Island Nation 2

The Baize Lake Incident in China claimed the lives of more than 20 Taiwanese and immediately forced President Li Ching-bo to suspend cross-Strait exchanges. The Chinese authorities tried to cover up the incident by reporting it as an accident, which caused confusion as well as anger in Taiwan. Despite Chinese hindrance, BTV reporter Su Wan-chen was able to obtain exclusive photos of the incident through her own connections. Not satisfied with her contributions with Baize Lake, she volunteered to investigate a gang dispute in Yunlin, where she would meet the mysterious Chen Ching-tang, who somehow has the ability to influence everyone around him.

The Hawaii Incident and Li Ching-bo's diplomatic policy caused a diplomatic row with China, and the New National Party took the opportunity to attack Li. However, President Li is not one to back down, as he planned to make an official visit to the US with the help of Chu Shi-chen, Director of the Office of the President, and Chen Ching-tang, who wields considerable resources through his family.

Chen Ching-tang uses his connections with the Cassidy Public Relations Company to make progress on President Li Ching-bo's visit to the United States.

Meanwhile, the Hongtai Nylon factory closed without warning. When the workers protested and demanded that the factory owners come forward to resolve the salary issue, the Democratic Party joined in solidarity to boost their own image. At the same protest, Su Wan-chen's old friend from the university, Pan Tian-tang, reappears into her life.

Seeing Li Ching-bo's successful resolution of the factory shutdown incident, the New National Party angrily released the book, "The Warning of Taiwan Strait War". On the 2030 political talk show, the party spokesperson used this book to allege that Li Ching-bo's actions will lead Taiwan into war. With the help of the media, "The Warning of Taiwan Strait War" sparked a heated discussion among the public. Chu Shi-chen also discovered that large parts of the book seemed to be based on classified intel from the army. Therefore, Cheng Chi-fu, Deputy Secretary General of the National Security Council, suggested that the President inspect the front lines to calm the military.

Li Ching-bo's visit to Cornell came true with Chen Ching-tang's assistance. In the face of joint pressure from China and the United States, the President made plans on how he will approach his speech. Su Wan-chen was on site for the Cornell speech because of Chen Ching-tang's help.

Li Ching-bo's speech immediately triggered a military response and protest from China. Taiwan's stock market plummeted and people rushed to the bank to withdraw their savings. In addition, under the recommendation of Chen Chung-hsuan, Huang Hai-bo and Chu Chang-ching split from Li Ching-bo's National Party to run as the presidential candidate pair for the New National Party. To counter them, the Director of the Office of the President Chu Shi-chen chose to rely on nominating gang-affiliated local politicians for the upcoming legislative election.

A local newspaper broke the news that the National Party had nominated candidates with criminal backgrounds. After the news broke, the news agency was violently destroyed by unknown persons. Reporter Su Wan-chen immediately rushed to Yunlin to conduct an in-depth investigation. When Su's Father found that he was unable to contact his daughter for several days, he reached out to Chen Ching-tang to rescue her from Yunlin.

Su Wan-chen was taken forcibly to dinner with Chou Ding-rong, but Chen Ching-tang was able to arrive in time to prevent any harm from happening to her. When Chen asked Su to be more careful next time, she responded firmly, "It is a reporter's duty to not fear power." As it turns out, she was right to press the issue, because the Ministry of Justice finally brought Chou in after the public started to become restless over his increasing disregard for the law.

As the presidential election is approaching, the CCP once again tried to affect the election with missiles, and a loud explosion on Gordon Island caused the troops to rush to guard their island. The turbulent situation forced the United States, Taiwan, and Japan to quickly convene a meeting of the "Zhishan Task Force". In order to improve the morale of the people, President Li Ching-bo asked the National Security Bureau to declare to the United States that Taiwan's military will protect the country at all costs. As the commander-in-chief, he closely monitored the trajectory of the missiles and announced that they did not contain live warheads and that the public did not need to panic.

Chen Ching-tang was surrounded by the police after obtaining the information. Seeing that there was no possibility of escape, he decided to create an explosion but killed himself in the process. In addition, armed helicopters launched by the CCP started showing up near Gordon just as Taiwan is approaching its first direct presidential election.