Empire of Shadows

Between killing the enemy’s leader or saving one’s own, how to choose?

This is a very complex question. Some would choose to continue pursuing the enemy’s leader, while others would choose to save their own boss.

After all, saving the boss’s life is far more likely to win the boss’s favor than getting rid of the enemy’s leader.

When the gunmen from Yalan began to counterattack and pulled him out of the car, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

In this extremely short period of time, he made a decision: go back to the hotel.

There were many rooms in the hotel, unlike here which was so open. As long as he held a corridor or a stairwell, he could save his life.

Rick had also experienced this kind of battle. Before he had shown the ability to inherit the family, he was just a captain and often had to go to “work.”

He didn’t know how long it had been since he was in such an environment. The illusion brought on by the adrenaline rush gave him the delusion that if he rushed out with a gun, he could kill everyone.

His reason told him that he was not that kind of material.

But this road was not so easy to walk. The firepower around was too fierce. He didn’t know how many enemies there were, but he knew that the people protecting him were constantly dying, so much so that he needed to pick up a pistol from the ground and start trying to return fire.The whole process probably only took three or four minutes. The sound of gunfire finally subsided a lot. Rick, hiding behind a car and gasping for breath, felt a little desperate.

He watched as a gunman in front of him used the car as cover to shoot. In less than five seconds, his face was riddled with several bullet holes and he fell on him.

In that instant, he thought of his son. A fear grew from the deepest part of his heart and began to spread…

He panicked, and like a woman, he panicked and pushed the gunman who had fallen on him away. He told himself to find a way to escape back to the hotel.

It was only a distance of twenty or thirty meters, but this distance was like a bottomless abyss, constantly devouring people’s lives.

A gunman struggled and fell to the ground. This guy had the characteristic slightly darker skin of a Yalan native, and his skin was also very rough.

He had some pimples on his face and looked to be only seventeen or eighteen years old. He just stared straight at Rick, his two shoulders heaving, and then began to vomit large mouthfuls of blood.

In less than a few seconds, he seemed to have lost consciousness.

At this moment, what revenge, what dignity, what twin emperors, none of it was as important as life.

He regretted it a little, but it was too late to regret.

Several dark figures appeared behind him. He looked back at those people. The sun was right above their heads, and he could only squint.

He couldn’t see these people’s faces clearly, only their cold eyes. He was just about to say something when the gunshots rang out.

So, this is what it feels like to be shot.

He leaned against the car tire and slowly fell to the ground. Just now, he felt countless fists landing on his body, but strangely, it didn’t hurt at all.

Then he felt his strength leaving him, and a severe sense of panic.

If a doctor were here, he would tell Rick that this was a near-death experience.

It was the final signal sent by a living being before death. These signals were telling his brain to think of a way.

If he could think of a way, then the near-death experience would disappear.

If he couldn’t think of a way, then it would also disappear.

Because the dead have no feelings.

The lack of oxygen to the brain caused by blood loss made the world before his eyes begin to turn black. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, a young man came to him.

He had seen that young man before. It seemed his name was… Lance.

Yes, Lance White, a small character.

He watched as Lance nodded at him, and then the gunmen around him all gathered around, and in an instant, bullets drowned him.

What he didn’t see was that behind Lance, there were two other people, Alberto, and Francisco.

Francisco looked at Rick, who had been shot into a honeycomb, in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that this person who had brought huge losses to the family, and even Paul’s death was partly because of him, had died on this street, under the sun.

Blood spread out from under his body. Francisco suddenly felt a little sad, and also a little fortunate.

The gunshots in the distance were still continuing. A portion of the gunmen were still attacking Sarif.

“It’s over,” Alberto exhaled a breath of turbid air. He glanced at Lance and noticed that Lance was looking at another block in the other direction.

“Sarif is not a good person. You might not believe it, but Bandy came to me.”

Lance’s gaze shifted to Alberto’s face. “What did he want from you?”

“He said Sarif said Rick’s son was killed by us. He asked us not to interfere in this matter.”

A very special expression appeared on Lance’s face. “Actually, it’s not over yet.”

Under Alberto’s confused gaze, Lance called over Hiram with the ponytail, whispered something in his ear. Then he called his men and ran towards Sarif’s side.

Alberto was a little confused. “You’re going to save him?”

Lance shook his head. “I’m afraid he won’t die.”

Then, under Alberto’s astonished gaze, he also ran in that direction.

Sarif had been shot twice, in the leg. He suspected that these two shots were not from Rick’s men, but from his own side, because when he was shot, it was impossible for the other side to hit his leg from his position. It could only have come from behind.

But to say this now would not only not solve the problem, but might also cause some unnecessary trouble, so he had been encouraging everyone to continue to resist, that reinforcements would be coming soon.

He didn’t have many men left either. They were lucky. The car had crashed into a shop on the side of the road, and they had gathered some men and were holding out here. Even if the other side had more people, it was not easy to rush in.

He was a little flustered now. These gunmen from Yalan were too fucking fierce, fighting with their lives.

He was afraid that his own men would not be able to take care of Rick, and also worried that these men would not be able to withstand the attack of the gunmen outside.

And their ammunition was not much left.

This was a very desperate situation, but suddenly, another burst of fierce gunfire rang out from outside. Then, it seemed that all the gunshots stopped, and it was quiet in an instant.

A look of pleasant surprise appeared on Sarif’s face. He shouted loudly, “Who’s out there?”

“It’s me, Lance!”

“Are you okay?”

“Can you walk out on your own?”

At this moment, Sarif let out a heavy sigh of relief, a genuine smile appearing on his face.

Lance had come, which meant Rick had been taken care of. He was safe.

He was just about to stand up when a sharp pain attacked him. He fell to the ground at once, which made him let out a cry of pain.

“What’s wrong with you, do you need help?”

“Yes, I’ve been shot. This car… is a bit in the way. Can you help me leave here?”

“Of course…”

Soon, Lance and his men walked in. There were only five people left in the shop, and a few were lying on the ground, probably asleep.

Young people are good at this. No matter where, whether there’s noise or not, they can fall asleep just like that.

Lance’s gaze fell on Sarif’s thigh. The wound was not fatal. If it were, he wouldn’t have been able to last until now.

For some reason, Sarif suddenly felt that something was not right, because these people did not come over to help him up, or drive that car away, but stood there, looking at them.

He squeezed out a smile, a very forced smile, his heart tense to the extreme.

“Lance, you guys…”

Lance asked with a smile, “I heard you told Bandy that it was me and Alberto who killed Rick’s son?”

In that instant, Sarif knew where the problem was. At the same time, he also understood that Bandy and Rick were a team. They had set a trap to harm him.

That’s why they would reveal to Lance and Alberto that it was he who had leaked the news, so that they wouldn’t help him.

But he never thought that not only had Lance and the others come in, but they were also going to kill him.

“Let me explain…” his brain was spinning at an unprecedented speed. He had never used his brain so hard in his life.

The people around him also looked at him as if he were a madman. They also couldn’t understand Sarif’s operation.

At a time like this, betraying an ally, you must be fucking crazy.

His attempt to explain just proved that he had done these things.

Lance raised the pistol in his hand and pulled the trigger at Sarif, who was lying diagonally on the ground, one hand still covering his wound. “Go to heaven and explain it to God the old man.”

Sarif, his eyes still wide open, looked at Lance and his men, his mind not completely blank—

Bandy, that son of a bitch!

This gunshot was like a signal. The surviving people in the room were instantly shot into sieves, including Sarif.

He seemed to still have a “why” left in his mouth that he wanted to ask Lance. In his last moments, his eyes were also full of confusion.

Lance noticed that there were two girls in the corner. They were so scared they had wet their pants, and their whole bodies were trembling violently.

Lance looked at them, his tone very light, even gentle.

“You didn’t see us. He was killed by the gunmen outside. After the gunmen killed them, they left. Remember that?”

The two girls could only nod while trembling. From their faces, it was not difficult to see that they themselves did not expect to survive.

Lance showed a brilliant smile, gave them a military salute often seen in movies, a very Federation-style one, and then stepped on the building debris all over the floor and left the shop with his men.

The police soon sealed off the entire street. The Mayor, lying in his hospital bed, was also alerted to the scene. However, there was no anger or similar emotions on his face, only calmness, and even a hint of a smile.

Although his future was ruined, he would still smile at the misfortune of these people. Perhaps this was the most realistic portrayal of having no demands, and thus no fatal weaknesses.

In fact, when the police arrived, they saw Lance and Alberto’s convoy, but in the spirit of rigorous legal attitude, without sufficient evidence, they would not intercept these convoys, let alone unreasonably suspect that the people in the cars were related to the shootout just now.

The result of the firefight in the city center spread throughout the entire city within twenty minutes. After thirty minutes, even the governor had heard about it.

The Tita family and the Cassia family, both of the Five Families, had a firefight on the main road outside the Golden Century Hotel in the city center.

It was rumored that Sarif had previously killed Rick’s son, which might be the reason for the escalation of the conflict.

A total of more than seventy gang bodies were found at the scene. According to witnesses, a large group of people had also fled the scene.

Among the bodies found, they found the body of the number one figure of the Cassia family, Rick Cassia.

And the body of the number one figure of the Tita family, Sariford Tita.

This news shook the entire Golden Port and even Likalai State. Then there was news that the two had been negotiating at the Golden Century Hotel before the firefight. It was said that Bandy was also involved in the negotiations…

When Bandy heard this news, his hand trembled a little, and he spilled his coffee on his leg. At this moment, he had a fleeting suspicion that if he had left late, he might have been killed too.

Because there was clearly another group of people at the scene. Whose people were they, and why did they do it?

So much so that he began to doubt, did Rick and Sarif really die in a firefight?

But it was useless to think about these things now. Hunter had called him and asked him to go to the police station for a talk.

With such a big thing happening, although they had indeed found two people who could take all the blame, the necessary procedures still had to be followed.

Bandy’s procession was very large when he went out. Hunter, who was welcoming him at the entrance of the police station, couldn’t help but frown. “I thought you were going to attack the police station.”

Bandy shook his head and said nothing. He was just uneasy.

Whether it was Rick or Sarif, they had once represented the representative figures of the top forces in Golden Port.

Now they were suddenly all dead. This gave him a very bad feeling.

In just one year, Paul was dead, Rick and Sarif were dead. The old guys of the “old era” were only him and Figal left.

He didn’t have this feeling before, but now he did.

It was as if a huge storm was about to hit this city, and there were already some heavenly signs.

Although traveling with so many people might be a bit… embarrassing, it was better than losing his life.

“Isn’t this Charlie’s room?” Bandy, sitting opposite the desk, was a little strange. He remembered that Charlie’s office was not in this position.

Hunter did not answer his question, but the answer was “yes.” This was not Charlie’s office. He did not continue to use Charlie’s office, but chose a new one.

Although there was no problem with doing so, it more or less showed some of his personal wishes.

He placed his hands on the table very naturally. “You already know why I asked you to come over. Can you tell me what exactly happened?”

Bandy crossed his legs and pressed his hands on the armrests of the chair. He looked a little nervous, but was trying his best to hide it. “There were some conflicts and contradictions between them. I wanted to help them mediate.”

“You know, the city’s public security is getting worse and worse. As a member of Golden Port, I also hope to return to the previous state as soon as possible.”

“I invited them to the open-air coffee house of the Golden Century Hotel. We talked for a while, but the talks broke down.”

“Neither of them was willing to let go of their hatred. Seeing that I couldn’t persuade them, I left first.”

“What happened after that, I only heard from you. I know as much as you do, maybe even less than you do.”

Hunter stared at Bandy, as if trying to find some traces of lying on his face, but he obviously failed.

After a brief silence, he asked, “Tell me something you know.”

Bandy chose to say some things that could be said. These things were of no value and it didn’t matter if he said them.

Listening to those complicated and meaningless things, Hunter finally waved his hand. “You’d better be as you say, and have nothing to do with this matter.”

After a period of tidying up and pouring out his heart, Bandy’s emotions had recovered a lot. He frowned slightly. “Charlie wouldn’t even dare to talk to me like that.”

His meaning was obvious. Hunter was still just Charlie’s subordinate. What was he, to dare to talk to him like that?

Hunter shook his head slightly. “I just want to know what happened and catch the criminals as soon as possible.”

“If you don’t want to say, you don’t have to.”

Bandy’s eyes suddenly flickered a little. “I suddenly thought of something. During this period, Sarif has been very close with the people from the Pasoretto family, that Alberto, and Lance White. Maybe they know something.”

Hunter wrote these down. “I will investigate them. Are there any other valuable clues?”

Bandy shook his head. “No more.”

Hunter knew he couldn’t get anything out of him. Doing this was just going through the motions. He stood up and extended his hand. “Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Kodak. If you remember any other valuable clues, please call me anytime.”

Bandy nodded, turned and left. Hunter saw him to the entrance of the police station and watched him leave by car.

If this firefight had happened at night, if it had been in a more remote place, then it would have been easy to solve.

But a fierce firefight in the city center in broad daylight, this case would definitely spread quickly. If he did nothing at that time, it would be giving the Mayor an excuse to remove him from this position.

Even though he had already decided to make this case “both sides of the firefight died” as the core of the case’s conclusion, he still had to do everything he could.

When he heard that this case involved Lance, he had a new idea.

Lance was challenging his and Charlie’s base. Now many police officers in the sub-bureaus were discussing the “profit sharing” issue of the Empire District and the Port District.

They had a company that specialized in collecting money, and then they would distribute an additional legal income to every police officer in their jurisdiction. This was still very attractive among the police.

After all, this money was clean. They had no burden in using it, and they didn’t have to worry that one day in the future, they would get into trouble because of this money.

And once the profit-sharing model was implemented, they would no longer be able to do without Lance.

For Hunter and Richard, who had the police as their base, this was tantamount to challenging their bottom line.

(End of chapter)