Empire of Shadows

During his time with the soldiers, George also learned to carry a gun and pull the trigger a few times when necessary, which made the soldiers accept him well.

He would conduct some interviews with the soldiers during the lulls in the fighting, on topics like, “Do you think there’s any meaning in us coming here to fight the Dantra for the Slad people?”

Most of the soldiers seemed bewildered by the questions he asked.

He still particularly remembered a young man, only eighteen, who had just graduated from high school. He had signed up for the army in response to a recruitment ad, to pursue the path his idol had recommended to him, and had then been sent to the front line.

He had no accurate concept of these issues at all. After a period of unease and fear, he had gradually become numb and had accepted everything.

He didn’t know if there was any meaning. He only knew that if he wanted to live, he had to move forward!

An interesting young man. He would tell some fashionable jokes, liked to smoke, and also liked to drink, but his tolerance was not very good.

Sometimes when he drank too much, he would sing and dance alone. In short, a very lively person.

In a battle two days after interviewing this young man, he was hit by a machine gun not far from George.

The bullet had directly torn open his carotid artery. No matter how he tried to cover it, he couldn’t stop the gushing blood.In less than thirty seconds, he had fallen to the ground and had left this world in a convulsion.

It was only at that moment that George realized that if you see too many dead people, and at any time everyone might die, then people will not be afraid of death.

Only numbness.

He also didn’t feel fear, but just felt that it was a pity. An eighteen-year-old young man had just left this beautiful world that he had not had time to experience in detail.

He didn’t even know until he died why he was here, why he was participating in this war in this capacity.

The military’s established plan was successfully completed with the push of a hundred thousand people. There were many casualties. Every few days, some new faces would come to the company. George also experienced what the driver had said when he had come.

For him, the only ones who had really died in the war were the new faces who had disappeared from the company.

For the next period of time, both sides had a tacit understanding and began to readjust their battlefield arrangements. Although tens of thousands of infantry had come over, and there were no large mechanized troops, it still caused a lot of trouble for the supply line and the “rear.”

The Dantra people began to shrink back, and a portion of their troops fell into an encirclement.

During this relatively calm period, George had written many notes and interview reports. The more he wrote these contents, the more curious he became in his heart.

Why did the federal people have to participate in this war that had no direct relationship with the Federation?

He didn’t understand.

When a person shows that he cannot understand a problem, his position is actually already determined.

After an unknown amount of time, George had finished his manuscript and had also sorted out the audio-visual materials.

After exchanging some views with Ian, he had added some content and then had gone to the command post.

It was very simple for the front line to send a message back to the rear. A radio would do. But he had a large amount of manuscripts and audio-visual materials in his hands, which needed to be mailed.

He and Ian had come to the command post together and had explained the situation.

There were still some of his former colleagues here. They were very surprised to see George and Ian return safely. Some had also taken the initiative to come over and talk about what had happened on the front line.

After a trip to the front line, George was already not the same as his past self.

He did not say some too detailed content. After all, he was still planning to rely on this news to win another Golden Newspaper Award. He just talked about his most confusing question—

What was the meaning of this war?

He was chatting with these people when the military officer who had received him before came out of the command post. “Mr. George, you can come in.”

George said his goodbyes to them and followed the officer into this simple command post, and then came to a small room.

Inside was a table and three chairs. The officer did not sit down. He pressed his thumbs and the other four fingers on the tabletop, forming a structure similar to a triangle.

“Mr. George, because you have been on the front line, in order to avoid some misunderstandings between us, I need to check the manuscripts and audio-visual materials you want to mail back. I hope you can cooperate.”

The officer’s request could only be said to be reasonable. George had no way to refuse.

He took out some of the articles he had written, as well as the film rolls and films.

The officer was very seriously checking the articles and reports, while the others were sent to be developed first.

After reading for about twenty minutes, the officer put down the report manuscripts in his hand and then shook his head. “Mr. George, there is a lot of news in here that is not allowed to be reported, so I’m sorry, we can’t help you mail these documents back to the Federation.”

“And…” he shook his head and did not continue.

He then checked the audio-visual materials provided by George again. They were all very cruel scenes that would make ordinary people feel uneasy after watching.

Combined with the articles he had written, once these things were leaked, it was very likely to cause social protests.

The officer sorted out all the things and put them into a larger brown paper bag.

Seeing this, George couldn’t help but say, “Hey, what are you doing?”

“Those are my things, my personal belongings!”

He tried to fight for the brown paper bag in the officer’s hand, but was pushed away by the officer. “Stay calm, Mr. George.”

“Your report, the materials you have filmed, have a high probability of causing some unpredictable and disorderly social consequences, so these things will be temporarily in our hands.”

“After the Department of Defense has evaluated them and confirmed that they are ‘harmless,’ we will return the things to you.”

“Before that, you can’t take them away!”

These things could be said to have been carefully prepared for a long time, including George’s own thoughts.

And when he was writing, he was trying with a particularly agitated emotion and mood.

So the writing style was very bold, and also very radical and fiery. He had almost directly pointed at the noses of Congress and the Presidential Palace and cursed.

Cursing them for sending the young people of the Federation, the little suns that represented the future, to the battlefield to be extinguished by the icy water of war, all for their own selfish interests!

At that time, this was his thought. He knew that he should treat these materials more rationally, but he couldn’t do it.

His emotions had made him rarely challenge his own work.

But if he were to rewrite a copy now, it would be very difficult for him to write it so full of emotion that it could be read in one go!

Once a person has withdrawn from a certain excited emotion, their cognition will also change accordingly.

He once again tried to snatch it. He took a step forward and reached out to snatch the brown paper bag in the officer’s hand.

Unfortunately, he was not a professional soldier after all. Although he had fired a gun on the mountain and might have even killed an enemy, he had not undergone various strict training. His movements were too slow and were easily dodged by the officer.

The officer shouted, “Guards!”

The door to the room was immediately pushed open, and three soldiers rushed into the room.

He took a few steps back, looked at George, who was gradually losing control of his emotions, and said to the soldiers, “Let him calm down. He is not allowed to leave this room before there are new orders!”

After the officer finished speaking, he picked up the wide-brimmed military cap on the table and then left the room with his manuscript.

George wanted to chase after him, but was rudely pushed away by two soldiers. “Stay there!”

“Don’t let us misunderstand what you are going to do!” a sergeant raised his weapon and pointed it at him, his finger already on the safety switch.

Facing the dark muzzle of the gun, George suddenly calmed down. He slowly raised his hands high. “I’m sorry.”

Then he was locked in a small room. He didn’t understand, but he seemed to have understood something.

Perhaps this was why the country only reported the good news. They had blocked the channels for people to know the truth, and had also made people unable to think independently in the midst of constant victories.

Sitting on a simple low bed, he rubbed his face with both hands. He had to escape, had to let everyone know the truth!

In the command post, a major general looked at these materials and shook his head. Then he handed the things to his adjutant. “…Archive them.”

He had originally wanted to say destroy them, but then he felt that perhaps these things could be handed over to the Department of Defense.

The Department of Defense did have its own formidable ways of dealing with these problems. Maybe these materials could also play a role in propaganda.

“Where is the person?”

“He’s being held in room seven,” the soldier replied.

The major general nodded with great satisfaction. “Don’t give him too many things to do, so that he won’t continue to have wild thoughts.”

After the soldier had received his orders and left, the major general turned his attention back to the analysis of the current war situation.

No one paid any attention. The soldiers also did not think that a reporter could really do anything under their noses.

Five days later, Lance received a phone call.

“It’s me…” Lance answered the phone. He had been supervising the filming of a movie on the Creek Valley City side.

But an unfriendly thing had happened, and he had to come back first.

Someone was sending wine to Likalai State again, with an actual value of about 1.5 million.

Not long after entering Likalai State, they were stopped by the highway patrol. After a short firefight, these trucks soon disappeared in the border area of Likalai State.

There were many dirt roads over there, and no one knew where they had gone.

This matter was more important than the grape bricks. The grape bricks were only aimed at the low-end consumer group.

A hundred low-end consumer groups were no match for a high-end consumer.

A hundred glasses of special-priced beer was only fifteen dollars, but a bottle of five-year-aged Golden Lion whiskey, Lance’s price was as high as a thousand!

And the wine that was brought over this time was all medium- to high-end spirits, which would have a certain impact on Lance’s high-end wine market.

He also didn’t know if the other party was testing the waters, or if this kind of trade had been going on for some time.

He also wanted to know who had ordered the goods, and who had sent them.

As it happened, he was talking to someone about this matter when George called.

“It’s George. I need you to do me a favor…” his voice sounded very anxious.

Lance frowned. “What do you need me to do?”

(End of a Chapter)