Chapter 918: Different focuses and aid for civilians

From December to early January, the unrest near Zhuolan had completely stabilized.

Those Lapa people who were starving realized that the possibility of wanting the Great President to save them was almost zero.

A portion of them still had some strength, or had stored some food, and they began to transfer to surrounding countries.

And those who hadn't left began to form new "tribes" around some people, just like their ancestors.

It was definitely impossible to stay in the city; only the privileged class in the city could have sufficient food reserves.

The middle class had no risk resistance in this food crisis and also began to join these tribes one after another, walking out of the city.

Cities that were almost like empty cities made people feel strong uneasiness.

Diego sat on his thickened sofa, making his butt not so uncomfortable.

He picked up the newspaper beside him and read it.

This was a newspaper printed by those Federal people like Lanse; it looked clearer than the local newspapers, and the pictures were also clearer.

These printing equipments were obviously more advanced than Lapa's printing equipment, and the ink also used better ink, making the newspaper not easily get black ink oil all over one's hands when held.

In the front-page headline, Diego's photo was enlarged and printed in the most conspicuous position; he looked in great condition and also very mighty.

The photographer used a lower angle to shoot, which would give people a feeling that Diego was very tall.

He was wearing appropriate clothing, holding a golden wine glass in his hand; although this was a black-and-white newspaper, people could still vaguely realize that the wine glass was not simple.

It was either gold or silver.

He was very satisfied with this photo, which set him off as very remarkable.

Afterward, he began to read the newspaper. The newspaper talked about a series of cooperation between the Federation and Lapa, including mining mineral resources, and would recruit at least 20,000 to 30,000 miners from society.

They were willing to pay miners a salary of 25 Federal Sol a month, which was almost equal to 2,000 Para; for a place where the current per capita income was only a few hundred, this was definitely a high income.

Federal investors would also open some factories, build economic projects such as rubber plantations, and also need to hire a large number of workers.

The entire plan would hire about 100,000 workers and would constantly increase in subsequent expansions.

The newspaper mentioned a lot about Diego, as well as photos, and every photo had Diego with a smile on his face.

Luxurious, solemn, with a sense of historical weight; this is what a real reporter should do!

"Ask Lanse if the negatives of these photos can be gotten; I want to hang one in my study."

He was even willing to print such photos that could set him off so well on currency!

The butler bowed slightly. "I will contact him later."

Diego turned his head and glanced at the butler. "Has the unrest all stopped now?"

The butler nodded. "The military has begun to clear the refugees gathered around, and they are returning to their homes, waiting for rescue."

It wasn't that they really believed the government's words, purely because they were no match for those weapons and soldiers; otherwise, they would still try to enter Zhuolan to find some opportunities to survive.

For the refugees now, they had lowered the concept of "food" a lot.

The leaves on the side of the road were all plucked by them and boiled in water to eat as a meal, but some leaves were indeed not tasty, scratching the throat and unable to swallow.

There were also some plants that contained various toxins, and many people had accidents in the process of trying.

There were always unexpected situations in the tropical jungle.

There was no way in Zhuolan, so they could only transfer to other places.

Now many cities had become empty and smelly.

Empty because people had almost all gone to the wild; there was nothing to eat in the city, and staying in the city was a dead end.

It wasn't just the lower-class people who were like this; a small number of middle-class people also faced the same problem.

Only the privileged class and the ruling class could manage not to go hungry.

Once people left, it was very difficult to return in a short time; every city and village was almost empty, leaving only a few people with food still persisting.

As for why it was smelly?

Because there were many corpses on the side of the road and in the houses that had died of hunger.

Although it was winter now, the temperature had not dropped to zero or below, maintaining a temperature of more than ten degrees.

Although the temperature was indeed not high, it was enough for those bacteria to multiply in the human body—the metabolism of bacteria and microorganisms would generate heat, so each corpse became a heat source.

If someone was bold enough to touch those corpses that began to swell and insert their fingers into them, they would find that most of the corpses were still "hot" even if they had been dead for many days.

A sticky heat, like the heat produced by fermentation!

Plus the relatively closed environment, the stench soon permeated the city.

The more concentrated the area of the elderly, the more obvious the stench, plus now no one could clean this city, so every city was empty and stinking.

Some people really couldn't stand it and had already started to transfer to Zhuolan; of course, this refers to rich people or the privileged class.

After they also left, the city would completely become a paradise for wild animals and plants.

All this happened in places outside Zhuolan, and some city officials didn't dare to easily report this to Diego.

Others didn't report it, but you reported it, which meant that only your place had a problem.

Then whose fault is this?

First exclude a correct answer; this certainly couldn't be the fault of the Diego government.

Then it was obviously the problem of local officials.

So if there is a problem, don't report it, which is equivalent to no problem.

Whether it is here or in the Federation, or other places, it is a universal truth!

People don't report it, which means there is no problem. The butler naturally bent his waist and lowered his head. "I haven't heard of any riots in any other places now."

"Sir, your public speech has played a role; it prevented the situation from further deteriorating."

"What they could only do with the army, you did just by speaking a paragraph; you are a remarkable person!"

A smile that Diego was controlling appeared on his face, but he didn't control it, the arc of the smile on his face grew larger and larger, and finally he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Do you know why I like you?", he asked.

Without waiting for the butler to answer, he took the initiative to give the answer. "Because you are smarter than others, and you also know how to speak better!"

"Do it well; your family has served me, my father, and my grandfather for a lifetime, and I also hope that your children can continue to serve my children."

Although he had no children born, it might be his own problem; he was too fat.

But it didn't prevent him from promising so.

The butler naturally thanked him repeatedly; being able to continuously serve the ruler, in the eyes of some people, he might just be a butler.

But in the eyes of most people, and in the eyes of most people, he was also a master, also a big shot.

Diego threw the newspaper on the table casually; he was not very interested in the news and comic strips behind, so he didn't continue to read.

In his view, Lapa at this time was excellent!

At the same time, Pedro held this free newspaper in his hand. He read those articles and was not surprised that the Federal people wanted to invest on a large scale here.

Capital is always pursuing profit, and Federal people investing here is not doing charity; they saw profit before investing here.

However, what made him care was that in those enlarged photos, food piled up like a mountain could be seen everywhere, and some pictures of dumping food were also released.

For Diego, this might not be a problem, and they used very clever splicing means, so that dumping food was only in the corner of the picture and did not attract attention.

But people who read newspapers, especially people who read newspapers with empty stomachs, would always keenly discover these.

Besides this news, after a few news items that were relatively professional, the remaining main content was comic strips.

These comic strips were drawn very interestingly, and Pedro even saw the shadows of some people in them; it was hinting at the current social situation in Lapa.

There was a comic strip that he thought was very interesting.

A group of pig-headed people wearing formal suits and bow ties were frantically enjoying food at the dining table. A group of dog-headed people dressed like waiters were helping them bring food continuously.

The scene changed; in the factory, humans were exhausted producing food for the pig-headed people, but soon the raw materials for food were used up.

Just at this time, the factory director, another pig-headed person who looked relatively slim, threw humans directly onto the conveyor belt of the assembly line, using their bodies as raw materials for food.

So plates of food with blood were brought to the dining table, chewed by those pig-headed people, chewed to pieces, and swallowed into their stomachs.

The workers in the factory really couldn't bear the fate of becoming food, and the remaining ones began to resist.

They used their wisdom to defeat the factory owners and those dog-headed people, and rushed into the restaurant.

They waved those sharp weapons and easily killed all the pig-headed people!

From then on, all workers lived a happy life.

The entire comic strip didn't have a single word, but Pedro could fully read the meaning it wanted to express, and could even feel further things it didn't express.

As a high school teacher, also considered a scholar, he integrated his understanding of the world into this comic strip and thought more deeply.

He thought of another possibility of development—

After the workers killed those pig-headed people, is it possible that they sat on the chairs at the dining table?

Will there be new dog-headed people sending new food, feeding them until they are fat, and eventually becoming new pig-headed people?

Power is the most terrible poison; it corrodes people's souls, not their bodies.

Under such circumstances, under the circumstances of mastering absolute power, absolute corruption will definitely be bred.

Thinking of this, he shivered inexplicably.

There were several other comic strips full of irony and awakening meaning; if you don't look carefully and think seriously, some people will indeed ignore them.

But as long as someone explains it, almost everyone can read it.

Pedro had to sigh at the power of Lanse and his group; regardless of whether the people could understand, they first let the people have a deep impression.

One day, at some time, after they came into contact with this information, they would immediately transform these impressions into certain forces!

This is a seed, it is quietly planting into people's hearts, without people noticing it themselves.

Pedro currently had more than 1,000 people gathered around him, and this number was still constantly increasing.

Besides those people at the beginning, there were also many people where he lived who defected over.

People are gregarious animals, especially in dangerous environments, people are more willing to huddle together.

Compared to small groups of three or five people, twenty or thirty people, the scale of Pedro's group was obviously larger.

The larger the scale, the more it could attract others.

And after attracting more people to join, the scale will further expand.

This is the so-called "first-mover advantage"; the older brother is always one year older than the younger brother, unless he dies halfway.

Now it seems too early to say whether it dies or not; anyway, he is developing quite well.

He put down the newspaper, letting more people see, seeing them living on the edge of the jungle, living on tree bark and some leaves without nutrition every day, many people were so thin that they were out of shape.

And their Great President, however, dumped all kinds of food into the trash can.

Everyone who saw this photo hated it so much that their teeth itched; they ate leaf cakes here, but the Great President wasted that food unscrupulously. Everyone had a hatred in their hearts.

"Time to eat!"

There were surprised shouts from afar; for the people now, eating is the most important thing.

Pedro was also very hungry; he actually couldn't eat enough, not that he alone couldn't eat enough, everyone couldn't eat enough.

Many people only maintained the lowest food demand every day, so you could see in this camp on the edge of the jungle, people lying still everywhere.

This is also why they didn't return to the city to live; it was too far, and it would waste the physical strength that they didn't have much of in the first place.

For the people now, the best way of life is to eat something, then lie down, and muddle through the day.

Today's lunch was still leaf cakes, a food invented by the cooks.

The food they brought back was not much, and it needed to be used little by little, so the cooks ground all the wheat into flour.

Using some flour, some mud, and then mixed with some grass stalks, crushed wood dregs, and some wheat tree powder they found in the wild, the paste was pasted behind a leaf the size of a palm.

Then these leaves were dried and collected.

When they needed to eat, they put them on the pot to steam. After the leaves and flour paste were full of water, each leaf cake weighed about two or three hundred grams, which could make the stomach not so hungry.

The elderly, children, and women could only eat half, and only the men who went to the jungle to find food could eat a whole leaf cake.

Although this thing was hard to eat, and it was a bit difficult to poop after eating, it was still the happiest time for people every day when they ate.

As the "Boss" of this group, Pedro also had to line up to receive leaf cakes, and the size would not be special.

Just as he had just received a leaf cake and found a place to sit down and eat the hard-to-eat food in small bites, another younger teacher ran over. "Someone is looking for you."

Pedro froze for a moment. He held the leaf cake in his hand and stood up. "Who?"

The younger teacher had an unbelievable expression on his face. "Federal people!"

Yes, the Federal people actually came!

Pedro looked into the distance; some people had already gathered there. Was it Lanse?

He handed the leaf cake in his hand to his wife, then tidied up his clothes, and strode over.

When he walked to the front, he found that the person who came was not Lanse, but a person he hadn't seen before.

"Pedro?", the person who came was a bit arrogant; he didn't even use the word "Mr.", but very impolitely called his name directly.

Pedro nodded. He pushed his glasses frame with his hand. "You are?"

That arrogant guy handed over his business card. "I am a commissioner of the Federal International Human Rights Investigation, coming to Lapa to conduct human rights investigation work."

He looked around. "Obviously, you are facing some problems, and I can help you solve these problems."

Pedro looked at the business card for a while; he was not blindly optimistic. "What do you want to get from me?"

He lowered his head again and looked at the name on the business card. "Mr. Andy?"

Andy was still that damn arrogant look. "The current you, and your people, are not enough to bring me any help."

"So this is free!"

Pedro didn't believe this point; after contacting Lanse, he knew very well that if one day, someone wants to give you a big benefit, and he wants nothing.

Then what he actually wants is something you definitely can't give, or won't give, so he won't mention it.

Pedro didn't speak, and Andy was too lazy to "compete" with him. "If you are willing to accept our aid, then we will fund you a sum of money, about 20,000 Federal Sol."

"And a batch of medicine, worth about 5,000, all of which are some common medicines."

"And food."

When he heard this Federal person say the word "food," the attention of more people around was concentrated over.

You give them money, give them medicine, they are indeed very needy, but they won't be very excited.

Because money is of no use now; you can't buy a full meal with any amount of money, so money is not something people need in some respects.

Medicine is also, although some people are sick, they won't die because of these diseases.

But hunger will!

Food is the hard currency now.

So when he said the word "food," even Pedro was a bit moved.

"How much food can you provide us?"

Andy pursed his lips. "It depends on how much you can take away!" ===== CHAPTER 919 =====