bought ten jars from a fat woman and invited a few white friends over to taste them. What else could this be but losing his ambition?

A spendthrift son who had completely forgotten his father was locked up!

"Domenic, you really should grow up," Rosalind said indignantly. "What are you doing inviting these white kids to our house? Their parents are just foreign English teachers; they can’t help with anything. They might even go back and laugh at your father being in jail."

Domenic didn’t dare explain; his mother was in a fit of rage.

His sister Tatiana pretended to read the newspaper in her room, choosing not to join in when her mother scolded her brother.

"Your father’s salary is almost our entire income. If we didn’t have those three other houses to collect rent from, our family would be paupers right now."

"But today, you spent a whole hundred dollars just to treat those white kids to a meal."

"Speak up, Domenic! Are you mute?"

Tatiana finally walked out of her room, wearing a pink nightgown: "Mom, stop giving him a hard time. It’ll only put you in a bad mood."

"Domenic, hurry up and explain yourself!" Tatiana shouted, pretending to be fierce.

"Fine. I actually wanted to wait until Mom felt better to explain." Domenic stood up from the sofa and gave a lazy stretch. "I plan to take two routes to save Dad: first is money, second is power."

Lady Rosalind glared at Domenic, about to explode.

Tatiana quickly stopped her mother: "Mom, let him finish. Sit in the chair, you’ll be more comfortable."

As she spoke, she brought over a leather chair with a latex cushion for her mother.

"For the money part, I plan to start with this jam. Over at the Riverside Market, the wholesale price is less than $7. But the retail price? It can sell for over $20."

"The thing is, our country has more than just Port Sol. There are four other cities of similar size, a dozen slightly smaller ones, and hundreds of even smaller towns."

"We can transport the goods to these cities to sell. Doesn't Uncle know some friends with a truck fleet? This jam is so unique, it’ll definitely sell well. We’ll even put our own brand on it."

"I invited the white kids today to let them taste the jam and see if it’s suitable for export to the UK. If so, a jar could sell for 20 to 30 pounds. We could make even more."

"Mom! As long as I have money, I'll buy Dad out myself!"

Lady Rosalind and Tatiana were stunned. This punk, usually a good-for-nothing rogue, actually had so many schemes for making money.

Rosalind was sure the jam would be a goldmine—she’d been this close to dropping fifty dollars for half a jar.

It was truly too delicious!

Domenic drank a glass of lemon water and continued.

"Now, there are a few problems. First, the source of this jam flows from the 'Pork Guy,' so the supply is unstable. I've found out it's handmade on the other side of the river. We'll eventually find a way to check the smugglers, see if we can find a steadier source, find out who the manufacturer is, and see if we can work together long-term."

"Second, this jam has no shelf life or labels. Small-scale is fine, but if we go big, we'll be penalized. If we can find out the recipe, wouldn't it be better to just open our own factory?"

"Third, that’s why I invited those kids today—to see if the taste suits Westerners."

"How was it?" Tatiana couldn't help asking.

"Not good. White people are sugar addicts; they think it's not sweet enough and too sour." Domenic looked disdainful. "No clue why white people eat so much sugar. They'll fat themselves to death—don't they fear diabetes?"

"If we want to export to the West, we have to lower the acidity and add at least three or four times more sugar."

"That much sugar? Are white people made of sugar?" Lady Rosalind was shocked as if she’d seen a ghost.

Tatiana was getting impatient: "Domenic, I think making money is too far off. Tell me the other way: power."

"Sister, then you can only go find Antonio and seduce him."

"You animal!" Lady Rosalind was so angry she slapped Domenic’s shoulder three times.

Domenic could only stick his tongue out at his sister.

Tatiana didn't give a damn: "He’s handsome enough. If I’m to seduce him, fine. Who’s to say who’ll be the one getting screwed? I’m not afraid of him—I’ll eat him alive."

"You..." Rosalind was so pissed her ears were practically smoking.

Tatiana ignored her mother and brother, swaggering back to her room to continue reading the paper.

She thought to herself: What’s wrong with seducing Antonio? I’ll go tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Saturday. She didn't know if Antonio was off work. She should have called to ask today. What a failure.

Tatiana thought of Caspar.

Right, call this man and ask. It wasn't even 8 PM yet, not yet bedtime.

Caspar was an office director after all; he had the privilege of staying at home at night.

Tatiana in the living room made the call and found a woman answering. His wife?

"Is Colonel Caspar there? I'm Tatiana..."

As soon as Tatiana gave her name, the other person said to wait. In less than half a minute, Caspar’s somewhat impatient voice came through the phone.

"Tatiana, what is it?"

"I wanted to ask you, is Vice Commander Antonio off tomorrow? Can you help me ask him out?"

"Don't you know? Heh." Caspar laughed somewhat eerily on the other end. "He’s going to Commander Bernardo’s house tomorrow to drink. He’ll be drinking from morning until night. Do you know what that means?"

"Huh?"

Tatiana had a busy little mouth and always pestered her father, so she knew plenty of Bernardo’s gay secrets.

For example, drinking at Bernardo’s house for a day and a night meant sleeping with Bernardo.

A man as handsome as Antonio had to sleep with Bernardo?

Tatiana felt like the sky was falling. God, why must handsome men always be eaten by wild boars?

After hanging up, Tatiana was a bit out of sorts.

Her eyes stared blankly.

"What's wrong, Sister?" Domenic noticed something was off.

"Yeah, what happened to you?" Lady Rosalind also felt her daughter had changed after the call.

How could she be this quiet?

"Mom, Antonio has to sleep with Bernardo tomorrow!" Tatiana said indignantly, as if she wanted to punch Bernardo to death.

To her surprise, her mother didn't care at all.

"So he sleeps with him. It would be strange if he didn't. They’re that kind of people anyway. You sleep with me, I sleep with you. Who knows how two men even do it." Rosalind waved her hand and went to her room to sleep.

Domenic, however, felt like a door to a new world had opened.

"Sis, if I go and seduce Commander Bernardo, would there be a chance to save Dad?"

"Eh? That's a way." Tatiana’s eyes lit up. "But Bernardo is so old, and he only likes Antonio. Would he like a little brat like you? Why don't you go get a sex change? Go for the big prize—seduce the Minister of Defense, Brooks."

Domenic was furious.

He grabbed a soft cushion from the fabric sofa and charged at Tatiana. Tatiana had expected his attack and slipped into her room, locking it from the inside. "Hee hee hee."

Knowing their father was safe was the best news they’d had in two days. They could finally be happy for a moment.

……

West of the river, the Socialist camp.

At the same time, in the dark mental hospital, even though it was past lights-out time, a dim yellow light still burned in the long corridor.

Leo sat in a wheelchair. Standing beside him were two rows of soldiers, thirty in total, all carrying guns.

Mateo was tied up with rope, kneeling on the ground. The swelling on his face from Captain Solana’s beating hadn’t faded yet, and Leo had just punched him a few more times.

What was wrong with him this year?

Every time things went slightly well, they’d be ruined by various officers.

The Brigadier General in Beldora ruined the smuggling operation with a drunken fit. Solana’s captain beat him black and blue to show off his power.

Tonight, this crazy general kidnapped him and gave him another beating.

"General, I really didn't know Solana was your territory. If I had known, I never would have stepped foot there! I didn't know Roan was your man either. If you had told me earlier, I would have even helped you protect him!"

"General, please let me go. My twenty or so brothers just scare people; we've never killed anyone. We haven't even seriously injured anyone. The worst we've done is punch or kick a few times."

"Hmph!" Leo, in the wheelchair, puffed on a cigarette and blew out a cloud of smoke, not even sparing Mateo a glance.

Mateo had been begging for half an hour, but Leo hadn't softened. He was scared to death. A mental patient could kill at will without being sentenced, let alone a mentally ill officer with guns and a hundred soldiers!

Thinking of this, Mateo crawled two steps forward on his knees.

"General, I really didn't hurt Roan. I only went to him to get goods. Later, he sent a girl up with the goods. Truly, we cooperated very well. I made money, and he made money—and he made even more than I did."

"He made more than you?" Leo stood up from the wheelchair and slapped Mateo’s cheek. "How can your skin be so thick to say such a thing? I've never seen a commoner do business with a gang and make more than the gang."

"We're not a gang, wahhh... we just scare people..." Mateo’s face rubbed against Leo’s trouser leg.

This lunatic was clearly not paralyzed, yet he insisted on sitting in a wheelchair.

If he couldn't talk his way out of this, he was truly dead tonight. How could there be any way out after offending a madman with guns?

"General, I really gave him a high price. 3,000 pesos for 50 jars of jam. That’s equivalent to a month’s salary for an official." While begging, Mateo suddenly remembered something. "General, I have a witness for this. An officer..."

Mentioning the officer, Mateo shut his mouth again.

He had already found out that the officer who came with Elena to sell the goods was named Bruno, a Brigade Chief of Staff. His rank alone could crush a person. How could he dare drag Bruno into this?

Seeing Mateo stop mid-sentence, Leo got angry again. He kicked Mateo, knocking him to the ground."So you won't talk, huh? That's for holding out on me!"

"I'll talk, I'll talk..." Mateo threw caution to the wind. "His name is Bruno, a Brigade Chief of Staff."

"Fine. If Bruno says you played fair, I'll let you go. But if he says you messed with Elena, you're dead." Leo growled, then barked at his soldiers, "Drag him to the Director's office."

Mateo was hauled into the office. Seeing Leo frantically slamming the buttons on the phone, he felt like he was already in his grave.

This crazy general actually wanted to call Bruno in the middle of the night?

How could an officer of Bruno's level appear in the black market? If he appeared there, he would either report it for credit or kill to silence the witness.

I... I'm really dead!

While Mateo was panicking, Leo’s call went through on speakerphone.

"Who is it?" A refined voice with a hint of sleepiness—it was indeed Bruno.

"It's me. Why are you sleeping so early? Aren't you afraid of sleeping yourself to death in bed?"

"Oh, it's Leo!" Bruno suddenly became surprised and happy. "I was just thinking of looking for you this weekend. I’m telling you, I went to see those three kids. Little Marco is so cute..."

"Shut up!" Leo snapped coldly. "I'm calling you for something, not for small talk."

They actually knew each other?

They were in cahoots?

Mateo’s eyes widened.

"Did that Mateo from the black market really give the little girl three thousand pesos?"

"Really. Why?" Bruno answered without thinking.

"Fine. Consider him lucky." Leo hung up the phone directly.

Then, like an emperor issuing a pardon, he announced to Mateo: "Since you follow the rules in business, I'll let you off this once. If any of your people dare enter Solana again, I'll chop off your fingers one by one."

"Untie him!"

The soldiers actually untied Mateo. Though Mateo’s arms and legs were free, he stayed on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly. "I wouldn't dare! If any of my men enter Solana without permission, I'll chop off their legs first."

"Fine. Get lost." After Leo gave the order, he carried the wheelchair on his shoulder and went back to his room, refusing any help from the soldiers.

Mateo walked out of the mental hospital on limp legs, only to realize his crotch was wet.

He reached down to feel it.

Damn it, he had peed his pants!

What a world!