Empire of Shadows

About twenty or thirty minutes after Mayor Williams had left his office, the phone on his desk suddenly rang.

James, who was sitting on the sofa thinking about something, turned his head sharply towards the phone. He squinted his eyes slightly and, after it had rung twice, stood up, walked over, and picked it up.

It had rung seven or eight times in total. If it weren’t for a call that absolutely had to reach the mayor, the person on the other end of the line would probably have hung up after the third or fourth ring.

The fact that he could keep waiting for the call to be answered showed that this matter was really important.

“This is the mayor’s office.”

“Mr. Mayor?” Perhaps the person on the other side was not very familiar with James’s voice; he felt that this was not the mayor’s voice.

“I am James. The mayor has temporarily left for some business. You can tell me what it is.”

The guy on the other end of the line only thought for a few seconds before he hurriedly said, “There’s a large-scale conflict in the old industrial district. The workers and the demolition company’s people are fighting, and there are casualties!”

“I don’t know what the situation is like outside now, but in short, it looks very bad. They’re like they’ve gone crazy!”

His tone was very anxious. Through the somewhat blurry glass window, he could still see the crowd on the construction site constantly increasing!The most feared thing about a group incident is that it cannot be stopped at the beginning. Once it spreads, it will become a disaster!

The speaker was the on-site manager of the demolition company. He usually stayed in this simple house. His daily job was to supervise the foremen who supervised the refugee workers to work honestly.

If some unexpected situations occurred, he would also be responsible for solving them, and the most important job—to call the boss.

The biggest difference between a manager and an ordinary low-level cadre was this. He had Arthur’s phone number, and the phone number of the mayor’s office. Only he could notify these two people, while others could not.

Just by mastering two numbers, his position in the company was a big step higher than others.

So sometimes, whether you can “get ahead” has nothing to do with your own ability. It all depends on whether the people above are willing to lend a hand.

He was talking about the situation here. He had never dealt with similar things before, and for a time he didn’t know how to calm the situation down.

Suddenly, a dozen or so refugee workers ran towards him. His originally calm face was instantly filled with panic!

“Holy shit, Mr. James, they’re coming towards me. I think I might be in some danger…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a fierce knocking sound came from outside the room, and then in a very short time, it turned into the sound of kicking the door.

Every loud bang from the door being kicked was like a blow to his heart. He was so nervous that he was tightly clutching the clothes on his chest. He felt that his heart was about to stop beating!

His tone also became a little weak. “Mr. James…”

With a sound like a door panel hitting a wall, as if it were an explosion, James’s hand trembled slightly. The receiver was only left with the sound of begging for mercy and screams.

The screams did not last for long before they completely disappeared, leaving only the sound of a broken cloth bag being kicked back and forth, and the sound of a drawer being pulled open and the like.

His breathing gradually became heavy. He didn’t know what had happened there, but it must have been something terrible.

He pursed his lips, hung up the phone, and then immediately dialed the police station’s number. Chief Bruce was not at the police station. Deputy Chief Duke was on duty.

After hearing what James said, he took it very seriously. Without putting down the phone, he had people go and gather the police forces from various precincts to support the old industrial district. Then he asked a key question—

“Mr. James, after our officers arrive at the scene, what should we do?”

James was already full of anger. Now, hearing this idiotic question, he became even more angry, and his face visibly turned red!

“What should you do?”

“Of course, stop these people from continuing to harm others and arrest them!”

“You are the deputy chief of the police department. You have to ask me such a simple thing?”

“How did you become a deputy chief?!”

His tone was very rude, because the continuous occurrence of events had made him a little unsure of how to respond!

Arthur had been kidnapped and it was still unknown if he had been rescued. There was a problem at the construction site again. If the demolition of the old industrial district was put on hold, some of the undercurrents in the city would become strange again.

What was even more troublesome was that if a group conflict occurred, and even many people died, would it affect his father’s power?

You know, this is Golden Port City. The naval base has just been built. What they need is a mayor who can ensure the administrative stability of this city, not a mayor who can trigger a riot at any time!

A series of various kinds of information that made him feel dissatisfied and even fearful were constantly washing over his barely tough nerves. It was already not bad that he could hold on.

Now Deputy Chief Duke had asked such a stupid question. The flames of anger had ignited the line of reason. He was now inexplicably filled with a desire for destruction!

If Deputy Chief Duke were in front of him, he might go up and kick him hard!

James’s tone was harsh, and so was his attitude. However, Deputy Chief Duke was not nervous at all. He knew very well that there were only two people who could decide whether he was still in this position: Mayor Williams, and Lance.

On a deeper level, there was only one person, and that was Lance!

So he was not so afraid of James and could still maintain his “politeness.”

“Councilman James, you may have misunderstood my meaning.”

“It’s easy for us to go to the scene, but once a riot has occurred, our mere arrival at the scene will not be able to stabilize it again. We need to do something to quell the riot.”

“Should we disperse the crowd, or arrest those who are committing violence, or just not let the situation escalate, not let the scale continue to expand?”

“There are many problems in this. If we disperse them and they don’t cooperate, should we fight back?”

“If we arrest them and they resist arrest, should we continue to arrest them, or just shoot them dead?”

“How do we define the standard for not letting the situation escalate, or in what scope should we control this matter?”

“These are all things I don’t know at the moment.”

Listening to the Deputy Chief Duke’s long speech, James’s anger instantly subsided. For a moment, his eyes went blank.

So… complicated?

He had never thought of these things, because when Mayor Williams was dealing with similar things, it seemed very easy. Just a few simple sentences could solve the problem.

Why, when it came to him, did it become so complicated?

He didn’t think this was Deputy Chief Duke making things difficult for him, because the problems that Deputy Chief Duke had raised did indeed exist objectively.

And it also had to be decided by the mayor, or rather, by him now, what to do.

Every choice meant many changes. If you opened fire, would it cause the situation to escalate further?

If you didn’t open fire, would you be able to control the situation?

Arresting those who are committing violence, will it trigger a larger-scale riot and riot?

Not arresting those people, will it cause similar incidents to happen in more construction sites?

He closed his eyes in some pain, his other hand even clutching his hair!

“Councilman James, are you still there?” Deputy Chief Duke glanced at the police officers who had already assembled outside the window. “We are about to set off. After we arrive at the scene, I’m afraid it will be difficult to maintain continuous contact with you for a short period of time. So what should we do?”

James forced himself to calm down. He kept asking himself in his mind, if Mayor Williams had encountered this matter, what would he have done?

He even provided himself with another line of thought. If Lance had encountered this matter, what would he have chosen?

Countless thoughts were churning in his mind. When he wanted to make such a choice, another thought would stop him.

He was completely lost!

But he quickly pulled himself together again. Now that Mayor Williams was not here, he had to take on this responsibility.

He also realized the purpose of his father being lured away, which was this!

Such a big thing had happened. If it couldn’t be controlled, it would soon trigger a city-wide riot. What they wanted was not to compromise with the Williams family. They wanted to destroy the entire Williams family!

At this moment, there was only one voice in his heart.

That was to take on the responsibility of the eldest son of the Williams family and handle this matter!

He took a deep breath. His father’s and Lance’s past choices and results quickly formed an outline in his mind.

This was actually one of the key factors why an ordinary family could never compare to those powerful and noble families!

For a person from an ordinary family background, all the troubles you encounter are a brand new, unparalleled challenge!

But for James, for a person from a powerful and noble family background, there is a high probability that they can find similar cases.

He clenched the receiver. “Control the situation, detain the attackers. If they resist arrest, fight back…”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Then open fire!”

Deputy Chief Duke’s voice was as steady as before. “I know what to do. I will notify you as soon as there is any further news.”

After he finished speaking, the communication ended. James took out a cigarette, lit it with a trembling hand, and took a deep breath.

He didn’t know what this decision would bring, but he knew that he had to do it!

Mayor Williams didn’t know that his eldest son had finally taken his own step at a critical moment, instead of always following behind him and watching him make those seemingly simple decisions.

But even if he knew, he didn’t have the mind for it.

The road was indeed a bit congested. He arrived at the designated location a little earlier than the agreed time.

There was still a phone booth on the side of the road. He glanced at Lance on the side of the road in the distance. The first moment the phone rang, he walked into the phone booth and picked up the phone…

(End of a Chapter)