Empire of Shadows

Lance stood in the top-floor suite of the hotel, looking through the floor-to-ceiling glass window at the police cars or horse-drawn carriages constantly whistling past in the city, as well as the running policemen. He could barely feel a hint of a tense atmosphere.

”A portion of the refugees have already gathered outside the city. The several roads leading into the city have now been controlled by the police, only allowing people to leave, not to enter.”

Mador stood behind Lance, reporting the situation outside.

Although he was Lance’s personal bodyguard, he also undertook a part of the work of commanding the operation.

Lance had brought so many people over, on the one hand, to protect his own safety.

On the other hand, it was also to make the situation even more chaotic.

”Has the army participated?” Lance asked without turning his head.

”Not yet.”

Lance didn’t say anything, but just continued to stare at the distant skyline, the place where the city and the wilderness met.

His gaze couldn’t see that far, only some blurry images. Let alone distinguishing the crowd that was waiting to enter the city, even the houses were not very clear.But he could imagine the terrible situation on the outskirts of the city.

The ”chaos” had already formed. At this time, the only one who could save this country was President Diego, for these ruling groups to stand up, and for them to find a way to mobilize grain from other places to appease the people’s hearts.

But they had done nothing.

The problem now was not that people couldn’t afford grain, although there was indeed a portion who couldn’t, but that they couldn’t buy it. It was useless even if you had money.

Lance had heard that the price of grain had already risen to the level of more than two dollars a pound. It wasn’t that it was rising too fast, but that there was indeed no supply.

What is the characteristic of a seller’s market?

It is that the buyers are constantly raising their prices to get a chance to trade.

If you offer one dollar, I’ll offer 1.1, and then someone will offer 1.2.

As long as the relationship between supply and demand is unequal, it will always be manifested in extreme price changes.

Just like when capital fights a price war to monopolize the market, it will set the price very low, because the supply side of the market is more than the demand side, so the price will be closer to the cost price, and may even fall below the cost price.

The reverse is also true. If there are many people in the market who want to buy a commodity, they can only get it by constantly raising the price, just like an auction.

From 1.3 to 2, it had taken less than three days, and even so, they still couldn’t buy grain.

The people who had grain, those who had hoarded far more than they could consume, were all fantasizing that the price of grain would become even higher. To sell now was clearly not a suitable opportunity or time.

And those who had none, they could only come to Zhuolan to try their luck.

Lance stood by the window and watched for a while. ”Have the brothers make a move. If the refugees don’t attack the city, how can the conflict between the ruling class and the ruled be established so quickly?”

After he had finished speaking, he turned and returned to the sofa on the side, and then looked at Mador.

Mador walked to the side of the phone and dialed a number.

Although Rapa was poor and backward, the thing about the telephone was still there.

Ordinary people used public telephone booths. On one street, several hundred households shared one or two telephone booths.

Only the middle class and the privileged class, the ruling class, were qualified to have a telephone in their own homes.

The call was quickly answered. Mador conveyed Lance’s meaning, and soon he hung up the phone.

He walked back to the corner, picked up his water glass and took a sip. His emotions had undergone a change that even he himself couldn’t describe.

He had once been a soldier, and had seen a lot of life and death. He had thought that he would no longer have any emotional changes because of the issue of life and death.

But at this moment, he had finally realized that in a certain aspect, he was not as strong as he had imagined.

In the marginal area of the city, some of Lance’s men had changed into the clothes that only the locals would wear. They were all wearing flat caps, with the brims pulled very low. Although their appearance could still be seen clearly, as long as you didn’t pay attention, people wouldn’t be likely to remember them.

They would only remember the different flat caps.

Outside the road into the city, many refugees had already gathered. They had come here with their families. Everyone’s situation looked not very good.

Anyone, after being hungry for a few days, would not be very good, looking as if they were shriveled.

A small number of police cars and some horses were parked on the road. They had pulled up a police cordon, refusing others to enter the city.

In the face of the bitter pleading of these ordinary people, the police were unmoved. They stood at the very front, holding batons in their hands.

The police represented the most basic means of violence of the ruling group, and in the minds of the people of Rapa, they still had some deterrent power.

”Please, let us in!”

”My son hasn’t eaten for two days. If we don’t get something to eat soon, we will starve to death!”

A woman had walked out from the crowd and had walked to the front of the police cordon, still about a meter away.

She needed some food. Her child was already so hungry that he couldn’t walk. Maybe tomorrow, or the day after, he would starve to death!

Her husband had had an accident at the mine. The mine owner had compensated them with 3,000 Paras. A human life was only worth 3,000 Paras.

As a woman, she had tried to get more compensation, but soon many people had come to persuade her to give up making a fuss.

Some people with a reputation, including her family members.

They said that her husband had caused the mine to collapse, which had caused the mine owner to lose a large sum of money. If it weren’t for the fact that their family had lost their labor force, they wouldn’t even have wanted to give 3,000, and would have even demanded compensation from them.

In the end, she had taken the 3,000 in exchange for her husband’s ashes, and had buried him on the side of the road.

Now, she was about to lose her child again. She couldn’t lose her child again!

She was pleading bitterly, just hoping that her child could get a chance to live, but what she got in response was only the indifference of the police.

Seeing that she was too close, one of the police officers had even shouted loudly, ”Back off immediately, stay away from the cordon!”

His hand had already gripped his baton, but the woman in front of him still pleaded, ”Please, let us in to buy some food. We’ll leave soon.”

The police officer who was talking to her felt his face flush a little. When his colleagues looked at him, it made him feel a burning sensation on his face.

He was angry. A disobedient pariah, a pariah who was resisting his orders!

He suddenly swung his baton and hit the woman on the forehead. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the baton was wrapped in a layer of rubber. This one blow had still torn open a cut on the woman’s forehead.

A contusion, not a cut.

This kind of wound is often more difficult to heal, because its edges are all irregular.

In a miserable scream, the woman fell to the ground. She looked at the police officer in disbelief. She had not crossed the line. She just wanted to go into the city to buy some food.

She fell to the ground, her mind a blank. It was unknown if it was because the muddled future had made her unable to see the road ahead, or if the blow just now had made her lose the ability to think.

The police officer glared at her fiercely. ”I’ll warn you one last time. Go back to the crowd!”

The woman was already frightened, and had no reaction at all!

And this was precisely seen by the police officer as a silent confrontation, as a provocation!

He couldn’t take it!

The people of Rapa, who had lived an inhuman life for so many years, but no one had resisted. They had been domesticated very well, or rather, they had already gotten used to this kind of a life of high-pressure rule.

Even at this time, when they were facing a moment of life and death, although they had chosen to make some changes, in the face of the traditional force that represented the ruling class, they had once again become their past selves.

Besides protesting, there was nothing they could do.

They stood in the distance, watching the police officer bend down and cross the cordon, and walk up to the woman with a baton in his hand.

A tragedy was about to be staged, but the people just stood on the side, watching numbly, as if what was happening had nothing to do with them.

The police officer had already raised the baton in his hand high. Just as the woman was about to be beaten, Pedro had squeezed out of the crowd.

He had also come to Zhuolan with his family. He could no longer buy grain in the city where he lived. Originally, there was a river outside the city, and there were still fish in the river.

But with the outbreak of the famine, in just two days, no fish could be caught in the river.

Thinking about it, it made sense. When people had begun to spread the word that the fish in the river could fill their stomachs, at least a few thousand or tens of thousands of people had rushed to the river with their homemade tools.

In a very short time, the fish in the river had been completely rounded up.

The power brought by hunger is devastating. It’s not enough for people to just fill their stomachs. They also have to think about their next meal, and the one after that.

The devastating fishing had directly made it impossible to find any fish in the river, not even a single fry.

And, the thing that had worried Pedro the most had also happened.

The potatoes that had been planted with the reserved seeds in the potato fields outside the city had all been dug out.

Sprouted potatoes are poisonous. People know this, but they also know how to deal with these poisonous potatoes.

In just one week, everything had changed dramatically.

They could only, with the others, come to Zhuolan to try their luck. To stay in the city was already meaningless.

On the way, almost all the edible things had been eaten. If there was nothing else to eat, they could only go and chew on the tree bark, and eat the leaves.

At this time, seeing the police officer was about to continue to beat the poor woman, Pedro’s sense of justice had made it impossible for him to sit by and watch all this happen. He had stood up.

”She just wants to buy some food for her family!”

The police officer’s gaze shifted to Pedro’s body. His face was flushed!

One after another, they had jumped out to oppose him, making him lose face. He now, without looking back, could imagine the mockery in his colleagues’ eyes as they looked at him!

He pursed his lips tightly and strode towards Pedro. Pedro nervously took a step back. He raised his hand and made a gesture of refusal. ”I just want you not to hurt an ordinary woman!”

But the police officer could no longer listen. He felt that his dignity had been provoked. Only by crushing these people could he straighten his back again!

He swung the baton in his hand in a wide arc and hit Pedro. As a teacher, and not a physical education teacher, he had no way to dodge and could only hold his head and take this one blow.

A heart-piercing pain instantly filled his body. He had a feeling of being fiercely bitten by a stick!

The pain also made him let out a miserable scream uncontrollably—”Ah!!”

The numb crowd still looked at him numbly, as if all this had nothing to do with them.

The police officer raised his baton again. Pedro was not willing to be passively beaten. He suddenly pushed the police officer, and then glanced at the woman who had fallen on the ground. In the end, he sighed, turned and ran.

The people had no blood. He had no choice.

Perhaps it’s not yet time.

He thought in his heart.

The police officer, who had been pushed and had stumbled, had felt a deep humiliation. He had once again rushed towards Pedro.

But this time, his luck was not very good.

A few young men had rushed over from the side and had given him a good beating.

While they were making their move, they were shouting, ”We can’t live anyway. We might as well fight these officials!”

The words were not quite right. A police officer is not an official, but they had shouted some of the words.

These words had touched some of the people. The numb look in their eyes had also changed a little.

Pedro stood there, turned, and looked at the young men who had rushed out. Looking at their appearance, their attire, his heart moved slightly.

The police officers behind the cordon were stunned for a moment, and then they had lifted the cordon and had rushed over with their batons. Then the second batch of young men had rushed over and had gotten into a brawl with them.

The numb crowd began to stir. Originally, there were not many police officers who were blocking the road here, only about twenty or so.

Now, half of them had been held back. Some people had an idea.

They were not planning to fight the police with those young men, but were planning to take advantage of the chaos and rush in.

The police in the back had also discovered the abnormality here. They were, while blowing their whistles, drawing their batons and rushing towards this side.

In front of a dozen or so police officers, at least several hundred people were so suppressed that they did not dare to move.

And at this very moment, Pedro had suddenly raised his arm. ”Go to the city and eat your fill. Let’s fight them!”

He had taken the lead and had rushed up. He had not heard the sound of footsteps following him, and he was a little disappointed.

Soon he had collided with the police. Two police officers had raised their batons and had hit him hard.

He had never learned to fight or anything, and could only instinctively resist, and then fight back.

At the scene, more than twenty people were surrounding and beating a dozen or so people, including Pedro.

But gradually, the atmosphere had gradually become a little off.

Some of the people in the numb crowd, the look in their eyes as they had watched them being beaten was no longer numb and schadenfreude, but had become a little bright.

The fluctuation of emotions had brought some impulsive decisions. A few young men had run towards the police who were entangled in a fight.

A police officer had noticed this. He had pointed at these young men with the baton in his hand. ”Go back!”

The method that had always worked in the past had, at this moment, completely lost its effect.

Not only had the young men not gone back, but on the contrary, they had raised their fists and had hit him hard!

Pedro, who had turned his head and had discovered this scene, had a few more smiles on his face. He suddenly realized that perhaps this was what Lance had called the ”awakening.”

From numbness, to resistance.