Empire of Shadows

The atmosphere in the city was somewhat gloomy. People didn't know what was happening, but they could feel the raindrops starting to patter down.

They hit the ground, the puddles, and people's faces.

Walking in the downpour, with dark clouds looming overhead, created an oppressive feeling, as if the world had turned into a dark night, making things particularly awful.

Mayor Williams turned his gaze away from the window. He had received complete news about Lance sending people to take action at the school.

He held a cigarette in his hand, but only took a few puffs.

The long, white ash slowly burned and fell from the cigarette as a gust of wind blew in.

He glanced down, letting the ash drift out the window.

"Every event points directly to Hoff, but Hoff is just a front man. The people behind him are the key."

He walked from the window back to his office chair and sat down. The office was luxuriously decorated, but in an understated way.

These tables, chairs, and cabinets that looked like "old furniture" exuded a nobility that ordinary people couldn't grasp.

Perhaps ordinary people entering would have a strange feeling, that Mayor Williams must be a good mayor. Look how simple his office is.

James, sitting across from him, nodded. "I don't like the current political environment. Everything is tied to money. The capitalists are too corrupt, and we don't have any good solutions."

Hoff's decisive "escape" filled Mayor Williams with some emotion, a special emotion. He was moved that Mr. Hoff, a regional opinion leader, already considered upper-middle class in Goldport City, Likalai State, was still just a front man.

Is money really that important?

He asked himself.

Then he agreed with the idea.

Money is very important!

James, as his son, understood his father's thoughts. As he became a city councilor, he began to have more feelings.

"When I was still learning by your side, I was often confused."

Mayor Williams turned to look at his son, focusing his attention on him, signaling him to continue.

James adjusted his posture and lit a cigarette. "The confusion was, why do you, Councilor Wade, and others sometimes lament the intrusion of capital into politics?"

"I didn't understand it then, but after I became a city councilor, I finally understood."

He began to count on his fingers, "City Hall gives me seventy-nine dollars a month…"

Mayor Williams couldn't help but laugh. He raised his hand and waved it as if swatting a fly, "Come on, you know that has nothing to do with me. All federal city councilors get that much!"

James was also laughing. "I know, I don't mean to complain about you. I'm just stating the fact."

"I have an office in City Hall that's about twenty square meters, not even big enough for a sofa set."

"I have to rent an office, and it can't be too small, because I have my team to take care of."

"I rented a floor in an office building in the city center, which costs two hundred and twenty dollars a month."

"I also have eleven people working under me: a driver, a secretary, a clerk, a receptionist…"

"On average, each person takes about seventy-five dollars a month from me, eleven people, more than eight hundred dollars."

"I also maintain five cars, and I need to take care of their maintenance and gas. Although it's not much, it's still several tens of dollars a month."

"Then sometimes we have to hold some political activities, costing a hundred or two dollars for small ones, and three to five thousand dollars for big ones."

These political activities within the district were actually quite frequent, especially for newly elected city councilors. They needed to communicate more with the people to understand the district and what they needed.

If you brought the citizens over, you couldn't just have them sit in a row in the park. Even if James could do that, he would need to give these people something to drink and eat.

And when they left, it was best if they could take something with them.

This had become a bad habit in politics. As long as you had close contact with the voters, you had to give them something.

This was referring to the worst-case scenario. James, who had the "Williams family baggage," would spend money to rent venues and hire some security guards, which would be very expensive.

He didn't want people to say the kind of nonsense like "The Williams family can't even afford this little bit of money!"

"There are also the expenses for business trips."

He counted on his fingers, talking to Mayor Williams about some of his discoveries and changes in his work, "My average monthly expenditure is between two thousand and three thousand dollars. If there are any political activities or business trips, it will basically exceed five thousand dollars."

"Let's say an average of two thousand five hundred dollars a month, that's thirty thousand dollars a year."

"Father, thirty thousand dollars!"

"If a city councilor wants to maintain his job well, wants to let people see his ability and ambition, he has to invest thirty thousand dollars or even more every year!"

"But our salary is less than a thousand dollars a year."

"Without the capitalists and their money, we are nothing!"

This was James's own experience. After he started serving as a city councilor, he felt that without money, there was nothing he could do… He didn't know how to describe it.

Mayor Williams looked at his son with satisfaction, pleased that he had made such great progress in this area. A smile appeared on his face:

"It's good that you have these insights. It shows that you are really taking your work seriously."

"Money is like a noose around the neck of every politician."

"The bad news is that it not only can't be untied, but it will get tighter and tighter."

"But the good news is that whether the noose will hang you depends entirely on yourself."

"The campaign funds for each election are increasing at an alarming rate. In the past, only seven or eight million dollars were needed to cope with the election."

"But the last time, which was still a midterm election, they spent seventeen million dollars."

"What about next time?"

"How much will it cost?"

"Some people speculate that it may be more than twenty-five million dollars, and each time it rolls over, there will be a significant increase."

"No one knows if it will stop, but everyone knows that its role will become greater and greater!"

"Great enough to affect the final result."

James nodded. "Yes, so from this point of view, Hoff's escape is not surprising. Lance exposed him, whether for his own sake or for the sake of the people behind him, he must disappear."

"To protect those capitalists!"

Mayor Williams agreed with his point. "That's why I asked Arthur to focus on business. If we rely on external wealth, we will become someone else's front man one day."

"They use wealth that we can't produce to force us to bow our heads and then follow their arrangements."

"From a city councilor to the president, it's all the same."

"But if we have our own money, we can do whatever we want, and no one can threaten us with elections and funds!"

James did not deny it and nodded, "That's right."

"If Hoff runs, he runs. Goldport City has other front men. Lance will dig them out one by one!" Mayor Williams raised his eyebrows.

"Charles can't escape. He has woven a huge net, trapping everyone in it."

"When they are strong, this net will become their strongest barrier, protecting them from harm."

"But when their situation becomes precarious, this net can also make it so that none of them can escape!"

"This time, the entire city's landscape will undergo a huge change, which is also an opportunity for us, an opportunity to completely not rely on others!"

Mayor Williams's turbid eyes gleamed. People have different thoughts and demands at different times.

In the beginning, he felt that as long as he could maintain the Williams family's position and reputation, it would be enough.

But with the departure of the Wade family, he began to want to become mayor and constantly changed his mind, wanting to imprint the Williams family on Goldport City!

Now, his ambition is no longer limited to this city.

If the family can gain more benefits from this change in the city's landscape, then it may not be impossible to try to impact the governor in the future.

The governor's election, to put it bluntly, is still competing within Likalai State. As the mayor of Goldport City, he has a natural advantage.

Coupled with huge political power and wealth, there may well be a "Governor Williams!"

Listening to his words, James was also a little moved, but soon he frowned again, "Arthur's side…"

Before he could finish speaking, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.

The eyes of the father and son both focused on the phone, and for some reason, they both felt that the call might not be so simple.

The weather outside the window, which had originally been sunny, suddenly gradually became a little gloomy. The sky was still bright, but the sun was gone.

It was going to snow again.

At this time, in the old industrial zone, a large number of factories were facing demolition, and there was no cheaper labor force than refugees.

The weather was still very cold, but the demolition site gave off a feeling of intense activity.

Refugee workers swung heavy hammers, knocking on the damaged factories. They had to completely clear all the vacant areas, and then there was a lot of construction work to be done.

Communities and buildings could be handed over to real estate developers and builders to bid on, but the roads were planned early and could be built first.

Looking down from the sky, densely packed workers gathered together, transforming this land bit by bit.

Several refugee workers huddled together, wearing patched cotton clothes. They were panting heavily, and with each breath, a large amount of white mist billowed from their mouths.

The expressions on their faces were somewhat different from those of the others. Besides them, some other people also stopped working at this time.

They exchanged glances, and soon they seemed to have made a decision.

One of them suddenly shouted, "Let us take a break, we've been working for most of the day!"

The people around him also started shouting, "Yes, we've been working for most of the day, we can't work anymore, we want to rest!"

Arthur's company was responsible for the demolition work in this area. This kind of... obviously profitable and requiring no technical skills work was something Mayor Williams took good care of Arthur with.

Of course, Arthur himself was also very competitive. He never came to the construction site to give random instructions, and he didn't even actively interfere with the company's operations, even though the company was registered under his name.

The federal government did not prohibit officials and their family members from doing business. Mayor Williams contracting the project to Arthur complied with the federal legal standards.

As long as there was no exchange of power and money between them, and Arthur could meet the demolition standards as agreed, then no one could accuse Mayor Williams of using his power for personal gain.

If the project wasn't given to him, who else would it be given to? Could it only be given to outsiders and not his own son?

There was no such law at all!

If nothing unexpected happened, this would probably be the same as those past projects. After the project was completed, Arthur would contact the mayor's secretary and then receive all the funds.

Employing refugee workers is currently the method to earn a price difference in Goldport City, and even in all cities with refugees. The huge difference between the construction cost and the actual expenditure allows every company to eat its fill.

Now people are not afraid of large projects. The larger the project and the more primitive the project plan, the happier people are!

Because this can bring more extra profits from the wage difference. When many companies bid, in order to get the opportunity, they will even lose money from the construction cost budget!

But today, now, something is happening.

The supervisor was quickly attracted by the shouts of these people. Not being able to hold a hot coffee and eat doughnuts in the office in the middle of winter was like hell to the Federals!

The supervisor's temper would not be too good; a good-tempered person could not be a supervisor.

The only difference between them and the slave owners of the past was the title, and that they could not kill these workers at will.

The supervisor walked towards them, and when he saw those who were clamoring for a rest, his eyebrows immediately furrowed. "Didn't you just have a break?"

About an hour ago, these people had already rested once, and now they wanted to rest again, which made the supervisor think they were obviously looking for trouble.

Rest is contagious. If they want to rest here, other workers who are working will proactively put down their tools and stop, as if afraid of being at a disadvantage.

Everything was fine for the past few days, why are these people so annoying today?

This terrible weather already made the supervisor unhappy about having to come out and drink the cold wind, and now these lazy people want to slack off, he is even more unhappy!

"Didn't you just have a break?" he shouted loudly.

A brief, strange smile appeared on the faces of the workers, and one of them suddenly shouted loudly, "Why are you swearing at people?"

"You give us so little wages, only about ten dollars, and you don't allow us to rest, and you even swear at us and insult us!"

"We are also human beings, we are not slaves!"

"If you spoke nicely, maybe we could continue working for a while, but since you're so arrogant, we're going to rest today no matter what!"

Several workers slammed their tools heavily on the ground. At this time, some refugee workers had already gathered around, and some older ones even took the initiative to mediate.

It's not that they were biased towards the refugees or the Federals, they were just afraid of causing trouble and being fired by these supervisors.

It's really not easy to find a stable job these days, and it's winter, even if it's only ten dollars a month, it can allow a family to get through the cold winter!

It's just that these old workers don't understand at all, it's not that they can't persuade them, but from the beginning, these people's purpose was to provoke conflict!

The supervisor's authority was questioned and challenged, and he immediately waved his hand and shouted loudly, "You are fired!"

Several young people rushed over immediately, "Why do you have the right to fire us?"

"It's okay to fire us, but pay us this month's wages!"

With the physical contact, the conflict between the two sides quickly evolved from verbal to physical.

A refugee worker suddenly punched the supervisor, making the supervisor see stars. Thanks to Arthur, he had never suffered such a big loss in his many years at the company.

He staggered and sat down on the ground, then took out the whistle from his clothes and blew it!

Doo ~ ~

Doo!

The security guards who were warming themselves by the fire in the distance were stunned when they heard the whistle, and then with solemn expressions, they ran towards the direction of the whistle. Before they got close, they found that many people were already gathered there.

They didn't know what was happening in the crowd, but subconsciously, instinctively, they pushed the crowd away, wanting to go inside.

With this push and shove, someone suddenly screamed: "The Federals are beating people!"

Then several refugee workers began to fight back, and the stunned security guards also followed suit. The entire construction site quickly became chaotic!

Under the collective consciousness, people quickly lost their minds, becoming simple and fierce.

The number of people in the management company was definitely not as large as the number of refugee workers, and they were quickly submerged in the refugee workers.

Some refugees had already realized that something was wrong and left early, but more young people had been controlled in their behavior and thoughts. They even began to actively attack the surrounding Federal supervisors and company staff, and also looted food and supplies!

The news of a sudden riot in the old industrial area spread throughout the city in an instant. After receiving the alarm call, Chief Blue personally rushed to the front line, and a large number of police forces arrived at the scene of the old industrial area with the police sirens blaring.

Chief Blue, who didn't even get out of the car, took a deep breath and directly ordered the police car to retreat. They had too few people and needed more support!

At this time, Mayor Williams was answering the suddenly ringing phone.

"Arthur is in our hands," the guy on the other end of the phone threw out this "bomb" as soon as he started.

Mayor Williams pressed the speakerphone button so that James could also hear, "How can you prove this?"