Empire of Shadows

After Senator Cleveland had settled some matters, he had Lance leave two numbers for Tom to ensure that he could find Lance anytime, anywhere.

When Tom came back from outside, he was smoking a cigarette and said, “Help me change my schedule for the next few days.”

Tom’s expression changed slightly. He bowed slightly. “I see.”

Tom was just one of his aides, not the chief of staff.

Alright, a senator doesn’t really use the title “chief of staff.” It’s not just a title but also an official position.

In fact, what it meant was that Tom, in the senator’s team of aides, was not yet the indispensable one.

He had status, but his status was in a middle stage. When he met with Lance, it would be him who came forward. When he met with others, it would be other aides.

Each aide had their own area of expertise, or had an irreplaceable role in certain fields.

The person in charge of Senator Cleveland’s daily schedule was definitely the most core secretary. He didn’t make the call himself, but had Tom do it. In fact, he was using this opportunity to release a signal without needing to communicate.

Some of the methods of politics can actually also be used in life. If he told others that Tom had been promoted now, doing so would give people a very deliberate feeling.They were all aides, and they were all smart, and they all liked to overthink. It was not guaranteed that some of them would think of some other things.

But to have him do it directly, then the impact of these things would become more buffered.

Tom quickly went to the office next door and found their “chief steward.” He explained Senator Cleveland’s request. This chief aide looked at Tom with a meaningful look for a couple of times, and then opened his notebook and glanced at it a few times.

Then he stood up. “There are a few more important trips. I’ll go with you.”

Tom did not refuse. He waited at the door for the chief aide.

It was not far to Senator Cleveland’s office, only twenty or thirty seconds’ walk. In this time, the chief aide suddenly asked, “Are you busy after work tomorrow night?”

Tom was a little surprised. He immediately replied, “Nothing much, the life of a middle-aged man.”

The chief aide said with a smile, “It just so happens that I’m also free. Let’s have a drink together after work.”

Tom did not refuse. “Okay, I’ll wait for you in the parking lot!”

He had now reached the door of Senator Cleveland’s office. He put one hand on the doorknob. After he had finished speaking, he pushed forward with his hand, and the door opened.

“Please come in!”

The chief aide nodded slightly and then entered the room.

Tom did not follow him in. He closed the door again, walked a few steps to a window in the corridor, took out a cigarette case from his pocket, and lit one.

Looking at the good weather outside the window, it was just like his mood at this moment.

He smiled and shook his head, exhaling all the smoke he had just inhaled.

He had not expected that what had given him the opportunity to move up was not his ability, nor the “big shots” he knew, but a minor character like Lance, whom he had looked down on in the past.

A minor character had brought him a huge promotion!

This was very interesting!

Lance, who had just come out of Senator Cleveland’s office, returned to his car. This time, only he and Hiram had come. The others were not here.

After all, this was the place where the senator worked. He couldn’t bring all those people over. What would that look like?

And Hiram had not entered the house either. He had just played the role of a driver.

“Finished talking?” Hiram flicked his hair and looked at Lance, who was sitting in the back seat, through the rearview mirror.

Lance nodded. “Finished for now. Let’s go back to the hotel.”

Hiram started the vehicle. He had been here once before and had walked the route twice. He was quite familiar with the road.

Some people are born with this magical ability. As long as they have walked a road once, they can remember it.

The vehicle moved through the bustling New Golden City. The luxury of the city gave Lance, as well as Hiram, the feeling that this was “another world.”

No matter how many times you look at it, it will give people a deep shock!

It’s too prosperous!

In Golden Port City, a ten- or twenty-story building was already considered a very tall building in the city. But here, there were many buildings with a hundred or more stories.

The people here were constantly breaking the records of the number of floors and the height of buildings with a crazy determination and means, as if they wanted to leave a deep mark on an era!

For this country, and for themselves!

“A jungle of steel,” Hiram suddenly said a somewhat profound phrase, which made even Lance look at him sideways.

“Did you eat something wrong?” he asked.

At first, Hiram didn’t react. “What?”

But soon he still realized what Lance’s words meant. “Egg you!”

“Although you are the Boss, Lance, can’t I just say a few profound short sentences?”

He looked at Lance through the rearview mirror. Lance raised his head with a grin. “You’d better watch the road!”

Only then did Hiram move his gaze from Lance in the rearview mirror back to the road. “I have my own feelings, okay?”

“And I feel that this is a jungle of steel. The tall buildings make me feel very small, just like a small animal, a small mouse walking in the jungle.”

As he spoke of his true feelings at this moment, Lance did not refute him, this time.

Because when he came here, he actually had some too. The splendor and madness of this city would not be out of date even after fifty years.

It represented the industrial level of this country, and also the ambition and desire of the entire ruling class!

Everyone would feel very small here, unless they were the “builders” of this place.

The car soon returned to the hotel. Because Lance had nothing else to do today, he had promised to take everyone for a walk.

Many people had come this time, and everyone had a strong curiosity about this place, Golden State and New Golden City.

In addition, this place was indeed much more prosperous than Golden Port City. These people, not to say that they felt inferior, but they were more or less a little reserved.

A person’s outlook is directly tied to their vision.

If a parent tells their child, ‘One day you’ll be an excellent steelworker,’ then for that child, their horizon is limited to the path of a steelworker

These young men had never thought that they would have such a day, so even though they were already very rich, richer than most people here, they were still a little reserved.

Lance didn’t have any feelings about these things. He took everyone to some of the more famous attractions, and also went to the shopping mall to buy some things.

After seeing more things and coming into contact with more things along the way, everyone naturally began to adapt.

“The things here are much more expensive than in Golden Port City.” In the shopping mall, Elvin picked up a leather belt in his hand and then put it down.

The same leather belt only cost nineteen dollars in Golden Port City, but here it cost 24.9, five dollars more.

Lance didn’t think there was any problem. “This is New Golden City. Golden State is the real core area of the entire Federation. The ruling class rules this country here.”

“They represent not only power, but also wealth. These things are on the surface for everyone, but in fact, the group they are aimed at has never been everyone.”

“So it’s a little more expensive, which is normal. There are many more rich people here than in the Bay Area!”

The group also bought some things in the shopping mall. It is worth mentioning that Ennio also came this time, along with his old man.

His old man had also joined the Lance Family. Although there was not yet a stable job suitable for him, as long as there was work, and he could do it, he would be allowed to do it.

His old man received the same salary and subsidies as the other young men. Lance did not give him more just because he was Ennio’s father.

For the matter of tourism, the young men might only have a fleeting novelty, which would easily pass.

On the contrary, Ennio’s old man was very interested. He pulled Ennio to try on many clothes and also bought many things.

He and Morris also knew each other. After all, they were from the same block. He also knew Morris’s father. He was also very sad and found it incredible about old Morris’s death.

In short, the relationship between their two families was not bad. He was now picking out some goods for Morris, planning to take them back to give him.

This group was not small. If you count the outermost bodyguards, there were a total of twenty or thirty people.

In a large shopping mall, a group of this size was still very eye-catching to people, to the salesclerks, the tourists, everyone.

“That person… seems to have been seen somewhere before.”

On a bench in the distance in the shopping mall, a man who looked to be in his thirties frowned. His gaze had been fixed on Lance.

His companion turned around and also looked over there. It was originally just an unintentional glance.

Just as Lance had said, New Golden City was the center of the entire Federation. You could always see similar groups of these people here. They came from other parts of the Federation, or even from abroad.

The shopping here, out of control, for the locals, the more out of control the outsiders were after seeing the greatness of this city, the more comfortable they felt!

They would have a sense of honor, just like… looking at the outsiders from a higher perspective. The city had also sublimated them!

But after the second person’s casual glance, his gaze changed. He quickly turned a little more, his angle became a little bigger. He stared at Lance for two more glances before he turned around and said to his companion, “Don’t stare at them. It’s Lance.”

“Lance?” His companion’s brows furrowed tightly. In his not-so-bright mind, a stick called “Lance” was stirring, but after stirring for a long time, nothing came up. He could only look at his friend with a pleading look.

The guy who was being stared at lowered his voice a little. “Lance White, the one from the Lance Family. Have you forgotten?”

“Jordan!”

The first person who saw Lance’s eyes became a little dazed, and his mouth also opened slightly.

In a place that couldn’t be seen, a bubble popped up in his brain, wrapping some content that was constantly flashing with sound, shadow, and text.

As the bubble rose a certain distance from his brain, it popped with a snap. The sound, shadow, and text were instantly released, exploding everywhere!

His eyes also regained their focus. He cursed in a low voice, “Fuck.” Just as he was about to continue to look over, he was held down by his companion.

“Don’t fucking alarm them. We have to call the Boss.”

He immediately nodded. “You’re right. We’ll go now.”

Both of them were members of the Death Angels. Jordan’s death had made them lose a lot of face, especially when they couldn’t retaliate. Someone was already using this matter to laugh at them.

But this kind of thing couldn’t be said to be that they were not good enough. The Death Angels did have a certain influence in the north, but the Lance Family was in the south. They had originally wanted to take revenge, but the series of things that had happened afterwards had directly scared them away.

If it was just fighting with Lance on Lance’s turf, they might not be afraid. Anyway, a gangster firefight is just that, right?

You shoot at me, I shoot at you. It just depends on who is luckier.

But who the fuck knew that the police in Golden Port City were all Lance’s men, and the national police system was a whole that people couldn’t see.

Even the Death Angels, they would try their best not to actively harm the police. Even if they had to do it, they had to do it without leaving any evidence, otherwise it would be very troublesome.

To deal with the Lance Family in Golden Port City, the police of Golden Port City were a firewall, so they simply came back directly.

Unexpectedly, Lance didn’t stay in the south. Now he had run to Golden State, and had been discovered by them!

The two quickly stood up and walked towards the outside of the shopping mall. The actions of the two “passersby” would not alarm Lance and his group. They were still choosing qualified goods from the shops one by one.

The two walked out of the main gate of the mall. One of them got into a phone booth on the side of the road and dialed the phone number of the gang’s boss.

Soon the call was answered, but it was not their boss. “We want to talk to the Boss.”

The person who answered the phone was a little impatient. “Hundreds of people say they want to talk to the Boss every day. If you don’t have a better excuse, I’m going to hang up.”

The little lackey didn’t dare to provoke these big shots just because he had discovered Lance. He quickly said, “I’ve found Lance White. They’ve come to New Golden City again.”

“Lance White?”

“What the fuck is that?”

“Are you talking about a person?”

The little lackey quickly explained again, which made the person on the other end of the line immediately take it seriously.

Although Jordan… was just an old guy, an old guy on the edge, but he was too old!

Many people had followed him before, or knew him, and were his juniors.

Gangster is not a profession that can live a long life. Most gang members, if they can live to be fifty, are already very impressive.

Even the leaders of those gangs may not be able to live to be fifty. Those who can live to this age are only a minority in the entire gang system.

The middle-aged and elderly gang leaders that people see may seem to be quite a few, but in fact, this is just a survivor bias.

For example, “Heller,” he did not live to be fifty. His father, his grandfather, also did not live to be fifty.

The firefights of the gangs were too tragic. The longer a gang leader lived, it meant that he had more enemies, and the danger was also greater.

People hoped that Jordan could live to retirement age. This was a kind of good wish for him, and also for themselves.

They hoped that they could also successfully retire from the gang and live a carefree life for the rest of their lives.

So the death of Jordan, this already marginalized guy, had shaken the entire Death Angels.

Soon, the voice in the receiver changed. “You said you saw Lance. Where is he?”

The little lackey who was on the phone looked back at the name of the shopping mall. “In New Golden City… on… road… at the shopping mall.”

“Very good. Keep an eye on them. I will arrange for the people over there to go over.”

The boss of the Death Angels did not live in New Golden City. Their reputation was too bad. If he dared to appear in New Golden City, the police department would soon come to his door and send him to prison.

Whether it was the capitalists here, or the politicians, they would not allow such a person who could threaten them to be in the same city with them.

However, the Death Angels had an office here, disguised as a small gang.

New Golden City also had gangs, and quite a few. These gangs were also engaged in various criminal businesses. Currently, it was mainly the human trafficking business and the liquor business. The business of maple leaf grass was also increasing year by year, as well as the business of various special medicines.

These could all bring them huge profits. The gangs of New Golden City were actually more like commercialized gangs.

They no longer had such a strict concept of “territory.” It wasn’t that you couldn’t come here, or you couldn’t go there. Everyone’s forces were intertwined.

As long as there was no conflict of interest in business, they could coexist peacefully.

Lance and his group did not know that they were being watched. They were still shopping in the mall, and at this time, outside the mall, more than a dozen cars had quickly parked on the side of the road.

Some guys who didn’t look like good people at a glance were sitting in the cars. The two little lackeys took the initiative to walk over. They knew the local “Boss.”

The Boss’s expression was not very friendly, because they should have told him about this kind of thing, and then he could have shown his face to the big Boss.

As a result, they had reported it themselves.

The two were also a little embarrassed, but now they could only pretend not to know.

“Are you sure they haven’t left?”

The little lackey nodded repeatedly. “They are definitely still inside. Just now… I’ve already gone in to see.”

The person he was talking about was his companion just now. The local leader nodded and then did not speak anymore.

The group of people just sat in the car and waited quietly.

At this time, Lance and his group had also bought a lot of things. The operator of the shopping mall was very experienced with this kind of “big spender.” They had arranged for staff to push some carts behind them.

The kind of cart that could hang clothes, to help them transport some of the things they had bought.

These goods did not need to be taken back by Lance and his group themselves. The shopping mall would deliver them to the designated hotel and the designated room.

If the rich people were still burdened by things when they were shopping, then it must be that they were not rich enough, and they still needed to use some packaging bags to show their identity of being able to afford these things!

“We’ve been around for a while. Is there anything else you want?”

Lance stood in front of them and asked, “If you’ve bought enough, then we’ll go back.”

“I never thought that shopping with you guys would be so tiring!”

(End of a Chapter)