Empire of Shadows

Early in the morning, someone was knocking on the door outside the arcade. Two members of the Wolf Gang warily opened the door, their vigilance easing slightly when they saw a newsboy standing outside.

One of them made a downward gesture to the others behind him, and the atmosphere relaxed a little where the newsboy couldn't see.

"You can put the newspapers in the newspaper box next door instead of banging on the door here!" the gang member at the door complained to the newsboy, hands on his hips.

He reached out his hand as he spoke, "Give them to me."

"What?" the newsboy asked, momentarily stunned, "The newspapers?"

"What else!" the man retorted rudely.

The newsboy immediately took out three different newspapers and placed them in his hand, "Ten cents, sir."

The man was taken aback. He had assumed the newspapers were paid for, but looking at the newsboy's innocent eyes, he reluctantly pulled a twenty-five cent coin from his pocket and tossed it over, "Keep the change."

As he was about to close the door, the newsboy stopped him again, "Sir, a gentleman asked me to deliver a letter to a Mr. 'Professor'."

The man paused, then frowned. He glanced outside, seeing some pedestrians, but he couldn't be sure if any of them were watching them.

"What did that person look like?" he asked, while turning to point towards the Professor's room.

They had been staying here during this time. The Lance family had strong execution capabilities, and if they split up, they might be taken out one by one.

Sticking together was the best option. The Professor believed that this 'farce' would end soon, and they wouldn't have to live like this anymore.

Recently, the smaller gangs had also started to complain about them. The original plan was for them to launch an attack on the Imperial District together.

But now, only the smaller gangs were fighting, and they were suffering heavy losses facing the Lance family alone. They hoped that the Wolf Gang could also contribute, as they had agreed.

However, neither the Professor nor Wolf dared to go out casually. Who knew if Lance was watching them?

Or rather, Lance was definitely watching them, waiting for them to expose a weakness.

The more it was like this, the less likely the Professor was to fall into Lance's trap.

The man at the door looked back at the newsboy, "What did the person who gave you the letter look like?" he asked, adding, "You can give the letter to me, and I'll pass it on to the Professor."

The newsboy shook his head, "No, that gentleman said it must be delivered to the Professor in person."

"You don't even know the Professor. How would you know if it's really him?

For example, if I said I was the Professor right now, how would you know if I was or not?"

The newsboy shook his head, remaining silent. "That gentleman looked very ordinary, nothing special..."

He seemed to think of something, and said with the Wolf Gang member looking forward to his answer, "If there was anything special, it would be that he was especially generous!"

"He gave me two dollars just to deliver this thing. Will you give me extra money?"

Feeling like he was being played, the young man cursed, "Want some shit?"

The newsboy rolled his eyes, and just then, the Professor, having tidied himself up, came out of his room.

The newsboy saw him, his gaze seeming to lock onto the Professor.

"Do you recognize me?" The Professor could sense that the newsboy seemed to have identified him as the intended recipient of the letter. He had overheard his subordinate's conversation with the newsboy.

The newsboy shook his head, "I don't recognize you, but I think you must be the Professor. That person said you wear gold-rimmed glasses and look like a scary school teacher!"

The Professor couldn't help but chuckle. He took out two dollars from his pocket and handed it over, "I'm also very generous. Can you give me the item now?"

The newsboy was incredibly surprised that this was real. He was very excited, "Yes, sir, I'll give it to you right away!"

He took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to the Professor, then took the Professor's money, "Goodbye, generous sir, I wish you a lucky day!"

After saying that, he ran away without looking back!

The person next to the Professor wanted to stop the newsboy, but was stopped by the Professor, "He's just a newsboy, he doesn't know anything."

He could tell from the newsboy's shoes and pants that he wasn't disguised.

And there was no need to risk a child. Why arrange for their own people to do it when the problem could be solved with two dollars?

He took the envelope back to his office, closed the door, and then opened it.

There was only a card inside, with a number on it.

It was obviously a phone number, and he frowned.

On the other side, Lance was also reading the morning news. More news about the strike was being revealed in the newspapers.

For example, the unspoken rules of the federal industry were that salaries should increase every six months to a year, but the dockworkers hadn't had a raise in over two years.

The media generally believed that this was the truth of the strike. They were now discussing how long the strike could last, and the Coda family had even opened a betting pool for it.

Resolving it within three days, resolving it within a week, resolving it within half a month, and resolving it in more than fifteen days, different solutions had different odds, and it was said that many people were betting.

Of course, there were also some sharp comments. Some people believed that the workers' strike was "a despicable means of using social disruption to achieve their demands," and that their behavior was base, unwelcome, and unapproved.

Others believed that the capitalists' stinginess had caused everything to happen, and that if they were willing to raise wages for the workers, there wouldn't have been such a strike.

The mayor, lying in the hospital, seemed to be being forgotten by the public, but that was what he wanted!

Lance picked up a sandwich and took a bite. Today's breakfast was a ham and egg sandwich, along with some fried bacon and diced beef, a little fruit and vegetable salad, and milk.

Recently, scientists had discovered that long-term consumption of milk could significantly increase weight. They believed that milk contained something that could promote body growth and were encouraging people to drink more milk.

Some middle-class communities were even using "providing free milk to resident owners" as a form of promotion, and it was working well!

Now they were competing to provide milk. Before long, they would be competing for milk sources.

All of this seemed familiar, yet somewhat fresh.

"Is breakfast not to your liking?" Lance asked, looking at the two ladies sitting across the table, who hadn't touched the food in front of them.

Breakfast was the same as Lance's: an egg and tomato sandwich, along with bacon and diced beef.

The Professor's wife was silent, but his daughter mustered some courage, "This... sir, that man has nothing to do with us anymore..."

Lance raised his hand, stopping her, "He's protecting you, so he cares about you more than you think."

"Eat something. Whatever you have to face next, it's better to be full than hungry."

"Wasting food is not a virtue, ladies."

The Professor's daughter looked at Lance and finally picked up a sandwich and handed it to her mother, "Eat something..."

The two of them ate small bites, but before they had taken many bites, the phone suddenly rang, and their eyes immediately focused on the phone, then shifted to Lance's face.

Lance picked up the phone and motioned for the Professor's daughter to answer it. She hesitated a little.

The piercing ring of the phone kept ringing, making people very irritable.

Each ring seemed very long, and the interval between each ring was also very long.

After Lance gestured again for her to answer the phone, she finally picked it up.

"Who's there?"

A somewhat unfamiliar voice came from the receiver, but her eyes instantly turned red.

No matter how she usually said she didn't care about this man, or pretended not to care, they couldn't possibly not care about each other!

Everyone knew why the Professor wanted a divorce. He said to the outside world that he was guilty and remorseful, but everyone knew that wasn't true.

Afraid of crying, she covered her mouth with her other hand to prevent herself from crying out, but tears fell in a torrent.

The Professor frowned, "If you spent two dollars just to have me answer a phone call where no one speaks, then you succeeded."

Still, no one spoke, but the Professor heard some faint noises, and inexplicably, he began to feel uneasy.

He tried not to let his emotions interfere with him, and swallowed, "This is just a prank, right?"

The phone number was from Goldport City, but he didn't know where the number was from, he hadn't seen it before.

"I'm going to hang up if you don't speak!"

He vaguely heard what sounded like sobbing, and his thoughts became chaotic. He looked at it in disbelief after hanging up the phone with force!

The worst thought appeared in his mind. He pressed his hands tightly against his forehead, pushing backward, his palms squeezing his scalp through his hair, releasing some pressure, but only a negligible amount.

He kept repeating this action, and therefore kept his head lowered.

After doing this action several times in a row, he suddenly slammed the table, with a bang!

The things on the table jumped. He cursed softly, and Wolf, who had already gotten up outside the door, heard the noise, rubbed his eyes, and opened the door, "What's wrong?"

The Professor shook his head, "Someone played a prank on me. He made me answer a phone call, and then cursed at me!"

After hearing this, Wolf found it very interesting, "Did Lance's people do it?"

"He's just like a child. When we catch him, I'll give you a chance to spank his butt!"

The Professor nodded vigorously, "We will!"

Wolf saw that the professor had nothing else to say and prepared to leave, as he hadn't slept well.

He loosened his hand, the gritty eye boogers already rubbed away and falling to the ground. He tried his best to widen his eyes and looked at the professor, "We are family. If there are any problems, tell me, okay?"

"No problem, everything is fine!"

The two looked at each other for a moment, Wolf turned and closed the door, his footsteps fading away.

He wasn't the simpleton that others thought he was. In fact, he knew and could feel that the professor's mood was off.

But he didn't know how to persuade such a smart person like the professor. He could only express his position and attitude, and then hope that the professor would pull himself out of his strange mood.

"He hung up," the professor's daughter said, choking back tears as she looked at Lance.

Lance put the receiver back on the base of the phone and said with a smile, "He will call back soon."

Then he sat back down and continued to pick up the newspaper. He believed the professor would call again because he believed the professor was a smart man.

Some scientists have done statistics that the higher the IQ, the easier it is to produce anxiety, because the high IQ group knows too many things, so they will worry about more things.

On the contrary, those fools, they have no worries. Even if you tell them that the world will end tomorrow, they will still sleep well tonight!

The old woman comforted her daughter, she looked up at Lance, "Do you have any grudges?"

Lance pursed his lips, "He killed some of my men, seriously injured my brother, and killed my brother's father."

The old woman found it hard to believe that the professor had done all this, she murmured, "You are all gangsters... This shouldn't..."

She wanted to say, shouldn't this be normal?

Lance didn't refute her point, just looked into her eyes, "Yes, this is normal, so do you have any questions about your appearance here?"

The old woman didn't know how to answer this question, and she was silent.

The phone suddenly rang shrilly again. Lance folded the newspaper and gestured for the professor's daughter to answer it.

She took a deep breath, controlled her emotions, and answered the phone. This time she still didn't speak, but she was much stronger.

After a brief silence, the professor's voice suddenly came from the receiver, calling out her name. In that instant, her tears couldn't be stopped from flowing, and she began to sob.

Although the professor's voice in the receiver didn't get louder, the bass was deeper, and you could hear the fear and anger in his heart at this time!

Lance wanted to take the phone, but the professor's daughter held the receiver tightly and didn't let go. She actually wanted to protect the professor.

"Have you thought about the cost of doing this?" he asked.

Lorne, who was standing against the wall, walked over. The old woman looked at her daughter with a sad expression, "Please!"

The old woman was very scared, she didn't want to see her daughter get hurt, and looked at her pleadingly.

Under such gaze and voice, the professor's daughter sobbed and let go of the phone.

She glared at Lance with fierce, red, tear-filled eyes. Lance just smiled at her, then put the receiver to his ear.

"Professor."

The moment Lance's voice came from the receiver, the professor's blood ran cold!

Although he already had such a guess, the moment the guess became reality, he felt like the sky was falling!

It's like someone is feeling unwell and tells himself that the worst thing that could happen is cancer, and even if he gets cancer, life still needs to continue, right?

He seems optimistic to you, but if he goes to the checkup and finds out that he really has cancer, he will only lose all courage, just like most of those people he thinks don't have the courage to face tomorrow!

The professor was like this, his body began to tremble, one hand tightly grasping the corner of the table, his fingernails even pierced the paint surface and were about to turn over, but he didn't feel any pain!

He clenched the phone tightly, using all his strength in every word, "This matter has nothing to do with them!"

Lance seemed to quite agree with this point!

"Yes, it has nothing to do with them, and it has nothing to do with Morris's father!"

The professor was very frightened, very scared, he didn't know what was waiting for him, he could only try his best to explain, "It was an accident."

Lance didn't refute him either, "I admit, it was indeed an accident."

"An old guy who hasn't offended anyone accidentally lost his life, and then lay in the cold storage waiting for his son to be able to come out in a wheelchair to offer him the first handful of soil!"

"It's all an accident, accidents happen every day, happen to Morris, and may also happen to you, right?"

Lance sat back in the chair, crossed his legs, and lit a cigarette.

He looked at Lorne, then looked at the two ladies, gave him a look, and asked him to lock these two people up first.

Then he continued, "You are an adult, Professor. I heard that you are also a high school teacher. You wouldn't be as naive as your students to think that any question has only one standard answer, right?"

"When you decide to do this, you have to bear all the consequences and costs!"

"If you win, then that's another matter, but now it seems, at least as it looks now, you haven't won yet!"

The professor's emotions became more stable, "What do you want?"

"This is Goldport, not Fides. You outsiders have disrupted the order here. You shouldn't ask me what I want."

"You should ask yourself what you are going to pay!"

He paused, "This farce should be over, Professor."

The professor took a deep breath, "What do you want?"

"My life?"

Lance said softly, "Your life and Wolf's life, and the lives of everyone who attacked Morris, I can let the others go."

The professor's teeth were about to be crushed, "That's impossible!"

"All the Wolf Gang's action plans were made by me. Wolf is just a puppet. Killing me is enough!"

Lance chuckled twice, "You know what?"

"You are not good at lying, Professor."

"Actually... besides inviting your ex-wife and daughter here, I also have your sister and brother, and your other family members."

"Do you know that small valley outside the west of the city?"

"You still have..." Lance looked at his watch, "Two hours!"

"A small accident will happen in two hours, a small accident that we all know!"

Without waiting for the professor to say anything, he hung up the phone.

Ervin stood next to him and asked softly, "Will they come?"

Lance nodded slightly, "Yes."

Ervin was very curious, "How can you be so sure?"

Lance smiled ambiguously, "Just believe me!"

A few minutes later, someone pushed open the door of Wolf's office. Wolf, whose face was full of sorrow, looked at the person pushing the door, and the child behind him, "What's the matter?"

"This guy said someone gave him two dollars to tell you something."

Wolf glanced at the little guy, a newsboy, seen everywhere.

He leaned back, a little impatient, "What words?"

"A gentleman asked me to tell you that the professor's family are all in the valley west of the city, and they will all be executed in two hours..."

Wolf flipped directly over the table, grabbed the newsboy's collar with both hands and lifted him up, "What the hell are you talking about?"