Empire of Shadows

“My God!”

The family of three looked at Lance with a bit of horror. Several lives had just disappeared so simply in front of them. This still had a huge shock for the middle class!

You know, the people who most follow and maintain the rules of social operation in the Federation are the middle class!

Because the middle class can be said to be the vested interest group of the current social laws, that’s why they will more spontaneously and from the bottom of their hearts maintain these social laws than the bottom class.

What they maintain is not only the rules, what they abide by is not only the law, but also the foundation that allows them to get out of their class!

But, at this moment, they felt a huge shock because this society was ultimately different from theirs!

“Clean it up.” Lance sat on the sofa, let out a breath. The continuous waving of the vase made him a little breathless. He lit a cigarette, glanced at Barbara’s family of three opposite, and shrugged, “I might have accidentally broken your vase.”

It was a silver vase with a certain character and artistic style. This thing was an antique left over from a country that had already perished on the Tanfit continent.

$2,000, a very reasonable price. It was not a pure “silver alloy.” Natural oxidation had made a part of it turn black, while the parts that were more easily touched by friction were obviously shiny.

This kind of contrast between light and dark, black and white, brought some artistic expression and would give people a lot of imagination!But now its body was dented. Obviously, it had become not so perfect from a “perfect condition.” It could probably only sell for $300 or $500.

Barbara’s father swallowed. There was still an unsettled fear in his eyes. He glanced at the vase. The dented part seemed to still have some hair or even bone fragments stuck to it, and he had an urge to go to the toilet!

“It’s okay, it’s just a vase!” he said in response to Lance’s words. Damn it, so scary!

William walked to the window and looked outside. He saw that the lights of the distant villas were all turned off. He returned to the sofa and looked at Lance, “They heard the gunshots. Will there be any trouble?”

Lance shook his head, “Don’t worry, everything is very safe.”

The people Lance had brought were cleaning up the bodies. They were very professional and even had special body bags—

At this time, the body bags were made of waterproof cloth or canvas coated with a layer of glue. This way, even if some highly decomposed bodies were present, no juices would leak out of the body bags and get everywhere.

You just had to throw the body in, then pull the rope buckle tight to seal the body inside.

Perhaps his emotions had eased a little. Barbara’s father’s emotions had stabilized a lot. He looked at Lance, wanting to say something, but didn’t know what to say. In the end, he could only look at William with a pleading gaze.

William sat next to Lance, rubbing his head. He was about to speak when Lawn came over, “Excuse me, lift your feet.”

“Oh, okay!” William lifted his feet, and then watched as Lawn dragged the small leader’s body out, leaving a bright red trail on the ground.

Looking at this bloodstain, William didn’t even know if he should put his feet down.

The newspapers often said that footprints were the key to solving murder cases!

Then they began to clean up the scene with very professional techniques. At a glance, you could tell they were old hands.

The words William had originally wanted to say were also stuck in his mouth. He took several drags on his cigarette before saying in a muffled voice, “Will this cause trouble?”

Lance shook his head, “The Doug family is already on the opposite side of us. If it were others today, they might be able to leave, but for the people of the Doug family, there is no need to keep them.”

“And as you saw, he had a strong desire for revenge, and also a strong desire to possess Barbara.”

“What he said was actually very right. No one can come every day, even me.”

“If he had been let go, the next time he came, he wouldn’t be so polite and face you face to face.”

“They might be on the side of the road, or in some place with few people, and then a van would stop next to you, grab you, and then drive away. The whole process wouldn’t even take a minute!”

William said softly, “You seem very familiar?”

Lance rolled his eyes. He felt that William was not so nervous anymore and had started to relax, and could even joke, “No, but I’ve heard of it.”

William had a look of disbelief on his face, but he was indeed quite relaxed now, although still a little unaccustomed and disgusted.

“Golden Port will become chaotic during this period. Barbara, you are a beautiful girl. Beauty is your capital but also your fatal flaw.”

“It’s best not to go anywhere during this period. Just stay at home and keep your phone on at all times.”

“Including you guys!” He looked at Barbara’s parents, “You’d better go buy a few guns tomorrow, and a few boxes of ammunition. You all need to learn how to shoot people.”

Barbara’s father sensed that something was wrong. As a successful middle-class person and half a privileged class, he smelled something different in Lance’s words.

“Lance, are you saying there will be riots or something like that?”

He seemed very worried, “But now it looks like the entire Federation is very stable!”

People who have lived through those bad years know how bad that era was. If you went out without a gun, you would become prey. Even with a gun, it wasn’t necessarily really safe.

Lance just nodded twice, “But everything will be fine!”

As they were talking, police sirens were heard. The family of three immediately became nervous. William also looked at Lance a little nervously, as if asking him if he should hide first.

But Lance acted very shocked. He had met the precinct chief of the Priliccia precinct and had even chatted with him a few times.

Under the publicity of Precinct Chief Bruce, many people now knew that Lance liked to make friends with the police very much, and he did indeed know the heads of the entire police force.

In this era where black and white were not clear, this was actually also a kind of power, a power different from the one under the sun!

Because of it, it also had more deterrent power!

Then someone shouted from outside the courtyard, “Mr. Lawrence, someone heard gunshots coming from your side. Are you okay?”

“There are a few police officers here. They want to understand the situation!”

Lance looked at Elvin. Elvin walked out of the house. Before long, two police officers walked in.

They saw several young men still cleaning the bloodstains in the cracks of the floor tiles, which made their expressions become grave.

Then they saw Lance. They weren’t sure if this Lance was the same Lance they knew, but they still came in.

Lance picked up the phone, dialed a number, and after waiting for about twenty seconds, the call was connected.

“It’s me, Lance… Yes, I’ve run into some situations here. A mad dog tried to attack me, and I took care of it. Now someone has called the police…”

“Yes, it’s your officers. They are right here. Okay…”

He held the phone in his hand, “It’s your chief’s call. Who will take it?”

The two police officers looked at me, I looked at you. One of the older ones stood up, “I’ll take it.”

He held the receiver with both hands, constantly nodding and saying yes. The caution and care on his face also turned into a fawning smile. In the end, he returned the phone to Lance, “The chief said he still has a few words to say to you, Mr. Lance!”

He acted very respectfully, which made the Lawrence family, including William, feel a bit eye-opening!

Lance took the phone, chuckled and said a few words, and finally hung it up.

When the phone was settled, the older police officer said with a smile, “Mr. Lance, we have already figured it out. A mad dog attacked your friend, and it was shot dead.”

“Fortunately, no one was injured!”

Lance nodded slightly, glanced at Elvin. Elvin walked over and put his arms around their shoulders, “Sorry to have made you run a trip.”

Both of them said “it’s okay” and the like. When they reached the door, Elvin took out a wad of money from his pocket, “How many of you came?”

The two police officers looked at each other again, “Four people, Mr. Elvin.”

Elvin counted out $80 and slapped it into their hands, “Go have a drink, relax, then go home and have a sleep. Everything is the same as yesterday, right?”

A big shot, and the superior of their immediate superior. What else could they do?

They could only clench the money in their hands!

“Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Elvin, and thank you, Mr. Lance!”

Elvin patted both of them on the back, “Go home early, don’t let your families worry.”

The two of them repeatedly thanked him and left the house, and told the manager that there were no problems.

As for the fact that they didn’t see the mad dog’s body, that wasn’t important. They would consider these problems when someone reported a missing person.

Before the problem broke out, they would absolutely not meddle.

However, they also confirmed from the side the rumor that Mr. Lance was very generous. Just by coming over to say hello, each of them got a benefit of $20. Suddenly, they were a little envious of their colleagues in the Empire District.

They get to see Mr. Lance every day, so how many benefits do they get?

In the living room, the family of three plus William were watching all this happen with dumbfounded expressions. The successive stimuli had made them unable to express their thoughts!

They were all civil servants and all knew that there were many, many problems in this society, but hearing about these things and having these things happen in front of their eyes were definitely two completely different things.

This is like someone saying they’ve masturbated until they bled. You’ll only think it’s an exaggerated figure of speech, and even think it might just be a rumor fabricated by some moralists to scare you, until you really bleed.

The kind of thing that you would only treat as a joke will instantly make you feel fear, your hair standing on end!

But at the same time, a more real world was also presented before them.

Everyone’s fear began to subside after seeing the police come and go. For them, the police ultimately represented justice, even if this justice was a little dusty.

Since justice didn’t think Lance was wrong, what else was there for them to be afraid of?

Lance then patted his leg and stood up. The room was almost cleaned up, “The matter is settled. I should go back.”

“Do you have a gun here?”

Barbara’s father nodded repeatedly, “Yes, it’s in the drawer.”

“The constitution protects your right to use it, so you should make good use of it.”

“Alright, we’re leaving.” He glanced at William, “Are you leaving?”

William thought for a moment, “I’m not leaving tonight.”

The family of three all showed him a kind expression. Although sometimes having an extra person at home was very annoying, at this time, having an extra person would only make people feel at ease.

Soon Lance’s men left here. The bodies were all loaded into their own car, and the two cars were also driven away by Lance’s men.

After watching the convoy leave, the family finally let out a heavy sigh of relief.

“You guys go and tidy up…” Barbara’s father had his two ladies leave first. He took a bottle of wine and went to the second-floor terrace with William.

There were two lounge chairs here. In the evening, he liked to lie here and admire the fiery sunset.

At this time, a slightly cool evening breeze blew, dispelling some of the annoyance in his heart, “Has he always been like this?”

William actually didn’t know very well. He didn’t have a complete understanding of Lance’s work and life, but this was not the time to show weakness, “He’s always been like this.”

The two held their wine glasses, lying on the lounge chairs, “You let Patricia with him… aren’t you worried?”

William swirled the wine glass, as if he had also been drawn into the glass, being swirled around and around by the rotating liquid.

He took a sip of wine, “This is her choice, and Lance is different from others.”

“He doesn’t extort those ordinary vendors. Although he also does illegal business, most of these businesses do not profit by harming others.”

Barbara’s father pointed at him with the hand holding the wine glass, “The Camille gang.”

“Yes, the Camille gang.” William was not surprised that the other party could say this name. The whole of Golden Port knew that the Camille gang specialized in the business of kidnapping Empire immigrants and extorting them.

This kind of thing was actually very disgraceful, but who was to say that these kidnappings could bring a lot of wealth?

Especially those rich immigrants, maybe they were a privileged class attached to the nobility when they were in the Empire, and their pockets were full of money!

When he heard William say that Lance never did these businesses, he was also a little surprised, “So to speak, he is indeed different from ordinary people.”

“But a gang…”

The Lawrence family was actually also a very traditional large family. William knew that his older brother was still worried about Lance’s identity issue, “You saw the attitude of the police.”

“I’ve been busy with the campaign recently. The more people and things I come into contact with, the more I find that the society we live in is actually not as beautiful as we imagine!”

He spread his hands, “You see, ordinary people can only make money through the most low-level labor. Let’s not talk about ordinary people, let’s talk about us.”

“If we don’t consider using some of the power in our hands, we would still be living in the old house on the farm.”

“Your income over the years is definitely not simply obtained through salary. In fact, if it’s really investigated, you can’t explain a lot of the money.”

“And those above, the rich in the Bay Area, the politicians of this city, who isn’t trying every means to get money from this city?”

“Everyone is grabbing, brother!”

“Think about the Wade family’s large manor, think about the villas, luxury cars, and luxury goods of those officials. How much can their salaries support their consumption?”

“I’ve understood a principle recently!” He picked up his wine glass and took a sip. The alcohol had already begun to have a slight effect on him, “The reason why the poor are poor is not because they don’t work hard, but because they are not qualified to take more profit from this society!”

“And those who are qualified are all crazily grabbing benefits for themselves!”

“This society is like this. It’s already rotten to the core without you or me coming!”

“Lance is a good young man, and he’s different from others. Did I just say that?”

Barbara’s father nodded and said, “Yes, you just said that.”

“So, I think this is an opportunity, an opportunity concerning the rise of our Lawrence family!”

“The Wade family are natives here, and the Williams family are also natives here, but they have all forgotten that we are too!”

“Old Lawrence was also a rancher here!”

Barbara’s father couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “But a rancher and a rancher are different!”

“Their slaves are in the thousands, while Old Lawrence was whipping his son!”

William also couldn’t help but laugh. In fact, this was an exaggerated statement.

At its peak, the Wade family had more than 7,000 slaves, and half of Golden Port was his plantation!

The Williams family was about the same, just a little smaller in scale.

As for the so-called “Old Lawrence family,” although also a rancher, all the slaves added up were only a few hundred, which was not at all in the same league.

So they would sometimes joke that when Mr. Wade was uncomfortable, he would whip those who were working, and could whip a hundred slaves to death.

When Mr. Williams was uncomfortable, one whip down could kill fifty slaves.

When Mr. Lawrence was uncomfortable, one whip down could only kill nine, because one of them was his son!

Of course, this was a joke, but not entirely.

After the two had laughed at this self-deprecating joke for a while and calmed down, Barbara’s father asked seriously, “Do you think Lance can become a big shot, like the Five Families?”

Perhaps in his eyes, the Five Families were already the top power in Golden Port.

William shook his head, “No, I think his achievements are far more than this. From his actions, to be honest, I think he is more suitable for politics.”

“But you know, this road is very difficult for him to walk!”

Lance’s identity was always a big problem. Now his level was not high, and it did not involve sensitive things, so no one would find trouble with him.

But when his level was high, and he even planned to enter the political arena, his identity would become his Achilles’ heel.

Perhaps this was the reason why he had not considered walking that road at present, because in the current social environment, there was no need to walk it; it was a dead end!