Empire of Shadows

An adult’s time always passes quickly, not to mention the busy work.

At a little after seven in the evening, the liquor dealer, with his flat cap pulled low and his neck hunched, came to a roadside restaurant. He ordered a set meal, then stood there and glanced around, and then walked towards a table in the corner where there were already guests.

Elvin had also just walked in from outside. He casually chose a set meal, then picked a position that was still easy to observe, and then sat down.

After a day of observation, this liquor dealer was just a low-level “distributor.” His job was to receive the goods, and then sell them in small batches. He couldn’t even be considered a wholesaler, but was just at the very bottom of the entire sales chain.

There was no point in catching him, so Elvin had decided to continue to let him be, and to catch the person behind him.

Originally, they had not planned to risk entering the restaurant, because after coming in this time, it meant that Elvin could no longer do any tracking activities in the future.

At least he could not be in charge of any activities that might have a face-to-face encounter with this liquor dealer. This was indeed not very appropriate for them, who were already short on manpower.

But they had seen from outside that the liquor dealer had actually gone to a table with guests. Elvin had immediately concluded that the liquor dealer and these people might know each other.

As the “brain” of the team, the commander, he could not participate in the front-line actions, so he had walked in directly.

He walked to the side of the bar and sat down. The distance from the liquor dealer was not too far, about seven or eight meters. He could feel that the person at his table was staring at him.Elvin did not look back, but smiled at the waitress. “What do you recommend today?”

The waitress, with her hands on her hips, looked at him. After looking for a while, she finally said, “Beef and bean rice.”

Elvin quickly found this “beef mixed with mixed bean rice” in the menu. He nodded. “This is it.”

In fact, the main area where rice was currently eaten in the Federation was only the southern region. The north was still dominated by bread, wheat, and beans. They did not eat rice.

Rice was a very strange thing for the people of the Federation. Its appearance was not the result of the diversification of the federal people’s diet, but was purely caused by the complex omnivorous nature brought by the immigrant groups.

Many of the immigrants were rice-eaters. The restaurants they opened, the food they made, would all have the style of the immigrants.

And they had begun to let the federal people in the south start to accept rice.

However, they had not completely accepted it. Just like this restaurant, their rice was not pure rice. It was also mixed with a lot of mixed beans.

There was also another kind that was mixed with wheat kernels, potatoes, and carrots.

But maybe it wouldn’t take long before they would start to get used to eating pure rice.

The business of this restaurant was not bad. The shops that could operate and survive in a small city all had their own unique skills.

Some of the more popular foods were all prepared in advance, so Elvin did not have to wait for too long.

When a plate of mixed bean rice was drizzled with a thick beef sauce, and a large spoonful of minced beef was placed on the rice, even if Elvin had something on his mind, he was still stimulated by the rich aroma of beef and rice and swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

“Damn, it looks delicious!”

“Get me another glass of… tropical fruit juice.”

Then he lowered his head and began to enjoy these cheap but delicious food.

The two people in the corner withdrew their gazes, and then looked at the liquor dealer sitting opposite them.

The liquor dealer took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it over. “Business wasn’t so good today. Only 415.”

One of the bigger guys took the envelope, took out half of the banknotes inside, counted them simply, and then took out forty-two dollars and handed it over.

The other person, while enjoying his dinner, said, “Everyone’s business is not good after the Harvest Festival. you’ve done well enough.”

“After you’ve sold the goods in your hand, the other goods are placed in this position. This is the key.”

He handed over a card. On the card was recorded some addresses, and on it was also inserted a key.

The liquor dealer took the address and glanced at it. It was not too far from the place where he had sold things today. He was a little puzzled. “Why can’t we just sell in one place?”

“Many customers won’t be able to find us!”

“To be honest, I’ve already lost some customers. I believe they still want wine, but they can’t find me.”

The guy sitting opposite him shook his head. “That’s not your problem. Your problem is to sell the wine better.”

“Listen, we’re not making things difficult for you, and we’re giving you a chance to make money. You shouldn’t be asking about things that are of no benefit to you, understand!”

The guy opposite him patted the liquor dealer’s cheek with his somewhat greasy hand. “Don’t cause trouble for yourself!”

The liquor dealer’s expression was not so happy, but he held it back.

These two were both state police. He was actually already a little suspicious now. This wine might have been secretly taken out of a warehouse and sold by these guys.

So they had torn off the labels and were selling it secretly.

This kind of thing had happened more than once or twice.

It was just that in the past, they had rarely come into contact with wine. In the past, they had come into contact with all kinds of small electrical appliances or daily necessities, food, and the like.

This time, it seemed that they had caught a big fish.

However, the liquor dealer did not continue to ask anything. As long as he could make money, it was fine.

The other person signaled that he could leave. He said his goodbyes to the two, and then stood up and quickly left.

Elvin was still sitting at the bar and had not left. He planned to continue to keep an eye on these two for a while. As for the liquor dealer?

The people outside would continue to keep an eye on him.

For a whole night, these two had met a dozen or so people, and then they had left, and had been directly tracked to the place where they were temporarily living, a middle-class community.

Because you needed someone’s permission, or to register, to enter and leave this community, Elvin did not continue to follow them in.

In the evening, their two cars were parked on two different lanes. As soon as the day broke, they got up and continued to keep an eye on them. It was not until a little after seven that they saw the car from last night drive out of the community—they had remembered the license plate number, which was not difficult.

But when Elvin saw clearly the two people sitting inside, he couldn’t help but curse.

“Son of a bitch…” he signaled for the other car to follow, while he himself went to another street, found a public phone booth, and dialed Lance’s number.

Lance was talking with James (Mayor Williams’s eldest son, a municipal councilman) about the labor support for the new industrial district.

Now Lance’s labor introduction agency was very popular among the capitalists. Everyone wanted to hire this kind of worker that they didn’t have to worry about. The two sides were actively in contact about this matter.

There was a small problem on Mayor Williams’s side. The problem was that if they completely used Lance’s workers, it meant that the unemployment rate of the locals would rise.

Whether a politician in the Federation has a loud voice depends entirely on how much of an approval rating he has.

And Mayor Williams did not just want to do this for a few years. He wanted to completely consolidate the power of the Williams family in Golden Port City before he stepped down, so he was in great need of an approval rating.

He himself was a little busy, so he had James come over and talk to Lance, which could also be considered a test for James.

“Sorry, I have to take a call.”

Lance’s hand was on the receiver. James immediately stood up. “I’ll go for a smoke.”

Lance smiled and had someone take him to the lounge next door, and then he answered the phone. “This is Lance.”

“Lance?”

“Me, I’ve found a problem that I don’t know how to describe. You would never have thought who this wine came from.”

Lance laughed twice. “It couldn’t have come from the Bureau of Hazardous Materials!”

“Although it’s not right, it’s about the same.”

“Yesterday we found the distributor’s superior, and then we have been keeping an eye on them. Just now I saw them go out in police uniforms.”

“They are the police!”

Lance was stunned for a moment. This was indeed something he hadn’t thought of.

He had thought of many possibilities.

For example, the local gangs were envious of his batch of goods. After all, it was worth several hundred thousand, and the market price was around two million. Someone was envious, and then they had robbed their goods.

It was also possible that it was directly a case of black-on-black. The compatriots from the neighboring state were very unscrupulous and wanted to do a business with no capital, and had directly swallowed both the people and the goods.

Including him, he had also thought that it was possible that the Bureau of Hazardous Materials had found their transport truck, and then had detained both the people and the goods. He had even had Dale go and inquire.

But now, he knew the answer. It was the police.

“The police robbed our goods?”

He took out a cigarette case and pressed it. The ivory cigarette case immediately separated. He took a cigarette from it with one hand and put it to his lips, and then lowered his head and lit it with the desktop lighter on the desk. “Continue to investigate. See how many people are involved. Don’t alert them. I have to think about what to do.”

Elvin agreed. “I will be as careful as possible.”

The two communicated for a while more. Lance decided to send more people over. He was not at ease with just Elvin and these people.

Once a law enforcement department is involved, the confrontation will become difficult.

If you harm them, you are assaulting a police officer, which is a serious crime. The local law enforcement department, including the ordinary people, and the gangs, can all attack you.

But if they harm you, they don’t have to bear any responsibility. They can just find a random reason to arrest you. Even if they secretly kill you, there will be no after-effects.

Lance was not familiar with the Indeno State side, and he didn’t have any strong connections there. Now it was not suitable for Elvin to make a big move. He had to think carefully about what to do.

After hanging up the phone, he thought for a moment. He didn’t have any good ideas. If this matter were to disturb Senator Cleveland, it would be a bit… to make him look incompetent.

For a time, he was a little at a loss.

“Go and ask Mr. James to come back. Just say my call is over.”

Not long after, James came back from the lounge next door with a smile on his face. Seeing his “future successor of Golden Port City” look, for some reason, a flash of inspiration seemed to have flashed through Lance’s mind.

“Councilman Wade… what state did he go to?”

(End of a Chapter)