Empire of Shadows

People are very hypocritical.

And very realistic.

No one will praise another person for no reason.

Because while you are praising another person for being excellent and outstanding, you will make yourself look黯然无光, and you can't say "Actually, I am better than him."

If you say that, all your previous praises will become sarcasm, and you will offend people.

So most of the time, people will not praise anyone for no reason.

Unless, this person is dead.

You will praise a dead person because he is already dead. People should respect the deceased and beautify the deceased. This is almost a common trait of human beings!

Especially when this person's death is for the benefit of the family, even if he is a bastard, people will still say when they talk about him, he is a hero and did what a hero should do!

When people face his widow and children, they will also say "Your husband is a hero" or "Your father is a hero." They will also impose some deeds that did not actually happen to these people!

Some things that were originally insignificant in size will also be brought up and talked about several times.

This is a very normal... family atmosphere. After all, they are all their own people. You can't say that your own people are bad people, right?

Moreover, Dover's father did die to protect Paul, so people have more reason to say that a person who may not be truly understood by many people is a very good person!

Only in this way can he become a role model to inspire the next generation to grow up, just as they hope Dover can become the next version of his father, and dedicate his loyalty to the family!

When necessary, even offer his life!

But in many cases, your sentence and my sentence of beautification will unknowingly distort some of the traces that some people once existed.

Dover's father was indeed a figure in the family, but he could not shake Paul's position as the heir to the family. Otherwise, it would not be him blocking bullets for Paul, but Paul blocking a shot for him.

So fundamentally speaking, excluding those artificially beautified results, that is what his father should do!

And his father was not qualified to threaten Paul's position.

However, in the excessive beautification, Dover's understanding of his father, whom he almost had no memory of, has undergone unimaginable changes!

He even felt at this moment that if it wasn't for his father blocking a shot for Paul to protect Paul at that time.

Maybe the Pasreto family would have been inherited by his father in the future, so he should not be an insignificant little character like "the head of the family's nephew" now, but a key character like "the next family heir"!

The huge difference in status and the surrounding environment made it difficult for him to not feel hatred in his heart more than once!

He always asked, why, why did his father die instead of Paul, or someone else?

If his father was still alive, would his life from childhood to adulthood be even more changed?

Become more free, more confident, and have more power!

Paul always encroached on his father's position and rights, giving him orders, and not allowing him to do this or that, and would punish him for it!

A thief who stole his father's life and position, but stood in the position of the head of the family to restrain him, this is his greatest dissatisfaction with the family!

Under the influence of alcohol, his emotions reached a delicate level. The more people praised his father, the more they sympathized with his current situation, so that he said such a sentence at the dinner table!

"If it wasn't for my father blocking a shot for him, it would be hard to say who would be the boss of the Pasreto family now!"

When he said this, the people around the booth were silent for a while!

Some people showed incredible eyes, brother, we are just playing around, do you take it seriously!

But some people also showed joy!

Those who have status and future in the family have already gone to hang out with Paul's children, and those of them who follow Dover do not really have much sense of identity with Dover, or how much their parents respect and admire Dover's father.

It's just because they can't enter the core circle of the Pasreto family!

Then surrounding a quasi-marginal figure has become one of their few choices.

If Dover can cheer up, become excellent, and truly enter the core circle, it also means that they can also take Dover's fast ship and enter the core circle of the Pasreto family.

Although there are many people in the Pasreto family who are relatives by marriage, even relatives are close and distant. Not everyone can have their own industry, take countless money every month, and live like upper-class gentlemen.

Some people also wear cheap clothes and work for the family in the streets, doing the hardest and dirtiest work, but getting the least amount of money for their lives.

Everyone wants to climb up, there is no problem with that.

Dover used to seem indifferent and had no ambition, but now, it seems that he is becoming a little ambitious!

"Dover, you should cheer up and let those people in the Pasreto family see that you also have a day to make great contributions to the family!"

"As long as you can make contributions to the family that others cannot ignore, the next head of the family may not be you!"

These people began to tout again, just like they did every day before, making Dover happy, so that Dover would always take them with him.

Have money and leisure.

A glass of wine was poured into his stomach. The excitement brought by the alcohol made people forget their worries. They frequently raised their glasses and drank heartily, saying unrealistic things that they might forget in a while, and spent time and wasted time in cheers and laughter.

But they think this is life.

In the middle of the night, a group of people were already drunk and unsteady, staggering towards the outside.

Dover scratched his crotch, "I'm going to take a piss."

He smiled silly and pushed away the person who wanted to help him, and after saying a few words of "I don't want you to help me", he staggered into the bathroom alone. He found a convenient spot with great difficulty, and then unzipped his zipper.

As he shivered twice and prepared to leave, someone stopped him.

"Get out of the way, don't fucking block me!", his hand went to his chest, but he forgot that his gun was left in the car.

"Do you believe that if I... shout, you will live in Angel Lake?", he said, and couldn't help but smile triumphantly.

Perhaps only when he deprives the lives of his fellow human beings can he feel his greatness and extraordinariness.

The man just looked at him calmly, "I want to make friends with you."

"I don't need... friends like you."

"You can't help me with anything."

His words were a little unclear. The depression and jealousy made him drink too much wine unknowingly tonight. Thanks to the low alcohol content of the wine he drank, otherwise he would be almost gone at this time.

"I can make you the next head of the Pasreto family. Do you still think I can't help you with anything now?"

"I know, you have long coveted that position, but you have no resources, no manpower, and no courage."

"I can help you with what you lack. This is what I can bring to you, Dover."

He put a business card into the pocket in front of his chest, "If you are interested in my proposal, or you don't forget that your father's death only brought you depression, you want to do something."

"Then when you wake up from the wine and think clearly, contact me!", he patted Dover's chest pocket, as if to remind him that the business card was there!

"There is only one chance, Dover. If you miss this chance, this is how you will be for the rest of your life."

"Like a rotten maggot rolling in alcohol, eventually becoming a waste in people's mouths."

"On one side is a bright future, and on the other side is rotten depravity. You know how to make a choice!"

The man nodded, pushed Dover away, and left the bathroom.

After he left, several people suddenly came into the bathroom, cursing in their mouths.

Just now, someone blocked the bathroom and didn't allow them to come in. If they hadn't seen that the other person didn't seem easy to mess with, they would have done it long ago.

No one noticed Dover. Dover looked at himself in the mirror. The drunkenness didn't seem so obvious anymore.

He twisted the faucet, scooped up a handful of cold water, and splashed it on his face.

The feeling of being drowned in water for a moment awakened him. He took a deep breath of air, shook his head with a slight whistle, and looked at himself in the mirror panting heavily, and suddenly punched himself in the mirror!

"Fuck, this person is sick!"

Someone was startled by the movement and sound of him hitting the mirror, pulled up his pants and hurried away.

The stinging pain on his fist made his breathing a little difficult. He looked at his shattered self in the mirror. It seemed that something was changing!

He returned to the outside of the bar. The injury on his hand immediately attracted people's attention. They clamored to make the person who hurt Dover feel despair.

However, Dover said that he did it himself.

Some people began to tout his bravery again. For some reason, Dover, who was originally very happy, suddenly felt a little... boring!

The sea breeze blew. He looked at the dark sea. He suddenly realized that he was no longer the him just now.

Far away in the direction he was looking at, McCook (the captain of the coast guard) was sitting on the bed smoking a cigarette.

Lance contacted him again, gave him a time and a rough location. McCook agreed without even considering it.

The last time they cooperated, he got 90,000 yuan.

He, his father, his grandfather, three generations combined had never earned so much money!

But he just… took action, and he got the money. Including his confidants, everyone got a huge fortune!

Their lives have become different because their choices have put them on a path of positive progress!

Money is indeed the most magical thing in the world. It can solve almost all the troubles people can think of!

The children got more pocket money, and he became a good father.

His wife got extra household subsidies, and he became a good husband.

It is worth mentioning that he enjoyed treatment at night that he could not normally enjoy!

His parents got some money, and he became a good son again.

He also bought some things for himself. He had actually tried to restrain his desire to spend money, but this desire was really uncontrollable.

He bought a forty-nine yuan lighter, started smoking forty-nine fen-a-pack cigarettes, wore thirty-nine yuan leather shoes, and the seemingly inconspicuous clothes on his body added up to one hundred yuan!

Low-key, luxurious, this is his positioning for himself. He has always wanted to buy a gold watch, but he has never been able to bring himself to do it.

Now that he has money, he doesn't dare to buy it because this thing is too eye-catching.

Logically speaking, Lance has already given him enough money, but for some reason, when Lance told him that these people were going to pick up the goods again, he couldn't help it.

Not only could he not help it, but everyone on this ship couldn't help it.

This time, three more people were added. They usually had a very good relationship with him. He would let these three people kill the people on the ship so that they would not sell themselves out.

The armed ship drifted at sea for a day, and everyone was recharging their batteries, just for the work at night.

McCawk called the three new people into the captain's room. He gave them cigarettes and asked them to light them with their own lighters.

A beautiful and high-end silver-cased lighter. Although silver is not particularly valuable, when it is made into a commodity, its price is more than just the price of silver itself.

"The lighter is really handy. How much does it cost?"

McCawk casually took it back and lit a cigarette himself, "Forty-nine."

The expressions of the three people were different, but basically there was some shock in them.

"Have you made a lot of money recently? You're willing to buy such an expensive lighter?"

This kind of talk is actually the most common state of ordinary people. When they know that a small thing on those rich people costs as much as one month, several months, or even several years of their salary.

The first thing they think of is, are these people crazy?

Will anyone buy this kind of obviously overpriced thing?

Then they will think, it's not that I can't afford it, I can also afford it, but I won't buy it because I'm not a fool.

This kind of self-comfort is actually quite useful. It can really soothe people's emotions, especially when they think that their "can afford it" and the rich people's "can afford it" are the same thing, their mood is obviously much better.

McCawk smiled mysteriously, "Don't you want to know where I got the money from?"

The three of them leaned closer, "From where?"

He didn't answer immediately, but asked as if teasing, but with a bit of seriousness, "Before I answer this question, I have to ask you, do you have the guts to kill people?"

Someone answered very quickly, "Dare, why wouldn't I dare?"

Some people also answered very slowly, "Who to kill?"

McCawk took a deep breath of his cigarette, "Smugglers, they are very dangerous, they destroy the law, they destroy public security."

"Kill them, and then the things on their ship will be ours!"

"Don't you know, most of these smuggling ships now are wine, one ship is worth hundreds of thousands, two hundred thousand…"

The breathing of the three people became a little rougher and heavier, but some people were also a little hesitant, "What if people find out…"

McCawk sneered, "If you don't say it, I don't say it, who will know?"

In fact, when he said this sentence, one of the three people had already noticed something was wrong, but now that they were already on the ship, it was useless to say anything, and they immediately expressed that they wanted to join.

The other two also joined without hesitation. Whether they were sincere or not, McCawk didn't care.

When they killed people and divided the money, so what if they weren't sincere?

Money will shut them up, Lance will shut them up!

Soon they arrived near the location provided by Lance. After patrolling for a while, they really found a cargo ship drifting at sea.

As before, they rushed over directly, firing wildly at the people on the deck from a high position.

The bullets were covered by the turbulent waves and could not be heard at all, and the killing was completed in a very short time.

They found several people in the cabin who had been shot. One of them stared at them with hatred in his eyes, "Luigi will avenge us."

McCawk walked over, put the gun in the other person's mouth, and stared into the person's eyes, "Even if he comes, he will die!"

The scene was quickly cleaned up. The bodies were thrown into the water, and then McCawk asked people to drive the ship to the location he had agreed with Lance.

This transaction was obviously more leisurely, and there was more trust between each other.

Lance didn't give him the money on the spot, and he didn't want it either, which made it easier for him to take more from it.

Lance gave him a price of 100,000 for this batch of goods, but in fact, if these wines were sold separately in bars, they could sell for at least 200,000 or more.

He is not a philanthropist, he also needs to make money. McCawk can accept this price.

A group of people completed the night patrol with some uneasy emotions. The next day, when they reported back to the coastal patrol team, McCawk was gathered together with them in the parking lot.

In front of these people, he opened his car. In the trunk, two large travel bags were placed inside.

He casually opened one of them, and everyone was silent.

It's money, countless money, folded, tied with rubber bands, and piled together at will, two big bags of money!

He took people to a remote place and started distributing the money according to his rules. No one had any objections, and some people even took the initiative to ask when the next time would be.

McCawk lit a cigarette with his forty-nine yuan lighter, faced the sea breeze, looked back at these friends who were putting money into their pockets, and showed a smile.

"As long as it is a valuable commodity, he wants it!"

This time, not only was a batch of goods lost, but the people on the federal side who were picking up the goods were furious again. Gory even personally called Luigi to tell him that they would no longer cooperate!

This made Luigi angrily smash all the things in the office. Bloodshot eyes filled his eyeballs. The thing he wanted to figure out most now was one thing.

Who stole his goods and killed his people!