Empire of Shadows

“Where can I get some alcohol?”

The old men exchanged glances. One of them shook his head. “I’m not too sure. The alcohol ban is being enforced so strictly now, who knows?”

He not only knew, but had been there. If he wasn’t so short on cash, he would go often.

Lance's bar had even more girls. These young girls radiated fiery youthful energy. Just buy them a drink… and you think they’ll leave with you?

No, they’ll just flirt with you.

But even just flirting was one of the reasons these old men didn't want to leave this world!

So, they knew where the bar was, but they didn’t say because of this middle-aged man, who spoke with a very proper Federal accent.

Just hearing the accent, you could imagine his life—

Living in a lower-class Federal family, his father must have been a working-class man. They would have some special speech habits, which would affect the family.

He probably went to an ordinary school, received an ordinary Federal education. His methods of expression were all like that.

He didn’t have an Imperial accent, didn’t have the kind of accent that a real immigrant should have, and his eyes didn’t look like a real immigrant's.

Most importantly, no one had ever seen this person before.

The middle-aged man shrugged. “Alright, I’ll go look somewhere else, but no matter what…” He took a deep breath. “I feel much better after talking with you all. I’ll come again tomorrow. I find that talking with you is more effective than seeing a therapist.”

The old men naturally agreed with smiles, while the middle-aged man felt that he should first get familiar with this group of people, and then suggest buying them a drink.

With these poor old men's poverty, they definitely couldn’t refuse that, and then he would know where the nearby bar was.

He glanced at the remaining bread. “I have to go find a job. I’ll leave the remaining bread for you.”

He was tearing off pieces to eat with his hands. Everyone here ate bread like this, so it was relatively clean.

The old men all thanked him. Of course, they wouldn’t have any objections to free bread.

After watching this guy leave, the three old men looked at each other.

One of the old men, already bald, with graying hair and large age spots on his face, stood up with a cane. “It’s my turn this time.”

The other two old men were filled with envy and jealousy. The three of them were good friends, and they had agreed that when they found something, they would take turns reporting it.

This was fair to everyone. If your information wasn’t as good as someone else’s, then it could only be said that God didn’t want you to get too much without working for it, that was all!

The old man happily boarded the bus with his cane. About a dozen minutes later, he arrived in the central area of the Imperial District.

This place had become slightly more prosperous in the past two years.

As soon as he got off the bus, he saw Borton sitting in the open-air cafe on the street corner, and then quickly walked over.

“Good morning, Mr. Borton.” The old man took off his fisherman's hat, placed it in his palm, and pressed it to his chest.

Borton nodded. “Good morning, sir, what would you like to say?”

The old man unhesitatingly spoke out the information he had obtained, “There’s someone asking if there are any bars nearby.”

As he spoke, he described the situation of the middle-aged man, then slightly bent his back, revealing a flattering smile.

After listening, Borton took out a stack of money from his pocket. The old man’s eyes almost popped out!

He had already thought about how to spend the money. He could go have a drink with that young girl who always said she liked his maturity, maybe she truly loved him and would be willing to leave the bar with him.

Then he could go to a hotel and rent a room, although he didn’t know if his thing could still endure the battlefield, but he thought it would be fine.

The remaining money could be saved, and he could eat well this month, and occasionally have some smoked ham or something.

Borton took out a five-dollar bill from the stack of money, handed it over, and the old man smiled and accepted it, continuing to look at the stack of money.

But he didn’t get a second bill, because Borton put the money back into his pocket.

He looked at the old man’s stunned expression and explained, “You are the fourth person to tell me about this matter. In theory, I could not give you money. We said that only the first three pieces of information are valuable.”

“But considering that you ran so far, I still gave you five dollars.”

“Next time, you better be faster, otherwise…” He curled his lips, picked up his coffee and took a sip. “Want a cup?”

The old man looked at Borton, then looked at the coffee, and finally shook his head. “No, no need to trouble you, Mr. Borton. Although it’s only five dollars, it’s very good for me.”

“Can I ask how much the first person who got this information took from you?”

Borton put down his coffee cup, pursed his lips, letting the coffee residue on his lips roll into his mouth, “Fifty dollars.”

“F*ck!” The old man cursed in a low voice, that fifty dollars was originally his!

He took a deep breath, “That guy said he’ll be back tomorrow…”

Mr. Borton looked at him, crossed his legs, and put his hands on his abdomen, “Then you have to run faster tomorrow.”

In the end, the old man still left. For him, the Lance Family now was much better than those gangs before, not only would they not make things difficult for them, ask them for money, but they would also give them money, although not much.

But it was indeed much better than before. He didn’t have the benefit of making things difficult for anyone, and he didn’t dare to do so.

Watching the old man’s departing figure, Borton combined it with some recent events. In fact, he could already guess that it should be someone from the Viper Gang planning to attack Lance’s bar.

He made a quick cost-benefit analysis in his mind, whether to tell Lance these messages truthfully?

He asked himself, if he didn’t say it, would Lance know?

The answer was obvious, Lance definitely had other channels to know these messages.

Moreover, if Lance fell, his days might not be easy.

The Viper Gang might not value him so much, and might not give him the treatment he had now.

On the contrary, Lance still “respected” him so much, letting him continue to work for the family, giving him not only status, respect, but also more income.

Rob’s death made him very heartbroken, but he didn’t dare to take revenge, he was afraid of pain, and also afraid of death.

He said to himself in the bathroom mirror, “You are a coward!” but in the end he could only accept this title.

Although he also hated it, hated that Lance didn’t leave any face at all, hated that Rob, that idiot, didn’t do something good, but had to betray Lance.

But in the end, all of this was put down, at least for now.

He needed a better life, a better future, a higher status, and more power!

Power was the root of everything!

He took out a cigarette, lit one, and the originally sunny sky suddenly became cloudy. With a crack of spring thunder, it started to rain in a thunderstorm in less than a few minutes.

Thunderstorms are very common in the spring and summer at the seaside. Maybe a gust of wind blows a large number of rain clouds from the sea, and a rainfall can form immediately.

But the duration of this kind of rainfall is not long. The heavy rain, as if God was holding a basin and pouring it down from the sky, cleanses not only the dust in the air, but also the dust in people’s spirits and souls.

A dozen minutes later, the sun showed its smile again, and the sunlight once again favored the world. Borton stood up.

Brown, shiny leather shoes stepped on the not-so-much accumulated water on the roadside, the water was splashed to both sides by the trampling, and the slightly damp trouser legs did not become an obstacle to prevent him from continuing to go out.

He walked to the public telephone booth, inserted two cents of coins, and dialed Lance’s number.

“Lance, many people are asking about the location of our bar, it may be Brington’s people…”

“I know…”

Lance put down the phone, not feeling surprised.

Brington, as the mayor transferred from other places, must bite people to reflect his value.

Being a dog requires the awareness of being a dog. Whether he is willing or not, he must show his dutifulness.

“Call Maurice over…”

Maurice wasn’t there, he had gone outside. Now, besides Borton, Lance also had Maurice monitoring the situation in the entire Imperial District.

You could often see two or three young people wearing red armbands patrolling the streets. They were called the “Patrol Team” by the people. This group of people was managed by Maurice.

These people not only had to maintain order on the streets, but also had to inquire and collect some information.

Because Lance indeed didn’t collect protection fees, and didn’t force people to join the Imperial Chamber of Commerce, the merchants in the entire Imperial District now maintained a good relationship with the Lance Family.

They were more willing than others for the Lance Family to continue for a long time, because as long as they didn’t collect protection fees, it meant that they could get more profits every month!

Who would dislike having more money in their hands?

They would also proactively tell Maurice’s people some information they obtained.

One overt and one covert, two lines firmly controlled the big and small things in the Imperial District.

Even if someone had a quarrel, as long as Lance wanted to know why they were quarreling and what the result was, someone would send detailed information to him.

“Go ask, is there anyone who knows about Fiddes, it would be even better if they know about the Viper Gang.”

Erwin stood up from the sofa, “Are we going to start a war with them?”

Lance leaned back, “Of course, he plans to attack us, we can’t just wait until the bullets hit us before we fight back.”

"Moreover, Elvin, the rules have been broken. During the escalation of conflicts between locals and outsiders, we no longer need to abide by many rules. Everything has returned to the initial stage, where profit is the only principle!"

After Elvin left, Lance departed from the company and went to the racetrack. Today was race day.

Horse racing is also a very popular sport in King's Harbor City because it can bring more wealth to the wealthy and provide some entertainment for the general public.

The racetrack sells horse racing tickets, and if you guess correctly, you can win a prize.

Coupled with various ways to play, some people always fantasize about getting rich overnight and participate in this sport that they don't really understand.

In the racetrack, more than half of the people have never ridden a horse, and 99% of them have never owned a horse of their own.

Their love for horse racing and horses is only because these things can bring them economic income.

After Lance parked the car, Ethan opened the door for him. He was unlikely to come out alone at such a tense moment. Not only did Ethan come, but Mador also brought three veterans with him.

He came here because Lance had arranged to meet Jack. When he arrived at the racetrack, it was already crowded with people.

Looking around, it was almost all people. They held "Horse Racing Guides" or "Horse Racing Newspapers" in their hands and were discussing their opinions in groups of three or five. There was still more than an hour before the race started.

Before the race starts, they have to make a decision, which is not an easy task for everyone, because for those dreamers, as long as they don't bet on a single game, there is almost no margin for error!

Lance quickly saw Jack at the place they had agreed to meet.

Jack was wearing a flat-topped hat today and dressed very formally, because horse racing is a provincial sport. Although these people are about to wave their horse tickets and shout the names of the horses.

However, they still consider themselves gentlemen, and even some high-end racetracks refuse entry to people who are not wearing formal attire.

So here, almost everyone is wearing very formal clothes.

Lance walked over and waved to them from a distance. Jack turned around and waved when he saw him.

After the two met, they shook hands. He introduced Lance to the others, "This is my cousin Patricia's boyfriend. Maybe you've heard his name, Lance White."

The people around suddenly showed understanding expressions and became more enthusiastic, all shaking hands with Lance.

Jack took the initiative to say, "We have something to say, excuse us for a moment…"

The others naturally wouldn't stop them. The two walked aside, and Jack gave Lance a cigarette.

The two had met before, so they weren't too unfamiliar. With the social weapon of cigarettes, they entered a social state almost without any feeling of stagnation.

Jack was older than Lance. He started with a topic that both parties were familiar with, "William has been actively participating in various family gatherings recently and always mentions you. He said that you have provided an irreplaceable role in his career!"

"I'm honored that he can say that. At least it makes me feel that helping him is worthwhile.", Lance was not modest, modesty depends on the occasion.

Jack continued, "I've heard some things about you. I was a little surprised when William told me you wanted to chat with me."

"You see, I am neither a gang member nor a police chief. Customs work doesn't seem to be of much use to you, after all, the wine you smuggle doesn't come in through customs."

He couldn't help laughing when he said this. The current coast patrol team is as fake as it can be, of course, this can't be blamed on them either.

Now large smuggling teams are equipped with heavy weapons, and the coast patrol team basically ends up holding their breath at the bottom of the sea when they encounter them.

So don't expect the coast patrol team to be very responsible. Sometimes when they really see it, they will just pretend they didn't see it.

And those big consortiums smuggle, a small customs worker would not dare to investigate, just like there are many contraband and smuggled goods in the warehouses on the docks of King's Harbor City, everyone knows about this, but who dares to investigate?

This is a minefield, one dies if you go, two die if you go in pairs.

So the current customs is so embarrassing. Relatively speaking, smuggling that is not measured in hundreds of tons is not their concern.

They don't dare to manage the smuggling that they are supposed to manage. He doesn't know what Lance needs to contact him for.

"The federal government will pay attention to customs issues sooner or later, and your work intensity and responsibilities will increase by then."

Jack smiled. He believed that this day would indeed come, but in the short term, it was hard to say whether he would even have the chance to see it, "Hopefully."

Lance then explained his intention, "I signed a contract with the Leger Group before, and I bought 10,000 tons of grapes from them at a very low price."

Jack whistled and emphasized the quantifier, "Ten thousand tons!"

"Yes, ten thousand tons.", Lance continued, "You should know something about the current price of grapes. It's growing rapidly. They don't intend to fulfill the contract, unilaterally tearing up the contract and planning to prevent me from fulfilling the contract by filing a lawsuit."

"I have now transferred this contract to the bank through some connections."

"A smart move, although you will lose a lot of money!", Jack knew these things better than Patricia, so he saw Lance's decisiveness at a glance.

Before this contract falls into legal disputes, it is directly transferred to the bank, and then Lance only needs to breach the contract. In order to avoid major losses, the bank must claim the contract dispute between itself and the Leger Group.

The conflicting parties changed from Lance and the Leger Group to the bank and the Leger Group.

Even if the Leger Group is a monopoly group, they still have to consider the consequences when dealing with the bank.

This matter can only be done sooner rather than later, because once a contract dispute occurs, the bank's risk department will not agree to accept this huge contract, so Jack believes that Lance is a very decisive person.

After all, it may sound like a very simple matter, but in fact, it represents hundreds of thousands or even millions of losses.

Not everyone has such a great awareness to make the most correct decision in the shortest time.

At the same time, he was also a little curious, "Maybe it's a bit presumptuous, but I still want to know, how much money did you lose?"

Lance was silent for a while, about five or six seconds, "Conservatively estimated, one million, maybe one and a half million or even more."

Jack sucked in a breath of cold air. He subconsciously glanced at the horse ticket in his hand. Even if he got all of them right, he would only get a profit of a few hundred thousand.

And that's only if he has extremely good luck!

He suddenly understood why William was shaking again at the family gathering. Anyone who has a big financial backer supporting them behind them cannot keep a low profile.

This also made Jack a little tempted. After all, Lance is dating Patricia and supporting William's campaign, so they are very likely to become a family, right?

Since we are a family…

Can I also get some help from it?

We are a family after all!

He showed a sad expression, but what he couldn't hide was the unclear light in his eyes, "I'm very sorry to hear this news, so what can I do for you?"