Empire of Shadows

Figal’s shouting made Lance hold the receiver far away from his ear. Everyone in the room could hear his voice.

Lance waited for him to catch his breath and stop talking before putting the receiver to his ear. “I hope you always think so, Figal.”

“By the way, fuck you too!”

He slammed down the phone with a click, but he wasn’t particularly angry.

His men had killed maybe ten or twenty of Figal’s men in the middle of the night and had also burned his bar, causing him heavy losses.

If someone had done that to him, he would also be very angry.

Then he picked up the receiver and dialed Chief Bruce’s number. During this time, Chief Bruce had been living in the police station. In this respect, he had inherited the style of Charlie or rather, Hunter, and had set up a rest room in his office.

This way, he didn’t have to go home after dark every day. He could just have someone bring him some food and continue to work late into the night.

Charlie’s and Hunter’s trusted subordinates were almost everywhere in the important positions of the Golden Port City police force. It was not an easy task to remove these people and replace them with people he could trust.

Because there were too many empty positions, and he, including Duke, did not have so many usable people in his hands.They had to find some colleagues who were not so close to them, but were still acquaintances and had alumni relationships, who were willing to lean towards them and were also sensible enough to fill these positions.

Once, a father said to his child, “No matter what, you should work hard, because the result of your hard work will be the starting point of your future life, not the end point!”

This sentence is actually very correct, and it was vividly demonstrated in this police force purge.

Without considering those who were purged, those who were selected by Charlie and Duke were basically alumni of the Golden Port Police Academy, their “junior schoolmates.”

Hard work may not give you the future you want, but when opportunities arise, your chances of getting them will be much greater than those who do not work hard.

At least in this talent selection, they did not consider anyone who was not a graduate of the police academy!

The identity of alumni made them feel more at ease with these people.

In the social relationships of the people of the Federation, if you betray your family, the people around you will only say to you, “This is really bad. You made a wrong decision.”

They will think that you just made a small mistake, or even a mistake that a normal person would make, and then forgive you from the perspective of a friend.

But if you betray your circle, betray your alumni, then they will only be extremely disappointed in you, and won’t even want to talk to you anymore. You will quickly become notorious.

Then they will isolate you, marginalize you, and eventually make you disappear from their sight.

If they don’t want to be marginalized and isolated in the future, then when they are selected, they either have to refuse, or be loyal to the circle.

Any person, after being whipped by real life for so many years, when God finally favors them, they cannot refuse.

The two had been busy until late at night. When the phone rang, Chief Bruce was not yet asleep. He was thinking about some work matters.

The shrill ringing of the phone startled him.

He cursed a few times, then came out of the rest room in his pajamas and picked up the phone. “It’s eleven o’clock now…”

He glanced at his watch, and then his originally complaining tone instantly turned into a very gentle tone. The transition was very smooth. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

It was Lance. He couldn’t refuse this right now.

“…Okay, I understand. I’ll arrange it right away.”

After he hung up the phone, he rubbed his temples, then turned on the table lamp, sitting behind his desk in his plaid pajamas and a nightcap.

He picked up the phone and pressed the number for the lobby. Soon the call went through.

“Chief?”

Chief Bruce lit a cigarette and took a hiss. He changed the way he held the receiver. He knew that he would have to postpone his sleep again.

“Arrange for some police officers to go to… these few places. Don’t turn on the sirens. Hide in the alleys.”

“If there’s a firefight, sound the alarm immediately, and then arrest the people who are fighting the Lance Family. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Yes, sir, I understand.”

“Very good. The Empire District precinct will cooperate with you then. It’s a tough night. Keep your spirits up.”

After hanging up, he dialed the duty number of the Empire District precinct and also gave some instructions.

If Figal’s men came to retaliate at night, Lance would let them know what “chaotic damage” was!

Although the police officers were a little reluctant to be on duty in the middle of the night, and it was likely to be for a whole night, this was personally ordered by the chief, so they could only do as they were told.

It was the same as employees in a company having no right to resist the chairman. Even if they were unwilling, they had to obey at this time.

Seven or eight police cars drove out of the police station. According to Chief Bruce’s request, they did not turn on their sirens, not even their police lights.

They met up with the police officers from the Empire District outside the Empire District precinct, and then split up to the designated locations.

The police officers from the main headquarters looked at the smiling faces of the police officers in the car next to them, a little confused. What was there to be happy about a late-night shift and not being able to sneak a sleep in the police station?

But they couldn’t just ask, otherwise it might make these colleagues from the precinct think that they, from the main headquarters, were unwilling to work the night shift.

Where there are people, there is face. A society composed of people cannot avoid the problem of face.

But soon, they knew why these police officers from the Empire District were not沮丧.

About twenty minutes later, someone came over with a few bags. The police car next to them proactively turned on its police lights, which also let the police officers from the main headquarters see that it was a young man.

He had a red armband on his left arm. He was now walking by the police car of the Empire District precinct, handing over a paper bag, and then it was their car.

The police officer in the passenger seat and the police officer in the driver’s seat looked at each other, then at the car next to them, and finally decided to accept it.

They didn’t forget to say “thank you.”

The young man smiled and patted the roof of the car. “We’ll have to trouble you to work hard tonight. If there’s anything, you can come and call me. I’ll be in the bar.”

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen. I promise I’ll be like an owl. Even when I’m sleeping, I’ll keep one eye open!”

The young man smiled and said goodbye to them, then turned and left.

The police officers from the main headquarters had never encountered such a thing. They opened the waterproof kraft paper bag. The first thing they saw were two meal boxes, with beef bits and small lamb chops inside, as well as two very small dinner rolls, a small piece of butter, and a small bowl of vegetable salad.

The police officer in the driver’s seat whistled. He was indeed a little hungry.

After the two had divided a portion each, there were two bottles of drinks, non-alcoholic orange juice, the kind with lemon added, sour and sweet, a favorite of the people of the Federation.

And two cups of coffee.

Further down… they saw an envelope. The two looked at each other again, took out the envelope, opened it, and inside were two ten-dollar bills.

At this moment, they suddenly felt that… there was nothing wrong with being on duty on a late-night shift.

The two silently divided the money and then started to eat.

These sons of bitches from the Empire District precinct, their lives are really fucking good!

They waited all night, and waited until the sky was getting light, but there was no firefight. Figal did not come to attack them in the middle of the night.

Figal was a little suspicious. He suspected that the purpose of Lance’s sudden attack on his bar in the middle of the night was that he had heard that the three of them were meeting at night, so he had set a trap.

He was thinking a little too much. Lance’s unreasonable move made him suspicious.

The most frightening thing about a person is thinking too much, because the more you think, the more problems you can find that you might have.

You will feel that doing this is not right, and doing that is not right. In the end, you can’t do anything, and you can’t achieve anything.

While you are still considering how to approach a girl naturally and without leaving a trace, and then cultivate feelings and finally confess.

The yellow-haired guy has already directly asked if they want to be friends.

Not all the time, thinking more is better!

Of course, this time, Figal actually thought correctly.

If he had recklessly sent people over to fight Lance, then what would have awaited him would have been the iron fist of justice!

All night, Figal did not have a good sleep. He was always thinking about why Lance would suddenly attack his bar.

Unlike him were Bandy and Gorry. After they had provoked the dispute, they had been paying close attention to the development of the situation.

When they knew that Lance had burned Figal’s bar, they had a good sleep.

Early in the morning, the ringing of the phone woke Bandy up. He did not seem impatient, but rubbed his eyes and sat up from the bed.

The silk pajamas gave him a comfortable feeling of sleeping naked, especially when the silk fabric was close to his skin, there was an illusion of directly touching a girl’s skin.

He leaned against the head of the bed and picked up the phone. “The sun has just risen.”

The tone of Figal on the other end of the phone was a bit anxious. “My bar was attacked. He knew we met last night!”

Bandy was stunned for a moment and didn’t react immediately. “Who knew we met?”

“Lance!”

“He must have known we met, and even knew what we said last night. Who do you think leaked it?”

Bandy was full of question marks. What, there were new developments after he fell asleep?

He hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know. Is there some misunderstanding?”

He walked to the window with the phone. “Why would you think so?”

Figal felt that Lance must have known they had met last night and had even said they would teach Lance a lesson and make him respect them, the old-timers, which was what had led to the attack at night.

Only Figal’s heavy breathing could be heard through the receiver. After a while, he said, “I think we need to meet again, as soon as possible.”

(End of a Chapter)