Empire of Shadows

A young man with his hands in his pants pockets arrived outside an alley. Just as he was about to walk in, two men leaning against the inner wall of the alley stood up and raised their hands to stop him.

”State your business, friend.”

The young man took a step back, took his hands out of his pockets, and raised them slightly, level with his chest.

”I’m here to buy something. Someone... recommended me.”

The two burly men stared intently into his eyes. Seeing the young man couldn’t take it and looked away, one of the burly men finally made space for him to pass.

The other man warned him, ”Don’t cause trouble here. You know the consequences!”

The young man nodded, took a deep breath, ”Yes, I know.”

”Can I go in now?”

The burly man nodded, signaling he could enter. Only then did the young man let out a breath of relief, put his hands back in his pockets, and walk into the alley.

From the outside, this alley just looked like an entrance, and it was dark inside, making it impossible to see anything.In fact, after walking about twenty steps and turning a corner, a much larger and more open place could be seen.

This was a place similar to a black market for fencing stolen goods. The young man suspected that even higher-level upper-class people were selling things here.

He didn’t know, but he had heard others say so, saying that those who sold grain were actually agents of the big shots in the upper class.

They took the grain that was about to mold from the big shots’ warehouses and sold it here, exchanging it for money, or gold, and then they planned to leave here for the Federation.

People always had many rumors that they couldn’t say where they had heard from. They were also happy to spread these rumors, and to add their own ideas, for a slight re-creation.

The young man’s purpose in coming here was to buy some grain.

He had been in luck recently. Two friends had found him, willing to give him a sum of money, but with one requirement: they needed to hide in his house for a while.

They had known each other since they were young, and were good brothers from the slums.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that the city of Zhuolan was the capital of Rapa. There were still many slums in this city, and the largest area was also these slums.

The slums surrounded the city center of Zhuolan. It was like a yellowish egg. The most essential part of the city was not large; the large parts were the places where the poor people around it lived.

The poor people living here all worked for the rich people in this city to get some remuneration, or by sacrificing their own health, in exchange for a meager income.

As long as people came of age, they would go out to find a job. The children at home would gather together to play, and just like that, they had gotten to know each other.

They had known each other for more than ten years, and could be considered very good friends.

Even if his friends didn’t give him any money, he wouldn’t have refused, as long as they got their own food.

Now, let alone the fact that they were not only willing to be responsible for their own affairs, but were also willing to give him an extra sum of money!

He had some suspicions that these two brothers might have made a score somewhere, and now that things had blown up, they could only hide.

He wasn’t surprised by this situation. This was the life of the poor.

Either, like their parents, the men would engage in the most menial work in the city, while the women would engage in the sex trade, to get an equally meager income, to maintain their own and their family’s lives.

Or, to walk another path, a path where no one knew the end.

He was a little envious. When the heat was off, he planned to have a chat with his two good brothers, and to ask if he could go out with them to make money.

For now, what he needed to do was to buy some grain and bring it back.

This spacious open ground had many small stalls. What they were selling was all the things they had stolen or robbed. There were good things inside, and also some things that were hard to understand.

After looking for a while, he found a guy who was selling wheat cakes.

They were called wheat cakes, but in fact, besides wheat flour, there were also many other things, because this was the most cost-effective.

Only the big shots in the city center would eat pure wheat flour cakes, and only they could afford it.

The poor, it seemed, should be like this.

A one-pound cake cost ten dollars. When he heard this number, he couldn’t help but grimace.

”So expensive?” He picked up a cake and looked at it, and even poked it with his fingernail.

The guy who was selling the cakes just rolled his eyes and glanced at him. ”If you poke it again, you have to buy it!”

Some people would use a reason like ”inspecting the goods” to poke a little off, and then eat it, and then say that this was not what he wanted, and would turn and leave.

There were many who sold cakes, sold food here. If they poked a little from each one, they would soon be able to fill their stomachs without spending any money.

It was precisely because there were indeed people who did this, so now for the food products here, if the stall owner did not allow ”inspection,” people were not allowed to ”have a taste.”

The young man took out a few ten-dollar and five-dollar bills from his pocket. They looked wrinkled, and a little dark.

The currency of Rapa was all like this, with a dark surface, all greasy, also because of poverty.

Because of poverty, their bodies were all covered in various stains, just like the workers who cleared the sewers.

They would strip naked and drill into the city’s sewage drains, and would work in an invisible environment, to find a way to unclog the blockages.

For unclogging a sewage pipe once, they could only get twenty, or thirty dollars, risking their lives.

Every year, thousands of ”plumbers” would die in the sewage pipes, but the gentlemen never cared about these. On the contrary, they would curse them for also becoming a part of the blockage.

When they had, by a fluke, come up, the gentlemen’s servants would casually give them some change, and then would turn and leave.

Because they were too smelly.

Those people would not wash themselves. They would use their dirty hands to directly pick up the banknotes, and then would store them properly.

According to unofficial research, Rapa’s banknotes are even filthier than the bricks with yellow urine stones in a toilet!

Looking at the banknotes that the young man was pressing on, a smile finally appeared on the stall owner’s face. He took the banknotes and counted them. ”I can give you four and a half.”

The young man did not object. To be able to get an extra half was already beyond his expectations. He had thought that it would only be an extra quarter, or just what it should be.

He said a ”thank you,” and the deal was concluded.

He took out his own cloth bag, and the stall owner picked up the flatbread and put it in.

He had observed each one. They were all good flatbread. On some, there were still some stringy, fiber-like things. This was an edible, crushed grass they had added to increase the feeling of satiety.

After he had bought the food, he did not plan to leave immediately, but to wander around the other stalls, because their friends had said that they planned to give him a belt.

The leather of a belt was actually not worth much. Rapa itself also produced all kinds of animal furs. This was the tropics, with primitive jungles, and also tropical grasslands.

What was truly expensive was the buckle of the belt. As long as it was metal, and had a good-looking pattern, the price would definitely be sky-high!

He had turned to several stalls, and had roughly figured out the price of a belt. Those that were marked as imported from the Federation were basically between 5,000 and 6,000.

Because they were stolen goods, the price was not considered high.

If they had bought it in a shop, then the cheapest would have to be over 9,000.

Just as he had figured out how much his ”reward” was worth, and was preparing to leave, the alley entrance suddenly became a little noisy, as if someone had started a conflict.

A look of curiosity and a desire to watch the fun appeared on his face. To watch the fun is a nature that is in human bones. Whether it’s a university professor from the Federation, or a poor person from Rapa who can’t get enough to eat, they all have the idea of watching the fun.

He walked to the entrance of the alley, and looked out. Soon he had discovered some situations.

Several foreigners, in trench coats, and wearing soft felt hats, were blocking the entrance of the alley. They were saying something to the two security guards who were maintaining the safety of this small black market.

It was clear that the security guards were not planning to let these foreigners in.

Every place has its own rules. In Rapa, the identity of a foreigner was not so easy to use in every place.

In the past, some foreigners had wanted to come in and have a look, but had also been stopped.

That foreigner had insisted on coming in. In the end, he had been beaten up by the security guards here, and had been thrown into the alley behind, and nothing had happened.

This had further confirmed some of people’s speculations—this black market had a backer.

Of course, as people who were fencing stolen goods here, they needed to pay an extra sum of money, a 20-dollar stall fee, regardless of whether they had sold anything or not.

Although this price was not low, the things that could be sold here were definitely not cheap. This stall fee, for the price of their goods, was nothing.

The young man felt that these foreigners might not be able to get any bargains here, but then he had felt a little uneasy.

The dispute between the security guard and those people had begun to escalate. The next second, one of the foreigners had directly taken out a long dagger, and had stabbed it into one of the security guard’s neck.

The moment he had pulled out the dagger, the blood that had been brought out had sprayed onto the wall of the alley. He had even heard the ”pitter-patter” sound of the blood splashing, and spraying on the wall!

Everyone was stunned. A few of the foreigners had even taken out their handguns. A few of the security guards who had rushed over to ”fight” with them had, after a short pause, all recognized the reality.

At this time, a foreigner who clearly had a higher status had walked in from outside.

”A short while ago, two young men killed a federal citizen near... street, and robbed him of his things.”

”If any of you know who they are, or where they are hiding...” he had looked around, and had stepped over the security guard who was already lying on the ground, a corpse.

”Then tell us, and we will give you an unimaginable reward!”

”Now, let me see, is there anyone here who knows about these things!”

More of the foreigners had begun to appear, and had soon taken control of this place.

The young man had found that their attire was all very uniform, and that everyone had a red armband on their left arm.

It looked like they should be an organization, or a gang?

He didn’t know much about this, but he knew that these people were definitely in cahoots.

Soon these foreigners had come to his side, and had asked him to open his pocket. He had done as he was told.

When the foreigners had seen that there were only some flatbreads inside, they had left him.

They had checked all the goods in this black market, and had made sure that there was nothing of that federal person in it.

When they were leaving, the guy who looked like the leader had said again, ”Anyone who can provide us with a clue, or who can lead us to catch these two criminals who have murdered a federal citizen.”

”I promise, you will get a reward you are satisfied with!”

He had once again stepped over the corpse, and had stood outside the alley.

Maybe he had thought of something. He had taken two steps back, and had then taken out a stack of money from his pocket, had counted a few bills from the top, and had thrown them on the corpse that was clutching its neck.

Then the group of people had quickly left this place, had gotten into their cars, and had driven in the direction of the next black market.

It was clear that someone was guiding them.

The entire alley was silent, even after those people had left.

”These people are so domineering...”

Someone had muttered, and then someone had echoed, ”Tell me about it.”

”But they are foreigners, and they have guns in their hands. What can you do?”

”Rapa is getting more and more finished. Sooner or later, all the people above us will be these foreigners!”

Some people were complaining in a low voice. After about two minutes, the security guards had finally breathed a sigh of relief.

One of them had walked to the side of the corpse and had picked up the blood-stained money from the corpse, and had put it in his own pocket.

Then he had casually called two people, and had asked them to lift the security guard’s corpse, and to throw it into the sewer on the side.

A life had just disappeared in front of people, and without any compensation, cheaply.

The money that the foreigner had thrown down would undoubtedly be embezzled, but this was Rapa, and this was the most real and cruel side of the bottom of Rapa.

Business was still going on, life was still going on. The stall owners were chattering about some things related to these foreigners, and then had returned to their work and their lives, and had continued to peddle the things in their hands.

The young man’s eyes were flickering slightly. He had, almost subconsciously, thought that this matter might be related to his two friends.

At this time, his heart was beating faster and faster. It wasn’t that he was feeling excited, or afraid, but a little excited!

Because he deeply remembered that the foreigner had said that if anyone could provide a clue, or to lead them to find those two people, they would definitely get a satisfactory reward!

He did not dare to show any other expression, for fear that this secret of getting rich would be seen through by others. He quickly came to the entrance of the alley and left.

He still needed to go back and probe, to probe his good brothers, to see if it was them who had done it.

As for the danger?

Is there any situation more dangerous than being poor?

No, there isn’t!

There is nothing more terrible than being poor!

On the way back, he had already seen many foreigners. Usually, he had not seen so many foreigners. This had also made him realize that if this matter had been done by his two brothers, then they must have been in big trouble.

Besides the foreigners who were looking for the two murderers, the local police were also looking for them. On his way back, he had also been searched.

Of the four and a half flatbreads, one had also been taken.

Fuck!

What was even worse was that the local gangs were also looking for these people.

This had made the young man’s mood become heavy. He no longer had the excited mood of just now. In its place was a kind of fear, a terror!

If his two, not-so-close, just-acquainted neighbors, were really the murderers who had attacked and killed that foreigner, then if they were hiding in his house, would he be identified as an accomplice of these people?

Would he... also be discovered by those people, be arrested, and in the end, be killed?

He didn’t know, and he didn’t dare to gamble. His mind was in a mess as he returned to his own house.

Seeing him come back, his two good friends had immediately come up to him. They had taken out the flatbread from the cloth bag, and were, piece by piece, tearing it off, and with water, were swallowing it into their stomachs.

”Didn’t you buy any meat?” one of them asked.

He had squeezed out a smile. ”I didn’t see any meat at the black market. And even if there was, the price wouldn’t be cheap. It might have cost fifty a pound.”

When grain is scarce, the price of meat, although it has also risen, the increase is not outrageous. It’s not like grain, which has already risen by more than ten times.

The price of meat had only doubled.

One of his two friends had taken out the money from his pocket, had counted out 120, and had handed it to him. ”The next time you go out to buy food, remember to buy some meat back.”

He had nodded, had put the money in his pocket, and had soon begun to probe. ”When I was coming back, I saw many police and gangs who were looking for someone. They said someone had killed a foreigner today, and had gotten into big trouble.”

His two friends had looked at each other. It was just this one look that had immediately made him realize that they were looking for these two.

He had swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and his whole body had begun to feel a little hot. Countless thoughts, ideas, were all boiling in his mind!

The more it was like this, the more he had to be stable. He had said in a joking tone, ”It wasn’t you, was it?”

His friends had immediately smiled and had brushed it off. ”How could it be us?”

But the subsequent atmosphere was a little heavy.

The young man had breathed a sigh of relief. ”It’s good that it wasn’t you. I thought it was you!”

As he spoke, he had begun to do other things. There was, after all, some worry in the eyes of the two, but in consideration of their more than ten years of friendship, in the end, they had still believed this friend.

One of them had chased after him for two steps, and had stuffed some more money to him, about 200 or so. ”We will be hiding at your place for a while. If there is any trouble we have caused you, don’t think it’s too little.”

The young man was stunned for a moment, but he did not refuse. ”We are friends. There’s really no need for this.”

Seeing that he had taken the money, the two of them had both breathed a sigh of relief...