Empire of Shadows

In the morning, a passenger ship from the Federation slowly docked at Zhuolan’s pier. As the gangway was lowered, a steady stream of guests from the Federation, carrying luggage, arrived.

This scene was happening all over Yalan.

The negotiations between the Yalan League and the Federation were still ongoing. Only a portion of the cooperation content had been agreed upon previously; there were still more cooperation matters to be discussed.

For example, the Federation was currently seeking to obtain the mining rights for two oil fields in the Yalan region. Extracting oil was not a simple matter. Currently, only two small oil fields in all of Yalan had their reserves confirmed and were being exploited.

As for the others, whether explored or unexplored, or even undiscovered, they were all waiting for their masters to arrive.

They couldn’t produce the equipment to exploit oil fields themselves, let alone build oil storage tanks and pipelines that met safety standards. They could only rely on the Federation.

The federal government wanted to buy these oil fields and exploit them independently, but the Yalan League believed they should be jointly developed, even if their share was smaller.

The capital groups, mainly several major oil giants from the Federation, were still in consultations with them. It was estimated that it would be difficult to get any good results in the short term.

Everyone was very clear on one point: oil is a huge profit!

The federal conglomerates couldn’t possibly pay them according to the confirmed reserves and buy these oil fields.What they could pay was only a small fraction of the cash value of the oil field’s total reserves, maybe one-tenth, or even less!

Besides the oil fields, there were many other opportunities that had always existed here. This attracted more and more ”gold prospectors” to this land, seeking the possibility of getting rich.

The largest number of people probably went to the Jede Republic. The Jede Republic, as the most powerful country in the Yalan region, already had some industrial foundation, and they were very welcoming of investment.

As long as you found the right project, you wouldn’t have to worry about achieving a class leap quickly. This kind of unequal trade was always a huge profit, for the merchants.

Just like the drug smuggling business Christopher had done with some backward royal families, a special medicine that cost a few dollars per dose in the Federation could be exchanged for an equal weight in gold, or even several times its weight in gold, in those countries.

This was why so many people were keen on smuggling back and forth between two civilizations of different levels.

Everyone hoped that they could become the most successful one, and thus reach the pinnacle of their lives.

Large capital forces or teams had a greater development in the Jede Republic, while those small teams or individuals were not very suitable to look for opportunities in the Jede Republic.

They couldn’t, like the teams that were capital themselves, have a deeper discussion about supply and marketing prices, about rules. What they could talk about was all based on the foundation given to them by capital.

They couldn’t compete with those big capitals, or big teams. On the contrary, a relatively backward place like Rapa, or similar surrounding countries, was more suitable for them.

One after another, faces filled with hope and yearning appeared on the gangway, and soon they merged into the crowd, and integrated into this city.

Perhaps they could realize their dreams here, but it was also possible that this would be the place where another nightmare in their lives began.

Who knows?

Lance’s gaze had been fixed on the gangway. From the very crowded crowd at the beginning, to now when there were not many people, he gradually frowned.

But in the next moment, his brows relaxed, and a few more smiles appeared on his face. He pushed open the car door and walked out.

Hiram appeared on the gangway. He looked down, and when he saw Lance, he also, with a smile on his face, ran down the gangway, and hugged Lance who had come up to welcome him.

He used a lot of strength, so much so that Lance even felt a little suffocated. He had no choice but to pat Hiram’s back and shoulders. ”Let go of me, you bastard!”

”Haha!” Hiram laughed and released his arms, and took two steps back. He sized up Lance, and Lance was also sizing him up.

Hiram was clearly a lot fatter. Lance pinched his arm. ”Has Elvin been feeding you fodder?”

”I feel that your whole person is a circle fatter than before.”

As soon as this was mentioned, the smile on Hiram’s face immediately faded a lot, and he began to complain, ”I was so idle over there that I had nothing to do. Every day, besides eating, I was sleeping, God!”

New Birmingham was not a fast-paced, lively city.

Although from the second half of last year until now, the development of the city seemed to be accelerating, because many gangs would come here to buy whiskey, which had driven some of the local economic development.

But even so, the city was still very boring. It simply couldn’t be compared with Golden Port City. Every day, he could only kill time in the boring city.

”So I came here to have a look. They say you have a lot of work to do here.”

There were also many people behind Hiram. They were all carrying that kind of a square box, and their uniform attire made them look very intimidating.

Lance’s gaze lingered on their bodies one by one, and then he greeted them. Then, as he was walking, he answered Hiram’s question, ”Indeed, in these few days, I can find something for you to do.”

Hiram was suddenly full of energy. ”Who are we killing?”

”That what’s-his-name Diego?”

”I promise I can shoot him full of holes!”

Lance rolled his eyes. ”No, some disobedient locals.”

He took the initiative to open the car door and let Hiram get in, and then he got in himself. ”I need you to give them a lesson from the Federation.”

These people of Rapa did not know that a madman had landed. They were still protesting to the factory.

They simply couldn’t adapt to the high-intensity work of more than ten hours a day. They didn’t have the persistence and hard work of the federal people, nor the endurance to bear hardships.

They couldn’t stand it. They had gathered together, demanding that the factory must withdraw yesterday’s decision.

The people of Rapa were not used to high-intensity, repetitive work. Most of the people of Rapa were engaged in short-term work. They would work for a few days, and then they would lose their job, until they ran into the next job.

So it was very difficult for them to sit in a fixed position without moving. After a period of time, the sense of novelty had disappeared, leaving only mental and physical fatigue.

People who have not been on a high-intensity assembly line will never understand how much damage the pressure, which makes people feel fear just by sitting there, does to a person!

It was actually very normal that these people of Rapa, who were used to being free and undisciplined, couldn’t stand it.

If they could accept it all at once, that would be abnormal.

Looking at the noisy crowd that was refusing to work, the factory manager, with his head covered in sweat, had given Roger a call, and Roger had in turn called Lance.

”Should we go and have a look?” Hiram sat on the spacious sofa, stroking the warm and moist leather. He now seemed a little excited.

He hadn’t seen Lance for a while. Seeing Lance again, he felt as if his whole person had come alive. He couldn’t describe the feeling, but anyway, he had become energetic.

Lance, holding the phone, looked at him, and did not directly hang up. ”Are you sure you don’t need to rest?”

Hiram shook his head. ”After Richard was killed, I was so idle that I was about to grow mold. It’s just the right time to see what you need me to do.”

After Richard’s death, the Gold Label Group had changed Richard’s previous strategy. The gangs had also stopped their confrontation with the Lance Family. Although the state police were still finding trouble with them, with one less enemy, it was, after all, a lot easier.

Now that he could find something for him to do, he was clearly happy.

Lance picked up the phone. ”I’ll be over in a moment.”

More than twenty minutes later, the convoy had arrived at the cigar factory.

The cigar factory was in the suburbs of Zhuolan. They had actually planned an industrial park here.

It could be seen that the person who had made this plan might have had a little hope for this country in his mind, but up to now, there were not many factories in the industrial park.

Among them, the newly built ones were basically all Lance’s.

The car arrived at the cigar factory. Many locals had already gathered at the entrance. They were all saying something loudly, so much so that more and more people had gathered. Many people had already gathered at the entrance of the factory.

Although not many enterprises had moved into the industrial park, the supporting equipment and personnel here were not at all few.

They had not learned the advanced aspects of those countries, but they had learned a lot about the problem of overstaffing.

An industrial park with no one in it, yet it had an independent police station and more than two hundred police officers.

There were also many police officers at the scene, but they did not interfere with the local workers who were making a fuss, but just stood on the periphery and watched.

In fact, they had arrived as soon as the trouble had started.

Then they had immediately reported this matter, reporting it to the industrial park’s police station.

The chief of the industrial park’s police station had clearly been appointed through connections. He just had a little more wisdom than those pure mud-legged dogs.

He did not immediately decide whether to handle these matters, or not to handle them, but had called and had asked his superior.

With this one question, the problem had come into Diego’s hands.

After all, it involved ”foreign guests.” Some people were not willing to bear the consequences themselves, so they had simply pushed it layer by layer to Diego.

Diego, after he had learned of this, had thought for a moment, and had asked a question, ”Is this illegal?”

At that time, the people in his office had not understood. He had asked again, ”I mean, for these people to oppose the unreasonable work requirements of the foreigners, is this matter legal?”

After a short thought, someone had immediately replied, ”It’s not illegal.”

A very clever answer. He had neither answered ”legal,” nor ”illegal,” but had used ”not illegal.”

Last time, Diego had been threatened by Lance, and he had originally had some dissatisfaction and hostility towards him. This time, the matter had just happened to come up, and someone had also supported him from a legal level. He had directly had his subordinates not to care.

Don’t the federal people like to talk about what human rights, democracy, and freedom?

Don’t they like to say that parades, resistance, are the basic rights of man?

Then now they have gotten what they wanted, and the Rapa people also have these!

The answer had been passed down layer by layer. In the end, when it had reached the industrial park’s police station, the police had stopped interfering, and were instead standing on the side, watching the fun.

To watch the fun of a foreigner, in Rapa, was not often seen.

Lance’s car had stopped on the road outside the factory. He had not gotten out of the car, nor had he gone over, but was just watching from a distance.

Hiram had whistled. ”What are you planning to do?” he had turned his head to look at Lance.

Lance was looking at those people from a distance. ”Do you know how to use a baseball bat?”

Hiram had immediately smiled so much that his eyes had narrowed. ”I’m so good at it!”

The manager was being tormented by these people and was on the verge of not being able to take it when someone had run over and had said something in his ear.

He had tilted his head and had looked at the side of the street in the distance. He had seen the row of cars parked there, and the expression on his face had immediately changed.

He had pushed a few of the workers who were closest to him, had walked to a box on the side, and had stood on it. ”Listen to me, all of you, shut up!”

His shouts had not gotten any respect from the people. On the contrary, someone had couldn’t help but laugh out loud, feeling that he was very comical.

The manager was a local, a person of Rapa, and had previously been a member of the middle class. Because he had been engaged in cigar production work, he had been hired.

In the past, he had not been directly in charge of the work facing the low-level workers. This was his first time, and he was a little nervous.

It wasn’t that Lance or Roger didn’t want to hire a local management, but that those management were basically all tied to the local ruling group, and it was very difficult to poach people from their hands.

The manager could only, with a flushed face, shout loudly, ”This is the company’s decision, not my decision or anyone’s decision. You don’t have to agree, it’s fine.”

”We didn’t expect all of you to be able to abide by it. The main gate is right on the side. You can leave here at any time.”

”This is your freedom!”

”But if you want to stay, and to continue to work in our factory, you must abide by our rules, and do as we say!”

It could be seen that he was very annoyed now, because the boss was watching from not far away. He had to show his tough side, and the ability to handle these people!

The workers had suddenly become a little excited. They had begun to push forward, saying what they wanted to say, not caring at all if it was useful!

Looking at the crowd that had become a little excited again, the manager had suddenly pointed at a few of the people in the crowd who had a louder voice. ”You are fired!”

The whole scene had suddenly become quiet for a moment. Most of the people had thought that this might just be a ”strategy,” but they had not expected that someone would really be fired.

A look of disbelief had appeared on some people’s faces, and the few who had been fired were clearly also unable to accept this result!

One of them, after a short period of astonishment, had suddenly fallen into a state of mania. He had squeezed through the crowd and had forcefully pushed the manager. ”What did you say?”

The manager had fallen from the box. The small cadres behind him had supported him. This had made the manager once again feel that his authority had been seriously provoked!

The look in those people’s eyes, as they had looked at him, seemed to be not as awestruck as before!

He was also completely angry. He had walked in front of the guy who was clearly a head taller than him, and had poked his chest with his finger. ”You’d better not make me repeat it!”

”You are fired, now!”

”Get out of the factory immediately. Don’t make me find trouble with you!”