Empire of Shadows

The private casino operators from two districts sat in Lance’s office. The room was quiet at the moment; they were all carefully mulling it over.

Thirty percent. This was a number they were a little unsure how to express their feelings about.

If you were to say… it was too much, it was actually much less than the minimum 50% cut proposed by the Kodak Family.

But to say they were happy, that wasn’t necessarily true either.

After all, having to give away real money to someone else would make anyone feel uncomfortable.

This was a form of extortion, of coercion, of blackmail!

Someone looked around at the others and couldn’t help but say softly, “Mr. Lance, this… thirty percent, isn’t it a bit too much?”

The others all looked at him, giving him strong support with their eyes. He looked at Lance, somewhat apprehensive.

Lance just smiled and said, “If you think it’s too much, you don’t have to do it.”

A smile immediately appeared on that man’s face, and at the same time, smiles appeared on the faces of some others as well.Some people were a little puzzled by their expressions, but others reacted immediately.

Right now, the Lance Family and the Kodak Family were at war. Regardless of whether they paid this thirty percent or not, the Kodak Family’s men couldn’t possibly infiltrate their territory.

As long as the Kodak Family’s men couldn’t get in, and they didn’t go over to the Kodak Family’s side, then they could completely open their casinos without paying this money!

And they could open them on a large scale!

People always like to use their little cleverness to deal with the world.

But was it possible that Lance didn’t understand such a shallow principle?

No, he understood it very well, better than anyone.

Just as these people in the office were considering rejecting Lance’s “extortion,” Lance said slowly, “I am a man of Golden Port. I love Golden Port City. You should already have some understanding of me.”

“In the past two years, you’ve had enough time to see me, to understand me, to know what kind of person I am.”

“I don’t actually like violent crime. I don’t extort businessmen, and I try my best not to extort small vendors by collecting protection fees.”

“I am a law-abiding person.”

Some faint laughter came from the room. Lance saying he was law-abiding—could there be anything more ridiculous than this?

Everyone was too embarrassed to laugh too loudly. Lance was also smiling. “In the past two years, I have seen many human tragedies. I’m sorry I used such a shocking word, but that is what I have seen.”

“I have seen many people lose everything in casinos, then borrow from loan sharks, and lose it all, everything.”

“They force their wives to go out and take clients, even force their daughters to go out and take clients.”

“They make their parents or children go out and sell their blood, and the purpose is to get some money and then send it to the gambling table.”

“This is very bad.”

The laughter in the room gradually died down. The more happily the people who were laughing just now had smiled, the more solemn their expressions were now.

“Gambling makes people lose their families, lose their loved ones. Gambling should be regulated. That is why it requires a ‘license’ to operate.”

“I know that most of you are not highly educated, and you may not understand if I tell you some grand principles. In short, I don’t like this method of killing a hen to get the egg from its belly.”

“The federal government must have also encountered these things, which is why they have added so many barriers to the gambling industry.”

“Starting from the end of this month, no casino that has not been approved by me will be allowed to operate on my territory…”

Someone immediately interrupted Lance’s words. “Mr. Lance, that’s not fair!”

Lance looked at the person who had interrupted him. “You should respect me. You shouldn’t interrupt me when I haven’t finished speaking.”

The man was stunned for a moment, then quickly lowered his head. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Lance. I shouldn’t have interrupted you. I’m sorry.”

Lance nodded slightly. “In what way do you think I’m being unfair?”

The man pursed his lips. “We’ve been operating here for many years, and…”

Lance raised his hand. “Does that have anything to do with me?”

The man was somewhat taken aback. The eyes of the others also revealed some displeasure, suppressed anger, and other emotions.

“It has nothing to do with me.”

“So don’t talk to me about fairness or unfairness. I am just informing you. This is my decision.”

“Of course, I know that some people think that I am… hurting you, or extorting you. But please don’t ignore one point.”

“That is, you can choose not to operate in my territory.”

“You can go to the city center, you can go to Priliccia, you can go to the Starlight District, or even the Bay Area. I can’t reach those places yet…”

The man who had interrupted Lance just now interrupted him again. “But the Kodak Family is in those places, Mr. Lance.”

Lance looked at him. “You’ve interrupted me again.”

The man was stunned for a moment, then squeezed out a smile. “Sorry, Mr. Lance. I’m a very impatient person. I didn’t mean to do it. I’m sorry!”

Lance looked at him for two or three seconds, then opened a drawer and, under the astonished gazes of the people, took out a handgun and pulled the trigger directly.

BANG!

The body of the guy who had interrupted him twice trembled violently. Those who were sitting or standing behind him were so scared they closed their eyes.

The gunshot was one thing, but mainly it was the fact that the top of his skull was blown off, sending the contents and blood flying out like a downpour, landing on the faces of these people.

Everyone’s heart began to race. Many of them might have seen dead people, or even killed people.

But at this moment, in this room, their hearts were still uncontrollably accelerating like crazy.

The astonished expression on the guy’s face was completely frozen. There was a small black hole on his head, but blood did not immediately ooze out.

He slowly fell. A number of people rushed in from outside. Lance placed the weapon on the side of his desk. “Deal with the body.”

Lance took out his cigarette case and lit a cigarette. “I don’t like it when people keep interrupting me.”

He emphasized, “I hope you won’t do the same thing.”

Then he answered the unlucky bastard’s question, although the person was already dead. “He just said that the Kodak Family is in those places, but not here, right?”

No one in the room dared to speak. Lance looked at them. “You can answer now.”

Everyone nodded one after another, and someone said in a low voice, “Yes, Mr. Lance, he… that’s what he said just now.”

“Do you think so too?” Lance asked.

These people either remained silent or shook their heads and said no, but Lance could see that they were all being perfunctory.

He pointed at these people with the hand holding the cigarette. “No, you actually think so too. It’s just that he said it, and you didn’t.”

“In other words, you feel that you can’t afford to provoke the Kodak Family, but you can afford to provoke me, is that right?”

In that instant, someone suddenly understood that Lance had opened fire not just because that fool had repeatedly interrupted him, but because of this core issue!

When the Lance Family and the Kodak Family were at war, someone expressed that “we are afraid of the Kodak Family but not of you.” What the fuck was the difference between that and directly seeking death?

A faint look of embarrassment and terror appeared on everyone’s face, because many of them really did think so.

The Kodak Family would really arrange for people to come to their door to deal with them, but everyone knew that Mr. Lance and the Lance Family were not brutal.

There is an interesting little story.

It is said that there was a king. The old king told him to be kind to his people, so he had no airs with his people.

He would often appear in front of his people, greet them, joke with them, and talk about some very ordinary topics that were closely related to people’s lives.

At first, people would respectfully address him as “Your Majesty,” but soon people found that the king was a very easy-going guy. They began to call him by his last name, such as “Your Excellency so-and-so.”

They found that the king did not mind such a form of address, and then after a period of time, they began to call the king by his name directly.

People gradually lost their awe for the king. They ignored the huge gap in their identities.

It is not a good thing for the people to lose their awe for the ruler, because it often means that chaos is about to come.

Having lost their awe, they began to question some of the king’s policies, began to deny the king’s ability, and they even wanted to overthrow the king!

Just like everything in the office at this moment. They felt that Lance was an easy-going person, so they dared to casually interrupt Lance’s words. They dared to have the idea of “being afraid of the Kodak Family but not of the Lance Family.”

But it didn’t matter. Lance would correct them.

Lance’s gaze was as calm as before, but everyone in the room did not dare to meet his gaze. Wherever his gaze went, there were people who bowed their heads or looked elsewhere.

People said words like “I dare not” and “I would not,” trying their best to make themselves not look like a fool.

Lance smiled. “It doesn’t matter whether you really thought so or not.”

“Because no matter what you think, rules are rules.”

“If any of you are willing to operate a casino on my turf and accept my management,”

“Then stay. I will arrange for people to intervene in the operation of your casinos to prevent the kind of thing where people lose everything because of gambling from happening.”

“If you are not willing to accept my management and supervision, then it’s very simple. Take your things and leave my turf.”

“If I find anyone who is not willing to accept my management and is still operating a casino on my turf,”

He didn’t say what these people would encounter, but just smiled and shook his head. But this meaningful shake of the head was more unsettling than if he had said something.

“You go and think about it. There are still two weeks until the end of the month.”

“You still have time to think.”

After he finished speaking and waited for a few seconds, someone stood up. “I am willing to cooperate with you, Mr. Lance.”

Then came the second, and the third.

These people had thought it through very clearly. If they left the Empire District, they were not very familiar with other areas. They would have to deal with the local gangs and also have to hide from the Kodak Family’s patrols.

And it was impossible to operate their own casinos on a very large scale, maintaining the same scale as now, with two or three gambling tables, and the risk would be doubled.

That would be better to stay on Lance’s turf. They could expand the scale of their casinos. Even if they paid out 30%, they would still have a profit, and it might even be more than before.

Lance nodded slightly. “Very good…” he glanced at Elvin, who took out a notebook. “You register with Elvin. In the end, we will base it on this registration…”

Not everyone agreed immediately. Some of them still needed to think about it, and it was not out of the question that some people might leave here. Who knew?

After letting these people leave, a few young men came in and started cleaning the floor and sofa. Elvin suggested, “Next time, it’s better not to make such a bloody mess in the office. It’s very troublesome to clean up, and it could be dangerous.”

Lance nodded, but then said with a smile, “We’re going to change places soon. The renovation of the old bank is almost finished. We’ll be able to move in soon.”

The “old bank” he was talking about was Jinda Bank, which was Mr. Jobav’s bank.

Before he died, he had mortgaged the bank, along with his villa and manor, to Lance in exchange for some funds to support the bank from collapsing.

It was just that this amount of money was not enough for his bank. When the bank run was out of control, even the national bank was at risk of bankruptcy and closure!

After all, no bank could really keep all the depositors’ money in its vaults. They also needed to use this money to make money. Otherwise, on what basis would they give depositors such high profits?

As long as they couldn’t keep all the money in the bank, once they faced a bank run, they would be finished.

After getting the bank, Lance had someone renovate it. Its previous decoration style obviously did not match Lance’s “company,” so he found a designer, redesigned it, and started the renovation.

Once that side was put into use, this side would be abandoned.

Elvin was also looking forward to it. “I hope it can give us a surprise!”

The two chatted for a while. The phone in front of Lance rang. He stopped his conversation with Elvin. “I hope it’s good news.”

Then, when it rang for the third time, he picked up the phone.

The call was from Councilman Williams.

“I hear that Charlie is missing?”

Lance laughed twice. “It seems so. I’ve had people look for him. As long as he’s still in Golden Port, they will definitely find him.”

Councilman Williams said “hmm.” “After you find him, don’t silence him yet. Hide him. He might be useful for some things.”

As soon as he said this, Lance understood.

It was almost the middle of the year. The mayoral election would start soon, which also meant that Councilman Williams had to “break away” from the Bay Area.

So at this time, having a “time bomb” was more valuable and meaningful to him.

(End of a Chapter)