Empire of Shadows

Sub-bureau Chief Bruce was stating a very simple truth, and also a very real, very cruel one—

When you live in the sewer, don’t go looking for the truth.

Because hope is more important than the truth!

Hope can allow many people to support their broken bodies and live on in this filthy world.

But the truth often destroys people’s will to live.

The truth is not cruel; it is just real. But reality is cruel.

When the child a pair of parents has been searching for is lying in the morgue, pieced together with shoddy thread, is that the truth they wanted?

Even more so, they won’t be punished for doing such an outrageous thing, just because they are high and mighty!

Perhaps at that moment, what they want is for none of this to have ever happened, and then to lie in bed at night and still be able to see that happy, smiling girl in their dreams.

To see her living happily in some place they have never been.Not to appear before them in this form.

From Sub-bureau Chief Bruce’s point of view, it was indeed not worth it to offend a group of powerful people in the Bay Area for a refugee girl.

Lance shook his head after listening. “It’s not like that, Bruce.”

“If someone says to you ‘this is not fair,’ and you feel that there is nothing unfair about it, then you have become their accomplice.”

“You can ignore it, you can not ask, and watch them slide into the abyss at one end of the tilted scale, doing nothing.”

“When one day, you also have to face the same thing, will you hope that someone can lend you a helping hand?”

“Just like the father who knelt before me wailing, he might not have knelt to anyone in his life, but now, he has knelt.”

“He just wants justice, fairness, and a truth!”

“What God can’t give him, I will give him. What he wants, justice, fairness, and a fucking truth!”

Lance slammed his fist on the table. Sub-bureau Chief Bruce, on the other end of the line, heard the anger in Lance’s words. His breathing was also exceptionally clear.

Sub-bureau Chief Bruce knew that Lance was angry.

Lance took several deep breaths to even out his breathing, and his tone became calm again.

“Or, do you want to be their accomplice?”

A chill crawled up his ass crack. He suddenly felt very cold, his hair standing on end.

He thought it might be because he was getting old, that just one time made him feel cold, unlike when he was young, when he was full of heat several times.

But the alarm bells that were constantly ringing in his head told him that this was killing intent!

Floating over through the phone line, a thick, man-eating killing intent!

He had a sense of crisis of being suffocated while breathing the air!

So he very obediently revealed some of the things he knew. “I know a group of people who specialize in selecting prey for them.”

“Tell me their names,” Lance’s voice showed no fluctuation, but Sub-bureau Chief Bruce knew that those people were in big trouble!

“Dream Crystal Modeling Agency, a company that signs female models, in the Starlight District. Their main job is to find print models, and at the same time, to search for prey for the rich in the Bay Area.”

“Lance, I’m not stopping you, I just hope you…”

Click!

The phone was hung up. Sub-bureau Chief Bruce looked at the receiver in his hand, his mind a blank for a moment, or a chaos.

He then dialed Alberto’s number. He was not familiar with the Starlight District. He didn’t want to arrange for a large number of men to investigate. He needed someone who knew.

Alberto was discussing with Francisco how to distribute the part of the property left by the Cassia family. A part of it would definitely be kept in their own hands.

But another part had to be distributed. Now was the time for Francisco to gain support and prestige.

The more it was like this, the more he couldn’t be overly greedy. He had to show the tolerance, generosity, and forgetfulness that a ruler should have.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Sir?”

He joked with Lance in the tone of a waiter, while giving Francisco a “wait a moment” look.

Soon his expression became serious. He could hear that Lance’s mood was very bad.

“I seem to have heard of it. Wait a moment.”

He didn’t hang up the phone, but looked at Francisco. “He has something, he needs to inquire about a location.”

He walked outside the door, knocked on the door. A few people in the distance looked over. “Go and ask if anyone knows where the Dream Crystal Modeling Agency is.”

A few people immediately walked outside. He returned to the office, picked up the phone, and asked Lance what had happened. “Your mood tells me that your situation is a bit off right now.”

Lance had just lost his temper, so he was a little different. People are always controlled by their emotions.

If a person can ignore all emotions, joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and not take them to heart, this is not a person, but a bodhisattva in a temple, a god.

He told him what had happened. Alberto sighed. He had also heard these rumors. “Is there anything I can do to help you?”

This matter was very complicated. It was possible, or rather, certain, that it would involve the powerful people in the Bay Area.

Alberto had shown him kindness. He would not drag Alberto into this. “No, no need. I can solve it myself. When I can’t handle it, I will contact you again.”

“Don’t worry, I just want to find the person.”

Alberto urged a few more words, “In any case, as long as you need me, just let me know.”

“I will have our people help look for her too. Maybe the situation is not so bad…”

Soon Fordis ran back and brought an address. Alberto told the address to Lance, and then Lance hung up the phone.

“What’s wrong with him?” Francisco asked from the side. Fordis also stood with his hands on his hips, looking at him, as if wanting to know.

Looking at Francisco for a long while, he finally decided to tell him these things. Letting this young man know how dark this world was in advance might be a bit cruel to him now, but for his growth, the pros outweighed the cons.

After Francisco heard these things, his hair was about to stand on end.

“These people really deserve to die. We can’t just do nothing!”

Alberto nodded and said, “We shouldn’t rush into it. It might disrupt Lance’s plan. We can help him in some other ways.”

He looked at Fordis. “Prepare some vehicles, find two reliable gunmen. If necessary, help him attract some firepower.”

“And by the way, find a boat. In case he needs to go on a trip or something in the end.”

Francisco couldn’t help but frown and ask, “Will the situation be that bad?”

Alberto was also at a loss. “I don’t know.”

He really didn’t know. The Bay Area had always been the true master of this city. They controlled most of the enterprises here and had good relations with the three major parties in Likalai State and the people in the state government.

This was the most terrifying thing about capital. They could use money to silently weave a network of interests, trapping everyone.

But it was also possible that everything would go smoothly. He didn’t know. He could only take it one step at a time.

After getting the address, Lance recorded it on a card. He directly called Hiram and Lawn, had them take some men, bring their weapons, and directly lock onto the destination.

From the Empire District to the Starlight District, you had to take Highway 9 via the expressway. Here, the entire city seemed to be divided into two parts.

On one side was the increasingly prosperous metropolis, and on the other was the poor and backward slum. In fact, life is indeed unfair.

Some are born at the finish line, while some are born without even the right to get on the track.

This world has never been fair.

He also didn’t know if he was qualified to give others the justice and fairness they wanted.

But he would try his best to do so, when he knew about these things, and when someone needed him.

The convoy blended into the traffic, like a trickle mixing into the ocean, and disappeared.

At this time, in the studio of the Dream Crystal Modeling Agency in the Bay Area, some photographers were sorting through photos.

Their job was to find girls with excellent conditions in this city and the surrounding cities.

Many girls actually had pink, beautiful, sweet, or other good dreams.

They wanted a better life and didn’t mind trying, or rather, some girls didn’t know how to refuse.

They would often start by proposing “Can I take a picture of you?” to get the information of these girls.

They also provided print models for several media outlets, and even nude photos for Tide.

There were always some girls who wanted to make quick money. A set of photos that could be given to Tide could get them $10 or $20, which was equivalent to an ordinary worker’s half-month’s income.

But for them, this was just a few hours’ income.

Recently, as sound films began to shine, the company’s boss thought that he could send some of the signed female models to act in movies. The value of a movie star was much greater than that of a print model or a Tide girl.

Of course, besides these jobs, they also provided photo albums for the powerful people in the Bay Area.

Then they would inquire about the price of the girls in the photo album, place an order, and finally receive the goods.

For the “scouts” here, this was a very wonderful job, easy, with a high income, and free girls to sleep with.

Those girls who fantasized about becoming stars didn’t mind sleeping with them at night to get more exposure opportunities.

Some scouts felt that this was simply the happiest job in the world. Even if they weren’t paid, they would be willing to pay to work.

A few scouts were looking through the freshly developed photos. These were to be sent to Tide. They were constantly commenting on the girls’ figures, or someone would talk about the girls’ performance in bed. The laughter of each and every one of them was as vulgar as it could be.

But they didn’t know that a big trouble had already arrived downstairs.

(End of chapter)

The novel has already been fully translated up to the latest chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at /caleredhair