Empire of Shadows

Frank didn’t sleep well all night.

For so many years, besides his close friends and relatives who would say “fuck you” to him when they were joking or venting their emotions, but not really meaning to curse him, this was the first time someone had truly cursed him.

He didn’t think Ted would say this to him. He knew Ted, a guy who could dedicate himself to the family.

It is worth mentioning that although Ted and Frank were about the same age, Ted was Frank’s nephew. A nephew would not curse an uncle who had taken care of him.

So this sentence must have been said by Lance.

He could feel this from the moment he had hung up the phone after saying it, Frank kept telling himself.

He had finally fallen asleep in a daze at two or three o’clock, and then had woken up early.

The maids were still preparing breakfast in the morning. After all, this was a large family, and even the dining room had three large dining tables—

The female relatives would dine at the long dining table on his right, the men of the family would dine at the long dining table on his left, and then the direct relatives, those with a better relationship, would dine with him at the same horizontal table.

The number of people dining every day would vary from dozens to a hundred. This was also one of the liveliest times in the manor.Most of the family members would arrive here around eight o’clock. They would start dining at 8:20, and would be completely finished by nine. The maids would take away all the food, regardless of whether you were full or not.

No one would come too early, because they couldn’t get up.

The Perez family was already at the upper level of the federal society, so their family members did not feel the pressure and urgency of this society on them.

No factory boss, no enterprise boss, would stand at the door of their work in the early morning with a dark face, holding a stopwatch and waiting for them to be late.

Nor did they need to think about where to work for the matter of pocket money.

Why do the family members of the upper class look quite good in their mental state?

It is because there is no pressure.

When a person has no pressure, they can grow better.

Before eight o’clock, Frank was already sitting at the dining table. Although the butler had also gotten up early, he had also rarely seen Frank get up so early. However, he reacted quickly. Immediately, someone ran out and then ran back.

“Master, here are today’s latest newspapers.”

Although Frank had no expression on his face, the butler knew that he was right.

For him to get up so early and not go to the study, not to other places, but to come directly to the dining room, there was a high probability that it was for today’s newspaper.

He also had the habit of reading the newspaper during breakfast. This was not a serious meal. Everyone could chat and also do other things.

He casually flipped through some. “Are there no newspapers from the Likalai State side?”

“Especially something like the Golden Port Today?”

The butler was stunned for a moment. “The Golden Port Today is a local newspaper and is not distributed in Golden State. But there is a Likalai State newspaper called the Likalai News.”

“I’ll have them send it over. If there is a Golden Port Today, I’ll have them send it over too.”

Frank nodded slightly. He casually picked up one of the newspapers. The front-page headline was still about the Federal Army having retaken a certain piece of lost land. He was not at all concerned about this.

Anyway, these lands had nothing to do with him, and had not much to do with the Federation either. Many people, especially those in the middle and upper classes, would sometimes be very confused.

The confusing part was this war. What did it have to do with them?

Why was it fought so tragically?

He didn’t know.

There was a part in it that he was interested in. For example, the Post had mentioned the problem of the federal government officials’ dereliction of duty and corruption. It mentioned that most of the multi-level government officials had the possibility of shirking responsibility and were suspected of official crimes.

The Federal Post was definitely the top newspaper in the Federation, and was also the newspaper with the longest distribution time in the country, bar none.

The current Federal Post had been split into two parts. One was its main body, which was the Federal Post, which would only report on serious news and political news. The president of the group that had taken over had set a good development direction.

At the same time, they had started a supplementary publication to publish all kinds of non-serious news of an entertainment nature, which had won many people’s good friends.

The main publication, with its “professionalism,” “authority,” “timeliness,” and “secrecy,” had become a newspaper that people who were sensitive to politics in the Federation had to subscribe to.

This kind of boring newspaper had no value in the eyes of most people, but in the eyes of a few, it represented the main trend of Congress in the next three months to two years.

This piece of news about the officials’ dereliction of duty and crime did not make Frank find anything he was interested in. Then he flipped to the next page. On it, it was mentioned that because of the war, the Federation and the allied forces needed a large amount of supplies.

This might be able to press the pause button on the rapidly declining federal industrial economy and let it go up again!

Frank read this piece of news with great confidence and seriousness. After all, the Perez family also had many legitimate businesses, and he would also be concerned about this.

Perhaps those ordinary people had never imagined that a high-level gangster boss not only had to have a smart mind, but also had to be concerned enough about national affairs.

At 8:10, some of the family members, the kinsmen with a lower status, had already arrived in advance.

In any large family, there are always those who are stereotyped and dogmatic. They always advocate all kinds of traditions, for example, that the young people should come early and the like.

These people who arrived early were basically those who were not so influential in the family and whose voices were not loud enough.

Like Robin, even if he didn’t come, those old men wouldn’t say anything.

The people all greeted Frank one after another. Frank also put down his newspaper and dealt with his family.

The butler brought a few newspapers and handed them all to Frank.

Frank casually picked one up. The Likalai News could also be considered a serious news newspaper. Because this was Golden State, the only ones that could be distributed here were the serious newspapers, and… the Tide Newspaper.

The circulation of the Tide Newspaper was very amazing in the entire Federation. Before, they had liked to use tits as the cover content, but after being complained about too much, they had changed to the waist and butt, but doing so seemed to be even better for the sales.

Sometimes they would also report on serious news, when the content of the news was more important.

So when Frank did not find what he wanted to see in the Likalai News, and then looked at the next newspaper, he turned his head to look at the butler, as if he were silently expressing “give me an explanation.”

“Uh… they said there might be what you want in here. The Tide Newspaper has always been known for being bold. They dare to report on anything, as long as these things can attract people’s attention.”

“In Likalai State, Lance and the Lance Family are undoubtedly one of the most eye-catching elements.”

In front of so many family members, Frank couldn’t just face his family with a cover that showed a butt with a canyon and a cat. He used the Likalai News to cover the Tide Newspaper. He was going to the study to read it.

“Let’s eat first!”

At 8:20, those who could come had basically all come. After a speech from the family’s devout lamb of God, “Thank God for giving me food, otherwise I would have starved to death,” Frank picked up his knife and fork, rolled up a small piece of bacon, speared it with his fork, dipped it in the runny egg yolk, and then put it in his mouth.

Only then did the entire dining room hear the dense sound of knives and forks colliding, or the sound of knives and forks rubbing against the plates.

Frank had finished his meal very early today. He had only had a little, some bean puree, and some beef, and had left.

He went to his study and began to flip through the Tide Newspaper. The newspaper did indeed talk about the shooting that had occurred in the suburbs of Golden Port City, but the fucking reporter had written it into a story, which made it impossible for people to tell whether this was a piece of news, or just a story!

He could imagine that after seeing this newspaper, even if some people still had doubts, they would no longer be confused now.

Especially the passage in it—

“Lance faced two hundred fully armed enemies alone. He only had two handguns in his hands. He was not afraid at all, and even provoked them!”

“Everyone thought he was a dead man, but a second later, only he was left standing…”

Fuck!

Even if he were carrying two cannon barrels, he couldn’t have killed two hundred people in one second!

Seeing this report, he actually already knew very well.

It had happened, but the impact was not big enough.

He called some people he knew on the Likalai State side again, and asked them to inquire about whether a fierce gun battle, a conflict, had broken out in Golden Port City yesterday.

Just then, Robin happened to knock on the door and came in. He saw the newspaper that his old man had placed in front of him, looked at the huge butt and the cat on it, and the whole person suddenly fell silent.

Frank had not yet realized this. It was not until he found that his favorite son’s gaze was on the newspaper in front of him that he cursed and threw the newspaper into the trash.

“If I say it’s not what you think, can you understand?”

Robin looked back at the door outside. He took the initiative to close the door well. “I can understand. I’m a man too…”

“Fuck, you don’t understand at all!”

“I was looking in the newspaper for news of Ted in Golden Port City yesterday. He’s finished, you know?”

“But not a single piece of news has come out. This is not normal!”

“If Lance hadn’t told me he was finished, I wouldn’t even have known he was finished!”

Robin’s expression also became serious. “Are they that strong?”

Frank shook his head. “It’s not a matter of whether they are strong or not. The entire city is their people. I just hoped that Ted could make the scene a little bigger, but now it seems that he was eaten by Lance without a sound.”

“Of course, this doesn’t mean that Lance is very strong. If he came to our place, we could also do this.”

“But our plan will be affected a little.”

His face was very serious, and besides being serious, it was also not very good-looking. The reason was very simple.

Two people of equal strength stabbing each other, the mediator can ask them to “each take a step back.”

But if it’s just a one-sided beating, this strategy won’t work!

(End of a Chapter)