Empire of Shadows

Ms. Debbie’s words had sunk into the hearts of these people. Now they couldn’t find a job, and at the same time, they were burdened with a huge debt.

When this was mentioned, everyone’s mood became dejected.

”It’s all because of the Labor Federation!” When she had said this sentence, which everyone had already guessed in their hearts, in an instant, they seemed to have found a kind of... a target?!

Before this, it wasn’t that they hadn’t considered this matter, but the Labor Federation was too big, and they had also sent staff to do the aftermath work.

They had helped them to solve some problems, besides the most important one, the problem of money.

This also made it a little difficult for them to make things difficult for the United Labor Federation, which had also led to the fact that in the end, they could only bear these ”harms.”

Now that Ms. Debbie had directly said that all of this was caused by the Labor Federation, everyone’s mood had become a little excited.

”You’re right, Ms. Debbie. If it weren’t for the fact that the Labor Federation had planned and demanded that we participate in this strike and parade, we would not have been injured, we would not have lost our jobs, and we would not have been burdened with heavy loans!”

A worker was complaining loudly, which had caused more workers to begin to echo. Soon, they had reached a consensus on this issue, to blame the fucking Labor Federation!

This was the ”interview mission” that Lance had given to Ms. Debbie. She needed to, in her capacity as a former official of the Labor Federation, to lead these injured people and to directly attack the Labor Federation!If at this time a worker appeared, or a person who had some relationship with this matter, but whose relationship was not so deep, and blamed the bad outcome on the Labor Federation, there was a high probability that this would not form a storm. The speed at which the Labor Federation handled these problems was the same as the speed at which the federal government silenced people, which was a little ridiculously fast.

But if a former mid-level official of the Labor Federation were to, with a large group of people whose lives and work were difficult to sustain because of this failed strike, to stand up and to attack the Labor Federation, then someone would definitely pay attention to them.

This matter was not so easy to do.

Because once she had made a decision, what she had to face was the currently largest political group in the Federation, the Labor Federation, which was claimed to have a great unity of twenty million worker brothers!

This kind of pressure had also made Ms. Debbie feel a huge pressure.

However, he had still chosen to do it. His husband was one of the main triggers. She would make herself look stronger, and she would prove that that man had done a stupid thing!

She looked at these people, whose emotions had already been pushed to a suitable position, and then she opened her mouth and said, ”We have to tell the truth. This money should not be borne by us. This money should be paid to you by the Labor Federation, or the latter, the union.”

”They asked you to go on strike, and you did. But you were injured. Shouldn’t they be responsible for the medical expenses?”

”They always say we are brothers and sisters, but they are always deceiving us, treating us as chess pieces.”

”I can’t stand it. I’m going to stand up and tell the media and the public the truth. What about you?”

She looked at these people. ”I will hire professional lawyers to fight the lawsuit for us, but I will only do it for ’us’.”

This sentence was already very clear. She had put an emphasis on the word ”we,” to let people realize that if they wanted to get justice with her, they had to stand with her.

”I’m in,” someone immediately raised his hand to show that he was willing to become a part of ”us.” He owed the hospital more than 1,700, because of the complexity of the surgery and the difficulty of recovery.

He had not only emptied the savings of several families, but had also mortgaged his own house, and had just barely paid this money.

Now he couldn’t find any job. If he couldn’t even pay the interest from the high-interest loan within a year, the financial company’s side would change the property certificate and take away his house!

The people here were all like Auge. A dozen or so years of hard work, just because they had participated in a strike, and had stayed in a hospital, it was all gone!

Before, they had no way to vent, but now they had!

Soon, all six people had chosen to participate, but Ms. Debbie shook her head again. ”Just us is not enough. We need more people to stand on our side. We need to expand our momentum.”

”This is not a responsibility that we should bear ourselves. If a factory hires us to work, and we are injured, the factory will bear our medical expenses. This is a work injury.”

”Now the Labor Federation and the union have hired us to go on strike, and we are injured. This is also a work injury. The union and the Labor Federation should pay the medical expenses.”

”But we have too few people. We have to go and contact more people, and to unite all the forces that can be united!”

Ms. Debbie’s tone gradually became a little excited. ”The great unity of the working class, brothers, we can unite and fight against the capitalists, and we can also unite and fight against all the unjust phenomena!”

”I will arrange for lawyers to help you with the registration and the collection of evidence. What you need to do now is to find the people who have been injured, and who are willing to stand up with you. We are going to sue the Labor Federation, and also the union!”

”We can’t let us pay for the mistakes of others. This is not fair!”

Ms. Debbie, after saying these words, felt that her body was full of strength!

She could kill a cow with one punch now!

The six people who had been infected by her emotions had also soon left her villa. They were going to contact the brothers and sisters who were facing the same fate as them. They were going to unite everyone, just as Ms. Debbie had said, and to fight against all injustices!

Lance had soon arranged for a legal team to cooperate with Ms. Debbie’s work. Although the lawyers had not found any legal provisions that supported the fact that those who were injured in a parade had to be responsible for by the organizers, at the same time, they had also not found any provisions or precedents that did not support doing so!

The thing about the law has a characteristic, and that is a lag.

To put it simply, it is only after a specific event has occurred that the law will be updated.

For example, in a primitive society, there was no definition of the crime of murder. It was only when a person within a tribe had killed one of their own that the crime of murder and the explanation and the method of handling it would appear.

Just like now, the express provisions of the laws of the Federation did not mention the legal joint relationship between the organizers of a parade and the participants, so this case would not necessarily lose. On the contrary, there was a great chance of winning, and it might also promote the revision and update of the laws on parades!

Of course, the final result was also related to wealth and connections. To push for the legislation of the Department of Justice, and to make a judicial interpretation at the appropriate time, you had to have connections in the Department of Justice.

Those who believed that the people of the Federation all obtained their status by their own ability and by their own ability certainly did not know that the major law firms of the Federation all had people in the Department of Justice, and they were also the kind with high positions and great power.

Otherwise, on what basis could they help the rich to win the lawsuits that were certain to be lost?

On the basis of their professional ability?

To talk about professional ability, they were really not necessarily the strongest, but their relationship ability was definitely top-notch.

The victory or defeat of a lawsuit is always outside the courtroom!

This case involved the Labor Federation, so the Department of Justice’s side did not need Lance to personally go and clear the connections. Senator Cleveland would arrange for someone to get the matter done.

So what he needed to do was to pay.

This case would be very far-reaching. It might also require some of the people who had been injured in previous parades and demonstrations to appear in court to testify, so this required a large amount of investigation work.

The chief lawyer of the legal team had told Lance that this case might take a year or two to fight.

Because they were facing the Labor Federation, and the Labor Federation would not give up easily.

To this, Lance did not have much of an opinion. Let alone one or two years, three or five years would be fine. Anyway, he did not have to personally keep an eye on this matter.

In mid-May, the case of the refugee attack on the demonstrators was tried in the Golden Port City court.

Originally, the Labor Federation’s side had wanted to move this trial to a circuit court, but the circuit court’s side had said that this was a local case.

Only after the local court’s trial was over, and if one of the parties did not agree with the result, could the circuit court hold a trial.

On the day of the trial, the court was full of people. People all wanted to know the result of this trial, although most of them already had an accurate prediction of the result.

Lance had also come to watch the trial. As a person of Golden Port, he also had a natural tendency to watch the fun.

What was interesting was that Carl’s position was in front of his, and around him were all the people of the Lance Family.

What Lance found interesting was that he had also seen Director Derek (the director of the Golden Port branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation). The two had even nodded to each other and had said hello.

Looking at the smiling Director Derek, Lance knew that this guy did not have any good intentions. He must have come with the idea of collecting evidence.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation... Lance had already had someone inquire. They had updated the new official configuration in many of the important cities across the country. Golden Port City was not the only one, or a few isolated cases.

It seemed that this was indeed a group plan, but Lance always felt that at least Director Derek was coming for him.

He had this premonition. At the same time, the name of this department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, also made him feel uncomfortable.

They would definitely clash in the future. Although Director Derek was hiding himself very well now, he believed that they would definitely have a chance to be opponents in the future.

There were also many ordinary people at the scene, as well as some reporters, and a small number of refugees.

This should have been a public prosecution, but the Labor Federation, in order to interfere more in this case and to influence its direction, had reasonably, through judicial procedures, become one of the co-plaintiffs.

With a co-plaintiff, and with the Labor Federation’s side sending their own legal team, and after a discussion with the prosecutor’s side, the prosecutor’s side would no longer participate in the trial as a public prosecutor.

So now the lawyer who was present on the plaintiff’s side was a person arranged by the Labor Federation.

And on the defendant’s side, it was a free lawyer.

The purpose of this trial was to let them accept the punishment of the law, not to let these attackers escape the punishment of the law, so the more ordinary their lawyer, the better.

As for whether a ordinary lawyer could turn a defeat into a victory, the possibility could be said to be absolutely zero.

With the arrival of the judge, after everyone had stood up, they sat down again, and the trial officially began.

This time, because it involved a criminal case, there were members of the jury here.

With the lawyer on the Labor Federation’s side beginning to exert his force, everyone could clearly feel that the free lawyer on the defendant’s side was even having trouble speaking.

This was actually quite normal.

The legal profession is also a profession where talent is scarce. A good lawyer, as long as he is discovered, will soon be recruited by a major law firm.

Like these free lawyers, they were basically those who could not find a suitable job after graduation and could only muddle through in court.

They had no desire to win or lose. They just wanted to muddle through this life.

After a series of ”attacks,” the free lawyer had finally run out of health and had died suddenly.

Next was the free-play time for the plaintiff’s lawyer. The free lawyer, besides occasionally shouting ”I object,” basically had nothing else to do.

Anyone with a discerning eye knew that this case had basically been decided. These refugee attackers would definitely not be able to escape a ”guilty” verdict.

And at this very moment, the plaintiff’s lawyer suddenly asked, ”Such a neat attack, it doesn’t look like it was formed spontaneously at all. There must be someone behind the scenes, who has organized the whole case. Am I right?”

He did not wait for the defendant’s lawyer to shout ”I object” again, nor did he wait for the judge to stop him. He directly looked at one of the defendants. ”...Am I right?”

The defendant he had greeted, before the trial, had already seen his ”defense lawyer,” and had also seen his family.

His family had told him that they were very well now, had already moved to a state in the central Federation to live, and both family members had been arranged with a decent job, with a combined monthly income of about ninety.

They had also all gotten a legal identity—

The energy of the Labor Federation was very great. Otherwise, it would not have been regarded as ”a huge trouble” by Congress. They had a great say in the ”talent introduction.”

They had entrusted a company with a very good relationship with them to hire the two family members of this attacker in the name of ”talent introduction,” and had also applied for ”talent immigration” to the federal government, which had been approved.

Whether this so-called talent was real or not, the Labor Federation itself was one of the certification institutions. They had directly granted these two ordinary people a high-level title, and the federal government had approved it.

All of a sudden, the whole family had become people of the Federation, and had also gotten a high-income, decent job. The Labor Federation had fulfilled their promise.

So at this moment, he did not hesitate, nor did he have any room for hesitation. He directly nodded. ”Yes.”

The courtroom was in an uproar. The main ones in an uproar were the ordinary people.

During the trial just now, these defendants had claimed that they had attacked the parading and demonstrating public because they had felt a threat.

The main target of this strike and parade was them, these refugees and illegal immigrants. They were afraid that because of the pressure of the parade and demonstration, they would have no hope of survival, so they had spontaneously begun to attack the parade team, which had led to the final tragedy.

But now someone had admitted that they had been organized. This had made many of the story-listening public exclaim that there was actually a fucking twist!

Carl, who was sitting in the gallery, squinted his eyes slightly. The refugee who had taken refuge with the Labor Federation also saw Carl, but he was not very afraid. On the contrary, he pointed in Carl’s direction and said, ”It was him, it was him who organized us!”

People’s gazes went past Carl and fell on Lance. Lance, on the contrary, seemed very calm. The people were very pleasantly surprised, or rather, terrified!

Can they fucking listen to this?

Just as they were suspecting whether they would be killed as an eyewitness for hearing something they shouldn’t have, Carl, who was sitting in front of him, suddenly stood up. ”This is a slander!”

His voice was very loud. For some reason, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They looked at Carl with a friendly look in their eyes, hoping that he could say a little more.

Carl also felt inexplicable. What was with these people’s gazes?

However, he quickly came back to his senses. ”What evidence do you have to say that I organized you?”

The defendant was still about to say something, but the judge had already come back to his senses at this time. He forcefully slammed his gavel. ”Order!”

The courtroom immediately became quiet. His gaze lingered on that defendant for a moment. Just as he was about to say something, the plaintiff’s lawyer stood up.

”Your Honor, I suggest that the defendant’s confession be used as a supplementary evidence, and that the cases be handled together!”

His demand was to drag Carl into this case. From the legal team’s point of view, to let Carl become a person who was interrogated, and to be imprisoned with these criminals, would be helpful for some of the stubborn people among them to start to reconsider the choice.

To suppress a person’s authority, the simplest method is to chain him with a dog. Simple, brutal, but effective!

This was what they wanted to do. To have Carl, who was high and mighty in their eyes, be locked up and interrogated. This way their attitude, their stance, would change, which would be helpful for them to take down Carl, and would more likely affect Lance.

It was just a pity that this was Golden Port City.

The judge had struck his gavel again. ”We are unable to identify whether the defendant’s testimony is a lie, and whether there is sufficient evidence to prove that his accusation is valid, so the issue of whether Carl is the organizer will be investigated separately.”

”Now we will continue the trial with the completed trial work.”

He looked down at the documents in front of him. ”The plaintiff and the defendant will give their closing arguments.”

The lawyers on the plaintiff’s side had discussed it a little. They had time to prepare for their closing arguments, which was allowed by the law.

They had also communicated with the people that Mr. Walter had arranged to be at the scene, and had decided not to protest the judge’s decision.

Although they were very unwilling, it was not easy for them to achieve this on someone else’s turf!

To want to take down Carl in court?

Absolutely impossible!

After a short discussion, the two sides then gave their closing arguments, and then the jury began to discuss.

A few minutes later, the jury had unanimously found the defendants guilty.

Next was the matter of the judge sentencing them.

Because the facts of the case were clear, the evidence was sufficient, and in addition, the defendant had directly pleaded guilty, so there was no disagreement. The judge’s side also had a very fast sentencing. It was basically more than ten years.

With the final fall of the gavel, this trial was over.

A reporter had taken a photo of the scene as it was dispersing. The victors did not seem to have the smile that a victor should have on their faces.

And Carl, and Lance behind him, as the possible losers who were related to the case, on the contrary, had a hint of a smile on their faces.