Shadow Empire

Chapter 905 Take action
Lance stood in the suite on the top floor of the hotel, looking through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows at the police cars or carriages whizzing past in the city, as well as the running policemen, and could barely feel a slight sense of tension in the atmosphere.

"Some refugees have gathered outside the city. Several roads leading into the city have been controlled by the police. Only exits are allowed, but entry is not allowed."

Madore stood behind Lance and reported the situation outside.

Although he was Lance's personal bodyguard, he also took on part of the responsibility for commanding the operation.

Lance brought so many people here, partly to protect his own safety.

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

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

"not yet."

Lance said nothing, but continued to stare at the skyline in the distance, where the city and the wilderness met.

He couldn't see that far, only some blurry images. Not to mention distinguishing the people waiting to enter the city, even the houses were not very clear.

But he could imagine the terrible situation outside the city.

"Chaos" has already formed. The only one who can save the country at this time is President Diego. These ruling groups stand up and try to mobilize food from other places to appease the people.

But they did nothing.

The problem now is not that people cannot afford food. Of course, some people cannot afford it. The problem is that if they cannot buy it, it is useless to have money.

Lance heard that the price of food had risen to more than two dollars a pound. It was not that the price rose too fast, but that there was indeed a shortage of food.

What are the characteristics of a seller's market?
The buyer keeps raising the price to get the chance to trade.

You offer one dollar, I offer one dollar and one ten-thousand, and then someone offers one dollar and two ten-thousand.

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

It is like when capital engages in a price war in order to monopolize the market, it will set the price very low. Because there are more suppliers than demanders in the market, the price will be closer to the cost price, and may even fall below the cost price.

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

It took less than three days to go from one dollar and thirty cents to two dollars, but even then, people still couldn't buy food.

Those who have food, those who have hoarded far more than they can consume, all fantasize that the price of food will become higher, and now is obviously not a suitable opportunity or time to take action.

As for those who don’t have it, they can only come to Zhuolan to try their luck.

Lance stood in front of the window and watched for a while. "Let the brothers move. If the refugees did not attack the city, how could the contradiction between the ruling class and the ruled class be established so quickly?"

After he finished speaking, he turned back to the sofa next to him and looked at Madore.

Mador walked to the phone nearby and dialed a number.

Although Lapa is poor and backward, there are still telephones here.

Ordinary people used public telephone booths. Hundreds of households on a street shared one or two telephone booths.

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

The call was connected quickly, Madore conveyed Lance's meaning, and quickly hung up the phone.

He walked back to the corner, picked up the water glass and took a sip. His mood changed in a way that he couldn't even explain.

He used to be a soldier and was used to seeing life and death. He thought he would no longer have any emotional changes because of life and death issues.

But at this moment, he realized that in some ways he was not as strong as he thought.

On the outskirts of the city, some people from Lans changed into clothes that only locals would wear. They all wore peaked caps with the brims pulled down very low. Although their faces could still be seen clearly, people would have difficulty remembering them if they didn't pay attention.

They will only remember the different baseball caps.

Outside the road leading into the city, a lot of refugees have gathered. They came here with their families, and everyone looks to be in a bad condition.

No one will feel good after being hungry for a few days. They will look shriveled.

A small number of police cars and some horses stopped on the road. They set up a cordon and refused other people from entering the city.

Faced with the desperate pleas of these ordinary people, the police remained unmoved. They stood at the front with sticks in their hands.

The police represent the most basic means of violence of the ruling group, and they still have some deterrent effect in the minds of the people of Lapa.

"Please, let us in!"

"My son hasn't eaten for two days. If we don't eat something, we'll starve to death!"

A woman walked out of the crowd and came to the front of the police cordon, about one meter away.

She needed some food. Her child was so hungry that he couldn't walk. He might starve to death tomorrow or the day after tomorrow!
Her husband had an accident in the mine, and the mine owner compensated them with 3,000 paras. A life was only worth 3,000 paras.

As a woman, she tried to get more compensation, but soon many people came to persuade her to give up.

Some prominent people, including his family members.

They said that her husband collapsed the mine, causing the mine owner to lose a large sum of money. If it were not for the loss of their family's labor force, they would not even want to give them 3,000 yuan, but would have demanded compensation from them.

In the end, she took her husband's ashes, which she bought with three thousand yuan, and buried him on the roadside.

Now, she is going to lose her child again, she can't lose her child again!
She begged desperately, hoping that her child would have a chance to live, but the only response she got was the police's indifference.

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

His hands had already clenched the baton, but the woman in front of him still begged, "Please, let us go in and buy something to eat, we will leave soon."

The policeman who was talking to her felt his face getting hot, and when his colleagues looked at him, he felt like his face was burning.

He was angry at a disobedient pariah, a pariah who rebelled against his orders!
He swung the baton violently and hit the woman hard on the forehead. Even though the baton was covered with a layer of rubber, the blow still tore a gash on the woman's forehead.

A bruise, not a cut.

Such wounds are often more difficult to heal because their edges are irregular.

With a scream, the woman fell to the ground and looked at the police 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 blank. She didn't know if it was because the confused future made her unable to see the way forward, or because the baton she just received had made her lose the ability to think.

The police glared at her fiercely, "I'm warning you one last time, go back to the crowd!"

The woman was so frightened that she didn't react at all! The police saw this as a silent confrontation and a provocation!
He can't bear it!

The people of Lapa have lived an inhuman life for so many years but no one has resisted. They have been domesticated very well, or they have become accustomed to this kind of life under high-pressure rule.

Even though they were facing a life-and-death moment and chose to make some changes, when faced with the power of the ruling class represented by tradition, they became their former selves again.

There is nothing that can be done except protest.

They stood at a distance and watched as the policeman bent over, crossed the cordon, and walked up to the woman with a baton in his hand.

A tragedy was about to happen, but people stood by and watched numbly, as if what was happening had nothing to do with them.

The police had already raised their batons high, and just as the woman was about to be beaten, Pedro squeezed out of the crowd.

He came to Zhuolan with his family. He could no longer buy food in the city where he lived. There was a river outside the city, and there were fish in the river.

But with the outbreak of famine, in just two days, there were no more fish in the river.

Think about it, when people started spreading the word that the fish in the river could fill their stomachs, at least tens of thousands of people rushed to the river with their homemade tools.

In a very short time, all the fish in the river were wiped out.

The power of hunger is destructive. People don't just want to fill their stomachs, they also have to think about the next meal and the next meal.

Devastating fishing has left the river devoid of fish, not even fry.

Moreover, what Pedro feared most happened.

All the potatoes that were planted for seed sprouting in the potato fields outside the city were dug out.

People know that sprouted potatoes are poisonous, but they also know how to deal with them.

In just one week, everything has changed dramatically.

They could only come to Zhuolan with others to try their luck. There was no point in staying in the city.

Along the way, almost all edible things were eaten. When there was nothing left to eat, they could only gnaw on tree bark and eat leaves.

Seeing that the police were going to continue beating the poor woman, Pedro's sense of justice made him unable to sit idly by and watch this happen, so he stood up.

"She just wanted to buy some food for her family!"

The policeman's attention shifted to Pedro, and his face turned red!

One after another, they jumped out to oppose him and made him lose face. He could imagine the mockery in his colleagues' eyes when they looked at him without even looking back!
He pursed his lips tightly and strode towards Pedro. Pedro nervously took a step back and raised his hand to make a gesture of rejection, "I just want you not to hurt an ordinary woman!"

But the policeman couldn't listen anymore. He felt that his dignity was challenged. Only by defeating these people could he stand up straight again!
He swung the baton in his hand and hit Pedro. As a teacher, and not a physical education teacher at that, he had no way to dodge and could only hold his head and take the blow.

A piercing pain instantly filled his body, and he felt as if he had been bitten hard by a stick!

The pain also made him scream uncontrollably—Ah!!
The numb crowd still looked at him numbly, as if all this had nothing to do with them.

The police swung his baton again. Pedro was unwilling to continue to be beaten passively, so he pushed the police hard, then looked at the woman who was sitting on the ground, finally sighed, turned around and ran away.

He can do nothing about the people's lack of courage.

Maybe it's not the right time yet.

he thought to himself.

The policeman who was pushed by him and staggered felt extremely humiliated, and he rushed towards Pedro again.

But this time, he was out of luck.

Several young men rushed over from the side and started beating him up.

As they fought, they shouted, "We can't survive anyway, so we might as well fight these officials!"

Some of the words didn't make the point clear. The police are not officials, but they shouted out some of the words.

These words touched some people, and their numb eyes also changed a little.

Pedro stood there and turned to look at the young people rushing out. Looking at their appearance and clothes, his heart moved slightly.

The policemen behind the cordon froze for a moment, then lifted the cordon and rushed over with batons in hand. Then the second group of young men rushed over and wrestled with them.

The numb crowd began to riot. Originally, there were only a few policemen blocking the road and setting up checkpoints here, only about twenty people.

Now half of them have been tied up, and some people have started to have ideas.

They did not intend to join the young people in confronting the police, but to rush in during the chaos.

The police behind also noticed the abnormality here. They blew their whistles, drew their batons and rushed over here.

In front of a dozen policemen, at least hundreds of people were suppressed and dared not move.

At this moment, Pedro suddenly raised his arms, "Let's go to the city and have a good meal, and fight them!"

He took the lead and rushed forward. He was a little disappointed when he didn't hear anyone following him.

Soon he collided with the policemen, and two policemen beat him severely with batons.

He had never learned any fighting skills, so he could only resist and fight back instinctively.

More than 20 people surrounded and beat about ten people, including Pedro.

But gradually, the atmosphere began to become a little strange.

Some people in the numb crowd no longer had the numbness and gloating in their eyes when they watched them being beaten, but instead had some light in their eyes.

The emotional fluctuations led to some impulsive decisions, and several young people ran towards the police who were entangled with each other.

A policeman noticed this and pointed his baton at the young men, "Back off!"

The methods that had always worked in the past were completely useless at this moment.

Not only did those young men not retreat, but they swung their fists and hit him hard!

Pedro turned around and saw this scene, and a smile appeared on his face. He suddenly realized that perhaps this was what Lance meant by "awakening."

From numbness to resistance.

(End of this chapter)