Empire of Shadows

The explosion at the substation in the old industrial zone made the news on "Today's Golden Port." Mayor Williams mentioned it during breakfast this morning.

With James.

"What do you think he'll do next?" he asked, folding the newspaper and placing it beside him.

James also had a newspaper in his hand; father and son each had their own separate copy.

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Sometimes they didn't necessarily eat breakfast together, and if they only subscribed to one newspaper, who would get to read it first, and who would have to wait?

So, to avoid trouble from the start, everyone had their own newspaper, including Arthur; he had one too.

However, he never read it; the newspaper was in the same condition when the servants took it away as when it was delivered to him.

James shook his head, "I don't know, Lance's methods are always a bit unpredictable."

"I thought he would use the mob to threaten those people, to make them compromise or something."

He also put down his newspaper, eating breakfast while expressing his original thoughts.

"But now it seems his methods are a bit more clever than direct threats."

Mayor Williams didn't refute this assessment, "He's always been the smart one!"

In fact, using mob tactics wouldn't have caused too much negative impact on Lance; a mob boss using common mob tactics would only make people think, "Oh, that's what he should do!"

No one would think it's wrong for a butcher to slaughter livestock with a butcher knife.

But Mayor Williams would receive some negative feedback as a result.

After all, he was the mayor, and if investors, businessmen, and large-scale entities in the city encountered mob threats, people wouldn't blame Lance but would think his abilities were the problem.

Either he couldn't stop the mob's recklessness, or he couldn't deal with those capitalists; either view would be extremely detrimental to him.

He hadn't discussed with Lance what to do beforehand, only saying not to make it too ugly; he had even prepared himself for some unpleasantness.

But he didn't expect Lance's first punch to be so beautiful: a power outage!

Although his method of causing the power outage may have been a bit extreme, no other problems could be found besides that.

James knew that his father had a high opinion of Lance, even to the point of saying, "If only Arthur were a girl"—

If Arthur really were a girl, he would likely snatch the Lawrence family's son-in-law and marry Arthur directly to Lance, achieving a combination of power.

But unfortunately, he had no daughters and could only watch helplessly as the unknown Lawrence family benefited.

The three old men must be grinning from ear to ear!

James also followed up by asking, "What do you think he'll do?"

Mayor Williams shook his head, "Before he does it, no one knows what he'll do!"

"But I'm looking forward to his next performance."

"Let's wait and see."

At the same time, the guy who chose a completely different path from his good brother was currently heading to the dock with his goods.

He was actually regretting it a little now; his good friend had chosen to sign the agreement, received the relocation subsidy, and had already gone to select a new site.

And he, on the other hand, was facing the possibility of huge claims for compensation; now his mind was in chaos, and he seemed a little lost about the future.

The big shots in the Bay Area were all saying to persevere; as long as they persevered, they would definitely see victory.

He had believed it before because the Bay Area had defeated one opponent after another, but this time, his confidence wasn't as strong as before.

The reason why many people blindly trusted the Bay Area's wealthy was that they had defeated many opponents before.

Whether it was the federal government or the state government, they were all wary of factionalism—if the faction was the state government, that would be another matter.

Leaving Leizhou was clearly not that kind of situation; according to the order in which the federal states were established, Lika Leizhou was relatively late; it wasn't a breeding ground for stubborn factionalism and couldn't foster political forces that could confront the federal government.

In order to dismantle the Golden Port City interest groups' control and blockade of this place, they had sent many mayors to try to do something, but they had all failed.

The Bay Area's repeated successes had established an instinctive view in people's minds, which was that the Bay Area was invincible, so they blindly believed that the Bay Area could still win.

Even if this opponent was once one of them.

But now, the situation didn't seem so good.

The regretful businessman was riding in his car, bringing several trucks of goods to the dock.

He had temporarily rented a dozen high-power generators to barely keep the assembly line running, quickly completing the tail end of this order and sending them to customs.

The goods were waiting to be exported to the Tanfite continent; the customers there had been urging him, but fortunately, it was finally done today.

All that was left was to put them on the ship and wait for the other party to settle the payment.

Originally, this was a very easy thing: pull the goods to the dock, then a simple spot check, then load them into the container, watch it being sent to the freighter, and then make a call to wait for the money to arrive.

But today's process seemed to have a bit of a problem.

Under normal circumstances, he didn't need to personally declare customs; his manager would take care of all this; he was sitting in the car thinking about the upcoming orders.

Using diesel generators could indeed drive the assembly line, but the price was also very high.

Those small, civilian-use ones could also generate electricity, but if you wanted the entire factory to run, let alone one, even a hundred might not be enough.

They were using large industrial generators, which were larger in size and had higher power generation efficiency, but of course, they also wasted more diesel.

In addition to the fact that diesel needed money, renting these generators also required money, and the price wasn't low either.

As for buying… that price was too high and not within his consideration.

While he was thinking about the electricity and order issues, his manager was jogging over from a distance.

Each breath he took would cause a puff of white mist to appear in front of him, showing that his body was heating up, and the exhaled hot air would last for a while before disappearing.

The unlucky businessman's attention shifted from those annoying things in his mind to his manager, "What's wrong?"

The manager gasped for breath, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and took two deep breaths to calm his somewhat chaotic breathing, "Customs said our goods can't be cleared."

The unlucky businessman was stunned for a moment, "Why?"

The manager's expression was a little strange, "They said it might be sensitive military supplies, so they're temporarily not allowed to leave the port."

The unlucky businessman couldn't sit still anymore; he directly pushed open the car door and walked towards the customs office; along the way, he asked for some details, but didn't get any useful clues.

Soon he arrived at the corresponding office, and there was also a bit of a flattering smile on his face.

The customs officer in the office was alone; he asked the manager to stand outside the door, and he entered the office himself.

"What's the matter?" the officer glanced at him sideways, then lowered his head to process the documents in his hand.

He quickly said, "I am… the holder of that batch of goods… my manager just said that customs believes those things might be military supplies; I swear to God, they are all civilian goods!"

The officer put down the pen in his hand, rubbed his wrist, "It's not up to you, and it's not up to me, it's up to the federal government!"

"Your goods may be related to the goods on the embargo list, I said 'may'."

"It may be, or it may not be, we need to investigate this clearly."

"If it's not, we'll release it."

"But if it is, then I'm sorry, you either ship it back, or we'll help you destroy it."

The unlucky businessman's head was about to explode; he took out an envelope from his pocket and put it on the table, "Then is it, or is it not?"

He had a flattering smile on his face, but behind this flattering smile seemed to be hidden a trace of dissatisfaction and disgust, disgusted with these people's greed!

He thought that customs was making things difficult for him just to get some benefits; similar things had happened before.

Customs inexplicably asked him to take out all the goods that had already been loaded into the container, and check them one by one, saying that someone had reported him for smuggling things out of the country illegally.

Then someone hinted that if he gave a little, the matter would be over.

Afraid of trouble, he gave a little, and it really worked; there was no need to check, and it was directly released.

He thought it would be the same this time, so he put about a thousand dollars in the envelope when he came.

He thought that the officer would take the money and then make a phone call to let him leave, but the officer just glanced at him contemptuously, "Are you bribing me?"

What this sentence means has a lot to do with its context and environment.

Now, it's obviously not a good sign.

The unlucky businessman immediately explained, "There are some materials inside…"

The officer shook his head, "Take your money back, I said, if they don't violate any regulations, we'll release them."

"If they violate the regulations, even if you give more, we won't agree."

He reluctantly took back the envelope and then asked, "Then… when can you finish the inspection?"

The officer opened another document in front of him and, after flipping through several pages, said, "The week after next."

The unlucky businessman's eyes widened at this time, as if he hadn't heard what the officer had just said, looking at him, "Sorry, I didn't hear too clearly, did you say… this week?"

The official's lips curled slightly upwards. "I said the week after next," he repeated, a hint of mockery in his eyes.

He knew very well that this batch of goods wouldn't last until the week after next before defaulting. Even if it did, he had ways to delay it until after the New Year.

Customs, after all, could be shut down whenever he wanted.

Wasn't it easy to find fault?

Non-compliant boxes, substandard declarations, unqualified materials.

Or he could simply claim 'suspicion.' Anyway, as long as there was suspicion, the goods wouldn't be allowed to pass, requiring investigation and inspection. There were plenty of ways to drag things out.

It wasn't uncommon for goods to be stuck in customs for a year or two. Sometimes, the owners would just abandon them after a long delay!

The unfortunate businessman's eyes widened. "I can't wait that long! The buyers can't wait that long!"

The official maintained his official demeanor. "What does that have to do with me?"

He didn't give the businessman a chance to continue arguing. "Alright, I need to work now. Get out, and close the door on your way out."

The businessman wanted to argue, but after the official emphasized "Get out" again, he had no choice but to leave the office.

Standing at the office door, meeting the manager's expectant gaze, he cursed, "Fuck!"

"They're making things difficult for us! They're deliberately preventing our goods from clearing customs!" He kicked the wall beside the corridor, hands on his hips, fuming.

The manager, following beside him, hesitated for a moment before saying, "Could it be related to us not signing the swap agreement?"

That was the only thing he could think of.

Yesterday's power outage and today's refusal to allow the goods to clear customs were both clear signs that they had offended someone and were now facing retribution.

The businessman suddenly turned to look at his manager, his eyes filled with hurt and ferocity.

He actually knew that what the manager said was right, or at least highly likely, but at this point, it was difficult for him to turn back.

Now that the swap subsidy policy was gone, if he wanted to move to the new industrial zone, he would have to apply for land himself and pay a large land use fee, as well as the cost of building a factory.

Moving the factory here also required money, previously subsidized by the city hall.

Not only would he not get any benefits, but he would also lose a lot of money and time!

The manager felt uncomfortable under his gaze and slowly looked away, lowering his head.

Only then did the businessman start walking forward again. "Go to the Bay Area, find Mr. Charles, find those big shots, ask them for help!"

This was the only feasible solution he could think of now.

Coincidentally, Mr. Charles and other core members of the Bay Area were also discussing potential future situations.

"I had someone check the equipment; it was destroyed by explosives at close range."

"That fellow Williams couldn't have done this, so it must have been Lance."

Hearing Lance's name, some people visibly fell silent, but others weren't so afraid.

Like Mr. Hoff.

As a regional opinion leader, Mr. Hoff still had influence in the Licale state's political arena; he was clearly a politician.

Politicians were protected by the rules, and unless someone broke the rules, he was unlikely to have problems.

And even if the confrontation here failed, he could move somewhere else.

Creek Valley City had been developing well recently; he could go live there.

Or he could go directly to Mentenon; he had many friends there, and Lance's influence wasn't as strong.

"Is there any way to get rid of Lance?" Mr. Hoff directly voiced his thoughts.

"That guy Lance is tied to Williams, and with Williams' current control over the city and Lance's control over the police force, we have no leverage to fight back."

Saying this, someone couldn't help but curse, "Damn Charlie! That guy threw away our most important weapon like trash!"

If Charlie hadn't lost control of the police force, they wouldn't be in such a passive position now.

Facing a gangster like Lance, who was clearly riddled with problems, they didn't have any good solutions!

Others also cursed Charlie a few times, and some cursed Hunter; in their eyes, both of them were useless, causing them to lose the initiative.

Mr. Charles frowned. "It's hard to find a gunman in King's Harbor to do this; they don't have the guts to oppose Lance."

He looked at Mr. Hoff as he spoke; since the other party had raised this possibility, it meant that Mr. Hoff might have a solution.

Regional opinion leaders represented a group of socially active individuals with a certain reputation in a region; in other words, they represented the middle and upper classes of a region.

In the Federation, what class could be called the middle and upper class?

Dockworkers?

Factory workers?

Fishermen who made a living by fishing by the sea?

Those police officers in the city police station?

No, most of these people were worthless in the eyes of politicians because many of them might not even have the right to vote.

According to the Federal Amendment, one must have a legitimate job and own their own independent property to have the right to vote.

Those who truly met this standard were the large landowners and the urban middle class; they were the backbone.

Mr. Hoff had more contact with farmers, and he wanted to gain more influence and have his own value in the political arena, so he had to do better.

He had also been in contact with those extremely conservative and radical farmers in the western part of Licale State, including recently.

So he knew that Lance wasn't without enemies.

Not only did he have enemies, but this enemy was "coming on strong"!

Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on him, Mr. Hoff revealed a smile. "Do you know about the Holy Bell Party?"

This name was indeed notorious; they had done a lot of bad things, and their nature was very bad.

However, for these gentlemen in suits, their bad reputation wasn't so frightening.

Mr. Charles nodded. "I know them. What's their leader's name again?"

He thought for a moment, "Joshua?"

Mr. Hoff was a little surprised. "I didn't expect you to know him!"

"Yes, that's him."

"They have some ideas about Lance."

"Letting them deal with Lance is a good idea. We won't touch the benefits from the casino; let it continue as before. We can even use this channel to have more contact with those above."

"They only want King's Harbor's liquor market."

Mr. Charles began to think, and everyone else was also thinking.

Soon, someone nodded. "I think it's possible."

"The Holy Bell Party has a big reputation. Since they aren't afraid of Lance, then let them try."

"If they succeed, it will be a joyful thing for us."

"If they fail, it's just two gangs fighting each other."

More and more people supported it, and finally, Mr. Charles also nodded. "Indeed, we can try…"