Empire of Shadows

A nobody. He's in Goldport City now?

"What about him?" This was the last vestige of "respect" Tom had for this nobody, proactively inquiring about him instead of passively waiting for something.

Lance chuckled, "He's currently the Director of the Goldport City Tobacco, Alcohol, and Hazardous Materials Administration. You know, sometimes people call them the 'Prohibition Bureau'."

"Yes, yes, I know, but it's not just that in reality." This kind of "folk" view doesn't really influence decision-makers, nor does it influence the people around them.

"He's a bit of a nuisance, blocking the way. I'm considering whether to move him from that position."

Tom joked, "When you say 'move him,' do you mean make him disappear?"

"Hmm, possibly."

"I'm wondering if that might cause some trouble."

Tom pondered for a moment, "His boss doesn't have any conflicting interests with us, but this matter needs to be handled carefully."

"The Prohibition Act is one of the core policies pushed by Congress in recent years. You know, those who can promote the implementation of this law are people with power within Congress."

"Actually, if that kind of nobody is removed, then he's just removed. But the problem is that anything can be used as a reason for political infighting."

"Maybe one day, when some people need to start a new political war with an issue, and he happens to provide that opportunity, you'll become the next fuse."

"Lance, you know, the job of a fuse is to detonate the explosives, and then be blown to smithereens along with the explosives!"

"What I mean is not that you can't do anything to him, but you have to do it artfully, so that people can't find a reason, instead of directly 'removing' him."

He changed Lance's "move him" to "remove him," deepening the context a bit to make the content easier to understand.

Lance hummed in agreement, "I know what to do."

Tom said with a smile, "Call me anytime if there are any problems."

"I will, goodbye."

After hanging up, Tom turned and walked towards the living room. His family was still waiting to watch TV with him.

Although there were only three channels, its appearance still shocked people to the point of dropping their jaws!

Meanwhile, after Lance hung up the phone, he frowned. Although Tom said that there was a possibility of that happening, rather than it being certain, such a risk did exist.

Moreover, this risk would not decrease over time and eventually disappear. Instead, it would continue to increase over time.

In this world, especially in the Federation, there is no eternal unity. As long as interests are constantly changing, political groups will also constantly change their positions and camps.

Four years ago, the President and the Socialist Party were as close as family, but now he has broken with some members of the Socialist Party, and some problems have also emerged within the Socialist Party.

This is a phased change, just to better control power while reducing "point loss."

This is a relatively common political tactic. For example.

The Socialist Party has one hundred supporters, but because of their recent policy, eighty of those one hundred people have become dissatisfied with them.

If nothing is done, and they insist, "We are wrong, but we will not change," then a considerable number of those eighty people may switch political camps.

But if the Socialist Party splits into two parts at this time, one part continues to insist, "We are wrong, but we will not change," while the other part puts up the pretense of "We are indeed wrong, and we plan to actively change."

Then those eighty dissatisfied people will lean towards the latter, while the twenty people who have no opinions will continue to maintain their position.

In this way, the Socialist Party will not experience a large exodus of voters.

As for why they don't directly propose the idea and action of "We are indeed wrong, and we plan to actively change," it's actually very simple, because there are still twenty people who insist.

They can be divided into two groups, fight each other, and eventually complete the reintegration and unification. Perhaps in the next election or the one after that, these split groups can reunite.

In the coming period, no one knows whether friends will become enemies, or whether enemies will become friends.

Once the political landscape changes, what follows is a war for interests, a struggle.

Each time it changes, this risk increases by one point, so Lance decided to change his approach.

He then talked to Ponda about it, and Ponda accepted his proposal.

In the blink of an eye, several days had passed. During this time, Congress had been playing the role of the "protagonist," firmly attracting people's attention.

The entire Federation, all Federal people, seemed to realize something, and the atmosphere in society became slightly heavy.

This afternoon, Director Dale was in his office thinking about some things for the future when suddenly Ponda called him, saying that they had discovered something while on duty and hoped that he "had better come over and take a look."

This request was actually a bit beyond the scope of his duties, a bit worrisome, and also a bit curious. Director Dale ultimately decided to go and see.

After all, they were all his own people. He didn't believe that those people would conspire to harm him.

When he arrived at the location, it was a small warehouse. They were standing outside the warehouse.

"What happened?" He got out of the car, put one hand on his hip, and squinted at the unremarkable warehouse in front of him.

After Ponda said a bunch of things he couldn't understand, he said, "You'll know when you go inside and take a look."

In Director Dale's puzzled gaze, he entered the warehouse. The warehouse was very dark. No light from outside shone in, and there were no lights on. It was completely dark.

He could only see a small area in front of him—

The light shining in from behind him could only illuminate such a small area. Outside of these areas, he might be able to see some blurry outlines if they were close enough, but he couldn't see anything further away.

He frowned and turned around, preparing to ask Ponda why he didn't turn on the lights when suddenly the warehouse door slammed shut with a bang.

He was stunned for two or three seconds, and then a cold sweat broke out all over his body. The warehouse was instantly plunged into darkness.

He rushed to the door and pounded on the small door, making a loud banging sound, "F*ck, what are you doing, Ponda?"

"I order you as the director to open that damn door!"

"Otherwise, I will dismiss you from all your duties!"

"F*ck, open the door!"

But there was no response from outside the door. He pushed and pulled the door a few times, but there was no reaction. It was tightly closed.

When people can't see anything in the dark, they will feel fear. This fear is difficult to avoid unless they are professionally trained.

"If I were you, I wouldn't do that."

The sudden sound behind him made Director Dale's hair stand on end. He turned around abruptly, and accompanied by a slight electrical noise, a light suddenly turned on in the middle of the warehouse.

Under the lampshade, there was a table and a chair.

Opposite the table, there was a figure sitting there, with his legs crossed and his upper body hidden in the darkness.

"Who are you!" Director Dale asked.

The voice was a bit familiar. It should be someone he knew, or at least had met.

"Why don't you sit down?"

"We can have a good chat."

"I can assure you that you are safe until our chat is over and before you decide to do something stupid."

Director Dale was silent for a while, then silently walked to the lampshade. Here, he still couldn't see the appearance of the person in the darkness, only a silhouette.

"Why don't you show your face? This isn't fair!" Director Dale said tentatively.

The person laughed, "There has never been fairness in this world, Director."

"A young man with excellent grades went to an elite league school, but realized in school that even if his academic performance was very good, surpassing most people, he was still a victim of a solidified class."

"I've heard some of your stories. I didn't laugh at your ideas. Instead, I think you're someone who can recognize yourself."

"Ninety percent of people in this society can't do this, but you did."

"You shouldn't stop there. You should have a better future and development."

"But look at you now—"

"You're nothing!"

"Sorry, that might hurt your heart, but that's what I want to say."

"You shouldn't have been so obscure all this time, Dale."

Director Dale's expression was very bad. He thought of those very bad things.

In school, he wanted to join the fraternity because the fraternity's resources were the best. The people inside were either the sons of congressmen, the nephews of important party figures, or the descendants of social celebrities and dignitaries.

That wasn't a fraternity, that was a dazzling future.

But the conditions for joining them were very harsh. They made Dale streak naked and did some things that humiliated his personality.

But he persevered. He knew he wasn't the protagonist, those people were.

And if he wanted to live better, he could only follow the protagonists.

The scenes of the past resurfaced in his mind. The shame caused by these past events being known made him feel angry. He slammed the table, "Enough, we all know you know enough about me."

"Speak, what do you want to say to me by bringing me here?"

"You secretive bastard!"

That person swayed his toes, seemingly not affected by him, and his voice had a hint of joy.

"I've recently encountered a bit of trouble, and you can help me solve it."

"There are only two ways to resolve this issue, and it concerns your future. I don't feel comfortable making decisions about your future, so I'm giving you the opportunity to choose for yourself."

"My problem is that I need your position, but you happen to be sitting in it."

"My first option for you is that, due to an accident, you die in the line of duty... and that happens today."

"The second option is, you can do those things for others, so why can't you do them for me too?"