Handong: Sha Li wants political achievements? I'll shut down the entire province.

"Buzz—"

The muffled thud of Chu Yunfei slamming his hand on the iron pipe traveled wildly through the rock strata beneath Handong Province.

With a ruthless ambition to conquer the world, it forcefully pierced through the 30-meter-high physical barrier barbed wire fence at the edge of the provincial border.

On either side of the barbed wire fence are two completely separate worlds, one for the living and one for the dead.

On this side of the network, the area within Handong Province is as bright as day.

Holographic neon lights dyed the night sky a magical dark gold.

The "thump-thump" sound of underground pneumatic pipelines transporting supplies is like the steady, powerful beating of a heart.

On the other side of the internet, in the territory of Jiangnan Province, it was as dark as a bottomless pit of dead bodies.

Due to the complete shutdown of the Lingxiao-1 solid-state battery supply, the backup power grid in Jiangnan Province was completely paralyzed.

The entire province was plunged into a week-long physical power outage.

Without electricity, there is no water.

The official supply and marketing system has completely collapsed, and the RMB is so weak here that it's not even strong enough to wipe your bottom.

Tens of thousands of refugees from Jiangnan Province lay sprawled in the muddy ground outside the barbed wire fence.

Wang Gang is one of them.

His gray shirt was soaked with sweat and fermented, emitting a pungent, rancid smell.

He went hungry for four whole days.

The shriveled stomach walls felt like two rough pieces of sandpaper, rubbing and squeezing frantically inside my stomach.

The sour, putrid bile burned and scalded as it pushed upwards down the esophagus.

"vomit--"

Wang Gang gripped the mud tightly with both hands and gagged.

All that came out of his mouth were a few mouthfuls of bitter, yellowish liquid mixed with mud from the ground; it was disgusting.

The muscles in his groin were twisted into a tight knot, and he was cramping violently and uncontrollably.

The pain caused him to frantically chatter his teeth, making a series of small, cracking sounds.

But he didn't even have the strength to roll around.

Just then.

A powerful, penetrating aroma of meat and fat wafted in through the gaps in the wire mesh.

It went straight into Wang Gang's nostril.

Wang Gang froze, his eyes, filled with terrifying red veins, suddenly turned around.

On the other side of the Hantong border, a homeless man wearing a tattered jacket was sitting under a bright street lamp.

He was holding an insulated box that he had just received from the drone drop point.

The homeless man let out a burp and disdainfully pulled a piece of mutated pork chop with cartilage from the box.

"Damn, these ribs are a bit too dry."

The homeless man from Handong muttered something and tossed it aside.

"Clatter."

The mutated spare rib, dripping with glistening oil, crossed the warning line.

It landed precisely at the foot of the barbed wire fence on the Jiangnan Province side.

Steam rose, and the aroma of cumin from the roasted meat exploded in the dark night sky of Jiangnan Province.

This taste is more deadly than any potent poison in the world.

Wang Gang's Adam's apple bobbed violently.

"Gurgle, gurgle."

He frantically swallowed bloody saliva, his fingernails digging themselves off and into the mud.

On what grounds?

We're all human, but we're separated by a tattered barbed wire fence!

The homeless in Handong complain that the mutated pork ribs are too tough, so the people of Jiangnan Province have to lie in stinking ditches and eat clay?!

Physiological hunger and the psychological gap that feels like a devastating blow.

In that instant, the nerve fuse of the refugees in Jiangnan Province was completely ignited.

"I want to eat meat! I want to go to Handong!"

Wang Gang's voice cracked in two, like a wolf cornered in a desperate situation, letting out a shrill, broken howl.

He suddenly sprang up from the mud and water, gripping the electrified wire mesh tightly with both hands.

A high-voltage spark exploded instantly, sizzling and charring the skin on his palm.

The burnt smell is pungent.

But he felt no pain; his eyes were filled with a frenzied, man-eating madness.

"Go to Handong! We need Lord Yan! We need him to live!"

Tens of thousands of starving people in Jiangnan had bloodshot eyes.

Hunger overcame all fear of the authorities.

They lit mops and rotten wood, and holding torches, their flames flowing like a torrent of black water bursting its banks.

"Those bloodsuckers from the provincial committee don't care if we live or die! We'll go to Master Yan ourselves and ask for a way to survive!"

"Smash down the provincial government! Welcome Lord Yan into the pass!"

The roars of hundreds of thousands of people converged into a deafening thunderclap, completely shattering the darkness of Jiangnan Province.

The flames of the riot instantly illuminated half the sky over Jiangnan Province.

The Jiangnan Provincial Government Compound.

Angry mobs used stolen dump trucks to smash through the heavy iron gates of the provincial government building.

With a loud "boom", sparks flew everywhere.

"We want Master Yan! We want Lingxiao Points!"

The furious shouts mingled with the crackling of glass being smashed, rising in waves.

In the governor's office on the top floor of the provincial government building.

Zhou Zhengrong, the top official of Jiangnan Province, was curled up under his large mahogany desk like a dead dog.

There was no electricity in the house, and it was pitch black.

The firelight outside shone through the blinds, casting dappled shadows on his pale, paper-like old face.

"Bang! Clang!"

The bulletproof glass in the lobby on the first floor was smashed to pieces by rioters with hammers.

The dry, grating cracking sound echoed up the corridor like a death knell.

Zhou Zhengrong's bespoke shirt was already completely soaked with cold sweat.

The damp fabric clung to his back, chilling him to the bone.

"Well……"

He suddenly clutched his left chest tightly, his face contorted in pain.

My heart felt like it was being gripped tightly by a rusty iron claw, and then suddenly twisted.

The sharp, stinging pain made him gasp for breath, panting like a broken bellows.

I had a heart attack.

Zhou Zhengrong used both hands and feet, his hands trembling, to pull open the drawer.

He pulled out a small medicine bottle and pried open the plastic cap with his thumb.

My fingers were shaking so badly that I spilled the pills all over the floor.

He lay on the ground and licked two nitroglycerin pills into his mouth like a dog.

Without even water, they chewed on bitter pills, forcing them down their dry throats.

Before the medicine even took effect, heavy, chaotic footsteps could already be heard in the corridor outside the door.

"Zhou Zhengrong is on the top floor! Catch him and set him on fire!"

The roars of the mob were right next to us.

Zhou Zhengrong was so frightened that his bladder tightened suddenly, and his sphincter completely failed.

A stream of warm urine flowed down his trousers and into his leather shoes, the stench spreading under the table.

He completely broke down.

The authority of the authorities and the face of the system are no match for the hundreds of thousands of hungry mouths outside.

It's not even worth a fart.

With trembling hands, he pulled the red secure telephone, which connected directly to the capital's central government, from the table.

I dialed the wrong password three times before I finally got through.

"Beep...beep..."

On the other end of the phone came Mr. Xu's slightly tired, hoarse voice from Beijing.

"Zhengrong, what's the situation in Jiangnan Province...?"

"It can't be suppressed anymore! Old Xu! It's completely out of control!"

Zhou Zhengrong roared into the microphone, his voice cracking and filled with sobs.

Tears mixed with cold sweat covered my face.

"Hundreds of thousands of starving people have smashed up the provincial government gates! They want to skin me alive!"

Zhou Zhengrong's fingernails dug into the carpet so hard that red blood seeped from his curled-up nails.

"I beg you, relinquish power!"

He swallowed a mouthful of bile-tasting saliva and shouted out his last treasonous words with all his might.

"The people don't want us anymore! They're holding torches and trying to break down the city gates!"

"Old Xu! They're going to welcome Yan Qingfeng into the pass!"