Empire of Shadows

“… … Our total investment in this movie exceeds 120,000, and our investment in the male lead also exceeds 50,000.”

“Don't forget, we just signed a contract with him!”

Their investment in the male lead wasn't just the cost of time, training expenses, and various miscellaneous costs. They also signed a very special contract.

The male lead must film no less than fifteen more movies for Triumphant Films. In other words, the clauses originally intended to restrict the male lead have conversely become a knife harming Triumphant Films!

The details stipulate that the male lead must absolutely be the male lead in every movie.

At the time they signed this contract, Ser里克 believed that the male lead had a handsome appearance and a physique like a classical bodybuilder, and he would definitely be very popular in the market.

Previously, they filmed a silent film lasting about thirty minutes as a test, and many moviegoers thought that the male lead's performance was very good, and were willing to recognize and follow this male lead.

Based on this, Triumphant Films signed such a contract with him.

They cultivate the male lead, and the male lead should also repay them as much as possible, bringing profits to the company.

But now, the male lead has a crooked scar on his face, looking like a worm on his face.

Those threads look like the legs of a worm, and Ser里克 feels a little nauseous at the thought of it.

What a fucking mess!

“The company has lost at least 300,000 in total. If someone gives him an idea and he asks the company to fulfill the contract, we have to film fourteen more movies for him.”

“Even if we reduce the cost of each movie to the minimum, it may still cost 100,000.”

“We have lost at least 400,000. If he becomes popular in the future, then we will lose even more.”

The board member on the other end of the phone was silent for a while, “So what do you want to do?”

Ser里克's lips curled up slightly, but no one could see his expression, “That young man named Gerald is the most talented and has the best physical conditions I have ever seen.”

“He's worth 400,000, even a million, two million!”

The voice in the receiver was a bit dull, “Are you sure that young man named Gerald is really that outstanding?”

“Or is your sexual preference starting to affect your judgment?”

Ser里克 was immediately a little embarrassed and annoyed, “Fuck, I won't let this kind of thing affect my judgment. I can still distinguish between public and private matters.”

“If you come and see that young man, you will know that I am definitely not wrong. He will become a banner for the company!”

The director thought for a while after listening, “So?”

“We'll put some pressure on them, make them bow their heads. I know they're gangsters, but we're not vegetarians either!”

“Moreover, there are now some other film crews in Creek Valley City. If we back down now, we will become a laughing stock in the entire industry.”

The gentleman on the other side of the receiver chuckled after listening, “But they are gangsters, Ser里克. Those methods are not very useful to them.”

“You can't expect these gang members to voluntarily pay fines or confess their guilt. That's impossible, let alone expect the police to catch them.”

“You can't put pressure on them.”

“But I agree with what you said, we can't become the laughing stock of the industry. We support you in fighting back!”

“Follow your idea, put some pressure on them, and then talk to them.”

Ser里克 smiled after listening, “You made the right decision…”

Gerald can't leave Creek Valley City these days because he is still under a “ban.”

In fact, no one would care if he really wanted to leave. In the Federation, violating the ban is as simple as drinking water for some people.

But for some other people, it will be slightly more difficult.

Especially since Gerald will become a big star in the future, he shouldn't have too many "stains" on him now.

Although from a longer-term perspective, having ties with the gang is also his stain, but that is a matter of decades later.

At this time, the federal government, capitalists, and gangs jointly rule the world. People don't think that gang members are a stain, as long as it's not the kind of small gang.

However, having a gang background and having a criminal record are two different things, so Lance and the others will stay here temporarily.

West Branch Chief has passed the information of Lance's gang to the local police through internal channels. For them, gangs from Goldport City inherently have some deterrence.

There is even a book called "Goldport City Gangs," which records many brutal things.

Triumphant Films reported the crime very decisively and planned to sue Lance and others, demanding a total of one million in compensation.

This debt was directly placed on Gerald. When he learned of this news, he was obviously panicked!

Anyone, at his age, suddenly facing such a huge compensation lawsuit, could not possibly remain calm!

This is a million!

In an era when the actual salary is only thirty or forty, one million means they can't pay it back in their entire lives.

Ser里克's lawyer even proposed the idea of "can talk."

Creek Valley City is too peaceful. This news quickly made the headlines of the local news, and Ser里克 also mentioned in the interview that he greatly appreciated Gerald's talent.

He said that if Gerald and his friends are willing to apologize, and Gerald is willing to sign a work contract with the company.

Then he can apply to the company to terminate the lawsuit and compensation claim against Gerald.

Not only that, they are also willing to create a series of movies around Gerald.

It seems that they have offered very good conditions, and even some people watching the excitement can feel Triumphant Films' determination to get Gerald.

This also makes them feel that this Triumphant Films is good. Obviously, they are the victims, but because they love Gerald's talent, they are actually willing to give up "revenge."

This is very attractive to the federal people who are inherently free and romantic!

Many of them do not know Gerald, but because of this, they have become interested in this big boy who they have only heard of his name and have never seen his real person.

What happened here not only had an impact in Creek Valley City and Goldport City, but even had a certain degree of impact in the entire film industry.

Some film production companies began to discuss a question—how to ensure that the company's filming plan can be implemented without being affected?

If there is gang involvement, they may all face the same situation. Although some people shouted the slogan "Please keep the gangs away from the movies," it doesn't seem to have caused too much waves…

Lance looked at the "Goldport Today" in his hand, which mentioned this matter.

“I haven’t asked them for compensation yet, and they sued us first.”, he said, pondering for a while, “For these people, they have to be made to recognize reality.”

Hiram couldn't help but get excited, “The work is here!”

Lance took out the map and casually drew three circles, “You guys assign your tasks…”

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the filming crew of "Love Trap" had many security guards maintaining order on the scene. Ser里克 felt that Lance might attack other film crews, so he urgently hired a lot of security guards.

Some were hired locally, and some were hired from other places and then rushed over. They tried to avoid hiring security guards from Goldport City to avoid hiring people related to Lance.

The protection of so many security guards also made the crew members feel at ease. They completed the filming of a scene with laughter.

The director seemed very satisfied. Their progress was very fast. If there were no accidents, they would be able to finish all the filming in at most a week.

In fact, not only does the industry's premiere have an unshakable advantage, but the company's internal premiere also has an unshakable advantage.

Just as he was considering how the following plot should proceed, he suddenly heard the sound of car tires rubbing against the ground.

He turned his head to look over. This road was temporarily closed. The city hall gave them three days. No one should be driving in at this time.

Just as the director called the assistant over and asked him to tell those people that they couldn't stay here and to leave as soon as possible, the people got out of the car.

They were all carrying sailboat team baseball bats. Some locals showed dissatisfied expressions when they saw this scene.

Because last year, it was the sailboat team that eliminated the Creek Valley City team!

The assistant braced himself and walked over, “No parking here!” He originally wanted to drive these people away and tell them to leave as soon as possible.

But for some reason, his lips suddenly didn't listen to him, and he said something he hadn't even thought about.

Hiram looked back at the three cars parked neatly, cursed and waved the baseball bat. With a muffled sound of “dong,” the assistant fell asleep.

After only a very brief silence, some actresses screamed and fled into the distance, and the security guards guarding here also rushed over.

Hiram lifted his windbreaker, revealing the submachine gun inside. In an instant, all the security guards stopped moving.

“Put your hands on the ground and squat down slowly. Let me see your hands, otherwise my bullets will talk to you!”

Facing far more security guards than them, Hiram not only did not feel nervous and timid, but became even more arrogant.

He handed the baseball bat to the person next to him and pointed the submachine gun at the sky and pulled the trigger.

The sound of gunfire made the chaotic scene even more chaotic!

After a brief weighing of the pros and cons, these security guards all squatted down.

Actually, some of them had weapons, even pistols, but risking their lives for such a small amount of money just didn't seem worth it.

The security guards' surrender directly plunged the crew members into despair, but the vast majority of them didn't actually need to be afraid.

Lance wasn't the kind of person who enjoyed killing, and these people were essentially innocent. As long as they didn't do anything stupid, they wouldn't be hurt or in danger.

Lorne remembered Lance's words and walked directly to someone who looked like the director, grabbing him by the collar, "Where are the film reels?"

The director hadn't experienced this kind of situation before. He swallowed hard, "In the van over there, and some of them are in the hotel..."

Two minutes later, the director watched as the film reels, which had been shot a while ago but hadn't been sent back yet, were pulled out, doused in gasoline, and consumed by raging flames.

All the efforts of this period were reduced to ashes at this moment. He knelt on the ground, letting out a shrill scream—

"No!!"

The police arrived quickly, perhaps because there wasn't much traffic on the roads in Creek Valley City. They heard the wailing of police sirens in just seven or eight minutes.

Hiram jumped up and stomped on the camera lens until it was deformed, then grinned as he looked at the people being restrained, "Tell your boss, this is just the beginning!"

He tossed his hair and spat on the ground, "You're in trouble!"

He had heard Lance say that the producer had told them this, and now, he was returning those words to these people verbatim.

After saying that, he slung the submachine gun over his shoulder and swaggered into the car.

At this time, the police car was only twenty meters away, and they saw the three vehicles of the bandits, and they also saw Gerald carrying a submachine gun.

Even they themselves were still using revolvers, while these bandits were already using submachine guns. How were they supposed to catch them?

As if putting on a show of strength, Hiram stuck the submachine gun out of the car window and fired another burst of bullets into the sky.

The police cars, which had been accelerating, suddenly stopped in place, and only after they could no longer see the three cars did they drive over.

Several police officers straightened their uniforms and calmed their racing hearts. One of them asked with a stern face, "Who called the police?"

Being a police officer is too damn dangerous!

In one afternoon, all three filming crews of Triumph Film were attacked, the film reels they were shooting were destroyed, and some crew members were beaten—

Some people always think they are the protagonist of this world, and they want to do something to change the current situation, but they failed.

Fortunately, no one was killed, only injured.

In an instant, the pressure returned to Serik's side. He didn't expect the bodyguards he hired to be so useless, nor did he expect Lance's group to dare to fire warning shots even in front of the police.

These people are too arrogant. Are they really... ordinary gangsters?

For a time, the directors of the board almost blew up his phone. The hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses hadn't been recovered yet, and new losses had arrived.

This time, adding it all up, it was another four to five hundred thousand dollars in losses. The film reels were only part of it, the most important thing was that the filming equipment of these three crews had been destroyed!

This was a lot of money.

The directors who had been silent about this matter began to argue at this time. They seemed to have a lot of "foresight," as if they had known the result would be like this.

But between the lines, their target of attack was not Lance's group, but Serik.

They believed that Serik's dick had affected his brain, that he was no longer suitable to continue serving as a director, and some even said that he should hand over the shares in his hand to apologize!

These people's accusations and scolding made him very upset. He hung up the phone directly and refused to answer any calls.

After pacing back and forth several times, he asked, "Do you know any local gangs?"

"Ask them, how much money would it take to deal with Lance's group."

He hadn't planned to use these tricks before, because he didn't want to have any stains on himself, like Mr. Chobaf.

He didn't want to personally contact the gangsters, because he didn't want to have any stains on himself.

But now, Serik couldn't care less about that.

His assistant quickly found some numbers through superpowers and dialed them.

He kept making phone calls, and Serik stood by the window smoking, he was so annoyed!

These damn gangsters never followed the rules, and the most important thing was that the company's power hadn't covered this area yet.

However, he knew from the unsightly expression on his assistant's face that the idea of finding a local gang to help him get revenge didn't seem to work either.

After the last phone call was hung up, the assistant sighed, "No one is willing to take this job, even if we offered a high price."

"The locals are greatly influenced by Jin Gang City. They say that Lance is a member of the Pasreto family, and they are unwilling to attack Lance and his friends, as it would offend big shots."

Serik began to pace back and forth with some irritability, "Call the mayor, call the councilors, protest to them!"

"The investment environment here is too bad. We are actually being threatened by some gang members, and the police can't protect us. This is simply a joke!"

There were several people in the room, all of whom were his confidants. Just as the producer was about to come up with an idea, the door was suddenly opened, from the outside.

They were all startled and stood up, watching the door being pushed open, watching Lance walk in from the outside, "What joke were you talking about just now?"

He walked straight to the sofa. The people who were originally sitting on the sofa, the people who were standing by the sofa, were also pushed by others to stand in the corner.

Lance sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and shook his ankle, "Mr. Serik, can you tell me, what's the joke?"

"I also like to hear jokes!"

Serik pursed his lips and looked at Lance. After about ten seconds, he said, "You are not welcome here."

Lance looked at Enio, "Get Mr. Serik a chair, I don't like talking to people with my head up."

Enio dragged a chair from the side and placed it opposite Lance, signaling Serik to sit down.

But the latter didn't seem to want to cooperate, and was still standing there, looking at Lance with cold eyes.

Enio walked up to him and punched him hard in the abdomen. In an instant, this Mr. Serik, who insisted on standing, bent over and was helped by Enio to sit on the chair.

Perhaps truly realizing that Lance and his group had no fear of social behavior, Serik stopped talking.

He also tried to straighten his spine again, still with that impolite look, looking at Lance.

"Take the other ladies and gentlemen who have nothing to do with this matter to other rooms. We need to have a good talk with Mr. Serik."

Hearing the news that they were "free" made the others in the room breathe a sigh of relief. When Gerald's producer wanted to leave, he was stopped.

"You can't leave."

Serik was a little flustered at this time, but he didn't show it, because Gerald was also there.

Just as he was unsure of what was going to happen next, the male lead arrived...