Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1198 The Last Yugoslavian Woman (First Update)

This "vacation" lasted no more than six hours. After instructing little Lorna to deliver the files to his adoptive mother, Salomon turned and left New York with his weapons. Fortunately, Latvian time was six hours ahead of New York time, so if he rushed back now, he could still hold the afternoon's routine working meeting of the War Council. This didn't mean that his working days could exceed 24 hours, even if he wanted to, he couldn't, after all, it was an inviolable physical law of the real universe. But it didn't mean that he couldn't spend the same amount of time in two different identities.

The puppet attending classes at Oxford University was recalled during the holidays and placed in Emperor Latvian's office, where it was remotely controlled by the emperor's mental power, just like when it was attending classes at Oxford. The combined working hours of these two different identities did indeed exceed 24 hours a day. However, when necessary, the emperor would personally replace the puppet—a steel-skeleton-based puppet powered by bionic muscles and an engine—to better receive information from his subordinates.

Especially when deciding whether to start a war.

The first war of expansion had ended, but this did not mean that the emperor's steps toward establishing the Yugoslav Federation would stop. The total war had temporarily ceased, but local wars and conflicts did not subside with the cessation of the main plan. The Balkans remained rife with conflict and warfare. Even in modern times, from Croatian independence (1991) to the Kosovo War (1999), nine years of conflict claimed 14 lives and created 400 million refugees.

Whenever such statistics were seen, both emperors and regents couldn't help but sigh. The Yugoslavs abandoned their past glory, lost their wisdom, honor, and dignity, and were blinded by baseless hatred, creating even more hatred. The music of Yugoslavia, which once praised unity, friendship, and peace, was reduced to songs that promoted hatred and nationalism, and those who sang those songs continued to be colonized and humiliated on their own land without remorse.

However, this land is not only inhabited by Yugoslavs. Years of war have also resulted in countless "military volunteers" in the region. The Bosnian War alone, from 1992 to 1995, was filled with a complex distribution of power.

Greek volunteers from the Greek Volunteer Guard participated in the Srebrenica massacre, and Christian fighters from Eastern European countries and military volunteers from other Orthodox countries also participated in the war. Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Saudi Arabia, and the United States have provided military and financial assistance to various Bosnian jihadist groups since the 1992 Bosnian War. Even Hezbollah in Lebanon and al-Qaeda around the world were involved. Almost all armed groups from Europe, America, and the Middle East committed war crimes on this land.

To rule such a group of people, without strong measures, a powerful army, and sufficient foresight, failure is inevitable.

Reforms inevitably encounter resistance from vested interest groups. These businessmen, populist politicians, warlords, and gangsters, who have become wealthy due to the split of Yugoslavia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, are all adversaries of the emperor. Foreign armed groups that stir up trouble in this land are also key targets. Therefore, local wars in the Balkans will not cease. The emperor and regent will use guns and swords to gradually drive out the former oppressors and capitalist tyrants from this land, while simultaneously merging the reclaimed territories to reshape Yugoslavia. Deploying genetically modified soldiers in northern Greece and northern Macedonia is one of the important processes in this plan.

So far, the Emperor has garnered many supporters. Many Yugoslavs, after his address at the United Nations headquarters, saw a leader capable of leading them out of their predicament—one who treats Serbs, Croats, and Albanians equally; who encourages agriculture, develops advanced industry, and implements free compulsory and adult education, among other things. The Emperor's supporters are mostly Serbs from the provinces of Serbia and Bosnia, which initially proposed unification but retained some autonomy; Croats from Bosnia are next; and Albanians are the fewest.

Compared to the conflict between the emperor's egalitarian policies and Greater Serbian and Greater Albanian nationalism, the emperor's radical secular policies were not acceptable to everyone, especially the most superstitious Albanians, who would only kneel before the emperor after their faith had been completely destroyed.

For Lepa Bellena, born in Bosnia and later a supporter of Serbia, this was simply unbelievable; she couldn't understand why anyone could stand tall before the Emperor. Her husband, Slobodan Civinovic, seemed less nervous, but when the Emperor, clad in golden armor, entered through the open doors of the drawing room, the former world number one doubles tennis player forgot to breathe. It was as if he had been transported back to 1986, when he and Andres Gomez won the US Open; his pulse quickened uncontrollably, his body tensed, and youthful impulsiveness and energy returned to him.

In 1985, three years into her career, 24-year-old Bosnian Lepa Bellena received an assignment to sing a patriotic song for Yugoslav Youth Day. Despite never having dealt with political themes before, she readily accepted the invitation and performed "Long Live Yugoslavia" in front of the Belgrade stadium. Although the song was unremarkable, Bellena's appearance quickly became a new pillar of national identity for a Yugoslav nation fraught with hardship.

At that time, Tito had been dead for five years, and the ethnic conflicts and nationalism in the country were gradually becoming uncontrollable. In order to quell local conflicts, the president of Yugoslavia rotated among the member states every year, which resulted in dissatisfaction among all members. Nationalists in various places took the opportunity to incite and try to take power, and extreme right-wing forces such as Neo-Chetnik and Ustaša also emerged. This rising star also became one of the bonds that maintained relations between the various ethnic groups.

In 1998, Lepa Bellena released her hit song "Yugoslavia" and became an instant sensation. In a very short time, it became a song that everyone sang. The image of Lepa waving the Yugoslavian flag on a yacht quickly became a new symbol of this turbulent country and the object of fantasy for countless teenagers. But few people could have imagined that just three years later, the sea and plains sung in the music video would become a bloody battlefield.

Born in Bosnia, Lepa Bellena married Serbian tennis player Slobodan Civojinovic. A year later, the Bosnian War broke out, and blood ties and religion were instantly elevated to the level of dividing friend and foe. Lepa was forced to suspend her music career, send her newborn child to the United States, and return to Bosnia alone to rescue her parents.

Despite this, she was still labeled a "traitor" by various ethnic groups. In the following years, Lepa Plana stopped talking about politics, and the popular songs in the Balkans changed from the unity-themed "Yugoslavia" to military music that incited nationalism. But in many people's minds, Lepa Plana remained the embodiment of Yugoslavia in that song and the last cultural symbol of that era. On her birthday in 2011, Lepa Plana returned to the stage of the Belgrade Stadium and sang the familiar "Yugoslavia" once again. But the war did not end there. Until the emperor appeared and swept the land with the most violent bloodshed, Lepa Plana, who had always supported the cause of Yugoslav reunification, also stood before the rulers of the Balkans.

Behind the emperor, a large group of officials carrying documents and data tablets filed in.

Almost everyone bowed their heads and hurried along, as if their duties were chasing after them, urging them to devote all their energy to their tasks. Two warriors, also clad in golden armor and wielding halberds, followed closely behind the emperor, making the officials appear like insignificant dwarfs in comparison. The emperor ignored the couple and led the officials directly into the castle's administrative area. One of the golden-armored warriors behind the emperor stopped and invited the couple to follow the officials through a heavily guarded passage, past marble statues of great figures such as Tito, Lenin, Stalin, and Marx, until they stood before a gate engraved with laurels, lightning, flames, and eagles, nervously awaiting their summons.

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(End of this chapter)