Chapter 672

The look in the eyes of the middle-aged man standing at the very front of the refugees was not one of hatred or anger, nor was it dull.

He was able to stand in this position because he had come with a mission.

A few days ago, Hope found him and talked to him about some things; until this moment, he still clearly remembered the shock that conversation had brought him!

"Do you think anyone really cares about our life and death, besides ourselves?", this was Hope—now one should add Mr. —this was the first sentence Mr. Hope said to him.

He was working for Mr. Hope, and as his reputation among the refugee community grew higher and higher, some Federation people also began to contact him.

Those Federation people who contacted him certainly wanted to gain benefits from him, and this was the manifestation of the progressiveness of Federation capitalist society.

People who wanted to gain more benefits from him would first set bait, allowing him to gain some advantages, in terms of money or other aspects.

In short, he became wealthy; while most other refugees were still racking their brains over how not to go hungry or be frozen stiff, he had already put on thick cotton clothes and was eating extremely well.

He found some people who had received higher education to work for him, and this middle-aged man, the middle-aged teacher, was one of them.

He was a high school teacher with a certain cultural foundation, standing out exceptionally in this group where most were illiterate.

That day, Mr. Hope asked him exactly that: besides themselves, who else truly cared about their life and death.

This was indeed a question; he considered it for a long time, and in the end, he could only shake his head with regret, "No, sir."

Mr. Hope nodded with some solemnity, "Yes, no one, only ourselves."

"We thought that after escaping from the battlefield, at least there would be an opportunity for us to survive, but after coming here, we discovered that wanting to survive in the Federation is not a simple matter."

"Sometimes I really don't know, how the hell do those people at the bottom of the Federation manage to hold on!"

His complaint made the middle-aged teacher's mouth twitch; he wanted to laugh but held it back.

Mr. Hope sighed, "We cannot do nothing!"

"If we do nothing, many people will die again this winter, because there are no clothes to help them maintain body temperature through the winter, and because they have no food on hungry, cold nights."

"We must change the status quo!"

He said it decisively, and the middle-aged teacher couldn't help but ask, "But the problem is, how do we change the status quo?"

"The Federation people have already expressed their 'benevolence' to us—some worthless food, some worthless clothes; those aids can't even help one-tenth of the people here!"

Mr. Hope just listened quietly to his complaints, and after he had complained for a good while, Mr. Hope said, "You hope the Federation people can help you? You might as well hope God performs a miracle!"

"My friend, haven't you seen through the essence of the Federation yet?"

"This is a primitive jungle; it has its own survival laws, and it has its own special food chain."

"If you don't want to become someone else's food, you must make yourself look stronger and have more thorns on your body!"

"We need to make a powerful sound, so that the Federation people cannot pretend to be deaf and blind and avoid our demands."

"Only in this way can we obtain even a tiny bit of fair treatment from their hands!"

"Look, they treat the bottom layer of their own structure so poorly, let alone us outsiders?"

During the conversation, others came over; they sat beside the middle-aged teacher, listening to Mr. Hope say those words.

Mr. Hope actually hadn't gone to college; he hadn't even finished high school. Among this group, his education wasn't the highest; it was still at the bottom.

But now, so many highly educated people surrounded him, listening to him speak—this wasn't because they worshipped low education.

It was because Mr. Hope possessed more, richer, and more realistic survival experience.

His followers looked at him, and he looked at these people, then clenched his hands into fists, very hard, so much so that his hands were trembling slightly.

"We must fight; only by fighting can we make them look at us squarely!"

"A cowardly ethnic group will never get respect from others; would you admire a group of cowards and pathetic wretches?"

A certain attractive luster flashed in his eyes, and the middle-aged professor nodded obediently.

When he used to teach at school, although he had always been protecting the students who were hurt by small groups, he also looked down on those students in his heart.

Looking at this matter with an adult's thinking, it was "Can't you resist?"

This wasn't a very difficult thing; the degree of injury in fights between students was usually not high. When someone tried to bully you, you just had to say no; the worst possibility was getting a beating.

But if you said no, and even fought back while being beaten, the other party would think "You are trouble," and the next time they chose a target for bullying, you would be ranked last!

Until you were thoroughly removed from their list.

Resistance is not an easy thing, but it is also an easy thing.

Because resistance does not require you to possess any social elements like background, wealth, status, reputation, or influence as a threshold or foundation for resistance.

You only need to muster the courage, and you can do these things!

And those weak people, who couldn't even control themselves, how could they let those who wanted to help them help them walk out of here?

He had encountered such people; he offered to help the other party, but it also required the other party to give positive feedback. What made him feel incredible was that the person refused his kindness.

That guy would rather be bullied than resist to face the unknown.

Sometimes, after kneeling for a long time, one gets used to kneeling and can never straighten their back again!

These things that had actually happened around him in the past were linked to what Mr. Hope was saying at this moment, and suddenly it gave him a feeling of piercing through the fog and discovering the truth!

So, what we lack is just the courage to say "no"!

His eyes immediately became firm; he would not be like the student he knew who refused others' help, continuing to face such an environment and life.

He wanted to stand up, arm himself with courage, and fight for the legitimate rights and interests for him and for those behind him.

The middle-aged teacher might not have associated what it would bring him if he could achieve these things.

Whether it was good, bad, catastrophic, or super positively, he didn't know; he only knew he should do it.

Because if he didn't do it either, no one else would!

People's eyes began to change from thinking to becoming firm.

Mr. Hope was indeed a mature, experienced, and active social activist; he knew very well how to instill his ideas and brainwash these people who had some knowledge and culture but, looking closely, not much.

His own persona was like this; his ideals and aspirations were to help all the refugees in the Federation, from their current terrible state, move toward a good life and environment.

And these methods of his, the propaganda of his persona, were also conducive to attracting a group of people who had the same ideas as him to join his team.

In other words, these people already had these tendencies before joining, and what he was doing now was just making their originally less certain direction become certain and intuitive.

"So, we must resist, we must fight!", he clenched his fist and waved it again; the seemingly ordinary action gave people very powerful strength!

The middle-aged teacher and the others were persuaded, their hearts suddenly filled with the ideal of changing the world, and they nodded in agreement repeatedly.

Mr. Hope's tone immediately became low, "Every resistance, every battle, and every victory they bring, is not obtained out of thin air."

"You know that the Federation in reality and the Federation we hear about are completely two different countries."

"Resisting and struggling here is even less likely to be a peaceful discussion; it must be intense and dangerous."

"Only by being intense and dangerous can people truly look at us and listen to the sound we make."

"This is a sacred battle; there will be people bleeding and people getting hurt, but after it, people will respect us, listen to the sound we make, and have an equal dialogue with us!"

"Awakening!"

He stretched out a finger and pointed at the sky; although they were in a room and there was a roof above, the middle-aged teacher at that time could feel that Mr. Hope was pointing at the sky!

"We need to pay with blood, and even need to pay with sacrifice, to bring us victory."

He then stated his plan, and everyone was so shocked by this plan that they couldn't speak, including the middle-aged teacher, who was unable to make a sound for a long time. Because this action plan had considerable risk, it might trigger unpredictable consequences and dangers.

Someone raised an objection, "Will the Federation police shoot?"

"Will innocent people die because of our decision?"

"We just want them to respect us, not to let anyone lose their life!"

Mr. Hope shook his head, "Judging from the previous few local riots, the probability of Federation police shooting is not high."

"Once they shoot, it will be very troublesome for them; the whole society will condemn their recklessness, and they cannot afford the consequences of causing many deaths and injuries."

These words spoken from his mouth seemed to carry a kind of magic, making people have to be convinced.

"And!", he emphasized, "Everyone who pushes the progress of the era often cannot see what the era looks like after progress; they all fell at the moment before the progress of the era."

"Gentlemen, what we are talking about is the life and treatment of hundreds of thousands, millions, or even more refugees in the Federation; even if we sacrifice a small part of people to save the majority, it is worth it!"

"There is no progress without sacrifice, and there is no progress that doesn't sacrifice!"

!

"This action will make the Federation people feel pain; once they are in pain, viewing us as that wooden thorn in the body that needs to be pulled out, they will talk to us."

Mr. Hope looked at them, his face carrying a somewhat fanatical longing, "As long as they talk to us, not like now where they ignore us, they will give us some promises and compromises to prevent similar things from happening again."

"I have never considered letting our people be treated like Federation people, but as long as we can guarantee the most basic fairness and give us the most basic security, we believe we can use our hands to achieve a happy life!"

"This plan is very dangerous—bleeding, injury, and even death!"

"The best result is being deported, and the worst case, we might spend a long time in prison."

He said this as he straightened his back and stretched his body, "But I will not regret it. From the moment I came here and saw their terrible situation and the terrible environment here, as well as the arrogant eyes of the Federation people, I decided to do something for them, for us, for everyone!"

"Even if I have to pay with my life for it!"

What a noble soul!

At that moment, the middle-aged teacher discovered that people really can shine!

Mr. Hope radiated the brilliance of humanity, a holy light!

If he hadn't resisted the impulse, he might have knelt down to worship!

He had never thought that someone could be so great!

Willing to pay so much for people who have nothing to do with him!

As for why Mr. Hope didn't participate in this riot?

That was because he would face the most terrifying Federation government, face those capitalists, and even more terrifying groups.

He would become the "wooden wedge sticking out on the boat gang," scraped flat the moment it docked!

What he had to bear would be much heavier than what others had to bear!

The middle-aged teacher participated in this action without hesitation and became one of the commanders in this action.

At this time, he stood at the very front of the crowd, his mind filled with Mr. Hope's final instructions.

The more pain they made the Federation people feel, the more chips they would have in their hands during negotiations!

He began to take deep breaths, trying his best to calm his racing heart.

The five minutes passed quickly, so fast that he hadn't even reacted before that "big shot" opposite who claimed to be the police chief spoke again.

"Five minutes have passed; immediately drop the weapons in your hands and accept management..."

The middle-aged teacher exhaled a breath of turbid air; he slowly raised the crowbar in his hand and pointed it at the police chief.

Both the crowd behind him and the police force opposite showed some commotion.

Someone beside him suddenly said loudly, "I have surrendered many times, but this time, I absolutely will not surrender!"

Saying this, the young man raised the steel pipe in his hand and rushed toward the police; people were crazy at this time.

The moment he rushed out, many people behind him and beside him also rushed over.

Chief Bulu's pupils suddenly contracted; he immediately dropped the loudspeaker microphone, pulled out his pistol, raised it, and fired!

The crowd launching the death charge calmed down amidst the continuously ringing gunshots and the people continuously falling, and then began to scatter and flee.

The middle-aged teacher lay on the ground, gasping for air, his body temperature dropping due to blood loss.

He covered his wound, looked up at the people who had fallen around him, and suddenly his eyes were a bit dazed.

Wasn't it said... that Federation people wouldn't shoot?

He was a bit dazed; how was everything not quite the same as what was agreed upon?

Actually, he didn't feel much pain now, just some numbness and some cold; he wanted to stand up to take a look, but he couldn't do it no matter what.

His body, including his strength, at this moment, seemed to no longer belong to him.

Those who were still scattering and fleeing, amidst the shouts of "drop your weapons, raise your hands, and kneel on the spot," impatiently dropped their weapons and knelt there; soon the police came to put handcuffs on them, and finally, ambulances entered the scene.

Chief Bulu came to the nearest telephone booth and called the mayor's office; the phone was quickly answered, "This is the mayor's office."

James's voice was more impatient than ever; the sky was already dark, and he still didn't know the result at the scene.

He hoped it wouldn't be bad news.

"Councilor James, I am Bulu; I have controlled the situation and arrested a batch of rioters, but the number might be slightly large."

"The good news is that the riot did not spread, but the bad news is... maybe a few people died."

Hearing the first half of the sentence, the tension on Councilor James's face was replaced by a smile, but the second half made these changes meaningless, and he became nervous again, "A few... refers to how many?"

Chief Bulu was silent for a while, "Twenty or thirty, maybe more; I haven't counted yet, I came to call you the first time."

James's vision went a bit dark; it certainly wasn't caused by the sky getting dark, and his heartbeat was also accelerating; he wanted to curse, but in the end, he gave up.

"Is it safe over there?"

"Can I go over?"

Chief Bulu looked back at the neighborhood that had completely quieted down and gave a positive answer, "This is currently the safest place in Jincheng!"

James asked his secretary to work overtime; he got into the car and went to the old industrial area; he wanted to see how bad the specific situation was over there.

At the same time, he was also praying, praying for his father or Lans, whoever it was, to come back quickly; he needed them!

Mayor Williams probably couldn't come back that early; even if Lans handled things quickly over here, it would still take some time.

They had basically locked onto a few houses, and the one with the basement was listed as the top priority.

It wasn't that Lans had any superpowers to predict things, but he had checked the owner information of these suspicious houses.

Information about the owners could be found for the other suspicious locations, but only for that basement, the owner's information could not be found.

In other words, it might not have been sold and had always remained in the hands of the developer.

But now people were living inside, and according to people around, that house had been uninhabited before this month, and they hadn't seen the people living inside either.

Mayor Williams mentioned the real estate developer over here, who was also a person in Charles's small circle, so it was very likely that they were hiding inside here!

(End of chapter)