Two Realms Shuttle Gate: Don't Call Me a Demon!

Compared to the exorbitant transit fees charged by the Jieke Group, going through the Malacca Strait, though adding an extra 1,200 kilometers to the voyage and extending shipping time, still ends up being much cheaper overall than taking the Kra Isthmus Canal.

With such a comparison, he naturally chose to go through the Malacca Strait, unwilling to be subjected to the Jieke Group's tyranny.

.......

As the Jieke Group announced the Kra Isthmus Canal's fee standards, the global shipping industry was shaken to its core.

On Blue Star, no canal has ever implemented such discriminatory pricing; the Jieke Group's actions were clearly discriminatory towards hostile countries, creating a double standard in pricing.

Many globally renowned shipping giants and small to medium-sized shipping companies condemned the Jieke Group, denouncing its actions incessantly.

'This is a disgrace to the shipping sector. The global shipping community must band together to resist the Jieke Group's unjust treatment. We demand fairness and equality.'

'The Jieke Group is behaving inhumane. They are a cancer, causing harm wherever they go, and now they bring that harm to our shipping sector by implementing such double standards. The Kra Isthmus Canal might not have even been built.'

'As long as the Jieke Group does not restore equal pricing, we will avoid using the Kra Isthmus Canal. Let's see how long it takes for them to recover the canal's construction costs. It's a test of endurance.'

Many veterans and authorities in the shipping industry came forward to heavily criticize the Jieke Group, accusing it of disrupting the fairness of international shipping with its operations in the Kra Isthmus Canal.

But notably, all these critical voices were from EU countries or lackeys of the Beautiful Country, such as Korea and Japan.

As for shipping companies in Hua Country and Russia, no one criticized the Jieke Group.

Because with the initiation of the Kra Isthmus Canal, their ships enjoyed genuine convenience when passing through.

The cost was just half of what European and American countries had to pay, saving them shipping costs and time, thereby giving them a competitive edge in the market.

Since both travel to and from the Eurasian Continent, bypassing the Kra Isthmus Canal can make their journey a week faster than those using the Malacca Strait. Many freight shipments are time-sensitive.

Previously, cargo owners had to seek more expensive fast ships or alternative transportation methods.

But now, the time saved by using the Kra Isthmus Canal has made shipping companies from Hua Country, Russia, and Saudi Arabia more attractive to time-sensitive cargo owners.

The Beautiful Country and other Western nations haven't been idle; they've imposed similarly high discriminatory fees on the Suez Canal and Panama Canal, targeting the Jieke Group and Southeast Asian countries.

But it seems the Beautiful Country has forgotten that their sanctions against the Jieke Group have never ended.

The Jieke Group has hardly any goods to sell massively to Europe and America, nor do they have many ships venturing out, let alone passing through the Suez Canal and Panama Canal.

The Jieke Group's real core products are all shipped through smuggling routes.

A small bottle of Tianyuan series product concentrate, hidden in a ship to Mexico or European Union countries, is then diluted and assembled locally into bottles of Tianyuan Hair Growth Liquid, Near-sighted Pill, Slimming Pills, and Whitening Liquid.

Such small shipments mixed in large merchant ships of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of tons are almost impossible to detect.

Even if discovered, the Jieke Group can bear the loss.

The profits from these products are so high that even if only one-tenth of the smuggled items reach their destination, the Jieke Group still makes a profit.

Moreover, the Jieke Group's smuggling success rate is close to one hundred percent.

As for blood trafficking ships, they collect fresh blood worldwide for the Jieke Group, which mostly pays upon delivery.

When you transport the blood to areas under the Jieke Group's control, you exchange money and goods upon arrival.

If anything happens to the blood trafficking ships midway, the loss is on the shipowners themselves.

Most of these shipowners have strong backgrounds, navigating both legal and illegal avenues; their extraordinary skills significantly mitigate the risks involved.

Some are even directly backed by their own governments. In the face of immense profits, the rewards far outweigh the risks, making these blood trafficking ships fearless of inspections, continually delivering blood to the Jieke Group.

As for Southeast Asian countries, aligned with the Jieke Group, the EU had long cut off most imports from them, shifting their exports to focus on domestic demand, as well as trade with Hua Country, Russia, and Central Asia.

One could say the Beautiful Country's instigated actions, targeting the high toll fees charged by the Jieke Group for canal transit, are utterly futile, nearly impacting the Jieke Group not at all.

Without reciprocal measures, the shipping fleets of Europe, America, and other countries can only take the traditional route through the Malacca Strait.

In this canal struggle, the happiest are the three nations along the Malacca Strait: Temasek, Johor, and Jawa.

Initially, they thought their shipping business would decline sharply with the opening of the Kra Isthmus Canal. However, due to the Jieke Group's dual-rated pricing, EU countries' ships still navigate the Malacca Strait, and though their interests suffered a bit, it was far from the worst-case scenario they had expected.

They initially thought that once the Kra Isthmus Canal was operational, only about 20-30% of the ships would continue to use the Malacca Strait.

Especially Temasek, their entire country practically lives off the Malacca Strait. Without it, their country would almost lose its significance.

"This is the rebirth of Temasek; the Kra Isthmus Canal does not threaten our position.

It also indicates that the Malacca Strait remains the world's most crucial golden waterway and the maritime lifeline of East Asia.

Temasek, positioned at the heart of the Malacca Strait, is destined to thrive, remaining prosperous for centuries to come.

Conversely, the Jieke Group's foolish arrogance is pushing them further away from mainstream international society, dooming them to eventually collapse and disband. Victory will undoubtedly belong to the great Temasek."

On January 21, 2029, Temasek's largest official voice piece, the Temasek National Newspaper, published an article prematurely declaring Temasek's victory in this canal struggle.

Temasek's citizens eagerly bought this edition of the newspaper, while mocking the Jieke Group's bizarre maneuvers.

When the Kra Isthmus Canal was being built, the Jieke Group had bullied Temasek; even their President personally went to Jieke Group, bowing down to Su Jie, offering apologies and heavy compensations to get through that storm.

Many Temasek citizens conveniently overlooked the fact that it was Temasek that first caused trouble at the Kra Isthmus Bridge Canal Pier, provoking retaliation from the Jieke Group.

They only remembered being bullied by the Jieke Group, which extorted $1.743 billion in so-called canal pier repair and downtime fees from them.

People generally favor their own regardless of reason, and the same goes on a national level; Temasek's citizens were jubilant, unilaterally believing they had won.

However, Temasek doesn't realize that they are celebrating too early.

Just three days after the publication of that article, at the narrowest point of the Malacca Strait, appeared a ship with no flag displayed or visible evidence of its country of origin.