Empire of Shadows

The law is inviolable when dealing with influential figures.

Missing one piece of evidence, or one procedural step, renders the entire case void.

Unlike with ordinary people, where fabricating evidence and skipping steps can lead to a conviction if emotions are high, guilt is not established until the law confirms it.

Lance was now one of those influential figures. Without genuine, hard evidence, it was difficult to prosecute him as a gang leader.

Many people with intertwined interests, such as Senator Cleveland, would oppose any investigation.

Even though everyone knew Lance ran a gang, as long as the law hadn’t defined him as such, he was merely a ”controversial entrepreneur.” Taking money from an entrepreneur versus taking money from a gang leader were two different matters.

Lance had been meticulous about this; he rarely engaged in typical gang crimes.

He didn’t demand protection money, nor did he extort or rob. Aside from selling liquor, it was nearly impossible to find actionable criminal evidence against him.

Without proof of crime, how could anyone label him a gang leader?

Just because he sold liquor?Everyone knew how many distilleries were secretly operating in the Federation, and how many enterprises smuggled liquor from abroad. These facts alone were insufficient to convict him.

This was why Senator Cleveland allowed him into their circle: Lance presented few exploitable weaknesses.

Furthermore, this time he was the victim of an attack, not the aggressor. Even if someone saw him shooting back, it was self-defense.

Lawyer Ruben’s legal team could easily handle this case. With Senator Cleveland influencing the Justice Department, the matter would likely cause no major ripple.

And the fact that Major General Bruni was also attacked meant the Ministry of Defense was involved. The incident couldn’t be easily dismissed.

Previously, Roland and his associates were focused on how to exploit this opportunity to weaken Lance. Now, their concern was how to extract themselves from the situation.

Lance and Major General Bruni had arrived at the police station. Lawyer Ruben and his formidable team were also present.

Since Lance had contacted Lawyer Ruben and promised to help him deal with the person who drove him out of Gold State, the lawyer arrived with confidence and resolve.

When he saw Lance, the latter was seated at a desk, being examined by a doctor, surrounded by people and police officers.

Seeing Lawyer Ruben, Lance gestured for him to approach. The lawyer quickly moved to Lance’s side, asking anxiously, ”Are you injured?”

Lance shook his head. ”I was scorched by the fire, but not injured. My hair just looks a little messy.”

The fire had singed his hair, and the distinct smell of burnt hair still lingered.

Lawyer Ruben carefully examined Lance and, confirming he was unharmed, asked about the events.

”What do I need to do now?” he asked.

Lance looked at the doctor, nodded slightly, and said ”Thank you.” The doctor and nurse then left the room.

”They intend to detain me and cause me trouble. I am the victim, and I suspect the police here might be colluding with my attackers.”

The officer standing by the door heard Lance’s words and involuntarily turned to look at him. He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but couldn’t.

A few seconds later, he immediately left, heading toward the Chief’s office.

Lance had deliberately made the accusation. Lawyer Ruben’s mouth twitched slightly. ”Do we have any direct evidence?”

Lance rubbed his wrist. The young nurse had a strong grip.

”They showed up right on time. I have reason to believe they were tipped off. The question of how to handle this, and how to get the truth out of them, is up to you.”

Lawyer Ruben nodded. ”If we have a lead and a direction, resolving it will be simple.”

Lance looked at the people standing behind Ruben and smiled. ”Why don’t you introduce me?”

”I was just about to,” Lawyer Ruben began introducing his team.

They included former university classmates and friends, as well as acquaintances he had met after entering the workforce—all trustworthy individuals.

Lance never fully asked why Lawyer Ruben was driven out of Gold State. Simply put, Lawyer Ruben was very talented. He became a renowned lawyer early on and was somewhat arrogant.

The judiciary wasn’t always virtuous and just; it had a dark side. Ruben had taken a case where he was explicitly warned not to proceed, as the outcome was already decided.

The case was pending, yet the verdict was known. This was typical Federal judicial fairness.

But the young, ambitious Lawyer Ruben ignored the warning and took the case. Although the outcome wasn’t entirely favorable, it was much better than the original plan.

He managed to get the victim reduced from certain death to half-dead.

In some matters, a slight chance of life, versus none at all, creates opportunities.

Subsequently, those powerful figures retaliated against Lawyer Ruben. If his girlfriend’s father hadn’t been in the Justice Department and held influence, Lawyer Ruben wouldn’t have even escaped to Likalai State.

But now, he was back, in a different posture.

This was a pragmatic society. These people knew Lawyer Ruben was not only returning but had allied himself with Senator Cleveland’s faction. The group quickly reformed.

Lance greeted them briefly. He didn’t need to know them all, but he needed to acknowledge them to solidify Lawyer Ruben’s leadership.

The common belief that ”our boss knows the big boss” would bolster his influence.

Meanwhile, the officer who left the room reached the Police Chief’s office. The Chief was rubbing his temples. ”Lance said that?”

The officer nodded. ”He seemed to imply it.”

Trouble.

That was the Chief’s first thought. Not small trouble, but serious trouble.

The presence of Major General Bruni fundamentally changed the situation. The tactics they had planned were now useless, and they were put on the defensive.

You could frame and entrap someone like Lance, but you couldn’t frame the Ministry of Defense and a Major General.

A Police Chief going up against the Ministry of Defense was unthinkable. Not even the Mayor, his direct superior, had that power.

Major General Bruni would never submit to the police’s interrogation. The Ministry of Defense immediately dispatched military vehicles and soldiers to retrieve him.

They were given no chance to communicate or bargain with Major General Bruni. The situation was entirely out of their hands.

The Major General was gone, but the problem certainly wasn’t over.

There was a loophole in this incident, a significant one.

Deploying so many police officers to catch a gang fight in the act meant many officers were near the scene before the fight started.

If even one officer revealed this, Lance would seize the information. Why did the police know the attackers were going to attack Lance, yet fail to warn him?

This suggested the police were colluding with the attackers, the Perez family.

Mr. Potter was loudly campaigning on ”eliminating the negative influence of gangs” and fixing government corruption. Now, the New Golden City police were suspected of colluding with a gang. Who would become the next prime example of corruption?

Without even thinking, the Police Chief knew that if public opinion was stirred up, his position would be vulnerable.

He suppressed the urge to curse and told the officer to return. He then locked his office and called Roland.

”Lance is coming after me!” His tone was unhappy. Although Roland was his friend, he was the victim here.

He hadn’t received any benefit, yet he was facing immense risk and had offended the Ministry of Defense. He could only imagine how terrible things were.

Roland was also dealing with a headache. He hadn’t expected Major General Bruni to be in the car, nor had he anticipated that Lance would pursue them instead of being investigated.

The plan was a mess.

”He has no evidence,” Roland tried to comfort the Police Chief. ”You can say you received an anonymous tip that someone was planning a... gunfight, F***!”

He couldn’t finish the lie. The core of a gang fight was mutual. This was clearly an attack, and they had intelligence but failed to warn the ”victim.” It looked like collusion.

Even if not outright collusion, there was a definite connection.

”Just tell the truth—say you received unconfirmed intelligence and made arrangements. Say you thought it might not be true...”

That was inappropriate too. If the police thought the intelligence was unreliable, why deploy so many police cars?

It only meant they believed the tip but failed to warn Lance. Who knew what they were thinking?

In short, the police department was going to be the scapegoat.

The Police Chief sighed. ”If the pressure from above gets too intense, I will have to tell the full truth.”

”That is the worst-case scenario, but I have no choice.”

If he were systematically targeted for elimination, he wouldn’t hold out. He wouldn’t sacrifice his present and future for Roland. He knew the ruthlessness of the Federal elite and wouldn’t endure it.

This statement signified a deep, difficult-to-mend crack in his relationship with Roland.

Roland paused for ten seconds, then replied, ”If they push, tell them the information came from me.”

Both men were dispirited after hanging up. A promising plan had turned into a disaster.

A little later, the Mayor called the Police Chief. ”I hear you’ve caused a huge mess?”

The Police Chief stuck to the script he and Roland agreed upon. ”I received intelligence that someone was going to attack Lance’s motorcade, so I made arrangements, but those arrangements might have been misunderstood.”

The Mayor listened, then fell silent for about twenty seconds. ”Do you believe what you just said?”

The Police Chief remained silent. He didn’t believe it either.

”I don’t care what you’re doing or who you’re connected to. My only demand now is for you to clean this up. Don’t let it become a focal point.”

”It’s election time. I don’t want negative news to overshadow the election. Don’t let the focus shift to me or you, understood?”

”Soothe Lance’s anger. I’ll find someone to talk to the Ministry of Defense. You truly are a genius!”

The Mayor couldn’t resist a sarcastic remark, then hung up.

The Police Chief sat for a moment, then stood up. He had to personally meet Lance.

A few minutes later, he met the resting Lance in the reception room.

He looked at Lance, and Lance looked at him. Their eyes met without deflection. The Police Chief finally looked away. ”I came to check on you. Is there anything we can do for you?”

Lance crossed his legs. Aside from his slightly singed hair, he looked completely unharmed!

He held a cigarette, looking at the Chief with a knowing smile. ”You and your friends always caused trouble for me. Now it’s my turn to cause trouble for you.”

The Chief took a deep breath. ”It was all for work, Mr. White. You need to understand us!”

Lance chuckled and stood up. ”Say whatever you like. In any case, you’ll be very busy for a while.”

He pushed past the Police Chief, leaving the reception room with his men.

By all accounts, as the victims, they should have stayed to file a report, but the Police Chief dared not detain them.

He was shoved aside, his face grim, watching Lance and his group leave.

Outside the station, Lance got into a new armored car. He looked at Lawyer Ruben and his team outside the window. ”Don’t worry about the cost, or promising extra favors. Just get them to talk.”

”I’ll transfer you some funds later.”

Lawyer Ruben bent down and nodded repeatedly. ”I will handle these men immediately.”

Lance was satisfied with his attitude. He had worked with Lawyer Ruben many times and trusted his ability. ”I await your good news.”

The car window rolled up, and the entire convoy merged back into traffic.

After watching them leave, Lawyer Ruben turned to his team, taking a deep breath, a look of excitement on his face.

”Do exactly as I say. Find the officers who responded today, give them money, promise them favors, and get them to produce the statements.”

”Then we’ll polish the statements up and bring them back to me. Immediately!”

As a lawyer, he loved high-stakes cases. Dealing with minor cases in Likalai State had left him feeling hopeless.

It wasn’t about the money; it was the challenge, the thrill.

The impact of this case and its ripple effect extended far beyond the immediate scene.

Meanwhile, Fran was already undergoing the transplant experiment. Research on genetic rejection was ongoing, but still primitive.

For the transplant to succeed, they needed to overcome the rejection response.

Before the transplant, they would temporarily graft a small piece of tissue from the donor onto Fran’s body and inject a synthetic drug.

By observing how the grafted tissue grew, they could determine the most suitable donor.

This was why the hospital required multiple donors. Under the condition of matching blood types, they needed to find the person whose rejection response could be controlled by the drugs.

The doctor was examining the transplanted tissue on Fran’s body. Fran was running a slight fever. Some of the transplanted tissue was doing well, but others were severely rejected, triggering his body’s natural defense mechanism.

Fever was one such defense. The body, unable to reason, simply reacted.

The doctor was cutting out the rejected tissue and examining the three remaining grafts. He smiled slightly.

”We have three candidate donors, Mr. Fran.”

”The grafts from these three tissues show no significant rejection. Our drugs can effectively ensure their fusion with your body. Now, you need to choose one.”

He handed three files to Fran.

One file was for a middle-aged man in his thirties, one was for a woman in her twenties, and one was for a nineteen-year-old male.

Fran’s gaze immediately locked onto the nineteen-year-old male. ”Does he smoke?”