Fatal Strike: Mercenary Road of Gunfire Ranger-Chapter 939 - 878: The Game Behind the Parade

After making the decision, Mountain Eagle, with his exceptional execution skills, went out alone to buy food and water, while also 'supplementing' some weapons and ammunition.

The risk of starting a fight inside a luxury hotel is extremely high; if a shootout occurs between the two parties, it could easily lead to collateral damage.

If such a situation arises, both parties involved in the clash would become a thorn in the side of the local government.

Because the luxurious hotels, which often involve investments of hundreds of millions of dollars, generally have a very glamorous list of shareholders, offending them is basically equivalent to offending both the legal and illegal circles locally.

Therefore, Mountain Eagle and his team needed a comprehensive plan…

With the camouflage of tactical glasses, Mountain Eagle ensures his appearance won't be exposed to the camera lens, so he changed into a different set of clothes and hat, then boldly walked out of the hiding apartment to stroll around the vicinity.

After familiarizing himself with the streets around, Mountain Eagle visited a roasted knuckle shop called Caru' cu Bere, which claims to have a history of over a hundred years, purchased a few roasted pork knuckles that looked decent but were dry and greasy to taste. The appearance of the sauerkraut rolled meat served as a side dish was even more off-putting to him.

However, since he had come, he figured he'd try the most famous dish at the local restaurant, Mountain Eagle decided to queue…

While waiting for food, Mountain Eagle bought two bottles of beer and went to the roadside to chat with local onlookers of the parade.

Most people's English wasn't great, but there was a middle-aged man with glasses who looked like a scholar. Upon hearing Mountain Eagle speak English, he accepted the beer offered to him, and the two began chatting beside a dim street lamp…

Mountain Eagle: "Why are they marching?"

The middle-aged scholar, looking somewhat worried, said: "Because the government is corrupt…"

Mountain Eagle blinked and nodded, saying: "Indeed, they should march and get those corrupt officials out of office…"

Listening to this, the middle-aged scholar looked at Mountain Eagle as if he were a fool and said: "Bucharest Mayor Oprescu was exposed by the media for embezzling 60,000 Euros, and he is currently under investigation.

However, the losses caused by these people marching far exceed 60,000 Euros!

These people don't trust the law, yet they want to rely on legal grounds to circumvent investigation and judgment, directly forcing Oprescu out of office."

Mountain Eagle curiously looked at this middle-aged scholar who spoke in a very 'non-European' manner and said: "You don't hate the corrupt?"

The middle-aged scholar shook his head and said: "Of course I hate these corrupt politicians, but the reality is that the high economic growth in Romania over the past few years was led by these corrupt politicians.

Corruption should surely be punished, but it should be the law that determines what punishment they should receive, rather than utilizing protests to bypass legal procedures and directly remove the other party from office.

This isn't a protest but rather political manipulation!

The people behind this only want to overthrow the current government and not really solve the corruption problem, let alone for Romania's development."

Mountain Eagle was somewhat intrigued by the scholar's attitude; he looked up and down at this seemingly indignant guy and smiled: "But anti-corruption is always politically correct, isn't their approach right?"

The middle-aged scholar paused for a moment, sighed, and looking at the distant fervent demonstrators, said somewhat despondently: "But being not wrong does not mean it's right!"

Saying this, the middle-aged scholar seemed unwilling to delve deeper into this topic. He pointed to a group of 'civilian reporters' holding phones and cameras not far away, to a group of onlookers cheering for every conflict the 'reporters' had with the police. With a low spirit, he took a sip of beer and said: "They are hired thugs by NGO organizations.

They create news, drive public conflict with the officials, and once new leaders are elected, they vanish.

We then find that the newcomers overturn many policies of the previous government, and a portion of people benefit, but those benefits have nothing to do with the majority."

If it were a normal person, they might say at this point, "But anti-corruption is always correct, and since whoever is in power it's the same, if protests can add another nail to the coffin of the corrupt, why not?"

But Mountain Eagle isn't a normal person; he also detests corruption, but having lived in Russia for many years and experienced many things, he knows too well the real nature of these Europeans.

The cleaner the government officials are, the more they do nothing, whereas those who take benefits might actually go and do things.

It sounds anti-human, but corruption driving development is precisely a reflection of human nature.

Because laziness is the nature of any intelligent creature; why should one take responsibility without benefits, accomplishing what's within one's duties is already showing face to them.

The reality is that in Europe, in countries with multi-party electoral systems, without the drive of corruption, those officials wouldn't do anything at all, let alone talk about 'efficiency'.

Of course, corruption itself is wrong; wrong is wrong!

Only scholar elites like the one in front of Mountain Eagle would think about the deep logic within and try to find solutions.

It's essentially adapting to human nature, seeking a way that allows for both national development and minimizing the harms of corruption.

This is not a pipe dream; Europe and America, very early, developed a legal system for 'bribery', and even enacted legislation for it.

The United States has perfected the use of tactics like 'political cash,' 'lobbying,' 'speeches,' and 'publishing books' as forms of disguised bribery.

And often, those who go around giving speeches and publishing books do indeed accomplish a lot.

However, this practice can foster another phenomenon in countries with a multi-party system...

That is, when you take money to get things done, there will be another group trying to hinder you, and if you want to settle them, you have to bring them into the fold to share the benefits.

In politics, this is called compromise!

Of course, this is a rough explanation. In the end, when it is put into practice, the political in-fighting and intricate web of interests within a multi-party system government push the administrative costs to unbelievable heights.

If time could stay still in the decade after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the '90s, the living conditions in most European countries could be considered exemplary.

But as the saying goes, what is bad is bad, and no one, after benefiting, is willing to sit down again to discuss a way to constrain their power.

Don't be fooled by the fierce battles between those parties—the reality is they never touch the core of each other's rights and interests.

Then corruption gets magnified in this struggle and internal consumption, starting with small benefits and gradually evolving into a united transnational capital swallowing up national assets.

This creates a very absurd contradiction: Without corruption, politicians just talk nonsense all day without doing any real work, leading to incredibly low efficiency and stagnant economic development, but corruption leads to a vicious cycle that eventually becomes unmanageable.

The bigger the country, the more pronounced this contradiction is.

People imagine high salaries for cleanliness along with harsh laws, but this only works in places like Singapore, which has a small population and only a tiny area, and even then relies on fixed revenues from its geographical location to sustain.

Using the same methods in New Zealand, the government there is indeed clean, but the inefficiency is so despairing it's no joke.

Only countries capable of breaking out of the vicious cycle have the hope of getting on the fast track of development.

Of course, there are governments that are corrupt and do nothing, but they are not in this discussion.

The existence of such governments only serves to continuously send the value produced in their countries abroad. Those politicians know exactly what they are doing.

And to truly develop a country, especially for a large country with tens of millions or even over a billion people, the human nature, schemes, struggles, politics, development, livelihood, balance, and ideology involved can drive many to the brink of collapse.

To seek the balance in the various contradictions that arise out of development, thinkers like Mountain Eagle or others with practical experience are needed to ponder, explore, and collide, ultimately compromising on a way that most can accept.

Yet, Europeans who can think this way are few, and even fewer are willing to speak with a stranger...

Mountain Eagle curiously raised his beer and clinked it with the middle-aged man, saying with a smile, "Your insights are profound, if I may ask, what do you do?"

The middle-aged man was momentarily stunned, first cautiously glancing at Mountain Eagle, and possibly relaxing a bit owing to Mountain Eagle's complexion, he took a sip of beer and said, "Calia Manescu, I work at the University of Bucharest, and I am also a fiscal advisor for the city government..."

Mountain Eagle blinked his eyes at the simply dressed middle-aged man before him, extending his hand to shake Manescu's and said, "I didn't expect you to be a university professor..." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Manescu shook hands with Mountain Eagle, then shook his head, saying, "I once taught political economy for a while, but now I only work within the university; being a government fiscal advisor is just a part-time job."

As he said this, Manescu shook his head somewhat helplessly and said, "At this point, it looks like my part-time job will soon fade away."

Mountain Eagle paused, then asked pointedly, "Why? Is it because of those protesters and journalists?"

Manescu looked at Mountain Eagle, shook his head slightly, and said, "The reasons are very complex and hard to explain in a couple of sentences.

Since you treated me to a drink, I advise you to leave Bucharest within a week and go someplace else."

Mountain Eagle curiously asked, "Why?"

Manescu displayed a complex expression, shook his head, and said, "Because soon the Liberal Party will propose an early election, and at that time, to pressure the current government into compromise, the scale of protests will certainly expand, and even lead to some violent clashes.

At that point, Bucharest will not be safe!"

Mountain Eagle pondered and said, "Do those NGO organizations have that much capability?"

Manescu shook his head in agony and said, "NGO organizations can't mobilize that many people, but this country has too many foolish young people.

They don't understand at all—what those politicians, who came to power with the funding from NGO organizations, will finally take away from this country!"

Mountain Eagle nodded after hearing this and said, "So you're saying, if someone targets those NGO organizations behind the scenes, the Romanian authorities would actually welcome it."

Manescu, who was always watching the direction of the protesting crowd, nodded subconsciously, then suddenly looked cautiously at Mountain Eagle, only to unexpectedly discover Mountain Eagle had already disappeared...