Empire of Shadows

In a room that didn’t look luxurious at all, and was even somewhat dilapidated, Pedro suddenly stood up.

”Ross is here.”

As he spoke, he took the initiative to walk to the door. At that moment, the door happened to open, and Ross walked in from outside, laughing loudly. ”What do you call this thing you’re holding?”

He was wearing a military uniform. There was no longer any trace of his former worker self on him. It could even be said that he was a soldier; no one would associate him with a worker.

He first hugged Pedro, and then the others. After they separated, he put his arm around Pedro’s and said, ”A class reunion, is that what it’s called?”

Pedro nodded. ”There’s nothing wrong with saying that!” He pulled Ross into the room and had him sit down. The others also sat down around the table.

Ross’s gaze lingered on each of the participants at the table, and finally, his gaze fell on Pedro, who was beside him. He had looked at everyone here.

”There are only fifteen. What about the other nine?”

Their class, and also the only class, had twenty-four people, from all over Rapa. But in this room, there were only fifteen people, which meant that there were still nine who were not here.

A look of some regret appeared on Pedro’s face. ”A few have already returned to God’s embrace, and there are two others who don’t intend to get involved.”Not everyone wanted to dance on this stage. There were also some who were willing to be unknown.

This thing called ambition js sounds good to say, but if you want to realize it, the price to be paid might be extremely heavy.

Not everyone has this kind of courage and determination. In the end, only a very small number of people can dance on the stage of the times. Most people live a mediocre life.

Ross also sighed when he heard this. ”The government army has been fighting very fiercely recently. Even we have to retreat a certain distance to avoid fighting them prematurely.”

Under the leadership of Fernandez, and under the command of those Jede military officers, the government army’s offensive during this period had been very fierce.

It could be said that they were pressing down on these ”rebel armies”—this was their own term. Of course, the Rapa regime was still relatively stable at present, so in the international community, they were anti-government armed forces.

Many of the rebel armies had been annihilated in this tsunami-like military operation, and among them were their ”classmates” from the same period.

Everyone’s mood was a little low. The smiles and voices of those people in the past seemed to be lingering not far away. They could still clearly remember them.

Remembering their heated discussions in Lance’s ”classroom,” the collision of ideas...

But now, these people had already become a symbol, a thing of the past.

Perhaps this was also their final destination.

Perhaps.

After a short silence, Pedro finally let out a breath. The attention of the others was all attracted to him, including Ross.

Among the fifteen anti-government leaders here, only Pedro’s and Ross’s forces were currently the largest, and their strength was also the strongest.

Pedro was the first to stand up against the government. The aid he had received from Lance’s side would also be a little more than others.

At the same time, they had already fought with the government army once, and had achieved good results.

This had made Pedro like a flag, a lighthouse, a goal that guided people’s direction.

Some people’s ambition was not to be the president. They might just want to be a general, or an... official or something. So they would not pull up their own team to fight against the Rapa’s official government. They would join Pedro’s team.

Ross was the one who had followed closely behind, so his development was also very good. And under him, there was a considerable portion of workers.

In Rapa, a worker was not the lowest class, but belonged to the class that was close to the middle class. He himself was also a worker. These workers, after they had united in terms of combat effectiveness and execution, a little stronger than Pedro’s side, which had everything.

This had also made some people plan to invest in them.

Some of the privileged class in the country, and even the ruling class, had also begun to arrange for people to contact them.

The ones who supported them were not only the federal people, so their development was like a snowball, which would get faster and bigger!

But even so, in the face of the fully armed and professionally officered government army, whether it was Ross or Pedro, they would all choose to take the initiative to retreat. Now was not the time to have a head-on collision with them.

Pedro nodded in agreement with Ross’s point of view. ”Their offensive is very strong now. There is a momentum in their bodies, which supports them in fighting us without fear.”

”But I believe that this momentum cannot be maintained like this forever. People are not machines. They will always get tired.”

The people around had also nodded one after another. They had agreed with this view of Pedro’s.

Ross looked at him and asked, ”So?”

”This time you’ve gathered us, it’s not really just to let us old classmates get together, is it?”

He was smiling as he spoke, as if he really thought so.

Pedro was a little moved. Ross’s change was probably the biggest change among the members who had participated in the seminar.

In the past, he was actually not as ”mature” as he was now, politically mature. In the past, he was just a worker, but now, he was clearly more like a politician!

He pressed down these thoughts in his heart, and said with a smile, ”I have gathered everyone, besides indeed wanting to talk about each other’s recent development, I also have some other thoughts.”

People’s attention was once again focused on him. Some even urged him to say it quickly.

Pedro did not continue to dawdle, but directly stated the purpose of gathering them. ”We should unite.”

”If you have paid attention to some of the other rebel armies in the territory of Rapa, you will find that we are not the only ones.”

”Some of the rebel army leaders in some places, I haven’t even heard of. There are also some who are more powerful. The rebel army leaders themselves are members of the ruling class. They are just the characters who have been pushed to the front.”

”Now the situation in the territory of Rapa has not, because the government army’s great offensive has achieved certain results, reduced the scale of the uprising.”

”On the contrary, in almost all the regions I know, there have been some rebel armies, and they are attacking cities, and occupying places.”

”We are not all!”

One of the ”classmates” couldn’t help but ask, ”Isn’t this a good thing?”

”This at least proves that our choice is correct, because the Ravila family and this ruling group have indeed made it impossible for everyone to live.”

”If people could still live, who would be willing to throw themselves into this cause that even we are not sure we can see to the end?”

This was clearly a view with some pessimism. Pedro did not refute him, but just, while nodding, said, ”You are right.”

”It’s not that we want to resist the rule of the Ravila family, but that he has forced us to have no choice but to.”

”What I mean is, now among so many rebel armies, we are no longer considered the strongest, and some of us are even very weak.”

”You should have all heard that the federal government stop exporting standard-specification ammunition to Rapa.”

”This means that the weapons in the hands of the government army will soon become silent. I have a bold guess.”

”In the next stage, the war, the battle, will mainly occur between us, the rebel armies.”

The people’s gazes had been locked on him. He, unhurriedly, lit a self-rolled cigarette.

”So we should unite!”

”Unity” was indeed a very powerful slogan, and they had, through their own practice, practiced the truth that Lance had once told them—Unity is strength!

When Pedro had also shouted this ”unity,” immediately, some people were a little moved.

They had indeed felt some pressure, not from the government army, but from the other rebel armies around them.

Like in the eastern region, which was a little further away from Zhuolan. The fragmentation over there was even more exaggerated than here. Almost all the cities had been occupied by the rebel armies.

Friction had already begun to arise between them. Now it might not be obvious, but perhaps it wouldn’t be long before a battle between the rebel armies would break out.

For Pedro to have proposed this idea at a time like this, had immediately gotten their support.

More and more people were supporting this idea of Pedro’s. When a person is alone, he is a creature with a brain.

But when there are more people, the person’s brain will disappear, and in its place will be a kind of a group consciousness.

However, no matter how many people had agreed, had supported, or had opposed, Pedro’s attention had always been on Ross, who was by his side.

After a while, when the others had all gradually agreed, and only Ross was left, Ross had, with a half-smile, looked at Pedro, and had asked, ”This is indeed a good suggestion, but I also have a question.”

Pedro nodded. ”Please speak. We’ll discuss it.”

Ross, likewise, asked very directly, ”If we have overthrown the rule of the Ravila family, and have also taken care of the other rebel armies, and we have won the final victory.”

”This fruit of victory, into whose hands will it fall?”

Originally, the atmosphere in the room was still relatively fiery. With the appearance of this question, the atmosphere had, in an instant, visibly cooled down.

People had looked at each other, and had stopped talking.

This was indeed a problem.

If they had fought to the death and had paid a great price, and in the end, when it was time to pick the fruit of victory, this fruit was not for them, would they be reconciled?

A person’s mind is a very subtle thing. Maybe just because of one sentence, their thoughts will have a completely different change.

Those who had been very supportive of Pedro just now, at this time, in their eyes as they looked at Pedro, there was also something that was hard to see.

Although it was hard to see, it was definitely not something good.

Pedro seemed to have also anticipated this. His expression had not changed, and he had still maintained a smile.

”Actually, even if you hadn’t said it, in the end, I was also planning to take the initiative to talk about this.”

”You all know, I am very much in favor of the federal social system.”

”Congress, the Presidential Palace, the local governments. I’m not saying that this system is so perfect, but it is indeed much better than ours.”

”No matter who the final winner is, and who can eat this fruit, I don’t want this to be a new beginning of a disaster!”

”I suggest we take inspiration from the federal system—separating powers completely and adopting a voting and election process to ensure that power never becomes absolute, and therefore, corrupt.”

Others, after listening, someone seemed to feel that this idea was not bad.

When Lance had been ”in class” with them, he had also talked about the federal system. When he had talked about the federal system, he had also talked about some of the problems that existed in the federal society.

But these problems, in the eyes of these people, were on the contrary, not considered to be a problem.

A barbarian who has not even worn clothes, now if you give him a set of work clothes, he will feel very satisfied. At least he is like an ordinary person.

If they were to move the federal set of things over, perhaps it could change Rapa’s future.

Ross did not speak, which meant that he did not agree with this idea, and it wasn’t that everyone had supported this idea.

Pedro sighed lightly. This meant that in the end, he and Ross would definitely become opponents.

”There is another plan.”

”After we have solved all the other competitors, and have overthrown the Rapa government, then we ourselves through a method of internal competition, decide who to listen to.”

As soon as these words were spoken, Ross had immediately nodded and had agreed.

He had laughed loudly and had said, ”This is good. No matter who it is, and what ideas they have, they can all have their own propositions.”

Others had also, one after another nodded to express their agreement.

After all, the victory that you have staked everything to get, on what basis should you share it with others?

So much so that on what basis can you not even make it hereditary?

And you still have to let others choose?

Then what is their effort?

Those deaths, those sacrifices, what are they?

Are they a joke?

Not everyone will support this ruling system of the Federation. Compared to the Federation’s clearly more advanced social system, they, on the contrary, prefer this kind of a hereditary inheritance of power.

Everything they are doing now, isn’t it just for themselves, for their children, for their descendants?

To let their descendants also have to, with those who have not paid anything, to have a fair election?

You’ve got to be kidding!

People are just like this.

When they have nothing, they are definitely the advocates of fairness.

But when they really have it, they, on the contrary, will become selfish guardians of their interests.

Although Ross’s decision had made Pedro a little disappointed, the main purpose had still been achieved. They would cooperate.

”Since everyone has no objection, then I will continue.”

”Recently, that Fernandez, for some reason, has suddenly returned to Jede. Now there is no one to preside over the war. Some of the military officers have also left with him. This is an opportunity for us.”

“ in their current state of stagnation, we can launch some counter-attacks against them. This way we can boost our morale.”

”At the same time, it can also be considered to let them know that we are not a soft persimmon!”

”We need to build up our authority. We need to have our own ’brand.’ Only in this way can we attract more talents to join us, and to let us become stronger!”

He had, by taking the ”brand” that Lance had mentioned, to use it here, and it was not at all abrupt. He was probably, in this group, the anti-government armed force leader with the most ideas.

The others, in the absence of a core conflict, were also very much in agreement with Pedro. After all, he was a high school teacher.

In the eyes of these people, a high school teacher represents a cultured person, a representative of having ideas, and having ability!

Ross also had no objection. ”What do we do now?”

Pedro leaned forward. ”My idea is this...”

In fact, they all knew what was happening in the Rapa government. The federal people were, through all kinds of ways, to tell them some of the things that were happening in the Rapa government.

This way, they were, for the actions of the government and the government army, to be said to be very clear.

This was also a way of balancing the two forces.

If they were not told any intelligence, then Diego’s government army would be too strong, which would destroy the balance of this game.

What Lance, and the federal government, needed was to let them consume each other.

To pick out those troublemakers, those who still had a dream in their hearts and were willing to fight for its realization, to pick out those unstable factors, and to let them be consumed by their own people on the battlefield of the civil war.

When this batch of people had been almost consumed, the Federation would enter the field.

This was a game that was destined to fail. Besides the Federation, which was outside the gambling table, there would not be any winners.

But those who had already joined the game, did not know this, or rather they might have some feelings, but at this very moment, besides walking forward, they had no other way.

Not long after that gathering, anti-government forces began to mobilize. By the second week of August, they launched an attack on a city by the river—one of great strategic importance—that had recently been recaptured by the government army.

This time, they had gathered more than 40,000 people to participate in this battle. The battle was very fierce from the very beginning. The two sides were constantly exchanging bullets and lives.

Every minute, every second, people were constantly dying.

At a time like this, human life had already become the most worthless thing, and no one cared.

The battle had lasted for almost five days. In the end, the government army had been forced to withdraw from the city, and had begun to retreat to the rear.

This victory had shaken the entire Rapa. Whether it was Diego, or the other rebel armies, they were all shocked by the result of this battle!

This was probably the first victory of the anti-government armed forces after Diego had ”gotten serious.” It had a very important significance!

Some of the other anti-government armed forces had also begun to consider a counter-attack against the Rapa government, and there was also a piece of gossip that was circulating among the people—

The Rapa government army’s ammunition reserves are already running low. The weapons in their hands will soon be no better than a knife!

This news had also pushed for a wave of battle.

By the end of August, they were almost all in combat.

In some places, the government army had won, but in some places, it was the anti-government armed forces that had won.

At the same time, they had also found that the government army’s firepower had suddenly reduced. It was not like at the beginning, when they were madly pouring out ammunition.

This had further confirmed the rumor—the government army’s ammunition supply couldn’t keep up!