Empire of Shadows

As night fell, a burst of intense gunfire erupted from the direction of the harbor. Lans, half-asleep, jolted awake and hurried to the window, peering towards the port.

The dim, yellow streetlights cast a weak glow on the dark road, barely illuminating anything. Stray rats occasionally poked their heads out from the sewers.

The gunfire lasted for about seven or eight minutes, followed by the blare of many police sirens as they raced towards the harbor.

It seemed something major had happened at the port. The midnight shootout made him uneasy.

This unease kept him tossing and turning until the early hours of the morning when he finally drifted off to sleep.

At seven in the morning, the alarm clock jolted him awake. He couldn't help but marvel at the resilience of youth.

Despite barely sleeping for three hours in the middle of the night, he still felt full of energy upon waking.

He got up from the floor, tidied up the blanket he had been using as a makeshift bed, and then went to the water basin outside the bakery.

The apprentice was already there. He filled a cup with water from the boiler and began brushing his teeth.

The people of the Federation were contradictory.

Everyone knew the importance of protecting their teeth, but not everyone truly invested in it.

He casually scrubbed a few times, without even producing any foam from the toothpaste, rinsed his mouth, and considered his teeth cleaned.

There were even mouthwashes on the market designed for people who outwardly cared about their dental health but didn't actually want to brush their teeth.

They claimed that swishing with the mouthwash was more effective than brushing.

Whether that was true or not was a matter of opinion.

The customers who came to the bakery in the morning were all discussing the intense gunfire from the night before. The "Golden Port Today" newspaper had published a report on what had happened:

"Smuggling Boat Engages in Fierce Gunfight with Coast Guard, Resulting in Multiple Officer Casualties"

It was the headline, bold and enlarged.

The photo showed a smuggling boat that had been towed to shore, riddled with bullet holes. Because it was a black and white newspaper, some areas might have been blood, or maybe not.

The boat looked as if it had been hit by a storm of bullets.

"...Acting on a tip, a smuggling boat from the East Ocean attempted to approach the harbor in the middle of the night. The Coast Guard immediately organized a capture operation after receiving the information."

"During the capture process, the smugglers and the operators of the smuggling boat, unwilling to be arrested, resisted fiercely with firearms, resulting in injuries and deaths of multiple officers..."

The other customers in the bakery exclaimed in shock. Even the portly owner and his daughter gasped, "Oh my God."

The man reading the newspaper wore a smug smile. That's how people who loved to show off were; anyone could die, as long as it didn't stop them from being the center of attention.

He continued reading, "After a fierce battle lasting more than ten minutes, they, in conjunction with the city police, finally eliminated this group of extremely vicious smugglers."

"However, this also resulted in the unfortunate sacrifice of four officers, with several others currently undergoing emergency treatment."

The man reading the newspaper finished at this point. He flicked the newspaper with his finger. "Their firepower must have been fierce. I hope those officers undergoing emergency treatment will be blessed by the Lord."

"These smuggling boats are truly detestable. They not only bring us rats, fleas, and cockroaches, but also a large group of illegal immigrants."

"If you ask me, the Congress should legislate that these people should be given the death penalty."

These comments were supported by many people, all of whom were locals.

The locals enjoyed the benefits that these undocumented immigrants brought to the city's construction while simultaneously criticizing the contributors from their high horse on the economic miracle built on countless bones.

It was just like the middle and upper classes' assessment of the lower class - a group of maggots unwilling to work hard, content to rot in the mud!

Some of the undocumented workers in the bakery quickly left, uncomfortable with the atmosphere.

The portly owner also cursed a few times, staring at Lans as he did so, seemingly directing his curses at him.

In the afternoon, some rumors circulated, claiming that a total of eleven officers had died, nine from the Coast Guard and the remaining two from the local police.

The people on the smuggling boat were not ordinary illegal immigrants. They came from the Empire and possessed a large quantity of weapons and equipment, possibly belonging to some small armed group.

Without a doubt, these dangerous people would not do anything good after arriving in the Federation. Becoming gang members or violent criminals were their only choices.

Fortunately, the city's guardian eliminated these smugglers, protecting the city's peace and safeguarding the people's property and lives.

But Lans felt that this matter might not end there.

In the afternoon, he went to find Elvin. He didn't really care about the portly owner deducting another dollar from his wages.

"Be careful these days, and it's best to stick together."

Based on the boasting of Ethan, Elvin, and the other young men from the Empire, their small group, as well as some of the things Lans had done to help Ethan, had begun to circulate on a small scale.

Some young people who also came from the Empire, but not on the same trip or the same boat as them, also longed to join.

With Lans's consent, they had been accepted.

Seeing that there were already about twenty people, Lans remembered the appearance of each of them.

Elvin, who had become the core of the small group, stood on Lans's left hand side. "What does this have to do with us?"

Lans didn't know how to explain it to him for a moment. "The election is coming up, and the president plans to use the support of illegal immigrants to gain votes, but the native Federation citizens are not very friendly to us."

"Now that more than ten officers have died, possibly the most serious case in recent years, some people will inevitably use this incident to stir up public opinion."

"Once a wave of xenophobia forms, we will become very dangerous."

"You should all know that even if someone attacks us first, besides being beaten, as long as we dare to fight back, even in self-defense, the police will make trouble for us."

"The situation on the docks is very complicated. Sticking together will be safer."

Many people didn't understand the horrors of a "movement." It could cause a closed society to suddenly start accepting new things, and it could also twist correct things.

There have been many cases in history where the situation was manipulated through "movements." The outcome of each time could be discussed later, but the process was definitely bloody.

The chess players sitting by the chessboard were always glamorous, and people found it difficult to realize the bloody cruelty on the chessboard.

Elvin was somewhat puzzled. "Isn't this being too sensitive?"

"I don't think it's being sensitive. As long as it's something related to our lives, anything, for us, is worth being vigilant about!"

After explaining these things, Lans left. As he left, he saw many people gathered on that stranded, bullet-riddled wreck.

Several young people were waving their fists and shouting something loudly.

By the next day, even the "Federal Daily" had reported on the matter. The impact it caused was by no means insignificant.

As the Federation's economic engine, anything that happened in Golden Port City would spread throughout the country.

Such a heinous case had alarmed the Presidential Palace and the Congress. Although these bigwigs hadn't yet begun to play games around this matter, there were already some signs.

What was even more incomprehensible was that the Emperor of the Empire also spoke out about this. While claiming that the Federation people killing Imperial citizens was a provocation to the Empire, he demanded that the Federal government hand over the murderers and bear all losses.

Otherwise, the Emperor of the Empire would declare war on the Federation.

When this matter came out, most people treated it as a joke.

The Emperor of the Empire had already been driven out of the capital by the rebels. If it weren't for the fact that he still had some troops in his hands and a small number of nobles supporting him, he could have formed a government in exile.

In this situation, he actually dared to threaten the Federation, saying that he would launch a war. How did he do it?

Almost all Federation people thought that the Emperor of the Empire was not very smart and might have some problems. At the same time, they became very dislike this person.

Lans was also a little surprised when he saw this, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, but soon he realized that this was the Emperor of the Empire's way of shifting the conflict.

Once he really declared war on the Federation on behalf of the Empire, then the civil war within the Empire was likely to stop, due to external pressure.

The rebels, who had originally gained popular support, could be turned into "Federal lackeys" with just a little trick if they didn't stop, thereby being spurned by the Empire people with a strong sense of nationalism.

Suddenly, from a righteous army, they became a bandit army, losing righteousness and popular support, and the royal family could soon regain control of the situation.

If they ceased the war, then as the current legitimate ruler of the Empire, the royal family could regain power through war.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Federation people, this was just a joke, but in the eyes of the royal family, the emperor himself, and the world's senior politicians, this was a conspiracy!

Lans's originally not-so-urgent emotions about settling down finally underwent some changes.

In fact, he wasn't in a hurry at all. Once he found a suitable opportunity, the thought of leaving this was just a thought.

But now, it wasn't a matter of whether he had a suitable opportunity, but that he had to change his identity as soon as possible.

What was originally just a small matter, under the promotion of various parties, was moving in a direction that the lower people could hardly imagine and could not predict.

By the third day, some people in the port were already parading with slogans such as "Go back to the Empire." Outside the Coast Guard's duty room, there were nine empty coffins, on which were placed black and white photos of the nine Coast Guard officers who had sacrificed.

Heaps of flowers and small gifts were piled around. Without anyone even instigating, a frenzy of emotion driven by public opinion had already begun to emerge.

This was an extremely dangerous sign!