Empire of Shadows

The ball was in the hole. This ”sport” was over.

Lance, amidst the golf course manager’s praise of ”good shot,” threw the club to him, then turned and left with his men.

Diego stood on the lawn, watching Lance’s departing back. His fists had clenched tightly more than once, but had also loosened more than once.

His expression, his eyes, were constantly changing.

Pain, fear, struggle, and a go-for-broke determination.

But in the end, it all became timid.

As long as one is human, no one will take the initiative to want to die; everyone hopes to live longer.

Whether this is a worker at the bottom of society, a white-collar worker, or a ruler.

Survival is the most basic instinct and desire of a creature. Its rights far exceed other desires and instincts.

All those who can overcome the desire to live and go on to do certain things, these people should be respected.Perhaps less than one percent can do this. The vast majority of people do not have this courage, and neither does Diego.

The butler walked over. He hadn’t heard the last few words. He handed the iced fruit juice, which still had ice cubes in it, to Diego. This was his favorite drink.

But this time, Diego did not drink.

He took the cup and slammed it on the ground. The splashing fruit juice wet his shoes, but he didn’t notice at all.

After returning to his own manor, he thought for a half a day, and then gave the president of the Jede Republic a call.

”The federal people have frozen my accounts in the Federation. They won’t allow me to leave Rapa.”

The President of Jede was stunned for a moment after he had heard these words, and then his expression had become somewhat serious. Of course, Diego could not see this.

In fact, they, the Rapa people, the Jede people, or other people in the Yalan region, all had, more or less, one or more accounts in the Federation.

And in these accounts, a lot of money was deposited.

It wasn’t that they didn’t trust their own country’s banks. For example, the President of Jede, the Jede Republic also had tens of millions of Federal Sols in cash deposited in the Federation.

He had done this because Jede needed to develop.

Many technologies and materials were now only available in the Federation, especially the ”research is not as good as buying” policy that the Jede Republic was currently implementing, which had made them even more dependent on the Federation’s goods.

Every year, they needed to import a lot of things from the Federation, and foreign exchange had become a trouble.

The Federation and their transactions were only settled in Federal Sols, and they did not accept their local currency. In order to get more federal foreign exchange, they had also opened companies and the like in the Federation.

This money was currently all deposited in these accounts, not in the state treasury. This was also for convenience.

For example, sometimes when they needed to buy some parts, or raw materials.

They could directly, through the bank accounts on the Federation’s side, to allocate the funds, which would arrive quickly, and then they could get the goods, load them onto a ship, and send them.

If they went from their own country, it would be more troublesome. They would also have to take the cash over, and then deposit it into a bank, and then conduct the transaction.

Originally, no one would have thought that this was a problem, but now Diego’s accounts had all been frozen, which had made the President of the Jede Republic feel a trace of worry.

Now, the one who was obstructing the Federation from completely annexing the Yalan region was the Jede Republic. Perhaps they would also do the same to the Jede Republic.

”I am very sorry for your misfortune, but this has also reminded me.”

”In addition, what do you mean they won’t allow you to leave Rapa?”

President Diego had hesitated for a moment. He felt that now, if there was anyone who could save him, then it was only the Jede Republic.

The Jede Republic had an astonishing number of troops, and its industrial foundation was also much, much better than Rapa’s. It could be said that it was one heaven and one earth.

And they were also not afraid of offending the Federation. They had called for and had promoted the establishment of the Yalan League, and were the ”vanguard against the Federation.” Naturally, they didn’t care about continuing to offend the federal people because of him.

And the Jede people really didn’t want the federal people to intervene in the Yalan region in this way. Regardless of whether this was their ambition, or whether it was they themselves who wanted to unify the Yalan region, in short, they were now at the forefront of the fight against the Federation.

Only by fleeing to Jede would he have a chance to escape the possibility of the final curtain call according to the script.

So, in the face of the Jede president’s question, he was very careful and detailed, ”They want to, through the means of a civil war, consume a part of Rapa’s population. Rapa has too many people,” this expression was actually not accurate, but he couldn’t be blamed.

He didn’t know how to correctly express what he wanted to express.

Listening to Diego’s words, the Jede president couldn’t help but shiver.

As a smart man, a university student, although Diego’s expression was not so precise, he could understand the meaning that Diego wanted to express.

To eliminate all the belligerent people, and the unstable factors. These were all lives, but in the eyes of the federal people, it might just be a string of meaningless, cold numbers.

A population of 12 million. After this civil war, how many will be left?

Although they were not killed by the federal people’s own hands, they still had an inseparable relationship.

Just as the real ”federal people” had said, the current federal people are all devils. Besides bringing disaster and destruction to the human world, they will not bring anything else.

He took a deep breath. ”Do you want me to help you, or what are you planning to do?”

Diego bit his lip. ”I want to go to your place, in the name of political asylum or a government in exile.”

”This way... the federal people’s conspiracy will not succeed. As long as their ideas cannot be realized, I will be very happy. These damn sons of bitches, I’m really fed up!”

The Jede president, after listening, did not immediately agree, but was in thought.

The longer he thought about it, the more Diego’s initial excitement—sparked by the idea of challenging the federal people’s script—gradually faded.

The playful expression on his face, as if he were a child who was deliberately doing bad things to fight against his parents, had also gradually faded, and in the end, had become indifferent.

”You...” he opened his mouth, wanting to ask, ”what are you still hesitating about,” but the words behind it had not been said, and he had stopped.

What followed was another moment of silence. The Jede president had finally rejected his request. ”This is not a good choice, Diego.”

”We simply cannot protect your safety. And once you have come to our side for political asylum, it means that you have completely lost your value.”

”Will the federal people arrange for someone to assassinate you?”

”I think it’s very possible!”

”And once you have left Rapa, the situation in Rapa may quickly deteriorate and get out of control, which is also not a good thing for us.”

”The federal people have sponsored so many anti-government armed forces. If they are allowed to rule Rapa, is it possible that they will immediately send Rapa into the hands of the federal people?”

”Now the situation within the Yalan League is also very tense. The federal people have put too much pressure on the others. Rapa has already become the key to this game!”

”This is like a domino. The moment the first domino falls, it means that all the dominoes will eventually fall!”

”So, my dear brother Diego, what you should do the most now is to hold on!”

Diego had a big headache when he heard him say these words.

Hold on?

Anyone can say nice words, but the question is, how to hold on?

With what?

With my life?

In just this one moment, his emotions had risen again. His originally calm mood had suddenly become intense. He had directly interrupted the Jede president’s words, ”Even if I hold on, is it useful?”

The Jede’s president was stunned for a moment, and asked, ”What?”

”What did you say, what do you mean?”

As a very emotional person, Diego was always swayed by his out-of-control emotions. Originally, he had made this call to save himself, but now, he was full of dissatisfaction with the Jede president.

This change in his emotions had made him, at this time, a little reckless in his speech. ”What I mean is, if we hold on like this, can we stop the federal people from prying at us?”

The Jede’s president did not speak, and was silent again. They actually all knew this.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that the ”confrontation” between them and the Federation was in full swing.

In fact, everyone knew very well that in the end, they were not the federal people’s match. The current struggle was just to constantly push this time back.

The Jede president had sighed on the phone. ”What you said is the truth. We just hope that it can come later.”

”As long as we work hard, maybe it will be postponed to five years later, ten years later, or even twenty or thirty years later!”

Diego suddenly interrupted him. ”After the war is over.”

This had, once again, made the Jede president not react. ”What war is over?”

”Are you referring to your domestic civil war?”

Diego said in a cold, and able-to-see-all-reason tone, ”No, it’s after the war on the Tanfit continent is over.”

”Now the federal people do not have the energy to take care of our matters here, so we still have a chance to resist.”

”Once the war is over, and they free up their hands, do you think we can still hold on for long?”

Sometimes Diego would also have some sudden bursts of wisdom, as if his emotions and his IQ had collided, and had sparked.

Bright, brilliant, but fleeting.

The Jede president was a little unsure of how to answer. Because this was also the result of his discussion with his cabinet.

They were all very unreconciled. The development momentum of the Jede Republic was very good. Give them another twenty, thirty years, and even if they couldn’t become a developed country like the Federation, at least there was a high probability that they could, in name, unify the Yalan region.

And all of this, the moment the federal people had shown their greedy fangs, had had its ending destined.

The call between the two had, naturally, ended on a bad note. However, even if the Jede president was so unhappy, he had still agreed to support the Rapa government with 8 million Federal Sols in economic aid.

This 8 million, for what Rapa wanted to do next, or rather, what was required by the script, was still a long way off.

But in the end, it was 8 million.

These damn federal people!

The damn federal people were, at this time, conducting a social activity.

The communities they had rebuilt from the demolished slums had already been completed. They were also built using steel-structured frames. This was already the crystallization of the Federation’s highest technology.

The structure was stable, and the construction time was very short. And the more workers there were, the shorter the construction time.

For these houses that had already been built, lance was allocating their new owners.

Standing on a high platform, with bulletproof glass on all four sides, and Lance’s riflemen on the high ground, the entire event site was under control.

”This is yours!” Lance handed a string of keys to Juan.

Lance had used the Federation’s property rights certificate format. Although this area had not yet been ”purchased” or ”leased,” Lance no longer cared.

He was now the master of this area. He had even given the territory he controlled a very resounding name—New Federation Center!

As for whether Diego would object, or protest?

He was not very concerned.

Juan, excited and at a loss, had, at the reminder of others, grabbed the keys in Lance’s hand.

Until now, he still felt as if he were in a dream!

A few days ago, he had heard that Mr. Lance was going to allocate houses to all the people who had registered their identity information.

These houses, at present, still belonged to Mr. Lance and his company, but those who lived in these houses, as long as they could live for fifteen years, then they could, with a symbolic one Federal Sol, directly buy out this house and to completely own its property rights.

One dollar!

At most, a week’s wages, and you could own a set of your own apartment. And it was at least sixty square meters. Damn it!

Such a large, clean and tidy, rental house was enough for a family of four or even a family of five to live in. and it only cost one dollar!

After living for fifteen years, you could own it.

Many of the ordinary people who lived in this vicinity had felt that this should not be true. How could such a good thing fall on their heads?

Until this moment, even if they didn’t believe it was true, they had to.

Looking at the people on the stage who had taken their keys and were standing in a row, their gums all bared, the people in the audience were filled with envy and jealousy.

What had made them even more envious and jealous was that the top ten in number had received a 120-square-meter apartment.

The top fifty had all gotten a 90-square-meter apartment, and those at the back had gotten a 60-square-meter apartment.

The people, while being envious and jealous, also felt regret for not having thought of actively joining at that time.

This event in total had given out 1,000 houses. There were still some houses that were under construction and renovation. From the news they had gotten from Lance’s side, they knew that only the top 3,000 families in number could get a free house.

For those with a number after 5,000, if they wanted to move into an apartment, they would have to pay, but it was not expensive. It was also just one Federal Sol.

But there was also another premise, which was that they had to work in a factory invested in by Lance or the Empire Chamber of Commerce.

That information registration certificate had not only registered their identity information, but was also at the same time, considered a ”work card.”

This rule also applied to those who had gotten the right to live in these houses for free. If a family had, for three consecutive months, lost their jobs, then they would have to leave this house, and the ”time” they had accumulated would also be void.

Holding the brand-new keys, Juan was so choked up that he couldn’t speak. After his father had died, everything had finally gotten better.

”Thank you, thank you, Mr. White, who is shining on us like the sun!”

Juan had put his hands together, as if he were worshiping a god, and was worshiping Lance.