Chapter 172: The Scholar Uprising
Author: Clare Felix
last update2026-01-29 23:46:17

The protests began spontaneously three days after Zane's death, sparked by a single photograph that went viral across every social media platform: the wreckage of the Istanbul warehouse, and written in the rubble—whether by chance or by Zane's deliberate arrangement—the words "3.4M SAVED" spelled out in debris visible from satellite imagery.

By day two, demonstrations had erupted in forty-seven cities worldwide.

By day three, they were calling it the Scholar Uprising.

Adrian watched the feeds from the command center, overwhelmed by the scale. These weren't organized protests with permits and schedules—they were spontaneous gatherings of people who'd decided enough was enough. Students, workers, refugees, families. All demanding the same thing: that governments stop blocking poverty elimination efforts.

"This is unprecedented," Elena reported, pulling up crowd estimates. "São Paulo: 200,000 people. Lagos: 150,000. Manila, Mumbai, Jakarta—all showing massive turnout. And these are confi
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