Chapter 903: I Exposed Myself Again, Damn It

Lynch’s actions gave many people a glimpse of this young man’s cunning.

Well, that’s not quite right—it was more a demonstration of his strategic skill.

Regardless of whether anyone liked him or not, everyone was intrigued by the choice he made.

EveryMoment’s potential for growth hadn’t even begun to show. With the launch of hybrid cigarettes and full flue-cured tobacco cigarettes, they were being hailed as golden apples.

EveryMoment’s dominance over products like Clove Tobacco allowed it to rapidly build a complete brand in the cigarette industry. From brand value to end-point sales, they didn’t need to pay any additional infrastructure costs.

At the same time, the added value brought by the high-end Clove brand would be fully reflected in the cigarette market. When people chose cigarettes for the first time, they naturally leaned toward well-known brands instead of obscure ones.

This consumer mindset—If it’s such a big brand, it can’t be that bad—would bring a massive influx of highly active users to EveryMoment.

As long as their products weren’t terrible, customers would stick with their first choice.

Everyone knew the tobacco industry was about to explode in profitability, but they also knew it was a hard one to break into.

Companies worth billions were like mountains standing in the way of any capitalist trying to enter. These weren’t just tobacco companies; they were towering giants.

Conquering such mountains wasn’t easy. That’s why capitalists often advised young people not to get involved in industries they didn’t understand.

Because you couldn’t get in. Many people would crash and burn before even reaching the gate.

Just like Lynch’s aviation company—many wanted in, not just for investment returns, but to compete for control of the company.

Their real aim was to use the aviation company as a stepping stone to enter the military sales industry, a field tightly sealed by defense conglomerates.

Without that stepping stone, there was no way in. No matter how much money they threw at it, they would get no response—if the military didn’t place orders, they were screwed.

Of course, some people just wanted to hold shares to stir up trouble and slow the company’s development.

In the end, there were too many calls. Lynch told the maid to inform everyone that he would host a shareholder meeting next week in the top-floor conference room of the Eminence Grand Hotel. Any issues could be raised there.

That night, he brought a good bottle of wine and headed to a countryside estate on the outskirts of Eminence to find out just how good the food really was.

While Lynch enjoyed his dinner full of earthly pleasures, across the ocean in Gephra, a group of people were talking about him.

A deep-cover spy managed to contact Gephra’s military, and they sent a fast boat to extract the gentleman early.

The intelligence, originally expected to arrive the next day, reached Gephra’s mainland more than ten hours ahead of schedule.

This cost them a valuable intelligence officer and exposed a deep-cover agent. The intel was immediately delivered to the imperial palace.

The emperor and key ministers, along with several military officers, watched the recording together.

The footage wasn’t very clear—it seemed like a re-recording from another tape and was somewhat blurry.

Still, even in its poor quality, the video clearly showed why someone had risked so much to send it back.

“I’ve never felt this awful in my life,” the Emperor of Gephra declared, like a tragic opera protagonist delivering a dramatic line.

They’d already watched the tape multiple times. There was no doubt: what was flying in the sky was exactly what the agent had given their life to report.

They knew what it was. In Gephra, it was called a fixed-wing biplane or dual fixed-wing aircraft. A few were even sitting in the imperial capital right now.

These were circus toys in Gephra. Almost every large circus had one or two. They were used in thrill performances.

Audiences would gasp and cheer as they flew, especially when one crashed—it was the emotional high point of the show!

People even thought the crashes were staged, not realizing they were real.

The pilot hadn’t escaped. He didn’t disappear—he was roasted alive.

And now, this thing no one had ever taken seriously showed horrifying combat power. The Emperor of Gephra was starting to get a headache again.

The Navy Minister looked grim. The explosions caused by those aircraft diving weren’t random shelling—they were clearly connected to the aircraft.

They had complete and functional attack systems. That was the terrifying part.

If the Federation’s aircraft technology advanced even slightly, it would have major implications for naval warfare.

They were faster, more accurate, and appeared without warning. Enemy fleets could be struck out of nowhere.

The Navy Minister had recently considered expanding the battleship program. He believed the current fleet wouldn’t be decisive enough in a high-intensity conflict.

Submarines and the Federation were holding Gephra back from being the world’s center again.

He thought they needed more massive warships to reclaim global dominance through overwhelming power.

Now, he wasn’t so sure.

None of their current ships could counter airborne threats. In the face of these deadly aircraft, Gephra’s fleet was helpless!

The Navy Minister went cold, barely registering the emperor’s words.

All he could picture was the fleet leaving port, only to be wiped out by a saturation strike near the homeland.

Then, as if returning home, the Federation would land and plant its flag on the palace roof…

“Look at him—my minister is scared out of his mind!”

The emperor’s words jolted the Navy Minister back. Realizing he’d spaced out too long, he quickly apologized and then looked seriously at his colleagues.

“We must obtain more intel and develop our own aircraft. Your Majesty, I propose we immediately launch R&D projects for aircraft and counter-air systems.”

At that moment, the Army Minister chimed in, “Actually, aircraft aren’t a big problem. Many circuses already have them, and relatively mature designs exist.”

“If we just tweak the flawed parts of existing designs, we can get them into service pretty quickly.”

“What we truly need now is to rapidly develop shipborne anti-aircraft weapons to ensure our fleet doesn’t suffer heavy losses under attack from these things.”

The Army Minister’s words slightly eased the tension in the room. Even the emperor’s headache suddenly felt less intense.

So we’re actually this advanced—circuses already have these things!

He inwardly mocked the Federals for using circus toys in the sacred realm of warfare, while also feeling a glimmer of hope for domestic development.

“Develop our own aircraft as soon as possible. Also… suspend the Sky Fortress Project.”

That last sentence sent shockwaves through the room. The Sky Fortress Project was Gephra’s answer to the Federation’s Air Fortress Program.

Many countries had been researching hot air balloons and even larger airships, and some had already achieved decent results.

Compared to the unreliability of aircraft, everyone believed airships were the true path to taking war to the skies.

Airships were stable enough to serve as mobile aerial fortresses, capable of delivering sloped firepower from high altitudes without fear of terrain or easy interception.

It was a massive project, entangled with vast interests.

Every year, Gephra invested at least two to three hundred million into it. Now, to suddenly halt it—many couldn’t accept it.

After spending so much money, they were just going to cancel it?

Seeing the shock on the ministers’ faces, the emperor sighed. “These things are too agile. More importantly, they can drop bombs.”

“I don’t know if ordinary bullets would be enough to pierce the hull of our airships, but if they fly high enough and drop a bomb…”

He shook his head. He didn’t believe the airships could survive in that situation, let alone strike back.

He knew airships relied on multiple independent gasbags and had excess lift—but so what?

Against agile aircraft, airships had no advantage at all.

Rather than continuing to pour money into them, it made more sense to invest in aircraft research. That was the right path.

Once the state machine got moving, it acted fast. By early the next morning, all Sky Fortress research facilities had ceased operations.

Troops arrived to seal off the premises and secure all materials. Though the project had been shut down, there was no telling if it might be restarted in the future.

Besides, the data had cost a fortune and had to be carefully preserved.

Federal spies monitoring the situation quickly noticed the anomaly. Combined with intel sent from home, they had reason to believe that the aircraft intel had been leaked.

The chairman of the National Security Committee reportedly smashed a cup left to him by his late father.

He had actually broken many already. His father had been a small craftsman who made glassware for a living.

After dying of illness, he left behind a warehouse full of glass goods.

But no matter how many there were, each broken one was one less—an indication of just how foul his mood truly was.