Chapter 39: The Fire Keeper
In fact, up until now, Gu Hang could not be certain whether Yan Fangxu’s predicament was part of Hodgson’s warning.
If it was, then the Original Owl Beast Sect’s capabilities were quite impressive.
They not only wield the storm sorcery granted by their so-called deity but also, to some extent, control those mutant monsters?
But if it wasn’t, it would be too much of a coincidence.
He also considered whether this could be a ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain.
Surround Yan Fangxu, draw away the main forces in the camp for rescue, and then attack the camp?
But soon, Gu Hang dismissed this idea.
Highly unlikely.
If his enemies were merely those mutant monsters, they probably wouldn’t have the brains for such a tactic.
If his enemies were the heretical cultists, or worse, certain individuals within the Alliance government, then destroying Gu Hang’s camp wouldn’t be of great value to them.
After all, whether Gu Hang was causing trouble for the cultists or the Alliance government, his main reliance was still his authority as Governor.
As long as he was alive, what did it matter if his camp was destroyed? Those people’s troubles wouldn’t lessen one bit.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely impossible. If the rescue team he dispatched wasn’t led by him personally, then the enemy might seize the opportunity to kill him, likely attacking the camp.
And if he led the rescue team himself, he would have to be prepared for an ambush.
Either way, this situation was tricky.
But Gu Hang was not someone who would be indecisive.
Since the challenge had come, he would face it head-on.
…
Inside Revival City, Hodgson sat in his wheelchair, gazing through the large glass window of his office at the entire city.
In truth, Revival City wasn’t particularly large, nor did it have many skyscrapers. The internal layout of buildings and roads was orderly, a solid foundation laid by the first Governor when constructing the Alliance.
However, after so many years, although the inner city still looked fine, the larger outer city attached to the perimeter walls was in complete disarray.
Hundreds of thousands, nearly a million, people lived attached to the city but were not fortunate enough to reside within the inner city, forming a vast slum outside the walls.
There, there was no planning, no order, everything was chaotic.
Sewage overflowed, resources were scarce, life was difficult—these problems shrouded the area, not fitting the image of a planetary capital city.
Many Alliance Council Members and inner-city residents greatly disliked the refugees.
They believed these people brought chaos and that the slum area was a hotbed of filth.
Yet, the smarter ones understood clearly that Revival City couldn’t do without them.
The refugees in the outer city ate the worst and least food, wore ragged clothes, and lived in makeshift shelters.
The inner-city people did not provide them with any public services or welfare benefits, yet they made them do the hardest work, giving them only a pittance, barely enough to keep them alive.
Without them, how could the inner-city residents enjoy their good lives? How could those council members earn wealth far beyond their contributions?
So, these smart people would occasionally show a bit of their mercy.
They would provide more jobs, give alms to the refugees, as if they were truly saving them.
But they never had any intention of seeking welfare for those who could barely be called residents.
To ensure nearly a million refugees lived well?
That was unimaginable.
The inner-city people were still dissatisfied with their own lives, how could they have the energy to care about the refugees outside?
Fewer deaths were their only mercy.
Even smarter people might see the crisis lurking outside the city walls, in those low, broken houses.
Under those submissive, numb, and silent faces, wasn’t there anger?
In fact, fires had already burned countless times. But the small sparks were still too weak.
Some resistance was either crushed under the immense inertia of this deformed system or scattered when facing the armed-to-the-teeth military police.
In short, these sparks never became a fire that could burn everything.
But that day would come sooner or later. What was lacking was a fuse, what was needed was a fire keeper.
Hodgson clearly recognized himself as one of the ‘smarter people.’
He could see all this, but his wisdom was limited to that. He couldn’t find a solution, nor did he have the ability to unify and consolidate everyone. He couldn’t even control the Alliance Council.
Someone in the council secretly supported the heretical cult, and he didn’t know who;
Someone dared to attack the supplies being transported to the Governor, and he was powerless to stop it;
The layers of resistance when mobilizing military police for the heretical cult raid, and the endless debates and doubts in the council, left him exhausted.
More than once, he felt that he was truly old.
But he didn’t dare to retreat.
The heretical cult raid was originally a command from the Governor, who was stirring up the political scene in Revival City. However, as he delved deeper, he vaguely sensed something amiss: the fuse he feared, the fire keeper, seemed to have already appeared.
“Grandfather.”
Lambert Hodgson pushed open the door to the office.
Old Hodgson didn’t turn around, simply asking, “Any results?”
“We still haven’t traced where those supplies went. Council Member Marion denied the supplies passed through her hands, and two agents responsible for this line have disappeared; in the outer city, we found many Fury Owl statues, according to statements they originated from a relief shelter. A team of officers attempted to search there but triggered a minor riot among the refugees, returning without success. By the time more personnel were mobilized there, the place had already been burned down…”
Old Hodgson heaved a heavy sigh, “This time, we’re in big trouble.”
Lambert agreed with his grandfather’s judgment, which was precisely why he felt somewhat helpless.
He said, “We thought it was just the Governor causing us trouble, but the more we investigated, the more alarming it became. Those cultists, they’re planning something big in Revival City, but we still don’t have any concrete intelligence… What do we do next? The Governor is very likely to be attacked, shouldn’t we offer support?”
“Who should we send? I can’t even be sure if the people we send might end up being the ones who will attack the Governor. The Governor might think the same; he won’t easily trust us.”
“Then we must make our stance clear.” Lambert insisted this time, “I’ll go, with a team that’s absolutely trustworthy.”
“Do you understand what this means?”
“I do, it means we will have to endure the Governor’s suspicion and will be seen by those council members as having completely sided with the Governor, becoming sandwiched in the middle.”
Despite talking about grim consequences, Lambert’s tone became more determined as he continued:
“But, I’ve understood what you said last time about ‘only the Governor can save this world.’ We’re not sure if he’s the Governor we’re waiting for, but at least for now, this Governor seems a bit different from the previous ones. He chose a path that previous Governors dared not take, he has a starship support that past Governors didn’t have. I want to try, if he’s not the Governor we’re expecting, then I’ll do my utmost to help him become that kind of Governor.”
“We don’t have much time to wait for more Governors, the entire planet is waiting for revival, the sooner, the better. I’m willing to contribute to that rather than continue waiting silently. Being the pusher of an era is far more meaningful than frantically catching up with the change.”
The young man expressed his grand aspirations in front of his elder, who quietly watched him.
After a while, Hodgson let out a long breath: “I’m already old. To live to my age in this wasteland is more than enough, and I can’t make more impactful decisions. You’ve always been better than your father. If you want to do this, then go ahead.”