Empire of Shadows

All his assets in the Federation were frozen.

Not a single cent was left for Diego.

Of course, the real estate, such as the villas, was still there, but they were also frozen. They were currently in a non-tradable state, and entry was also not allowed.

In other words, even if he went to the Federation now, it would probably be very bad.

His last escape route had been blocked by the federal people.

This made him, at the same time as being angry, also very pained. He sat there, his eyes widened as much as possible, his head slightly held up, looking straight ahead.

His gaze seemed to be able to penetrate the void, to see those he hated, those who had caused all this!

The President of the Federation, the senators of Congress, and that damned Lance!

Fuck!

He slammed his fist on the desk, using a lot of force. The desk made a loud ”bang.” His fist was red!He slowly put the receiver back on the phone’s base. He knew that no matter who he called now, this problem could not be solved.

If anyone ever told him again that the Federation’s banks were the safest in the world, he would definitely shove their head into their asshole!

Fuck!

He cursed again, and then his breathing began to become rapid. That bad feeling had appeared again, groggy, and his attention was also a little scattered.

It was as if there was a demon hidden in his brain, and it was growing, wanting to destroy his head and to drill out from inside!

After letting out a painful scream, everything in the world in front of him had become dark. He saw himself fall to the ground, unconscious.

By the time he had opened his eyes again, it was already two hours later.

The Ravila family’s private doctor, after seeing President Diego wake up, had instructed the butler a few words, and had taken the initiative to leave.

Diego lay in bed. He turned his head to look at the butler at the door.

The butler, after seeing the doctor off, had returned. ”Master, you fainted again just now.”

Diego patted his own head with some pain. ”This damn... high blood.”

The butler did not correct his wrong description, but just repeated what the doctor had said when he left. ”The doctor said that it’s best for you not to get angry easily. Anger is the main incentive for your blood pressure to rise.”

”This problem must be taken seriously. If you are still often angry and faint, this will have a great impact on your lifespan.”

Diego was silent for a moment, and said with some helplessness, ”You saw it.”

”In this situation, how can I not be angry?”

”Tens of millions of Federal Sols in wealth, my houses, stocks, bonds, are all frozen now.”

”They are forcing me, you know?”

Diego stared at the butler with wide eyes. Although he had, as much as possible, wanted to widen his eyes, he still looked like he was squinting.

The butler bowed slightly and did not speak. He could not answer this question, nor could he handle it.

Diego had no intention of letting him answer either. He turned his head to look at the ceiling, as if he were talking to himself, ”I had just talked about leaving Rapa, and they had frozen my account. Do you know what this means?”

The butler could only play dumb on this kind of a question. ”Master, I don’t quite understand.”

Diego chuckled. ”It’s not that you don’t understand. You understand, but you just don’t dare to say it.”

”This means that someone in the family has also defected to the federal people. Otherwise, they would not be so sensitive. I had just said it yesterday, and today they have blocked my retreat.”

”They want me to continue to stay in Rapa!”

He sighed as he spoke.

In the past, he had no great concept of a ”great power.” When he was chatting with the heads of state of some other countries, especially the president of the Jede Republic, the other party had always, in his words, revealed a kind of an unease about the Federation’s too-fast development.

The heads of state of the eleven Yalan countries would also, from time to time, sit down and chat. The development speed of the Jede Republic was very fast. It was inevitable that the heads of state of some countries would hope to be able to learn something from them.

Diego had also visited the Jede Republic, and had also chatted face to face with their president.

At that time, he could not feel the other party’s sense of urgency. He had even suspected if the president of the Jede Republic had some kind of paranoia.

The rapid development of the Federation, in Diego’s view, did not have any bad aspects. On the contrary, there were more things that he could enjoy.

All the products of the Federation were very much to his liking, and he couldn’t find any reason to hope that the Federation’s development would be slower.

Movies, operas, all kinds of small home appliances.

In Diego’s manor, you couldn’t see anything that was locally produced. It was all imported from the Federation.

Now, he understood.

He understood why the president of the Jede Republic would show such an uneasy expression when he talked about the Federation, because the Federation was too strong.

This was like an unfair boxing match. Diego and the Federation were on the ring, as the red and blue sides.

Now Diego wanted to kneel down and admit defeat. He couldn’t afford to play anymore.

But the federal people were, with force, holding him up, not letting him kneel, and not even letting him surrender, and wanted him to fight the whole match to the end.

They wanted to beat him to death, in the ring.

And what he wanted to do the most now was to live.

To live.

Everyone is living, and will continue to live, but some, may not be able to.

As for living freely, or anything else, in his life, he couldn’t even see it.

This feeling, of not even being able to control his own life, was really terrible.

As a country’s ruler, he had never had such an experience and feeling. He also seemed to have understood, the people at the bottom, why they would fight him, and fight this country.

He raised his hand and waved. The butler, after a slight bow, left.

Diego lay there, and after thinking for a while, he gave Lance a call.

”This is Lance.”

After the familiar and annoying voice of Lance came from the receiver, Diego’s eyebrows had instinctively stood up.

However, they soon relaxed.

”I want to talk to you, meet and talk, just you and me.”

Lance considered for a moment, but did not immediately agree. ” these few days, i may not have time.”

Diego did not listen to his lie. ”Lance, I know you have time.”

”Just now, the Federation’s side gave me a call. They said my account has been frozen. I have an instinctive feeling that this matter might have a direct relationship with you.”

Lance said with a laugh, ”This is slander, Mr. President.”

”Although you are Rapa’s president, you can’t just slander me because of this.”

He paused for a moment. ”What did you want to say to me?”

President Diego, after a short silence, ”Let’s talk about the future.”

”If you are worried, you can set a location yourself, and I will come. This is my greatest sincerity!”

This was indeed a very sincere gesture. After all, he was a country’s president, and his safety was related to the future development and direction of this country.

For him to be able to take the initiative to come to the place that Lance had appointed, meant that he had entrusted his safety to Lance, and had completely trusted him.

Lance considered for a moment. ”In that case, let’s go to the golf course.”

There was a golf course on the outskirts of Zhuolan. It occupied a large area, with 22 fairways, and also three building complexes.

Such a standard, even in the Federation, was considered to be of a relatively high specification.

The number of people in the entire Rapa who could play golf, added up, was probably not even a thousand, but just for these thousand people to have a good place to go when they were playing golf, and not to have to take a ship to the Federation, they had built such a huge golf course in a tropical region.

Sometimes, when the ruling class is extravagant, it is something that the low-level people simply cannot imagine.

This was still what the low-level people could see—they could only see the main gate of the golf course, but not the things inside.

Because this place was not open to the public, nor were the poor allowed to enter.

Diego did not hesitate, and directly agreed.

Lance had arranged for people to first go and clean up the golf course, and then he had waited here for Diego to arrive.

It had to be said that the fairways here were very well maintained. He had heard from the golf course manager by his side that every year, they needed to spend more than 400,000 Federal Sols on the maintenance of the golf course.

Lance had read some of the data about Rapa before. The funds they had used to help the poor were only about 100,000-plus Federal Sols.

This was very Rapa, and also very bureaucratic class.

Not long after, Diego had arrived, leaning on a walking stick.

Although he was leaning on a walking stick, he was still swaying as he walked. Just a few steps, and he was already covered in sweat, especially on his forehead.

By the time he had gotten close, Lance had just swung a shot. This was a five-par fairway, with a very wide view.

The crisp sound of the club hitting the golf ball was very pleasant. No matter if this shot was good or not, Diego had taken the initiative to say, ”Good shot!”

He, while wiping the sweat with a handkerchief, had swayed as he had walked over.

Lance handed the club to the manager. The manager had jogged towards the landing point of the ball. Here, only Lance and his men, and President Diego and his butler, and also two guards, were left.

Diego raised his hand and made a gesture. The two bodyguards behind him had quickly moved away from him, and had stood a little further away, leaving a space for him and Lance to talk.

Lance also nodded. The two bodyguards had also moved away, but Mador was still by his side.

while walking towards the ball’s landing point, Diego said ”Today they called me, and said that all my accounts and assets have been frozen.”

Lance was not surprised, because this was what he had had Tom do, but he would not show it, let alone admit it. ”That’s really bad news!”

He had even ”regretted” it, which had made Diego so angry that he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. ”You are truly a despicable person!”

Lance slightly tucked in his chin. ”This is actually also a kind of a compliment, a compliment to success, Your Excellency President.”

Listening to Lance’s shameless statement, Diego had suddenly felt that he was still too ”naive.”

He shook his head, and continued, ”Actually, you all should know that I did indeed have the thought of giving up here and leaving. Isn’t this what you wanted?”

His face was filled with some confusion. The federal people have been tossing and turning so much, isn’t it just to get Rapa?

Now he was leaving. Why were they still not letting him?

Seeing the confusion in Diego’s eyes, Lance didn’t mind explaining to him.

”First of all, Mr. President, you have to understand one thing.”

”The federal government is the federal government, and I am me. We are not one, and we also do not have any direct connection.”

”The federal government has never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, nor will it. So your accusation is wrong, and it is also not valid.”

Diego was silent. He had an even clearer understanding that the shameless one was not just Lance, but also the federal government.

And also the federal president, and all the people of the upper class of the Federation. They were all shameless, despicable, and lowly villains!

To use ”son of a bitch” to describe them, is to insult the word ”bitch”!

The two were still walking forward. Lance had given Diego a time to understand these words. Then he had continued, ”The reason why you are not allowed to leave, is because your work is not yet finished.”

”Mr. President, you see, the civil war has not yet been resolved, the people have not yet been redeemed, and the uprising has not yet succeeded.”

”As the biggest villain in the minds of the majority of the people of Rapa, you, Diego Ravila, represent chaos and evil. How can you just leave so unexpectedly?”

Diego was walking on the lawn with difficulty. He was constantly wiping his sweat. It was too hot.

In the tropics, this damn August was like an oven. It was very unfriendly to a fat man. He was now already soaked.

He had taken a bottle of iced fruit juice from his butler, and had taken a large gulp. Only then had he felt a little more comfortable.

”What on earth do you want me to do to be satisfied?”

Lance turned his head to look at him, with a half-smile. ”Just as I said above, your work is not yet finished.”

”The civil war.”

Diego was a little confused. ”Can you be a little clearer? What do I have to do to satisfy you?”

Lance pursed his lips. ”We actually don’t want you to do anything special. We just hope that you can continue to be yourself.”

”A dictatorial tyrant. You have to, with the goal of eliminating all the rebel armies, to fight, to strive. Do you understand?”

Diego couldn’t help but let out a low roar. ”But you are always supporting those anti-government armed forces. It’s impossible for me to eliminate them!”

Lance shook his head and denied, ”No, you can.”

”A person’s life is only once. Once you are dead, you will not live again.”

”When these people who have clearly stood up against you are all dead, there will be no new rebel armies. On that day, your work will be considered to be completed.”

As they were talking, they had already arrived at the landing point of the golf ball. Lance had taken the golf club from the manager’s hand, and had glanced at the golf ball on the ground. ”There are some weeds.”

In fact, there were only two weeds that had grown out of the lawn, just blocking the path of the golf ball.

If they were not dealt with, it was possible that they would affect the direction and the path of the golf ball. From a sufficient distance, even a small deviation would produce a relatively large deviation.

The golf course manager had immediately, with his butt in the air, knelt on the ground, and had carefully pulled out the grass. Then, with a comb-like relatively sparse row of spikes, he had poked under the lawn, and then had patted it with his hand.

Only then had he put the golf ball back to its original place.

Diego looked at the fawning smile on the golf course manager’s face as he had climbed up from the ground, and at the grass stains on the trouser legs and the elbows of his expensive suit. He didn’t know what kind of an expression he should show.

”Mr. Lance, it’s fine now.”

Lance nodded, and then he stood at the side of the golf ball, and had swung twice. Then he had, with great force, hit it. With a ”dong” sound, the golf ball had flown out again.

Lance had thrown the golf club to the manager. The manager had immediately run towards the landing point of the ball.

Only then had Lance turned to look at Diego. ”You see, he even knows to chase after the ball. Why don’t you?”

”Maybe before, you didn’t know where the ball was, but now?”

”Do you know?”

Diego had, in his heart, cursed Lance’s ancestors for eighteen generations. He had, with a cold face, nodded. ”I think I understand.”

He knew what Lance meant, but not much.

Lance had once again raised his hand, signaling for them all to move further away.

He and Diego were side by side. Diego was half a step behind him as they walked towards the golf course manager who was waving his arm in the distance.

”Actually, I don’t really think that you have really understood.”

”So I will now explain it to you more thoroughly.”

”If you were to leave, then these rebel armies would soon be able to decide a winner and a loser. This is very unfavorable to us.”

Lance pursed his lips. ”You know, this kind of a person who has gotten what he wanted through war, after they stand up will be very difficult for them to kneel down.”

”What we want is a stable Rapa that is convenient for us to rule, not... a Rapa that has many people fighting against us.”

”So you have to consume them all, with the government army.”

”Do you understand?”

”Actually, you don’t need to do anything special now. Just continue to maintain the policies that Fernandez had left behind.”

”We will balance the rest ourselves.”

”If your side can’t hold on, and you haven’t reached the level we approve of, we will give you some support.”

”If their side is being beaten by you and is a little unable to hold on, then we will give them some support.”

”So just as I said, you actually don’t have to do anything.”

Diego looked at Lance. His eyes were completely devoid of anger. He was just looking. ”You don’t consider what others will think of what you are doing?”

Even if he was a dictator, a tyrant, he also felt that the federal people were doing too much.

Lance turned his head and glanced at him. ”Who cares?”

”And, even if someone cares, does he have any evidence?”

”Mr. President, to make wild accusations without any evidence, you also have to pay a price.”

”And this price is not something an ordinary person can afford.”

Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the green, Diego had gritted his teeth, and had asked the question that he had wanted to know the most in his heart. ”What are you planning to do with me?”

Lance shook his head and said, ”You will have the curtain call that a tyrant deserves!”

He smiled and walked towards the golf course manager. He had taken the putter from his hand, had aimed at the hole, and had gently pushed.

The golf ball had rolled for a while, and had entered the hole.