Embers Ad Infinitum

They hadn’t obtained many benefits over the years, only considerable pain. Many citizens felt their emotions rouse up because of Gaius’s words.

The public security officers and city defense forces—who were in charge of maintaining order—felt their hearts skip a beat as they had an ominous feeling. Looking at the dense crowd of citizens in the square, they couldn’t help but gulp a mouthful of saliva.

They were so nervous that their mouths were dry. If so many people are to be stirred up by Gaius and rush to the Senate, the Administrative Office, and other places, displaying serious violent tendencies, will we stop them or not? Should we fire?

Although instructions from the top were for them not to be soft-hearted, and they had tried their best to stop their families, relatives, and friends from participating in this Citizen Meet, First City was definitely not small. It was the largest city in the Ashlands, but it couldn’t be considered too large. After subtracting the foreign nomads, large body of slaves, and the people who participated in the army’s defense of other settlements and subordinate city states, the number of citizens was only a few hundred thousand. Many people could be considered related through some contrived connections.

Anyone would hesitate and be soft-hearted if they wanted to fire at an acquaintance.

Besides, was Gaius lying? No, in these public security officers and city defense soldiers’ eyes, this general spoke to their hearts. It was what they usually saw and heard.

Gaius didn’t proceed to echo everyone’s thoughts; instead, he took the opportunity to explain how First City’s overall situation had been slowly eroded and destroyed. He then said, “Many of you probably don’t have your own land.”

This sentence was like a spark falling into a pot of oil, instantly detonating the atmosphere.

People shouted from different parts of the square. “We want land!”

“We want land!”

Gaius stretched out his left hand and pressed it down, requesting silence so that they could listen to him. “You lost your land for many reasons. Some encountered extreme weather, and your food production plummeted. You then had no choice but to borrow from certain people and certain institutions. The interest accumulated day by day, and such things happened again and again, forcing you to sell assets to pay off the debt. Finally, you handed over land.

“Some had bumper harvests, yet the people who occupy a large amount of land deliberately start a price war, causing you to lose more than you gain in other aspects apart from being able to fill your stomach. You also have to pay taxes in full. Year after year, you still end up on the path of debt.

“Some had relatives fall seriously ill, some encountered bandits, some were guarantors of loans that went wrong, and some encountered sudden disasters… In short, they were forced to borrow money and fell into a vicious cycle.

“What do the Senate and the person in charge of the Administrative Office say? They say that this is either your own fault or your own problem. It’s either normal competition or a misfortune that they are sympathetic toward but can’t provide help from the perspective of the law.”

As they listened to Gaius’s speech, many people recalled their own or their fathers’ encounters. All of these cases could be connected to them or their family.

Being inundated with such explanations from the upper class, they indeed believed that the problem lay with them. Therefore, they felt even more aggrieved and angry. They could only hope that First City would continue expanding so that they could use the fire in their hearts to exchange for new land.

At this moment, Gaius deliberately paused for a few seconds before saying, “No, they’re lying!”

His voice was raised, and with the microphone’s help, it made everyone’s ears ring. Their hearts raced.

Gaius looked around and said, “Some people indeed destroy their families because of their alcoholism, laziness, or indulgence and have to sell their land, but that is only a small minority. Most citizens will be forced to sell their land after their food production is reduced, and their harvests will also slowly move toward the selling of their lands. They just happen to last a few more years.

“In such a reality, your land will ultimately be concentrated in the hands of a certain group of people no matter what you do. Do you not understand the reason? I’ll tell you why! Where were the Senate and Administrative Office when you encountered extreme weather, had food production reduced, and needed help?

“Where were the Senate and Administrative Office when there was a bumper harvest, a price decline, and public acquisitions to ensure stability?

“When the unreasonable interest accumulates time and time again and becomes exaggerated enough, where were the Senate and Administrative Office?

“Where were the Senate and Administrative Office when you only needed them to extend a helping hand once to tide through the difficulties and enter a virtuous cycle?

“Some of them are busy purchasing cheap land, busy lending to you through their associates, busy arranging for people to criticize you on the newspapers, on the radio, and on television that you don’t know how to run a business, refuse to learn, and aren’t good at farming!”

When Gaius paused, the entire Hope Square was silent. It was so silent that Sheriff Wall and the other nobles suspected that a huge maelstrom was brewing.

At this moment, they felt like flames were emitting from the eyes of the public security officers and city defense soldiers around them.

Gaius—who had always been serious and expressionless—made his face glow with excitement. “They are busy participating in banquets, eating away a cow and many sheep every single time. They are busy counting Oray and buying exquisite clothes and accessories. They are busy worshiping evil gods and indulging their desires, engaging in naked orgies! They are busy colluding with cults and our number one enemy. They are colluding internally and externally to consolidate power!

“Everything in First City was exchanged with our minds and blood. We bestow the Senate power through the Citizen Meets, yet is this how they treat us? We are First City’s true owners. We need a strong representative to eliminate those vermin and monitor their every move!”

Gaius shouted at the top of his lungs, making every citizen’s eyes light up with zeal.

Just as Wall thought that the gunpowder keg was about to explode, Gaius changed the topic. “I believe you’ve already heard that Elder Varro colluded with the Salvation Army and the Anti-intellectualism Church to harm First City, but he was protected by someone from the Senate and has yet to be convicted.”

Just as Gaius said that, a deafening shout sounded in the square. “Punish Varro severely! Punish Varro severely!”

Uh… Wall was a little surprised. He didn’t expect that his father-in-law’s final target was only Varro—who was about to be stripped of his status as an Elder—and not the consul and commander-in-chief, Beulis. He wasn’t one of the upper-class people in the Senate that were either conservative or neutral and refused to change the situation aggressively.

This is good, this is good… At least the conflict can be controlled to a certain extent and won’t bring about any major unrest… Wall heaved a sigh of relief, but he didn’t dare to be too at ease because this was only the current situation. If the Senate refused to compromise, the matter would naturally escalate and affect the entire city, making it impossible to clean up the mess.

…

Somewhere near the Golden Apple Zone in the Red Wolf Zone.

Shang Jianyao put on his sunglasses and took a few brisk steps. He then bent down and took out something from a gap in a building’s wall—it was a pass that Phocas had gotten someone to put here.

After placing the pass under the windshield, Bai Chen drove into the Golden Apple Zone.

They soon encountered the first temporary checkpoint.

The city guards confirmed the authenticity of the pass and let them pass without a search.

“Phew…” Long Yuehong—who was in the back row—slowly exhaled.

“Don’t say a word!” Shang Jianyao reminded ‘cautiously.’

“I didn’t want to say anything,” Long Yuehong couldn’t help but retort.

Among the two of them, ‘Garibaldi’ Giuseppe looked around, not understanding why they were arguing.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian looked at the rearview mirror and deliberated before saying, “Giuseppe, our subsequent operation might very well take place amidst the storm after we meet that person. Do you want to find a place to alight and temporarily hide before rendezvousing with us outside the city when everything calms down?”

Ignoring the fact that he was no match for Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao, Giuseppe was no match for Long Yuehong either. He wasn’t suitable to participate in an operation that emphasized one’s abilities.

Giuseppe thought for a moment and said, “Just let me alight when we enter Emperor Street. I have a friend who’s a guard captain nearby. He can take me in for a while until the unrest ends.”

If there wasn’t any chaos, the Old Task Force wouldn’t carry out any subsequent operation.

“Alright.” After Jiang Baimian nodded, she looked ahead and didn’t say anything for a long time. It was unknown what she was thinking.

This made Long Yuehong’s heart race. He couldn’t help but ask, “Team Leader, what’s on your mind?”

Jiang Baimian retracted her gaze and nodded slightly. “I’m taking advantage of the last moment of peace to review the changes in First City’s situation and infer the possible developments.”

“I see…” Long Yuehong heaved a sigh of relief.

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Baimian added, “The more I think about it, the more I feel that we have some blind spots—very important blind spots…”

“Indeed. We all believe that we neglected something.” Shang Jianyao raised his hand and stroked his chin.

This… Long Yuehong’s body tensed up again.

Bai Chen—who was driving—probed, “The consul and commander-in-chief’s attitude? The attitudes of First City’s Awakened at the Mind Corridor level and above?”

“These are all factors that have to be analyzed in a model from the beginning…” Jiang Baimian shook her head. “I’ve thought about this many times when I confirmed the plan, but I never found a blind spot. Yes, I plan on quickly reviewing my past experiences to see if I can find inspiration.”

At this point, she took the opportunity to educate her team members. “When you hit a dead end while thinking about a problem, you can attempt to extricate yourself from it to analyze your past experiences and try to make analogies.”

“Mm.” Long Yuehong indicated that he had learned something.

The jeep slowly drove forward, and it was quiet inside. Everyone was seriously considering or inferring the subsequent changes First City would undergo.

After nearly ten minutes, Jiang Baimian suddenly sat up straight and blurted out, “I recalled our experience in Redstone Collection. Hey and I were watched by the Kalendaria, Eidolon Nun.”

As Long Yuehong and Bai Chen were a little confused, Shang Jianyao clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “Right, we forgot the Kalendarium!”

Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged his words and said in a deep voice, “Even a Kalendaria watches over the changes in a small place like Redstone Collection. How can First City—the largest faction in the Ashlands—ignore the Kalendarium’s attitudes?”

…

Somewhere in the Golden Apple Zone.

First City’s consul and commander-in-chief, Beulis, walked into an extremely dark chamber with thick curtains.