Empire of Shadows

The surrounding crowd was in a bit of an uproar, and more people were moving closer. Pedro knew this was not the place to talk.

”Mr. Andy, please come with me.”

They walked to a more central part of the camp, where there were some shacks—

Although they lived in the wild, they didn’t really all rest in the open. They had their own built shacks.

These shacks not only served to protect from the rain, but more importantly, they could ward off the harassment of some insects or small animals.

The winter weather was not enough to make some cold-blooded animals go into hibernation, for example, snakes.

But the drop in temperature did indeed slow down their activities. During the day, there was still the sun to bask in, to maintain their body temperature.

At night, they would look for warm places from all around to spend the night.

Sometimes people would wake up in the daytime and would suddenly find a snake, or some other animal, coiled up on their chest or by their side.

After entering Pedro’s own tent, he invited Andy to sit down. ”I’m sorry, the conditions here are very simple. I may not be able to serve you a cup of coffee.”Andy shook his head. He indicated that he didn’t mind, and at the same time, he refused to sit down.

In his opinion, this place was too dirty.

Andy was not willing to sit down, and Pedro himself was not in a good position to sit down either. He couldn’t just sit there and let his guest stand and talk, could he?

He looked a little unsure of how to face the current situation. Fortunately, Andy had opened his mouth and had let the question of ”whether to sit down or not” be directly skipped.

”What did you want to tell me?” Andy asked.

Pedro looked around, spread his hands, and when they were halfway, they fell again, making a clapping sound. ”I am more concerned about what you want to get from me.”

Andy’s hands were folded across his chest, his feet slightly apart. This was a very conceited posture. ”I said, we don’t want anything. We just saw that you are suffering from a human rights disaster, which meets the aid standards of our organization.”

”So, we will provide you with some international aid, funds, supplies, and even when necessary, we will have some famous people speak up for you.”

He looked at Pedro’s still-not-relaxed eyes, and after a brief consideration, he added, ”If you have to ask, what you need to pay for our aid, then I think, to carry out your current ideas, is the best payment.”

”To help the people outside who are following you, to let them get the life they want, to realize your dreams, is the best reward!”

It was said very implicitly, but Pedro had already heard it. The purpose of this ”Mr. Andy” was to have him continue to fight against the Rapa government, to have him overthrow the current regime!

Lance’s appearance, inadvertently, had appeared in his mind. He asked with a hint of a smile, ”Do you know Mr. Lance White?”

Andy’s eyes rolled twice. Although he had been startled by Lance last time, he still didn’t think that Lance could do what they were going to do now.

Fighting and killing, he admitted, Lance could do it very well, but to support some anti-government forces to fight against their government, that was definitely not something that could be solved by just fighting and killing.

However, he did not deny it. ”I know Mr. Lance White. What’s wrong?”

Pedro shook his head. ”It’s nothing. It’s just that what you said has made me inevitably think of him.”

Andy quickly understood what he meant by this, and frowned slightly. ”Let’s not discuss him. Let’s talk about yourself, Pedro.”

”How do you feel about our offer?”

Pedro thought for a long while. ”I’m actually not sure if I should accept it. A month ago, I was just a high school teacher.”

”But a month later, you are pointing to a path that I had never anticipated, and you are telling me that my path is here!”

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but laugh. ”Although the end of this road is almost everyone’s dream.”

Andy walked to the side of the tent. He lifted the curtain of the tent, and everything outside came into view.

”This is not living with dignity, Pedro.”

”To live with dignity should be to be able to eat your fill, to have clothes to wear, and not to be like the people here now.”

”Even if a wolf or a lion came, they wouldn’t be interested in them!”

“You’re not the only candidate. You should know that. I don’t have time to get sentimental or reflective with you.”

”So now your answer is?”

Pedro’s gaze followed the direction he was pointing, at those people who were so thin that they were out of shape, and who were lying on the ground like dried-up corpses, motionless.

If it weren’t for the fact that you could see from their occasionally rising and falling chests that they were still breathing, perhaps you would just treat them as people who had already died.

To live is simple, but to live with dignity is very difficult.

Pedro had considered for a long time. Just when Andy was about to lose his patience, he had nodded and had agreed. ”I will join your plan.”

A few more smiles appeared on Andy’s face. He gave Pedro another thing, to be precise, a map. On the map, a circle was drawn with a red pen.

”Here, the day after tomorrow, you can get your grain.”

That was a railway supply station, which was generally used to replenish the passing trains with coal or water. This kind of a small station was very common in the entire Yalan.

Pedro did not think too much and agreed.

Andy soon left this place. He didn’t like the environment here.

The dirt and chaos were small matters. The main thing was the stench in the air.

Pedro had had people dig a deep pit around the camp. The shit and piss they had produced would all be poured into this pit, and then a layer of domestic garbage, or a layer of grass or something, would be laid on top, to completely cover it.

This was tantamount to composting, and then when there was an output, they would continue to pile on top.

A huge shit pit. The stench would definitely spread everywhere. In addition, some of the people in the camp, especially some of the elderly, because they would lie down as soon as they had finished eating, a part of them, their physical functions had deteriorated severely, and they had begun to be incontinent.

So it was very smelly here.

After Andy had left, Pedro had called all the core people of the group over. He had told them what Andy had said.

”The federal people will provide us with cash, medicine, and grain.”

”And what we have to do is to continue to fight against the government.”

In this core circle, there were a few of his fellow countrymen, and also teachers from the school, and also the parents of a few of the middle-class families’ students.

Pedro did not have any prejudice against these middle-class. In this country, Rapa, to be able to become middle-class required not only personal ability, but also a little background.

And this was precisely what he, and the others, did not have, so he needed such a ”bridge.”

Recently, besides his normal work, Pedro had been reading history books, to see the whole process of a country’s regime change, to see what it was like.

He, or rather, the ”trainees” in that photo, did any of them have the ability to do this?

He had not noticed it before, but as he had begun to pay attention to this aspect, he had found that in the history of this world, almost all the ”founding emperors” were, so to speak, all nobles, or the privileged class who were related to the nobles!

There had never been a truly poor person, a person from the bottom of society, who had become a ruler—with the exception of the Federation.

He had read many articles about the federal election system before. It mentioned many inspiring stories of how ordinary professionals could also participate in the election, and in the end, become the president.

For the federal locals, they might be skeptical, although there were indeed some presidents who had had an ordinary job and background in the past.

But who knew if it was really true?

However, for those who regarded the Federation as their spiritual homeland, this was fucking true!

No matter which country, which tribe, the identity of the new ruler would never be the one from the very bottom.

Because the people at the very bottom did not have much actual wealth, nor did they have the ability to mobilize social resources.

If these two key factors could not be met, how could it be called changing the world?

So he needed a bridge, a bridge to communicate with the privileged class. His team would not only have poor people, but also rich people, the privileged class, and even politicians!

After he had said his thoughts to these people, the first to stand up and support him were the parents of the students.

Then the teachers, and finally the ordinary people.

They were not really that interested in whether to rebel or not. Now, the thing they were most interested in was when they could fill their stomachs.

But now, even a simple wish as to fill their stomachs was very difficult for people to achieve.

Then you can’t blame people for thinking of overthrowing such a corrupt rule.

Pedro had told this trusted man the location of the transaction, and at the same time, had asked them to prepare the containers for the grain.

This time, they had to get enough food, at least for a short period of time, so that they would not have to wrack their brains for those things to eat.

It wasn’t just Pedro who had gotten a promise. People like Ross and the others, who had participated in this action and had been forced to the opposite side of the Diego government, had all gotten a chance to trade with the federal people.

Two days had passed very quickly, in the blink of an eye.

At a little after five in the morning, the train conductor, who was parked outside a small station, had woken up from his sleep.

After he had washed up, he had called everyone else up.

After a short period of liveliness in the station, the train conductor had confirmed that the coal in the warehouse was full, and the water in the boiler was also filled to about 70-80%, and only then had the train begun to slowly start up.

On the train were all the grain support supplies to be transported to Rapa. This was a deal between the Jede Republic and the Rapa government, with Diego.

After a period of heating, the steam engine had begun to boil, and the train, under the push of this force, had begun to slowly drive away from the station.

The train conductor was standing outside his exclusive carriage, looking at the very bright weather today. His mood was also like today’s weather, full of sunshine!