Empire of Shadows

On the street, a few young men were robbing a simple shop.

The shop owner had been beaten to the ground. He wanted to stop them but didn’t dare to reach out, and could only prostrate himself on the ground, begging them not to take any more.

But his pleas not only had no effect, but passersby were constantly joining in.

Pedro had only stood on the side of the road and watched for less than a minute, and three or four groups of people had come.

They had rushed in, had stuffed everything they could into the food bags they were carrying, and then had quickly left.

No one cared about the owner who had fallen on the ground, his face covered in blood, nor did anyone care about his pleas.

His pleas, at this moment, were not like a rest note that stopped everything, but rather like the whisper of a demon, urging people to act faster!

The evil from the bottom of people’s hearts had, at this moment, been completely released.

”Let’s go,” he shook his head and continued to walk forward. Saen and his group all followed closely behind him.

Saen chased after him for two steps. ”Do you want to help?””If you want to do something, we can help.”

There were quite a few of them, and the people who were causing the chaos around them had not set their sights on them, so Saen had the confidence to say this.

Pedro shook his head. ”We can help one person, we can help two, but we can’t possibly help everyone.”

The current situation was in a period of ”chaos,” just like the cases Lance had mentioned—

The working class had, through the means of strikes, parades, and demonstrations, achieved victory, and then a part of them had begun to abuse these powers.

They would go on strike at every turn, trying to force the capitalists to compromise with them, but the final result was that the capitalists had replaced a batch of employees.

”When people find that they have a power that is beyond their imagination, their first thought is not to restrain their own behavior, but to indulge, to indulge in their desires.”

”The Labor Federation was not established in the midst of chaos, but after the chaos.”

”Chaos will bring absolute destruction, not only destroying others, but also destroying oneself.”

Pedro had firmly remembered these words. The more clearly he could remember, the more he could feel, as if everything that was happening here was a microcosm of the stories that Lance had told.

They had entered the city through violent means, so they had thought that violence was the passport to success. But they didn’t understand that their current violence was simply nothing in the face of the ruling class’s suppression.

Pedro, who had received a higher education, knew very well that the stability of a political regime was definitely not because of mercy, but because of the army that was loyal to the ruling group.

These people were ultimately just ordinary people. They would not be a match for the army, and their end seemed to have already been foreseen.

”Do you believe me?”

Pedro asked.

Saen smiled and nodded. ”At least you are smarter than us.”

He did not say whether he believed him or not, but he had also shown his attitude. Pedro could feel the unspoken meaning behind his words.

Whether to believe him or not depended on his subsequent performance.

Pedro stopped his steps. Seeing that the riot was still continuously spreading, that more and more people were pouring into the city, and were joining in the actions of smashing, looting, and burning, he had an even clearer premonition.

This ”demonstration” would fail.

”It’s too chaotic,” he looked around, and his gaze fell on Saen. ”There is no purpose in their smashing and looting. Besides creating chaos, they can’t play any role.”

At this moment, he had a feeling that if he were the ruler, and he knew the behavior of these people, he would not be nervous.

No purpose, and not united. These people would not bring any substantial trouble to the rule.

He shook his head. ”Look at those locals, the shop owners of the shops that have been robbed. From their expressions, their eyes, what do you see?”

Saen and his group, after observing, had said a word, ”Hatred!”

”Yes, hatred,” Pedro repeated this word. ”They hate these people. The ruling class hates these people. From the very beginning, they have separated themselves from the low-level people.”

”Originally, we were the victims. We came here to seek help, to seek food to solve our predicament.”

”But look at what they have done. They are not here to tell the government what we need. They are just here to simply bring destruction!”

”And this will only lead them to failure.”

”They don’t know their purpose here, they don’t know how to express their demands. They are a sheet of loose sand. They don’t even need the wind to blow, and they will be scattered all over the ground.”

Pedro looked at Saen. ”We need more manpower, more people who can be controlled, who can be obedient, to join us.”

”Not this kind of person. We need people who can abide by the order, who can be obedient.”

”We must unite. Only by uniting, perhaps, can we get what we want.”

”I have heard a sentence that has given me a lot of inspiration and shock. Today I will pass it on to you.”

”The power of unity is like steel, and even harder than steel!”

”It is the most powerful weapon in the mortal world, and can shatter all injustices!”

His eyes were shining, which made Saen feel a little dazzling, but he didn’t mind. He wanted to get close to this light.

It was as if as long as he got close to this light, he could be illuminated by the light, and be warmed by the light.

”I have a premonition that the days to come will get worse and worse.”

”It’s not just that we are short of grain in our vicinity, but the whole of Rapa is short of grain. If you add to that the people who are taking the opportunity to hoard grain and plan to sell it at a high price,”

”People will find it harder and harder to live.”

”When people can’t live, what will happen?” he asked Saen, and the people around Saen.

They looked at each other, but did not come to any conclusion.

Pedro said in a low voice, ”When people can’t live, they will fight!”

”Anyway, they can’t live anymore. Why not take a gamble?”

Saen didn’t know what Pedro was saying, and if he was trying to say something.

However, Saen was very tactful and did not ask. He just listened to Pedro’s words.

This was actually also very good. It was like an arm not fighting with the brain for the control of the body. If it’s not something you should do, and you insist on doing it, it will only make an already troublesome situation even more troublesome!

Saen had seen something in Pedro that others could not. He felt... he didn’t know how to describe it. He felt that Pedro had a ”leader’s charisma.”

He was the first to stand out from the crowd, the first to face the police, the first to resist the people’s terrible life!

He was a warrior, a real warrior.

He was also a leader, a leader full of charm.

He believed that Pedro would lead them to the place they wanted to go, whether it was to fill their stomachs, or something else.

”There are some people from our hometown who have also come here. I’ll go and see if I can get in touch with them...”

Saen stopped at this point. He asked in a voice that was slightly uneasy and trembling, ”Will it really get worse in the future?”

Pedro did not answer with words, but just slowly nodded.

Serious, and full of affirmation.

Pedro and his group did not continue to advance to the city center, but just stayed in a relatively outer part of the city.

Here they had found some grocery stores and had gotten some grain from inside.

When people’s grain pockets were once again filled with some grain, it was visible to the naked eye that everyone’s emotions had stabilized. Saen, after eating a little food, had begun to contact the others.

And at this very moment, the police chief had arrived in his car at the place with the largest number of ”invaders.” A large group of people had entered the city from the northern highway.

They had wantonly destroyed the city’s shops, had beaten up the passersby. They were like a dark cloud, and all the places they had passed were shrouded in it.

They seemed to have forgotten that their purpose in coming here from other places was to seek a bite to eat, to survive.

But now, the things they were doing and the things they had originally wanted to do were completely different!

Robbery, harm, plunder. They were turning into the people they had once hated the most, but no one had noticed this.

When a large number of police officers had appeared on the street, although they had suppressed some of the people who were committing crimes, it had not brought them too much pressure!

Because not long ago, these people, these ordinary people, had completed their first resistance, their first awakening!

At this time, when they had seen more police officers, not only were they not afraid, but on the contrary, the eyes of some people were filled with an eagerness to try.

They wanted to continue to challenge these police officers who represented the stable ruling order, the police officers who represented the low-level ruling power of the ruling group!

The two sides had soon, naturally, begun to gather, and to confront each other.

The entire street was completely occupied by the police and these refugees who had just entered the city, and more and more were gathering.

A large number of police officers, holding batons and shields woven from dried vines, were standing on the road, forming a solid wall.

Behind them, the local residents who had previously disliked them, and had even secretly cursed the police, had for the first time found that the police were so lovely.

There were even some who were cheering for the police, hoping that they could curb the already crazy refugees.

The two ”torrents,” with the increasing ”thickness,” had begun to have some contact.

The police were constantly waving their batons, warning those who were trying to get close to them to get lost, and then to remain calm!

And those refugees seemed to be also looking for an opportunity.

The escalation of the conflict was just in an instant!

The police chief was watching all this in his car in the distance. He had no intention of stopping it.

A police officer has stopped a criminal from committing a crime. Then in the eyes of the big shots, the police officer has not really played the role of a police officer.

Only after these people have committed a crime, have caused destruction, and then are arrested, can the meaning and value of the existence of the police be reflected.

Some of the high-ranking police officers in the police force were standing around the car that the chief was in. Some of them had a playful expression, and some showed some unease.

They were waiting, waiting for the situation to escalate further.

In this situation where emotions were fluctuating violently, you didn’t even need anyone to do anything, and the conflict would escalate.

With a guy being squeezed to the very front of the crowd, under the effect of the courage of having just defeated the police, he had suddenly pushed the police officer in front of him.

The police officer had been pushed and had stumbled back. The smile on this guy’s face had not yet risen when the police officer by the side of the one who had been pushed back had immediately swung his baton and had hit him on the head.

Perhaps in the past, they would not have aimed at a vital part to hit, for example, the head.

But the situation was different now. As soon as the police had made a move, it was a killing move.

Everything was like a drop of water that had dripped into hot, rolling oil. In an instant, the whole pot had exploded!

At this moment, the people who were fighting with the police had no other thoughts in their minds. Their only thought was to once again defeat these police.

Food, or other things, had been forgotten by them.

There were some reporters at the scene. With the escalation of the conflict, they were also constantly taking pictures.

The police chief felt that these people should not be allowed to take pictures, but the president had not said anything, so naturally he was not qualified to express other opinions.

Looking at the two sides constantly entangled together, with you in me, and me in you, the police chief nodded slightly. A military officer, at his instruction, had opened his holster, had drawn a handgun imported from the Federation, and had pulled the trigger at the sky.

With a ”bang” gunshot, the chaotic street had suddenly become quiet.

The people who were in a brawl had all stopped their actions and had looked in the direction from which the sound had come.

A young man in his twenties was staring with wide eyes at the police officer who was standing on the roof of the car in the distance, looking at the handgun in his hand that was still smoking.

The next second, a baton had fiercely hit him on the head. He had let out a miserable scream and had fallen to the ground, holding his head.

The police officer in front of him was not willing to let him go. He was cursing dirty words in his mouth, bending down, and was constantly hitting the other party’s body with the baton in his hand.

In that instant, the situation, which had been a back-and-forth fight with the police, had, in an instant, tilted!

Just as this police officer, with an irrepressible smile on his face, was about to jump down from the roof of the car, another gunshot had sounded.

The police officer who was standing on the roof of the car had fallen down directly. The actions of everyone on the street had been put on pause again by this gunshot.

When they had watched the police officer be shot in the chest, and had fallen from the roof of the car, the refugees who were being suppressed had suddenly begun a fierce counterattack, which had caught the police off guard.

Not only were the police caught off guard, but the police chief was also a little caught off guard.

He had covered his head in disbelief. He had stood up directly, and his head had hit the roof of the car.

At this time, there was no longer a single bit of composure in his eyes, only endless panic!

”How do they have a gun?”

”Has a gang also joined in this action?”

He was in a panic, asking the police officers around him.

But these police officers, who had already squatted down by the car window, how would they know? They could only squat there.

The situation had undergone a huge reversal. Another police officer couldn’t help but draw his handgun, but just as he had drawn it, a bullet had come for him.

He hadn’t even had a chance to fire his gun before he had fallen to the ground.

A refugee who was not too far from him had suddenly rushed forward with a bound, had taken the gun from his hand, and had pulled the trigger on the police officer who was closest to him, and whose face was full of terror...

A fierce exchange of gunfire had erupted in the city. This was something that had never happened since the establishment of Rapa.

Diego, in the Presidential Palace, had stood up abruptly. He had swayed to the window and had looked at the city, but he couldn’t see anything.

He could only see one after another of the plumes of smoke rising from the city in the distance.

Such a fierce exchange of gunfire, it didn’t seem like a one-sided ”massacre.” He had glanced at the butler. ”Have the army protect the Presidential Palace. Go and ask what has happened.”

The news was quickly summarized. The police chief had led his men to stop the refugees from entering the core area of the city, and a fierce conflict had occurred between the two sides.

In this process, a police officer had drawn his gun as a warning, but what had caught everyone off guard was that he had been shot and killed.

It was possible that it was a shot fired by someone in the refugee crowd, and then the police had begun to return fire. The scene had suddenly become chaotic.

Diego knew that there were privately made weapons in the Rapa.

He couldn’t stop these things from happening. There were a large number of primitive jungle environments here. Some people would make their own weapons and would enter the forest to hunt, which was also one of the sources of meat for the low-level public.

At the same time, they also had to fight against the attacks of wild beasts, especially in some of the villages, and towns that were close to the primitive jungle.

Often, wild beasts would rush out to prey on the domestic animals, the livestock that people had raised, and even the people themselves.

So for the existence of private firearms workshops in the public, Diego and the ministers all knew, but they had not investigated deeply.

A self-made weapon, at most, could only be used for hunting. It wouldn’t, because of a few more not-so-professional and advanced weapons, affect the political power of the entire country.

In fact, it was indeed so. For so many years, he had not seen anyone use these self-made weapons to rebel.

But today, things were a little different.

Diego did not speak, but just sat there with a gloomy face. He, for the first time, had felt that his political power seemed to have a little possibility of being shaken!

The gunshots in the city were still continuing, but the intensity was clearly not as great as before.

The police chief had, at the first opportunity, driven away. The police had completely collapsed. More and more people had begun to pour into the city with an even more brutal mood!

The local residents who had just been opening their windows and cheering for the police had become their first target of venting!

Now these refugees had become stronger, because they had the truth in their hands!

A large half of the city had fallen into chaos.

At this time, all the few telephones in the entire city were busy. Diego was also constantly being harassed by phone calls. Some people were asking him what on earth had happened, and what countermeasures the Grand Presidential Palace had.

Although he was very impatient, he still explained one by one.

He was not a qualified president. He had not been able to, like the Jede Republic, to help his people to achieve a prosperous life.

But he was a qualified ruler. He knew how to correctly maintain his own rule.

The more at a time like this, the more he had to take care of the privileged class and the ruling group, not to let them stand on the side of the refugees, which would cause a further collapse of the situation!