Chapter 924: Pedro's Decision

As the famine continued, the entirety of Lapa had begun to enter a state of "hellish countdown," with people constantly dying of hunger.

The elderly, children, the sick, and those in need of nutrition.

Hunger is a rusty, blunt knife; it kills humanity bit by bit in the cruelest way possible.

Although Lapa was poor, backward, and uncivilized in the past, when people walked the roads of its cities or villages, they could feel the breath of life and sense that there were people around them.

But now, it was different.

Pedro and his group had already passed through two villages, and there was no one left in them.

There were only corpses lying on the road, gnawed until they were unrecognizable.

A thick, foul stench permeated the air, and he had to lift his hem to cover his nose and mouth.

Yet even so, that stench continued to erode his sense of smell.

"Another empty village."

The eyes of those around him were filled with a kind of sorrow; a perfectly good country had been turned into this ghost-like state simply because of the greed of the ruling group.

People already knew, thanks to the intentional spreading of information by some, and the fact that Lanse's newspaper had previously published these reports—

"Thank you, President Diego, for your contribution to world peace!"

"He sold millions of tons of grain, helping many people in need!"

Yes, he had helped people in other countries who needed grain, ensuring that the people of Lapa were completely forgotten.

The newspaper even published a photograph, taken from an upward-looking angle.

President Diego was shaking hands with someone off-camera, holding an agreement regarding the sale of grain, his face piled with smiles.

In the photo, he seemed to be glowing!

If anyone read the content of the newspaper, they could feel the radiance emanating from him as he generously sold grain to help people in other countries!

This was ridiculous.

On one side was Diego, radiant and a new model of humanitarianism.

On the other side, the country was littered with corpses of those who had starved to death, and the air seemed to be filled with the scent of death.

This was ridiculous!

Pedro's emotions were churning constantly; if before this, he only felt that he could do something,

then at this moment, he felt that he must do it!

He had to save this country and its people from the hands of that greedy dictator!

The group walked a few more steps, and he saw a scene unfolding by the side of the road, unable to help but curse out loud, "This son of a bitch is truly damned!"

By the roadside, seven or eight wild dogs were gnawing on some corpses.

It was difficult for humans to survive in this kind of humanitarian disaster, but small animals seemed to survive quite easily, and they were living better than before.

Watching those plump, stray dogs with red eyes staring at them from the roadside, a desire for slaughter rose in his heart for the first time.

Not far from the stray dogs, there were some bones left over after being chewed up; judging by the small, round skull, it should have been just a child.

There were some messy marks on the ground around them; he didn't know if they were left by a struggle.

Perhaps the child hadn't been dead yet when dragged out, just too hungry to move, and was gnawed on by them just like that.

Pedro hadn't really believed in God before, but he would respect God.

But at this moment, he only believed in himself!

And the weapon in his hand!

He took down the simple bow hanging on his back, pulled the string taut, and with a "twang," a stray dog let out a "yowl" and bit at the spot where it had been shot.

It kept swinging its body, trying to bite the arrow in two or pull it out of its body, but it couldn't.

Its mouth wasn't flexible enough, and it could only watch helplessly as a long arrow remained stuck in its body.

And with its violent movements, the wound was constantly torn wider, and the blood changed from dripping to flowing rapidly.

This sudden turn of events caused the other wild dogs to retreat to a distance with a clatter, and at the same time, they began to bark wildly at Pedro and his group.

Pedro kept drawing his bow and shooting arrows, but in the end, he only hit two stray dogs.

The pack of stray dogs didn't dare to be presumptuous anymore and quickly left with their tails between their legs.

A young man walked toward the two wild dogs that had been shot, and Pedro couldn't help but ask loudly, "What the fuck are you doing?"

The young man looked at him, somewhat at a loss, "I just feel... we shouldn't waste it."

"Fuck, don't you know what they were eating?"

This sentence made everyone fall silent. Pedro pointed at the young man and didn't say anything more, but everyone knew he was strongly opposed to it.

He felt disgusted.

He didn't want to eat it, nor did he want others to eat it; this was not food that humans should eat.

The group continued to walk into the village; perhaps they were starting to adapt to the stench here, as it seemed less intense than before.

Walking in the village was like walking in hell; even though Pedro had witnessed such a human tragedy once before, at this moment, he was still shaken by everything here.

His scalp tingled, goosebumps covered his body, and fear and anger went hand in hand!

The group remained silent, constantly scavenging for various condiments in the village.

Salt, sugar, and other things.

The group spent about forty or fifty minutes before leaving; the village wasn't large, and there were no living people left.

After returning to the temporary camp, the mood of the group was very depressed. Their team had grown a bit larger along the way, and now there were nearly twelve or thirteen hundred people.

The combined population of the three villages was certainly more than two or three hundred.

This terrible era.

"How was it?"

As soon as they entered the temporary camp, his colleagues took the initiative to ask, and others also looked at them, seemingly hoping to get some good news.

In fact, they didn't really hope that a village could still maintain normal operations; what they longed for was that the final order hadn't collapsed yet.

Pedro shook his head and briefly described what he had seen; everyone became silent.

Soon, some people began to curse Diego and the ruling group; it was like a contagion, and more people began to curse these people.

Pedro would have cursed Diego and those greedy-faced ministers a while ago, but recently he had begun to think about another question.

Why was all of this happening?

Where was the root of all the disasters?

Perhaps the people around him would say that it was all Diego and the ruling group's problem, but Pedro believed that it wasn't just their problem.

There was also the problem of the Federalists.

If it weren't for the Federalists wanting to station troops, if it weren't for the Federalists being full of greed for the Xiang Yalan region, even if life wasn't easy now, it wouldn't be as bad as it was!

This could be said to be the darkest moment in Lapa's history!

Just because of the appearance of the Federalists!

Just as he was pondering the inevitable connection within this, another team that had been scouting nearby returned; the leader was also Pedro's colleague, a high school physical education teacher.

His expression was very serious; the people in the village in the direction he had gone hadn't completely run away, but there were only twenty or so people left.

From these people, he had obtained something that made him feel uneasy.

"I want to talk to you alone," he said to Pedro.

Pedro stood up with some confusion, walked with him to the edge of the camp, and then his colleague took a poster out of his pocket and handed it over.

Under the gaze of his colleague signaling him to open it, he slowly opened the poster, and his photo appeared on it, in the second position.

His expression became serious; the people on it almost covered most of those who had attended Lanse's seminar, as well as some he didn't recognize.

"Diego is hunting you, and these people, they have identified you as 'anti-government criminals,' and also mentioned that you stole grain."

Pedro looked at the wanted poster in his hand and remained silent for a long time.

From a middle school teacher to a wanted anti-government force, he suddenly wanted to laugh a little.

Real life was truly more magical than the most magical novel he had ever read!

"What do you plan to do?" his colleague asked him, his expression somewhat serious.

If everyone had just done something that might have crossed the boundaries of morality and law in order to survive, it was still within his acceptable range. Then this wanted poster made it impossible for him to continue accepting it.

He just wanted to live, not to be anti-government!

Pedro was quite open-minded, "Do we still have a choice?"

He shook his head, took the wanted poster, walked outside, gathered the people, and showed them the wanted poster in his hand.

"Diego has already identified me as the leader of an anti-government force and has put a bounty on me."

"Let me see how much I'm worth...", he hadn't thought about this part just now, but at this moment, looking at the number under his photo on the wanted poster, he showed a somewhat awkward expression, "I'm worth fifty thousand Para!"

"Honestly, I think they look down on me a bit!"

Some laughter broke out in the crowd, relaxing the somewhat tense atmosphere from just a moment ago.

"Now we face two problems."

"The first problem, I know some people want to leave, so those who want to leave can tell me, and I will let you leave."

"The second problem, do we pretend we don't know about this wanted poster, or do we solidify this identity!"

"Of course, the second problem only applies to those who are willing to stay; now let's proceed with the first item."

"Is there anyone who wants to leave? We are very dangerous now; I am the leader of an anti-government force, so if you continue to stay with me, you are members of an anti-government force."

"Being caught by the government army means only death!"

"Leaving now, perhaps you can still... clear yourself of suspicion."

As soon as he finished speaking, someone immediately took the initiative to walk to a slightly further place, and then some people followed.

Not everyone had such determination and courage, nor was everyone really forced into this dead end.

For some people, they just didn't want to starve to death; they didn't necessarily have to be anti-government!

At this time, someone in the crowd said, "If we leave here, how much food can we be given?"

People looked toward the person who spoke; it was someone who had joined later.

Pedro pushed his glasses, "Why should you take this food away?"

"Have you contributed to this food?"

"Or is this food brought by you?"

"You haven't done anything; you have no right to share this food!"

After hearing this, that person became anxious; at this time, without food, and leaving this group of people, it was no different from looking for death. He immediately shouted, "This is unfair!"

"Food should be distributed equally to everyone; I demand my share!"

People's eyes were focused on Pedro, and he pointed at that person, "Get him out of our camp!"

Young people immediately came over and pushed him; he wanted to resist, but was beaten up soon after.

Those who wanted to leave Pedro were all timid, and those who stayed were often bold and had some ideas of their own.

Soon that guy was beaten until he couldn't move, and then he was thrown out of the camp. Pedro looked at the people around him, "Is there anyone else planning to leave?"

"After a while, if you want to leave, you won't have the chance!"

Some more people left the group and came to the side. After confirming three times that no one wanted to leave, Pedro nodded and looked at the people over there, "You can leave."

Those people looked at each other and finally slowly left the camp.

Only then did Pedro bring up the second problem, "Now let's solve the next problem."

"Do you think it's better for us to become the 'anti-government force' in Diego's eyes, or continue to be a group of 'refugees' looking for survival opportunities everywhere?"

"This is very important to us because it will determine the path and situation we will take next."

"You all know me; I have always admired the Federal social system, and at the same time, I hate dictatorship, so every choice we make should be democratic."

"I will tell you the future direction, and then you choose."

"If you choose to solidify this identity, then I will contact some people who are willing to fund us; they will provide us with food, intelligence, all the resources we need, and even weapons!"

"If we don't solidify this identity, then we can only continue to flee everywhere, because the government army will soon target us!"

"Stimulated by the bounty, some people will constantly betray us until we are caught."

Someone asked at this time, "Who will help us?"

Pedro thought of the "International Human Rights Investigation" commissioner from the Federation, Mr. Andy.

But in his mind, Lanse's face appeared.

These two people should be in the same group.

"The Federalists," he said, "The Federalists are full of greedy desire for Xiang Yalan, and the Xiang Yalan Alliance is just..."

He wanted to explain, but seeing the confused eyes of those people, he suddenly realized that perhaps this was the power of the Federalists, of Lanse and those people.

Because people want to live!

They just pieced some factors together, forcing the government to find trouble for them, and at the same time forcing them to constantly confront the government in order to survive.

He thought of the key point mentioned by the Xiang Yalan Alliance when negotiating with the Federal government.

As a middle school teacher with a certain level of education, he was actually very concerned about politics, just like those voters in the Federation, but there were some differences.

Voters in the Federation care about politics because they have a sense of participation.

Pedro cares about politics just to know what the future will be like.

In the negotiations, the Xiang Yalan Alliance expressed their hope that the Federal government would respect the internal government affairs of the Xiang Yalan Alliance and ensure that the politics of the Xiang Yalan Alliance member states were independent and autonomous.

The Federalists spoke very beautifully at the time; they said they would respect the political sovereignty of the Xiang Yalan countries and would not interfere in the internal affairs of these countries!

Yes, they didn't interfere; they just used some small tricks to plunge Lapa into civil strife!

He didn't know what other countries were experiencing, but it certainly wouldn't be too good.

He wanted to explain these things, but now he realized it was unnecessary.

They wouldn't try to understand; they just wanted to live, even if they had to pick up weapons for it!

His guess was correct; no one asked questions like "Why do the Federalists want to help us"; they were just asking how the Federation would help them and how the Federation's supplies would be delivered to their hands.

Actually, Pedro didn't know either, but he knew one thing: the Federalists would definitely send things over because they needed these rebels to be active everywhere.

Soon, after a simple discussion, everyone confirmed it: solidify the identity of an anti-government force and make efforts to rebuild a beautiful Lapa home!

Having such a result didn't exceed Pedro's expectations; the continuous bumps and hunger had basically eliminated the older people, and what remained were young and strong people, who were also at the age when their emotions were most intense.

Their hatred for Diego, their impulse to realize some ideas in their hearts, and the strength contained in their bodies didn't allow them to beg for survival on their knees.

The result was foreseeable, so what followed became simple.

Originally, he planned to find a way to contact Mr. Andy and talk to him about supplies and material transport, as well as more aid issues.

But he didn't expect the gunshots from afar in the evening to force them to hit the road again.

"It might be those people who left during the day."

There were guesses among the people; everyone was a bit uneasy now, without the excitement of deciding to oppose Diego and his government not long ago.

Pedro didn't say anything, just urged everyone to pack up as soon as possible and leave as soon as possible.

Although they didn't see what had happened at the scene, everyone had a premonition that the group discovered was the one that had left during the day.

And this continuously strengthened their determination to oppose Diego's rule!

In a flash, several days passed, and Vargas had already handed over the property rights of the Ma Bei Mountain silver mine and an iron mine that was being mined to him.

And the money he promised was also given to Vargas in cash.

Lanse had smuggled a large amount of cash here, and if nothing unexpected happened, this process would continue.

He was even considering whether to do similar business; after all, money laundering had always been a highly profitable industry in the Federation.

Because there was too much black money in the Federation that couldn't see the light of day; perhaps this situation was slightly better before, as most people didn't need to pay taxes.

But now, with tax reform, ordinary people also had to pay taxes, and the Federal National Tax Bureau, a terrifying institution, was about to step onto the historical stage with a brand-new posture.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 925 =====