Shadow Empire

Chapter 898 Superior People [666+7]
The biggest difference between humans and animals is that humans can think.

But the most terrifying thing about human beings is thinking.

Take the matter of working and getting paid for example. If people don’t think and just work mechanically and numbly, then work is just work and there is nothing great about it.

But if the worker thinks about it, will he feel dissatisfied with his current situation?

This is like a worker on an assembly line. The goods he produces with his own hands every day may be sold for twenty yuan, and the boss can earn ten yuan from it, but he only gives the worker two yuan.

Is it reasonable?
It makes sense when you don't think about it.

But once you think about it, it doesn't make sense.

So the greatest thing about human beings is thinking, but the most terrifying thing is also thinking.

Sometimes thinking will destroy a social system that may be irrational but at least functions normally. Thinking has the power to destroy!

The bumpy car finally stopped outside the library where they had agreed to meet.

Originally, Lance wanted to host them at the Lapa Hotel, but then he changed the venue.

There were some cheap hotels near the library, and Lance booked rooms for them.

In the invitation letter sent to them, in addition to the invitation itself, there was also the key to the room.

These hotel rooms only cost fifteen dollars a night, which is very cheap.

It’s not that the prices here are so low, but many Lapa people would rather sleep on the street for a night than spend money to sleep in a hotel.

Most of the hotels are semi-vacant, their decoration is not good, and they don't have any other services. Even if the price is very low, it is difficult to attract guests.

On the contrary, the prices at Lapa Hotel are not cheap for locals, but the hotel is doing very good business, and you can always see foreigners and local middle- and upper-class people coming in and out.

Sometimes life is even more outrageous than the most outrageous stories written by the most outrageous screenwriters!

With the help of the key tag, Pedro found his room.

After pushing open the door, there was a smell of decay and mildew, but he did not complain. He just walked quietly to the window, pushed open the window, and then sat on the edge of the bed.

This was his first time participating in such an event, and he was a little nervous, but he also vaguely felt that this might be an opportunity.

He stayed in his room all day and brought some bread from home.

The kind that is made by adding a little water and salt to whole wheat flour, fermenting it slightly, then kneading it into a ball and baking it in the oven.

It's not very soft, but a bit hard, but it can fill your stomach.

Silent all night.

The next morning, someone knocked on the door. He jumped up, walked to the door and opened it.

There was a foreigner outside the door. These federal people had very fair skin, which was obviously different from the slightly brown skin of the locals of Lapa.

"Mr. Lance is waiting for you in the library. We have a meeting in the morning to introduce ourselves to each other. I hope you won't be late."

Pedro nodded repeatedly, "Of course, of course, I'll pack up and be there right away."

The Lapa people do not have the habit of brushing their teeth, mainly because toothbrushes are expensive and toothpaste is not cheap either. They cannot produce them themselves, so they are all imported products.

Imported goods mean they are expensive, and except for the real middle class, the lower class people cannot afford them.

They use twigs, but they don't use them on the field, so most of the Lapa people have yellow teeth.

He spent a while in the bathroom taking care of his teeth, and only left after there was no overt smell in his hands when he breathed.

The library was only a street away from here, and he saw several people on the road who were obviously dressed up like him and were walking towards the library.

They should all be people who were invited by Mr. Lance to attend a...seminar here.

Pedro nodded and greeted them, and the others responded enthusiastically.

There are some separate reading rooms in the National Library of Zhuolan, and these are the independent rooms that Lans rented.

At ten o'clock in the morning, these gentlemen had already gathered in the room. They followed the staff's instructions, found their seats and sat down.

At 10:10, Lance came in hurriedly, with a slightly apologetic look on his face, "Sorry, I'm a little late."

Others naturally would not express any concern about his lateness.

Lance walked to his seat and sat down. He looked around and said, "I'm sorry that I can only rent the National Library to hold this seminar. I originally intended to rent a conference room or auditorium in the Lapa Hotel and arrange your room there."

“This will make our seminar look more formal and more dynamic.”

"But when I communicated with the hotel, they told me a shocking and regrettable message!"

Lance paused when he said this, his eyes lingering on the faces of these people again, "They said that low-class people are not allowed to enter the Lapa Hotel."

At this point, Lance lowered his head slightly, as if expressing regret for the news.

His words caused a brief commotion in the room. Most of these people were educated and could control their emotions well.

Pedro felt his chest was a little tight, as if he was wearing an ill-fitting shirt that only wrapped around his body and made it difficult for him to breathe.

Then he couldn't help but smiled and shook his head. It was not a happy smile, but a bitter smile.

He had never been to Lapa Hotel, but he had always yearned for this place. He even imagined that if he had the chance in the future, he would like to go in and take a look. But now, this little dream was shattered.

At the same time, a bloody reality is presented before people's eyes.

Lance leaned forward and tapped the table with his knuckles. The force was not strong, but the sound was enough to pierce people's hearts.

“It’s an ugly phenomenon.”

"I asked the hotel doorman and the lobby manager how they could tell if a Lapa was upper-class or lower-class."

"Who can decide whether this person is a superior person or an inferior person?"

"Law, last name, or something else?"

"They told me a very intuitive method—"

He looked around at these people again, and this time was different from the previous two times.

The previous two times when he looked at these people, they met his gaze and looked at him, but this time, they all lowered their heads.

"He said, you can tell by the clothes."

"He told me that the average person couldn't afford to wear a proper suit, a tie or bow tie, and shiny shoes."

"Ordinary people can't afford it, or they can afford it but don't know how to buy it. They can't use several or more years' income to buy a set of clothes instead of making their family members live a better life, so this method is very effective."

"I have no intention of hurting your emotions or personality, but I am reflecting on this issue after discovering it."

"Are ordinary people inferior people?"

"If ordinary people are inferior, who is qualified to be superior?"

"Who decides who is superior and who is inferior?"

"As a foreigner, a federal, I shouldn't have said these things."

“But I want to say something.”

"A country that cannot even take care of the most basic dignity of its people and treats them differently based on whether they are superior or inferior must be sick."

“When people are sick, doctors come to heal them. But when this country is sick, who will heal it?”

He left a question for them to think about.

Those who are selected to attend the seminar are people with certain ideas. Some of them have not received higher education, but that does not mean they cannot think or have no ideas.

"Okay, that's the end of this topic."

“Let’s focus on our seminar.”

“This seminar will last for about five days to a week. As a way to promote exchanges between the Federation and the Asian Union, the process and content of our seminar will be recorded in the form of images and text.”

"I believe that after watching the film and some of the written materials, you will have a lot of thoughts and opinions."

"Lapa is a less developed area. You have lived here for many years. What do you think is the biggest difference between Lapa now and the Federation?"

"What caused the huge gap between two neighboring countries and societies?"

"Not to mention the Federation, there is a huge gap even compared to the Czech Republic."

“As a country in the Asian Blue Region and a member of the Asian Union, what exactly is the problem with Lapa?”

“That’s what we’re studying and discussing today.”

"Later, I will invite you all to the Federation to observe the society there, but for now, let's talk about the people and things here."

A very formal seminar, research and discussion.

This is a question they have never seriously considered, but they may have a momentary impulse to think about it at some fragmented time.

What exactly is the difference between Lapa and other countries?

Pedro really wanted to ask, can this also be considered as research to promote cultural exchange?

But he also felt that perhaps this was the misunderstanding that arose from the contact between two different societies. Would understanding the bad things here help the Federation to better understand it?

He didn't know that others were thinking seriously and expressing their opinions, and he soon became immersed in this atmosphere.

This, he told himself, was just an academic study.

As a teacher, who doesn’t yearn for academic research?

At noon, Lance had lunch delivered. It was very delicious and even included beef and pork!
Pedro had eaten birds, snakes, wolves, and even leopards, but he had never eaten beef.

Because the animals mentioned above can be obtained from the wild, but beef can only be raised artificially.

Anything that is artificially raised costs money, and beef is also relatively expensive, so he can't afford it.

He suddenly thought of a narration from a previous movie -

"A worker's wages would cover his daily meat needs, and a pound of fresh, common ground beef would cost only a few cents."

(End of this chapter)