Empire of Shadows

Philip was a little nervous, his palms slick with sweat.

From his first day in Golden Port , he had been hearing rumors about Lance.

People loved to talk about things related to Lance. It wasn’t just the Empire immigrants who discussed him; even other ethnic minorities and the Federation people themselves spoke of him often.

This was because Lance was also a man who had climbed up from the bottom. It had only taken him a year to go from an exploited worker in a common bakery to the leader of a family.

It seemed incredible, but the Federation people didn’t think so, because they had already witnessed too many miracles.

Stories like the rags-to-riches entrepreneur who came to the big city with a sack of potatoes from his hometown and became the largest shareholder of a publicly traded company with a net worth in the hundreds of millions within three years.

Or the high school graduate with a speech impediment who, after a period of self-redemption and awakening, suddenly became a star salesman and a senior partner in his company, raking in countless riches every day.

Even more exaggerated were the legends related to finance: a fourteen-year-old entering the stock market with a hundred dollars, making his first million in less than two years, and his first ten million in five…

There were too many stories like this. So many that people subconsciously believed, “I could be the next to realize the Federation Dream .” Thus, a poor kid becoming a family leader in a year and securing an entire territory for himself in Golden Port seemed rather modest by comparison.

Alright, it was indeed modest. Compared to the grand tales of the Federation Dream , Lance’s story was a beautiful dream at best, and one that people could see themselves in.Everything about him seemed replicable. For instance, having a few brothers who weren’t afraid of death and dared to fight, then starting to seize territory, and ultimately becoming a gangster tycoon? When Philip first arrived, listening to the legends of Lance while sleeping in a culvert, he had imagined himself in Lance’s story more than once. It helped him fall asleep quickly in that wretched place.

Now, meeting the real Lance , and with Lance about to grant him a wish, he suddenly didn’t know what to say.

And he was nervous—the kind of nervousness one feels when facing their idol.

He stammered for a long while, unable to get anything out. Lance didn’t rush him, instead proactively offering some suggestions. “You can join the Lance Family and become a part of our big family.”

“If you don’t like the thrilling family life, you can also take a sum of money from me and open a shop in the city, if you have a trade of your own.”

“I can also help you find an apprenticeship at another shop. Once you’ve learned the trade, I’ll support you in opening your own store.”

“Or even if you just want a sum of money to solve your current difficulties, that’s fine too, Philip.”

“These things helped me a great deal. You don’t need to feel uneasy about it, because this is what you deserve!”

Philip mulled over the choices Lance provided. He glanced quickly at Elvin. “I want to join the family, Mr. Lance.”

“Why?” Lance asked. “I’m not stopping you from joining, I’m just curious. I offered other options that seem better.”

“Safe, respectable, with a bright future ahead. Why did you choose the most dangerous one?”

A small smile appeared on Philip’s face. “Because you gave me a job, Mr. Lance.”

“My mother told me that if someone shows me kindness, I must repay it.”

Lance smiled upon hearing this. “Your mother must be a great woman!” He paused. “No problem. From now on, you are a member of the family.”

“I’ll have someone arrange a training plan for you first. Once your training is over, you can start working for the family.”

“This might take some time. Do you need to say a temporary farewell to your friends?”

Philip nodded. “That would be best, Mr. Lance.”

“We are family now. Call me Lance , not Mr. Lance!” He tidied the notebooks on the desk. “Also, don’t reveal anything about these things.”

“At least, not until I permit it!”

Philip became somewhat excited. “I promise, Lance…” He had been about to add “Mr.” but stopped himself.

He would listen to whatever Lance said!

Lance signaled for Elvin to lead the man out, then his gaze fell upon the notebooks.

Leverage on the Bay Area.

This was the reason for Sam and Booker’s suicides. They held leverage over the Bay Area, they had these people by the throat. But unfortunately, that fool Booker and his superiors, including Heller , the leader of the Camille Gang, had no idea how valuable this information was. They merely used it to provide all sorts of perverse services to the old masters of the Bay Area in exchange for their support.

They were like dogs with broken spines, unable to stand tall ever again. Even with a knife placed in their hands, the sharpest thing they would do with it was not harm their enemies, but peel apples for them.

However, there was something in this that made Lance curious. Sam was clearly the Mayor’s man. Why did he keep such important things for himself instead of handing them over to the Mayor?

If the Mayor had this information now, there would be no talk of confrontation or counterattacks!

With his abilities, he could easily handle the entire Bay Area. In that situation, it would be hard to say who the “locals” really were!

He couldn’t figure it out. In the end, he could only attribute it to Sam’s greed or caution. He had clearly wanted more, so he hid these things, which ultimately benefited Lance.

He took the notebooks apart and placed the pages into more than a dozen different manila envelopes. These envelopes would be stored separately to ensure that even if someone found something, they wouldn’t get all the evidence at once.

What was incredibly valuable to the Mayor was now a bit of a hot potato for him. As soon as this information leaked, he would be attacked by all the forces in the Bay Area.

Even Paul wouldn’t be able to speak up for him this time.

But this also gave him a new trump card. After everything was over, who would be the master of this city seemed to have become somewhat elusive again.

Saturday morning was still the time for the gathering, and now there were even more people outside St. Nayea Cathedral , thanks to the Empire Merchants Association.

As long as Lance could keep leading everyone to make money, these people would remain his most devout followers.

When the priest saw Lance, he smiled as if he were seeing his Lord. He had also joined the Empire Merchants Association, investing the funds God had entrusted to his care into the plan to acquire medicine.

The medicine already filled the warehouses, and they had begun to turn a profit.

The profit margin wasn’t high, only about two or three-tenths of a percent, but every day its price rose slightly from the day before. This was a good thing. Though the earnings were small, they were steady. Besides, Lance had discussed this with them in a meeting.

The war hadn’t fully broken out yet, so many goods were still in circulation. Tanfit, as the world’s largest continent by area, was also rich in resources.

Once the war erupted, the extraction and transport of these resources would become problematic. Even without considering the war, with supplies becoming tight, the prices of these drugs would skyrocket. Not to mention the war itself. People’s fear of death would be amplified, and the price of medicine would rise accordingly.

Some members of the Empire Merchants Association discussed privately that they thought the final price of these medicines could exceed five million.

Every time the priest heard this number, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Sometimes he felt that Lance was more lovable than God.

Although God had also delivered him from poverty, the one who could make him truly rich was Lance.

“It looks like a lot of people came today,” Lance said, looking around. It was packed.

The priest bent slightly at the waist, a subconscious, instinctual gesture he himself didn’t even notice, rather than a deliberate act.

“More and more people are coming here. I’m worried that soon our courtyard won’t be able to hold so many people!”

Lance looked around. St. Nayea Cathedral was surrounded by open space and roads. The God that the Empire people believed in and the God the Federation people believed in should, in a broad sense, be one and the same.

But many old Empire people firmly believed that the Empire’s God was not the Federation’s God, and was even a bit superior.

So they would only go to the three churches within the Empire District, not to churches in other areas.

By current standards, these churches were indeed a bit small.

“How much would it cost to rebuild a church?”

The priest didn’t immediately understand. “If it’s for repairs, about two thousand would be enough.”

“We could repaint the outer walls and buy some new stained glass from the Empire !” He looked around and then at Lance with a “don’t tell anyone” expression. “I shouldn’t say this, but God actually likes new things too!”

Lance couldn’t help but laugh. “How did he tell you that?”

“He told me in a dream!” the priest said, as if it were the gospel truth. Lance’s hand rested on his shoulder. “I mean, I’m planning to fund the reconstruction of St. Nayea Cathedral. It looks old and small right now.”

“We’ll buy the surrounding land, build a bigger one—a bigger lawn, a bigger church, and we’ll get you a bigger God too.”

“My God!” The priest finally understood what Lance was saying. He nervously took off his hat, revealing a shiny scalp with only a few strands of hair remaining.

He was bald!

Usually, he stood on a high platform, so people wouldn’t notice. He was actually bald!

If it were just baldness, it wouldn’t be so terrible.

What was terrible was that Lance also saw some spots on his bald head, possibly age spots, but these were considered symbols of “uncleanness” in the Bible.

If it happened to an ordinary person… they would say the person wasn’t a true believer, but nothing else would happen.

But for it to happen to a priest, a servant of God, to be unclean—some fanatical believers would drive him out of here. However, in the face of a huge investment, he no longer cared about exposing these minor problems of his.

“How much are you planning to invest?”

“That depends on how much it costs to rebuild a larger church and buy the surrounding land. Go and ask around, have someone draw up a budget. If it’s not too outrageous, I will fund it.”

He removed his hand from the priest’s shoulder. “I’m going to chat with others. Your time is up.”

As soon as the priest left, Roger, an elder from the merchants’ association, approached with some core members of the Empire Merchants Association.

Although Lance had not created a more detailed hierarchy for the Empire Merchants Association —because they were not yet a stable and cohesive whole, and hastily dividing classes would cause discontent—it was better to do it later.

First, lead them to make money, make them inseparable from the association, rather than the association being inseparable from them. When that time came, the resistance would be much smaller.

However, they themselves had already made a distinction based on the amount of capital they invested.

The top ten percent of investors were the core. It was unknown who first proposed it. Roger had also invested a lot of money, and although it wasn’t the most, he was more familiar with Lance, so he was the representative for the others.

After simple pleasantries, Roger brought up old Mr. Hampton. “He keeps insisting on thanking you in person for your help. They couldn’t afford that payment. If it weren’t for you, he said his next reunion with his family would be via a tombstone in a cemetery, not in a hospital bed.”

The story had spread throughout the Empire District. Once it was out, Lance didn’t like to bring it up himself. When others said it, it was recognition of him; if he always said it himself, it smacked of showing off.

“His recovery is the most important thing. Don’t worry about anything else,” he said, pausing to look at Roger. “Is there something else you wanted to say?”

Roger looked at the people beside him. “We are planning to put up a sum of money to form something like a… civilian security team.”

“It would nominally be under the association’s banner, the association’s security team, but the main job of those young men would be the same as some of the young men in the Lance Family, patrolling the streets.”

“There are many middle-aged and elderly people here. If they encounter young criminals, they don’t have much ability to resist, especially when those criminals are armed.”

“So we want to arrange for some people to patrol the streets constantly. This can also reduce some emergencies. And the public order has been really terrible lately!”

On the edge of the Empire District, thieves, robbers, and other criminals, even those committing violent crimes, were now a common sight. The entire city’s public safety was rapidly deteriorating.

The police didn’t care, the Mayor didn’t care, and Councilman Williams and the Bay Area cared even less. Everyone’s demands had inexplicably and bizarrely converged on the same point.

Lance nodded after listening. “I think that’s a good idea. It’s a good thing for people to spontaneously protect ourselves. It’s much more effective than always relying on others to protect us. I will support it!”

Roger breathed a sigh of relief. He had been afraid that Lance would mistake their initiative as a move to counter the Lance Family, so he had been very direct.

“We can just disband it when public order improves. It’s just for emergencies for now!”

Lance, however, had a different view. “No, it can be kept even after public order improves. On the one hand, we can solve some people’s employment problems. On the other hand, as I just said, our own people protecting our own people is clearly more dedicated than having Federation people protect us.”

“You can even ask if anyone is willing to join the police force. I can make some arrangements!”

Roger and the people around him were overjoyed upon hearing this. “That would be even better!”

After they left, other Empire immigrants began to approach on their own initiative to shake Lance’s hand and exchange a few simple words.

The people were civilized, abiding by some unwritten rule, all lining up in an orderly fashion. No one cut in line, no one pushed or shoved. Civilization seemed to envelop the entire world at that moment.

But you would be wrong to think this was real. The people’s adherence to the rules was not due to an improvement in their character, but simply because the person they were about to face was Lance. That was all.

The gathering didn’t end until after one in the afternoon. Elvin found him and told Lance that Johnny was out of the hospital.

But now he was in a wheelchair with his arm in a cast. His family and some friends he was on good terms with had pushed him to the docks.

They planned to demand compensation and medical expenses from the management company.

“Are our people in place?” Lance asked as he got into the car.

Elvin nodded. “All arranged. We’ve also bribed a few security guards.”

Lance was always confident and satisfied with the way he handled things.

Sometimes the conflicting parties themselves don’t know how a conflict escalates. The reason is this—it’s not just them watching each other; there’s a third party watching them too.

The moment Johnny, his family, relatives, and coworkers appeared at the docks, many people suddenly began to join their ranks.

At first, it was three or five, then seven or eight, and later a dozen or even more people.

And in the crowd, people held up pre-made banners with slogans like “Give Us Back Our Stolen Wages” or “No More Silence From Today On,” things that could stir up strong emotions.

His family was bewildered. Johnny , however, vaguely sensed that these events were related to Lance, but he didn’t say anything.

After lying in the hospital for two days, he had suddenly gained some insight into acting. He was worried his family wouldn’t perform well, so up to now, he hadn’t told anyone that this was a “performance.”

Seeing the large number of workers crowding outside the dock management company building, the company hurriedly mobilized a large number of security guards and began to actively contact Vaughn.

They couldn’t reach Scott , so they could only contact Vaughn.

At times like this, it was usually when the dockworkers’ union would appear. The capitalists needed the union to appease the troublemaking workers and get them back to their posts.

But Vaughn wasn’t here right now; it would take him some time to get back.

For now, the dock management company could only choose to handle it coldly—no appearances, no response.

But the emotions of the workers confronting the security guards inexplicably began to grow more and more agitated…

(End of chapter)

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