Chapter 120: This is Zhou Ming's set

There is a lyric: I have no defence, no concern, and you just appeared in my world like this. 

This lyric coincides with the mood of Nikolic and Maita at this time, because they never imagined that Kasia would bring such a piece of news, only that this news brings them only surprise and no joy.

'My dear fellow, today is not April Fools' Day, and this joke is not funny at all!' Nikolic said to Kasia.

Kasia was startled by Nikolic's solemn tone, but he still said, 'Mr. President, I'm not joking. Just now, the Ministry of Internal Affairs went to the Swiss bank to withdraw cash, and the staff of the Swiss bank passed on the news that there is no money in our account.'

'Where did the money go? Mr. Kasyanov, your report was that you personally handed Sean the cheque for 100 million US dollars, and you personally witnessed Sean verify the cheque and deposit the money into our account. Now you're telling me there's not a penny in it. So please tell me, where the hell did the 100 million US dollars go? Aren't you pulling the worst joke on me?'

Nikolaevich roared angrily at Kasyan, so angry that he was about to spit in the other man's face. But the President of Northern Russia could not help being angry. After all, it was not just a dollar or two, but 100 million US dollars. In the heyday of the superpower, this was nothing, but in the current financial situation of Northern Russia, which was leaking money from all sides, this sum of money was very important. Otherwise, he would not have made the deal to buy 5 billion US dollars for 140 billion new rubles.

On the one hand, many senior officials were motivated by self-interest, but on the other hand, it was true that the Kremlin was in dire need of money to ensure that it did not go bankrupt.

Facing Nikolic's rant, Kasia felt very frightened: 'Mr President, I don't know why this is happening. I did personally witness the cheque being verified and deposited in the bank, and Mr Maita was also there at the time, he can testify for me.'

In desperation, Kasia pulled Maita next to him, and he had no choice but to do so. After all, it was one hundred million US dollars, and even the director of the president's office could not afford it.

Nikolaevich turned to Maita, his eyes full of confusion and questioning. But in the face of Nikolaevich's questioning, Maita did not answer immediately, but first took out his phone and made a call. The call he made was to Sean, the key account manager at the Swiss bank. He wanted to ask if the 20 million US dollars that Zhou Ming had given him had arrived.

In Maita's opinion, the affair between Nikolic and Kasia was not important. First of all, as old partners from the White House to the Kremlin, Nikolic could not possibly not know Kasia's loyalty.

Even if politics does not trust people's hearts, if Kasia really did something with the 100 million US dollars, he would definitely have to leave Northern Russia and apply for political asylum. He would not be serious enough to report back, so either he is crazy or he has been pushed over the edge!

Nikolaevich and Kasia both understood this very well, so they did not rush him to make the call.

However, they did not need to wait for him to finish the call. When they saw that Maita's face was not right, they immediately understood the result: this American financial warfare master had also been cheated, and his 20 million US dollars had not been received.

What was puzzling was that the 120 million US dollars had clearly been collected and checked by Sean in their presence, so how could it have just disappeared into thin air? Or was there something wrong with Sean? But that was impossible, because not only did Sean have a high level of professional integrity as a key account manager at the Swiss bank, but the key thing was that they had brought Sean in, so if there was a problem, he should be helping them!

'My God, can someone please tell me what happened? Could it be that that Chinese guy Ming Zhou knows some kind of Eastern magic and made the 120 million dollars disappear?' Cassia muttered.

Nikolaevic didn't say anything, but his puzzled expression said it all.

Metta immediately frowned: 'If Ming Zhou just performed a magic trick on us and made the 120 million dollars disappear, that would be fine. What I'm worried about is that he still has other magic tricks up his sleeve.'

Nikolaevich and Kasia were shocked to hear this, but before they could react, the office door was knocked on again. Kasia's assistant walked in and brought him a newspaper. Kasia's eyes widened the moment he saw the newspaper, and before he could even ask the assistant anything, he handed the newspaper directly to Nikolaevich, because the headline on the front page was exactly the agreement they signed with Zhou Ming.

The sell-out agreement!

That was the headline of the news article, which first reported that the central government had spent 2.3 billion new rubles on an agreement with a Chinese person to purchase 100 million US dollars, and then went on to denounce the Kremlin as a sell-out, because at the current exchange rate, 2.3 billion new rubles should have been exchanged for at least 600 million to 700 million US dollars, but he had only received 100 million US dollars, so the transaction could be described in no other way than as a sell-out.

At the end of the article, the newspaper even posted a photo of the text of the agreement, including Kasyan's signature at the bottom, which was undeniable.

Nikolaevich slumped onto the sofa, his face aghast, no longer able to maintain the gentlemanly expression of the Western aristocrat he had always pretended to be, because he could imagine the possible repercussions when the newspaper was released.

There would be an uproar across the country, the people would unanimously denounce him, and if any political groups organised themselves, there would be riots and demonstrations. Then there would be a repeat of the incident at the parliament building not long ago. Those who were originally against him would support the people in driving him out of power. Would he be overwhelmed by the angry people and lose power and betray his country? Only God knows.

However, compared to Nikolic's loss of soul, Kasic next to him was scared out of his wits, and even his whole body was shaking uncontrollably. It can be imagined how scared he was inside. The reason was very simple: he had personally signed this agreement, and he was directly responsible for it. His president could be ruthless enough to sell him out for his own position, saying that he had signed it on his own initiative and had nothing to do with the Kremlin or the president himself. At that time, he would be the one to bear the finger of blame from thousands of people. How could this not make him scared?

Although Kasia is only the director of the president's office and is a long way from Nikolaevich's position as supreme leader, for ordinary people, it is already a lofty position.

It is no exaggeration to say that everything he has now, whether it is the several manor houses he owns in Křižík by the Black Sea coast, his huge deposits in Swiss banks, his wife, who is twenty years younger than him, and the admiration and support of his relatives and friends, is all based on this position of power.

Since he has something that ordinary people can't even dream of fighting for in their lifetimes, he is all the more afraid of losing it.

It was precisely for these reasons that when Zhou Ming mentioned teasingly about holding a big press conference when signing this agreement in the Red Square building, Kasia's face suddenly turned very embarrassed. He knew very well that this agreement simply could not see the light of day.

Of course, whether this agreement can see the light of day is actually not important. After all, everyone is based on mutual benefit, and no one would be stupid enough to make this agreement public.

But that was then, and it was based on a deal. But now that Nikolaevic's side is not honouring the agreement, Zhou Ming's side can only take countermeasures. This was expected by Nikolaevic, but at least he should have secured the 100 million US dollars for the national treasury as a result. However, not only has the US dollar that should have been lying in the Swiss bank disappeared, but the agreement has also been exposed so quickly. He has fallen into Zhou Ming's trap.

'Mr President, we must act quickly. This newspaper must be tracked down and the Chinese who leaked the agreement must not be allowed to escape!' Kasia said to Nikolaevich.

Kasia's words reminded Nikolaevich, and a fierce look flashed in his eyes. He immediately straightened up and said to Kasia, 'Old friend, you must contact the KGB immediately and arrest all these damned bastards. I must cut off their heads and shove them up their asses!'

Hearing the name KGB, Kasia knew that the President was going to take serious action, so he immediately stood up and said, 'Please rest assured, Mr. President, I will do it right away.'

Kasia was about to walk out of the office, but before he could take a step, he was stopped by Maita. Kasia looked at Maita in confusion, but Maita ignored him and said to Nikolajevic, 'Mr. President, don't worry, just read the date on the newspaper first.'

Nikolaevich was about to rebuke Maita, but after hearing his words, he was suddenly shocked. He immediately grabbed the newspaper and flipped through the dates. He was first stunned, and then burst out laughing.

Kasia felt a little confused about Nikolaevich's performance, but when he leaned over and saw the date on the newspaper, he let out a long sigh of relief as well, because the date on it was September 1st, not today but tomorrow.

'Mr. Zhou Ming's timing is exquisite, neither before nor after, just right,'

Meta said with emotion in his voice. He immediately saw Zhou Ming's intention in arranging this timing, which was nothing more than a warning. It was not really intended to cause a rift between the two sides. At the same time, since the date was tomorrow, it would be too late for Nikolaevic and him to make any preparations, even if they wanted to.

'Mr. Meta, now is not the time to feel emotion for the opponent,' Kasia reminded Meta.

'I understand,' said Maita. "Mr. Nikolic, since we have already lost to Mr. Zhou Ming, I think it would be best if we contacted him again and discussed it. What do you think?'

'Of course," said Nikolic. 'After all, according to the agreement, this deal was supposed to be completed. As President of Northern Russia, I can't go back on my word.'