Empire of Shadows

In the dimly lit corner of the club, Liam sat in the shadows, a place he preferred.

Observing others from where he couldn't be seen was a hobby of his, or perhaps a form of caution.

Among Camilla's seven high-ranking executives, each had their own distinct characteristics.

His personality wasn't particularly flamboyant. Perhaps he had witnessed too many terrible things, and he could no longer be as full of fiery passion as ordinary young people. In truth, he wasn't even old, just in his thirties.

Having joined the Camilla gang for over a decade, he had, to some extent, achieved his initial Federal dream: money, a house, and social status.

But human greed is never satisfied. Once one gains something, they become arrogant and insatiably crave more. Greed is a venomous snake that devours people's hearts and their reason, amplifying all desires.

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He had seen some people fall into the abyss because of greed and desire. He could only try to keep himself calm, but he couldn't avoid being greedy or having desires. No one could.

He picked up his glass and took a small sip of wine. On the stage of the strip club, two girls were energetically performing skillful dances, while the regulars around them drank and chatted.

This was the Imperial District, the Camilla gang's stronghold. Even if the Imperial District branch had a major operation, they would be notified in advance, so he wasn't worried about anyone disrupting their business.

However, he had recently heard that the Bureau of Dangerous Goods Management had been established. This department would have great power and would focus on cracking down on the smuggling, storage, sale, and use of cigarettes, alcohol, and dangerous goods.

This gave him a bad feeling. If they couldn't sell alcoholic beverages here, they would lose a lot of customers.

Nearly half of the sales came from impulsive spending after customers had too much to drink.

Before getting drunk, who the hell would be willing to spend far more than the cost of a streetwalker just to have a female dancer dance a little longer for them?

He pondered some future possibilities, trying to sort out the development of the situation. He crossed his legs, and the shirt sleeves extending beyond his suit jacket were rolled back, making his clothes look somewhat exaggerated, but also trendy.

The music in the hall wasn't intense, but very soothing, matching the girls' gentle and relaxed movements perfectly.

One could even see people's desires being ignited little by little, bursting into flames!

There were live musicians performing. In fact, no one had expected that these people, besides being skilled cotton pickers, would also have good musical talent.

After thinking about other things for a while, Liam began to consider some of the "private orders" for the evening.

Some important figures wouldn't come to this kind of place, but they would have some normal or perverted needs, which required arranging for girls to be sent over.

These orders were all expensive. Those big shots didn't care how much money they spent; they only cared about whether they could discover the deepest desires in their hearts!

He had once sent a girl to a priest.

Just as he was thinking about how to arrange the evening's schedule, hurried footsteps interrupted his thoughts.

He put down his glass and looked at the person walking towards him, one of his subordinates. The man finally stopped not far from him, "Liam... they made a call saying that Robert has defected to Lance, and he probably already knows your plan."

Liam was stunned for a moment. "I understand," he said, picking up his glass and drinking it in one gulp. "Notify everyone to go to the villa for a meeting."

"Also, find someone to take care of Robert. I don't like having traitors around."

Businesses generally don't store large quantities of weapons, as it would be troublesome if they were found.

In different regions of the Federation, owning legal weapons is not easy, and criminal groups like them often use weapons to commit illegal and criminal acts.

If they used registered weapons, it would be like telling others that they did it. They, like other large gangs and families, used black market guns.

The weapons were stored in his villa. He then got up and walked towards the door, saying as he walked, "Don't forget the orders for tonight. I won't be here, so you must keep a close eye on things for me."

The two walked to the door, and the waiter had already opened the door for him. He looked at the manager, "If you make my customers unhappy, I'll send you to my customers and let them figure out how to make them happy!"

The manager nodded. Although he knew this was a threat and not something he would actually do, he was still a little scared.

The desires of those rich guys are okay when they're normal, but some people's desires are abnormal. They don't simply need to vent their desires through complicated 'sex'.

Some people like to hit people, some like to hurt others, and some even... The manager didn't want to end up at the bottom of Angel Lake after just one night, so he quickly assured, "Liam, I haven't just started working for you. Don't worry, there won't be any problems."

Liam nodded, patted his cheek, and left the Red High Heels Club.

Standing on the steps at the door, he habitually looked around. Good, there was nothing that made him uneasy. He walked towards the blue car parked by the side of the road.

This was a new model car, and its appearance had changed somewhat from past cars.

First, it eliminated the dome and changed to a convertible, and the front of the car was longer and more streamlined.

All four wheels had wheel covers, and the overall color was blue, with a small portion being ivory white, which made it look particularly high-end and comfortable!

The advanced paint technology meant that just getting close to it, you could see your reflection in the paint. He loved this car!

He had already taken the car keys out of his pocket, and he was only twenty meters away from driving his car home.

There were many pedestrians on the road, and some people were paying attention to his car, which made him very happy.

Of all the people who buy expensive goods, only a few buy them for practical purposes, and most buy them for the purpose of showing off.

There was too much noise on the road during the day, so he couldn't clearly hear the harsh sound of tires rubbing against the ground as a car suddenly started and accelerated in the distance.

He couldn't even hear the sound of the bolt of a submachine gun being pulled and the safety being turned off. He hummed the tune of "Cotton Picking Expert" and opened the car door.

The heavy car door felt like stroking a girlfriend's thigh, smooth and warm, and he was a little intoxicated!

At this moment, a car was driving on the road at an extremely fast speed, and it was about to reach him. He frowned slightly in displeasure.

The Federal driver's seat, according to right-hand traffic rules, was on the left, so he had to either quickly sit inside and close the door, or close the door first and wait for the other car to leave before sitting inside, otherwise there was a risk of scraping.

He chose the latter, closed the door, stood by the car, and gave the driver of this car the middle finger.

However, the next second, a person leaned out of the back window, a man, who actually had braids?

Before he had time to ridicule this braided man, in his unbelievable gaze, the other party took out a submachine gun!

Almost at the same time, Liam shrank his neck and squatted down, running towards the front of the car, but at this moment, time seemed to be in slow motion by God. He had tried his best to run and escape, but his speed didn't seem to increase.

The rapid breathing occupied his entire world. He even saw a bullet pierce the car's shell, but at this time he was in no mood to scold the gunman.

If you're going to shoot people, just shoot people, why shoot my car?

He suddenly felt someone push him twice in the back, and he staggered forward and fell to the ground.

But soon, he stood up holding the front of the car. For some reason, his feet were a little slippery, and that car suddenly slowed down.

He heard someone say—

"Don't fucking slam on the brakes, you almost shook me out!"

When he looked back again, the gunman was already pointing the gun at him.

Flames spurted out of the barrel, and the surrounding crowd realized what was happening at this time, and people screamed and fled in all directions.

The manager, who had just returned to the bar, heard that Liam had been shot at the door, but he didn't dare to go out now because he didn't have any weapons.

A large group of people pulled open the curtains and looked out the window. They saw a scene that they would never forget in their lives!

That demon-like man was standing there, and even though he was still there, people could feel that he was melting, melting in the sunlight.

His body, along with his sins, together.

Hiram's submachine gun had already made the sound of an empty magazine. He glanced at Liam, who was beyond saving, shrank back into the back seat, and patted the driver's shoulder hard.

The car tires spun wildly again, smoking, and the car itself shot out like an arrow!

"Is he dead?" asked Derisi (Hiram's friend) in the driver's seat.

Hiram removed the empty magazine and replaced it with another, to avoid needing it in case of trouble on the road.

"He was hit by at least a dozen bullets. If he can survive that, I'll jump into Angel Lake myself tomorrow without Lance even telling me to."

Derisi wasn't nervous and even felt relaxed. "Do you prefer cement number two or number three?"

Hiram flicked his arm and hit him on the head, causing the car to shake slightly. "I'll have them grind you up and fill you in, and we'll go down together!"

The car sped out of the city, and many drivers on the road were startled by their reckless driving. They even ran some red lights.

However… without the presence of police on the scene, such behavior wouldn't have any serious consequences.

Golden Port City, as one of the Federation's largest ports, sees a concentration of goods arriving here before being transported to other cities by train, making its railway network very developed.

They left the Golden Port City from the west, but outside the city, they drove northwest, found a densely vegetated area to stop, changed clothes, and bought train tickets at the station to return to Golden Port City.

After they left, someone reported the crime, but by the time the police arrived, Liam was completely dead.

Even in death, his hand remained on his car.

Some were saddened by this, but without a doubt, today was a lucky day for the Red High Heels Club…

The case was assigned to Hunt. The new Criminal Investigation Unit officer hadn't reported for duty yet, and the other two were handling other cases, so he was relatively free. Of course, this was also related to Mr. Chobaf and his assistant completely giving up on pursuing the killer.

Arriving at the scene, he looked at Liam lying in a pool of blood, scratching his head in distress.

Undoubtedly, a gang member being shot in broad daylight in front of his own business was a gangland vendetta.

He could only think of a few people capable of such a style: Polly, or the Five Families.

But the Five Families weren't so crude anymore. They had shed their "underworld" image and, like high society, cared about appearances. It seemed the correct answer was about to emerge.

However, he didn't think Polly was behind it. The Brothers' gang territory was in the port area, while this was the Imperial District. Unless the Brothers first eliminated the Red Dogs and then encroached on the Imperial District's interests, these two gangs couldn't possibly be at war!

Then… he thought of another case, the one Officer Lucar… no, now Senior Agent Lucar, had told him about. When Will died, the coroner found over forty bullets in his body.

Will and Liam were both members of the Camilla gang, and they were both… filled with so many little darlings.

Perhaps these two cases were connected.

The other police officers were taking notes at the scene, looking for witnesses, and even some witnesses who were reluctant to testify in court spoke of what they saw.

"A man with braids" became an important clue.

Almost at the same time, Heller received a call. Someone told him that Liam was dead.

If Will's death was overshadowed by the loss of hundreds of thousands in goods, then Liam's death finally made him realize that the Lance family, though small, was not to be trifled with.

Moreover, they used submachine guns in broad daylight. Were these people crazy or what?

The eyes of the entire city police force would be focused on them!

At the same time, he faced a new problem.

He originally thought that this Lance and his Lance family were just minor characters he could extort at any time, but now he had kicked a steel I-beam. It wasn't just painful; his toe was also fractured.

If this continued, the war would escalate, and the investment would increase.

He had just lost two hundred thousand in goods and was already financially strained. If he launched a gang war, he wouldn't have much money left.

Heller had laundered all the money the family had acquired over the years and used it to buy properties and even stocks.

He was always covering his own back. Although he didn't care much about the deaths of family members in the gang's rise, he was still very uneasy about the danger itself.

This was a difficult decision!

But in any case, Liam was dead, and he had to show his attitude, or the senior executives might have other ideas.

In the evening, the two, dressed in ordinary clothes, returned to the company in a taxi. Everyone was there. Seeing them return safely, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"We were just waiting for you guys," the room was filled with smoke, and almost everyone had a cigarette in their mouth.

Killing Liam didn't make everyone feel any easier.

Killing Liam and Will were both unexpected results, but that didn't mean the Camilla gang was a weak gang. It had been entrenched in the Imperial District for decades without being annexed by other gangs, and there must be something special about it.

Therefore, Lance was not blindly optimistic. At this point, neither side had a chance to turn back.

Sometimes things are like this. It might have started as something small, but the development of small things will eventually create a huge problem.

Lance told them to sit down. Hiram noticed that Alvin, who was still in the hospital, had returned. The two greeted each other.

"When we killed Will, we thought we should keep a low profile for a while, but their hands have reached too far. If we don't fight back, they will test our bottom line again and again."

"The Camilla gang has over three hundred people, ten times our number, but they are divided into several groups by different executives."

"We just killed Will's people, and today we killed Liam again. No matter how these people behave on the surface, there must be some who support going to war with us and some who oppose it."

"This is an opportunity."

"Also, we need to expand our manpower. We have too few people."

"But expansion cannot be blind."

"I plan to free you all from production and become full-time staff, so we need to find some people to replace you in the company's work."

"This part will be temporarily managed by Sean, and they will not be involved in other operations of the family."

"The other part will be fully invested in the family business."

Alvin had been in the docks for more than a month. Because he was quick-witted and good at socializing, he knew a lot of people.

"How many people do you want to recruit?"

"At least forty people on the company side, and let's recruit another thirty people here."

Alvin recorded the number. "Many Blue Shirts want to join us."

Blue Shirts is a term for people wearing Manny Corporation work clothes. The influence and deterrence generated by these work clothes are gradually increasing. In addition, Lance broke Johnny's arm in front of many people, which made the immigrants on the dock breathe a sigh of relief for the first time. Now they are forming a force!

Some people see their success, but whether it is to be successful themselves or to join this vibrant social group and do something for the Imperial immigrants, they have shown a strong sense of enterprise.

Lance thought for a moment, "You can recruit some as appropriate, preferably acquaintances."

"Also, ask if there are any people who have served in the military who are willing to join us. We need some more professional people!"