Empire of Shadows

It was a little after nine in the evening, and the Mayor was reading "The International News," showing great interest in recent international events.

The sudden ringing of the telephone didn't bother him in the slightest; whoever was calling him at this hour was certainly not delivering some simple nicety.

He put down the newspaper, took off his reading glasses, rubbed his eye sockets, and then answered the phone, "This is Sidney."

"It's me, Mike."

This book is first published on the entire network by 𝕥 𝕨 𝕜 𝕒 𝕟 . 𝕔 𝕠 𝕞

"What is it?" he asked.

"Just now... the Senator called me. The liquor you sealed today belongs to the Coda family."

The Mayor had actually already heard about this, and he had been waiting for this call. "So..."

"So, this batch of liquor cannot be destroyed."

Even though the Mayor was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion when he heard these words. "What you're saying makes me feel uncomfortable, Mike."

"If we can't touch it just because it's Coda family liquor, I might as well resign!"

"This city is a mess. I thought the enemy was from the outside, but now it seems like the enemy is also within."

"I'm no match for them. Is it too late for me to admit defeat now?"

Sensing the Mayor's dissatisfaction and anger, Mike could only try his best to appease him. "You've worked in Goldport City for so many years; you should know how much money the Coda family sends to Congress every year."

"I'm unwilling to admit it, but I can't deny it either, Sidney. Our party is being corrupted faster and more extensively by capital."

"They actually discussed it for a while and gave me a relatively... suitable option."

"The liquor, you still destroy it, but not this batch!"

The Mayor had already guessed as much, and this result was consistent with his guess, but even so, he was still very angry. "They want me to do something, but they won't let me do it. I really don't know what to do."

Mike could only continue to appease him; the current situation was just that delicate!

The implementation of Prohibition encountered many troubles, the difficulty of which was definitely beyond what people could imagine, and some even came from the higher-ups.

This had actually always been a problem for the Federation. The people who made the rules didn't think about putting themselves into the framework of those rules when they made them.

They were like gods beside a sandbox, thinking about problems while looking at the undulating ground and the little people like ants, making "my rules," while ignoring that the rules should actually encompass everyone.

No one should be excluded from the rules; only then is there true fairness.

But they couldn't do it, so from the beginning, there were loopholes and problems in the rules.

Now, with some accidental events, the problems have been magnified, ultimately leading to the inability to thoroughly enforce Prohibition.

Some things were not easy to say over the phone, so Mike could only try to appease him. "I think this method is good. You get what you want, and the Coda family doesn't lose anything."

"Moreover, Sidney, I have another piece of news. In exchange, higher-level figures will support nominating you to be the Speaker of the State House of Representatives."

The Mayor, who was quite angry, suddenly wasn't so angry anymore.

A smile even appeared on his face!

With the Senator's support, his chances of success had increased a lot.

However, he had to show that he wasn't giving up his confrontational attitude because of this. Even if he really ate shit, he had to wipe his mouth clean.

"I'm not agreeing to compromise because you said that, Mike. You need to be clear about that."

"I just don't want the situation to continue to escalate!"

How could Mike not know what kind of person the Mayor was? He didn't expose him. "Of course, of course. I'm very grateful that you can consider the overall situation. I will tell those figures about your performance."

The Mayor got what he wanted and then said, "The Coda family may need to cooperate with us a bit."

Mike quickly said, "No problem, I'll communicate with them."

The Mayor emphasized a few times, "Only a very few of us know about this matter. If they all know that we have reached a compromise, they will become even tougher."

"You should understand what I mean. When they discover that there are other paths in the dead end, they won't care about everything we are doing now!"

The Mayor nagged a few more times and hung up the phone.

He clasped his fingers together, pressed them on his leg, and looked at the dark night outside the window.

This result was obviously the best. They destroyed hundreds of thousands of bottles of liquor, and the Coda family lost tens of thousands of bottles.

Everyone got the results they wanted, although the process was a bit "rough," the result was satisfactory.

As long as the Coda family didn't talk nonsense.

As for Director Dale?

The Mayor felt that Director Dale understood the big picture!

Moreover, what Director Dale wanted was actually the same as what he wanted!

Mike had Bandi's phone number. All the prominent figures in the entire Likalai State had Bandi's phone number. In many people's eyes, Bandi was a charitable and generous person. He could give you a sum of money anytime, anywhere, without any return.

So, he had good relations with various parties and Congress. Who could refuse to have a generous friend?

The easy-to-talk-to Bandi didn't seem so easy to talk to this time.

"Mike, I'm not targeting you. I just want to say, why is he taking action against us?"

Bandi's attitude was very tough, and he didn't seem to intend to compromise on this issue. "I can agree to your proposal on other issues, but not this time."

"This is not a matter of money. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are gone when they're gone. What I care about is dignity."

"If I agree to your proposal, everyone in Goldport City will know tomorrow that we have bowed our heads."

"Then what will they do next?"

"They will try to overthrow the order we have established and challenge our position!"

"This is not a matter of money, Mike."

"I can give you a million dollars. You let them put my liquor back. As long as they do it, this million dollars is yours!"

Mike could understand Bandi's meaning. Although on the surface, it seemed like... everyone wouldn't suffer, the Coda family's face was actually slammed hard on the ground!

Sometimes, the more powerful and higher-status organizations are, the less they can accept this kind of solution. What they care about is no longer actual benefit.

But the rules and prestige they have built over the years, is face, is authority!

If authority is lost, they will not make people feel afraid.

Mike was also very troubled, but who asked him to take this job?

He lowered his voice slightly. Although it was impossible for anyone to eavesdrop on their call, he was still habitually doing so.

"Bandi, you have to understand that Prohibition is an important decree promoted by Congress. Your current thinking is very dangerous because you are clearly opposing Congress!"

"I'm not threatening you or intimidating you or anything. Is it a little unwise for you, as a gangster in Goldport City, to oppose the entire Federation?"

"You are my friend. I don't want anything to happen to you, but I won't allow you to mess around like this either."

"I'm not afraid to tell you the truth. In fact... the state government has approved the deployment of militiamen into Goldport City when necessary."

"Although this is the last option, you should know the special nature of this decision."

"I know you are good to me and those above, but precisely because of this, we should better negotiate these issues."

"As long as the state government and the senators support you, I believe that at least within Goldport City, there cannot be an organization or individual capable of challenging your family."

"I will lobby them that at least for the next twenty years, Goldport City will not approve any more casino licenses!"

While they were intensely discussing these matters, several dark figures had already approached the Hazardous Materials Administration's warehouse.

This warehouse was not located at the Hazardous Materials Administration's office building; there was some distance between them. The land in the city center was very valuable, and it was impossible to give it all to them.

Moreover, in the beginning, no one knew how far this new department could go, how much power it would have, or whether it would become a joke like the FBI, "helping the president find trouble for political enemies."

But with Congress's emphasis on the Hazardous Materials Administration, and the cooperation between the Mayor and Director Dale, the Mayor approved a building specifically selected to serve as the Hazardous Materials Administration's warehouse.

And, it was still in the city center.

Most of the houses in the Federation were made of wood, and even brick houses would have many wooden structures.

At this time, several agents on duty were playing cards while guarding the gate.

The liquor was stacked in the room behind, and the door on the other side was locked. If you want to come in, you can only come from their side.

"There's a bit of a gasoline smell," someone mentioned. He looked around, but there was no gasoline in the room either.

However, the others' attention was on the card game and they didn't notice what he was saying at all.

And he himself quickly returned to the card game, ignoring the faint gasoline smell.

Several dark figures took advantage of the night to sneak into the yard. They quietly pried open the door behind the building and slipped in.

The increasingly strong smell of gasoline filled the fully stacked warehouse. The enclosed space was no longer ventilated, and the volatile substance of gasoline drifted out from some of the not fully sealed liquor bottles, becoming more and more intense.

Several people quickly used steel pipes wrapped with cotton cloth to repeatedly strike the boxes containing the liquor bottles, and gasoline began to flow out.

After doing all this, the others quickly climbed back over the wall, leaving one person standing by the pried-open rolling gate.

He took out a match from his pocket, lit it, lit a cigarette, took a puff, and then indifferently threw the match into the rolling gate…

The match was extinguished before it hit the ground and failed to ignite the gasoline. He lit another one, and this time it ignited.

Gasoline has high fluidity and is flammable. In addition, the warehouse space was filled with gasoline that had evaporated into vapor. The moment the ground ignited, the warehouse exploded!

He was thrown back a distance by the explosion. Cursing, he got up from the ground, reached out to grab his companion's arm, and together they climbed over the wall and disappeared into the night.

News of the warehouse explosion immediately alarmed everyone, including the mayor, who was on the phone with Director Dale discussing what to do next.

Fire trucks throughout the city quickly began to mobilize, but facing the fiercely burning warehouse and the expanding fire, there seemed to be no good solution.

The high temperature and heat waves became a wall of death. Even though the firefighters worked hard to spray water, it didn't really have any practical effect on the increasingly raging fire!

Once a fire has enough temperature and space, it cannot be extinguished by water sprayed from fire trucks; you can only wait for everything inside to burn out.

Bandy, who was still haggling with Mike, also heard the news. He told Mike directly, "There's no need to talk anymore," and hung up the phone.

The expressions of the family members also became serious.

At the scene, Director Dale stared speechlessly at the fire department, which had already given up, and the surrounding fire. He couldn't help but look at several on-duty agents with angry eyes several times.

He really wanted to ask what they were doing!

The fire burned almost all night.

When the flames gradually died out naturally in the early morning, nothing was left in the fire field.

Only some black, charred brick and stone structures stood there, and everything else was burned to ashes.

They came to the place where the liquor was stored. The glass had already re-melted into molten glass under the high temperature. Now, sticking to other ashes, it was black and unidentifiable as glass bottles.

A large number of reporters rushed to the scene after hearing the news. The photos were full of the firefighters' numb faces and the helpless backs of some agents.

Many people from the city police department also came, including Officer Hunt. They were there to evacuate the surrounding crowd and help put out the fire if necessary.

Officer Hunt, who was now completely idle, walked around the scene a few times and happened to run into Lucar. The two had known each other before and had a decent relationship.

Hunt gave Lucar a cigarette, and the two naturally started chatting, "What do you think?"

Lucar took the cigarette, lit it, and took two steps back, seemingly still having lingering fears about last night's fire, "It's hard to say. I think this fire is very strange."

"It burned too fast and too fiercely. The fire department came, but it was useless. This is not normal."

Hunt did not express his position but seemed to be arguing with him, "This is all liquor. Once it starts burning, it's difficult to put out even with water."

Lucar did not deny this possibility, "But I still feel that something is wrong. It burned as soon as it was brought back, it burned all night."

"It's as if… someone is manipulating these things."

He glanced at Ponda, who was standing next to Director Dale. Hunt also turned to look at that person, "You suspect him?"

Lucar nodded and said, "He provided the clues, then we transported the liquor back, and then it burned, burned all night."

"But I don't know what his purpose is in doing this, so I can't ultimately confirm whether it's him, but he is very suspicious."

"This person did not show any advantageous side before. He can't be considered a complete local; you can only say he's a federal agent who moved here."

"Then he suddenly got such important clues. This is not normal."

"You can't get such important news in an unfamiliar environment; otherwise, everyone would be a super detective!"

"In short, I think he is very suspicious," Lucar said, then stopped talking. He seemed unwilling to continue discussing this issue and turned to look at Hunt, "After Charlie resigned, I heard that he nominated you to take over his job?"

Officer Hunt showed some smiles, "I am more familiar with the various tasks of the police station. If you hadn't left back then, maybe he would have nominated you."

"We all know that he valued you very much."

Valued?

Lucar laughed, "I'm doing pretty well now. This job allows me to do what I really want to do."

"The police have their advantages, and the special agents have their advantages. It seems that I will soon have to call you Director Hunt?"

Hunt also smiled. This was indeed a happy thing, "Just call me Hunt. I'm not used to your titles."

The two chatted for a while and then separated.

In the morning, the news had spread everywhere, accompanied by reports from major and minor newspapers, and some "insiders" were also spreading the news.

These people claimed that the liquor was burned by the Codda family.

They would rather destroy their own liquor with their own hands than have it publicly destroyed. These messages were passed on with detailed and credible information, making it difficult to distinguish the truth from the false, but many people believed this statement.

It made more sense!

The source of this news came from the mayor and Director Dale. They can only respond in this way for now.

Mike had spoken to the mayor again last night. The Codda family had strong opinions and told him to be careful.

It was clear from Mike's voice that he was also somewhat annoyed. Although he did not spearhead this matter, he participated almost throughout and played an important role.

Now he was pleasing neither side. Not only did he not get the results he wanted, but he also made everyone unhappy, so naturally, he was not polite to the mayor.

At a little after eight in the morning, Director Dale was driving out of the Hazardous Materials Management Bureau when suddenly a truck crashed into him.

In an emergency, he swerved the steering wheel, only to be hit obliquely.

This scared him into a cold sweat, and then his scalp tingled!

Without a doubt, this truck was after his life!

These sons of bitches, these locals!

He cursed and got out of the car, quickly ran back into the Hazardous Materials Management Bureau. He wasn't going anywhere for a short time!

The truck lost power after crashing into a section of the Hazardous Materials Management Bureau's wall, and the driver fell into a coma.

The city police department also sent people over. They took the driver away, but in the afternoon, they issued a judgment that "this was just an ordinary traffic accident!"

This blatant tactic not only made Director Dale feel terrified and angry, but even the mayor felt shocked and furious!

He called Bandy directly.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Are you wantonly murdering state government officials in broad daylight?"

"Bandy, you're being too bold!"