Empire of Shadows

When a person is tired, hungry, and thirsty, they will become very energetic.

But after overdrawing the spirit of the body, it will become more and more unbearable.

When it had just gotten dark, Joshua didn’t seem to feel tired, but now, every step was a torment for him. He slowly moved forward on the rugged mountain road, and after moving for a while, he couldn’t move anymore. He found a tree and leaned against it to sit down.

He told himself that he was just going to sit down and rest for a while. He still had to continue to walk and try to get down the mountain from the side in a short period of time.

After he sat down, he felt that all the cells in his body were jumping for joy. This was a kind of comfort that came from the bottom of his heart!

He closed his eyes slightly and told himself that he was just closing his eyes to rest his mind…

Suddenly, he opened his eyes wide, looking at his wrist that had been grabbed. His breathing instantly became extremely heavy!

The desire to survive made his adrenaline secrete sharply. At this moment, he felt terrifyingly strong!

“It’s me.”

In the darkness, the black shadow in front of him who was holding his wrist made a sound. It was a high-level cadre in the gang. Joshua’s expression relaxed a little, but his other hand never moved away from his handgun.At the same time, he was also a little annoyed. He had clearly just wanted to close his eyes and rest for a while. How had he fallen asleep without realizing it?

And he had been discovered.

He suspected that he might have made some sound in his dream, which had led someone to find him by following the sound.

Now, regretting these was meaningless. He just maintained his composure.

The new buds on the canopy of the trees blocked a lot of the moonlight, but some would still fall.

The unpolluted moon was exceptionally bright. Even in the dark of the night, you could see a rough idea.

Neither of them spoke. The high-level cadre sat down next to him. After a while, he asked, “How are you planning to go?”

Neither of them talked about what had happened in the valley. There was nothing to say about such a complete defeat.

Those who firmly believed that they could return to the kingdom of heaven were still in the valley. Those of them who had run out had long lost their faith.

Even if they had, it was not that firm.

The call of the Lord was so loud, but not only did they pretend not to hear, but they also ran away. This was not the example that a true believer should set.

Joshua licked his chapped lips. “Go down the mountain from the side. It’s only a dozen kilometers from the interstate highway. We can cross it in a day.”

“After we get to the interstate highway, we can leave this place.”

He used the word “we.” A smile appeared on the high-level cadre’s face.

“There’s something I’ve never asked you,” the cadre asked a question. His throat and voice were, just like Joshua’s, a little hoarse.

They were not plants. They could absorb water just by standing on the ground. There were no small streams or the like on the mountain. There was no place to replenish water at all.

In fact, there was a lot of water in the leaves of those plants, but it was not an easy thing to extract it. Both of them were extremely thirsty.

Joshua just wanted to reduce his speech now. He nodded and said again, “Speak.”

“How much money is left in those accounts?” the cadre asked a question he was very concerned about.

Joshua became vigilant. He was silent for a moment. “A little over seven million.”

The cadre whistled, and then coughed a few times. “That’s a lot of money.”

His tone was filled with a trace of greed. If he could get this money, he would be carefree for the rest of his life.

Facts have proven that they are no match for Lance. Even if they can make a comeback in the future, they may not be Lance’s match.

The federal government, and even the military, have his people. This time it was an armored car. What about next time?

Will there be artillery, or even tanks?

He didn’t know, and he didn’t want to know. He only knew that as long as he left this place alive, he would never go against Lance again.

Now he was considering how to get Joshua to tell him the account numbers and passwords, or how to get him to share this money with him.

Joshua actually also knew that this guy was asking these questions with ill intentions, but now they were on the run. The possibility of the two of them surviving together might be a little greater.

At least when encountering danger, you just have to run faster than the other party.

And as long as he didn’t say the bank account numbers and passwords, he was, to a certain extent, safe.

Thinking of this, he no longer continued to deal with it hypocritically. He licked his lips. “I’m going to sleep for a while longer…”

After saying that, he simply lay down, curled up his body, and closed his eyes.

Fatigue washed over him like a tide. The cadre by his side, after a moment of astonishment, seemed to have also accepted this result.

In the middle of the night, Joshua woke up from his sleep. His energy and physical strength had been restored. The cadre was also dozing on the side, and seemed to have fallen asleep as well.

Looking at his drowsy appearance, many thoughts flashed through Joshua’s mind, but in the end, he did not make a move.

He shook the cadre awake. “You fell asleep.”

The cadre was stunned for a moment before he reacted, a little embarrassed. “I was too sleepy.”

Then there was a period of calm. Joshua took the lead. “Let’s go now. It will be inconvenient when it gets light.”

The cadre did not refuse, but when the two of them stood up, they realized that this road was even more difficult to walk.

The blisters that had been rubbed raw and the soles of their feet that had been worn through made every step a painful torture. They could only take off their shoes, pop the blisters, and then tear off their own sleeves, and wrap their feet tightly a few times, and tighten them hard.

This way, the situation would be a little better when they walked, although every step was still so painful that it made people crazy.

Neither of them spoke and continued to walk towards the side of the mountain. It was just that when they were halfway, they stopped.

Because they saw a few cars parked at the foot of the mountain in the distance. The headlights of the cars were on, illuminating the road down the mountain.

At the same time, in the woods around them, there were also people constantly patrolling back and forth with flashlights. The speed was very fast, and also very dense.

Reality is not an artistic creation. No one would be so stupid as to not know to look up or to look down.

Stories like being able to go unnoticed while crawling at the enemy’s feet are always just stories, or can only be an accident, and will not become a real thing.

The two of them also did not expect to be able to escape under the search of so many people with flashlights.

The two were silent for a moment and silently walked towards the other side. It’s unknown how many hours they had left, and it’s unknown what day it was. The soles of their feet were already so painful that they had no feeling.

When they had crossed a small hillside and looked down, they fell into silence again.

The same configuration, and there were also people on patrol.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t go down the mountain in other places, but it was too steep. A moment of carelessness and they would fall. Some places were even cliffs.

Only these few places were easy to go down the mountain.

The sky had become bright without them realizing it. In the early morning, Lance had them organize a group of people to go up the mountain again. If they didn’t find Joshua, he wouldn’t be at ease.

Although they didn’t find Joshua today, they did find a few cadres or members of the Holy Bell Party who couldn’t run anymore. They also became the nutrients for this mountain on the mountain.

The gunshots made the people hiding on the mountain even more terrified. During the day, because the light was sufficient, they didn’t dare to move around after they had hidden.

At this time, staying as still as possible was the right choice.

No food, no water. Everyone was experiencing a double torture of both spirit and body.

Although they didn’t find Joshua today, they did find the place where Joshua and the person next to him had previously bandaged their foot injuries. There were still some strips of cloth left on the ground.

They deduced that the remaining people had gone deeper into the mountains.

On the third day, Lance’s support arrived.

They used trucks to transport more than twenty trucks of people. Deputy Chief Duke also came along, and also brought some hunting dogs.

“I heard that you are looking for someone, so I borrowed these hunting dogs from a hunter I have a good relationship with. Their noses are very sensitive and may be able to provide some help.”

Seeing so many people, and also hunting dogs, arrive, a smile finally appeared on Lance’s face.

He and Deputy Chief Duke did not exchange many pleasantries and directly assigned him a task.

Soon, the people in police uniforms began to clean up and block the valley and the surrounding areas. They also set up a checkpoint on the small road leading to the valley, prohibiting other vehicles from approaching here at will.

And the others began to go up the mountain more densely.

They were prepared to go up the mountain, with more food, water, and also flashlights. They conducted a search in a staggered advance, and thoroughly scoured the entire mountain forest.

On the night of the third day, a gunshot suddenly came from the depths of the mountain forest. The distance from the main mountain patrol unit was not far, and everyone was full of confidence.

Early the next morning, everyone had filled their stomachs and began to search again.

Soon they had some discoveries.

The deeper you go into the mountains, the more traces you leave behind.

In the winter, a large number of fallen leaves fell on the ground. After being soaked by the ice and snow and rainwater, they gradually rotted and would eventually form a layer of humus.

The more places that no one had reached, the more obvious this humus was.

After the spring came, they would be slowly absorbed by the earth, but at this moment, they were there.

The appearance of clear footprints one after another gave the search team a target very quickly.

At this time, Joshua’s face was extremely pale.

He hadn’t eaten anything for three days. Yesterday, he had been so hungry that he had eaten some leaves, but as a result, he felt even worse!

His whole person was on the verge of collapse!

Last night, that cadre had planned to make a move on him, but he had been discovered and had been counter-killed by him in advance.

But this had also completely exposed his tracks.

He didn’t know since when, let alone walking, it was a very difficult thing for him to even stand for a while.

He lay on the ground, his mind completely blank.

He inexplicably thought of his childhood, of his father’s spirited appearance, of his father’s despair on the judgment seat.

He thought of the respect and flattery of the people around them, and also of their later indifference, contempt, and even harm.

Life is like this mountain. Sometimes the fluctuations are very small, but sometimes, there will also be great ups and downs.

He was too hungry, and also too thirsty. He had actually already heard the sound of the search team in the distance, but he didn’t want to run anymore.

Just like that, he fell asleep in a daze. He didn’t know how long had passed before the sound of “found him” in his ear startled him awake.

He looked at the crowd that had gathered around him, his face not showing much terror, only some relief.

In the evening, they came down from the mountain. In the bloody grand cathedral, Joshua was pushed and fell in front of Lance.

Lance looked at the extremely disheveled Joshua and did not give him any respect. The Lord of the crucifix looked at Joshua, who had fallen in front of Lance, with a bitter look on his face, as if he were asking him why this had happened.

“This is our first meeting.”

“But also the last!”

He paused for a moment. “I hear you have an account…”

Someone had confessed this matter. The cadres who had fled up the mountain and had been caught today, they had tried to use this secret to exchange for a chance to live, but it was clear that they had all failed.

So Lance also knew this secret. He had an account with the gang’s funds in it, several million.

Joshua’s eyes lit up. He looked up at Lance and said in a slightly pleading tone, “As long as you let me go, the money is all yours!”

“Seven or eight million, and my own money, adds up to over ten million!”

“A fortune of ten million, in exchange for my life, Lance. This deal is too good!”

“How much wine do you have to sell to earn this money?!”

He had a slightly morbid smile and a look of longing on his face as he looked at Lance. He felt that no one could refuse this condition, and Lance should not be able to refuse either!

It wasn’t a hundred thousand, a million, it was ten million!

The gazes and attention of the people around were also concentrated. Deputy Chief Duke swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Ten million.

He dreamed of having so much money!

He looked at Lance with a fiery gaze. If Lance could get this ten million, how much could they get?

Based on his understanding of Lance, they had made such a trip. Each person, not to say more, but to get a share of three or five hundred, shouldn’t be too much, right?

The total would not be more than a million.

Many of the police officers thought so, and thought that Lance might bargain with him. After all, that was ten million.

But only Lance’s men looked at Joshua with a cold, slightly mocking look in their eyes.

Joshua was a little horrified by those cold gazes. His gaze lingered on the faces of those people, as if he were looking for something.

But the more he found, the more terrified he became!

He turned his head and stared at Lance again. Lance looked at him without being moved, with the same coldness and ruthlessness.

“How about it?”

“Ten million, just to ask you to spare my life. I will disappear from the Federation and never come back!”

Lance shook his head slightly. He drew the handgun from his holster and released the safety. “Are these all your last words?”

Joshua was completely stunned. His face immediately flushed, so agitated that he was a little hysterical. “That’s ten million!”

“That’s a thou…”

Bang!

The sound of the handgun bullet was much weaker than the sound of the machine gun firing yesterday, and the sound of the rifle firing.

But even such a weak gunshot was enough to take a person’s life!

Joshua kept blinking his eyes and even raised his hand to touch his forehead. There was a small hole on it.

He touched the viscous liquid at the edge of the hole with his finger, and then placed it in front of his eyes.

Dark red, it was blood.

His pupils began to have an earthquake, a violent tremor.

He seemed to be gathering his strength. The veins all over his body popped out, and his muscles tensed. But soon, his whole person suddenly seemed to have lost the tension of a spring and collapsed on the ground.

His body was constantly convulsing, like a fish that was about to die of drought.

He looked at the Lord, who was facing him with a look of grief, with a blank look in his eyes. His mind was really a blank!

(End of a Chapter)