Empire of Shadows

Standing at the base of the hotel, Ross looked up at the dozen-story building, one of the few high-rises in all of Rapa, and a tremor he couldn’t quite describe ran through his heart!

As he stood here, a ”lower-class” person, about to set foot in this hotel, had its owner, its operator, those managers, ever imagined such a day?

He felt every cell in his body leaping, exulting!

He was going to do something amazing today... no, not one thing, but many.

Among them was shattering the labels and shackles this damned society had placed on them!

A strong desire emanated from his body, a desire for him to walk in right now, to stain the clean and tidy floor of this hotel with his muddy and filthy shoes!

Destruction is one of humanity’s most primitive desires, like libido, written deep into the genes, carved into the bones.

”Boss...” a young-sounding voice interrupted his diverging thoughts. He turned to look at the young man beside him, and also saw the few handguns in his hand.

”What do we do with these?”

Their group also had several handguns. Ross took out his own, ejected the magazine to check; only two bullets were left.He didn’t hesitate for long. He compared the model of his own handgun with these few, confirmed they were the same model, and had his men take out the bullets.

”You guys figure out what to do with the guns. Give the bullets to us for now. When we find a place to resupply, you can reload.”

The faces of some of his fellow workers showed pleasant surprise. Handguns were rare in Rapa, because they were expensive.

A handgun like this would sell for at least seven or eight thousand Paras on the black market. A well-maintained one could even go for ten thousand!

Giving them the handguns was an_action to giving them a great fortune. How could these people not be excited?

Even without bullets, this was still a lot of money.

Unwittingly, Ross had won these people over.

These people who had been assigned handguns would also rally closely around him, becoming his reliable subordinates.

It was the same when Ross was at the factory. He himself hadn’t really done anything intentionally. He had just acted according to his own ideas, and he could make many people trust him.

At this time, the injured had also been carried in front of him. A total of twenty-odd people were injured. Some had rather serious injuries, lying on the ground, their breaths growing shallower as they looked at him.

These were the ones with gunshot wounds. The bullets had pierced their chests, and it was clear they wouldn’t make it.

Others were more lightly injured, beaten, or shot in non-vital areas.

He walked over to the ”comrades” who were clearly on their last breath and squatted down, looking into their eyes. Their eyes were brimming with a desire to live.

If they could still speak, they would definitely be asking Ross to save them.

”I will take care of your families.”

They died in agony. Death caused by external trauma is, in the end, very painful.

Because the rupture of blood vessels had caused blood to fill their lungs, or had caused blood loss and air intake in their abdominal cavity.

The former would lead to death by suffocation. Death by suffocation is one of the most terrifying ways to die, because people will endure all the terror and pain, able to feel themselves approaching death, bit by bit, yet be powerless.

The latter is also very painful. Internal organs rupture, and the abdominal pain is unbearable.

If the internal organs ruptured directly, it would be better. They would soon go into hemorrhagic shock and no longer suffer.

If it hit the intestines or something, they would have to agonize in pain, and then die.

Someone grabbed his clothes tightly, his eyes bulging as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he couldn’t say anything, and then ended his short and not-so-happy life.

There was also someone who was also staring with wide-open eyes, his eyes almost popping out, his face flushed to a purple, but for a while, he just couldn’t die.

Looking at his painful appearance, Ross reached out and covered his mouth and nose.

The person whose mouth and nose were covered still wanted to struggle, but he had no strength left from his injuries, and could only watch as this terrible thing happened before his very eyes.

In less than a minute, the person had passed away.

Ross slowly stood up. He first looked down at his own palm, then looked at the surrounding people. ”They died for us, for our cause. Not forgetting them, and what they did, is the greatest respect for ourselves!”

He paused for a moment. ”Record their names. We must take good care of their families.”

He looked at the other injured people, asked if they could still move with everyone, and then waved his hand towards the hotel.

A large group of people rushed into the hotel.

This was the first time in their lives that they had entered the Rapa Grand Hotel. They had heard stories about this place.

For example, the shopping mall on the second floor had all kinds of imported goods, but you needed to use foreign currency to buy them; they didn’t accept Paras.

This had effectively blocked all ordinary people from coming in to shop, because the national bank of Rapa could never exchange for any foreign currency.

Or, for example, they had heard that the restaurants on the fourth and fifth floors had the most delicious food in the world. The most famous chefs in Rapa were here, and they could make the most delicious food.

They had heard too much about this place, but they could never enter, until today!

Ross’s mud- and dirt-covered broken shoes stepped onto the mirror-like marble floor. A smile quietly crept onto the corners of his mouth. The grief from his companions’ deaths was, at this moment, washed clean.

This feeling, he didn’t even know how to describe it!

The others looked at the floor, which could reflect a person’s shadow like a mirror. For a moment, they didn’t even know where to step. Some were even afraid of stepping on it and getting it dirty, or damaging the floor, and didn’t dare to come in.

Ross didn’t care about this. He strode into the lobby. A few female receptionists were trembling behind the counter, not daring to lift their heads.

There were also some foreign tourists who hadn’t had time to escape, standing in the corner of the lobby with their escorts, their faces pale. Of course, there were also some who forced themselves to remain calm, believing that these people wouldn’t do anything to them, and sat on the sofas.

Ross’s gaze lingered on these people for a short moment, and then he quickly found a guy who looked like a hotel staff member.

After forcing the hotel floor’s functions out of this guy, he immediately led his men to the fourth floor.

The fourth floor was the restaurant, and there was also a large storage room. It was said that a large amount of food was stored inside.

When Ross was in the stairwell, he had assigned his men some tasks. Some would go to the fourth floor to find food. As long as it was edible, they would take as much as they could.

The other part would go to the second and third floors.

According to the hotel staff, there were many shops on the second and third floors, including some jewelry stores.

Ross wasn’t sure if he was Lance’s smartest student, but he believed he certainly wouldn’t be the stupidest.

The knowledge he had come into contact with in those seven days had opened a new door for him, allowing him to come into contact with a brand new world!

He knew that no matter what he wanted to do, he couldn’t do it without money!

You need money to do good deeds; you have to let people know you did a good deed.

You also need money to do bad deeds, because bad deeds can’t be done by one person.

No matter what you do, you can’t do it without money, including what he wanted to do. He also needed money.

He personally went up to the second floor. As soon as he entered the second floor, he, and the people behind him, were shocked by the dazzling array of goods here!

They had never seen so many imported goods. Each item was marked with its price in foreign currency. For them, every item was sky-high!

Soon, Ross found the shop he was looking for, a shop specializing in jewelry.

A few staff members were taking the jewelry out of the counters. It looked like they were planning to put them into the safe.

When they saw Ross and his group appear, the staff’s movements became even faster.

Ross frowned and shouted, ”Stop!”

But no one listened to him. The employees’ speed, on the contrary, became even faster.

This had forced him to draw his handgun and pull the trigger.

Following a gunshot, and one person falling, those people were like toys that had suddenly lost their strength, standing there with their hands up, motionless.

He led his men over, untied the grain sack that was tied around his waist, and then began to pour the trays of jewelry into it.

The people standing around him were panting. The jewelry, under the illumination of the lights, was emitting a fiery brilliance, firmly attracting their sight.

Money, wealth, for the first time, in such a tangible form, had appeared in front of them!

The things they had dreamed of but could never get in the past, were now within their grasp.

In just a few short days, everyone’s perception of this world, of themselves, was undergoing a huge change!

This was the awakening!

After Ross and his group had left the lobby, those who were waiting to pick up the scraps had also rushed in. The people in the lobby were still rejoicing that they had survived this calamity, but they didn’t know that the real calamity had only just arrived!

”Take out everything on you!” a young man who looked to be in his twenty-four or twenty-five, was waving a dagger in his hand at a foreigner.

His face was full of a ruthless look, and also some panic. His eyes were a little erratic. It could be seen that he was very nervous.

”Don’t try any tricks!” he warned the foreigner in front of him. Looking at the watch on the other party’s wrist, he added, ”Take off your watch.”

The foreigner who was being extorted glanced at the watch on his wrist and shook his head repeatedly. ”This is impossible. This is... a gift from my mother!”

”I can’t give it to you.”

The young man looked at his position. His face was covered in sweat. He was alone. He wasn’t sure if others would come to snatch his target.

He took a step forward, reached out to grab the foreigner’s arm, trying to forcibly pull the watch off.

But the foreigner’s fierce struggle made it impossible for him to do so. Seeing that the attention of some people around had shifted here, his heart turned ruthless. He stabbed the dagger in his hand, stabbing the foreigner a few times.

In that instant, the foreigner stopped struggling. He looked at the young man in disbelief, and then allowed the other party to try to take the watch from his wrist.

His gaze was focused on his own body.

One after another, the wounds began to bleed. His white clothes were soaked with blood in a very short time. He had to lean against the wall and squat on the ground.

The young man used both his hands, but was still unable to take the watch from his hand.

The young man didn’t know how to open the clasp. He would only pull hard.

It was clear that pulling would not be able to pull the watch off.

The young man’s actions had attracted the attention of some people. When they had found that the young man was trying to snatch a watch, some more had come over.

The watch, this thing, was 100% a luxury item in Rapa, even if it was a very ordinary watch, the kind that could only be sold for one or twenty dollars in the Federation.

Rapa did not have this kind of craftsmanship and technology. They couldn’t produce it themselves, and all of it relied on imports.

The import quota was in the hands of Diego. Even a watch of a dozen or so Federal Sols could be sold for tens of thousands here.

Too expensive?

You don’t have to buy it.

These things were never prepared for the poor. At the very least, you had to be a middle class to be qualified to wear a watch.

In the past, there were also some people in Rapa who had made money by buying and selling goods, but later, after a batch had been severely killed, these people were no longer to be seen.

Here, you could do anything, but there was one thing, don’t touch the interests of the ruling group.

Otherwise, they would take care of you.

To snatch this watch meant that he could live a good life for a long time to come.

The more anxious he became, the more he was unable to take the watch off.

The foreigner was already dying. He was constantly begging, and also promised to give the watch to the other party, but the young man was just bent on trying to get the watch off.

Soon, a few more people came. ”Hand over the watch to us.”

The young man glared at the foreigner fiercely, and then straightened up, slowly backing away, and then left.

The four young men squatted down. They also didn’t know how to open this watchband. The foreigner continued to beg them to find a doctor for him, or to send him to the hotel’s medical room.

But these few people were only concerned with searching his pockets, and dealing with the watch. They didn’t care at all about his injuries.

The entire first-floor lobby was in complete chaos. The short exchange of fire outside the hotel had made more people notice this place, and more refugees had begun to pour in.

They let nothing go, stuffed everything into their pockets, and were constantly moving upwards.

They knew that the people who lived here were either foreigners, or rich people. They were all high-quality resources.

The news that the Rapa Grand Hotel had been attacked and had been flooded by refugees had spread very quickly.

This grand hotel was, in name, a ”private enterprise,” but in fact, it was the business of Diego and a few of his ministers.

The privileged class and the middle class of Rapa needed such a place of consumption. This place was equivalent to a comprehensive hotel that combined business and residence.

There was an opera house, there were shops, there was a swimming pool, there was a small amusement park, and there were also delicious restaurants that could provide foreign chefs.

The profits here were very considerable.

But now, it had ”fallen.”

The thought of the wealth that belonged to him inside being plundered by the refugees, Diego’s face would be distorted with anger!

For the first time, he was so angry!

”When can the army enter the city?”

The butler glanced at his pocket watch. ”There are still five hours, Master.”

The butler paused for a moment as he spoke. ”The federal diplomatic delegation, and Mr. Lance White and his group, are also still in the hotel. Do we need to arrange for some manpower to protect their safety?”

The Presidential Palace’s side still had five hundred soldiers to protect the safety here. The number was definitely in surplus.

In dealing with those rioters who only had a small number of handguns, 500 soldiers might not be able to suppress all of them, but if it was just to guard a location from being harassed, it could still be done.

Even if the manpower was reduced a little, there was no problem.

Diego, however, shook his head and gave a negative answer. ”Those men of Lance’s look very tough. Maybe they don’t need us to make a move at all. They can solve those people.”

”Just take care of ourselves. Even if something happens to them, the Yalan League will be there to take the blame. It’s not our turn to worry.”

The butler bowed slightly and did not continue to talk about this issue.

He actually knew that his president, master, was not very fond of the federal people. On the contrary, he was a little latently hostile.

Lance was quietly reading a book, a book about philosophy.

This was a book written by a person from Rapa. The book claimed that ”from the moment a person is born, it is a ’cultivation’.” The author had compared life to a process that required a person to use his whole life to work hard to cultivate.

The book also mentioned the concept of ”reincarnation,” but it was not as concise and easy to understand as Lance’s understanding of ”reincarnation.”

In this book, after a person dies, there will be a soul.

The soul will be weighed.

If the weight meets the specified requirements, it will become a new person again.

If it does not meet the specified requirements, then the soul will be judged, and will suffer in pain until all its sins are redeemed. Otherwise, it can only suffer.

The ruling class always needs some means to fool the public. Religion, and faith, are undoubtedly the best and most convenient.

Especially in this kind of a region with a generally low level of education, there are too many things that people cannot explain and understand. On the contrary, to attribute everything to the ”will of God” is clearly simpler, and more convincing.

He had read for a while and then had shaken his head. He had originally thought that it was a book with some value, but after reading half of it, he could see its reshaping of values.

”How is it downstairs?” he stood up and walked to the side of the bookshelf, and put the book back, and at the same time, he asked casually.

Mador’s voice was a little heavy, a little muffled. ”The floors below the tenth have all been lost. Some of the federal people have also been harmed. We are not very clear what the specific situation is.”

”Do we need to intervene now?”

Lance shook his head. ”As long as it doesn’t bother us, we don’t have to.”

He paused for a moment. ”Do you know who led the group that came in before, and where they are?”

Mador shook his head. ”We haven’t come into contact with them yet. Do you need me to go and get in touch?”

Lance considered for a moment and shook his head. ”Forget it. We’ll find out.”