Darkstone Code-Chapter 835 - 833: Savagery

Looking at his younger brother, Mike could actually understand his feelings.

Love, when it comes, is like being hit on the head with a hammer; a person loses all control.

But more often than not, love is just deceiving oneself.

It was precisely because he understood that he had to extinguish this love born out of hormones and impulse.

"You don’t love her, you just like that young body. She doesn’t like you either; she just likes that pocket money you give her after you’re with her."

How cruel these words are, Mike’s brother’s face changed a bit.

His face was filled with anger. He felt this was the truest love in his life and possibly the last love of his life.

In fact, he’s not usually this foolish; it’s just that he doesn’t know what kind of magic power the girl has that makes him become more and more foolish.

Or perhaps girls always have all kinds of magic powers that make boys and men believe their every word.

Mike looked at his brother, who was using silence to fight against him. Mike shook his head, "I don’t object to you seeing that girl, but you need to go during the day. Tonight, now, you can’t go out."

"I can’t knowingly let you out when it’s dangerous outside. If you really like her, go see her tomorrow during the day and chat with her."

Mike decided that once everyone was back, he would send his brother back to the Federation, or perhaps to the nearby International Port, as he could easily get into trouble here.

Similar things are happening all over the world now. Men working in various places easily get involved with girls, and relationships naturally happen.

Then those girls would use reasons like pregnancy to tie those men down, causing many amusing farces.

It seems interesting when reading such news, but when it happens to oneself, it’s not so interesting anymore.

While Mike’s brother was resisting this matter, someone suddenly knocked on the door.

The brothers simultaneously stopped their standoff and looked at the closed shop door.

Mike reached under the pillow for a pistol, "We’re closed."

A few seconds later, just when Mike thought the person outside had left, a girl’s voice came, "It’s me... I want to see..."

She spoke Mike’s brother’s name. Her voice seemed slightly trembling, but having just experienced what was not quite a quarrel of a quarrel, the brothers didn’t notice these small details.

"...Is it you?" Mike’s brother called out the girl’s name and walked to the door, his features, his expression instantly becoming vivid and lively.

He couldn’t wait to see the girl’s face!

Seeing the rapid changes in his brother’s expression, Mike was stunned for a moment.

It was just like when he was eighteen, after seeing his brother steal a kiss from a girl, full of expectancy, shyness, and a little unease.

But looking again, he had become so "old".

Mike knew his brother couldn’t really be called a happy person because there had never been a passionate love between him and his wife.

They were introduced by mutual acquaintances, watched a few movies together, slept together, and then got married.

There were no bursts of intense emotions, no lingering love stories, just utter despair with life and submission to fate.

At this moment, his heart softened.

His brother looked at Mike with a face full of smiles yet slightly pleading, just like when they were sixteen and the girl came to their backyard, disturbing them with small stones while they rested on the second floor.

He looked at Mike just like that, asking if he could go out or bring the girlfriend in.

Mike didn’t clearly hear what his brother said, but he knew what he said.

After a not-so-long silence, he nodded, "Okay, I’ll sleep in the attic..."

Mike’s brother excitedly ran to the door, one by one removing the steel bolts.

By now, it was already past six, and with winter time, it was completely dark outside with no passersby.

As the door was about to open, Mike suddenly said, "You shouldn’t have given her our address. She might keep coming to pester you. Think about your wife and children back in the Federation."

Having removed the last bolt and unlocked the door, his brother suddenly froze and looked at his brother, feeling somewhat wronged.

"I never told her where we live..."

This was just like when they were fourteen, their father lost a dollar and thought the two children took it. Mike just firmly insisted it had nothing to do with him, while his brother looked as wronged as he did now.

The next moment, a sudden force came from outside the door. The brother standing behind the door was knocked back before he had time to react, perhaps thinking, "Why does my lover have such great strength?"

A gun was thrust in.

With a loud bang, the brother’s head burst open like the pumpkin they dropped from the treehouse at twelve years old, the bright red pulp and whitish seeds spraying out from the crack.

Mike’s mind went blank, and he instinctively wanted to go downstairs to grab his handgun, but it was too late.

A girl, battered and nearly naked, was thrown in by a group of people, and shortly after entering, they noticed Mike in the attic.

Less than thirty seconds later, several gunshots rang out, and everything returned to silence.

For several days, Mike’s store remained closed, which made some of the Gold Diggers feel a bit odd, but only slightly.

Sometimes, indeed, they wouldn’t open for a few days, either because they went back to the Federation for supplies or had a big deal in progress.

Luckily, Mike wasn’t the only Federation merchant doing business here; they could also purchase what they wanted from other places.

Gun oil, shoe polish, hair wax, Federation cigarettes, films, magnesium rods, and the like.

Various goods, including some ’valuable’ items like exquisite glassware, which could be traded for quite a bit in Suge, as well as some Federation luxuries that sold well here.

Four days later, some of Mike’s relatives returned from International Port, feeling a bit worried about leaving the two brothers alone.

Some others continued back to their homeland, while they returned to look after things here.

Along the way, these people joked and laughed until they entered the shop and saw a stranger from the locality sitting behind the iron bars.

Their smiles froze on their faces, unable to question anything before a few people blocked the door, trapping them inside.

After a brief commotion, a tall, skinny local slammed the shop door shut with a bang.

More than half an hour later, the shop opened again, the floor seemingly cleaned, with a faint strange smell lingering.

Late at night, a group of locals dragged heavy bags to the place where they last hid things, carelessly tossing them there, knowing that the wild dogs and cats would clean up the traces for them.

What they didn’t expect was that not long after they left, a few Gold Digger-clad Federation individuals quickly ran over.

They took out daggers they carried, slitting open these bags, revealing the Federation individuals who had returned from International Port that day...

A week later, on the Federation Mainland, the fervor over overseas merchant rights was subsiding.

Those who needed to demonstrate had demonstrated, those who needed to protest had protested... and truly, fried chicken was just a side affair.

Societal discourse had been thoroughly fed on this wave of public opinion, and it seemed that some matters quietly faded away as people’s attention began to shift from wealthy foreign merchants to domestic employment issues.

In the morning, a gentleman dressed immaculately with a briefcase stepped out of his house, warmly greeting the neighbors around.

In the Federation, what kind of families live in what kind of communities is an unspoken rule.

Residents have the right to refuse others from buying into and moving into the community, making community society and community politics a crucial part of Federation society.

Any neighbor could either support you or become a hindrance, so everyone maintained friendliness and warmth with their neighbors.

After finishing his greetings, the gentleman tossed his briefcase onto the passenger seat, driving out of the tranquil community. Just as he entered the Federation highway, a paperboy ran across the sidewalk, shouting something loudly.

He instinctively glanced in that direction, seeing a crowd gathering, people snatching newspapers with coins in hand and leaving angrily.

What happened?

The gentleman was a bit curious, glanced at the watch on his wrist, and realized he still had enough time to slow down a bit.

He parked the car by the roadside, honked twice, and a small head popped out from the crowd, "Sir, would you like a newspaper?"

"Freshly printed, still exuding the strong aroma of ink!"

The gentleman pulled a one-dollar bill from his pocket, holding it between his index and middle fingers, "Is there any special news?"

"Yes, a family operating a shop in Suge was killed by locals..."

The paperboy handed over a newspaper and carefully pulled the bill from the gentleman’s hand, not forgetting to adjust his cap to show respect to the gentleman—considering the car he was driving.

The gentleman looked at the newspaper’s front page headline, at those unprocessed, shattered bodies, making his scalp tighten abruptly.

Although he didn’t feel much sympathy for these people, the photographs still stirred a peculiar emotion within him.

More infuriatingly, the gang not only robbed Mike’s business and killed them but also took over their business.

They were operating the shop with impunity, without any fear of police trouble!

In just the morning, within less than half an hour, countless phone calls flooded into the President’s Mansion.

Someone even made a peculiar call to Lynch.

"Mr. Lynch, I have a business deal here, are you interested?"