Empire of Shadows

Anderson sat on a chair in the back alley, smoking a cigarette. He enjoyed this moment of leisure after being busy, even though it was only fleeting.

In the past two years, business in Gold Harbor City hasn't been that easy. The entire Federation, and even the world, knows that Gold Harbor City is creating an economic miracle. Countless "adventurers" and "gold diggers" have come here from all over the world.

The most common are illegal immigrants.

The Federation at this time has thirty-six states and hundreds of cities, but most of these people who sneak into the Federation come to Gold Harbor City. This actually illustrates the actual situation here.

If there weren't banknotes with the strong smell of ink attracting them, how could they possibly travel across the ocean to get here?

Are they really just here to contribute to the construction of the Federation?

No, they are all here to find their own miracle.

The large influx of various people here has made the commercial competition in Gold Harbor City very intense. With fierce competition, profits will become lower and lower, and other problems will arise.

Last year, the restaurant had a little problem. First, his partner broke up with him. He gave the other party all the money he had left, in exchange for 100% of the restaurant's equity.

Secondly, his wife had an accident and fell and got injured.

The insurance company refused to pay any of her expenses, on the grounds that she did not voluntarily state that her blood pressure was slightly high when purchasing the insurance.

At the same time, they could not produce proof that the high blood pressure was contracted after purchasing the insurance.

Therefore, the insurance company had reason to believe that her fall was directly related to high blood pressure, and that she concealed her medical history, leading to this result, so they refused to pay, and a lawsuit was filed for this.

Without a doubt, they lost the case.

This is also the most infuriating thing!

According to the policy, the insurance company only needed to pay him about eight thousand dollars in insurance fees, but they would rather spend more than ten thousand dollars to fight a lawsuit with him than fulfill the contract and give them the money.

In the end, not only did he not receive compensation, but he also had to pay for medical expenses and a litigation fee.

At that time, he had no money at all.

He went to the bank for a loan, but because he had just finished a lawsuit with the insurance company, the bank said that his loan application was abnormally risky and required a strict review process, which would take at least a month or so to get the loan.

He had no money at all at the time. He had to get money as soon as possible to keep the restaurant running, as well as some household expenses, so he finally gave up the idea of getting a loan from the bank.

Then, through a friend's introduction, he found several financial companies. Those greedy hyenas hoped to swallow his assets, trying to get shares in his restaurant for a few thousand dollars.

Finally, he found Lezhu Company. Although the interest was slightly higher, the other party did not ask him to mortgage anything, nor did they covet his restaurant.

After a year of operation, the restaurant's situation finally improved, especially recently when the new manager he recruited gave him a series of marketing suggestions, which kept the restaurant in a booming state.

In the morning, he spent four hundred dollars to buy a GG spot in "Gold Harbor Today" and planned to rent the storefront next to the restaurant to expand the business.

Although he kept receiving phone calls asking him to fulfill the contract and pay the principal and interest that had stopped accruing to Lezhu Company, he never agreed.

The expansion of the restaurant requires money, marketing requires money, and he also plans to rely on this restaurant to live a luxurious life for the rest of his life. How could he possibly satisfy Alberto, that money-minded bastard, at this critical moment?

He only borrowed two thousand dollars, but he actually wanted him to pay back five thousand dollars. He had never seen such high interest. He refused to pay back the money and didn't mind fighting a lawsuit with the other party.

One is a restaurant owner who actively strives to change his situation through hard work, and the other is social scum hiding in the sewers and making money through shady business. His lawyer told him that he didn't need to pay attention to Lezhu Financial Company at all.

If they fight a lawsuit, the money the financial company pays in the lawsuit far exceeds the amount they can recover, and they may not win.

If they don't fight a lawsuit, they can directly sue them and make them pay if they dare to mess around.

So just drag it out.

After the lawyer assured him that there was no problem with this matter, Mr. Anderson naturally wouldn't be willing to pay Alberto the five thousand dollars he had worked so hard to earn.

Why should I pay back the money I borrowed through my own ability?

Most people who owe money and don't pay it back have this mentality.

Just as he was considering how to negotiate the rental of the house next door in the next two days, the manager suddenly ran over, "Mr. Anderson, there's been a little accident in the restaurant."

Anderson turned to look at him, "Did someone's boots catch fire?"

He was implying that the manager was running in a hurry, but the manager knew that now was not the time to chat with Mr. Anderson about refined and popular tastes.

"A customer found a cockroach in his soup, and what's even more troublesome is that he bit the cockroach in half and then vomited everywhere..."

Mr. Anderson was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up, threw the cigarette on the ground, and walked towards the restaurant.

When he arrived at the restaurant, his blood pressure suddenly rose a lot. The sour smell of vomit in the air made most people stop eating.

People were discussing around the table. On the table, there was a snow-white napkin, and on the napkin were two halves of a cockroach.

Judging from their condition, they should be able to be pieced together into one.

Anderson has been working in restaurants all his life. When he was young, he was an apprentice, then he became a cook, and finally he was a head chef in a well-known restaurant.

It wasn't until a few years ago that he saved some money and planned to be his own chef and boss, and that's how he got this restaurant.

He values this restaurant more than his own life!

He had encountered many things related to restaurants when he was young, and he knew how to deal with this situation.

While he asked the employees to clean up the sour vomit on the ground, he walked towards Lance. Just as he was about to wrap the two halves of the cockroach with a napkin, Lance stood between him and the cockroach, "Do you want to destroy the evidence?"

The scrutinizing eyes of the people around him made Anderson's scalp tingle. "I just want to solve the problem. If you don't mind, we can talk in my office. I believe we can come to an agreement."

His approach of implying "I can pay to solve it" was obvious to almost everyone, and Lance could also see it.

So his voice suddenly became a lot louder, "Do you think I want to extort you?"

"My friend and I came to your restaurant for dinner, and now we found a cockroach. You think we're here to extort you?"

"If you really want to talk to us about this matter, you should talk to us here in front of everyone. After all, we are not the only victims. Maybe there are other victims here, but they just don't know it themselves."

Lance's words changed Anderson's expression, and the expressions of the other customers watching the excitement also became unnatural.

If a cockroach crawled into someone else's thick soup, does it mean that the tableware they use, the food they eat or don't eat, may also have been crawled over by cockroaches?

Immediately, someone dissatisfiedly demanded to call the police and asked the health bureau to inspect the restaurant.

If a restaurant is rumored to have food hygiene problems, it is definitely a huge blow!

And he just bought a GG!

Although it seems inevitable that the news will spread, Anderson still doesn't want things to get too big.

He glanced at the two halves of the cockroach and cursed the two young people in charge of hygiene in the kitchen in his heart.

He said two things in the manager's ear, and the manager walked to the place where the crowd was watching, separating their sight, "I'm very sorry that the accident today has brought a bad impact to everyone. Just now, Mr. Anderson told me that everyone's lunch today is free..."

And Mr. Anderson, at this time, also noticed Alvin's clothes.

He didn't look like someone who could come to this high-end restaurant for dinner, so Mr. Anderson was even more certain of his guess that these two people were here to make trouble.

With this thought, he also questioned whether the cockroach came from his own kitchen.

But he also knew that now was not the time to discuss whether these two people were here to extort him. He had to solve the current hygiene crisis and trust crisis first.

He lowered his voice slightly and didn't try to touch the cockroach again, "One hundred dollars, I apologize to you, and this matter ends here."

"I know who you are and what you want to do. One hundred dollars is not a small amount. Don't push me too hard..."

Alvin said while feeling nauseous and vomiting: "One hundred dollars can't buy my personality!"

Lance just looked at him, and didn't show any sign of compromise. Mr. Anderson took a deep breath, "Two hundred, this is the last price I can offer..."

"Five hundred."

"This is extortion, this is blackmail, are you not afraid that I will call the police?"

Lance raised his hand and pressed on Alvin's back, "You scared me, I don't want a penny now..."

Alvin vomited even louder again.

Mr. Anderson pursed his lips and cursed Lance in his heart, but finally made a concession, "Four hundred dollars."

"Deal!"

Lance stepped aside, and Mr. Anderson grabbed the napkin, wrapped the cockroach corpse on it, and stuffed it directly into his pocket.

The manager next to him had almost dealt with it. When Mr. Anderson and Lance were discussing compensation, he said, "These two people are here to extort us. What they did is very excessive, beyond our imagination, so the restaurant will apologize to you for what happened today, and all the expenses will be waived."

"Furthermore, you can use this card on your next visit to receive a bottle of our ten-dollar table wine," he said, handing everyone a card with his signature and a note explaining its purpose.

The table wine he was offering was listed on the menu for nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, but its actual cost was less than five dollars.

On the surface, giving away a bottle of wine seems like a ten-dollar loss, but the people who come in for that ten-dollar wine certainly won't order only three or five dollars worth of food.

As long as their order exceeds twenty dollars, even with the free wine, it's not that they won't make a profit, but rather that the profit won't be much.

The manager handled the situation smoothly, and most people accepted his explanation, but some remained skeptical.

When they saw the customer who had found the cockroach leaving with Mr. Anderson, they realized the matter was over.

But in reality, it wasn't completely over...