It had been 40 days since the fateful night.
Alex III was reading a few reports from his Minister of Dreams, a newly created position responsible for researching how dreams work.
He read on and smiled widely—it was great news!
The report stipulated that now, even those without a link to the other world wouldn't go crazy; they would only feel a little anxiety. They no longer reported void chasing them.
It is excellent news! After all, the palace had been resorting to killing the homeless to keep its guards; a few of the big cities already are kidnapping the innocent to treat the void-chasing problems of their soldiers. As for ordinary people who feel void chasing, if wealthy, they can buy 'death row prisoners,' which, in fact, are just poor people kidnapped by the army, to kill. As for those who don't have money, they would be killed as soon as found.
No matter which world, equality is just talk; money determines fate; now, it's more evident than ever.
Inequality starts from the moment of birth and persists to the moment of death. Some people are born smart, and some are born dumb. Some are born with rich parents, and some are born in families that even struggle to provide food. Some are born with healthy physical bodies, and some with illness.
No matter which area, inequalities are everywhere.
Good countries try to equalize the playing field with fair laws.
Alex County, however, was not on the short list of good counties.
Even before the disaster, they had been making no effort to help poor children to be able to have the same opportunities as wealthy children; at most, they tested them for their military talents and sent them to military academies for free.
Even before all this, inequality was everywhere.
Now, it's a hundred times worse, to the point that Alex III started to be a bit worried about an insurrection against him.
That's why he ordered everyone to make more effort to hide the horrors of killing poor people to keep the rich alive.
Another of his secret orders was to identify those who could be troublesome or dare to speak against him and catch them; they would be killed later to treat void-chasing.
Alex III hated wasting things; he even found a way to use those damn troublemakers! His Minister praised him to the heavens when they heard of his brilliant plan.
But, even with all of that, if the problem of void chasing persisted, there would have remained no choice but to start catching the middle class and using them to treat void chasing.
That would have significantly increased the risk of rebellion; after all, the soldiers' families are mostly middle class.
Now, with the void-chasing problem gone, everything would be much easier.
On Five Star's side, despite all of Alex Kingsom's efforts, the death rate remained high. But now, without the void, things would start to get better.
The reason the death rate was so high mainly had to do with crazy people killing others because of void-chasing madness.
Without it, things could start getting more stable.
The only thing that worried Alex III now was Rob.
That weak-willed young man is exploring outside every day; it is only a matter of time before he joins a group.
Alex does not want that to happen, so he has been working hard to control nearby gangs.
So far, he had found doppelgangers of two of the five gang leaders of the 'Five Dragon' gang.
Sebastian is working day and night to force them to surrender.
"When I take control of Five Dragon, even if Rob decides to join a group, I could take countermeasures."
The best-case scenario is for Rob just to stay where he is. With Five Dragons in tow, Alex could provide enough food.
But if Rob decides to join a gang, Alex would have no choice but to use his influence to kill Ron.
There is no other way; Alex would not let Rob have any contact with anyone else.
Putting these thoughts aside, Alex then ordered his Minister of explorations to come.
The Minister of Exploration is responsible for mapping the kingdom and its borders.
The position is held by Willian VI, one of the loyal and trusted servants of Alex III.
After a while, he knocked and entered.
"Your Majesty?" he bowed.
"Bill, lately, we have been thinking of something," Alex III said with his kingly tone. He usually only used his kingly style when giving speeches to crowds, but he was using it now for some reason.
He continued, "If this dream thing proves something, it's that the supernatural exists!" he said intensely.
There had never been any supernatural in the world.
There were superstitions and legends but no evidence.
But now, nobody could dispute its existence.
For Alex, this was a great thing!
People could live up to 500 years. It's not that they definitely would live to 500; in fact, most would die before 200.
But with treasured food and nutrients, one could live up to 500. Alex, with all his riches, of course, has enough precious food to live up to 500.
However, everyone would still die; even Alex, with all the wealth in the country, could not live past 500.
But that was before. Now, with the knowledge that things beyond imagination really exist, Alex has an urge to discover a new path—a path to immortality.
Willian VI nodded. "Your Honor, I had the same thoughts; however, I have not been able to discover anything supernatural, not counting the dream," he said with his head down.
Alex sighed and said, "After today, you are our secret agent responsible for looking for the supernatural. We will grant you resources and people."
Willian VI hesitated to say something.
"Say it!" Alex III demanded.
Willian VI started with a sigh. "Your Highness, your humble servant may not be the best person for such an important task."
Alex waved his hand. "This is our order, so even if you truly are not the best person, you shall become the best person. Now go and get ready. Your first destination is the Black Soil Forest."
The Black Soil Forest is on the west border of Alex's kingdom; it's part of the West Forest Country.
Technically, Alex's kingdom cannot just send explorers to another country's territory. But that was before they conquered the Spikes. After absorbing many gains from them, they are much stronger, and more importantly, nobody dares to provoke them.
Even if Alex's kingdom sends explorers directly to the capital of the West Forest, they still probably wouldn't dare say anything, let alone an isolated forest.
There have been many rumors about the Black Soil Forest, but until now, nothing supernatural has been found.
Willian VI bowed deeply and left.
Alex III stood up.
He started walking to the library again; he had finished his last book and wanted to read another. Alex III has been a bookworm from a very young age.
...
Rob has been doing exactly three things in the last three weeks: 1- getting resources from the supermarket, 2- eating, and 3- sleeping.
Just a week ago, however, he noticed other people around when he went to get supplies from the supermarket.
He considered himself lucky they didn't show up when he was present.
Even though he has a gun and knows how to shoot, he doesn't like conflict. The last time he shot someone was because they attacked him, not that he enjoys killing people.
When he killed Rand, he felt terrible for a long time, but when he shot the man who was coming at him with a big knife, he didn't think twice, nor did he feel bad.
He was surprised at his lack of remorse.
In movies he watched, people would get depressed and feel remorse when they killed people, even in self-defense.
But, he felt nothing.
Deep down, he even felt a bit of pride in himself.
Ordinary people couldn't kill others and feel nothing.
Maybe it's because he feels it was justified, or perhaps killing is becoming routine for him.
After all, even as he walked on the street daily, he saw many rotting corpses. Death and murder are everywhere now.
In any case, it doesn't mean he likes it, let alone that he was outnumbered.
So, he returned quietly; since then, he has just stayed and done nothing.
The past few days were so dull that he had second thoughts about running away from that supermarket; maybe he should have tried fighting and killing them.
There was no power, internet, or interesting books, and nobody he could talk to. It was like solitary confinement in prison, maybe a bit worse; after all, there is no guard to curse here.
His only pastime is reviewing Alex's memories every hour.
He started thinking about Alex's kingdom because he had nothing else to do.
"I wish I could have gone there!" he thought.
From Alex's memory, he can see clearly that Alex's kingdom has it much better. At least they still have a stable government.
He sighed and started touching himself again.
These days, It is the only interesting thing he has to do besides reviewing Alex's memories; as for Alex seeing it all, Rob doesn't give a damn anymore.
...
Five Star Country is gone in all but name.
Sure, the government still controls some parts, but most of it is now ruled by gangs.
Gang leaders are usually the previous mayors, governors, billionaires, and, in some cases, criminal organizations.
The City of Salt River was such a city.
After the government collapsed, Mayor Johnson took over the remaining local police department, and with the help of 'volunteers,' they stabilized things as much as possible. Recently, the feeling of void chasing has been appearing less and less.
Before, they had been focusing entirely on 'fixing' those who felt void-chased, but now, they finally have the time to start thinking about other long-term problems, like food and water.
For food, the mayor ordered the new 'Security Guard Force'(SGF) to go to all supermarkets and bring supplies; this time, they looked everywhere carefully to not miss anything.
He also ordered looking for ground for farming; the canned food would not last forever.
For water, there is no good solution.
It does rain here, so they will probably have enough water in the fall and winter, but in summer, it's a problem.
The river near the city has salty water, so they can get it and, with the help of the sun, make drinkable water.
However, to make enough that can satisfy thousands, a lot of infrastructure has to be built. It's fall, and they have a few months to do it.
The mayor ordered them to start now to ensure nothing goes wrong.
One other problem is neighboring groups.
Salt Lake City is small; it had 20,000 people before the disaster; now, at most, 10,000 live here, and this is after many people from the affluent neighborhoods nearby came and took refuge.
The death rate was absolutely astonishing.
But, in the end, Salt Lake is relatively small.
The gang to the south, Five Dragons, has more than 100,000.
Mayor Johnson isn't against unity, but unity with Five Dragons is like surrendering to the devil.
They are gangsters.
After the disaster, the biggest gangs in the city came together and took over the police stations, government buildings, gun stores, and with lots of weapons, the remaining government forces surrendered.
After the fall of the government, Mayor Johnson was depressed for a while. It happened so quickly.
They collapsed so swiftly that he cursed at their incompetence every day. Without a universal government, many people would die for nothing.