Him and their stars

On May 14, 831 in the Common Calendar, there was still one and a half months before the opening of the God of War Festival.

The riot a week ago has now come to an end. Even the comprehensive curfew that caused the entire empire to panic has now been announced to be lifted. The cultural and political center of the empire quickly returned to normal at a speed that stunned all citizens and foreign observers.

Immediately afterwards, the cheerful atmosphere of the festival, as if coming out of its hiding place, once again descended on the imperial capital.

There is still an endless stream of official or private celebrations to warm up the War God Festival. Most people soon forgot their previous nervousness and once again immersed themselves in the existing pleasure.

The decision made by the imperial decision-makers was correct. As long as people have a grand game, it is easy to forget the disasters that happened before. Even if it was just for this reason, they would never cancel the God of War Festival.

However, people with a discerning eye seem to be able to feel that the God of War Festival, which is regarded by the public as a grand sports meeting, has already cast a shadow with the smell of blood even before it is held.

In Marais City, the largest star city in the outer ring of the imperial capital, with a permanent population of 140 million people, more than 10,000 citizens occupied a central square and were holding a grand ceremony. Open air gathering.

Most of them are Flemish people with tan skin and strong and agile bodies. However, they also include the short Kuifei people, the weak and honest Razakai people, and the thin Sumilan people. Also included are significant numbers of Angmans, Wolfgangs, and Kivlings.

However, there are only no humans.

This city is called Marais, which means "alien" and "alien" in Imperial language. This is indeed the largest settlement of non-human alien races in the Imperial Capital. It is also the city with the lowest per capita income, the worst living environment, the most chaotic urban planning, and the worst public security in the entire Imperial Capital.

Of course, the most "bad" public security here is compared to other areas in the Imperial Capital. If compared with other regions and other countries, this Marais city is definitely a quiet place. If a girl goes out in the middle of the night, as long as she doesn't go into a dark alley, there's basically no problem.

After all, this is the imperial capital. Under the emperor's feet, no matter how bad public security is, there must be a limit. The human police are indeed reluctant to serve in this city, but in comparison, here is the largest and most complete set of self-disciplined security machinery among all the starry sky cities in the entire imperial capital.

No, under the overlook of hundreds of large and small security robots standing quietly around the square, the atmosphere of the gathering of more than 10,000 people, although lively and cheerful, did not appear chaotic.

At this time, the song and dance program on the stage had just ended. Then someone walked onto the stage amidst the cheers and applause of the crowd.

That was a slightly older Franmoor, and he should still have some prestige among the foreigners living in the imperial capital. However, after he took the stage, it took three or four minutes for the scene to gradually become quiet.

Obviously, this prestige is quite limited.

Mr. Franmore first gave a speech that sounded very emotional, but seemed to have little content when discussed in detail. Some people below already showed impatient looks, and then he said: "Please rest assured, I have listened extensively to many parties." We have also discussed it with the elders in the Grand Council, and there will never be any discount on the 100 billion gold dragon infrastructure investment in the Flanmore Galaxy."

Whispers began to appear in the crowd. Some people seemed to be relieved, but some people shouted loudly: "Where are the government officials? Where are the appointments and dismissals of government officials that His Highness Sarto promised to us?"

"This, this..." the Flemore man hesitated: "I think this kind of thing requires everyone's long-term and multi-party cooperation and efforts..."

"Traitor!" Someone interrupted him loudly.

"Stooge!" someone roared.

Gentleman Franmore wiped his sweat with a handkerchief and looked at the burly and majestic autonomous security robots on the stage, which looked like armored giants.

However, it is obvious that the AI ​​level of security robots is indeed limited, as long as citizens do not commit any illegal or criminal behavior. They are happy to pretend to be harmless statues of humans.

Even with the strict laws of the empire, swearing is far from illegal.

Mr. Franmore tried his best to explain to everyone while he was scolding everyone.

Above his head, the light screen projected a huge holographic projection in the air. In the image, there was a projection of a towering city full of science fiction. Then, the screen began to zoom up, and the city gradually became smaller, turning into the surface of the planet. The more I love, the more dense light spots representing the city appear all over the painting, and they are completely connected by a network of light rails extending in all directions.

Immediately afterwards, the words "The Future of the Franmores!" were switched on the light screen. A well-dressed, tall and handsome imperial nobleman appeared at position C in the picture. Behind him were countless people from Flamore, all of whom showed resolute and hopeful expressions, staring at the vast sky, as if they were about to head towards the infinite sea of ​​stars.

However, under the screen, all the alien races were in chaos. Although the gentleman Franmore on the stage was in a miserable state, he still had a considerable number of supporters. Soon, the verbal recriminations quickly turned into pushback and fistfights.

Fortunately, before it evolved into a full-scale military operation, the surrounding autonomous security robots had already been activated.

"Citizens of the Empire, stop your illegal behavior immediately! Stop your illegal behavior immediately! Otherwise, we will take countermeasures!"

Before the robot issued this verbal message, it had already started to act. Without saying a word, it looked like it had overdrawn stun bombs in the dense crowd of fights. Then it strode into the crowd and quickly took away the dozen or so people who took the lead. Down.

There must be friendly fire, but the empire's law enforcement agencies never consider this. All they need to know is that several rounds of security robots nipped a possible riot in its cradle within half a minute.

Three plainly dressed humans were riding a suspended light rail train passing over the square, and happened to witness everything in front of them.

They are an elegant and handsome young man, a baby-faced boy, and a big black fat man who is huge and intimidating.

Needless to say, it is naturally Tan Jize, president of Tianyu Community International Students Association, secretary-general Kilian Shazabi and secretary-general MT Andro Motta.

To be honest, they have all been in the imperial capital for a while, but the only one who has actually been to Marais City is Tan Jize. Mota looked at the overwhelming number of alien groups around him, and seemed a little nervous. He kept holding the telescopic swing stick tightly around his waist. However, the younger Killian was very curious about this place and kept looking around.

Motta looked at this scene with a subtle sense of frustration.

"This kid must be used to passing through the big cat's territory every day."

After hearing the speech on the other side of the square, Killian asked his president. "What does the so-called government appointment and removal mean?"

“When Archduke Sarto advised the Flamor Liberation Organization to lay down their arms, he promised them that the proportion of Flamorians serving in the government and the army would exceed 70%. This is the so-called governance of the Flemorians. Tan Jize said.

"But hasn't the Empire territorialized the Franmore Galaxy? How could they possibly compromise in this regard... Oh, I understand, Grand Duke Sator lied to them?" Mota felt that he had discovered the point. I suddenly felt a little happy. He suddenly discovered that if he had not come to the empire to study, had not met these friends, and had only guarded his family's three-acre land in China, he would probably never have been able to ask this kind of question in his life.

Tan Jize shook his head with a smile: "Remember, Andrew, and Killian, whether it is the empire or Grand Duke Sato himself, when they reach that position, their greatest capital is their prestige. And prestige is often accumulated through political credit Get up. Because of this, they can't just lie to people. Since Grand Duke Sato dared to make such a promise, he naturally got the tacit approval of the empire."

Seeing that both of them were thinking, Tan Jize continued to explain: "Of course, there must be other ways to control the so-called people. For example, let all bureaucrats and military officers go to the empire's specialized academies for brainwashing. . Or, give priority to appointing people with native education and life backgrounds in the empire. Or, for example, leave the deputy positions that mainly do things to the Flemors, and officials from the empire will occupy the full positions."

Mota was stunned when he heard this, thinking, could people who play politics be so dirty? Sure enough, I have just started!

Killian thought for a moment and said, "But for the Flemors, this is already a great improvement."

Tan Jize looked at this talented young man and smiled happily: "Yes. In the future, there will be a large number of Franmore people in the government of the Franmore galaxy and among the local guards officers. As long as they get here With one step, many rights and interests of the people of Flanmore can be protected, and they will be satisfied. Of course, if you think about it in another direction, this is also the beginning of the complete nationalization of the people of Flanmore."

The population of Flemmore within the empire has exceeded 20 billion, and the overall quality of this ethnic group is even higher than that of the Wolfgangs and Angmans. If it can be completely nationalized, it will naturally be a good thing for the empire in the long run.

If it can continue, this will certainly be a win-win operation.

But the premise of everything is that Grand Duke Sato is still alive.

"There should be many people in the imperial political arena who oppose this policy, right? Now that Grand Duke Sato is dead, there will definitely be a lot of waves." Killian said.

"That's right. Congressman Luo Dejiatai has also been a member of Parliament for ten years. He has some reputation, but he is still far behind Grand Duke Sato."

Lord Gartel was probably talking about the old gentleman Franmore who was being besieged on the stage. It can be seen that he still has some supporters, but it seems that there are more opponents who call him a "traitor".

"From the perspective of conspiracy theorists, whoever benefits more will be the most suspicious. I even suspect that the mastermind behind this must be the alliance." Tan Jize said with a smile.

Killian couldn't help but feel happy, but Motta did not laugh. Instead, he said in a tone that was almost certain: "Then it must be the alliance."

Seeing that his two friends were looking at him, the big black fat man added: "The Alliance members are all hypocrites. When our hometown Magic Coke Factory negotiated a merger with the alliance's plutocrats last time, they agreed that they would use their channels to merge with them. The funds helped us promote the brand. As a result, it was only a year or two after the merger that Paradise Coke, Paradise Fruit Milk, and Fantasy Ice Cream were no longer available. Everyone obviously liked them."

"Coca Cola in Paradise, what a childhood memory!" Tan Jize couldn't help but sigh.

"That's right. The Empire is bad, but the profiteers in the Alliance are even worse. We must be more vigilant against them." Mota said.

Killian, the youngest, had never heard of Coca-Cola Paradise and had no such sentiments. He wanted to say something, but suddenly felt something and couldn't help but turn his head. He immediately noticed that three rows of seats away from him diagonally across from him, there were also four Flemish people sitting talking, all dressed as dusty travelers. One of the young men didn't seem to be very interested in the conversation of his companions. He kept looking at himself, as if he was secretly observing.

Ever since, Killian had direct visual contact with the young man from Flamore.

Fortunately, the subsequent development did not develop in such subtle directions as "what are you looking at" and "where are you looking at". The friendly young man from Franmore nodded to Killian and withdrew his gaze.

At this time, the light rail train that fell in the sky had already left the central square where the riot was taking place and stopped at a three-story station.

"Qingtongzhong Street Station, Qingtongzhong Street Station is here."

Killian He quickly got up and got out of the car with his companions. However, just as he walked through the car door onto the platform, Killian saw the four Flamorians again.

"What's wrong?" Tan Jize noticed something unusual about the other party.

"Those Flemors over there..." Killian pondered for a moment and whispered, "We have to be careful."

Mota's face suddenly sank. Just as he was about to go over and chat with the Flemors about "What are you looking at?", he was stopped by Tan Jize.

"There's no need to add extraneous details, just be careful." He glanced at the Franmores and immediately remembered their faces in his mind, and then left the station with his friends.

Outside the station, there are large areas of extremely densely built buildings. Even the lowest building has more than ten floors. Gathered together, it suddenly looks like a huge rain forest made of steel, which is daunting to look at.

Both Killian and Mota felt that without a detailed map, they would definitely get lost after entering.

This is understandable, after all, this is the most densely populated space city in the entire imperial capital. With more than 100 million people crowded into such an artificial celestial body with a central axis that is only over 50 kilometers long, one can naturally imagine what the urban planning will be like.

However, although this city is crowded, it is still in the imperial capital and the streets are relatively clean. There is no need to worry about stepping on the bodies of dead homeless people there.

The three of them followed the crowd of people getting off the train out of the station, crossed the relatively wide avenue, and entered the large jungle of buildings. At this moment, the field of vision in front of me suddenly narrowed, as if I was suddenly squeezed into a narrow mountain road. The straight "mountain walls" on both sides were almost endless, compressing the starlight in the dome until only a thin gap remained.

The road in front of the three people suddenly became so dark, gloomy and depressing, leading to unknown darkness, like the throat of a monster.