Empire of Shadows

After Lance left, the warehouse returned to calm. Under the light, Director Dale looked at Ponda with a changing, very complex expression. “I never thought it would be you, nor did I think it would be him.”

Ponda shrugged. “Actually, I never thought so either. But, there’s no harm to us, is there?”

“At first, I didn’t think this through. I thought that by siding with one party, I would lose something.”

“But in reality, I lost nothing. On the contrary, I have gained more than before.”

“Wealth, fame, the fight against crime, and everything else.”

Director Dale raised his hand to stop him from continuing, then ran a hand through his hair. “You don’t have to convince me. I’ve seen more of this kind of thing than you have.”

“After all, I’m from Golden State,” he couldn’t help but laugh a little as he said this.

The power-money deals over in Golden State were even more numerous. Capitalists always hovered around politicians, just to make it convenient to convert the wealth in their hands into power at any time.

Or to make it convenient for those politicians to find a short-term tenant for the power in their hands.

He hadn’t considered this matter before. On the one hand, there was no one here with such deep strength. Secondly, the conflict between him and Lance was also very deep in his view.Under his direction, the Bureau of Hazardous Materials had shut down many of Lance’s bars and destroyed a lot of his liquor. There was no room for peace talks between the two sides.

But he just hadn’t expected that everything had already been marked with a price, and he had simply been excluded from this transaction.

He walked to the side of the table and picked up the briefcase.

Owning 100,000 and having full authority to do anything with 100,000 are two different things.

“Need a ride?” Ponda asked, following in front of Director Dale.

Director Dale took out his sunglasses from his pocket and put them on. He glanced sideways at Ponda. “I drove here myself. And…” he pushed Ponda away with his hand, “I’m the director!”

He went straight out the door, put the briefcase in his trunk, and then drove away.

Ponda stood at the door, smoked a cigarette, and then left with his subordinates.

This was just a very, very small matter for this city.

Someone held the position of director of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials to realize their ideal of returning to Golden State.

But some people’s ideals were not so lofty. They just didn’t want to be discriminated against, not to be humiliated.

A little later in the evening, Alberto contacted Lance. He wanted to talk to Lance, and Lance asked him to come to his office.

Lance’s office was very luxuriously decorated. Anyone coming for the first time would feel that this was not a place for a gang leader to discuss crime.

This was more like the office of a big capitalist, exuding the smell of money everywhere.

“Something to drink?” Lance walked to the side of the bar. “Whiskey?”

“Coffee?”

“Black tea?”

“Or iced lemonade?”

“Whiskey,” Alberto rubbed his cheeks and watched Lance walk over with a tray.

Inside were an ice bucket, a bottle of fine Golden Lion Whiskey, and two glasses.

Lance put ice cubes in each glass, then picked up the bottle of whiskey, whose packaging was already a little different. “Try our new product.”

The color of the liquor was very clear, not cloudy, and had no impurities.

It was poured into the glass, made full contact with the ice, and finally settled at the bottom of the glass.

He handed one of the glasses to Alberto. The latter picked up the glass and sniffed it, a look of surprise on his face.

He looked at Lance, and Lance motioned for him to try it first.

He took a small sip, and there was an immediate chemical reaction. He looked at the liquor in the glass again. “Incredible. How did you do it?”

“This liquor is like it’s been enchanted!”

Lance then turned the bottle around so that the label faced him. Only then did Alberto notice that the bottle had a “Five Year” label on it, and it was a section higher than the entire label, so you could see it at a glance.

The gilded “5” gave a very noble feeling. Alberto put down the bottle and took another sip. There was indeed more of a change.

“How did you do it?”

He knew that Lance was producing his own liquor. Even the Pasoretto family’s liquor was now bought directly from Lance’s side.

Lance’s side saved on storage and transportation costs. In addition, their relationship with Lance meant the price was a little cheaper than smuggling it from Yalan.

It was precisely because they were all using Lance’s liquor that Alberto knew that their liquor had not been aged.

This kind of liquor… for the users of ordinary alcoholic beverages, there was not much of a difference.

Whether it was the aroma or the style, it was very “hard.”

If you say that drinking too much will make you feel dizzy, then the dizziness produced by this un-aged liquor is like being hit on the head with a baseball bat.

And those that have been aged, the power will not be so strong. Although it will also produce the same dizziness, that dizziness comes very gently and is not annoying.

The flavor, the aroma, the style, these are all different.

Good liquor, liquor that you want to sell at a higher price, must be aged.

Now, the main way ordinary bars distinguish between low, medium, and high grades is still by the alcohol content. The more money you spend, the easier the taste of the liquor is to accept, and the more alcohol content there is.

Of course, in the process of manufacturing and storage itself, there is actually also an aging process, but the time is not too long. The first batch of liquor from the farm has already been on the market. At most, they have been stored for three months.

Three months is not even enough to kill all the “fire” in the liquor, but this… has obviously no fire left.

“A chemical secret,” Lance did not explain in detail. In fact, they had added some thickeners, then added aging essence, and he had bought a large number of oak barrels used for aging from other wineries.

In the past, many wineries that aged their liquor had many oak barrels. These oak barrels have now been bought by Lance in large quantities.

They would be crushed by a crusher and then participate in the short-term aging process in the form of spices.

These oak barrels themselves have a special, aged aroma that has been produced after long-term soaking. Now that they have been crushed, they are mixed into the new liquor and will release the flavor they originally stored.

Coupled with some chemical help, in just two or three months, such a whiskey that tastes at least three to five years old is produced.

A bottle of such liquor, if sold on the market for three or four hundred, no one would have any objection.

In a bar, its price would be even more expensive. A two-ounce glass could be sold for at least forty, a proper wealth-harvesting artifact.

It may sound ridiculously unreasonable in price, but this is the Federation, and everything becomes reasonable again.

A worker’s monthly salary is forty dollars (it has risen a little), but it’s only enough for a rich person to have one drink at a bar.

Is it unreasonable?

Very reasonable!

When the per capita wage was only three or five dollars, there were already super-rich people here with a net worth of a billion.

Those with a net worth of over a hundred million appeared in droves.

People always use “magical” to describe those incredible worlds, and the Federation is magical.

The Magical Federation.

Alberto put down the glass in his hand. “I don’t quite understand, but it feels very impressive.”

In his heart, he had actually already realized that Lance would make more money because of these liquors.

If the previous liquor, which had a fiery kick and a strong smell of alcohol that hit you in the face as soon as you opened the lid, was to deal with the middle and lower classes who were full of desire for alcohol, then this liquor was to harvest the middle and upper-class alcohol dependents.

The taste is not bad, plus some special flavors. It’s hard for it not to sell at a high price.

“I… have been considering a problem recently.”

Lance took out a cigarette, gave him one, and also lit one for himself.

After taking a puff of smoke, Alberto continued, “Dover has gained some support on the Summurian side. He is becoming important. I am a little worried.”

“If we let him continue to grow, he will eventually pose a threat to us that I cannot imagine, so I have to deal with him.”

Dover, as a direct member of the Pasoretto family—of course, they all thought so, but in fact, he could only be considered a peripheral member.

But because of his relationship with Paul, he also had his own villa in the manor, so many people thought he was a core member.

For such a person to return to Summuri Island and express his respect to the four major families, no matter how he came back, the four major families needed to do something for what he had done.

He had gained the strong support of the family that had accepted him there. The news that Alberto had received from his hometown was that he already had more than a hundred men under him.

They hoped to set up a model to let the overseas Summurians, who had been greatly impacted by culture, “re-acknowledge their ancestors.”

Decades ago, in order to avoid competition for resources, they had driven these people out of Summuri Island and even had the local government issue various policies that were beneficial to immigrants.

But now they were eager to get the recognition of those who had left, to have them accept the view that they were the “old ancestors.”

So as long as they could support one, they would not be stingy with their wealth and power to help.

“Dover and we, are ultimately different. Paul not going back angered them. They plan to have Dover replace us.”

Lance’s expression became a little more serious. “Can I help?”

Alberto said, “Thank you,” “No, you can’t help much. This is our internal problem.”

“I must deal with him before he fully develops.”

Lance understood. “This is very dangerous.”

Alberto shook his head. “Nothing is safe. The experts say that even crossing the street has a chance of being hit by a drunkard, and eating has a chance of choking to death. So for me, it’s just fifty-fifty.”

“A tragedy befalls me, or I successfully get through everything!”

He had already made up his mind. Lance could no longer persuade him. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Alberto took another sip from his glass. He leaned back on the sofa, holding the glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other. “Help me take care of Francisco.”

Lance agreed. “As long as he doesn’t leave Golden Port, I guarantee his and the Pasoretto family’s safety.”

“I believe you!” Alberto smiled. “This is all I came to see you for.”

Lance still wanted to make a final effort. “Actually, you can arrange for a reliable gunman to do this. There’s no need for you to go back yourself.”

Alberto shook his head. “You don’t understand. I can’t be at ease if I leave this kind of thing to others.”

“I’m not saying I have to deal with him myself, but the process must be under my control.”

“Once we miss this opportunity, it will be very difficult for us to have a second chance to make a move. Then it will be our turn to suffer their retaliation.”

“All sorts of gunmen will cross the ocean to come here and then shoot at us. As long as he is not dead for a day, there will always be gunmen coming over…”

“And we, on the other hand, can’t go back to Summuri Island to start a war, nor will there be so many people to support us.”

From this perspective, this was indeed a question of survival and the future, and also a problem that had to be solved.

“Alright, I won’t say anything more. I wish you success.”

Alberto raised his glass and clinked it with Lance’s. “If anything happens to me…”

He hesitated for a moment. “Let Francisco temporarily give up everything he has now, lay low, and wait for a new opportunity.”

“I’ve already talked to him. During this time, I’ll have to trouble you to take care of him.”

Lance clinked his glass with his. “Leave it to me.”

He drank the wine in his glass in one gulp. The wine was clearly ice-cold, but he let out a breath of hot, burning air. “Satisfying!”

Then he took a puff of his cigarette, wanting to use the nicotine to suppress the rampage of the alcohol. He blinked his eyes. “Bring me two bottles back later. I like this taste.”

About ten minutes later, two young men carried two boxes of wine and put them in the trunk of Alberto’s car.

Fordis sat in the driver’s seat, looking at Lance with an innocent expression.

Lance stood by the driver’s door, a little helpless. “I tried to persuade him, but it was of no use.”

Fordis sighed. In fact, there had been some arguments within their group because of this matter.

The others on Alberto’s side believed that he had already done enough. There was no reason and no need to go back to Summuri Island to assassinate Christopher.

There was absolutely no need for that!

That was an internal problem of the Pasoretto family and had no direct relationship with them, the outsiders.

But Alberto believed that he needed to bear this part of the responsibility, because if it weren’t for Paul, he might still be a farmer in the countryside of Summuri Island now.

Instead of living in a luxurious villa in the Magical Federation and enjoying at least ten or twenty years of the best life.

This was the last thing he would do for Paul. As long as he solved the problem of Dover, he would have repaid everything he owed Paul, and they could go and live their own lives.

This operation was very dangerous. Some people didn’t want to go, so they had a dispute with Alberto.

In the end, their group also split up.

Some people had already left. They were not willing to go and die with Alberto.

But some people had stayed behind. These people had also received help and assistance from Alberto, and they also wanted to repay his kindness.

But in any case, this was always sad.

Those good friends who were like family left in anger…

Lance patted his arm. “Are you going too?”

Fordis nodded slightly.

At this time, Alberto, who had already finished tidying up the trunk, came over. “What are you two talking about?”

Lance shook his head. “About everything related to the weather.”

Alberto laughed twice. He didn’t expose him. He walked to Lance’s side and hugged him. “See you later.”

Lance patted his back hard. “Waiting for your good news.”

After watching Alberto leave, Lance was somewhat wistful, but this wistfulness did not last for too long.

The entire family was still rising rapidly, upwards. He could be emotional, lament, but he would not stop there.

At the same time, he also had an epiphany. On this trip, there was a high probability that Alberto would not be able to come back.

Summuri Island was controlled by the four major families. That was their inherited territory.

As long as they were willing, no one could leave that island.

If everything was as he had said, and Dover had become a model, a benchmark set up by the four major families, then his death would completely enrage the four major families.

Alberto would definitely be trapped on that island.

But this was his determination, a great and foolish man.

Soon his attention was focused on the mayoral election. Although this was just a formality, who knew if there would be another spoiler.

Councilman Williams’s schedule was very full. Every day he was either meeting with workers’ representatives here, or giving a public speech over there.

The Liberal Party and the Socialist Party had a total of three mayoral candidates. The other two were just there to run along, to prove that the Federation’s election system was fair and just, and that there was no political monopoly.

Some people say that the people of a certain country are the best people. Lance firmly did not believe it, because the people of the Federation were the best people.

Even if their government told them that the stinking pile on the ground was not shit, but soybean paste, they would still stick their fingers in it, put it in their mouths, and shout, “The soybean paste tastes very authentic.”

The whole city, because of the election, had brought some changes, good and bad.

On the morning of the fourth Saturday of August, Councilman Williams gave Lance a call. “I need your help with something.”

“What is it?” Lance was reading the newspaper. The newspaper was talking about the budget committee approving a series of new budget expenditures to cope with the possible upcoming war.

This had caused the entire federal industrial index to rise significantly, which was already not easy. It had also led to the rise of almost all stocks.

People were always happily exchanging opinions, talking about how many billions of funds would enter society through what channels, as if this money could make everyone rich!

“Those refugees, they’ve gathered at the place where I’m going to give a speech this afternoon.”

Lance said with a smile, “Is it to listen to your truth?”

Councilman Williams laughed. “I hope so.”

Then his meaning was “no.”

(End of a Chapter)