Empire of Shadows

These past few days, the people of Goldport City had indeed experienced many bizarre events.

For example, the family who drowned in their home swimming pool.

The swimming pool was clearly only one and a half meters deep, and anyone could have stood up if they hadn't panicked so much.

But the thing was so unbelievable that they all drowned.

Some laughed at their stupidity, especially those at the bottom of society, mocking the foolish things that happened to the upper class as if to prove that they were the smart ones.

However, those who knew some of the inside story felt a cold sweat breaking out all over their bodies; they were very uneasy.

As for news of collective suicides, or someone inexplicably being bitten to death by a northern venomous snake in their southern home, such things were everywhere.

Of course, to protect the final dignity of the deceased, pseudonyms were basically used in the reports.

Why did they know that the family who drowned in the swimming pool were upper class people?

Without knowing their names?

It was actually very simple: poor people don't have private swimming pools.

In short, during this period, the bizarre news actually diluted the fact that Goldport City had changed hands, after all, this matter had nothing to do with ninety-nine percent of the people in Goldport.

Who was the boss of Goldport Casino, who could run the casino, would not change their lives in the slightest.

So those bizarre news quickly occupied the focus of public opinion, anyway, it had nothing to do with them.

After finishing work, James returned from outside, he first went back home -- in the manor, there were many houses in the manor, there was a place for Councilor Williams to live, and there was also a place for him to live.

Strictly speaking, they lived together, but as long as they didn't want to, they could not see each other even once a year.

After changing into a set of casual home clothes, he came to Councilor Williams' study.

Now James was the councilor, he also had his own work to do, and his own social life, so it was impossible for him to be with Councilor Williams every day.

"Been back?" Councilor Williams, who was reading the newspaper, looked up, then put the newspaper back on the table, and then took off his reading glasses from the bridge of his nose.

He carefully put them into an ivory glasses case and placed it in the drawer.

James sat down and nodded, "Yes, I've already been back."

Councilor Williams nodded noncommittally, "Do you know?"

"I heard that William's wife, Ms. Emily, is pregnant again."

This sentence made James a little... embarrassed, he had been married for some time, but his wife was not pregnant.

The two sides were a political marriage, his wife's father was the granddaughter of a friend of Councilor Williams, a big capitalist, very rich.

In these years, with the help of Councilor Williams, the business had spread throughout the entire Licarai State, and was planning to continue expanding outwards.

In the Federation, this kind of combination of money and power was very common, as long as the law did not prohibit politicians from marrying the daughters of capitalists, then they might do so.

The reason why it was possible was because they had politicians' daughters to choose from, in addition to capitalists' daughters.

It's just that such political marriages were not necessarily good results, James needed a marriage because he wanted to run for municipal councilor, he and his wife had no emotional foundation, although they were married, the relationship was not very good.

That woman often went back to her own home to live, instead of living in the Williams Manor.

At the same time, James didn't really like that woman, so both sides defaulted to this kind of life, living their own lives.

But as the head of the family, Councilor Williams still hoped that his descendants could flourish.

Offspring were wealth to poor people, more children could help them with work.

It was also wealth to the rich, after all, blood relations were more reliable than hired management.

James didn't want to continue talking about this topic, he was very unlikely to have children in the short term.

After all, he couldn't do this thing by himself, unless his wife cooperated with him, but that didn't seem so easy.

"Today I attended a small gathering, they talked about Lance."

Listening to him saying something he didn't want to care about, Councilor Williams nodded slightly, he knew why James didn't talk about it, so he didn't continue to talk.

Some things were enough to point out, too much would be annoying, after all, he also came from being a young man.

"What did you discuss?"

James sat in the chair, in a very relaxed posture, "They were talking about... Lance's cruelty."

"Cruelty!" Councilor Williams repeated the word, "A very serious accusation, what do you think?"

James sat in the chair, in a very relaxed posture, "Can't say they're wrong..."

"After all, you know, he was indeed more cruel in dealing with the problems of some of the Korda family."

He phrased his words very carefully.

Councilor Williams smiled slightly after listening, "Then do you think that his... cruelty is a good thing or a bad thing for us?"

James thought for a while, "It should be a good thing."

Councilor Williams nodded and said, "Yes, you're right, it should be a good thing."

"If you can take some time to look through some history books, you will find that every wise monarch is always surrounded by some sycophants, some tyrannical ministers, and some virtuous ministers."

"Do you think a monarch would be a fool?"

"How could a fool become the first person of a country, a political force?"

"Of course, we have to exclude those who are purely lucky and use the inheritance system to obtain the throne."

"And those heirs who obtain the throne through their own efforts, they are not fools, but why do they also have such ministers?"

He gave some examples, all of which were relatively well-known monarchs, and they were indeed generally surrounded by these ministers, this question made James start to think.

And what Councilor Williams wanted to do was to guide his successor, to make him more mature and smarter.

"That's because, under the rule of anyone, there will always be some people who are dissatisfied with the ruling group."

"So they need to use some people to eliminate those dissidents, and not get their own hands dirty."

"We are not monarchs, and Lance is not a tyrannical minister, but we can also cooperate like this."

"He has done his part of the job well, then we should also do our own job well, this is good cooperation, a good partner!"

"And look, the city is much quieter now, which proves that not everyone is not afraid of death, under such cruel methods, people will be afraid."

"Ruling a group of subjects who have awe is much easier than ruling a group of subjects who are full of confrontational emotions!"

Councilor Williams licked his lips, "You should support him."

"Before there is a conflict of interest between us, you must support him."

"Supporting him is equal to supporting ourselves, instead of questioning whether what he is doing is right or wrong!"

He paused slightly here, "I heard that Lance and the girl from the Lawrence family are going to get engaged in the summer, he is smarter and more determined than anyone else to take this crucial step."

"You can choose a suitable gift for him, choose a more valuable one."

"You can chat with him, see if you can be the godfather of his child."

Councilor Williams turned to look at James, with something like teasing in his eyes, he couldn't quite tell, "I think he is very unlikely to refuse."

In fact, from Councilor Williams' point of view, Lance was developing too well!

After Lance dealt with Bandi, he collected more information about Lance's development, at first he just thought Lance was developing very well.

But after he studied those things, he found that this was no longer something that could be explained by being very powerful.

Even... the Lance family could not be called a gang, at least not the kind of traditional gang that people understood.

They hardly did anything that harmed ordinary people, the only thing that could be called a criminal business was buying moonshine.

Apart from this, they hardly did any other business related to crime, and the crime of selling moonshine would eventually be diluted.

In fact, facts had already proven that the large-scale social experiment of Prohibition had failed.

Prohibition not only did not stop people from drinking, but instead made many people become more dependent on alcohol.

At the same time, people did not save the money they spent on drinking and use it for normal consumption, etc.

Prohibition did not make this society better as those sociologists said, but instead made some things worse.

Those gangs expanded uncontrollably, the Lance family was a clear example.

They relied on selling moonshine to the poor to quickly accumulate a considerable amount of wealth, giving them enough confidence to confront the Five Families.

The gang groups in each city were constantly changing, the pattern of the underworld was also constantly changing, unfamiliar gangs were rising one by one, and old gangs that had not transformed in time eventually fell.

The federal government's control over the underworld was constantly weakening, and the positive effects that people wanted to see from the experiment were not obvious.

It's really... too bad!

So the crime of selling moonshine would not be too serious in the end, in other words, unless someone could get 100% evidence to accuse Lance of various murders, otherwise the judicial department would not even know how to accuse him!

Accuse him of organizing gang crimes, what crimes did they commit?

Relieving the poor?

Finding jobs for unemployed poor people and solving the livelihood problems of unwilling citizens?

Or did they do something particularly terrible?

It doesn't seem so.

As for those kidnappings and murders, in Councilor Williams's eyes, these are all minor matters, insignificant trifles.

Because as long as someone stands up to take the blame, the problem will end directly.

Lance is in a position where he can't fail. Plus, he now controls the casino and the upward path. As long as he doesn't do anything stupid, he will definitely go further!

On the contrary, James's future development is very likely to be inferior to Lance's.

So, in Councilor Williams's view, letting James recognize Lance's first child as a godson is actually a great advantage for James.

This is a bit like an inversion, but it is the truth!

James is not clear about his father's thoughts, but he has one advantage, which is that he is obedient.

He immediately agreed, "I will personally choose a valuable gift to send over."

Councilor Williams nodded, and he continued to talk about the things James mentioned.

"Don't think Lance is cruel and brutal."

"If someone is willing to be a sharp knife, but you think the knife is too sharp, it can only mean that you are not a qualified ruler."

"You need a broader mind. Since we choose to cooperate with him, you should trust your partner."

However, Councilor Williams would not blame James for this. He still needs time to grow, and he has enough time to grow.

As long as he keeps growing, that's enough.

After ending this topic, Councilor Williams drank the coffee in his cup, and James immediately stood up and poured him some more.

He said casually, "The current matter has come to an end for the time being. After a while, I will go to Mentenon with Lance."

"Handle the work in your hands, and you come with us."

He picked up the coffee and blew on it, "This trip is to re-establish the distribution of benefits. There will be many big shots appearing. You need to play the role of… an assistant, understand my meaning?"

James nodded, "I understand, I am just a servant."

Councilor Williams nodded in satisfaction, "Is there anything else?"

James shook his head, "No."

The old man took a sip of coffee, then put it down, "Go back, do your own thing, and come back if you don't understand anything."

James got up and said goodbye, and left. Although he left, Councilor Williams no longer had the interest to continue reading the newspaper.

In early June, many things seemed to have stabilized again. The police officer who decided to take the risk for 100,000 yuan also put his heart back in his chest.

So far, they have not found him. It should be that there was a problem with the direction of the investigation. This is a good thing.

Another good thing is that after a specialized diagnosis, they believe that his wife has a high chance of recovery.

This made him think that everything he had paid was worth it.

He had already thought about it. After his wife's cancer was cured, he would quit his job and take his wife on a trip to travel around the world.

Life is really too fragile. They should not waste their limited lives on how to survive.

They are not short of money now. They have the time and the qualifications to go around and take a look.

Just as he was dreaming about the future, two police officers walked to his desk and knocked on his desk, "Deputy Director Duke wants you to go to his office!"

He was stunned for a moment, and quickly got up and walked towards the stairs.

At the same moment, his wife was pushed into the operating room.

The cancer research experts inside the medical group had already prepared for the operation. The woman was deeply anesthetized and sent to the operating table.

She was stripped naked, without a thread on her body. The hair on her chest and abdomen, including her private parts, was shaved off.

But no one was interested in her body. What the doctors were most eager to do now was to cut open her skin, open her chest and abdominal cavity, and look at those tumors.

The idea that cancer has a chance of being cured mainly comes from a lack of understanding of cancer.

They have not yet classified tumors, and do not know that there are actually malignant and benign ones. So when some benign tumors are removed and the patient is cured, they generally believe that cancer has a chance of being cured, and the chance is not low.

But as people study cancer, they will find that not all tumors are benign and can be removed.

However, at the current stage, they still hold the most primitive ideas.

The woman with her eyes closed seemed to feel some tension in the atmosphere. It was not known whether it was because the anesthesia was not deep enough. When the scalpel cut open her skin, her heartbeat trembled and sweat secreted from her head.

Her husband took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his face. Deputy Director Duke sat behind his desk, "Why?"

"Why did you poison Bandy? Who ordered you to do it?"

He could only deny nervously, "I don't know what you're talking about. I have never done these things!"

Duke and the others did not intend to let this guy really confess who it was. As long as he is alive and has no value in confessing, it is far greater than the value of what he said.

But in order to "protect" him, he now needs to be "treasured", which requires his cooperation, or rather, requires him to accept his fate.

"Your wife's surgery fees, and some funds, do I need to say more?"

The man's pupils contracted slightly, then gradually dilated. He lowered his head and remained silent.

As a police officer, he knew that these things could not stand investigation. Once discovered, he would not be able to get rid of suspicion and accusations.

The expression on his face was a bit painful, just like his wife on the operating table at this time.

Obviously, the results of the X-ray were different from the actual results of the laparotomy. The environment and situation after the laparotomy were more complicated than what they saw on the X-ray. For a time, the chief surgeon did not even know how to start.

But this will not be a switch operation. After all, such a rare case has been placed on the operating table, and she must become the result of research.

As for death?

That's not their problem. That's just God loving her and taking her to his side.

Under the temporary discussion of the doctors and experts on the scene, they re-agreed on the surgical procedure. Then, two new doctors came to the operating table with scalpels in cooperation.

Ordinary laparotomy has also become more like a full-open autopsy, exposing more organs and lesions.

As they began to cut, all of this was faithfully recorded by multiple cameras.

It may become an important case analysis in medical class, and it may also become research material in the laboratory.

Fifteen minutes later, the police officer was recovered his police badge and his gun, and he would be taken to a safer place.

He obeyed Deputy Director Duke's arrangements, but he had only one request, that is, after his wife woke up, don't tell her what happened.

Just as he stepped on the police car and was transferred, in the operating room, with a long beep from a buzzer, the doctors' movements stopped.

"Continue?"

"Why not?"

They became busy again, and would not stop because someone left…