Chapter 637: Chapter 366, you may clap now
Upon boarding Lois’s ship, what awaited Gu Hang was a banquet.
Dressed in a neat white uniform skirt, Nell Lavis, with her graying hair curled, appeared quite stately yet efficient. Upon seeing Gu Hang enter from the doorway, she smiled and raised her glass to him, and called out to everyone else at the banquet,
“Ladies and gentlemen! Ladies and gentlemen! Look! Our protagonist for today has arrived!”
“The hero who saved Korolya, who saved the Tianma Star Sector, is here!”
“I propose that we all, together, raise a toast to our hero!”
Having said that, she was the first to lead by example, downing her drink in one go.
…
As Lois was the highest-ranking individual present, with her taking the lead, the rest, no matter what they were thinking, had to put on a smile and join in the toast at that moment.
After putting down their glasses, people began to applaud as they saw Gu Hang walk into the banquet, being pulled on stage by Lois.
Gu Hang made his way through the applause from the assembly of Tianma Star Sector’s VIPs and proceeded to the front of the stage.
Standing on the stage, surveying the clapping crowd below, and sensing the hidden motives behind their applause and smiles, Gu Hang quickly organized his thoughts about what he was going to say.
He raised his hand and gestured downward.
Only when the applause subsided did he begin to speak,
“The last time I met with everyone here was over four months ago. I still remember the atmosphere of that meeting, it was heavy and desperate, and I believe no one could have imagined that four months later, we would gather in the same place to raise our glasses in celebration of our victory.”
“It’s all because of you!” someone shouted from below.
Whistles and applause rose in turn, and Gu Hang waited with a smile on his face.
When the applause quieted down, he continued,
“Indeed, I will not be modest, it is indeed because of me. Four months ago, I spoke some unpleasant truths here, attacking the policies of the previous two governors in Korolya as well as the ongoing struggle between the Fatches Family and the Star Sector Government.”
“I assertively became the new Governor of Korolya and assumed the position of Commander of Korolya Battle Zone immediately after its declaration of complete militarization. I promised that I would spare no effort to fight the battle to defend Mingyan City and that I would certainly emerge victorious.”
“Four months have passed, and the victory I promised is now before all of you.”
As his words reached this point, the crowd was ready to cheer again.
It was not that the VIPs present were particularly fond of making noise, but… the incredible feat Gu Hang had accomplished, that turning of the tide, already had formed an overwhelming momentum.
If you didn’t clap or cheer, did that mean you had objections?
Let alone the neutrals, even those who had previously aligned with the Gu Clan and the Fufana Family, forming the third neutral force within the Tianma Star Sector, and representatives from the Parliamentary Faction of the Star Sector Government as well as those from the Fatches Family who had lost the governorship of Korolya, had to clap and cheer regardless of their actual feelings.
They had no choice.
However, this time, Gu Hang didn’t let the cheers arise.
He gestured downward with his arms and quickly moved on, speaking rapidly to the latter part of his speech, “But this does not mean the war is over.”
He set the tone first.
“The Plague Cult still festers within Korolya, and if not properly addressed, the disaster brought on by Fino City could recur.”
“External enemies have never been the most terrifying; the most dreadful enemy always arises from within.”
“As to how Korolya’s issues have evolved to this point, I think everyone has their own answer. But for me, the task I need to tackle is to completely eliminate all cult influences during the six years of continued militarization in Korolya; to thoroughly clean out every Lower Nest District and Bottom Nest District in every Nest Capital World.”
“I have said that I will establish a complete and efficient administrative system, eradicate the persistent inefficiency and corruption of the Korolya government over the countless past years, and better harness the entire planet’s potential. This statement, four months later to this day, I still put forth here for all of you to witness. Six years from now, the Star Sector Government, the Star Domain Government will see a whole, full of potential, brand-new Korolya.”
“That’s all I have to say, and now, ladies and gentlemen, you may clap.”
Gu Hang stepped back with a smile, moving away from the microphone.
The audience below still clapped collectively, out of courtesy.
But this time, it was much more reserved, and the applause was more polite.
Actually, those so-called ‘eradication of Cults,’ ‘elimination of corruption,’ ‘Korolya full of development potential’ were very abstract concepts. Which governor wouldn’t boast as such upon taking office?
Everyone’s ears were almost calloused from hearing such things.
Just stating goals and talking big, who can’t do that?
But the key lay in the fact that Gu Hang’s words contained a concrete strategy.
It was called ‘thoroughly cleaning out the Bottom Nest District.’
This was not something one could casually claim.
In a Nest Capital World like Korolya, who didn’t know that various terrible chronic diseases lay in the uncontrolled Bottom Nest Districts?
And yet, how difficult would it be to clean them out thoroughly?
Out of Korolya’s forty billion people, almost thirty billion lived in the Bottom Nest Districts and Lower Nest Districts. With the previous state of the Planetary Government, it was simply impossible to establish effective administrative management.