Empire of Shadows

In the room three days ago, when Mr. Charles saw his lawyer again, his complexion was much worse than it had been a few days ago!

Everything he had suffered these past few days had made him feel a deep sense of despair and betrayal.

He stared at the lawyer with a somewhat twisted and sinister expression. The lawyer was still as calm as ever.

He had seen many clients since he started working: normal, abnormal, neurotic, and even perverted serial killers.

If Mr. Charles didn’t use something that could threaten his life, then he was not afraid of this simple direct gaze.

As for whether he would offend Mr. Charles?

After he signed this agreement, he would be “Charles.”

“I want to see Lance, or talk to him. I want to talk to him in person!” Mr. Charles pursed his lips. He sat on the chair with his butt tilted, his thighs taking the weight, so that the innermost part of his butt was not squeezed.

He couldn’t stand the pain of the squeeze. Those people would not “pity” him at all.

He was enduring both physical and mental pain, and could still maintain a relatively calm mood. He felt that he was already a great man.The lawyer shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Charles. My client has already instructed me that before you sign this agreement, he will not see you, nor will he talk to you.”

He watched as Mr. Charles’s face quickly turned red, and his eyes became even more dangerous, but he was not nervous at all. “By the way, because of my work schedule, the next time we meet will be in a week.”

“You know, the war has broken out.”

“There is still a lot of work to do on the Golden Port City side. Mr. Lance has many commissions, so I can’t continue to take care of this place for a short time.”

“I recently heard something… I don’t know if it’s true.”

He stood on the other side of the table, looking down at his once most important client. “I hear that your wife, in order to find a way to bring you home from here, has, through some unknown channel, found a broker who is said to know a big shot, and has given the other party a large sum of money.”

Hearing these words, Mr. Charles’s vision went black. The arm he was supporting on the table was trembling. After a long while, he finally recovered. “How is my son?”

“He’s doing pretty well, I hear. But he’s in a big debt at the casino. Your wife is raising funds to find a way to bail him out.”

He didn’t know what his son had encountered, but he knew that now he had to, immediately, right now, leave this place, otherwise he would lose everything!

He looked at the lawyer with fine beads of sweat on his forehead. “If I sign, can I get out immediately?”

The lawyer shook his head with regret. “I’m afraid that’s not possible. The ones who made these decisions are the appellate court. A phrase that Mr. Lance often says is ‘everyone is equal before the law,’ so we can’t decide when you get out.”

“But I hear that this can make your life a little more comfortable.”

As he spoke, he took out the agreement from his briefcase, placed it on the table, along with a pen. “Sign it, and it will all be over.”

“Mr. Charles, you are my old customer. I have to say something outside of work.”

“Mr. Lance is definitely the most trustworthy person I have ever met. You can completely trust what he says!”

Yes, the most trustworthy. If he says he’ll let you die, he’ll let you die. If he says he won’t let you die, at least he won’t kill you himself.

As one of the “Twin Towers of Golden Port,” Lance would definitely make himself a trustworthy person.

The bigger the shot, the more they have to establish these positive personas.

Mr. Charles sat there, his chest constantly heaving. In the end, he sighed, took the pen, and tremblingly wrote his name.

At this moment, he felt that his life was a failure.

So many years of hard work, the accumulation of several generations. He had almost lost it all!

After the lawyer had checked the document and his signature, a smile also appeared on his face. “It’s very important that you can think this through, Mr. Charles. Please rest assured, everything will return to normal!”

Soon, the lawyer left the prison with the document. Before leaving the prison, he used two dollars to get a chance to make a phone call in the prison’s duty room.

The call was quickly answered. Lance’s voice came from the receiver. “Mr. Lance, he has already signed.”

Lance’s voice did not show how happy he was. Mr. Charles… no, now it was Charles.

The fact that Charles couldn’t stand the hardship of prison was within his expectation. In fact, it wasn’t just Charles. Many people couldn’t stand the hardship of prison. It was really a hell, not a place where people should be at all.

“Thank you for your hard work. Come back soon. The sooner you finish the work, the sooner I can send you the final payment.”

A happy smile appeared on the lawyer’s face. For him, Mr. Lance was a very well-mannered and very noble person.

The lawyer and his firm could earn a profit of at least 400,000 from this work. Lance had not bargained either. There were a lot of contents and things involved in this, and it was worth the money.

It wasn’t that Roben the lawyer couldn’t do it. Roben the lawyer could also do it, but his efficiency, compared with the efficiency of such a large law firm, was much worse.

And the lawyer’s side also had a certain relationship with the judicial department. For some controversial signatures, they could directly handle it.

Without the party being present, they could directly transfer these shares to Lance.

So to pay a fee of four or five hundred thousand or a little more was not a problem at all for Lance. The value of the work ability they showed was much higher than this!

On the receiver, the lawyer repeatedly assured that he would help Lance get everything done as soon as possible, and then he hung up the phone.

Lance soon picked up the phone again and dialed Roben the lawyer’s number.

“Charles’s side can be put on hold for now.”

Roben the lawyer and the warden had a good relationship. The changes in the prison were handled by Roben the lawyer. He was also very clear that Lance had used a lawyer from a large law firm, but he had no objection to this.

“I see…”

Charles, who was in prison, had just returned to the workshop when a prison guard walked over with a strange expression. “The warden wants to see you…”

Charles breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that the warden was going to extort him, but now, after his butt had suffered and he had been beaten and starved, he had already bowed his head to fate.

To be extorted was at least much better than being treated like that!

At the same time, he also knew that from this moment on, he, Lance, and Mayor Williams were no longer equals.

He had lost his “crown”!

Lance would not know that Charles had so many thoughts and feelings now, but even if he knew, he would not care. Every citizen of the Federation was paying attention to the war that was happening across the sea.

A few days ago, Golden Port City had just sent off a batch of troops. In fact, you didn’t have to observe very carefully to be able to see the nervous and uneasy feeling that those soldiers showed when they were boarding the ship.

The stiff and deformed movements made the boarding ceremony of the entire army not show the sense of power and beauty that the military wanted. On the contrary, it gave people an inexplicable, indescribable feeling, as if they were forcing these young men to go to their deaths.

Some local newspapers were reporting on whether it was right to do so. Many people, even now, still believed that they should not be involved in a war that had nothing to do with the Federation’s homeland.

About one-third of the first batch of troops to go to the front lines were illegal immigrants and refugees. They were so desperate to obtain legal federal status that they could only do it this way.

The promise that the military had given them was five years. After five years, regardless of whether the war had ended or not, they would obtain the status of a federal citizen.

If they had an accident in the war, then their families could also become federal citizens.

Paul was such an illegal immigrant, who had smuggled in from the Empire.

In fact, the environment in the Empire was still okay. The stubborn resistance army was still fighting a guerrilla war with the imperial government, but most of the areas had begun to calm down.

Some people said that this was to accumulate strength for the next round of storms, while others said that that small group of resistance forces could not overturn anything.

The reason why Paul had come to the Federation was to make some money. Some of the people around him had smuggled to the Federation during the civil war and would mail some money back every once in a while.

Those families with someone in the Federation, in the social environment of the Empire, their status was a little higher than that of ordinary families!

Even the privileged class, when dealing with these people, would be much more polite than when dealing with those ordinary people.

All kinds of beautiful rumors about the Federation spread throughout the Empire. The Federation was full of money. As long as you were willing to bend down, even if you were washing dishes in a restaurant, you could buy a house in three months.

The Federation was full of opportunities. Even if you were a low-level salesman, you had a chance to become a senior partner of the company, or even a shareholder.

That was a place where wealth myths were staged every day. Many people entered the stock exchange with a hundred dollars, and when they came out, they already had a net worth of tens of millions!

Everything related to the Federation was attracting him. He wanted to go to the Federation, to live a good life, and to have his family also live a good life.

Now the cost of smuggling to the Federation had dropped a lot. The competition between the snakeheads had also become fierce. The price of 400 to send a person to the Federation had a fatal temptation for the people of the Empire who were eager to change their destiny.

If you squeeze a little, you can still squeeze out some.

Before Paul had come to the Federation, his parents had repeatedly叮嘱 him to make money and buy a house as soon as possible, and then bring their whole family over.

It was just that after coming to the Federation, life here was not as easy as they had imagined in the Empire. Every day, as soon as you opened your eyes, it was about spending money.

There was no problem with spending money, but the problem was that he couldn’t earn money.

He had registered at Lance’s firm and had an income, but he couldn’t save any money at all.

The matter of being able to afford a house by washing dishes for three months had been proven false by his personal experience. He had changed several jobs, and it was about the same. Because he did not have a legal identity in the Federation, his salary was only about twenty.

This was already the most reward he could get. As for working two jobs?

That was a good idea, but not realistic.

The Federation had not yet implemented a working hour limit. Almost all the places that hired people used them like livestock. Ten hours a day was just the beginning. There were also eleven hours, twelve hours.

After working for even just ten hours, did you still have the energy to work for another ten hours?

He also didn’t want to find a temporary job. The salary of a temporary job was too low, and there was no guarantee.

Just as he was doubting whether coming to the Federation was a right choice, his family was still writing to him, asking him to settle down as soon as possible and bring their whole family to the Federation to enjoy happiness.

The conscription had begun.

A soldier like him had an income of about seventy or eighty a month, and the treatment was also very good. He didn’t have to worry about not having enough to eat. Every meal had meat, but only a certain amount.

And after five years, he would automatically become a citizen of the Federation, and his family could also enjoy the care of these policies.

If he could last until the end of the war, then according to the contract he had signed with the military, after the war ended, if he was willing to stay in the army, the army would train him in the direction of an officer.

At that time, a hundred or two hundred a month would not be a problem.

This was a dangerous, but always hopeful job. Under the huge pressure of survival, he had signed up.

After a short period of training, now he and his Federation had arrived on the Tanfit continent.

It was still winter in the Federation at this time. In early February, the weather was still very cold. Although people had already begun to “predict” that spring was not far away, the cold air still made people can’t help but shrink their necks.

But on the Tanfit continent, the temperature was already 14 or 15 degrees.

After getting off the ship, Paul’s head was a little dazed. The instinct he had trained for the past few months prompted him to find his company and his position.

After the officer had counted the number of people, he had them get on the truck, which could also be called a troop transport.

This time, their destination was to build a defensive line fifty kilometers away.

The advance speed of the army of the Dantra Republic was very fast, and their firepower was very fierce. They had been constantly advancing.

The Slad people had placed the main battlefield in a more southern position. If the flank was broken by the Dantra people, it would have a fatal impact on the main battlefield.

Originally, they had planned to push their own army up to defend this area. After the Federation had joined the war, they had taken the initiative to take on the military task of defending this area, which had greatly reduced the pressure on the Slad flank.

This time their task was very heavy. The top brass of the military had also given them a death order. Even if the casualties exceeded 20%, they had to hold the defensive line.

Paul was pushed onto the truck in a daze. Then, in the swaying carriage, after a long journey of almost two hours, he finally arrived at the designated location.

He had already thrown up in the car. Many people had thrown up. It was too bumpy. Some sections of the road were even more bumpy than at sea.

The swaying at sea is “soft,” while the swaying on the ground is “hard.” This feeling is even more uncomfortable.

But fortunately, it was all over.

The officer of the company, after they had rested for ten minutes, immediately asked them to start building the battlefield fortifications. Paul was assigned to dig trenches.

In the trench warfare of this period, the trench still had a huge role.

Just like that, Paul, who had been a farmer since he was a child, after more than a year of torture, once again picked up a shovel and did the familiar work.

When there was no exchange of fire, everyone was nervous, but not that nervous. They could still talk and laugh.

When they were eating dinner at night, they were still talking about some of the things they would have to face later.

The people did not feel fear, and neither did Paul. He did not feel that he would die, at this moment.

He felt that the war was very close, but death was very far away, including the comrades-in-arms around him who had been in the army for several months.

He, and they, did not see themselves as a part of the number after the phrase “killed in action” in the war report.

This kind of life only lasted for two days. On the third day, they had discovered the enemy’s reconnaissance troops.

Some warhorses appeared in the distance. When they discovered these warhorses, the enemy’s reconnaissance troops seemed to have also discovered them.

The two sides observed each other from a long distance. Paul looked at the reconnaissance troops in the distance through the firing port he had built. “When do you think they will attack?”

The person next to him was also an illegal immigrant from the Empire, about the same as him, who had come to the Federation with a Federation dream and was eventually sent to the army.

The old compatriot laughed cheerfully. “Maybe in a few more days.”

Paul nodded. “It should be a few more days.”

They were just “hoping” that it would be a few more days later, and it would be best if it could be postponed until the war was over and they didn’t come.

In the evening, the sky had completely darkened. Some shadows that were moving in the dark were perfectly hidden in the night.

The wilderness is not a city, nor is it a flat square. The terrain here is too undulating, so much so that people simply cannot observe all the places.

There were several high-power searchlights on the defensive section, which would shine on the wilderness every once in a while.

But the world outside was too big. It was impossible to observe every inch of land. And those dark shadows, as long as they lay motionless at the necessary time, even if a light swept over them, no one would notice them.

Paul was not on the night shift tonight. He was already asleep. In his dream, he had realized his Federation dream.

He dreamed that the war was over, and he had made a contribution. When he was discharged from the army, he had received a large reward, and the army had also given him a house.

He had brought his family to the Federation. And because of his outstanding performance in the war, he had become a minor celebrity, and had also met many beautiful girls…

Just as he was dreaming of walking into the hall of marriage with that beautiful girl, and was about to make a contribution to the great cause of human reproduction, a sound of thunder suddenly came from the sky!

Everything in the dream world was rapidly fading and falling off. He woke up from his dream with some regret. The sound of an explosion sounded again. The piercing sound of a siren and the soldiers’ terrified “enemy attack” sounds came to his ear!

The enemy was attacking!

They had already gotten very close, and were using mortars. The battle broke out in an instant.

More than a dozen flares were shot into the sky. He looked up at the flares that were constantly rising and illuminating the entire wilderness in a daze. His officer hammered his steel helmet. “Go to the firing port, Paul!”

(End of a Chapter)