Empire of Shadows

The phone rang, and Councilor Williams answered it, a smile quickly spreading across his face.

"I knew you could do it... I'll pass it on... Okay, I'll definitely visit you when I have time."

"I know, I'll talk to him about it... Okay, goodbye."

Councilor Williams hung up the phone and looked at Lance. "The girl is still alive, and Bowen has agreed to hand her over to you alive. You owe him a favor, and you need to prevent this matter from escalating further."

He spread his hands. "He took a great risk, so I think you have to give him this favor."

"Is this the result you wanted?"

Lance breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, he had been thinking just now whether Bowen would suddenly kill the girl and then tell him that she had died long ago.

This was very likely, so Councilor Williams was right, he needed to give this favor.

Although the other party was a scumbag, the girl was still alive.

He nodded. "I understand."

Then he sincerely thanked, "This matter was thanks to your help, otherwise it would likely have ended up in a complete mess."

Councilor Williams waved his hand, his face always with a smile, with no hint of reluctance.

"Wade owes me a favor, and if I don't use it now, there's a high probability I won't be able to use it in the future."

Regardless of whether Mayor Wade has better development in the future, his favor is actually not very useful.

The two sides are not in the same region, and it is difficult for this favor to become valuable unless Wade can enter Congress in the future.

But that's unlikely.

He knows this old partner and old rival very well. If Wade wins the gubernatorial election, he will try his best to allow his family to have a deeper penetration into local politics.

He will try to stay in the governor's position longer, rather than rising to Congress as soon as possible.

On the contrary, Councilor Williams is very optimistic about Lance's future development prospects. He likes Lance's decisiveness and wisdom, and he also likes his human touch.

Regarding Councilor Williams' explanation, Lance was still very grateful, "In any case, I also owe you a favor, Councilor."

At the same time, he also revealed an appropriate question that could express a further relationship between the two parties, "Councilor Williams, I have a question that is very presumptuous, I'm not sure if I should ask..."

With Councilor Williams' wisdom, he immediately understood the questions that Lance didn't ask. After the two looked at each other for a moment, he laughed heartily.

"I'm very old, Lance, so old that even if you brought a young girl to strip naked in front of me to serve me, it would be difficult for me to do what you think."

"Maybe twenty years ago I could have tried..."

Lance thought of his current wife, that woman in her thirties, beautiful, exquisite, with a good figure, and a hint of heat in her lazy eyes.

Councilor Williams spoke frankly about his health, "And I'm not enthusiastic about harm or killing. Compared to these, I prefer to stay quiet!"

Lance nodded slightly, but he wouldn't really believe it, keeping something in reserve, "You are a gentleman worthy of respect!"

Councilor Williams laughed again, "I like these descriptions of you. They always use words like fox, cunning, and despicable to describe me. They are not as truthful as you are!"

He laughed for a while, took a deep breath, "I can't say that I am a good person, because I have also done a lot of bad things, but at least in this regard, I don't think I have any problems."

"Because I have love!"

He looked at Lance as if he was showing off something, "I have the wife I love. Although I have had many wives in my life, I can guarantee to myself."

"I loved each of them, in marriage."

"I have the family I love, my children, James, William, my nephews and nieces, and my brothers and sisters."

"I love everyone in our family. Love prevents us from doing those extreme things."

"This is what I often say, love can bring peace."

"In addition to these, there are actually some other differences!"

"The difference between new politicians and old politicians!"

This is actually a relatively... controversial and not so pleasing topic in the Federation.

The early political families and large landlord class believed that the new generation of politicians from the middle and lower classes lacked sufficient background environment, and they would have some problems in their words and deeds, including psychologically, in the process of obtaining power.

However, the new generation of politicians believes that what these people say is to hide their core demands—the inheritance of power.

They want to pass on the power from generation to generation, so they have such ideas.

However, sometimes you can't say that this idea is completely wrong, because the situation in the Federation is so bad.

Those ordinary people who come from the middle class or even the lower middle class, go to college through more than ten years of hard work.

They think that their life has ushered in a turning point, a better life is coming to them, but in fact, they have only exchanged so many years of hard work for an opportunity to serve the powerful.

When they get the qualifications to covet power through a period of time, like a dog, then some of them may multiply the injustices and humiliations they have suffered in the past from others!

This is actually a kind of culture.

If a college student wants to have a certain future, they must join various clubs and fraternities in college, but they do not join these organizations to experience life. Most of them go in as servants.

And joining them also requires undergoing a compliance test. They will ask newcomers to do some very absurd or insulting things.

It may require a person to confess to an ugly girl in public, or ask them to sleep with an ugly girl, or let them run naked in the school with their butts bare.

It seems like a prank, but in the end, this is a compliance test.

If you obey them and recognize their decisions, then you are the person they want to choose.

If you think you have been insulted and you don't like these, then okay, you are not the person they are looking for, and you cannot join their organization.

After graduation, those who have joined these fraternity organizations, take the letters of introduction given to them by their classmates, enter large enterprises, or enter government departments to start a new life.

Those who fail the compliance test and have independent personalities and dignity enter the society for rounds of screening.

Sometimes it is difficult for you to tell whether the school is teaching you to master some knowledge that is useless to your future, or is it screening talents for the ruling class.

In this process, some people recognize the reality, bow their heads to reality, and at the same time begin to have psychological problems.

Psychological problems only accumulate and do not solve, and eventually they will explode!

Either kill others or kill yourself, so this leads to the perverts of the Federation being all over all classes.

The poor have the perverts of the poor, the middle class has the perverts of the middle class, and the privileged class also has the perverts belonging to this class!

And the perverts in the ruling class and the privileged class must be solved through some other methods and channels.

Red high heels and dream crystals are just the tip of the iceberg.

Underneath the glamorous ruling class and privileged class of the entire Federation, there is even more unfathomable darkness.

Of course, there are indeed many bad people and many perverts here, but there are also good people, but maybe not so many.

And most of these good people have a significant characteristic, that is, they often have a very prominent background, which allows them to gain power without having to wrong themselves or humiliate their personality.

They will not go so far on the road to perversion.

After the two chatted for a while, Lance took the initiative to say goodbye. He also had to take Faya back, and Councilor Williams said that he should indeed owe Mr. Bowen a favor.

Owe a pervert a favor, a bit disgusting, but he will fulfill his promise, and maybe he will let this Mr. Bowen go once in the future, just once!

More than ten minutes later, a van stopped outside Mr. Bowen's villa. Mr. Bowen put his arm around Faya's shoulder and walked to the van.

He looked at the two young people in the driver's seat without speaking.

The young man sitting in the passenger seat nodded slightly to him, "Mr. Lance said that he owes you a favor."

Mr. Bowen moved slightly, he knew this person.

He also nodded, without any other action, then let go and took two steps back.

Faya didn't know what to do for a while, she just stood there foolishly.

The young man sitting in the passenger seat said, "Your parents entrusted us to take you back..."

Speaking of her parents, Faya's expression was a little dazed.

What she wanted to see most these days was her parents. She had never been so eager to see them again.

When the dream really came true, she suddenly felt a little unreal, too incredible!

The sun was very strong, and there was still a burning feeling on her body. She knew that all this was not fake.

She looked back at Mr. Bowen with some uneasiness. He was as docile, elegant, and polite as when she first met him, like a gentleman.

"Get in the car, we have to go."

The girl finally decided to trust these people, because no matter how bad it was, it couldn't be worse than everything that happened in the basement!

She opened the back door and got into the car, and soon the car disappeared on the side of the road.

Mr. Bowen took off his glasses, wiped them with a handkerchief, and looked up at the blue sky with a squint, suddenly cursing, "Fuck."

I don't know if God, who is overlooking all beings, would feel offended. Maybe, but maybe He has never paid attention to all beings!

"Someone is following us."

Allen looked at the car behind them through the rearview mirror and said.

He had completely come out of Beno's matter. He learned to drive as soon as possible and started driving himself.

Driving is not complicated, and it's a lot of fun, especially when driving a good car.

Erwin, sitting in the passenger seat, also spotted the car through the rearview mirror, but didn't care, "Don't worry about it. He already knows who we are."

"Even if he knows more clearly, it doesn't make any practical sense."

Allen continued to drive, and the car quickly stopped outside the company. Faya got out of the car with some worry. Led by Erwin, she met Lance and her parents.

The middle-aged couple exclaimed, and then rushed towards their daughter, hugging her tightly. The three of them hugged each other and cried!

However, the man quickly realized that there were still some other things to be resolved. He let go of his wife and daughter and walked up to Lance, about to kneel down to him.

Lance held him up, "You asked me for help with the dignity of a father and a man, and I responded to you. It's that simple."

The man was so excited that he couldn't even speak clearly. He just wanted to express his inner excitement. He held Lance's hand tightly with both hands, saying words of thanks.

While he was thanking Lance, Faya's eyes also fell on Lance.

He looked very mature and steady. Although his face was tender, he gave people a very reliable feeling.

Faya's eyes were glued to him, and her mother explained some of the things that had happened in the past few days.

She then learned that her father had sought help from this kind gentleman to find her, and he had indeed found her.

She felt that, in any case, she had to express her gratitude in person.

"Thank you, Mr. Lance..."

Lance's eyes shifted from the middle-aged man to Faya, "It's a good thing to be back. I'll arrange for someone to send you to the hospital later to check if there is any need for treatment."

The middle-aged man quickly refused, "No need to bother, Mr. Lance. It's good enough that she can come back. We can't waste your money anymore!"

"This is not a waste of money. We need to know if she has been injured and whether she needs treatment. You don't want her to have some small wounds that get infected and worsen, do you?"

The word "infection" in this era is still very intimidating to ordinary people.

If you get infected, you need to use special medicine, and it may not be completely effective.

The high price and a certain degree of lethality, everyone is afraid of encountering these things!

If Faya really gets infected, has a fever, and worsens, he will regret everything he did today!

In the end, he didn't refuse any more, but he felt that his family owed Lance, and they would never be able to repay him.

This is not a problem that can be measured by money. Some things cannot be measured by money!

Lance looked at her and signaled the others to go out first, leaving only him and the family in the room.

"I'm sorry to ask, but can I know what happened?"

Faya found it difficult to speak. Her father was stunned for a moment, then turned and walked outside. He didn't want to hear this.

Her mother also did the same.

Only two people were left in the room. Faya looked at Lance's clean eyes, shook her lips, and said with a red face what had happened.

Mr. Bowen... is indeed a pervert. He didn't actually violate Faya, but you can't say he didn't hurt her.

He wanted to deprive her of her sense of shame, and if she disobeyed even a little, she would be beaten badly.

He liked to beat people, with his fists, with whips, or with a special leather ruler for beating people—

The leather ruler is a soft ruler made of many layers of hard cowhide nailed together. It is very heavy, and it does not require too much force to leave a clear mark on a person's body, and it will hurt for a long time.

Perhaps in Mr. Bowen's view, this game had not yet reached its climax, so he had not taken the next step, which greatly reduced the trauma she suffered.

Just being beaten naked a few times...

Lance sighed after listening, "I hope these bad experiences will not become a nightmare on your path of life. Nothing is insurmountable, as long as you have the determination."

Faya's eyes were a little red, but when she heard these words, a strange smile appeared on her face, "You sound very old-fashioned, Mr. Lance."

"I don't think you should be much older than me."

Lance nodded, "Twenty years old."

Faya continued to smile and said, "You sound like those... forty or fifty-year-olds when you talk, wanting to give me some life advice."

"Thank you!"

She sincerely expressed her gratitude, "Whether it's you rescuing me or enlightening me, thank you!"

Lance wanted to say something more, but thinking of what she had just said, he could only change his approach, "I hope you recover as soon as possible. I will have someone arrange a job for you..."

After the Faya family left, Lance asked Erwin to do some publicity.

"Let our refugee workers go to the New Port Area to publicize that if any family has a girl, tell them not to easily accept other people's requests to take pictures of them, and don't casually reveal where they live."

"If you encounter this kind of person, leave as soon as possible or ask the people around you for help."

"We can't save everyone, we can only do this."

As he spoke, he picked up the phone and called George (《Goldenport Today》Special Columnist/Reporter).

"There's a big news story, you'll definitely be very interested, but you might also encounter some danger, do you want it?"

George was working, writing a manuscript.

Several of his friends went to the Tanfite continent as war correspondents. If he wasn't too afraid of death and already had a little fame, he might have risked going there as a war correspondent.

Being a war correspondent is not easy, it is a gamble with your life.

Either become a celebrity, or become a name.

Whether it is success or failure, it will bring great news value.

Because he has people over there, he understands the situation there better than the current people of the Federation.

The Dentra Republic is very dissatisfied with the Federal merchants providing supplies to its hostile forces and has formally protested to the Federal government.

In fact, Federal merchants not only provide supplies to its opponents, but also provide it with many supplies.

It's just that now the war has entered a stalemate stage from the initial outbreak, and supplies have become more important.

The situation within Dentra itself is very tense, and now, the situation of the Federal people living there has become even more tense.

The Prime Minister is using exaggerated ways to persuade people to stand on his side, which is a dangerous signal!

Went out at night, a little late