Empire of Shadows

The governor was certainly annoyed. Mayor Wade, holding the phone, felt a trace of embarrassment in addition to his annoyance.

It’s as if he’s some fucking great evil villain!

”Your Excellency Governor, I don’t know what your...”

His words were cut short by the governor. ”No, you know!”

”I don’t care what you and the lieutenant governor plan to do. Whether you want to kill him, or he wants to kill you, that’s your business.”

”But, Wade, before my ass has moved from that damn chair, you, all of you, have to maintain your respect for me!”

”I don’t really want to say this. It makes it seem like I’m powerless against you.”

”But Wade, you know, I’m not powerless against you. I just don’t want to get involved. Don’t push me, okay?”

”At least on this matter, it ends here.”

The hypocritical smile on Mayor Wade’s face gradually faded. This was not the result he wanted, but he knew that no matter what he said, as long as he didn’t stop, he would definitely be on the opposite side of the governor.His expression became very ugly. Although from the very beginning he had never really thought that this matter could make the lieutenant governor withdraw from the election directly, at least he should have obtained more battle results!

His army had already mounted the walls of the lieutenant governor’s city. Next was the time to enjoy the fruits of victory, but as a result, everything had been put on hold.

Where did the problem come from?

Now was not the time for him to think about these problems. He could only agree for now.

No matter how much of a chance he had to run for governor later, no matter how great his chances of winning were, at this moment, he was not yet that candidate, and the governor was still the governor.

As long as the governor was still the governor, he was also just a mayor!

”I understand, Your Excellency Governor.”

The governor breathed a sigh of relief. ”That’s for the best!”

He hung up the phone directly as he spoke. It could be seen that his mood was very bad now.

After Mayor Wade had hung up the phone, he sat there with a gloomy face. He held his forehead with both hands and thought for a long while. He always felt that he might have missed something.

That evening, a spokesperson for the Indeno State Prosecutor’s Office stated that they would investigate the currently circulating facts about some police officers in the state police department being suspected of corruption and crime.

The timing was still quite... unsightly. The law enforcers had become an evil force, which was very difficult for the citizens to accept.

The next morning, there were some spontaneous demonstrations in Red Rock City. They were holding signs in front of the state police department, on which were written their various demands.

Slogans such as ”severely punish the corrupt police” and ”drive the rats out of the cat’s team,” whenever someone passed by, especially when a person in a police uniform passed by them, their voices would become much louder, and each of them would be very excitedly holding up their signs.

In the morning, the director was driving by here. He also saw the demonstrators, and even more so, the reporters who were interviewing them nearby.

His emotions were stable throughout the whole process. Yesterday, after he had talked with the lieutenant governor, the tone of this matter had basically been set.

The evil corrupt police would be severely judged by the law, the governor who represented the glorious and righteous would be praised by the people, and he would also be investigated, and would be locked up for a period of time for using the wrong people and for dereliction of duty.

Today was no different from every other day. The sun rose from the east, and the sunlight filled the world.

But today was also a little different from the past, because his destiny, at this moment, had deviated from the right path he had once thought he was on, and had come to a fork in the road.

He had fought, but had failed.

Since he couldn’t change it, he would accept it silently.

After he had parked his car, he did not immediately enter the police department’s office building, but stood in the parking lot and smoked a cigarette, looking at the ordinary but representing a kind of power building. For a moment, he was filled with emotion.

A cigarette did not take too much time. After he had washed, he threw the cigarette butt on the ground and strode towards the first-floor lobby.

The moment he entered the first-floor lobby, the gazes of many police officers all looked at him.

There were puzzled ones, there were those waiting for some response, and there were also some indescribably meaningful ones.

He strode towards the elevator with a blank face. After he had entered the elevator, the order in the first-floor lobby finally returned to normal.

Just as he had arrived at his office and sat down, and the secretary was still reporting whose call had come in the morning, the phone on the desk rang.

He picked it up casually. It was a call from a certain section’s police captain.

The director had his secretary leave first. He explained to the phone for a while, and after confirming that this matter would not implicate this police captain, who was still working hard for the safety of the people and occasionally making a little money for himself, the other party hung up with a laugh.

Then the phone rang again. It was very lively. If they were not calling to ask if they would be implicated, but to care about him, the director would have been happier.

For a whole morning, he was dealing with these problems. By two or three in the afternoon, he had already appeased most of the police captains, making them believe that this was just an isolated incident.

No matter who the new director was, there would be no other accidents. Everything would be as usual.

In the afternoon, Police Captain Matthew’s police officers had arrived in Red Rock City. They had just parked their car in the police station when some of the prosecutors who had been waiting here for a long time showed their credentials and arrested them on the spot.

They had actually already known that this would be the result, so they did not resist.

The most important thing now was to accelerate the ”demise” of this matter!

Yes, this was what the governor wanted. A speedy trial, a speedy judgment, and a speedy conclusion to this case.

Only in this way could the public’s attention be diverted from the issue of corrupt police, and the influence of this matter could be minimized.

After these corrupt police had gone to the prosecutor’s side, they had begun to confess. They had chosen some of the things that could be confessed, for example, that they would, through some extortion methods, extort money and goods from the passing trucks.

But regarding the matter of them killing the drivers, they absolutely did not mention it. This was a bottom line that could not be mentioned.

The prosecutor’s side had received the instructions of the state’s attorney general and had not pressed for these related matters. The governor had already spoken, so the attorney general’s side would definitely have to follow the arrangement.

The speed of the interrogation was very fast. The prosecutor’s office had divided its forces into several routes, on the one hand interrogating these police officers, on the other hand going to collect ”legal evidence,” and at the same time, calling on the media for the ”fugitive” Police Captain Matthew to turn himself in as soon as possible.

Such an explosive piece of news had indeed immediately attracted the focus of public opinion in the entire state, but because it was only to this point, it did not on the contrary stir up a greater wave.

The next morning, all the major media had begun to report on the relevant content. Among them, a few media outlets, although they had more horrifying materials, had not released anything.

Behind this, there was actually a deeper political game and a filthy deal. The news group had gotten some benefits from the governor’s side.

The editor-in-chief had handed over the materials he had personally kept to the person sent by the governor. These cases would completely disappear in the long river of history.

Everything was as the governor needed it to be. This was just a case of a corrupt police officer. Although it made people lose face, it was just not good-looking.

So many police officers in the Federation, so many corrupt police officers. It was normal for the police of the state police to be corrupted!

A while ago, on the Golden State side, there had been several congressional meetings on the issue of police corruption, and also a congressional hearing. The federal ruling group had also discovered the problems in this, which showed that this was not a problem unique to a certain place, but a common problem!

It was just that some places had hidden it very well, and some places, for example, here in Indeno State, had been exposed.

The public’s discussion was very heated, but it was all within the scope that the governor needed.

On the third day after the incident, Police Captain Matthew had also taken the initiative to appear outside the state prosecutor’s office and had turned himself in.

At this point, the leader of the corrupt police had turned himself in, and some of the speculations and rumors in society had also lost their market.

Under the special permission of the governor, the media had conducted a ”highly transparent” report on this case throughout the whole process. Every step of the case, the evidence, the testimony, and the witnesses were all fully consistent, ensuring that there was no possibility of a miscarriage of justice, and at the same time, it had exposed a corrupt police interest group headed by Police Captain Matthew.

Because the case was progressing very smoothly, and no one was obstructing or disrupting the investigation and trial of the case, on December 5th, half a month had passed, and the case had been sent to the state court for final judgment.

Police Captain Matthew and his group were standing in the dock. After the defense of their defense lawyers, and a fierce court debate, in the end, their sentences ranged from ten to three years.

The one with a ten-year sentence, needless to say, was Police Captain Matthew. Some people might think that this sentence was too short, but at present, what they had found out, and had confirmed, was just some extortion.

It was very difficult to sentence these extortions very heavily. Considering the public opinion and social attention, and the degree of social participation, Police Captain Matthew’s ten-year sentence was a ten-year sentence with restrictions on sentence reduction and parole.

In other words, a twenty-year sentence for someone else might be out in eleven or twelve years. For him, this ten years was a solid ten years.

After the two days of trial had ended, all the defendants had stated that they would accept the result of the court’s handling and would not appeal.

After the media had reported this result, the public who had been paying attention to this matter had all expressed their appreciation and support for the state government.

Many people had said that they believed that the governor was a qualified government official, who could handle these problems in a timely and decisive manner, and had not tried to shelter anyone, even if these people were law enforcement officers...

In the morning, the sound of the bailiff’s footsteps had woken up Police Captain Matthew in his room. He stood up and watched as a few prison guards walked up to his cell. One of them was holding a shackle, a handcuff and a foot shackle, connected by a chain.

This kind of measure was often used for serious offenders. Matthew shook his head. ”Do we have to use this?”

He was no longer a police captain now. These bailiffs would not take care of his feelings. After the result of the trial had come out, he was just a criminal.

However, for the sake of the fact that in the past they were still in the same system, and colleagues in different work units, they nodded and explained.

”Your sentence is ten years. According to the standard, you have to use this.”

Matthew laughed twice. ”I’ve put it on others before, but I’ve never put it on myself. Is this thing comfortable to wear?”

The bailiff was so asked that he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. ”I’ve never worn it, but it’s definitely not so comfortable!”

Then they came in and put these things on Matthew. However, it could be seen that they did not really treat Matthew as an ordinary prisoner, at least not so tight.

He could feel these differences. He said thank you twice, and then slowly left the cell behind them.

Outside the court, he saw his brothers.

At this time, it was more or less a little awkward. He took a deep breath and waved his hand, which he could not lift. ”Did you sleep well last night?”

Some of the faces of his subordinates showed a smile. In fact, when they were together yesterday, they had talked about this matter.

They did not blame Matthew too much. After all, following Matthew all these years, they had also eaten, drunk, and played, and they had all saved a lot of money.

Matthew had previously mentioned to them that they should consider a way out, so each of them had opened an anonymous account.

There was also a lot of money stored in these accounts.

Some had saved ten or twenty thousand, some had saved thirty or fifty thousand, and there were even some who had put all their illegal gains into it!

These anonymous accounts would not be liquidated. In other words, after they had been out for two or three, three or five years, they would still be rich.

The wealth they held was still something that an ordinary family, let alone for a lifetime, could not obtain in two or three lifetimes!

Although there was a high probability that there would not be such a money-making opportunity in the future, at least they would not lose out.

A group of people got on the transport vehicle. Matthew sighed. ”This is the first time I’ve sat in here as a prisoner.”

The other subordinates all laughed. He wanted to create a very relaxed atmosphere.

Because he knew that this was not the most difficult part. The most difficult part was still to come—

The prison was very cruel to the police prisoners. The prisoners would find trouble with them for no reason. No matter if the prisoners they had sent in were in the same prison area with them, as long as they let those people know that they were the police, their trouble would be big.

Without a doubt, with the reports in society being so concentrated, there would definitely be someone in the prison who knew about this matter, and those who might have been extorted by him would also find a way to send a message inside.

For their this prison trip, the most dangerous part was the initial stage, how to gain a foothold in the prison and survive.

In the transport vehicle, he and these subordinates were talking about the things they had to do after they went in.

”The prison guards and we are not in the same system, so they may not, for the sake of us being police officers before, give us some help. On the contrary, they may be extra刁难 to us.”

”So remember, after you go in, no matter what we encounter, don’t resist. We have to cooperate with them, even if they want to poke your asshole!”

Although a prison guard is also a ”prison police,” with the title of ”police,” in fact, a prison guard belongs to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, while the state police, the local police, belong to the local government. They are all police, but they are definitely not in the same system.

The prison system is a very independent and closed environment. To rely on one’s former identity as a police officer to get some of their help is very difficult.

Matthew was not blindly optimistic. On this issue, he was on the contrary very vigilant.

The others did not understand the prison as well as Matthew. They all listened very seriously, because for the next period of time, they would be spending it in prison.

”...We must unite. When we encounter trouble, we must not shrink back. Even if you know you will be beaten, you have to show a fierce side.”

”A prison is a very primitive social environment. If you are like a woman, everyone will come after your ass!”

”But even if you are very weak, as long as you are ruthless enough, crazy enough, and can leave a scar on them,”

”When they want to provoke you, they will have to consider whether it’s worth it!”

Matthew’s words made everyone’s mood very heavy.

Matthew also realized this. He quickly clapped his hands and attracted their attention. ”The things I said are all the worst things that could happen. On the contrary, let’s think about it. This time we have so many people going in at once. In the prison, we can also be considered a not-so-small force.”

”Whether we join a certain gang, or remain neutral, we are all very weighty.”

”So you don’t have to worry too much. As long as we can unite, even in prison, we can live a good life!”

Everyone soon regained their confidence!

Next was the time for everyone to chat with each other. They were talking about some of the recent situation. Matthew had already seen his wife and children yesterday.

Although he was not very clear why his eldest son had not appeared, he would find a way to figure this out.

Although he already had some guesses in his heart, as long as his wife and the other two children were still there, he would not act recklessly.

From Red Rock City to the Indeno State prison, it was about three hundred kilometers. The state prison was built on a desert in the wilderness, and was surrounded by a no-man’s land of hundreds of kilometers.

This place was full of danger, in any season.

Although sometimes there were also prisoners who had escaped from here, most of them had died on the way to escape. The number of people who had truly escaped, since its establishment to this day, was only less than five.

This was actually already a relatively qualified prison in the Federation. There were some worse prisons that could have a dozen or so people escape every year, and were known as the ”shame of the Federation’s prisons.”

As for whether they had really escaped, or had been released in another form, no one was clear.

The car, after a morning’s drive, the people in the carriage were already a little drowsy.

A swaying car, for some reason, is always the best hypnotic tool, like a cradle, making people’s energy disappear particularly quickly.

On the entire highway, there was only this one car.

At first, when they were on the interstate highway, there were many cars coming and going, but when they got on the road to the prison, there were no people, and the environment also became quiet. Only the swaying car was driving slowly.

They did not urge the driver, but on the contrary, hoped to be able to stay in the last free environment for a little longer.

Matthew was also a little unable to hold on and tilted his head to close his eyes in his seat. The mental fatigue and anxiety of these few days had made him not have a good rest.

The bumpy seat was like the cradle pushed by his mother when he was a child. Unconsciously, he had fallen asleep.

It’s unknown how long he had slept before he seemed to be woken up by some sound.

He subconsciously looked around. This transport vehicle had suddenly stopped on the spot.

He looked sharply at the driver’s cab. In the cage-like driver’s cab, the driver was already gone, and even the escorting bailiffs were gone.

When he turned his head again, he saw more than a dozen cars, which were surrounding the entire transport vehicle...