Chapter 1520 - 495: World of Chaos (Part 2)

Chapter 1520: Chapter 495: World of Chaos (Part 2)

It’s really hard to part with.

"Do big things, do big things, Miles!"

"Look at the filthy business those CS did in Atlanta; it’s already blown up. Who in the world can tolerate those involved?"

Lin Miao’s voice lingered in her ear

"To do great things, it’s either great success or great defeat. Either don’t do it at all, or do it thoroughly; there’s never a middle path."

"If you want to be emperor, you must be ruthless enough. Look at those Roman emperors; which one wasn’t riding atop the Senate? Miles, aren’t you aware of how Rome was finally destroyed? Wasn’t it those senators meddling that led to Rome’s division?"

"Do you remember how the United States fell apart, Miles? Wasn’t it because key positions were controlled by those people, leading to the collapse of the beacon of democracy?"

Miles’ heart was fiercely struggling amidst Lin Miao’s words

Bold in speech but timid in action, prone to scheming but indecisive, doing big things but cherishing oneself, seeking small gains at the cost of one’s life

If she could have hardened her heart back then, relying solely on a Kujira, Huang Ban could never have crossed the ocean to defeat Military Technology, nor leave Hansen as a future trouble.

How could she now give up her attained status to throw Lin Miao out?

————

Under intentional instigation, the events in Atlanta were rapidly ignited.

The cult intelligence collected by Li De and his team during this period swept across North American public opinion like a tidal wave, exploding like a thunderclap in everyone’s ears.

"I’ve been saying for ages the Vaughn family has a tradition of cannibalism, but nobody believed me."

"My neighbor’s kid went missing in the south last year; maybe he’s on that island....."

"Unbelievable, it’s already the year 2078 and people are still doing such things..."

"We actually have them here, but we never dared to speak out before. My parents even made me join in..."

A flood of related news rapidly spread like a virus, especially in the northern states already controlled by Lin Miao, catching southern local forces off guard.

Many things weren’t really considered an issue locally; burning a person or even eating a child wasn’t unusual. Entire towns of cultists were common in the central wasteland states, and targeting passersby happened frequently.

But the trouble was that these things couldn’t be exposed under sunlight. Cults are cults because they’re not presentable. Once exposed, facing societal scrutiny, they must confront traditional morals.

Without a weighing scale, there are no two or three pounds; once weighed, even a thousand pounds can’t withstand.

No major modern religious doctrine dares to openly include cannibalism, fire sacrifices, or plundering; even Mormons hide matters like polygamy, let alone you all?

And when this matter was exposed, Americans realized in horror that the upper class treated them as food and livestock, not just one or two, but almost the entire upper class: famous lawyers, actors, tycoons, family dynasties, anyone notable was involved....

As if whenever needed, they could grab themselves or their children to some unknown island or underground cavern for dinner.

Reiterating, this is not the realistic United States; there’s no "I am the city on the hill" self-importance, nor the ability to catch a small country’s president today and stroll in the Middle East tomorrow to divert domestic issues.

Weak nations don’t have avenues to externally shift contradictions.

Furthermore, societal and class contradictions have accumulated for decades; the bloody conflict between the lower and upper classes has been consistently displaced onto middle-tier company workers.

The reform pushed by the Federal Government exacerbates these contradictions, with big government, universal employment, and state enterprises being utterly unacceptable to local enterprises and powers.

However, direct grassroots engagement by the Federal Government, explaining policies to ordinary people, and using the City of the Night and Detroit as demonstration examples almost nullifies their ability to use local media dominance to distort facts or create large-scale noisy events to cover up as before.

The rising Lin Miao not only gained significant prestige from war but was inherently an outsider to this political circle, thus disrupting without scruples. With no leverageable scandal, not even accepting program invitations, he insisted: if there’s an issue, raise it on my show, otherwise, don’t blabber.

And during such times, he enlisted numerous young dissenters from the middle and lower classes, corporate outcasts, bankrupt indebted capitalists, abundant in manpower, funds, and firearms.

The public relations and media departments below were overwhelmed, unsure of what press release to use for damage control.

For a moment, chaos engulfed the United States.

But it’s still insufficient, a final spark is needed.

The populace is merely enraged, but anger alone isn’t enough; there needs to be someone to rally them.

This person cannot be the Federal Government, nor Lin Miao, as the Federal Government has been weak in the locality for years, and Lin Miao is already at a high position.

What is needed is someone with immense popular esteem, someone whose call-to-action would be answered by everyone, something often referred to as an opinion leader, like Li Dazhao from the Republic era.

But Lin Miao couldn’t find such a person, yet there happened to be something that could substitute.