Empire of Shadows

Before Lance transmigrated to this world, he had a friend in the place where he last sought enlightenment with whom he got along quite well.

The other party also had a lot of troubles and cases, and the most fatal thing was that the prosecution had gotten his notebook.

At that time, Lance was very curious, and his curiosity was at a point that almost everyone would be curious about—

Since you know that what you are doing is a crime, why do you still record it and leave fatal evidence for yourself?

Many people had this idea, and Lance had it too.

That person told him very calmly, because “there’s too much.”

“Too much” referred to the circle that was constantly expanding due to crime being too large, with too many people and too many things.

You really can’t remember if you don’t write it down!

In the morning, so-and-so introduced by so-and-so had so-and-so send something over. You might be seeing this person for the first time, and this might also be the last time you see this person.

Relying purely on memory?Probably not, because maybe in a little while, another similar situation will come up, so a notebook is necessary.

How much money was received from whom, introduced by whom, and arranged by whom, and what needs to be done for them.

A good memory is not as good as a bad pen. If you miss just one of these things, it could cause unpredictable big trouble.

Just as mentioned before, you think those gentlemen are very incorruptible and don’t accept your gifts, not because they are really incorruptible, but simply because you are not qualified.

So in other words, the people who can make him smile and open the door to welcome them in, and also accept their things, are already qualified to “face to face” with him.

If you accept these people’s things and also miss their matters, there is a high probability that they will not look for you again, but will watch you in the dark.

Those who are the first to be unlucky are often those who take the money but don’t do the work, so this money is not easy to take. You have to remember who sent how much money for what matter. Only in this way will there be no chaos.

In this field, credibility is very important.

The criminal content of the Kodak family did not involve official crimes, but they had other criminal projects.

How to sell the smuggled liquor, how they took a cut from those unlicensed underground casinos, and perhaps a few people who didn’t listen were silenced.

These things, plus Stone himself, formed the “most stubborn” accusation.

Lance walked to Stone’s side and pressed his hand on his shoulder. “You haven’t let anyone down.”

“You’ve already died for them twice. That’s enough.”

“Next, you should live for yourself!”

He paused for a moment, then had the others withdraw, including himself. Only Stone was left in the room.

Lance stood outside the door and instructed, “Give him the best food and everything. If he wants a woman, give him one too.”

“Try to meet his needs as much as possible, except for freedom and leaving.”

As the sound of footsteps faded away, Stone sat in his chair, holding his head in his hands. He hated his own cowardice.

But Lance’s words, from another perspective, reduced the guilt in his heart.

The room was not actually large, but for some reason, it gave him a very empty feeling, which made him very uneasy.

He didn’t know what the future would be like. He just wanted to be quiet now, even if it was just by himself.

The entire city was quiet for two days. Many people thought that these two days were just the last calm before the storm, but what people did not expect was that the Keane family, who had been fighting to the death with Lance, was transferring its assets outwards.

Were they preparing for a decisive battle, for example, leaving a part of their strength as a way out in case they lost the war and still had a chance to make a comeback?

Or were they preparing to escape?

People didn’t know, so many people were asking each other where this matter was heading.

Not only were the lower classes concerned, but the gangs, the capitalists, and the politicians were also very concerned.

Lance was once again invited to the Williams family manor.

The weather in early May was getting better and better. People had already taken off their heavy overcoats. This was one of the favorite seasons and temperatures of the people of the Federation.

There was enough sunshine and sunlight, and it was not so hot that they would doubt their life. This was very good.

Councilman Williams had also changed into light clothes. This time they were on a golf course in the manor.

“The doctor said I’d better maintain a certain amount of exercise every day,” he said, fully dressed in a golf suit. He squinted at the green over a hundred meters away, then reached out, licked his finger, and held it flat in front of his line of sight.

He was measuring the wind speed and direction. The younger generation had gradually lost many life skills, but for these old people, they would remember them for a lifetime.

He stood at the tee, spread his legs, looked at the green again, and then swung his golf club in a full circle. With a ding, the golf ball instantly flew out.

The moment he hit the ball, he didn’t look like an old man at all.

The caddy immediately brought the binoculars. Councilman Williams looked at the golf ball jump onto the green through the binoculars. He made a satisfied gesture. “Not bad!”

Then he stood to the side and waited for Lance to hit the ball.

Looking at the long fairway, Lance stood on the expensive turf. This was a kind of happiness that the poor could not imagine.

Having a golf course in your own “backyard.” As long as the weather was good enough and the people living here were willing to come, then they could play a few rounds anytime, anywhere.

The course has two greens, just right for a round trip. Maybe they’ll even adjust the position of the greens and the shape of the fairway anytime—

For the rich, as long as they want to do something, there will be professionals to help them complete it.

And doing these things is actually not difficult. All you need to do is replace the turf and then let it rest for a while.

Although this is very time-consuming and very expensive, for Councilman Williams and his family, these expenses would not be taken seriously by them.

After Lance had adjusted his position, he swung the club with force. When the force of the club was completely transferred to the golf ball and it flew out with a whoosh, Councilman Williams clapped on the side, along with James and Arthur.

“A beautiful shot. Have you practiced?”

Lance shook his head. “Although I haven’t practiced, I know how to play it. Just get it as close to the hole as possible, and then let it roll in.”

Such a simple and straightforward description naturally couldn’t find any fault. Councilman Williams nodded and said, “You see things more clearly than others.”

The two walked towards the green, chatting as they walked.

“What’s going on with Figal?”

“I hear he’s transferring assets outwards. Does he have some plan we don’t know about?”

By asking this, Councilman Williams was both asking and reminding. Although it was unlikely that Lance didn’t know about this, but what if?

So he reminded him, and at the same time wanted to know what had happened.

Lance did not hide the truth from him. “The Keane family is about to withdraw from Golden Port City.”

Councilman Williams’s steps paused, and he stood on the spot. His face was filled with an incredulous smile, and Lance also stopped after walking two steps, turned around, and looked at him. “Is it strange?”

Councilman Williams didn’t say anything. He stood there and thought for a while, and after about a few minutes, he let out a heavy sigh. “You’ve shocked me, Lance!”

“What method did you use to persuade him?” he caught up with Lance, and the two continued to walk forward.

In fact, he already knew what method Lance had used, but he still wanted to know the standard answer.

“The police.”

“They are gangsters, with a large number of criminal records and evidence. As long as you patiently collect it, you can definitely collect a lot.”

“And they actually know it very well themselves. Even if I can’t find it, there’s no problem with just fabricating some.”

“If you tell the teacher that the student in the class who always gets A+ cheated on the last exam, the teacher will think you are just making a mischief out of jealousy.”

“But if you tell the teacher that the student in the class with poor grades occasionally got an A+ by cheating, then the teacher will definitely investigate the matter seriously.”

“A gangster, in anyone’s eyes, is not clean.”

“Even if I fabricate some, I can still make people believe that this is the truth.”

Councilman Williams nodded in praise. “The method is not brilliant, but it’s very smart!”

“We all thought you would continue to fight with them, but what we didn’t expect was that you had already solved them. How did you… do it?”

“A method you found, besides using violent means?”

Lance said with a smile, “Because Bandy gave me a big gift, Stone.”

“Stone is in your hands?”

This news had not yet spread. Since Lance said it, he would not deny it. “He was captured by me, and he is also willing to cooperate with me.”

Even though Councilman Williams was already very surprised, and had been surprised many times in a row, at this time he still couldn’t help but be surprised.

“You’ve created one impossible miracle after another. Can you tell me how you did it?”

James was also curious about how Lance had persuaded Stone to cooperate with him. The impression that this guy Stone gave people had always been very… hard.

He represented the image of a “hardcore gangster,” who spoke with weapons, fists, knives, and bullets. Problems that could be solved by execution would not be solved with words.

Many people said he was a very fierce and ruthless character. Some even thought he was the “most ferocious wolf in Golden Port City.”

But just such a person had actually “defected to the enemy.” This made both Councilman Williams and James feel incredible.

Lance casually told them how he had persuaded Stone. This also surprised the two of them again!

James could no longer hold back. He took the initiative to ask, “What if you hadn’t been able to save him?”

Lance spread his hands. “God took him away. That’s not my problem.”

“The Kodak family is not just them two pairs of brothers, two pairs of father and son. There are others.”

“He has faith, he is noble, he is not afraid of death. There will always be someone who is afraid.”

“What we need is to find a fulcrum on the Kodak family’s barrier that can allow us to pry it open. As for whether this fulcrum is big or small, it’s actually not that important. As long as it’s there, that’s enough.”

Councilman Williams thought for a moment. “We have a small gathering on the weekend. Remember to come over then.”

Lance nodded. “I’ll keep the time in mind.”

The two walked to the green, and with a few simple putts, the ball went into the hole.

It has to be said that under the warm sunshine, enjoying the breeze of late spring and early summer, while enjoying the beauty of nature and swinging a club and walking, is indeed an enjoyment.

After playing two holes, they went back. Exercise is a need for the elderly, but it shouldn’t be too much.

After Councilman Williams had gotten what he wanted, he had James and Arthur see Lance off.

Originally, he had not planned to invite Lance to the small gathering on the weekend, because the people at the gathering were basically those from the Bay Area.

First of all, they didn’t know Lance directly. Secondly, there might be some small conflicts between them and Lance.

For them, one of the incentives to side with Councilman Williams was that Charlie was finished.

Once Charlie was finished, many things would have to change. When Charlie was not dead, they might not have noticed any problems and thought that Golden Port City should be like this.

But after Charlie died, many problems were exposed, and only then did they realize that losing Charlie was like a wolf losing its sharp claws and teeth.

Unable to command the police department, they had too many things to deal with, and many things had to change because of this.

So they could only respond, for example, by siding with Councilman Williams.

There were also some people, a large part of them, who believed that as long as they continued to stick together, neither Lance nor Councilman Williams could do anything about the Bay Area.

At this gathering were all those who stuck together and actively responded to the changes.

Lance had no contact with them, but it didn’t hurt for them to have a simple contact now.

His status in Councilman Williams’s mind was still rising. As a qualified politician, Councilman Williams knew very well that when Lance’s shortcomings were not enough to be used by others as a “fulcrum” to attack Senator Cleveland, and Lance’s own value was clearly higher than others, he would be used by Senator Cleveland.

He was going to be lucky.

On the other side, Fleming also knew that his good brother had fallen into Lance’s hands. He immediately found his father and asked him why he didn’t save Stone.

“It’s not that I’m not willing to do it, it’s that I can’t,” Bandy said honestly. “The condition they want is for us to leave Golden Port City forever.”

“Fleming, if this was just a small business, if our leaving or staying only affected ourselves, then I would definitely use this to exchange for Stone.”

“But what Lance wants is our licenses, and for us to leave. After leaving here, we will have nothing!”

There are countless people outside who are eyeing the property of the Kodak family. If they really give up these things, those who want their wealth, those who are eager to silence them, will all come to their door.

“I’m sorry for making such a decision, but I can assure you that this is the last choice.”

Fleming sat there in a daze for a while.

His relationship with Stone was the best in the entire family. Stone had taken good care of him since he was a child. At the same time, Bandy and Gorry were also brothers, which made their relationship even closer.

They were each other’s most trusted person. Stone had indeed made some sacrifices.

Now he was dead. Fleming found it a bit hard to accept this result.

“So, we’re just going to do nothing like this?”

Bandy shook his head. “We are not doing nothing. We are accumulating strength, and I am also putting pressure on the Manteno side. There will be good news.”

Although Fleming was skeptical about this, he still nodded and did not speak.

Then he hesitated a little. “I hear… Figal is planning to leave Golden Port City, with all of them.”

Bandy was stunned for a moment. He almost instinctively shook his head. “That’s impossible!”

The name of the Five Families is only very useful in Golden Port City. If it is raised to the level of the five or ten major families of the Federation, they are not quite enough to be seen.

The top criminal groups in the Federation almost all have senators behind them, and not just one senator is involved.

For example, the assassination case that once shocked the world had the shadow of Congress and these gangs behind it.

In a sense, they were no longer completely gangs. They were a symbol of the power of a high degree of integration of gangs, politics, and capital.

Usually, they are just ordinary gangs, each controlling a large territory.

When there is a need, they will become ruthless killing machines in the hands of the gentlemen. Whether it’s killing innocent people who try to shake the position of the senators or the people behind them, or the president who stands on the podium and shouts for freedom, they can all be their targets.

The outside world is very cruel. The Kodak family did not continue to expand outward through the gangster way, because they knew very well that they might not be able to expand, and they might even be directly wiped out of the world by a certain top gang.

On the contrary, controlling a huge amount of profit and being a superior person in Golden Port City is more satisfying.

He could understand the道理, and Figal should also understand it. But why did he still do this?

“Who did you hear it from?” Bandy asked. He opened his cigarette case and took out a cigarette. His smoking volume had obviously increased a lot recently.

The crisp sound of the lighter gave him a bit of a lift. Then he tilted his head and took two puffs, looking at Fleming.

“A friend told me so. He has some connection with the Keane family.”

Bandy was silent for a moment, his face ugly as he picked up the phone. If Keane was going to leave, then only he and the Tita family would be left to face Lance directly.

This time, a considerable part of their gunmen had been taken down, and they were elites. Purely in terms of force value, they were already no match for them.

A gunman and a real security guard are ultimately not the same kind of goods. A gunman can follow his orders and kill someone without mercy.

But a security guard, if you ask him to kill someone, he will only call the police.

The call was quickly answered. Bandy’s voice rang out sharply. “I hear you’re leaving Golden Port City?”

“Why didn’t I know about this?”

“Is there something wrong with your brain?”

He had too many confusions and questions, and did not give Figal a chance to speak at all.

(End of a Chapter)