Empire of Shadows

The biggest difference between humans and animals is that humans can think.

But the most terrifying thing about humans is also thinking.

Take the matter of working for a salary. If a person doesn’t think, but just works mechanically and numbly, then work is just work, nothing remarkable.

But if a worker starts to think, will he feel dissatisfied with his current situation?

It’s like a worker on an assembly line. The goods he produces every day with his own hands might sell for twenty dollars. The boss might earn ten dollars from it, but only gives the worker two.

Is it reasonable?

When you don’t think about this question, it is very reasonable.

But once you think about it, it is unreasonable.

So the greatest thing about humans is thinking, but the most terrifying thing is also thinking.

Sometimes thinking can destroy a social system that, although perhaps unreasonable, can at least function normally. Thinking possesses the power of destruction!The bumpy car finally stopped outside the library they had agreed upon.

Originally, Lance’s idea was to receive them at the Rapa Grand Hotel, but the location was changed.

There were some cheap hotels near the library, and Lance had booked rooms for them.

In the invitation letters sent to them, besides the invitation itself, there was also the room key.

The rooms in these hotels only cost fifteen Paras a night, which was very cheap.

It wasn’t that the prices here were that low, but that many people in Rapa would rather sleep on the street for a night than spend money to sleep in a hotel.

Most of the hotels were half-empty, and their decoration was not good, nor did they have any other services. Even if the price was very low, it was very difficult to fill up with guests.

On the contrary, the Rapa Grand Hotel, the price here was not cheap for the locals, but the hotel’s business was very good. You could always see foreigners and local middle and upper-class people coming in and out.

Life is sometimes more absurd than the most absurd stories written by the most absurd screenwriters!

With the help of the key tag, Pedro found his room.

After pushing open the door, a musty, rotten smell hit him, but he didn’t complain, just quietly walked to the window, pushed it open, and then sat on the edge of the bed.

This was his first time participating in this kind of event. He was a little nervous, but he also vaguely felt that this might be an opportunity.

He stayed in his room all day. He had brought some flatbread from home.

The kind made from whole wheat flour, with a little water and salt, fermented a little, then kneaded into a ball, and baked in an oven.

It wasn’t very soft, and was a bit hard, but its redeeming quality was that it could fill one’s stomach.

A quiet night.

The next morning, someone knocked on the door. He scrambled up, walked to the door, and opened it.

Outside the door was a foreigner. These federal people’s skin was very fair, which was a clear difference from the slightly brown skin of the local people of Rapa.

”Mr. Lance is waiting for you in the library. We have a meeting in the morning, a self-introduction. I hope you won’t be late.”

Pedro nodded repeatedly. ”Of course, of course. I’ll just tidy up and be right over.”

The people of Rapa did not have the habit of brushing their teeth, mainly because toothbrushes were not cheap, and toothpaste was not cheap either. They couldn’t produce them themselves, and they were all imported goods.

Imported goods meant expensive. Besides the real middle class, the people at the bottom couldn’t afford them.

They used tree branches, but they didn’t use them often, so most of the Rapa people’s teeth were yellow.

He had spent a long time in the bathroom dealing with his teeth. After breathing into his hand and finding that there was no too obvious smell, he had finally gone out.

It was only a road’s distance from here to the library. On the way, he also saw a few people who, like him, were clearly well-dressed and were walking towards the library.

They should all be the people who had been invited by Mr. Lance to come here to participate in a... seminar.

Pedro nodded to them and greeted them. The others also responded enthusiastically.

The Zhuolan National Library had some separate reading rooms, and Lance had rented these independent rooms.

At ten o’clock in the morning, these gentlemen had already gathered in the room. They, following the guidance of the staff, had found their own seats and had sat down.

At 10:10, Lance had come in from outside in a hurry. He had a slight look of apology on his face. ”I’m sorry, I’m a little late.”

The others naturally would not express any pursuit of his lateness.

Lance walked to his own seat and sat down. He looked around. ”I’m sorry that I was only able to rent the venue of the National Library to hold this seminar. My original intention was to rent a conference room or an auditorium in the Rapa Grand Hotel, and also to arrange your rooms there.”

”This would make our seminar look more formal, more dynamic.”

”However, when I was communicating with the hotel’s side, they told me a piece of information that was both shocking and regrettable!”

Lance paused for a moment as he said this. His gaze lingered on the faces of these people for a short while. ”They said that the lower class is not allowed to enter the Rapa Grand Hotel.”

As he said this, Lance lowered his head slightly, as if to express his regret for this news.

The words he had said had caused a short-lived commotion in the room. Most of these people were cultured people, and they were able to control their emotions well.

Pedro felt his chest tighten a little, as if he were wearing an unsuitable shirt, which was tightly wrapped around his body, making it difficult for him to breathe.

Then he couldn’t help but shake his head with a smile, not a happy smile, but a bitter one.

He had never been to the Rapa Grand Hotel. He had originally been full of longing for this place. He had even fantasized that if he had the chance in the future, he would also like to go in and have a look.

But now, this small dream of the past had been shattered.

At the same time, it had also laid a bloody reality in front of the people.

Lance leaned forward, his knuckles tapping on the desk. The force was not great, but the sound that was tapped out could penetrate people’s hearts.

”This is an ugly phenomenon.”

”I asked the doorman of the hotel, and also the manager of the main hall, how they distinguish whether a person of Rapa is upper class or lower class.”

”Who can decide, whether this person is upper class, or lower class?”

”The law, the surname, or something else?”

”They told me a very intuitive method—”

He looked around at these people again. This time it was different from the previous two times.

The previous two times when he had looked at these people, they would still meet his gaze and look at him, but this time, they all lowered their heads.

”He said, to distinguish by clothing.”

”He told me that ordinary people can’t afford a decent attire, a suit, a tie or a bow tie, and also shiny leather shoes.”

”Ordinary people can’t afford it, or they can afford it but won’t buy it. They can’t use a few years’ or a dozen or so years’ income to buy a set of clothes, instead of letting their family members live a better life, so this method is very effective.”

”I have no intention of hurting your feelings and personality, but after discovering this problem, to reflect on it.”

”Are ordinary people, then, the lower class?”

”If ordinary people are the lower class, who is qualified to be the upper class?”

”Who decides who is the upper class, and who is the lower class?”

”As a foreigner, a federal person, I shouldn’t have said these words.”

”But I still want to say them.”

”A country that can’t even take care of the most basic dignity of its people, and also uses ’upper class’ and ’lower class’ to treat them differently, it must be sick.”

”When a person is sick, there is a doctor to treat them. If this country is sick, who will treat it?”

He left a question. This question was for them to think about.

The people who could be selected to participate in the seminar were all people with certain ideas. Some of them had not received a higher education, but this did not mean that they could not think, and had no ideas.

”Alright, this topic ends here.”

”Let’s put our attention back on our seminar.”

”This seminar will last for about five days to a week. As a way to promote the exchange between the Federation and the Yalan League, the process, the content of our seminar will all be recorded in the form of images and text.”

”I believe that after you have watched the film, and some of the text materials, you will have many ideas, and opinions.”

”Rapa, as a not-so-developed region, you have lived here for many years. What do you think is the biggest difference between the current Rapa and the Federation?”

”What is it that has caused such a huge gap between the two neighboring countries and societies?”

”Not to mention the Federation, even compared to the Jede Republic, there is a huge gap.”

”Also a country in the Yalan region, one of the member states of the Yalan League, where exactly is Rapa’s problem?”

”This is the topic of our research and discussion today.”

”In the later stage, I will invite you all to the Federation, to observe the society of the Federation. But now, let’s first talk about the people here, and the matters here.”

A very formal seminar, research, and discussion.

This was a question that they had never seriously considered before, but it was possible that in some fragmented time, they had had a momentary impulse to think about it.

Rapa, in what way is it worse than other countries?

Pedro really wanted to ask, can this also be considered as research to promote cultural exchange?

But he also felt that perhaps this was just the lack of understanding caused by the contact between two different societies. To interpret the badness here would be helpful for the Federation to understand this place better?

He didn’t know. Everyone else was seriously thinking and expressing their own views. He was soon also immersed in this atmosphere.

He told himself that this was just an academic research.

As a teacher, who wouldn’t yearn for an academic research?

At noon, Lance had someone send over lunch. It was all very delicious, and there was actually beef and pork!

Pedro had eaten bird meat, snake meat, wolf meat, and even leopard meat, but he had never eaten beef.

Because the former animals could be obtained from the wild, but beef was only from artificial breeding.

As long as it was something that was artificially bred, it would cost money, and the price of beef was also on the high side. He couldn’t afford it.

He suddenly thought of a narration in the movie before—

”A worker’s salary can meet his daily demand for meat. A pound of fresh, ordinary minced beef only costs a few cents.”