Empire of Shadows

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Chief Charlie sat in his office. He was supposed to be at the scene; after all, this was a mission from those big shots.

But at this moment, there was no sign of nervousness or any other emotion on him. He was quietly savoring the coffee he had just hand-brewed himself.

The rich oils and aroma left an indescribable mellowness and fragrance between his lips and teeth with every small sip.

A few hundred dollars a pound for coffee beans, this was the best coffee he had ever had.

He couldn’t bring himself to buy such expensive coffee beans. This was a gift from one of the big shots in the Bay Area, about seven-eighths of a pound.

That big shot had just tasted it and felt the flavor wasn’t quite right, then gave the rest of the beans to him.

A few hundred dollars a pound.Some people, after hearing about this, might, like he once did, have the thought “I can afford it if I grit my teeth.”

But in reality, this wasn’t a matter of being able to afford it or not.

This was life, not gritting your teeth!

For others, they didn’t need to grit their teeth to treat such enjoyment as an ordinary day for them.

And those who needed to grit their teeth to do all this would never be able to experience that kind of ease and comfort.

The emperor wears a crown not because he is the emperor by wearing a crown, but because he is the emperor, the crown is imbued with special meaning.

Life is also like this.

Because for many people, this might be the entirety of a certain stage of their life, not an enjoyment in life.

Chief Charlie couldn’t experience it either. Actually, he was quite rich. He had done many terrible things over the years and thus received rewards from those “dog masters.”

But coffee at a few hundred dollars a pound was still too far from his life.

He was waiting, waiting for a phone call.

Waiting for the mayor’s call.

This call, just as he had guessed, came very quickly.

“No one told me there would be a major operation today, and Eric was also there.”

There was no anger in the mayor’s voice, as if he were narrating a very ordinary matter.

Basically, most cities in the Federation implemented the “mayoral system,” which is to say, the mayor is the city’s supreme ruler, deciding the development, process, and outcome of all matters in the entire city.

But the fact is, not every mayor is a ruler in the practical sense, perhaps only on the surface.

But even so, they still had the power to appoint the top officials of various departments in the city. This was given to them by Congress and the Federation government, not by anyone else.

Chief Charlie had actually already sensed something special. He was a little uneasy at first, but now he had become very calm.

People always feel all kinds of unease, panic, and apprehension before terrible things happen.

But when they really start to face terrible things, they will become calm again, because the “unknown” has become “known.”

The mayor was very dissatisfied. He was dissatisfied that their struggle would involve Eric.

But Chief Charlie, as if he didn’t understand, reported the work situation straightforwardly.

“Your Honor, a wanted criminal may be hiding in the Red High Heels club. To ensure the safety of the people’s lives and property, we had no choice but to act first.”

“Actually, I was just about to call and report this to you, but you called me first. It just so happens that if there’s anything you don’t understand, I can explain it to you.”

The mayor’s laughter came from the receiver, “No, I have no questions, Charlie. I remember you’re retiring in two years, right?”

Chief Charlie seemed to be thinking. After two or three seconds, he replied a bit sluggishly, “Yes, Your Honor.”

The mayor’s voice held a tone like a blessing or expectation, “It’s not easy. Not all police officers can work in one position until the very end. You are amazing. I hope your police work can have a perfect ending, Charlie.”

“If there are any new developments, let me know.”

“Let’s leave it at that.”

A phone call without any anger, yet Chief Charlie heard something different from it. He hung up the phone, picked up his coffee, and sipped it in small mouthfuls.

His eyes gazed deeply at the things placed on the desk, as if they were full of great attraction.

A person’s life is about constantly choosing a path at a fork in the road. Before reaching the end, no one knows if the path they gave up would have been better than the path they chose.

The mayor on the other end of the line placed the receiver back on its base. He lit a cigarette.

When he was purely enjoying himself, he would use a cigar. This was not to say that the pleasure from a cigar was necessarily greater than from a cigarette, but just that he was used to using cigars when enjoying himself. It was a personal habit.

But when thinking about things, he needed cigarettes. The feeling of inhaling smoke into his lungs would bring another kind of experience, allowing him to be more engaged and focused.

Only he and his secretary were in the room. He stood by the window, looking at the city in the night.

The downtown area of Golden Port was very prosperous even at night, not to mention the even more prosperous Starlight District and Port District. This was truly a “city that never sleeps” as people called it.

But unfortunately, it had been six years, and this city still had not accepted him.

Perhaps beautiful things are harder to obtain, he thought so, and at the same time asked a question, “Do you think Sam can hold out?”

The secretary shook his head, “I’m willing to believe he can hold out, but we can’t be so optimistic. Everyone has a weakness. If they find Sam’s weakness, he definitely won’t be able to hold out.”

The mayor nodded in considerable agreement, “Yes, everyone has a weakness. Once the weakness is found, even a giant will fall.”

The “giant” he was talking about referred to a giant in a myth. This giant was naturally powerful, even a demigod was not necessarily his opponent.

He led the entire country to constantly expand, until he did something stupid himself, revealing his weakness to a woman, and then was killed by a small dagger.

“Although him being pried open won’t cause us irreparable losses, it will ultimately become a big problem.”

“People always like to see bright things, but the night always comes as scheduled. Since they don’t want to see it, then don’t let them know.”

The mayor stretched the hand holding the cigarette out of the window and flicked the cigarette with his index finger, “I believe that on this point, the old friends in the Bay Area have the same idea as me. Find a way to make him shut up.”

The secretary nodded, “I’ll go arrange it now.”

In the Red High Heels club, the guests were gathered in the main hall. Besides Eric’s group, there were five other guests.

The faces of these guests were all very ugly. At least two of them had appeared in the “Golden Port Today” newspaper. Although the other three had not been in the newspaper, they were not ordinary people either.

No one likes to be harassed in this situation. The reason they came here to spend money was also because they saw the faintly visible mayor behind the Red High Heels.

As a result, now they were standing here, with other guests and those girls, and the police even made them register their information. This was simply awful!

But after seeing Eric, they felt a lot better.

Eric was required to be searched. They found a syringe, a vial of injectable painkiller, and a dagger on him.

Logically, the Federation does not oppose people carrying weapons, and the constitution also provides protection for the people to carry weapons.

Carrying weapons is their right to protect themselves, and no one can take it away. But… when the police really want to find trouble with you, even if the charter says that the little cotton-picking experts and ordinary Federation people enjoy the same rights.

They will still, like the former masters of these little experts, ride on their backs and tell them to “calm down.”

Although sometimes they couldn’t figure out who was the one who should calm down.

Eric, wearing only a pair of underpants, felt he had lost a great deal of face. He stared at every police officer present today with a resentful gaze, but the police didn’t care much, because they were willing to bet that in a little while, Eric would forget what they looked like.

The entire Red High Heels was almost turned upside down. Every room, even every sofa and pillow, was cut open by them with daggers.

Sam, coming out of the general manager’s office, looked at all this with an ashen face. He was actually more worried about those girls, afraid that these girls would talk nonsense.

But… the girls who could work upstairs were mostly those who had completed the “domestication” process, and he had been instilling some concepts in these girls.

The Red High Heels has great power behind it. Even if they run out and call the police, in the end, they will be the ones who are unlucky.

Hopefully, this would make them keep their mouths shut for a while longer.

Watching the club being turned into a mess, Sam gradually began to get angry, “The wanted criminal you are looking for is not here. Can you now first release our guests and girls, and then get the hell out of here?”

He used a not-so-polite tone. The several sergeants, however, had half-smiles on their faces. Seeing the expressions on their faces, Sam’s heart sank even further.

He didn’t bring up the matter of making a phone call. He was worried that the police, or the forces behind the police, would use this matter to make an issue. He always persisted, believing that the mayor would save him.

Soon, the sound of something hitting the ground came from inside the club. Sam’s face became even uglier.

Before long, accompanied by the sound of “there’s a cellar entrance here,” Sam pursed his lips tightly, feeling a little unsteady on his feet.

He supported himself on the sofa next to him, slowly moved to the front of the sofa, and sat down.

He had actually considered that someone might come to make trouble for them before, so he had prepared the cellar in advance. He thought these people would leave soon, but he had ignored the determination of those rich people to completely destroy the Red High Heels this time.

Those police officers used metal rods to tap every inch of the floor and finally found the entrance to the basement in a corridor.

Soon, Booker was brought up, along with a girl who was wrapped in clothes and had been tortured miserably.

Booker was brought before several sergeants. Precinct Chief Bruce was also here. One of the police officers grabbed Booker’s hair and made him tilt his head up, so that everyone could see his appearance.

“Isn’t this the Mr. Booker who escaped from the state prison?”

Booker had been sentenced before and was serving his sentence in the Likalai State Prison. Later, the mayor decided to restart the Red High Heels club and got him out.

This was a small matter for the mayor. He had enough connections to operate this matter. At that time, everyone had not yet fallen out, so everything was easy to talk about.

Now that they had fallen out, Booker’s existence became a problem.

Logically, Booker should still be serving his sentence in prison now. When the judiciary and the Ministry of Justice had not issued release documents, for him to appear here, there was only one possibility: he had escaped from prison!

The rich people in the Bay Area believed that the warden of the state prison would not risk his own future to protect Booker. He would definitely say that Booker was indeed an escaped convict, it’s just that they hadn’t disclosed it to the public.

Facing these police officers, Booker was obviously very scared. He looked at Sam with pleading eyes, as if asking Sam to save him!

But Sam could only pretend not to see. At this time, what he had to do first was to ensure his own safety, and then he could consider whether to rescue these people.

Actually… he also knew that he most likely couldn’t do it. When these people decided to make an example of the Red Lantern, its, and their fate, was already sealed!

“Take him back, ask him properly. We must dig out from his mouth how he escaped from prison.”

Another sergeant said. He was originally a precinct chief, but was demoted because of Eric’s case.

He appeared here now just to vent his emotions.

Booker was hooded and taken away.

Precinct Chief Bruce looked at Sam, “Mr. Sam, this place is not as simple as you said.”

“We suspect you of kidnapping, imprisoning, torturing, and forcing these girls to engage in sexual transactions, so your people have to come back to the police station with us to assist in the investigation.”

“Including you!”

Sam still pretended to be calm. He swallowed, “I need to call my lawyer.”

The several sergeants looked at each other and agreed to his reasonable request.

While Sam was making the call, a police officer trotted over, “There’s a phone call, from Chief Charlie…”

At this time, a lot of people had already gathered outside the Red High Heels. Lance’s men were maintaining order. For the Lance Family, the people of the Empire District were still very supportive.

There were no unexpected situations at the scene. Even if a few reporters wanted to sneak in, they were caught by the people maintaining order, beaten up, and then thrown out.

As a large number of police officers came out from inside, and two large buses arrived, the reporters in the distance began to take pictures frantically.

A large number of girls were sent onto the buses, as well as five johns who had actively requested to be hooded.

A group of thugs and staff members were also arrested.

Several precinct chiefs walked up to the reporters at this time and began to talk animatedly about this sudden police action.

“We received a tip that a very fierce and evil escaped convict had appeared here, hiding in the Red High Heels club.”

“During the raid on the Red High Heels club, we discovered that this strip club was illegally providing sexual transaction services, which clearly violates the laws of the Federation.”

“In addition, we also found a kidnapped and imprisoned girl in the cellar. They tried to force the girl to be at their mercy and accept sexual transactions through violence.”

“At present, we have arrested some of the main suspects…”

Sam was also hooded and pushed into a police car.

His lawyer told him to go with the police first, but not to say anything, not to admit anything, and to remain silent until he arrived.

The police had many ways to make him slip up. As long as he slipped up, there would be big trouble.

Being arrested was not scary at all. What was scary was talking nonsense without mental preparation.

Precinct Chief Bruce and the others were afraid that someone would hijack the convoy halfway, so they not only arranged for a large number of police officers to follow but also had Lance’s men follow as well.

For the first time, the police and the people cooperated closely, which also gave everyone an indescribable feeling, as if… their understanding of this world had deepened by three points!

The convoy finally returned to the city police station without any danger. All these people were sent in, and Lance’s work was considered over.

Actually, he had done nothing tonight. Except for beating up a few reporters who didn’t have eyes, he had been daydreaming for the rest of the time.

When Precinct Chief Bruce told them they could leave, they drove back.

On the way, Elvin was a little curious and also a little confused, asking Lance, “Are the mayor and his people really not going to care about Sam and Booker?”

Lance looked back at the city police station, which was already hard to see clearly, sat up straight again, and shook his head, “No, because everyone knows that this matter ends here.”

Not only Elvin, but even Morris who was driving was a little confused, “Why?”

“Weren’t Sam and the others arrested?”

“If they dig out some evidence of them working for the mayor from their mouths, wouldn’t the mayor be in a very passive position?”

Lance asked in return, “Who can decide the issue of the mayor’s stay or departure?”

The two didn’t know much about this question. Lance helped them answer, “The state government and the state legislature.”

“To kick the mayor out, they must get Sam to the state government alive and explain those things to the state legislators at the state legislature.”

“But have you considered, Sam and the others not only have some things about working for the mayor, even evidence.”

“They have also provided many girls for the rich in the Bay Area.”

“The mayor’s trouble at most is that his methods are a bit dishonorable. Even if it affects his future, at least it won’t finish him.”

“If he has already taken some precautions, it won’t even affect his career path.”

“But if the privacy of those rich people is exposed, for example, the terrible things they did are revealed by Sam or Booker, who do you think would be more unlucky?”

Lance sighed. It was only after watching Sam and Booker enter the police station alive that he suddenly thought of this link!

This was just a counter-attack, not an all-out war. Before the all-out war, they had to clean up those things that might affect the outcome, and only then would the real war begin!

“You just wait and see. It won’t be long before Booker, Sam, and even some of the girls who have provided services to the Bay Area will commit suicide out of guilt.”

Lance’s words made everyone in the car feel a chill that penetrated deep into their bones. For a moment, they didn’t even have the desire to speak.

Children always yearn for the adult world, just as Mr. Jobav always yearned for high society.

But the real high society is not glamorous at all, let alone full of light and glory!

High society is the dirtiest place in this world!

***

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