Empire of Shadows

Chief Charlie wasn't surprised to hear Lucar say he was going to investigate Lance's territory, because he seemed to have some unresolved issues with Lance before.

What he was curious about now was what Lance had done to him that made him always focus on Lance instead of others.

He asked the question.

"I remember you didn't seem to have any conflicts with Lance, so why are you targeting him?"

Lucar didn't avoid the question. "It's not that there are no conflicts at all. He played me."

"Once…", he began to recount the first time he met Lance, when Lance invited him for a cup of coffee and chatted with him for a long time.

This made him think Lance was a good person at the time, and he even returned the favor by treating Lance later.

But who would have thought that not only were those two stupid brothers killed by Lance, but even the Camilla Gang became a thing of the past under Lance's revenge.

Whenever he thought of these things, he felt amused and had the idea of competing with Lance.

"I want to know, is the cat more powerful, or the mouse!"

Chief Charlie couldn't help but laugh after listening. "The story between you two is much more interesting than I imagined. I can already understand how you feel."

"When a murderer you are looking for is standing right in front of you, not only chatting with you easily, but you even invited each other for coffee."

"That feeling… oh, God, it's really too interesting!"

He could feel that Lucar wasn't angry, but rather a sense of competitiveness was at play. He himself found it interesting and funny.

After laughing for a while, his laughter stopped. "The situation is a bit delicate now, Lucar."

"I shouldn't have said these words, but sometimes we are in this society, and when we are powerless, we can only stand with the crowd."

"After the Camilla Gang was finished, most of their industries were taken over by Eric," he said, looking at Lucar, hoping to find some extra emotions on his face.

But unfortunately, he didn't find it. Lucar was more mature and稳重 than before.

He whistled. "This is quite a guy!"

Everyone knows that Eric is the mayor's nephew. His takeover of these industries means that there will be some difficulties in investigating him.

It is difficult to get support judicially. Although the federal government promises that the judiciary must be independent, local governments still have a great influence on the judicial departments.

They are unlikely to approve search warrants for Eric's property, including arrest warrants and other legal documents.

At the same time, he also keenly realized that Chief Charlie was telling himself in this way that Lance was now providing services to the mayor.

If he investigates Lance in the Imperial District, it is equivalent to challenging the mayor…

If it were the old him, he might not dare to do this.

Because at that time, he was just an ordinary policeman, even an officer in the Criminal Investigation Team of the City Police Department, a small boss, but he was still in the police system.

A phone call from the mayor, city councilors, or even some social celebrities would make him very uncomfortable.

But now, everything is different.

Because he is a senior agent, the Presidential Palace and Congress have put a lot of effort into this department and have high hopes for it.

During training, the head of the state office told them that if there were things they couldn't handle, they could apply for support.

If necessary, they can even talk directly to senators!

This kind of power makes Lucar believe that he already has the courage and determination to fight against these corruptions and darkness.

Of course, he wouldn't be so reckless. It was like when he first became a policeman, his partner gave him a whistle and told him that he could blow the whistle if there was something he couldn't handle.

But he never blew the whistle until he was transferred from the patrol police department.

That is a kind of confidence, a kind of trump card, whether it is an offensive trump card or a defensive trump card, it can be many things, represent many things, but it does not represent a means.

Because when it becomes a means, it must be the worst usage and the worst means!

Lucar looked at this "mentor," "Charlie, I will use my brain. Without absolute evidence, I will definitely not touch him."

"I have a question now, will you stand by my side?"

Chief Charlie thought seriously for a moment, "I'm retiring in three years. If you don't mess around, I will still stand by your side as before."

This sentence has already stated his attitude. If Lucar really messes around, he can't possibly撞死在南墙上.

The police chief's retirement, a generous pension, plus the money he has saved, he can have a perfect retired old age.

Although he is also obsessed with power, he will not bet his future life on it.

Lucar got the answer he wanted. In fact, whether Chief Charlie stood by his side was not that important. He just hoped… to give himself a reason.

When they were receiving training, he and several local senior agents were taken aside for talks.

Some senators are very dissatisfied with the surface prohibition of alcohol in various places. They want to create some big news in various places.

They urgently need to use the heads of a group of people to tell people that this constitutional amendment promoted for prohibition is not a joke.

It's not the kind of "trick constitution" that stipulates that cotton-picking experts have the right to vote, but also sets many thresholds. This time it's for real.

Only by ruthlessly killing a group of people can society return to the path they designed.

What Lucar didn't know was that some senators who had already started to go crazy politically even proposed a social gender segregation bill.

That madman believes that love will reduce labor efficiency, and that sex will make them use too much physical strength in worthless places.

They cited many examples, such as the fact that only a very small number of animals in nature have sex for pleasure.

Most animals only have sex when they reproduce. This is what the species should do, instead of wasting a lot of physical strength and energy for a moment of pleasure!

They believe that only by maintaining a strong physique and not being affected by sex can they have more strength to work, instead of thinking about going home and having relationships with the opposite sex every day.

They even put forward the slogan "Love is as incurable as alcohol," and they are about to start lobbying in groups!

Of course, such a ridiculous idea cannot become a proposal, let alone pass, just like those proposals that once touted that prohibition would definitely bring about increased production capacity…

Well, sometimes no one knows whether these senators are becoming so absurd in order to create big news, or whether they just want to be unique in politics, which is why they make themselves so inhuman.

In the evening, Lucar and several colleagues found a relatively quiet environment, and the melodious music isolated the unintentional eavesdropping between guests at different tables.

Including Lucar, there were nine people at the table. The director didn't come and was still processing some formalities at the state government.

New departments, new law enforcement powers, these all need to be determined layer by layer with paper documents, and there must be signatures of some responsible persons.

Today is the day for them, senior agents, to contact the deputy director.

Interestingly, there was actually a bottle of wine on the table.

Of the nine people at the table, only three were locals, and the others were transferred from other places or from the state government.

The environment in Goldport City is special, so everyone thinks there is profit to be made here, and it is easier to achieve results.

The deputy director took the wine bottle, "Tima Distilled Red Wine…", he looked at some standards and put it back on the table, "I found that the situation we are facing is more severe than we imagined."

He came first, so he ordered the meal, and the others arrived one after another.

The deputy director may not really be willing to be the deputy director, but in any case, before the work is about to officially begin, he always has to show some characteristics.

The others all glanced at the wine bottle, and Lucar also took it in his hand and tapped it. The color of distilled red wine will be slightly lighter, but the alcohol content is obviously higher.

This is many times more than the legal provision that "alcohol content exceeds five per thousand"!

Sometimes, even a bite of fermented bread has a higher alcohol content than this!

"They recommended this wine to me. I asked the manager, isn't it during the prohibition period now?"

"He told me that I had previously stored a bottle of wine here, but they couldn't remember what wine I had stored, and they needed me to remind them!"

When the deputy director said this, the smile on his face had disappeared a lot.

"Very clever trick, gentlemen."

"They didn't just sell these wines without knowing anything, but they have already found a loophole in the law, because drinking and storing are not illegal."

"They successfully exploited a loophole, not only selling us the wine, but also allowing us to drink it in public, because it is stored here by us."

"No transaction, completely legal."

The expressions of several senior agents also became serious, including Lucar.

When he was training in the state, he actually felt… that this matter would not be too difficult, because this is a constitutional amendment, which means that it is a law that must be enforced in every region, and no region can be exempt.

People will stop these illegal behaviors out of fear of the law, and only criminals will sell these wines.

But now, he realized that not only criminals are selling, but ordinary people are also selling!

He turned around and looked around. In the mid-to-high-end quiet restaurant, almost every table had a bottle of wine.

Someone asked, "How do they charge us?"

"If they don't charge... of course, that's impossible, but if the money is linked to the wine, we'll have a way to punish them."

Before the official work even starts, we've caught them in the act. Those big shots will surely be satisfied with their progress.

The deputy director shook his head, "See the band over there?"

Several people turned simultaneously to look at the small stage at the front of the restaurant hall. Several people were playing music, which was coming from them.

Now, almost all mid-to-high-end restaurants have bands playing music. It's very common.

"The band charges us for their service, the waiters charge us for their service, and so do the chefs."

"The manager told me there would be a service fee to ensure everything is safe."

He picked up the wine bottle and poured a glass for everyone, "Don't be so serious. Once we catch a big one, these problems will be easily solved."

"When people realize that the benefits gained from breaking the law are far less than the penalties the law imposes on them, criminal behavior will be naturally curbed."

He laughed as he said this, "If you were to be hanged for stealing a dollar, I believe that after a few people are hanged, no one would be a thief anymore!"

He lowered his voice as he spoke, "This is our last time drinking. Don't tell the director when he gets back."

"Wishing us a good start, cheers!"

Everyone raised their glasses, just like the other guests around them, and in a moment, everyone's faces were flushed.

Outside, the snow was falling heavily. Nothing could feel better than having a drink in this kind of weather.

Outside the restaurant window, a homeless man's eyes were filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred as he looked through the window at the people enjoying their meals inside.

Today, he hadn't begged for much money, only thirty-some cents, but here, even the cheapest dish probably cost fifty cents or even a dollar.

These people never lowered their heads to look at him sitting in the snow and ice, so stingy that they wouldn't even give a five-cent coin. Why didn't God send down fire and burn them all to death?

If that were the case, all that delicious food would be his!

Some acidic saliva welled up in his mouth. He didn't know that his mouth was comparable to a biochemical laboratory.

Just as he was imagining what the dishes tasted like, a waiter walked out with a displeased expression, holding a stick in his hand, "If you appear here again, disturbing our customers' meals, I guarantee I'll break your legs!"

"Now, get out of our store!"

The homeless man scurried away as if startled, muttering curses as he ran.

Perhaps he was cursing those wealthy people who lacked compassion and mercy, perhaps he was cursing that dog of a waiter who wouldn't even let him look, perhaps... God himself?

Cars sped past on the road. He didn't pay attention to avoiding them, and the ice and snow they kicked up splashed all over him.

He was a little sad, but even more so, he felt dissatisfied and angry, "Motherf***er!" He gave the middle finger to those cars.

But the next second, the car stopped. The homeless man was stunned for a moment. Just as he was about to run, two people wearing black windbreakers with a red armband on their left arms got out of the car. One of them waved to him.

"F***!" He didn't dare to run. This was the Imperial District. He knew who these people were!

He could only walk over slowly, hunching his back and showing a flattering smile, even taking off his old fisherman's hat and holding it in his hand.

Seeming to think his hair was a little messy, he smoothed his sparse and yellowing hair with his calloused and dirty hands.

"Sir, I wasn't cursing you..."

"Come over here."

The young man pointed to a spot nearby. He walked over, no longer able to smile.

He had heard many things about the Lance family and knew how terrifying they were!

He wouldn't think like those ordinary people, thinking the Lance family were good people. They were still gangsters, bad people!

And even worse than the Camilla gang. Only someone worse than them could take them down, but those ordinary people didn't even understand that!

This made him even more afraid, no longer able to distinguish whether his trembling legs were due to fear or the icy water just now.

The car window slid down, revealing half of Lance's face. He turned his head and glanced at the homeless man who had been splashed with icy water, "Sorry, we got your clothes wet."

The homeless man was a little flattered, and a little scared. Were they trying to play with him?

But no matter what, he could only continue to deal with it.

"No, no, sir, it was my own carelessness. I should have been able to avoid it, but I was distracted, so it's not your fault!"

Lance could see that he was very scared, "Do you recognize me?"

The light from the street lamp was limited, and large snowflakes filled the space between the two of them. They were still about a meter apart.

The homeless man shook his head a little awkwardly, a large puff of hot air coming out with every word. He was really cold!

"I've never seen you before, sir, I'm sorry..."

Lance shook his head slightly and turned to look at Erwin, "Give me some money, ten dollars."

Erwin felt around in his pocket. Besides a few coins, all he had were twenty-dollar bills. Lance didn't bother watching him count, took one out, and held it out between his fingers.

"My name is Lance. I've already apologized, but I still want to apologize for our actions. I'm very sorry for getting your clothes wet."

"Here's twenty dollars. Buy yourself some new clothes, then find a hotel, take a hot shower, and get a good night's sleep. Everything will be alright."

The homeless man was a little dazed. Soon, his eyes focused on the money. He hesitated a little, "I... can I?"

He really wanted the money. Lance shook his fingers, "The snow is heavy."

This was a signal for him to hurry up.

The homeless man quickly stuffed his old fisherman's hat into his arms, bent down, rubbed his hands in the snow, and then carefully took the bill.

He suddenly felt a little choked up. Perhaps it was because in this cold winter night, this twenty dollars would at least ensure that he wouldn't freeze to death this month, or even this winter.

Or perhaps it was because the long-lost respect had allowed him to regain the feeling of being human!

"Mr. Lance... you are a good man. No one has ever been as kind as you!"

Lance smiled, "There wasn't before, but there is now."

"Alright, we should go. You also have to change your clothes to avoid getting sick."

"Good luck to you, Mr. Homeless Man!"

The car window slowly closed, and the two young men returned to the car. The convoy left.

The homeless man took a few steps, his eyes a little red, waving his hand, "Good luck to you too, Mr. Lance!"