Chapter 233: | 233 | TIMESKIP: Part Twenty One - The Relocation
Anyhow, the news regarding the relocation and the purge of gangs caused some commotion throughout the City of Dawn. It was a bit astounding as the government never seemed to be the type to enact such a reckless plan.
The reactions of newly-integrated beastfolks were also complicated. Some understood the reasoning of the World Government in handling the slums and the gangs within it. Others thought of it as a mismanagement of authority.
But the oppositions were silenced when it was revealed that the Dragon of Liberation had proposed of the plan. Regardless of their plans in democracy and freedom, power reign supreme and most weren\'t ignorant of the power that the Dragon of Liberation have.
After all, she was considered to be the strongest within the United World Government. Only the Authority could keep her on a tight leash, but from the looks of it, the Authority appears to support the purge in the slums of Dawn City.
Anyhow, the situation was far from simple. It was complex, and troublesome. But nevertheless, the dragoness was never the type to think of retreating against a peculiar problem. She was a dragon, the apex of nature itself. With the power to destroy a country on her own, she had weight.
Somewhere in the slums, the Dawn Police Department had began to barricade the surrounding area. The chaos that was about to unfold must be kept within. Afterward, numerous trucks containing swat teams entered the enclosed area to manage the relocation.
One after another, the settlers of the slums were forced to leave the confines of their homes. There was no mercy as the slight resistance would result in the armed personnel to arrest the perpetrator. After leaving their homes, they were lined up along with their memories and guided to their respective busses.
The destinations of such busses were newly-constructed districts that still had a number of jobs and a cheap real estate. The families or individuals would be given support upon their arrival, assuring that they would be integrated into the society of the World Government.
The process was strict as the gangs of the slums were known to be merciless in their ways. It would be too dangerous if a confrontation occurred amidst the relocation process of the settlers.
Amongst the settlers was a family of cayote beastfolk. The father of three children walked forward, with his wife holding into their kinds. The man was faced with a table, another beastfolk sitting in front of him. She was part of the immigration office, which was supposed to handle this job in their office.
Unfortunately, the immigration officer was deployed into the frontlines to assure the process of relocation in the slums. The slums was dangerous, everyone in the City of Dawn understood such simple fact. But nonetheless, it was their duty as immigration officers to handle it.
So, there was nothing she could do but accept it with a smile.
"Please fill up the following document, Sir. I will be processing your relocation." The immigration officer smiled at the father, who merely nodded with a tinge of anxiousness. The father filled through the document, ranging from his name to his most proficient skillset.
After filling up the document, the immigration officer accepted it with the same smile as before and checked some integral information before concluding the process. The information filled up in the document wasn\'t wrong. It directly correlated to the previous data regarding the individual before her.
"Alright, this should be it. Please get inside the bus 05. Your destination will be a newly constructed district." The immigration officer nodded at the father, who gave way to his wife. A coyote woman nervously walked up, beginning the same process as her husband.
The process went as smoothly as before, but sadly, the alarm rang up from behind. Several swat personnel moved through the lined crowd, apprehending a gang member who was strapped with explosives. How they manage to acquire such resource remained a question.
But nevertheless, the gang member was in an erratic state, threatening and cursing the authorities while holding a remote. The swat personnel surrounded him as the lined crowd became chaotic and tense at the sight of the encirclement.
"To think they would send a suicide bomber in the relocation processing camp. Here I thought they would be busy fighting against my men purging them from every nook and cranny of this place." A soft, seductive voice resounded, calming the tense crowd.
As the crowd heard her voice, they turned their attention towards the direction of such soothing sound. It was then they saw a gorgeous silver-haired lady with golden slitted irises. It was as though they were gazing upon a beauty sculpted by the deities themselves.
The beautiful lady had a silver-hair and radiant golden-irises with slitted pupils. The most prevalent of her appearance was the pair of dark horns protruding from her head along with a black dragon tail from behind her waist. It was at this moment when they realized who she was.
As if surrendering to their instincts, the crowd immediately kneeled as though a goddess from the heavens had descended into the lower world below their gardens. Before them was the Dragon of Liberation, a mythical figure, and most importantly, the Guardian of Dawn.
"Let me ask you a question. Do you wish to blow yourself up or not?" Laplace calmly asked, her words echoing throughout the camp. Silence perpetuated as the swat personnel surrounding the suicide bomber opened up, giving way to the dragoness.
The suicide bomber was a lone beastfolk, a young one at that. Probably a teenager. Kids are the most easily manipulated beings in reality. They believe everything in face value, making their views upon the world one-sided, not out of willing ignorance, but unknown ignorance.
The teenager who had recently arrived in the camp as a bomber felt shivers in his spine. His instincts were screaming at him to run as the one before him was a behemoth. Even if he exploded a thousand times, it wouldn\'t matter against the monster in front of him.
But... The people in front of him must pay!
Gritting his teeth, the lone beastfolk closed his eyelids and pressed the button on the remote. However, nothing happened. There was merely the pitch-black. He couldn\'t even open his eyes once again, forever succumbing to the blackness of eternity.
Meanwhile, in the present, the crowd watched as the bomber turned into nothing but dust with a single flick of a finger. The beastfolk practically disintegrated into nothing, leaving not a hint of his existence behind. It was a horrifying death.
Laplace narrowed her eyes and turned her gaze towards the crowd within the camp. The edges of her lips rose as she remarked. "Please don\'t mind the trouble. Continue filling up your documents for relocation. Staying here would be detrimental to your lives."
When the crowd heard her not-so-soothing words, they quickly nodded in agreement, not even thinking of disagreeing against the dragoness before them. There was nothing they could do as in the face of power. They were but mere insects.
Seeing that the relocation process continued without a problem, Laplace turned her attention away from the trouble that was dusted into oblivious. Taking out a phone from her pocket, she called for the command center of the Special Response Division, who were in the process of purging the gangs in the slums.
It didn\'t take long before someone from the other side answered her call.
*How may I help you, Major Laplace?*
"How is the current status of the operation?" Laplace questioned, wanting to know about the current progress of the Special Response Division. The communication operator from the other side paused for a short moment before responding to the question.
*Apologies, Major Laplace. The current status appear to be not up to satisfactory.* The reply of the communication operator made Laplace raised her eyebrows as she wondered about what the operator meant. "Please expound."
She needed to know why the progress wasn\'t satisfactory.
*The operation\'s progress is slowing down significantly due to the intense resistance of the gangs. The Special Response Division has only taken down one of the many gangs residing in the slums. There\'s also seems to be hesitance amongst beastfolk personnel.*
*Cases of personnel being stabbed by a suspect has been on the rise lately since the beginning of the operation. We are six-hours behind schedule.* The communication operator calmly reported to the dragoness of the Special Response Division.
"I see... Thank you for the overview." Laplace halted the call and sighed to herself. She didn\'t think that the problem would be far deeper than what she had initially thought. It was an issue that she herself never understood. Perhaps, she would have to inquire about it through her husband.
"Abraham might know a thing or two about it." She muttered while turning her gaze towards the slums. To think that such an invasive thing could have grown so fast in mere months. It was akin to cancer that would degrade society through generations of growth.
It must be solved, though she didn\'t know a different way other than dominion.