Empire of Shadows

Gunfights at night in Goldport City are common, but it's rare for such intense gunfights to erupt in broad daylight.

Though brief, this is the port district, one of the three busiest areas in Goldport City.

In less than an hour, almost half the people in Goldport City knew that the Brothers gang and someone else had a shootout in front of their company during the day, and Jimmy left after being shot.

The gunman who wounded him died in the alley.

In the room, Mr. Chobaf pressed his elbows on his knees, his hands clasped together, his chin resting on them, thinking in a painful, constipated-like posture.

He had already heard the news and knew that it was done by the assassin he had asked his assistant to find.

The result was very unsatisfactory.

The assistant was on the phone, finally confirming the matter. After a while, he hung up, looking somewhat embarrassed.

Mr. Chobaf straightened up. "Although I don't really want to hear these things, as it increases my risk, I still want to know, what kind of trash did you find?"

"Can't even do this little thing well?"

The assistant knew Mr. Chobaf too well; they had worked together for many years, so he could hear the suppressed anger in Mr. Chobaf's tone.

He had always thought that finding an assassin and taking out a gangster was a very ordinary thing, almost impossible to fail.

It's not like he was asked to assassinate the president, and even if he was, not every president can evade assassination.

This was just a small fry, yet he failed inexplicably. When he heard that "they were shooting at each other across half a street in the traffic," Mr. Chobaf's mind went buzzing.

"I need an explanation."

The assistant opened his mouth, wanting to say that they… indeed found an unreliable person, but he didn't know how to explain his nephew's role.

In the end, he could only sigh softly, "This is my problem."

Mr. Chobaf glanced at him sideways, "Now it's not whose problem it is, but whether we'll be exposed."

The assistant pursed his lips and explained seriously, "Mr. Chobaf, I can guarantee that we haven't revealed to anyone where this money came from."

"And… if necessary, I will let him stand up and voluntarily…"

The assistant was a little pained. If he let his nephew stand up and voluntarily say that he was the one who found the person, it would mean that the Brothers gang's fierce revenge would follow.

His nephew couldn't withstand such revenge; he would most likely be ritually killed.

This kind of ritualistic killing is very painful, involving inhuman torture before death.

Almost all gangs have their ritualistic killing methods, and some gangs call this "honor killing" to send a message to their own people and outsiders that they are terrifying!

Mr. Chobaf raised his hand, "Your nephew is an Imperial. Jimmy just took thirty thousand from me. If you think that letting him say he did it will end the matter, then you're too naive."

Actually, he had some thoughts he didn't say. Perhaps the assistant knew very well that he couldn't let an Imperial stand up and do this. No matter who it was, as long as they were Imperial, it would involve him.

While they were discussing countermeasures, the phone suddenly rang, causing Mr. Chobaf, whose mental focus was highly concentrated, to tremble slightly.

After several seconds, he calmed down, "Answer the phone."

The assistant was also startled. He came back to his senses, walked to the phone, and answered it. Immediately, Jimmy's warm greetings to Mr. Chobaf came from the other end.

"Tell old Chobaf, this isn't over. He not only hurt me but also hurt the entire Brothers gang. Tell him to hurry up and find someone, see if anyone is willing to help him, before our revenge arrives!"

"Polly is very angry. I guarantee, he will die miserably!"

"Not just him!"

The phone hung up quickly, not even giving them a chance to explain. After listening, Mr. Chobaf was silent for a long time. He slowly stood up, walked to the window, looked at the gold-covered Goldport City, and after a moment of struggle, his eyes became firm again.

"Help me contact the mayor. Tell him I want to talk to him about investment issues."

The assistant turned to dial the phone, feeling very uncomfortable in his heart.

People in Goldport City who talked about the mayor would think he was young, charismatic, and doing a good job here. Although Goldport City's development didn't start with him, he had indeed done well in recent years, and many people supported him.

Having dazzling achievements here provided the foundation for continuing to climb. It was said that there were big shots in Congress supporting him.

Rumor had it that his next step would most likely be to enter the state legislature and take on an important role, which also meant that he was about to get his ticket to the federal high-level political arena.

So, like Mr. Chobaf, he didn't want any stains on himself.

But at the same time, as a politician, he needed funding and support.

They had talked about it at a business promotion gala once. The mayor hoped that he could invest in several projects, choosing any one of them.

He also valued the mayor's connection, but after he had people investigate, these investment projects were almost all in the category of infrastructure construction.

It wasn't that there was no profit; there was, but the cycle of recovering costs and making profits was too long.

After many years and inflation, it was questionable whether it would really be profitable.

Moreover, the initial investment was very large, at least two hundred thousand to start. Considering many comprehensive factors, he privately indicated that he could give the mayor some personal political donations but didn't really want to invest in these projects.

The mayor didn't continue to talk to him about these things and also rejected the issue of personal donations.

Even though Mr. Chobaf indicated that he would definitely do it properly, so that even the Federal Reserve Bank and the Federal Revenue Service wouldn't be able to find out.

After that, the connection between the two became much weaker, after all, they weren't on the same "channel."

And this time, he must have a powerful person to deter these gang members and protect his interests!

Then, this connection that was once lost became one of the few options!

The phone was quickly connected. The mayor was also very much looking forward to Mr. Chobaf's invitation, indicating that he had time the day after tomorrow night, and both parties agreed on the time and place.

After letting the assistant leave, Mr. Chobaf was full of anger and helplessness, more helplessness!

Over the years, he had seen too many ugly Federals, and at the same time, he felt somewhat… angry about his Imperial identity. If he could, he longed to become a Federal in the true sense more than anyone else.

But he couldn't do these things, at least not now. Then, before he could do it, he had to maintain his persona of "Imperial pride."

Being exploited and harmed wasn't just something that lower-level people were experiencing. Mr. Chobaf was also experiencing it, but the forces he faced were larger and more difficult to provoke.

On the other side, Elvin brought a small guy to Lance's office.

"This is Hiram, my cousin's classmate."

"This is our boss, Mr. Lance."

Hiram looked to be about 1.7 meters tall. At this time, this height was not considered tall, but it was definitely not short, just an average value.

However, he looked a little thin, maybe just over a hundred pounds, wearing a not-so-clean shirt and high-waisted blue denim overalls.

With long hair, he would occasionally flick his head to push the hair blocking his vision aside, looking honest and simple, that is, a bit stupid.

"Mr. Lance,"

he called out after Elvin, and also took the initiative to lower his head to show his respect to Lance.

Lance looked at Elvin, and Elvin motioned for Hiram to say some of his thoughts.

"Mr. Lance, it's like this, recently…"

he glanced at Elvin, "We've all heard that you are the most successful and resourceful among us young people."

"We recently encountered a very unfair thing. The place where I work refuses to pay us wages, on the grounds that we are illegal immigrants."

"I thought about it and thought that only you could help us, so I asked Elvin, and then I came."

Lance repeated, "We?"

Hiram nodded and said, "Yes, there are eight of us in total, all illegal immigrants from the Empire."

"Did you rent work cards?"

Hiram shook his head, "No."

Lance roughly knew the situation.

Renting a work card to work is a manifestation of abiding by the rules.

But there is also a situation where the federal laws and regulations are completely ignored, one dares to hire and one dares to work, which depends on whether the hiring party has any shame.

If they have no shame, these illegal immigrants certainly have no place to complain. Even if they call the police, it will not bring any substantive harm to the employer.

Just a fine.

But for illegal immigrants, not complying with federal laws not only risks being repatriated but also potentially going to jail before repatriation.

So even if some people are deceived, they don't dare to make a fuss, because compared to losing a month's salary, both repatriation and imprisonment are results they are unwilling to face.

This has led to a small number of capitalists doing this unscrupulously.

"What do you want me to do?"

Lance asked, "I can contact your boss to help you get your wages back, and then report him after you leave, or beat him up?"

Hiram smiled very simply, "It's like this, Mr. Lance, because I have been working in the warehouse, I know that his warehouse is recently filled with wine…"