Empire of Shadows

In a low building not far from the pier, a thin old man looked at the two "young people" in front of him, who were much younger than him, and asked, "Who is that person?"

"He seems to have a certain prestige on the pier. I don't remember the company or the pier having such a figure. His appearance is obviously beyond my understanding."

A subordinate said softly, "That person is called Lance. He is a... uh, a gang leader."

"A gang!" The old man curled his lips. "I don't like gangs. They always make things worse or more complicated."

"But sometimes you have to deal with these people."

He paused. "See if any friends know him. Maybe we can use him."

The young man nodded and agreed, "What about the manager's side?"

The old man frowned slightly, "He still has a day and a half. We said we'd give him three days, so we'll give him three days."

At this moment, a man walked in from outside, also a middle-aged man, who looked somewhat similar to the old man.

He was about forty years old, dressed very elegantly, and wore a platinum watch adorned with emeralds to mark the time.

If the watch were placed in the sunlight, it would reflect a mesmerizing luster.

Such a watch would cost tens of thousands, which is not cheap!

He walked in and sat in the chair next to the old man, "He won't necessarily listen."

The middle-aged man with brown hair picked up a glass of wine and took a sip after sitting down. "He doesn't seem like an obedient person, and I've heard he's a bit different from ordinary gang leaders."

The old man pursed his lips and smiled very reservedly, "No one is different from others. If there is, it's only because you haven't discovered their needs, that's all!"

"I always believe this. As long as you can find what he wants and prove you can give it to him, you are their friend."

The middle-aged man didn't want to argue with the old man. He brought up another matter, "Firing the manager will most likely not quell this strike. I always believe that the only way to end the strike is to raise wages."

He turned to look at the old man, with a bit of confusion on his face, "I never understand this. We all know that we will inevitably compromise in the end, so why not now?"

Everyone knows this, or rather, most strikes aimed at raising wages are ultimately successful.

Since it is destined to succeed, why not agree to them immediately and let them return to their jobs?

This way, the order of the pier will not be disrupted, and he doesn't need to travel between different pier companies every day, instead of between different women.

The middle-aged man didn't quite understand and felt annoyed by the events of the past few days.

The old man raised his hand. The two young men in the room bowed and left the room, closing the door behind them.

After the door was closed tightly, he called out the middle-aged man's name, "Edward!"

The old man's face didn't show the anger or dissatisfaction that the workers imagined, no emotional expression at all.

His eyes didn't fluctuate much either, as if this matter hadn't happened in his eyes, "Sometimes you have to understand that a strike is not entirely a bad thing for us."

He leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling, "This is the distance between me and you, you and them."

"Don't you always ask why I don't let you join the board of directors?"

"Look, everyone can see this clearly, but you still don't understand."

"It took me half my life to figure this out, and you, it seems, may need longer."

Edward was a little unconvinced. This old man was his father. He considered himself a very smart person. At least, he was able to graduate smoothly from a prestigious university and start his own trading company, earning a lot of money.

Of course, his father had also donated a lot of money.

Seeing that his son was not very convinced, but thinking that he was his own, and one of the few in the family who could inherit the family business, he felt a headache.

He explained, "Why do you think so many people are on strike at the pier, but the board of directors is not worried at all?"

Edward thought seriously for a while. He really thought seriously!

"Do you have any way to solve it?"

The old man's eyes, which were originally full of expectation, suddenly calmed down again.

He shook his head, "You should spend more time studying, instead of playing those lewd games with women."

He paused, "Everyone, you see, even you know how this matter will end, but why don't we do that."

"That's because we are also waiting. We are actually also on strike. We are waiting for those companies on the pier to finally be unable to bear it, so that we can talk to them about raising prices."

Edward was like... a hole had been chiseled open in his brain, and the sunlight shone in all at once, making him completely transparent!

"Holy crap!" He shuddered, like the final shudder, "I seem to have figured it out!"

He took out a cigarette, "Maybe I will never reach your level in my life, Father."

The old man smiled, "At least you can understand, instead of me telling you little by little, that's your growth."

"Actually, everything is not difficult, Edward. The workers are pursuing their interests, and we also have our interests. This is not contradictory!"

This was the third day of the strike. In fact, apart from letting the manager, who obviously couldn't do it, appease the strike, it seemed that they were indeed trying to quell the strike, but there were no other actions.

Ignoring it, not asking, seemed to be their attitude. Why?

In fact, the reason is very simple, because they also saw the benefits from the strike, saw more profits!

The pier had not increased various management fees for more than a year, and the economy had not been particularly prosperous in the past two years.

Those who can get first-hand pier data can discover this through reports and statistics, so when it comes to raising prices, those companies are very resistant.

But now, the workers are on strike, and the companies are starting to worry. They are anxious to ship or unload!

Otherwise, the daily expenses may lead to liquidated damages, which will bankrupt them!

They can't solve those workers, and ultimately, only the pier management company can make the workers compromise.

The condition for the workers to be willing to return to work is to raise wages, and the condition for the board of directors of the pier management company to be willing to compromise with the workers is to increase various management fees and other expenses again!

Even if, as Edward said, the company compromises and raises the workers' wages, it will definitely not be because the company can't bear it!

It's those companies that can't bear it, the factories that need Jin Harbor Pier as a springboard for trade that can't bear it!

They have to compromise first, and then the company gets the benefits it wants, and then they will compromise with the workers.

So it seems that the company has suffered a loss, but in fact, the company can obtain a portion of the profit from this strike that exceeds the extra wages paid to the workers each year!

They pay the workers an extra 300,000 in wages, then they can peel off a million or even two million in profits from large and small companies!

The more the workers make a fuss now, the happier the board of directors of the pier management company is. Of course, they can't show it.

After all, everyone is watching. Perhaps this is the last decency of the capitalist world—I want to eat you, but I pretend that you voluntarily entered my mouth, instead of me putting you on the table!

Edward's silence gave the old man a little comfort. At least this fool was still thinking, still growing, and they still had some time to make him more mature!

At a little after four in the afternoon, a sudden and violent explosion shook the entire city, and many people looked in the direction of the explosion.

Lance, who was in the office, also walked to the window.

The entire city was quiet for a moment.

"It sounds like the explosion was from the Starlight District?" Ervin was a little unsure, but the sound did come from that direction.

The city is becoming more and more chaotic. Even explosives are being used. These people are really crazy!

Lance was a little worried. The current chaos was obviously a bit wrong. Both the Wolf Gang and this explosion were concentrated in these two days.

And the forces behind these all pointed to the mayor.

Now the mayor is said to have not woken up yet, so it is impossible for him to personally issue orders. So what exactly is going on, no one knows!

But no matter what, in this situation, it would definitely be better to have a few tall guys standing in front.

Lance walked to his desk and dialed Alberto's phone. He had a bar in the Starlight District, and there were more people from the Pasreito family there.

No one answered the phone, which gave Lance a bad feeling.

He called Bolton and asked him to find out what happened.

Soon, Bolton gave feedback on a message.

The explosion did not come from the Starlight District, but from the more distant Sumeri District.

People from the Cassia family attacked the Pasreito family's manor in the afternoon. They sent a car of explosives in and successfully detonated it.

Paul's house was a third collapsed, casualties unknown, heavy losses!

It is said that Paul was injured.

"These people are completely crazy. How dare they use such powerful explosives in the city?" The people in the room were shocked, except for Hiram.

He was planning to ask the gunsmith if he could get some explosives, otherwise it would be too disadvantageous to only have explosives on the enemy's side and not on theirs!

Fragmentation grenades are good, but they still lack the punch of real high-powered explosives!

Ideally, it'd be like those explosives you see in movies, a bunch of them bundled together, then lit and tossed…

Lance didn't notice Hiram's change in expression, and even if he had, he probably wouldn't have guessed what kind of mischief he was plotting!

He was currently too stunned by the news to say anything, "Everyone, be extra careful these next few days. Distribute the weapons and make sure everyone's armed."

"If you encounter danger, fight back immediately. Life is precious and you only get one."

"If it's a choice between their death and yours, I want you to make sure they die a little faster."

He paused, "Spread the money out. It's not safe to keep it all in one place."

Erwin nodded, not saying anything.

Right now, the money was basically stored in the cellar at home. If they went crazy and started throwing bombs, the money might be destroyed.

Even if it wasn't blown up or burned, digging it out would take a while if the cellar collapsed.

"Besides that, let's not stay in one place for too long during this period. We need to move around and be as discreet as possible."

He sighed. What a terrible situation!

Later that evening, he called Paslei Tuo Manor directly. This time, the call was answered.

"I'm looking for Alberto. This is Lance."

The person who answered the phone had heard of Lance's name. "Wait a moment, let me see if he's available right now."

After waiting for about four or five minutes, just as Lance was wondering if they couldn't find Alberto, the call was picked up. "A terrible day, Lance!"

Hearing his complaining voice, Lance breathed a sigh of relief. "I was almost ready to have someone make me a black suit!"

"Your plan has failed. I have to say that you won't need to prepare that for me for at least thirty years!"

He changed the subject, "You must have heard the explosion."

"Yes, that's right. Scared the hell out of me."

Alberto seemed eager to vent. "They're a bunch of lunatics. Someone drove a car in here, and it was full of explosives…"

He still broke out in a cold sweat when he thought about it!

The Cassia family directly attacked them. The two sides exchanged fire around the inside and outside of the manor. Suddenly, several cars rushed in.

During the intense firefight, no one dared to raise their heads carelessly, but some people still managed to take out the drivers of a few of the cars.

One of the cars had an iron plate covering its windshield. It drove straight into the main gate of the building and detonated the bomb.

A suicide attack. The massive explosion directly collapsed the entire row of houses at the entrance, killing many people!

"Paul is discussing how to retaliate. Honestly, this time… we suffered heavy losses."

Contrary to what they told the outside world, Alberto told the truth.

At the time, they were engaged in a firefight with the Cassia family, so most people were in the courtyard and the front of the manor building, using the windows as cover for shooting.

The explosion directly killed more than a hundred of them, and they were the backbone of the family, including some elite gunmen!

Paul is trying to transfer people from Sumuli Island, but the situation is not optimistic.

"Are you injured?"

Alberto's voice wasn't too heavy. "I was injured, grazed by a bullet, but several of my men died."

He was silent for a while. "Don't comfort me. I'm proud of them!"

Perhaps this is the fate of gang members. They can enjoy many things that ordinary people can't enjoy in their entire lives.

Fine wine, delicious food, beautiful women, and money, status, people's fear.

But they also need to take responsibility for it.

It's okay when they don't need to pay, but once they need to pay, what they pay is often their lives!

Alberto's men were actually all related to him. He was actually very sad.

But there was nothing he could do. This was the life of a gangster.

Someone will always take a step ahead of the others, either him or you.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Lance asked.

Alberto had done him a great favor, and he had promised that no matter what, as long as Alberto asked, he would definitely help Alberto.

Alberto thought for a while and refused. "You don't have enough people. You won't be of much use in the battle, and this time it's really dangerous."

"In case… I really shouldn't say this, in case Paul or someone… you know, this is our destiny."

"When the time comes, I, or Fodice, or someone else, may need your help. Don't refuse."

Lance agreed.

Alberto had a bad feeling. The intensity of this attack was so high that they even violated the agreement previously negotiated by the five major families to minimize the use of high-powered explosives. This was definitely not their reckless decision.

They had a purpose, because they could use explosives, and the Paslei Tuo family could use them, so there must be a purpose behind it.

"Someone is calling me over there. I won't talk to you anymore. I'll call you when I have time," Alberto offered to end the call and said goodbye to Lance.

He came to another room with a sullen face. Paul was sitting here, and the remaining core members of the family were here.

He found a place on the edge and leaned against the wall.

In the family, he could be considered a cadre, but not a high-level cadre, after all, he was not fully involved in the family's core industries, nor was he a core member in the true sense.

The core members were all Paul's direct relatives, not those relatives who were several times removed.

"The island refused to send people over. Their current situation is also very tense. They've already started fighting and can't take care of us."

"So this time, we have to get through it ourselves."

He took a puff of smoke. He looked very embarrassed. The bomb almost hit him. "They were the first to break the rules, so we have nothing to worry about."

"Get some explosives and show them what we're made of."

"But this operation is very dangerous. You can decide for yourselves whether to go or not. I hope you think it over carefully. Don't raise your hands and then be afraid."

Planting bombs in the Cassia family was indeed not an easy task. You might not be able to come back.

Someone raised his hand first. Alberto knew the guy who raised his hand. That guy's brother was blown to death, and they only found half of his body.

His eyes were filled with hatred. "I'll go!"

Paul nodded. "We still need a few more."

People raised their hands one after another. Alberto hesitated for a long time and also raised his hand.

Paul looked at him with some confusion, but didn't say anything. "Okay, one last person is enough. Everyone else, go back and deal with the things you have on hand. Those who signed up, stay behind."

Alberto walked towards that side. He was thinking about something when someone bumped into him.

He turned around and looked at the person who bumped into him, and that person also stopped and looked at him.

"Dover, you bumped into me."

Christopher's face was pale, and his lips had no color, as if he had been on his period for a month. "Sorry, I didn't notice you."

Seeing him apologize, Alberto shook his head and didn't care anymore. Paul was still waiting for him.