Empire of Shadows

The police, gangs, and foreigners were all looking for the young man’s two friends.

Who would be the best to sell these people to?

He actually already had an answer—the federal people.

The federal people were willing to give him money.

”A satisfactory reward!”

This reward, just by listening to it, was definitely worth a lot. At the very least... it had to be ten or twenty thousand, or twenty or thirty thousand Paras.

In this young man’s world, he had never craved one or two thousand Federal Sols. How much money was that?

Now the Para’s currency was still depreciating. Because of the turmoil in Rapa, the purchasing power of the Para was like a mystery!

It was declining every day. No one could know where it would eventually go.

So the exchange rate of the Federal Sol to the Para was still rising, from one Federal Sol for sixty or seventy Paras at the beginning, to now one for a little over a hundred. How long had it been?Not even half a year, right?

The pessimistic people had already realized, or had a cognition.

The Para, this currency, would soon be like waste paper!

The Rapa national government still couldn’t come up with any effective means to protect the value of the currency, so it could only continue to decline.

Now in many of the black markets, people had begun to barter, especially for some of the bulk commodities or imported goods. Over there, you could see many people who were exchanging Paras for Federal Sols, and also gold, gems, and other precious commodities.

This had also aggravated people’s distrust of the Para, and its price was plummeting in the midst of people’s distrust.

After all, for a currency, its essence is the people’s ”trust” in it.

Once the trust is gone, the currency is also finished.

But even so, the young man had not fantasized that he could have Paras worth one or two million. He felt... maybe the federal people would give him a few tens of thousands of Paras, which was just a few hundred Federal Sols. This was already the limit.

He wouldn’t feel that this was a small amount of money. This was already a large sum, equivalent to an ordinary Rapa person’s work income for almost five or six years, without eating or drinking.

He was not greedy.

With this money, he could do many things, for example, to take his family to the Federation.

Now people all said that the Federation was full of gold, and that you could make a lot of money just by bending down.

The more important point was that the air in the Federation was sweet and free. They didn’t need to worry about being exploited and oppressed in the Federation. As long as they worked hard, they would definitely be rewarded.

And no matter who it was, the person who hired them, or the other party who had played a role in this matter, they would not deliberately make things difficult for them!

In Rapa, which was already in chaos at this time, a boat ticket meant a hope!

But the problem he needed to solve now was how to, without his two friends suspecting him, to quietly leave, and then to bring those federal people back.

He wiped the tabletop and was, with his chin in his hand, thinking about how he could do this.

He had never hated that he had not received a complete education, but at this moment, he regretted it a little.

If he could have completed his basic education, and had gone to high school, would he now be able to imagine some good methods?

His gaze swept back and forth in his simple home, and finally, his gaze fell on two large bottles of wine.

Young people!

They are at an age where they love to eat, drink, and be merry. Because Rapa has rich tropical fruit resources, the price of wine here is actually not high.

At least it was like this before this place had fallen into chaos. He also had two large bottles of wine here.

What if he let those two get drunk?

He walked over and picked up the wine bottles, turned around, and shouted to his two friends in the room, ”Shall we have some wine?”

At the same time, the police were also in a large-scale search for them.

These police, in their work, were not as ”civilized” as the police in the Federation.

Alright, although the police in the Federation were often complained about for their brutal law enforcement, in Rapa, in Zhuolan, the brutality of the federal police was, in the eyes of the people, still holy and gentle!

On the side of the road, several police officers were beating two young men in the street. The sole of the police chief’s large leather boot was fiercely stepping on their heads.

The two young men had their faces to the side, their cheeks pressed tightly to the ground. There were also many traces of being beaten on their bodies, and their eye sockets were also a little bruised.

”I have no interest in playing this boring game with you,” the police chief pressed down with his foot, and the young man who was being stepped on had let out a miserable scream.

He felt as if his head was about to explode!

The fear had made him finally open his mouth. ”I remember...”

He quickly said two names.

The police in Zhuolan were, to a certain extent, no different from those gangs. They were just licensed gangs, and many times, they were even more unsettling than the gangs.

If a gang had committed a crime, maybe there would still be some police officers with a sense of justice who could help the victims, to deal with these gangs.

But if a police officer had done something bad, who could manage them?

To expect them to manage themselves?

This is clearly an unlikely option.

The higher-ups had given the police chief a 24-hour deadline to catch those two, to give the federal people an explanation. Lance had also, in his face, told him that he only had 24 hours.

With the heavy pressure, he was already going crazy!

All the police officers had been sent out, and at the same time, he also clearly recognized that if he couldn’t find those two in 24 hours, he would be in big trouble, big trouble!

But fortunately, the police were very familiar with the streets, with this city. They had, from the escort girl, gotten some of the physical characteristics of the perpetrators. In addition, this was clearly an unpremeditated crime, and the perpetrators might just be living in the nearby area.

So they had put their attention on the area within a three-kilometer radius of the place where Ted had been victimized. Soon they had, through some people, found out about some guys who were somewhat similar to these two perpetrators.

With a target, the rest of the matter had become much simpler. Find these people!

Soon, some of the ”twos” who they had thought might be the perpetrators had been found by them, and then after a beating, had been sent to the police station.

After the escort girl had identified them, she had denied that these were the two, which had made the police a little annoyed, but fortunately, they still had a target that had not yet been discovered.

Under the huge pressure, these two had finally begun to reveal some clues. The police had learned the names of their targets, their social situation, and had also quickly confirmed a plan of arrest.

They had first gone to the homes of these two, but had not found them in their homes. Their families also did not know where they had gone.

In a slum, this situation was actually very common. Whether it was a boy or a girl, if they had suddenly disappeared, no one would find it strange.

Maybe they had just found a better way of life, and had suddenly said goodbye to their terrible life.

It was also possible that they had met a ”kind-hearted person” who had helped them to be solved from their current suffering.

As for kidnapping... Rapa basically had no such cases.

Because to kidnap an ordinary person, you couldn’t extort any money at all. As for kidnapping those rich people?

Although they had money, there was simply no chance. At least if you wanted to kidnap these rich people with bodyguards, you had to have a car, right?

And a car, this thing, was simply not something an ordinary person in Rapa could get in touch with, even if they had money.

Their families, after a beating, also couldn’t say where the two had gone. It seemed that they really didn’t know.

The police chief had wiped the blood from his hands with a handkerchief and had come out of the low-rise room. Inside, there was still the sound of suppressed, painful wails.

He had driven his car and had returned to the police station at high speed, and had reported what he had found to his superior.

The police chief, after he had heard his report, had frowned. ”Go and check their friends’ homes. See if they are hiding in their friends’ homes.”

”The city is just this big. It’s impossible for them to hide in other places. They must still be in the city.”

The long-distance buses from Zhuolan to the outside had completely stopped, and so had the trains.

If these two people wanted to leave Zhuolan, there were only two ways.

One was to take a boat, and to leave this place directly. But there were already many police at the dock, and today, there were no ships coming in or out.

The other way was to take a means of transport and leave the city, but now there was also no means of transport in operation.

After all, the whole country was in chaos. A bus, or something, might have a chance to go out, but it was not certain that there would be a chance to come back.

It was the same for the trains. Who the hell knew if the federal people had damaged the rails, so they had all stopped.

And this ”suspension of service” could also, to a large extent, reduce the situation of the population from running around, and to a certain extent, had reduced the spread of some of the chaos.

So these people were still in the city, unless they had left the city on foot.

But that was almost the same as sending themselves to their deaths.

The police chief, listening to the chief’s arrangements, had clicked his heels together, and had stood at attention with a ”snap.” ”I see. I’ll go and arrange it.”

The police chief nodded. ”If you find the person, bring them back at the first opportunity. You have to make sure that they are at least alive, you understand?”

The police chief nodded. The chief’s hint was already very obvious. In order to prevent these two from running away on the way, they had to be controlled.

And the simplest way to control a criminal from running away is to break their legs!

A large number of police cars had headed towards the block where the two lived. They were going to search from door to door, to try to find these people as soon as possible.

At the same time, the three of them were already drunk.

Wine, this thing, the more you drink, the more you feel it’s not enough.

At first, it was the young man who had to persuade them to drink, but after a few glasses, they had begun to take the initiative to pour for themselves, and to drink.

The alcohol had, to a certain extent, eased their tense nerves, and had made them feel much more comfortable.

So they had drunk in bigger gulps, and in a short while, they had become a little drowsy and had leaned against the bed. It was unknown if they were drunk, or if they had fallen asleep.

The young man had given himself a slap. His face was already a little swollen, but he couldn’t feel any intense pain.

However, this pain was enough to make him pull himself together.

He had looked at the two of them, and then had locked the door from the outside and had left. He was now going to find the federal people to report.

On the way, there were police cars and police officers everywhere. He had shrunk his neck.

On the way to the federal people’s side, he had been stopped by the police twice. They had checked his personal belongings, and also had investigated his name before they had let him pass.

However, fortunately, he had not walked too far, maybe just two or three kilometers, when he had seen two cars that were driving slowly on the side of the road.

He had suddenly run over, and as he ran, he had waved his hand.

The two cars had soon stopped. A young man in the back seat of the front car, who should be not much older than him, had, from the car window, asked, ”Is there something?”

The young man had leaned over. ”I know where the people you are looking for are.”

The people in the car were all stunned for a moment. The person by the car window asked, ”You know who we are looking for?”

The young man nodded and said, ”I know. Two young men. They attacked a federal person and then killed him.”

”And they also robbed him of his belt, his shoes, his watch, and his wallet.”

This more detailed description had made them believe that this person really knew.

”You’d better not be fooling us!” The person by the door had moved in, and then had pushed open the car door. ”Get in. Take us there.”

The young man was a little restrained. ”I can run back. It’s not far from here.”

But the person in the car had again asked him to get in, and he had no choice but to.

It wasn’t that he was unwilling, but that he was afraid that he would get the car dirty.

This was the first time in his life that he had sat in a car. He was so excited that his whole person was trembling slightly.

Soon, under his guidance, the two cars had arrived at the place where he lived. But at this time, many police officers had already gathered here.

”My God, they...”

The young man didn’t even have to say it. The others had already seen the two young men being dragged out of a dilapidated house by the police, and then being thrown into a car.

The person sitting next to the young man asked, ”Are those them?”

The young man nodded. ”It’s them.”

The police officers who were on duty had clearly also noticed the two cars on the side of the road. They knew that the foreigners were also looking for these two, but they were not clear why the foreigners were doing this.

It was just instinctively that they had immediately stuffed the two culprits into the car.

Rapa is not the Federation. The police here are not equipped with enough vehicles. They don’t even have horses.

Most of the police in the city, the vast majority of them, their way of moving is to rely on their own two legs.

Only the police chief, who was more or less a mid-level or above officer in the police force, had their own police car.

At the scene, there was only one police car, and one police chief.

He had glanced at the cars, and had had his men handcuff the two culprits, with their hands cuffed behind their backs, and also with leg cuffs, to ensure that they would not run away. He had sat in the passenger seat, and had had his own driver sit in the driver’s seat. ”Drive, and drive fast.”

He didn’t know why, but seeing these people following him closely, he was a little nervous.

With the police car beginning to accelerate, the two cars of the federal people had also begun to accelerate. The young man was still frustrated that he had lost this good opportunity, but soon he had realized that he had not lost it.

It was just... this process was really too exciting!

After driving for a few minutes, the police chief had been observing the two foreign vehicles that were following him through the rearview mirror. Just as he was frowning, and was not sure what these people were going to do, one of the armored cars had suddenly accelerated, and had caught up from his side.

He had turned his head and could see in the car opposite, those people were looking down at him.

And then the next second, that brick car, which clearly looked bigger and stronger, had suddenly made a turn towards their side. The police car had immediately been T-boned, and had spun around in the middle of the road.

Then the second car had hit it head-on!

Everything had happened extremely fast. In perhaps just seven or eight seconds, the three cars had stopped in the middle of the road.

There were some people around who were watching, but there were also some who had hurriedly returned to their homes, and had tightly closed their doors, not wanting to be implicated.

In a country like Rapa, once you are chosen by the police as an ”eyewitness,” it means that a huge risk has fallen from the sky!

The people of the Lance Family had gotten out of the car. One of them, who was clearly the leader of this group, a combat captain, had walked to the side of the police car.

The police chief had, while holding onto the toolbox, raised his head. The violent impact had made his whole person briefly lose his sense of balance. He had, with an ugly expression, looked at the foreigners who were approaching outside the window, and had, with some pain, opened his mouth and had said, ”Do you know what you are doing?”

He had unfastened his holster, and had taken out the handgun he was carrying.

He knew very well that there was a high probability that these people were going to take these two culprits away. He didn’t know why these people were doing this, but he knew that he couldn’t let these people succeed.

Otherwise, the police chief would skin him alive. At the same time, he had also felt a deep fear. Are these federal people so bold?

He had not aimed his handgun at these federal people, but had just raised it, to show that he had a weapon, and for them not to be reckless.

But what had greeted him was that the combat captain had lifted his trench coat, and had then raised the submachine gun that was hidden under it, and had pulled the trigger.

The kukukukuku sound of the shooting was very dense, and was not very noisy or loud. In just two or three seconds, it had been completely emptied.

The bullets had, in the front seat of the police car, been flying around. The driver and the police chief had soon, under the spray, had lost their breath. The police chief, until his death, had not understood why these people had done this, and could not understand how they had dared to open fire!

The two people in the back seat were already dumbfounded. They had been dragged out, and then had been pushed and shoved into the armored car.

The two cars had turned around, and soon had disappeared on the streets of the city.

More than ten minutes later, four or five police cars had arrived at the scene. The police chief had personally rushed to the scene. He had looked at his colleagues who were already dead, and at the empty police car, and his face was extremely ugly!

The police chief might not have known why these foreigners wanted these two young men, but the police chief knew.

The 24-hour ultimatum!

He had immediately returned to the police station, and had reported this matter to his superiors. Now it was no longer something he could handle.

And those foreigners had even opened fire in the street, and had even shot and killed the local police. This had made the police chief a little terrified!

They had so unscrupulously opened fire on the police chief. Did it also mean that if it was necessary, they would also dare to open fire on him?

Fuck!