Chapter 132: Arrival |
"..............."
For everyone present, this was an unimaginable sight.
In the middle of the Continental Congress hall, a representative who had been giving an impassioned speech was actually being arrested right on the spot?!
"Alright, gentlemen."
Levi waved the arrest warrant in his hand.
"Be gentlemen and come down on your own. Oh, right..."
As he spoke, Levi raised an eyebrow and looked at Adams.
"Mr. Adams, your speech just now was quite impressive, but I must correct your phrasing. This land..."
Levi pointed to the floor beneath his feet.
"You—!"
Faced with Levi's words, Adams clenched his fists and glared at him in a fury. Hancock stepped forward, placing a hand on Adams's shoulder to signal him not to act rashly. Then, Hancock fixed his gaze on Levi and spoke.
"Mr. Levi, could you give us a little time? We hope to talk with you. You might not understand the current situation in Merisia..."
"I am not here to engage in a war of words with you, nor am I interested in doing so."
Levi acted like a cold, calculating machine that only executed orders.
"The arrest warrant states very clearly that Samuel Adams and John Hancock have committed treason. My task is simply to arrest you both. As for what you have to say, I neither care nor concern myself with it."
"..............."
Confronted with Levi's indifferent response, Hancock was momentarily struck speechless. He had hoped the other party would grant them some time, allowing him and Adams to explain the reality of Merisia. Whether Levi sympathized or disapproved, he would at least represent the government's stance.
They might have even used this opportunity to sway the hesitant moderates.
But what Hancock never expected was that Levi would not take the bait at all, acting entirely as a ruthless executor.
"Now, please step down from the podium and surrender. Or would you prefer I walk up there and secure the handcuffs on your wrists myself?"
Levi put away the arrest warrant, pulled out a pair of handcuffs, and shook them at the two men. He did not utter a single word about the contents of the meeting, nor did he display any attitude. It was as if he had come here solely to arrest these two individuals, completely unconcerned about where he was or what was taking place.
"..............."
The two men exchanged glances. They were hesitant and completely unsure of what to do. They certainly did not want the man to walk up and cuff them in front of everyone, but to walk down willingly? Wouldn't that be tantamount to declaring their defeat?
No, or rather, they had already failed...
Adams lowered his head. The man who had been so impassioned moments ago was now as dejected as a defeated rooster. Hancock silently patted his shoulder without a word and walked toward the bottom of the podium. Down there, Levi stood at total ease, waiting for them.
"Wait."
However, right at that moment, another voice suddenly rang out. The two men looked up and saw Claiborne rising from his chair, gripping the railing with both hands as he glared coldly at Levi.
"This is the Continental Congress, not a place where the Queen's dogs can run wild! Men, seize him!"
As he spoke, Claiborne waved his hand, and several guards stepped out from the sides. Gripping their rifles with fixed bayonets, they marched toward Levi.
Almost simultaneously, a gunshot rang out.
"Bang!"
The gunshot echoed.
Claiborne's bloated body shuddered violently as a bloody hole appeared between his eyebrows almost without warning. His eyes widened as he stared at Levi—who now looked up at Claiborne, the handcuffs in his right hand having turned at some point into a smoking revolver.
Claiborne's body swayed before he flipped directly over the railing, crashing headfirst to the ground.
"Boom!!"
Seeing Claiborne turn into a corpse in the blink of an eye, everyone was dumbfounded, and the entire venue fell into a deathly silence. Even the guards, now gripping their weapons, grew pale, their legs trembling so much they looked ready to flee.
At this moment, Levi's voice rang out again.
"How disappointing."
Levi twirled Persuader, his gaze slowly sweeping across the surrounding crowd.
"On the territory of the Empire, in broad daylight, and before everyone's eyes, someone actually dared to resist Her Majesty the Queen's decree? Obstructing law enforcement? Is there no justice left? Is there no law?"
Levi's voice was exceptionally flat, as calm as if he were discussing the weather. Yet, in the entire main hall, not a single person dared to utter another word. Because Levi had already proven with practical action that he not only dared to act, but he also dared to kill! Anyone who dared to stop him would be killed!
Of course, Levi was not a cold-blooded monster. If it had been anyone else, he might have used alternative methods to threaten them, but who could have predicted that the one speaking out happened to be Claiborne?
Then Levi had no choice but to act.
Consider it avenging the victims within the Empire.
Sure enough, after Claiborne used his own life to demonstrate the consequences to the crowd, everyone else stopped talking. They also realized that Levi would not bother targeting the guards; instead, he would ruthlessly kill the person giving the orders. At least—in his presence, that was the case.
One only has a single life, and as mentioned before, those who came here were the mainstays of various industries.
Despite how passionately Adams had shouted earlier, acting as if it were 'give me liberty or give me death,' with their status, even if they went to a battlefield, they would be the last to die. If fortune favored them and they surrendered directly, they might even secure a way to live.
No matter the outcome, one could only have a future by staying alive.
As for Claiborne?
He would never have a future again.
Adams and Hancock walked down the podium with lowered heads and approached Levi. The latter once again tucked his gun away like a magic trick, produced the handcuffs to secure them one by one, and made a gesturing motion.
"Alright, gentlemen, let us go."
The two walked ahead dejectedly while Levi followed behind, seemingly unafraid that they might escape. The guards did not dare move either. Watching this bizarre scene unfold before their eyes, they did not know what to say. However, since no one else dared to speak up, they did not dare step forward on their own initiative either, only able to watch blankly as the group of three walked out of the venue.
"I must say, you truly have courage, Mr. Levi."
Stepping out of the venue, Hancock felt no more burdens. They were already cuffed, so what else could happen? Thus, he struck up a conversation with Levi as they walked.
"I never thought you would actually dare to pull something like this during the Continental Congress. Do you truly believe you can walk out of the gates of Feihat City alive?"
"Are you implying I cannot walk out?"
Levi chuckled softly, and Hancock decided to throw caution to the wind.
"Your methods are truly unexpected. However, doing this will only steel the Continental Congress's resolve to oppose the Empire. And I guarantee that when you step out of City Hall, it will be a completely different story."
"I do not see any problem with it. Now, please walk faster, do not dawdle and waste time here."
Levi remained entirely unfazed by Hancock's threat, while Hancock exchanged a glance with Adams and shook his head.
He did not believe Levi could pull off anything. Perhaps the man had already contacted the garrison stationed near Feihat City to meet him, but they themselves had received no such news beforehand. Moreover, if he truly came alone, in Hancock's view, it was fundamentally impossible for Levi to leave Feihat alive.
The Continental Congress would absolutely never allow such a thing to happen. After all, if they truly turned a blind eye to this, then any further talk about Merisia's struggle against the Empire would become completely meaningless.
Perhaps he and Adams no longer held value for the Continental Congress, but Levi acting this way was practically equivalent to spitting in the Continental Congress's face! They would definitely take action!
Hancock wanted to slow his pace, trying to buy as much time to think as possible, but Levi clearly did not care. Since Hancock and Adams were adults after all, they could not drag their feet like children. No matter how much they slowed down, the group of three finally arrived at the main entrance of City Hall and stepped outside.
"Wow!"
The moment the three walked out the main doors, they saw over a hundred fully armed militia raising their rifles, surrounding them in thick, dense layers.
"Thug, you entered the Continental Congress without permission and threatened elected representatives! Your crime is unforgivable!" Standing at the rear, the militia commander stared intently at Levi and shouted loudly. "Drop your weapons immediately and surrender with your hands up!"
"Unforgivable?"
Yet, faced with the militia commander's shouting, Levi's expression remained unchanged. He leaned calmly on his cane and stared back at them, as if the dark muzzles of the guns before him did not exist at all.
"As a representative, I carry an arrest warrant approved by Her Majesty the Queen, issued by Parliament, and signed by the Governor to apprehend criminals on imperial territory. What crime have I committed? Or rather..."
Levi stared at the militia, his gaze as calm as if he were looking at a group of dead men.
"Do you intend to rebel against the Empire?"
"Smooth-tongued! Release the prisoners immediately! Otherwise, we shoot!"
The militia commander clearly did not care about Levi's threat, merely roaring loudly. Seeing this scene, Hancock and Adams felt a secret surge of satisfaction. After all, Levi had been incredibly arrogant inside the congress just now, but now, no matter how capable he was, two fists were no match for four hands. They wanted to see how Levi planned to handle this many militia members.
However, just as the two looked toward Levi, they were surprised to find that Levi paid no attention to the barrels pointed at him, merely reaching into his clothes to pull out a pocket watch and check it.
"Hmm, the time is just about right."
"What are you saying? What is just about..."
"Buzz---!"
Before the militia commander could finish his sentence, a strange sound suddenly echoed. It sounded like the howling of wind, yet also like the vibration of the atmosphere.
Following that, a pitch-black shadow gradually materialized, blocking out the sunlight from the sky. Hancock and Adams looked up in surprise, instinctively glancing toward the sky, and then their eyes widened in astonishment.
In the nearby clouds, a monstrous iron structure breached through. Its appearance resembled an overturned ship, and its size was fully as large as a battleship. On both sides of the hull were four pairs of rapidly spinning propellers.
On the iron-forged hull, a hunting eagle with outspread wings held its head high, gleaming brightly under the illumination of the sun.
This was the technological crystallization of the Empire's steam industrial revolution, and the supreme trump card for the Empire's resurgence. The Royal Navy Third Fleet, the airship Cyclops, made its grand entrance.