People Believe in Shirou / Shirou's Opponent in the Election...

Seeing these people, Yamada felt a surge of desire within him to strive harder and live a better life.

"Yamada, we're here. Let's go in. Remember to keep your voice down, or Hans will get angry."

Tolstaya led Yamada around in circles and back to where they started.

"Yes...?"

The place Yamada was led into was the church's chapel.

The people around were sitting in chairs praying silently, while on the stage, a burly man with a thick beard, dressed in white, was bowing his head and praying towards the stained glass.

"I'm not fighting alone... Do we have enough ammunition?... Dinner's ready!" The burly man muttered these things.

"..."

"..."

"What is he saying?" Yamada asked the scarred-faced leader in a low voice, sounding puzzled.

"Hans is the most devout believer here. He worships Shirou, but he is illiterate, so he has memorized everything Shirou has ever said."

He felt that Shirou's words made a lot of sense. He wanted to pass on Shirou's words, to tell his son, his friends, and pass them down from generation to generation.

Yamada thought to himself, "Isn't this the most primitive form of religion?"

Shintoism, for example, existed before the introduction of Chinese characters to China. At that time, Japan did not have a written language, yet it still established the lineage of Amaterasu Omikami tradition. Even today, in modern times, some people in Japan still regard the Emperor line as descendants of the gods.

Now it all seems remarkable. But back in the beginning, when Japan was still an uncivilized tribe, it was only because one person believed it and then spread the belief to others that more and more people believed the story. Thus, a ghost story became the faith of the descendants of those people.

Thus the torch was passed down, though Shirou had no intention of doing so, nor did he intend to shatter the wishes of the people here.

After all, some people spontaneously organize themselves to do helpful things, and every household lives a happy and vibrant life in the church-centered, fenced-off community.

The outcome was good, so we can't say that what they did before was wrong.

At that moment, Shirou came out of the study and came to the church.

"Shirou is here."

Chapter 1141 People Believe in Shirou

"Shirou ~!" the children called out in their silvery voices.

"Mr. Shirou." The adults looked at him with trust and gratitude.

"Hello everyone, please sit down," Shirou said with a light laugh.

A burly man with a thick beard greeted Shirou, who had arrived at the preaching platform, and shouted to everyone:

"Quiet down, everyone. Shirou has something to say. Go and call the others over."

Soon after, the others were also called over, and the people in the church quieted down, turning their attention to Shirou.

Pairs of eyes looked at him with trust, and Shirou knew the weight he was bearing.

When he came into this world, he chose an even more difficult path: the City of Sin, the most evil and hopeless place in this world.

They could die just walking on the main road, and when gang fights broke out, the women had to brave gunfire to get to the market to buy their daily meals. Otherwise, their children, husbands, and elderly relatives would go hungry.

Gang members who had lost a battle had to stay away, otherwise they would be captured and used to vent their anger, especially young girls. Many of them were captured and then raped to death that very night.

The next day, he was thrown naked into a garbage dump.

The gangs that win battles are even more terrifying, although as victors they don't do things like bullying women and children that would lower their standing.

They would celebrate in the new territory they captured, showing off their power and stealing all the chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs kept by passing people.

Those caught between two gangs are destined for a nightmare of being manipulated by others.

However, even if you join, it doesn't guarantee you'll receive protection, since you can't ensure you'll always be on the winning side.

Even if you win, you can't be sure you'll be able to reap the rewards. If you die in the fight, then everything will have been for nothing.

In the entire city of Sin, the church is the only place where gang warfare has not occurred in the last ten years.

The person who made this miracle possible was Shirou himself, but now he has to break this miracle with his own hands.

"Listen to me, everyone. Next, this city will be holding an election for city lord, and I want to run for it. Making this city and this world a better place, and bringing happiness to all people, has always been my dream."

"This is very willful, but please help me. Let's work together to govern this city of sin and turn it into something like the church." Shirou looked at every face in the church and said slowly.

Shirou wouldn't force them, but when he made that decision, others were already destined to be drawn in. When people here reside in the church long-term, they become branded with the church's identity.

Even if Shirou doesn't admit it, the other gangs will think the same way. By participating in the election, they will be competing with the strength of Sin City.

Shirou himself is naturally not afraid of them, but it's hard to say about the others. They could face mortal danger at any time unless they can leave the City of Sin.

Shirou's statement revealed his thoughts, essentially telling everyone that the church, this haven that once brought them peace of mind, was no longer so safe.

There was a few seconds of silence, then thunder roared.

"Ooh ooh ooh!"

"We're finally going to get out of here!"

"Great! I've been wanting to do this for ages!"

"We'll take Shirou- sama's place!"

"Huh?" Yamada looked at the situation, somewhat confused.

While we know that Shirou is indeed remarkable, a true great man, his ambition to change the world is simply too lofty. Doesn't anyone have any doubts about it?

"Um... senpai?" Yamada asked the scarred-faced woman beside him, who was bowing her head in silence.

Tolstaya raised her head, her eyes sparkling, and said with great enthusiasm, "Excellent! Let's do it for Shirou! War!!!"

'There's someone even crazier over here!!' Yamada exclaimed inwardly.

"Hmm!" The blue-eyed black boy who had come over also pulled out his short machine gun and snorted with fighting spirit.

A few days later...

In an open area of the church, rows of straw targets were set up in the distance, with white and red wooden circles marked the fatal wounds.

Under the tutelage of the scarred leader, Tolstaya, Yamada has already learned how to shoot targets.

Yamada fired two shots, hitting the neck at a distance of over twenty meters. He smiled with a sense of accomplishment, squinting his eyes. He really liked this place; he was nowhere near as happy here as he was back in his hometown.

He only needed to follow the eldest sister's training in combat and guard duties, and help take care of the chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep. Although the daily meals were simple communal meals with little chance of seeing meat, they tasted exceptionally delicious.

If it were in a major city in Japan, you could open a vegetarian restaurant, attract a large number of vegetarian customers, and become a Michelin establishment.

The blue-eyed Black child kept hitting the bullseye, leaving a series of irregular holes connected together inside the smallest circle.

"Newbie, how's your training going? The battle might be starting soon!"

"Huh? Was I dreaming?" Yamada's smile froze, and he asked in confusion.

Yes, when things are about to happen, there's no stopping them, and it's impossible to avoid them. What Yamada is feeling now is just the calm before the storm.

At this time, in the community of Chinese merchant guild.

"Grandpa! Grandpa!"

The large sandalwood door was pushed open, and a young man ran in.

"What are you doing, being so rash! It's unbecoming," the old man muttered, looking at the young man.

"Alright, alright, isn't this just like you? If you weren't so unruly, I wouldn't have been born," the young man said, waving his hand.

"Hmph, speak! What news!" the old man said irritably. The visitor was his illegitimate son, whom he had in his seventies. Because he had a child late in life, he kept him by his side. However, to improve his reputation, he raised him as a grandson under one of his sons. He was really unreliable, but because he was very similar to himself back then, the old man still liked him quite a bit.

"The bishop sent word that he has agreed," the young man said excitedly.

"Very good! Notify those people to prepare." The old man's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he laughed heartily.

"Yes!" The grandson smiled like the old man, looking as sleazy as could be, and quickly ran outside.

Chapter 1142 Shirou's Election Opponent

Inside the church office.

Karen, the female assistant dressed in a women's suit jacket, and Tolstaya, the bodyguard, were sitting face-to-face with Shirou, discussing something.

"Shirou, are you ready?" Karen, the female assistant, asked. As an assistant, she could help receive guests and handle some affairs, but things like elections were, frankly, beyond her capabilities.

Even if she wanted to learn about this subject by reading relevant books, it wouldn't have any effect in the short term. Ultimately, even if she understood the political chaos of the neighboring superpower and grasped the true nature of politicians, it seemed unlikely to have any impact on this city.

After all, there's no place in the world more chaotic than this, and no scholars have personally come here to study and investigate the specific situation.

To outsiders, the City of Sin is like a stain on humanity—something they don't want to acknowledge or even see.

"Yes, the application has been submitted. We'll just have to take it one step at a time from now on." Shirou nodded. He knew Karen was a worrier, and her meticulous nature had helped the church a lot.

As the saying goes, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle." First, ensure your own invincible position, and then wait for an opportunity to defeat your opponent.

Utilizing intelligence, formulating plans, making assumptions, and preparing preventative measures are abilities she has acquired through her own efforts, but this time they may be difficult to use.

Because the biggest characteristic of Sin City is its chaos and disorder, at any moment someone might impulsively go berserk, someone might run away and betray the city, and then things would develop in ways that no one could have predicted.

For example, two gang leaders might get into a fight, threatening to kill each other's entire families, and then each take their henchmen to a place to fight. But what they really want is for someone to mediate, to give each other a way out and save face; it's just a formality.

However, some of his underlings were reckless and took their boss's angry words seriously, killing the people on the other side. Then the situation got out of control, and everyone started fighting each other.

The two gang leaders finally managed to control the situation, but at this moment, the second-in-commands of both gangs secretly conspired to stab their leaders in the back.

The second-in-commands thought they could finally take the top spot, but they didn't expect a third party to interfere.

Such things happen frequently in Sin City; after all, everyone is a fugitive, and every situation is unpredictable.

"Don't think about all that nonsense. When it really comes down to it, all we need to do is take them out! Once we've taken out the others, Shirou will be the boss." The scarred woman, Tolstaya, drew her gun and said menacingly.

As a veteran who survived the battlefield, she understood this truth.

You must defeat your opponent and kill them completely, or you will be killed yourself.

Use a gun, a grenade, a knife, whatever you choose.

Otherwise, women would not have been able to survive on the battlefield.

The battles on the battlefield are fair to everyone, but women and men are inherently different in terms of physical abilities.

Tolstaya once served in a women's unit during a special period, leading her female comrades, the oldest of whom were no more than twenty years old, in a fight against those crazy male soldiers who wanted to keep women locked up in houses and never let them out.

They had won and successfully driven those lunatics away.

However, Tolstaya's body was covered in scars, and several of her sisters had been captured. When they were found, only their lower body parts remained, filled with yellowish filth.

They're a bunch of hypocritical lunatics who keep demanding others to follow doctrines that benefit them, but they themselves never abide by the doctrines that are detrimental to them.

Before meeting Shirou, Tolstaya always thought that men were superfluous and dirty things.

However, Shirou told her that he wanted to build a world where everyone could be happy, where all women were free, could have equal dialogue, equal competition, and equal mutual assistance with men, so that together they could achieve a more ideal and happier tomorrow.

So she had made up her mind. Just for those words, she was willing to fight for Shirou, even if it cost her her life.

Of course, she's an action-oriented person, so leading soldiers in a charge on the battlefield is no problem for her. But developing detailed plans, down to a dozen or so hypothetical problems and anticipated solutions, is truly impossible.

Tolstaya shrugged, smiled at her female assistant, and said, "Anyway, I'll handle the fighting, but for the more specific details, you'll have to take care of them Helen."

"Well, let's talk about this election anyway." The female assistant Helen, pushed up her glasses and took out a thick stack of papers she had prepared.

The election of the Lord of the City of Sin is generally divided into three stages.

Initially, there was a preliminary election, in which members of each faction voted to elect their own candidate.

The pre-selection process varies among different gangs. Some directly elect gang representatives, while others elect candidates from gang alliances.

Some gangs are more traditional and believe that unity is the most important thing. They implement binding pre-elections, which stipulate that gang representatives must vote in accordance with the will of their gang members. Therefore, a gang will only nominate one candidate.

Some newly formed or merged gangs may have internal disputes, leading to each faction establishing its own territory and refusing to submit to the others, resulting in multiple candidates being nominated.

Just like the merchant groups in China, they are divided into many subgroups such as those in eastern and western Guangdong and southern Fujian. For example, the southern Fujian group is further divided into Jinjiang, Quanzhou, and Putian; eastern Guangdong is divided into Cantonese, Chaoshan, and Hakka. Even if they share the same written language and ethnicity, different rural languages can form different groups.

However, this time, under the leadership of Elder Hong Yan, the Chinese Merchant Guild seemed to have completely reached a consensus and wanted to jointly recommend Shirou.

Preliminary elections are usually held within each gang, and a certain number of votes are required to pass.

Sin City's gang selection system is arguably the least rigorous in the world; as long as someone votes, a gang can pass without any requirements. However, this is the most suitable system for the free-spirited and willful gang members.

Of course, candidates for city lord need to have the ability to balance the various factions within the gang, so they need rich political experience, or in other words, connections and status.

"Shirou has absolutely no problem with that!" Tolstaya slammed her hand on the table and said excitedly. In her opinion, Shirou had already won.

"No! In fact, the situation is extremely dire," Helen stated directly.

Chapter 1143 Punishing Bishop Sir Lang