Shadow Empire

Chapter 1043 Opportunity and Waiting Price

There is absolutely no reason to explain why the police arrived so slowly.

It's not daytime, it's not spring or autumn, and it's not summer; the streets are full of cars.

It's past 10 p.m. now, and there are hardly any vehicles on the streets.

It takes at most ten minutes for a police car to travel from the police station to the scene of the crime, and that's assuming someone calls the police, not that they come on their own after hearing the gunshots.

There was actually a police station near where he was attacked. Including mobilizing manpower and arranging vehicles, six or seven minutes was the limit.

However, it took them more than twenty minutes to arrive at the scene and then follow them to the president's house.

This led the president to suspect whether there was any connection between his assassination and the police's delayed arrival, or whether there was some connection that he could not confirm but certainly existed.

That's what doubt is all about.

Once the seed of doubt is planted, it begins to sprout and grow, eventually growing into a towering tree in a person's heart that can block out the entire sky, leaving people unable to see any light.

His eyes, as if covered by a layer of dust, were fixed on the police chief. His expression was calm yet tinged with indifference. At this moment, the president's mind was filled with the letter and its contents.

He was like a wounded beast, licking his wounds while keeping an eye on what might be one of the enemies.

A storm was brewing in the police chief's mind as he tried to extricate himself from the incident and prove his innocence.

The president's thoughts, however, drifted further afield as he pondered something else.

How should he proceed, from what angle, and in what manner?

Perhaps, the "beginning" of everything will fall on the police chief in front of us.

The police chief, who was being glared at fiercely, kept wiping away his sweat. At this time, the temperature in the capital city of Dantra had dropped below zero, which was also the coldest time of the year.

Even with the heating on, it's not so hot that you'd break out in a sweat.

Because of the cold weather, most ladies and gentlemen wear thicker, warmer clothes than they would wear in summer, so even if there is heating in the room, it won't be set too high.

This prevents visitors from sweating due to the high temperature in the room.

You can take off your coat, but you can't take off everything; that would seem inappropriate.

He took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face, but remained silent.

It's not that he doesn't want to talk, but that he can't say anything.

What could he say?
At this point, anything you say would be wrong. He didn't actually do anything; it was just a normal official procedure.

The gunfire was so intense that he always had to call in more police officers, carrying more weapons and equipment, to get to the scene.

He can't exactly say that the gunshots in the emergency call scared him, so he temporarily sent the officers to get their weapons and equipment and deliberately slowed down, causing a delay in arriving at the scene, can he?
He's just afraid of dying.

And even if he arrived in time, he wouldn't be able to reach the scene immediately.

He knows it himself, and he believes the president knows it too, that the president's question now is clearly purposeful.

He's going to use himself as an example.

So the more you refute or find excuses at this point, the worse you'll end up. It's better to just stay silent and not say anything, so the president can't find any problems in your words.

Seeing the police chief's silence, the president chuckled, "You're quite the daredevil, aren't you?"

He was referring to the police chief's confrontation with him, not anything else.

"You've been dismissed from your job. You'd better not go anywhere for the next few days. I'll arrange for someone to investigate you and the police station. You'd better pray you haven't done anything wrong."

As they were talking, the butler came in from outside. He glanced at the police chief, as if asking if it was permissible to say this in front of the police chief.

The president leaned back on the sofa, looked at the butler, and nodded slightly.

"Sir, the army has entered the city."

The police chief was startled. He was about to turn his head to look at the butler who was speaking, but then he remembered something and forced himself to hold back.

The president was attacked during wartime, and in his own capital city, on his way to and from get off work. He couldn't trust the police, so he had no choice but to call in troops from the military region to garrison the city.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but the police chief had a bad feeling that things weren't so simple.

News of the president's attack quickly spread among the top brass of Dantra, and no smiles could be seen on their faces.

Just like when the emperor of the Empire was driven to the brink of war with the Federation, who knows how much destructive power a ruler can unleash when he is cornered!
Moreover, the current president's power has not yet fallen into other hands. Although the tycoons and powerful families are no longer willing to support him or let this war, which is constantly dragging everyone down and getting them all soaked, continue, he is still the president and still holds enormous power.

It was supposed to be a peaceful night, but the attack on the president turned the skies over the entire city into a frenzy.

The president sat on his sofa, legs crossed, his toes occasionally twitching playfully. If it weren't for his outburst of anger just now, judging solely from his current calm and rational demeanor, it would seem as if the attack not long ago had never happened.

The butler stood at a distance, looking at the president with some confusion. He was increasingly unable to understand this "master" whom he had watched grow up.

He appeared too calm, almost unnaturally so, making it even harder to guess what he was thinking.

The next day, the citizens of the capital woke up to find things different from the day before.

Soldiers carrying weapons patrolled the streets and alleys, scrutinizing every pedestrian on the road and often demanding that they stand against the wall for a search, including women.

Anyone suspected by these soldiers must undergo inspection and body search.

If they find nothing during the search, that's fine. But if they do find something, they'll be beaten up and then locked up.

At this moment, the people learned that the president had been assassinated and sensed a bloody storm brewing nearby.

A group of people who want to remove the president from that position and trade him away as a bargaining chip.

There can never be a balance between a president who is unwilling to give up any hope and a president who is unwilling to give up any hope!
In the morning, the leader of the second largest party in Dantra summoned all his party members from the capital to his estate. He stared at them with a serious expression and a hint of murderous intent. "Who did what happened last night?"

His gaze swept over these people, observing their changing expressions, including those behind him, his true confidants, who were also watching their expressions.

They would target anyone whose expression was even slightly off.

Assassinating a president is not impossible. The federal government has demonstrated to the world more than once how a president should be assassinated, as well as the procedures and methods for handling such assassinations.

In all those cases, all the presidents were assassinated during peacetime, not during wartime.

Because during this period, the president held enormous power and could control the military. When a president whose life was threatened and who could manipulate the military started to go crazy, no one could subdue him!
Their decision to "trade" the president was made after the armistice agreement was finalized, not immediately.

But now the situation has changed. The president has been attacked, and the army has entered the capital. What is the president going to do?
What can he do, and to what extent?
No one knew, no one knew the extent of that guy's madness. The party leader's gaze swept across the faces of these people, and the heavy oppressive atmosphere in the room grew stronger. Some people began to sweat, while others slowly lowered their heads, unable to look at him.

The party leader was disappointed because he didn't find what he was looking for in these people's faces. Of course, he couldn't rule out the possibility that the person who planned the assassination had excellent composure and hadn't revealed himself.

Just as he was feeling extremely troubled, someone suddenly offered their opinion: "Gentlemen, is it possible that the president himself was acting?"

“We all know that his vehicle is armored. Ordinary light weapons, including grenades and fire, cannot damage the vehicle or the people inside.”

"But I heard that the people who attacked him were armed with submachine guns and rifles."

"Although the car was smashed to pieces, the president himself was completely unharmed."

"It's like someone living in a castle accusing someone outside the castle of throwing eggs at the walls and soiling them, saying that he's going to assassinate him."

"If someone really wanted to assassinate him, whichever one of us it would be, we should all be very clear about that."

“When we are actually going to carry out an assassination, we will definitely put all of this into the whole plan, rather than sending out some killers to shoot around like they are acting and then leave.”

“I will use heavy weapons. That vehicle is not protected against poison gas. We can use poison gas, or set it on fire and roast the people inside alive, instead of what we are doing now!”

"So I'm more inclined to believe that he knew about our plan, and this was his way of breaking the deadlock—by carrying out an impossible assassination attempt on himself, he could firmly seize military power, and perhaps even..."

He fell silent, and the party leader's expression became solemn and serious, because he knew that this possibility could not be ruled out.

In political struggles, any means may be used, and whether they are moral or aboveboard is of no importance.

The important thing is whether it's easy to use.

If it works, then it's a good method and approach. Nobody cares about the process; this is a game that emphasizes results.

But if it doesn't work well, even if its performance is amazing enough, if the result is a complete mess, people will only laugh at it as a "spectacular farce".

Therefore, it is not impossible for a president to assassinate himself.

This speculation caused the expressions of the gentlemen around to change again. When someone stabs you in the back to gain a greater advantage, what they want to do to you is definitely not to slap you or punch you, but to kill you!
The party leader paced back and forth a few times, his expression growing even more grave. "If our president himself devised this plan to assassinate himself, what will his next step be?"

Without waiting for their reply, the party leader walked toward the study, saying, "You guys discuss this, I need to make a few phone calls to confirm something."

The gentlemen in the room fell into deep thought. If they were the president, what would they do if they knew that someone was trying to harm them and that they also held military power?
The already uncertain situation and future became even more blurred and chaotic at this moment.

A sudden heavy snowfall began in Shinkin City. Snowflakes the size of a child's palm drifted down from the sky, and children, bundled up in thick cotton coats, ran and jumped in the snow, seemingly happy about the arrival of such a heavy blizzard.

Only those with a modicum of common sense are worried that such a sudden blizzard might cause a snow disaster, leading to problems in the city and surrounding areas.

Senator Cleveland stood by the window watching the snowflakes fall outside, and he couldn't resist opening the window to catch a few with his hand.

Just a few leaves, and they almost covered his palms, this damn bad weather.

"Give the mayor a call and remind him to be aware of the safety issues of certain buildings. I don't want to see our city become a laughing stock in the newspapers tomorrow or the day after."

"This is New Gold City, we can't make it look bad."

Every time the federal government experiences a major blizzard, some unexpected things happen: houses collapse under the weight, hundreds or thousands of people freeze to death, and a lot of municipal funds are wasted.

More importantly, it will take up the men's energy.

If they don't offer condolences, express their opinions, or propose compensation measures, the public will think they don't care about the lives of the underprivileged.

Now is not the time to worry about the lives of the underprivileged, because something more important is happening, so he had to remind the mayor not to cause trouble for everyone.

He walked to the table, sat down, picked up a towel from the corner of the table, and wiped away the snow water.

Although he spoke these words with a hint of warning and caution, he wore a faint smile on his face.

Their plan was successful; they arranged for someone to alert the president while simultaneously attacking him. In fact, he believed that if the president wasn't an idiot, he would most likely understand his situation and realize that this assassination attempt was just an "opportunity" presented to him.

In fact, the president seized the opportunity. He began to send troops into the capital, and martial law was declared in the surrounding areas. What followed was the beginning of a grand performance.

There were also some gentlemen in the room. The heating was on high today, and they were all wearing vests. The gold chain on each of their chests swayed with their movements.

Under the light, it reflects a luster that is pleasing to everyone's eye.

Actually, gold is a very strange thing.

Young people think gold is old-fashioned; only older people like gold.

But as they get older, they realize that their views when they were young were correct, because it is indeed only older people who like gold.

The gold they considered vulgar actually represented wealth and power, which is precisely what young people lack.

You can't evaluate something you don't own. Just like if you only own a car that has been owned by an unknown number of people, you certainly don't know how satisfying it is to peel off the protective film from a first-hand car, nor do you know the sense of accomplishment that comes from gradually becoming proficient and taming the car during use.

After all, the car you got has been broken in several times and is already very well broken in; it's not rough around the edges at all.

A senator sat across from the Cleveland senator, legs crossed, hands clasped but not interlocked on his lap. “What if President Dantra wins this game?” he asked.

“We have to consider the possibility that he eliminated all his competitors and gained complete control of the country.”

"What we are facing is a president who is like a monster, a president who is very difficult to compromise with us."

"The war will continue, and it may become even more brutal."

The others nodded in agreement, but Senator Cleveland maintained his smile. "I've thought about these things, so don't worry. As long as they pay us what we want, this war, this farce, will be over soon."

Helping the president seize the opportunity is tantamount to giving the surrender faction in Dantra a chance to put pressure on them. Under immense pressure, they will start talking to the federal government, even if they were previously unwilling to do so.

They just want to end this war as soon as possible, and even get help from the federal government to punish their "mad president"!
Senator Cleveland tapped his fingers on the table. "Actually, there's another possibility: their president might contact us, willing to stop the war and clean up the mess at home."

“A civil war breaking out now, even on a small scale, is something that Dantra cannot afford. They will soon split up, then confront each other, and a larger-scale civil war will break out.”

"He must resolve the external war before he can address the internal problems. Even if our demands are somewhat excessive, they will agree in order to get everything done as quickly as possible."

"Gentlemen, we have no relation to them whatsoever. To us, we are simply merchants selling a commodity called 'peace'."

"Now two people are standing in front of our stall wanting to buy this 'peace,' so let's see who offers the higher price, shall we?"

"Those who are willing to pay more will gain 'peace'!"

The other gentlemen nodded in agreement, and they also believed that perhaps the president of Dantra could offer a much greater price than the second-largest party could!
At this moment, every gentleman's head seemed to be shining with golden light. They had already seen the Federation's powerful and unparalleled future. As the founders, they would become an unforgettable page in history. This was an honor, and also an immortal achievement!
(End of this chapter)