Empire of Shadows

Two private casino operators from the district sat in Lance's office. The room was quiet as they carefully considered the situation.

Thirty percent. It was a number that left them unsure how to react.

If you were to say it was too much… actually, it was much less than the minimum fifty percent split that the Coda family had proposed.

But to say they were happy about it? That wasn't necessarily true either!

After all, handing over real money to someone else would make anyone uncomfortable.

It was extortion, coercion, blackmail!

Someone looked around at the others and couldn't help but whisper, "Mr. Lance, is… thirty percent a bit too much?"

The others all looked at him, giving him strong support with their eyes. He looked at Lance, feeling somewhat apprehensive.

Lance simply smiled and said, "If you think it's too much, you don't have to do it."

A few smiles immediately appeared on that person's face, and on the faces of some others as well.

Some people were puzzled by their expressions, but others immediately understood.

With the Lance family and the Coda family at war, the Coda family wouldn't be able to infiltrate, regardless of whether they paid the thirty percent or not.

As long as the Coda family couldn't get in, and they didn't go to the Coda family's side, then they could completely avoid paying this fee and still open their casinos!

And they could open them on a large scale!

People always like to use petty cleverness to deal with the world.

But could Lance really be unaware of such a shallow truth?

No, he understood it very well, better than anyone else.

Just as the people in the office were considering rejecting Lance's "blackmail," Lance said slowly, "I am a Goldenport person, and I love Goldenport City. You should already know something about me."

"Over the past two years, you've had enough time to see me, understand me, and know what kind of person I am."

"I actually don't like violent crime. I don't extort businessmen, and I try my best not to extort small vendors by collecting protection fees."

"I am a law-abiding person."

Some slight laughter rippled through the room. Lance saying he was law-abiding? Could there be anything more ridiculous?

Everyone was embarrassed to laugh too loudly. Lance was also smiling. "In the past two years, I have seen many human tragedies. I apologize for using such a shocking term, but that is what I have seen."

"I have seen many people lose everything in casinos, then borrow usurious loans and lose everything, everything."

"They force their wives to go out and work as prostitutes, even forcing their daughters to do the same."

"They make their parents or children sell blood, and the purpose is to get some money and send it to the gambling table."

"This is not good."

The laughter in the room gradually disappeared. The more joyful the smiles on the faces of those who had been laughing, the more solemn their expressions were now.

"Gambling causes people to lose their families and their loved ones. Gambling should be regulated, which is why it needs a 'license' to operate."

"I know that most of you are not highly educated, and you may not understand if I tell you some grand principles. In short, I don't like this kind of business method of killing the hen to get the eggs, taking the eggs out of its belly."

"The federal government must have also encountered these things, so they have added many thresholds to the gambling industry."

"Starting from the end of this month, no casino will be allowed to operate in my territory without my consent…"

Someone immediately interrupted Lance, "Mr. Lance, this is unfair!"

Lance looked at the person who had interrupted him. "You should respect me. You should not interrupt me before I have finished speaking."

That person was stunned for a moment, and quickly lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lance. I shouldn't have interrupted you. I apologize."

Lance nodded slightly. "What about me do you think is unfair?"

That person pursed his lips. "We have been operating here for many years, and…"

Lance raised his hand. "What does that have to do with me?"

That person was somewhat stunned. More or less, displeasure and suppressed anger could be seen in the eyes of the others.

"That has nothing to do with me."

"So don't talk to me about fairness or unfairness. I am just informing you that this is my decision."

"Of course, I know that some people think that I am… hurting you, or extorting and blackmailing you, but please don't ignore one point."

"That is, you don't have to operate in my territory."

"You can go to the city center, you can go to Pulissia, you can go to Starlight District, or even the Bay Area. I can't interfere in those places…"

The person who had interrupted Lance earlier interrupted him again, "But those places have the Coda family, Mr. Lance."

Lance looked at him. "You interrupted me again."

That person was stunned for a moment, and squeezed out a smile on his face. "Sorry, Mr. Lance, I'm very impatient. I didn't mean to do it, I'm sorry!"

Lance looked at him for two or three seconds, then opened the drawer and took out a pistol to the astonished gazes of the others, and directly pulled the trigger.

With a bang!

The body of that guy who had interrupted him twice trembled violently. Those who were sitting or standing behind him were so frightened that they closed their eyes.

The gunshot was only one aspect. The main thing was that the skull was blown open, and the contents inside flew out with the blood, like a rainstorm, falling on the faces of these people.

Everyone's heart rate began to accelerate. Many of them may have seen dead people, or even killed people.

But at this moment, in this room, their heartbeats still couldn't help but accelerate wildly.

The expression of complete astonishment on that guy's face was completely frozen on his face. There was a small black hole in his head, but blood did not immediately gush out.

He slowly fell down. Many people rushed in from outside the door. Lance put the weapon on his hand. "Dispose of the body."

Lance took out a cigarette case, lit a cigarette, "I don't like people interrupting me all the time!"

He emphasized, "I hope you don't do the same thing."

Then he answered the unlucky guy's question, even though he was already dead, "Just now he said that those places have the Coda family, but this place doesn't, right?"

No one in the room dared to speak rashly. Lance looked at them, "You can answer."

Everyone nodded one after another, and some people whispered, "Yes, Mr. Lance, he… that's what he said just now."

"Do you think so too?" Lance asked.

Some of these people remained silent, while others shook their heads and said no, but Lance could see that they were all perfunctory.

He pointed at these people with the hand holding the cigarette, "No, you actually think so too, it's just that he said it, and you didn't."

"In other words, you think you can't afford to offend the Coda family, but you can afford to offend me, right?"

In that instant, someone suddenly understood that Lance's shooting was not only because that idiot had interrupted Lance's words several times, but because of this core issue!

When the Lance family and the Coda family were at war, someone said, "We are afraid of the Coda family but not you." What was the difference between that and directly courting death?

A faint embarrassment and horror appeared on everyone's faces, because many of them really thought so.

The Coda family would really arrange for people to come to their door to deal with them, but everyone knew that Mr. Lance and the Lance family were not brutal.

There is a very interesting little story.

It says that there was a king, and the old king told him to treat his people kindly, so he didn't put on any airs with his people.

He would often appear in front of his people, greet them, joke with them, and talk about some very ordinary topics that were closely related to people's lives.

At first, people would respectfully call him "Your Majesty the King," but soon people discovered that the king was a very easy-going guy, and they began to call him by the king's last name, such as "Mr. So-and-so."

They found that the king didn't mind this kind of title, and then after a while, they began to directly call the king's name.

People gradually lost their awe of the king, and they ignored the huge gap between their identities.

It is not a good thing for the people to lose their awe of the ruler, because this often means that chaos is about to come.

Having lost their awe, they began to question some of the king's policies, began to deny the king's abilities, and even wanted to overthrow the king!

Just like everything in the office at this moment, they felt that Lance was an easy-going person, so they dared to interrupt Lance's words casually, and they dared to have the idea of "being afraid of the Coda family but not the Lance family."

But it doesn't matter, Lance will correct them.

Lance's gaze was as calm as before, but no one in the room dared to meet his gaze. Wherever his gaze went, people lowered their heads or looked elsewhere.

People said words like "dare not" and "will not", trying to make themselves look less like an idiot.

Lance smiled, "Whether you really haven't thought about it this way, or you pretend you haven't thought about it this way, it doesn't matter."

"Because no matter what you think, the rules are the rules."

"If any of you are willing to operate a casino in my territory and accept my management."

"Then stay, and I will arrange for people to intervene in the operation of your casino and prevent things from happening where people lose everything because of gambling."

"If you are unwilling to accept my management and supervision, then it's simple: take your things and leave my territory."

"If anyone lets me discover that you are both unwilling to accept my management and are still operating a casino on my turf..."

He didn't say what would happen to these people, only shook his head with a smile. But this meaningful shake of the head made people more uneasy than if he had said something.

"You can consider it. There are still two weeks until the end of the month."

"You still have time to consider."

After he finished speaking, he waited a few seconds, and someone stood up. "I am willing to cooperate with you, Mr. Lance."

Immediately followed by a second, and a third.

These people thought very clearly. Leaving the Imperial District, they were not very familiar with other areas. They would have to deal with the local gangs and also avoid the patrols of the Coda family.

And it would be impossible to operate their casinos on a very large scale, maintaining the same scale as now, with two or three gambling tables, and then doubling the risk.

Then it would be better to stay on Lance's territory. They could expand the scale of their casinos. Even if they paid out 30 percent, they would still have something to earn, and it was possible to earn even more than before.

Lance nodded slightly, "Very good..." He glanced at Elvin, who took out a notebook. "Find Elvin to register. In the end, we will use this registration as the standard..."

Not everyone agreed immediately. Some of them still needed to consider it, and it couldn't be ruled out that some people might leave here. Who knows?

After these people left, several young people came in to clean the floor and sofa. Elvin suggested, "Next time, it's best not to make it so bloody in the office. It's troublesome to clean up, and it may be dangerous."

Lance nodded, but then smiled and said, "We are going to move soon. The renovation of the old bank is almost at the end. We will be able to move in soon."

The "old bank" he was talking about was the Jinda Bank, which was Mr. Chobaf's bank.

Before he died, he mortgaged the bank, along with his villa and manor, to Lance in exchange for some funds to support the bank from collapsing.

It's just that this little money was not enough for his bank. When the run on the bank was already out of control, even a national bank would be at risk of bankruptcy!

After all, no bank could really honestly put all the depositors' money in the vault. They also needed to use this money to make money, otherwise, why would they give depositors such high profits?

As long as they couldn't put all the money in the bank, once faced with a run, they would be finished.

After Lance got the bank, he had people renovate it. Its previous decoration style was obviously not so compatible with Lance's "company", so he found a designer, redesigned it, and entered the renovation state.

Once that side starts to be used, this side will be abandoned.

Elvin was also looking forward to it, "I hope it can give us a surprise!"

The two chatted for a while, and the phone in front of Lance rang. He stopped talking to Elvin, "Hopefully it's good news."

Then, when it rang for the third time, he picked up the phone.

The call was from Councilor Williams.

"I heard Charlie is missing?"

Lance chuckled twice, "It seems so. I have people looking for him. As long as he is still in King's Port City, he will definitely be found."

Councilor Williams "Mmm"ed, "After finding him, don't silence him first. Hide him. Some things might be useful to him."

As soon as he said this, Lance understood.

With the mid-year approaching, the mayoral election will begin soon, which also means that Councilor Williams will be "severing ties" with the Bay Area.

Then, at this time, possessing an "unstable bomb" is more valuable and meaningful to him.