Empire of Shadows

Hope’s death still caused a great stir among his followers, especially the young, fanatical ones. They firmly believed that Hope had been conspiratorially murdered by the Federation.

Because of his views, his advocacy, and the recent formal representations made by the Slad ambassador, the officials of Golden Port City were under great pressure.

Under this immense pressure, they had chosen to use underhanded means to physically destroy the “Light of Slad,” in an attempt to plunge the Slad refugees who had fled to the Federation back into darkness!

The shameful people of the Federation!

Boni, with the people who followed him, gathered in Hope’s house. To say it was his house was actually because they had pried it open.

What was strange was that they had never considered such a thing, which was whether their occupation and use of this house was legal.

In fact, one could make a guess about the future.

If Hope’s plan had succeeded, and he had become a news figure, a national focus, then these houses that had been pried open and occupied by the Slad people would most likely have become the “losses” of the real estate developers.

They would not be returned, because Hope’s view was that only through toughness could one gain respect. Returning the houses was an act of weakness. Only through toughness could they gain the respect of those real estate developers.

In addition, with so many Slad people living here, the entire New Port District might have to change its name to the “Slad District” in a short time.But fortunately, for now, this express train was slowing down.

The room was crowded with people. Everyone’s face was filled with a look of grief. They were waiting, waiting for a piece of news, an important matter!

Mr. Hope himself had admitted that his closest assistant and partner had been urgently summoned to the Bay Area.

They were not isolated and helpless. There were also some people from the Federation who supported them. They all knew this.

Now that Mr. Hope was dead, for these people who had always been shrouded in that light, it was as if the sky had fallen. Their minds were now only filled with confusion about the future, unable to find the direction from which they had come and where they were going.

Time passed bit by bit. Around evening, the door to the room suddenly opened.

A thick cloud of smoke, accompanied by a wave of heat and some strange smells, rushed out of the door. Hope’s assistant squinted and took two steps back, waiting for a while before he could readjust to this terrible environment.

He frowned and walked into the room. The entire hall was full of people. There were at least thirty or forty, perhaps more, gathered here.

The moment he came in, everyone stood up. The corner of his eye twitched slightly.

Although he didn’t want to admit it, he had to admit that he felt a little wonderful.

He had gone to the Bay Area. Mr. Charles over there had told him that the plan had to continue. This just proved that they were on the right path.

The Federation people who were stopping them from running towards happiness had begun to be afraid, which was why they had resorted to such vile and despicable acts to stifle their plans.

And it was precisely because they were so afraid that the plan could not be stopped.

At the same time, Mr. Charles had also mentioned another matter—

Hope was now dead, but his thoughts and all needed someone to inherit.

Among the many candidates, they had chosen him, Hope’s assistant, the person who understood his thoughts and ambitions the most!

At that moment, the assistant was excited. He was so excited that he almost knelt down to express his respect and loyalty to these gentlemen from the bottom of his heart.

Of course, this was not just a casual acceptance of him. He had to complete this work, and only then would he become the next Hope, the future “Slad Issue Expert Consultant.”

It was just that when he walked into this room, when everyone stood up for him at the same time, he had a feeling of almost climaxing.

He wanted to laugh, but he held it back. He walked into the room with a heavy expression on his face and a heavy pace.

He casually placed his briefcase on the side. Someone took the initiative to make a seat for him, and someone else brought him coffee.

“I’ve been to the Bay Area. Mr. Charles over there said that Mr. Hope’s death was manipulated by someone behind the scenes!”

The followers of Hope in the room immediately boiled over. Some were clamoring to show the Federation people some color, while others were thinking quietly.

After they had made a fuss for a while, the assistant drank two sips of coffee. When their attention was once again focused on him, he continued, “Mr. Charles believes that Mr. Hope’s stance and views are correct. It is precisely because they are correct that he was persecuted, just as we know some…”

“Sages!” He searched in his head for a long while before he found this word.

Praising Hope was also a good thing for him. He was the one who inherited Hope’s last wishes. The higher Hope’s height, the higher his starting point would be.

He nodded. “I know, everyone is very angry, and I am also very angry, so I have discussed it with Mr. Charles. We will still hold a large-scale demonstration on the first day of the New Year, in the square outside City Hall!”

“We will use our way to tell those people of the Federation that they cannot break us!”

“Mr. Hope has left us, but we are still here!”

“Even if he kills all of us, there are still thousands and thousands of people outside!”

At this moment, these words were spoken almost without thinking. He himself found it a little incredible.

Perhaps this was the talent he possessed after spending a long time with Mr. Hope, having been inspired by him?

He didn’t know, but he only knew that he was going to become a big shot.

“Tell the people that Mr. Hope has told us with his life that we must unite, we must be angry, we must shout out our voices!”

“If even we ourselves are not willing to speak up for ourselves, then no one else will speak for us!”

“The day after tomorrow, I want to see a grand parade and demonstration, to let Likalai State, the Federation, and even the whole world see our determination!”

He waved his fist. The faces of many of the people in the room were filled with excitement. They were now full of drive!

“Everything, according to the plan!” The assistant finally summarized, and then had the people continue to publicize these matters.

Boni also left here with his subordinates. His eyes were a little red. Mr. Hope’s death had a great impact on him.

After coming out of the room, he took a breath of cold air, and the tip of his nose visibly turned red. He looked at the brothers around him and originally wanted to say something.

But in the end, he didn’t say anything. After a while, he finally said, “Let’s go to work.”

One of them left very quickly. He turned east and west and came to a phone booth, dialed Carl’s number, and explained the situation here.

Carl quickly told Lance this news, and at the same time, Lance had him go over.

Not long after, Carl came to the company and met him in Lance’s office.

“Sit.”

During this period of time, Carl had shown his value, so Lance didn’t mind giving him a little more “emotion.”

Carl was a little overwhelmed by the favor. He patted his clothes at the door to make sure that the snowflakes on his body would not fall in Lance’s office. Then he took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack, and rubbed the soles of his shoes on the carpet on the floor by the door before walking into the room.

He came to the opposite of Lance and sat down carefully, not at all in the flamboyant state he was in when he was sitting in his own office.

“Mr. Lance.”

Lance nodded slightly. “These two pieces of news are very valuable, and the work over there has also been done beautifully.”

Carl took a deep breath, a smile on his face. “This is all what I should do, Mr. Lance. You have given me such an opportunity. If I don’t work seriously, then I would be too inhuman!”

Lance laughed twice. “I like your smart attitude!”

He paused for a moment. “Now there is still one more thing that I need you to do. If you can do it well, do it beautifully, I can guarantee that in the future of Golden Port City, there will definitely be a place for you.”

Carl’s face flushed with excitement. He clenched his fists on his legs, his body trembling slightly!

“Mr. Lance, whatever it is!”

“Very good!” Lance once again affirmed his attitude. He didn’t say anything like “within my ability” or “I will do my best.” He directly agreed.

This meant his determination, the determination to become a person of a higher class!

In fact, from a certain point of view, Carl, Boni, and Hope, these people were essentially the same.

They all had their own ideas, their own propositions. It was just that some were more proactive, and some were more passive.

Everyone wanted to be heard when they spoke. There was nothing wrong with that!

Lance’s thumb rubbed the ruby ring. “They are going to have a rally on the first. I need you to lead your men and break them up.”

“Don’t use guns. Just use knives, long knives, clubs, and the like.”

“Bring some more people, the ruthless kind, who are not afraid of trouble, who dare to fight for their ideals!”

Lance looked at Carl. “There will be police arranged nearby. When the time is right, they will sound their sirens and come over.”

“Remember, you have to cooperate after the police get out of the car. If you’re still like a fool, you should understand the consequences without me having to say more!”

He emphasized a bit, and then took a small briefcase from behind the desk beside him, placed it on the table, and pushed it over. “Open it and see.”

Carl’s mind was still full of the things Lance had just instructed him to do. He subconsciously opened this unlocked briefcase, and then his full attention was drawn by the contents inside.

Ten stacks of twenty-dollar bills, which should be 20,000 dollars, and also two strings of keys, which looked like car keys, and finally a social security card?

He wasn’t sure. He picked up the social security card and opened it. The moment he saw his own photo attached to it, his emotions were a little excited.

“You now have a legal federal identity, and no one can find any problems with you. This person really exists. You just have to remember your personal information.”

“I have a suggestion for you!” He paused for a moment. Carl immediately put down the social security card he was holding tightly and looked at Lance. “Go to a bank, Parkway, or something else, open a safe deposit box, and put it in there instead of carrying it with you.”

“It’s not suitable for you to expose the fact that you have become a citizen of the Federation now. Do you understand what I mean?”

“When you need to become a citizen of the Federation, only then can you be a citizen of the Federation!”

Carl quickly nodded. “I understand, I understand, Mr. Lance. I’ll do it right away!”

Lance nodded. “This is a reward for you. You’d better take out some and share it with your subordinates, so that they know what benefits they will get for working for you, for working for me.”

“Two cars. You drive one, and the others drive one. Of course, you can also buy some more yourself. You will also need to use these vehicles.”

Watching Carl nod continuously, Lance glanced at his watch. “If there’s nothing else, you can go and store your social security card first.”

With Lance’s current status, if he wanted a legal identity, it was just a matter of a phone call, and this matter was not so troublesome.

Chief Bruce would find from the personal files of the entire Golden Port City those old cases where a person was reported missing but had never been found, and at the same time, their parents or immediate relatives had all passed away.

Some were a few years or a dozen years old, and some were even twenty or thirty years old. For such a long time, these people had not returned home, nor had they been found. They were basically dead beyond dead.

Tens of thousands of people go missing in the Federation every year. It’s too easy to find this kind of information of one person, one household.

So there was no need to forge any information at all, and they could be arranged clearly and properly.

After Carl took the money back, he only kept less than half for himself, and gave the rest to everyone.

He also sent the money to the families of those who were now in the police station.

In times of poverty, life is really not worth much.

The next day, a Slad social activist named Fitz held a public speech in a not-fully-completed square in the New Port District.

Many people came to the scene, because there was free bread and canned tomato beans, so many people came!

Facts once again proved that the methods of the people of the Federation in political propaganda were ahead of all other regions in the world, the most advanced version!

No matter what these people came for, as long as they wanted to get the bread and canned tomato beans, they had to listen to Mr. Fitz finish his words.

Anyway, they were just sitting around. Why not listen?

And the sound of the small loudspeaker was so loud.

These social activists, politicians, the things they said, for the lower class of society who lacked the ability to distinguish and think, were more terrible than these lower classes themselves imagined!

Brainwashing is completed without one even realizing it. Brainwashing does not necessarily require a very long process. As long as the method of brainwashing can be on the same frequency as these people, brainwashing is as simple as drinking water.

Mr. Fitz’s views were actually closer to the views of some young and middle-aged people, and even the elderly. They had been beaten by society more times and had long lost their enterprising and tough determination.

They valued the latter more and didn’t care much about whether they were standing or kneeling.

At the same time, the last conflict also made them realize that this was not Slad. Although freedom was advocated here, the price of freedom was also heavy.

The words Mr. Fitz said quickly attracted the attention of the people who were just listening. To use a more gentle way to make contact, to obtain through labor or by paying a price, instead of snatching and demanding.

This was more in line with the three views of ordinary people.

His speech was very successful, and he said that he would represent these “kind Slad people” to negotiate with the local government and find more living space for everyone.

Then people received free whole-wheat bread and a can of tomato beans. This food could at least let these people and their families not worry about food for the next two or three days.

Whether they admitted it or not, they owed Mr. Fitz a favor.

A day passed quickly. People returned to the places where they lived. It could be a house on the side of the road that had been pried open, a construction site that had not been completed, or some culvert that had not been put into use.

In the dark of the night, they looked at the colorful neon lights in the sky in the direction of the city center, and fell asleep with a yearning for a better life.

The next day, a new year. Outside the Federal City Hall, it was only in the morning when a large number of people who were waiting to demonstrate had already gathered.

It has to be said that Hope had done a pretty good job in some aspects. He had given these people some hope in their despair, so much so that even without free bread and canned tomato beans, many people still came.

They gathered spontaneously, and the signs in their hands were gradually raised.

As the time came to noon, and the temperature had risen a little, more and more people gathered in the square outside City Hall. A massive parade and demonstration was about to begin.

Lance stood in Mayor Williams’s office. He was holding a square glass, and the amber-colored liquid in the glass was swirling slightly.

Mayor Williams was standing next to him, holding a cigar in one hand and a wine glass in the other.

Neither of them spoke, but just waited quietly, waiting for the further development of the situation.

Many more people would die here today, but… this was all their own choice. When they decided to come here, to fight against the political system of this country as refugees, some things were already doomed.

In an alley next to City Hall, the people Carl had gathered were holding steel knives and steel pipes in their hands. Their breathing was slightly rapid.

For these young people, this was definitely an unprecedented experience.

What they didn’t know was that on the other side, there was also a group of people in the same situation as them now, except that that group was wearing police uniforms.

As the momentum of the parade and demonstration grew larger and larger, they had already approached City Hall, shouting various tough slogans, and even demanding that Mayor Williams come out to apologize and resign in disgrace.

Seeing this scene, Mayor Williams couldn’t help but laugh out loud and even commented, “Interesting,” but there was no “how interesting” in his eyes.

Lance glanced at his watch. “It’s about time.”

At the same time, Carl took a final, large drag on his cigarette, then threw it on the ground, stamped on it hard, and then tightened his gloves, wrapped the anti-slip rope of the steel knife tightly around his hand. A group of people, with him as the leader, quickly rushed out of the alley…

(End of a Chapter)