Empire of Shadows

Erwin took Alan to the lounge and directly announced to everyone that Alan was now the captain.

This had a huge impact on many of the young people who were still at the bottom of the gang, but it also provided them with plenty of motivation!

Alan had a good relationship with everyone, and coupled with his special relationship with Erwin, he was very popular here. People kept coming over to ruffle his hair or give him a hug.

He couldn't stop smiling, perhaps this was the direction of every young person's dream here.

After Erwin returned to his office, he sat in the chair opposite Lance, "Seeing them like this, I thought of when we first came to the Federation."

Lance lit a cigarette. "Those were really hard times."

He rested his chin on his hand holding the cigarette, his slightly narrowed eyes seemingly recalling that most difficult time.

Without money and without legal status, Lance chose to go to the city to find something to do, while Erwin and the others stayed at the port.

Thinking of this, Lance couldn't help but want to laugh. Some welcomed a new life, some welcomed destruction, but some also witnessed his growth, like Johnny.

He quickly gathered his thoughts from these scattered ideas, "We all know Alan's situation very well, including his family's situation. Did he recruit that Beno himself?"

Erwin shook his head. "He was recruited when we were recruiting people. He came from out of town, wanting to find some opportunities, and then joined us."

Lance nodded noncommittally. "Also, check out the other two people around Alan. Investigate all of them."

Erwin became a little worried, "Are you saying they might be undercover agents?"

He learned the word 'undercover' from Lance, meaning an intelligence-gathering infiltrator.

Lance neither admitted nor denied it, "We currently have two undercover agents, one sent by the Hazardous Materials Administration, but we don't know who the other one belongs to. I even suspect that we might have mistaken the target."

"So we can't rule out that they might send some more undercover agents in. This time things are a bit of a coincidence. I just arranged for Alan to help deal with a problem, and Beno discovered a Wolf Gang bar."

"I'm not saying that there is definitely a problem with these two things, I just think it's too coincidental."

"So check it out, and we can feel more at ease."

"If they don't have any problems, we can arrange more important work for them. Promoting brotherhood is the right thing to do."

"If each of them can go further, then it will be enough to set an example for others!"

Lance spread his hands, "I've heard some people complain that they joined us later, so they don't have any opportunities."

"Alan is a good choice, let them know that as long as they have good enough ability, or can establish meritorious service for us, they can also get rapid promotion."

"Captain, senior cadre, or whatever else."

The purpose of the promotion ladder is to allow people to stably exert their value and function, and find their suitable position. This is actually the same as the current federal education system.

Although the federal high schools are still very responsible for teaching knowledge, the intensity is not as good as before.

The issue of education reform has been repeatedly raised, and the reason is very simple.

Those children from upper-class families, even if their test papers are blank, can easily go to those prestigious universities with letters of recommendation, and then enter large companies or political groups to work.

On the contrary, those students who study hard may not necessarily get corresponding positive feedback.

The federal universities have never simply used academic performance to determine whether a person is qualified to enter university. Family background is sometimes more important than grades.

Those who are admitted without examination because they have rich social activities, sing well, can fry steaks themselves, or get letters of recommendation from well-known alumni, no one has ever considered whether their grades are suitable.

Even if ordinary people are lucky enough to meet all the conditions, do they have the money to go to school?

This has never been an ideal country, never!

What Lance needs is not such a lifeless gang, eventually everyone will be dissatisfied because of it.

What he needs is a vibrant place, letting people know that as long as they put in effort, they will definitely be rewarded, so that everyone can be more united.

Erwin nodded, "No problem, I will arrange it."

After ending this topic, Lance asked about the situation at the labor agency. Lance spent so much money to achieve the effect, and lawyer Robben has already sent the invitation letter.

He also asked Officer Brayden to solve Sean's identity—

For Lance's sake, Officer Brayden only charged fifteen hundred dollars.

What originally only cost a few hundred dollars quickly rose to thousands. Those families of missing children are not fools, they may not have known that this could make so much money at first.

But when some people started thinking about doing these things without Officer Brayden, and when this kind of thing spread quickly in a small area, more people knew about it.

More people, fewer resources, under the seller's market, those families who have ways to settle people will no longer be satisfied with the benefits of two hundred dollars, they want more benefits.

Five hundred, eight hundred, one thousand, now it is fifteen hundred.

His external quotation is one thousand eight to two thousand dollars, and he can get a profit of three to five hundred dollars, which also makes Officer Brayden live very comfortably, and not just him.

Many other district police officers who can do this are doing it, everyone is trying to put money in their own pockets.

Lance has many reliable relationships in the police force. In just two days, Sean became a native-born federal citizen.

Of course, he and some other native-born federal citizens have roughly the same situation. They were abducted when they were young, and now they have grown up and ran back.

Sean left the labor agency, and the work there was overwhelming. Erwin is very familiar with the dock, and no one else is suitable for this job except him.

The two were talking about something when Morris pushed the door in from outside, "I heard you were looking for me?"

Lance asked him to sit down, then gave him an address, "Go check this place out. Someone told us there's a Wolf Gang bar here, see if it's true."

"If it is, make them disappear in the next few days."

Morris glanced at the address in his hand and nodded, "I got it."

Lance asked another question, "Have those people around Joffa been up to anything these past two days?"

The Wolf Gang people have been with Mr. Joffa all the time, and even if Lance wants to take action, it's not easy to do so.

They always appear in crowded places, and most of the time Mr. Joffa appears in person.

Erwin put the cigarette into the ashtray, repeatedly making sure it was completely extinguished, and asked, "Do you want to find an opportunity?"

Lance considered it for a moment, but ultimately shook his head.

It's not that he's unwilling to take action against Mr. Joffa. When he recruited the Wolf Gang people, it meant that there was no longer any affection between the two sides.

He doesn't take action, considering many complex issues.

The operating model of this society is not simple.

The mayor is right there.

He goes to and from work in a car every day. Most of the time he doesn't bring bodyguards. Not to mention the five major families, even Lance has a way to arrange for someone to kill him.

But the war between the five major families and the mayor has broken out until now, why hasn't anyone suddenly stood up and killed him?

If the mayor could die, Lance believes that Paul, Keane, Tita, these families would be very happy to do so.

Or they would be willing to take out a large sum of money to find an assassin to remove the mayor.

But still no one does this, because they all know, including the mayor himself.

Once the mayor dies, the problem will escalate!

At that time, higher-level forces will begin to intervene, and eventually cleanse the entire Golden Port City of unrestrained forces.

This country ultimately belongs to the group of people who sat together and watched a certain gentleman announce the establishment of the Federation, belonging to their families, their descendants. As long as they do not break their rules of the game, they do not mind letting the Federation become a holy land for people to pursue freedom!

But if someone breaks these rules, the foundation of rule will be shaken, and their rule will gradually be disintegrated!

So they will not allow this kind of thing to happen. At that time, the five major families of Golden Port City will have to face the Federation's army.

Many people think that the Federal Army is not very good. They joke about the army, and some people say that they are actually evolved from the slave owners' hunting teams.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that there are indeed such situations, but that is ultimately an army!

As long as you are not thinking about rebelling or becoming independent, then in this country, no one is a match for the military.

You can't use such simple and direct violence to deal with the mayor, and the same is true for most politicians.

In history, those presidents who were assassinated were not assassinated by killers or gangsters.

Because they can't do these things.

Those who really created these were their once close political partners, those who could sit at the same table with them, and even their normal old men!

The others are nothing more than tools, means.

Tools may not be so easy to use, but they must never be prickly, let alone prick the hand.

The five major families are unwilling to be tools that prick the hand, and Lance is also unwilling to be.

As for the police chief?

No one has ever really seen anyone treat the police chief as a politician, that is just their tool of rule!

"With a little over two months until the election (October), we can wait a bit longer."

"But we can stir up some trouble for the Wolf Gang first, and verify the bar's situation."

After the chat, the three dispersed. Morris had many people under his command, and his network was no longer limited to the Imperial District.

The residents of the Imperial District also needed work, going to the port, the docks, the factories, and other places.

Some of them could provide Morris with information, and it wouldn't be easy for others to detect. This was the biggest difference between him and Burton.

Burton's reach was currently limited to the Imperial District. Outside of it, he was blind. But both men had their uses and value. One shouldn't dismiss Burton as useless, or Morris as useless, based on any single reason.

As Morris prepared to verify whether the bar Benno mentioned actually existed, the remaining members of Baltz Investment Bank gradually sensed that something was amiss.

Almost a week had passed, and the first group that left hadn't sent any messages back. Even if the place they went didn't have direct phone lines to the Federation, they could still send a telegram, right?

Moreover, they didn't go to some extremely primitive place. Convenient means of communication were available.

But almost a week had passed, and they hadn't sent back a single message, making people feel uneasy.

Everyone had been working together for so long and understood each other well.

Adding to the previous disappearance of two people, those who remained in the Federation, intending to make one last big score, vaguely sensed something was wrong.

Once people start to question, even if they discover the truth, they will continue to question it, even questioning whether the truth is the real truth!

Intelligent animals are like that. The more they think, the more frightened, the more anxious they become.

On the contrary, those animals that lack intelligence and are driven by instinct don't have so many worries.

The remaining members had indeed made a lot of money in the past few days. Finally, they discussed it and decided to run.

In the morning, they arranged for someone to go to Goldport Bank and submit a transfer application. This time, they used Plan B, deciding to go to another place.

Large-sum transfers definitely required the bank's personal approval. In the office, the bank president looked at the guy across the desk with a smile.

According to his "position," this person was the head of the asset management department of Baltz Investment Bank, a person with high status and authority.

"Mr. Department Head, can you tell me why all this money needs to be transferred?"

The president smiled knowingly, "I noticed that if you transfer all this money away, your investment bank won't have much left in its account."

The department head had done his homework before coming. "We will inject new funds before the 25th. This money is to be transferred to the headquarters account for overseas investments."

"It won't actually affect the company's operations, and there are still hundreds of thousands in liquid funds in the account, enough to support us in dealing with various special situations."

The bank president nodded noncommittally, "I have also been following the development of your investment bank recently. I noticed a very interesting thing: you don't seem to have any investment projects in the Federation."

"But you have many, many investment projects abroad. Why is that?"

"The economic development of the Federation is clearly better than other countries. I don't quite understand why you do this."

"Giving up investing in obviously more advantageous places to invest in those that have no advantage."

The department head felt a little troubled, but fortunately, he was also professional in this area. "We are very concerned about the subsequent economic development trends of the Federation, and you know that large-scale investments are not a simple matter."

"We need to conduct a comprehensive assessment before making a decision. But currently, the economic development of the Federation has tended to be flat, and even reports from some regions have shown a decline in economic development."

"Under such circumstances, in order to ensure the interests of ourselves and our investors, to be responsible for our money, we can only, and must, choose more advantageous regions and assets to invest in. I hope you can understand."

This statement had problems, but not big ones. Moreover, the president just wanted to put some pressure on him, not really wanting to ask him something he couldn't answer.

He curled his lips, revealing a disapproving attitude, "I still believe that the Federation is the future!"

He paused, "Okay, I approve your application..."

After returning to the company from the bank, the department head told the others about his concerns, "Maybe we've been too high-profile recently. When I talked to the president about the transfer just now, he didn't agree immediately, but was a little suspicious. Fortunately, I fooled him."

"We have to leave as soon as possible. It's becoming increasingly unsafe here. Once they don't let us leave, we're done for!"

At this time, some people were already regretting not leaving earlier, but not particularly regretting it, because the first group of people who left had all gone missing.

The unknown is the core of fear. If they knew what had happened to those people, even if it was something terrible, they wouldn't be so afraid.

But it was precisely because they didn't know that they felt uneasy and afraid.

In the afternoon, after confirming with the bank that the money had been transferred, the group bought tickets for a ship leaving at dawn the next day.

This would be their last day in the Federation. Although they were all very clear that continuing would bring in a lot of money, they weren't sure if the money would ultimately belong to them.

But they had already made a fortune, enough for them to squander for the rest of their lives!

They indulged themselves, and Goldport City was not short of girls who were willing to do anything for money. They threw a farewell party, of course, this was just their own idea, and they wouldn't say it out loud.

They didn't fall into a deep sleep until late at night.

At dawn, before the sky was even bright, they rubbed their eyes and drove luxury cars to the dock. The quietness here gave them a sense of security.

A cruise ship was docked at the pier, illuminated by lights, and people were boarding from time to time.

After confirming their tickets, they boarded the ship, carrying their beautiful aspirations for the future, about to end their lives!

The assassins were already waiting on the ship. What the old men of the Bay Area needed was a group of underwater ghosts who would forever keep secrets, not living people!

The next morning, Barbara came to the company, feeling... excited!

William had persuaded her father to give up the idea of continuing to bet, but Barbara thought it was a wrong decision.

But most of the family's money was in her parents' hands, so she didn't actually have much money.

But she didn't want to give up this opportunity, so she used her previous product purchase records to borrow some money, and then threw that money in as well.

The amount wasn't small, but it wasn't much either: sixty thousand dollars.

She had already received nine thousand dollars, and there would be another nine thousand dollars at the end of the month.

She thought William was ridiculous and pitied him, including the other people in the family who hadn't invested. They had missed an opportunity to get rich!

They didn't understand finance at all!

When she arrived at her post, she found the manager and several supervisors standing in the lobby, frowning and discussing something.

She curiously approached, "Gentlemen, what happened?"