Chapter 444 Winner Takes All

As night fell and the lights came on, the Economic and Security Council building in the core administrative area of ​​the federal capital looked a little different than usual.

A large number of employees who should have finished get off work at that time are still busy. From time to time, these employees can be seen running around in the lobby, followed by several administrative robots responsible for assisting them.

At the same time, waves of drones descended from the sky continuously, delivering food orders from the Economic Security Committee to a special window.

Since few people usually order food in this area, and the control of drones in the core area is extremely strict, the largest food delivery platform in the capital has not deployed many food delivery drones in this area.

Therefore, when takeout orders suddenly surged, the automatic food delivery system in the area was overwhelmed. When a standing committee member of the Economic and Security Committee learned that the meal ordered by his assistant would not be delivered until 2 hours later. When he arrived, he directly found the owner of the takeaway platform.

Ten minutes later, many citizens of the capital saw multiple flight formations composed of a large number of food delivery drones passing overhead and gathering towards the same area.

When such a minor incident, which soon became a topic of conversation among capital citizens, occurred, an emergency meeting that had lasted for a day was still going on in an underground conference room of the Federal Council on Economic Security.

The layout of the conference room is solemn and elegant. Rows of retro oak chairs are placed around the huge circular conference table in the center. However, the chairs set up according to the number of standing committee members were not full at this meeting.

On the holographic projection platform in the center of the huge round table, the latest updates on today's fierce battle between Atlas Group and Boqi Heavy Industries are being played. The virtual screens in front of some participants are showing information and data from other sources. There are also ' Eye of Truth' live broadcast.

Angelo, the chairman of the Economic and Security Committee, and several of the most important members, as well as several senior analysts of the Economic and Security Committee, watched almost the entire offensive and defensive battle between Atlas and Boqi Heavy Industries here.

None of the 'consultants' from various giant companies who would normally attend all meetings, large or small, showed up at this meeting, and some committee members who were somewhat close to the companies were not invited to attend the meeting.

In other words, this was a closed-door meeting that was limited to those within the federal government, and also excluded the participation of the military-industrial complex as much as possible. To achieve this goal, the Economic and Security Committee did not even notify President Brandon to participate.

After all, the president's close relationship with the military-industrial complex is no longer a secret that cannot be told.

"In one day, half of Boqi Heavy Industries' body was buried in the ground. It seems that Atlas is planning to start an all-out war with these established giants."

As Chairman Angelo spoke, he looked at a report in front of him. This was quickly calculated by the analysts of the Security Committee after the market closed, regarding the losses of Boqi Heavy Industry in this incident.

"This also just shows that the strength of Atlas Group is higher than we previously predicted, not only their hard power in capital, but also their soft power in technology, personnel, and strategy. I believe that everyone here Everyone has read a previous report, which mentioned that Atlas Group’s financial business department has gathered a lot of ‘talents’.”

Vice Chairman Garrison took over Angelo's words and continued:

"I recommend that Atlas Group's rating be upgraded to 'threat'."

"'Threat level'. Isn't that on the same level as the Nutao Group?" Another committee member asked with some confusion.

"Judging from the current situation, the losses suffered by those giant companies in the armed operations are not small, and this loss will have a chain reaction, so my personal view is - Atlas is really It’s possible to be on an equal footing with the Nutao Group.”

"I agree with Garrison." Angelo, chairman of the Economic and Security Committee, closed the virtual screen in front of him, raised his head and said:

"Although we have raised Atlas's rating many times before, it turns out that we still underestimated this 'new star', and the group headed by Mrs. Paris also underestimated Atlas, so Now they are paying the price."

A playful smile appeared on Angelo's face, "Speaking of which, we really have to 'thank' these people for helping us explore the bottom of Atlas. Even if what we find this time may not be the real 'bottom', at least It also makes us vigilant.”

The other committee members around him nodded slightly after listening to his words, and Vice Chairman Garrison also asked again: "Who do you think will have the last laugh in this conflict?"

“It’s still hard to tell”

Angelo shook his head. He could not give a firm answer to Garrison's question, but he still expressed his thoughts for the reference of everyone attending the meeting.

"Judging from the current situation, Atlas Group does have a certain upper hand, but let me put it bluntly, the military-industrial complex is not something that can be brought down casually. After all, they have been in business for so long. The power is there, and many members of the government will find ways to get officials to help, not to mention our dear President Brandon, who is the biggest spokesman for the military-industrial complex."

"So you think the president is going to go astray in his official capacity?"

"It's not impossible."

Everyone in the conference room fell into silence. If President Brandon really wants to intervene in this conflict in an 'official' capacity, the position of the Economic and Security Committee will become a bit embarrassing.

"Are you discouraged now?" Angelo suddenly said, his tone obviously becoming a little harsh.

"Or is it that your sharp edges have been polished away, so you have now forgotten the meaning of the existence of the Economic Security Committee?"

Angelo's words made everyone in the conference room raise their heads again. They all looked at this old man who had worked in the Economic and Security Committee for more than 30 years. Although he was much older than everyone present, at this moment this man The aura of the old man completely suppressed everyone here.

"We are committed to building a more secure, prosperous, and fair economic system, and through unremitting efforts to resist various economic threats and protect the well-being of every federal citizen."

The chairman carefully stated the declaration of the Federal Economic and Security Council word for word, then looked around the people in the conference room and said decisively:

"What we serve is not the president or the military-industrial complex, but the federation and every citizen under its rule, so we must do our best to safeguard the interests of the federation. Although the Economic and Security Council has been marginalized before, today's The conflict made me realize that a unique opportunity may have been presented to us.”

"Then what should we do?"

“The specific methods of intervention need to be discussed, but what we want to do is to prevent Atlas and any one party in the military-industrial complex from becoming a dominant player after the conflict is over.

Because I conclude that if we do not take measures to intervene, there is only one possible outcome of this conflict. That is 'winner takes all'.

The winner of this conflict will completely devour the loser and grow into an unprecedented behemoth, and may even directly threaten the Federation. "