Empire of Shadows

In the early morning, a gentleman was driving from his home. Not long after he started, just as he was about to enter the Starlight District, he suddenly found several guys wearing safety helmets blocking the middle of the road.

One of them was even waving a signal flag in his hand, the kind with a small red and white wooden pole and a red flag, which was very eye-catching.

“I’m sorry, sir. We’re dealing with a sewer manhole cover problem. This area is temporarily closed.”

The gentleman driving glanced at the already open sewer manhole cover. He shook his head slightly. “You can put that cover on when you don’t need to go in and out!”

He even made a closing gesture with his hand—the wrist of his right hand was pressed against the back of his left hand, and then his right hand made a downward pressing motion, looking like a closed clamp.

But the worker who stopped him explained with a smile, “We’re about to dig up the ground and put a wall around it, so I’m sorry, we can’t let you pass.”

The gentleman driving looked at the other party for a while. After confirming that this matter was not negotiable, he sighed. “Alright, can you tell me how long you will be doing this?”

“Maybe two days, sir.”

“Two days!” The gentleman driving raised his voice a little. “You’re making a lot of people have to adjust their schedules because of this. This is really not good.”

“But fortunately, it’s only for two days. I hope your speed is as you say!”As he spoke, he turned to look behind his car. There were already some cars on the streets of Golden Port City at a little after six o’clock, but not many.

In addition, this place was clearly about to become a small construction site. Those cars slowed down when they got here.

“What are you doing?”

“I should really complain about you guys, doing these things on such an important day!”

Some people cursed in dissatisfaction, but still turned around and left.

Not long after, a truck came. Some roadblocks and simple fences were unloaded from the truck by the workers. They also unloaded a sewer manhole cover and some construction materials.

In fact, their job was to block the two roads leading from the Bay Area to the Keane family’s manor.

William had many friends at City Hall. Originally, those friends were just ordinary friends, but after he became a municipal councilman, those friends became enthusiastic friends.

He just gave them a heads-up, and the matter was quickly taken care of—

First, someone called and said that the sewer manhole covers in these two blocks were always clanging at certain times, which affected their sleep. They hoped that City Hall could replace the manhole covers in these two places.

According to the normal procedure, for this kind of thing, the operator would at most send two workers to the scene to observe.

If it did indeed clatter when a car ran over it, then they would replace it.

But if it did not clatter, at least when they inspected it, then they would report it truthfully.

Federation society is also a society of human relationships. Now, regardless of whether it clatters or not, it will be replaced with a new manhole cover.

Replacing a manhole cover is not a simple matter. You need to first break the asphalt around the manhole cover, then dismantle the manhole cover, then install the new one, then re-pave the asphalt, and then compact it.

Later, they would have to pile up one or two construction machines here, so it was normal to block the entire road.

Golden Port City is very large, and many things happen every day. No one would think that because someone was working at a certain place at the same time, it could be related to some conspiracy.

Including these workers themselves, they also did not think that they were part of some conspiracy, because they were just doing ordinary work.

After Lance had personally confirmed that both roads were completely blocked, he began to act.

At a little after seven o’clock that evening, a large number of cars drove from the Empire District towards the Keane family’s manor. They did not avoid anyone’s gaze, as if Lance was already eager to stand on the corpse of the Keane family and enjoy the sweetest victory!

The people who were observing in secret immediately reported this matter. When he heard that Lance’s men were already on the road, he let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Then he dialed Bandy’s phone number.

“Lance and his men are already on the road. When are you coming?”

Bandy would not be present in person. He was very afraid of dying.

When people have a higher social status, power, and wealth, they will be more afraid of death than ordinary people. “I know. I’ve already arranged for people to go over. You have to believe me, Figal. We are partners!”

Figal didn’t know what to say. He was silent for a few seconds, then let out a heavy sigh. “I hope you’re not deceiving me. On this matter, I’m waiting for your good news!”

With that, he hung up the phone and then called the cadres who were already hiding outside the city, telling them to come back quickly with their men and attack Lance’s men from the side.

Then he made another call to the Tita family, asking them to come and assist no matter what, and to completely wipe out Lance’s main force tonight.

The wind at night was a bit strong, whistling by, and there were very few people on the street.

Whenever there was a continuous firefight between gangs, the number of people on the street would become much smaller.

Without people, the dim lights and empty streets would seem oppressive. The occasional flickering of a broken neon sign would make a sizzling sound, as if telling someone of the loneliness at this moment.

One by one, cars suddenly appeared at the street corner and quickly drove towards the north of the city center.

The lead car of the convoy had already run this road in the past two days. Originally, their plan was another road, but that road was blocked, so this became the only road for them to reach the designated place in a short time.

These cars were moving very fast, whoosh whoosh whoosh, they passed by the alley entrance. A few stray cats hiding in the shadows of the alley entrance were so scared by them that they hid in the sewer and did not dare to come out.

In the distance, some fierce gunshots suddenly came from the sky above the city. The expression of Stone, sitting in the lead car, was a little serious. “They’ve already started fighting. We need to speed up.”

The driver nodded and pressed the accelerator even lower. The car’s body obviously trembled a little, but the speed did indeed increase.

He sat in the back seat, smoking a cigarette. After defeating Lance’s main force this time, they would infiltrate the Port District and find a way to take this territory.

During this time, Bandy was also discussing another issue with Gorry. They planned to divide the Kodak family into two.

One part, with Bandy as the main, was the part he had whitewashed.

The other part, with Gorry as the main, was the gray part. But unlike now, they were going to pick up the gangster business and model again.

In the past, no one would challenge them, and they were not afraid of challenges. But with the defeat of the Five Families, people had lost their due reverence.

If they remained as they were, it would be like now, putting the whole family in a passive position.

They actually had the ability to solve the problem at the beginning, but it was precisely because it was inconvenient to make a move that a small trouble became a big one.

This time, Bandy had learned his lesson. He split the family. Although his power might be affected, as long as the family became stronger, he was willing to accept this influence.

The thought of himself about to become the number two figure in the gangster part of the Kodak family brought a smile to Stone’s face.

No matter how much he admired Fleming, respected him, and also respected Bandy, he could never be the true heir of the Kodak family.

But now, he was the true heir, although he could only inherit half.

Thinking of this, his eyes were filled with a look of joy. He felt that Lance was a pretty good person, because all of this had started because of Lance!

He was a little impatient to see Lance. He leaned back in the back seat, crossed his legs, and nudged the back of the driver’s seat with the tip of his foot. “Faster.”

The speed of the vehicle increased a little more, and the vehicles behind would naturally follow suit and accelerate.

But what they didn’t know was that five hundred meters away, several tire-puncturing devices were waiting for them.

The tire-puncturing device was something that shouldn’t have appeared at this time, but it itself was not complex. While Lance had Roben the lawyer go and register the patent, he had the gunsmith help him make a few.

It was not complicated. As long as you had the right materials, you could quickly make a large pile.

The dark gray tire-puncturing device was completely invisible on the road at night. Even with headlights, it might not be visible, let alone now when their attention was not necessarily on the road.

As the distance got closer and closer, the surroundings also became quieter and quieter.

When two headlights appeared at the street corner, the people hiding around all breathed a sigh of relief.

A distance of five hundred meters, for a car that was already moving very fast, was actually just a blink of an eye.

Stone was still smoking and thinking about what to do next when he suddenly felt a force that made him panic and grab the back of the front seat to fight against the force applied to him!

He even squinted his eyes!

The car, with its tires instantly punctured, instantly lost control. Losing control on the street, its result could only be to crash into the storefront on the side of the road.

With a loud bang, the vehicle crashed into the window of a shop on the side of the road.

The cars following it also suffered one after another. The next four cars couldn’t brake in time and also lost control and crashed to a stop on the side of the road.

At this time, the cars behind finally managed to brake, and did not repeat the same mistake.

One by one, people, bleeding from their heads, fell out of the cars on the side of the road. The violent impact had also damaged their balance. They looked at the road in a daze.

“There’s something here!”

Someone had found the tire-puncturing device laid on the road. When Stone’s trusted man, supported by another’s arm, looked at the tire-puncturing device, his whole body shivered!

There’s a fucking ambush!

This was definitely not the result of some mischievous child’s random placement. All of this was a trap!

Before he could even rush to Stone’s side, fierce gunshots rang out from all around. They had fallen into an ambush!

(End of a Chapter)