Mystery: My Encounters with the Celestial God

Chapter 578 Susie: King Hall, Lu Enxing

"Breaking news! Breaking news! The Aurora Society, a terrorist organization, has claimed responsibility for the Earl's assassination."

"Breaking news! Breaking news! An assassination attempt has been carried out on a nobleman of the kingdom, suspected to be closely linked to the current King George Augustus III!"

"The king will surely shoot himself in the foot," said Countess Hall, declaring that she would fight to the very end!

Backlund was like a powder keg pushed to its limit; if a spark were to ignite, it would explode into dust with a deafening roar.

Unlike the oppression of war, economic depression in peacetime cannot divert attention from external conflicts.

The World Peace Corporation is enormous, and countless businessmen and workers rely on this behemoth for their livelihood.

With the company's suspension, countless small and medium-sized enterprises quickly teetered on the brink of bankruptcy.

With factories shutting down and prices skyrocketing, all the unemployed and bankrupt people, under the covert guidance of certain individuals, took to the streets, holding up signs to protest the King's decree to close the World Peace Company.

"Protect conscientious businesses and defend the sovereignty of the people!"

"George III, step down! We need a new king!"

"Resist royal privileges! We want bread!"

Sodrak Palace.

George Augustus III listened calmly to his subordinates' report.

But as He listened, His expression suddenly changed, and He realized that He seemed to have fallen into some kind of extremely troublesome trap.

"The World Peace Company has a hidden security department armed with guns, and they didn't put up any decent resistance at all. So that's what they were waiting for me to do..."

"Hmph, childish."

After a couple of seconds, George III stopped pacing back and forth, a cold smile playing on his lips:

"They want to create chaos in Backlund, to put immense pressure on the royal family so that order is lost and riots break out."

"Ha, if I were just a Sequence 5, I would definitely worry about similar issues, but alas..."

Those illiterate workers pose no threat to an angel. As long as the anchor remains unaffected, I will still be the King of Rune once everything calms down.

Silently adding the second half of the sentence in his mind, King George Augustus III of Rune gave the order in a detached tone:

"Have Emilius send troops to arrest all the ringleaders of the uprising. Since they want chaos, we must suppress them quickly and prevent them from gaining momentum!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

………………

"Damn it, George III, I'm going to kill you!!!"

Inside Dawn Dantes' mansion, Klein stared wide-eyed at the financial report handed to him by the butler, his eyes practically bleeding.

After a full week of shutdown, the bicycle factory not only failed to make a profit, but its market value plummeted due to the military blockade, resulting in a loss of £1658.

Including the £1000 produced each week, in just one week, Klein lost a full £2658 without doing anything.

"That much money is just wasting it!"

"I paid my taxes, why are you sealing my account too?!"

Klein looked extremely dissatisfied, unable to control even the Joker's extraordinary abilities.

He sighed, turned to look at the Amon clone beside him, and said:

"What, you, the workers' leader, aren't you going to say a few words?"

"Instead of wasting your time here, you'd be better off going back to your guild and taking charge."

Upon hearing this, Shi Tian shrugged and said helplessly:

"It's also been sealed off by the military..."

Should!

Klein felt a moment of relief, but his expression remained worried. He glanced at Amon and said:

"Are you just going to stand by and do nothing?"

"You are the King of Angels, the son of the Creator, the Angel of Time—don't let me down!"

"Ha, Klein, you don't need to try to provoke me like this. Standing with a liar like you is the most embarrassing thing I've ever done in thousands of years."

"Besides, this show doesn't need our involvement at all. That guy has been creating class conflict all along, enough to fill the streets—the merchants and workers marching are proof of that!"

At this point, Amon paused, adjusted his monocle, and said cheerfully:

"Instead of wasting your time, you'd be better off worrying about that witch; she should be leveling up by now..."

Upon hearing this, Klein quickly interrupted:

"Wait, when did you become so concerned about my affairs?"

Seeing Amon become enthusiastic, Klein felt that something was off about the nine points.

"Truly a top-notch con artist; in just one week, he managed to gain my slight trust..."

Inside the study, Klein watched Amon warily, fearing that the scoundrel would once again exploit his meager trust to deceive him.

"I seem to remember that you'll be out of the picture from now on..."

Upon hearing Klein's words, the Time Angel feigned a sorrowful expression.

"Klein, I've helped you so much, don't you trust me at all?"

"I can't trust a single thing."

"..."

Amon's sorrowful expression froze for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal.

"Sigh~ It was my father's instruction. He asked me to help you out when I had time. It's not surprising, he has an extremely serious case of mysophobia."

"Oh, you're quite the filial son..."

Klein silently scoffed at the statement, remaining somewhat skeptical.

After ending his conversation with that scoundrel Amon, Klein walked to the window and gazed into the distance.

There seemed to be gunshots and flashes of light there.

………………

Glancing at the gray, increasingly dark sky, Audrey's maid, Anne, whispered in her ear:

"Miss, it's getting late. We should go home, or Madam and Master will worry."

"Annie, but there are still so many people..."

Looking up at the seemingly endless queue, Audrey instinctively declined her maid's offer.

Perhaps it was her innate kindness, or perhaps it was her desire to make up for some of the guilt in her heart, but this girl, who had been personally distributing food and medicine every day for nearly a week, appeared exceptionally resilient.

"Miss, but, but..."

The maid wanted to persuade him again, but the golden retriever, having already received a signal from his eyes, suddenly became extremely unruly.

Susie let out two howls and darted into a corner like a wild dog let loose.

Seeing this, the personal maid Annie had no time to continue trying to persuade Susie and followed in her footsteps.

"You, you are Countess Hall? You look so young, exactly as described in the newspapers."

"Thank you, thank you so much. It's such a kind person to help us at a time like this. If it weren't for you, my child and husband would probably have starved to death..."

Suddenly, a feeling of gratitude, complex and nuanced, reached her ears. Audrey snapped out of her reverie and looked at the woman in front of her, who appeared to be in her forties or fifties. She smiled gently and said:

"You're welcome, it's what I should do."

She picked up a package of supplies and handed it to the woman in front of her, whose temples were slightly gray.

"Sigh... The king doesn't care about our lives at all. If only you were the king."

"Perhaps in this way, the factory won't be shut down, and no one in the family will starve to death or end up on the streets."

"You are truly a kind, compassionate, and excellent nobleman."

After receiving the supplies, the old woman exclaimed loudly.

Her lament resonated with many, prompting a response from those queuing for relief.

"Exactly, exactly. In my opinion, Countess Hall is more fit to be our king."

"The current king doesn't care about our lives at all, unlike Countess Hall."

"Ha, he's completely unfit to lead Rune, and he wouldn't care about the lives of people like us from the middle and lower classes. Otherwise, he wouldn't have shut down the company, and I wouldn't have gone bankrupt!"

In the crowd, a man in his thirties, dressed in an old suit with bloodshot eyes, who looked like a businessman, shouted loudly.

His heartfelt words resonated even more deeply, and before Audrey could react, another voice shouted:

"If it weren't for this selfish king, my company wouldn't have gone bankrupt, and my wife wouldn't have succumbed to illness and died."

"Thankfully, God sent Countess Hall to save us, otherwise I have no idea how I would feed my six-year-old child!"

"George III is unworthy to be the King of Loen!"

Upon hearing this, Audrey's lips twitched by a single pixel, and as a viewer, she immediately sensed something was wrong.

"This... I didn't pay anyone to do this... Could it be Mr. Ron? No, this kind of behavior is more like my dear father. How embarrassing."

"Yes, given the current situation, although the entire Backlund is already under immense pressure, it still needs a spark..."

"While my assassination attempt last week greatly accelerated this process, we can't entirely rely on the enemy in this way. Am I supposed to assassinate myself?"

Audrey muttered to herself, but outwardly continued to comfort the discontented crowd. Relying on her unique prestige, the entire relief point quickly calmed down again.

Just then, a commotion arose in the distance. Audrey had just handed food and water to the workers who had lost their jobs when she heard someone shout:

"By royal decree, illegal gatherings are strictly prohibited. Disperse immediately, or you will be prosecuted according to the law!"

"Royal Decree."

"Royal Decree."

A government official, dressed in formal attire and of a bulky and obese physique, stood on the left side of the carriage and shouted three times in a row. Behind him, two burly soldiers carrying revolvers immediately gripped their weapons, and their breathing seemed to become slightly heavier.

These words were like igniting a raging fire in an armory, instantly threatening to escalate the situation that the noble lady had just managed to calm down.

"Why would the king do that!?"

"Why should we leave? I'm out of money; I can't even afford a black bread anymore!"

"You fat pigs, are you even going to take away our last chance to live?!"

The sound was so powerful that it instantly overwhelmed the government officials who came to disperse the crowd.

He shuddered, clearly startled. Although he had anticipated this situation before coming, he hadn't expected it to be so serious.

"Why do I have to do this lousy job? Damn Emilius Levitt, where are your troops? Where are your Backlund Defence Force? Even if you don't have troops, sending a few dozen policemen would have been fine!"

The government official felt a bitter taste in his mouth and began to curse his superior's superior's superior's superior in his heart. He clearly realized that this was a job that would offend many people.

If there were an army, he would surely become the king's most loyal follower. The problem is that the Minister of Defense, who was deeply trusted by the king, only assigned him two soldiers to protect his personal safety.

This is going to kill me!

At that moment, facing the angry crowd that surrounded him, he shouted with a strong will to survive:

"This wasn't my idea; it was the king's decree. Go find him if you dare—it was all his idea!"

At this moment, Audrey, who had already sensed the chaos, pushed her way through the crowd and calmly asked:

Why did the king do this?

How would I know why the king would do that?

The government official was taken aback. He looked at the crowd around him who had suddenly become restrained, and then at the countess who had been frequently featured in the newspapers recently.

For a moment, he felt that if he couldn't explain himself now, he would probably be beaten to a pulp by the angry mob.

If not now, when?

His fat face was covered in cold sweat. A good idea quickly formed in his mind, and he shouted loudly with trembling lips:

"The king is unhappy with the chaos in Backlund and is worried that it will affect his image if other countries see it. Therefore, he has sent troops to suppress the riots."

"This has nothing to do with me; these are all decrees issued by the King, and I am merely relaying them!"

The government official swallowed hard. As a competent official, he naturally knew how to shift the blame in order to appear innocent.

Upon hearing such an answer and such an absurd reason, the already dissatisfied and agitated crowd descended into chaos once more.

Audrey Hall raised her arm, gesturing for silence, and asked with a hint of sarcasm:

"For such a reason, he wants to kill those poor people. Don't you know what this food means to them?"

"Horse, Countess Hall, yes, the King doesn't know."

The government official answered tremblingly, feeling the piercing stares of the crowd around him, and gritted his teeth as he continued to fan the flames:

"The king also said, 'Since these people can't afford black bread, why don't they eat meat?'"

This statement ignited the crowd's discontent and anger, and a wave of shouts erupted. Even Audrey, who was just an "audience member," couldn't contain herself in the face of such a scene.

"However, there's no need to suppress it anymore."

Seeing the increasingly chaotic crowd, Countess Hall pursed her lips, forcibly calming her turbulent emotions, and climbed onto the carriage, shouting loudly:

"Everyone!!!"

The next moment, everyone's eyes were focused on her.

"I'm going to the palace to see the king and ask him why he did this. Who among you is willing to come with me and ask our king directly?"

At this moment, the atmosphere had reached its climax, and there was no need for Audrey to comfort them or to listen to the crowd's response.

Countess Hall jumped off the carriage. She took a step forward, and the crowd behind her followed with a step, their steps in perfect unison with a rhythmic order, like the resounding beat of a drum.

Throughout Backlund, this change wasn't limited to this one place; crowds came from all directions—bankrupt merchants, oppressed workers who couldn't stand up straight.

They are mothers who have lost their children, fathers whose children have been taken away, teenage girls who have been kidnapped and sold to brothels, homeless people struggling on the edge of life and death and being chased away by the police, and people who are dissatisfied with the rules of this kingdom.

Even for those who lived in the past, fate remained a mystery.

The crowd surged forward, word spreading from one to ten, from ten to a hundred, from a hundred to a thousand, and from a thousand to ten thousand, until finally over a hundred thousand people joined this massive procession.

During this process, the slogans of the entire demonstration changed repeatedly, from the initial "questioning the king" to "the king should step down," and finally, a dog barked from somewhere.

"Woof! Augustus has stepped down, and Queen Hall is in power!"

"Queen Hall!"

"Queen Hall!"

Audrey walked at the front with a straight face, feeling the cheers and trust from the crowd behind her. While she felt warm inside, she also got goosebumps all over her body.

You have really caused me a lot of trouble!

(End of this chapter)