Shadow Empire

Chapter 1080 Provocation
The Perez family?
Lance's face clearly showed some surprise. He did have a conflict with the Perez family, and it was an irreconcilable conflict, but it shouldn't have erupted at this time.

He thought of other things that had happened during this time, as if a hand was pushing him toward a family war.

“Thank you, this is very important to me!” Lance shook hands with Attorney Gog. “I’ll call you again if needed.”

"Can I leave now with my brothers?"

Attorney Gao nodded. "I've spoken to the officers in charge of this case enough. You can leave at any time, but it would be best if Mr. Ethan didn't leave New Gold City for the next week or two."

"They may ask Mr. Ethan to provide additional testimony, for example, if the other party recants, or if they give testimony that is unfavorable to Mr. Ethan at the request of their lawyer, which would require re-recording."

"If this happens, contact me anytime, anywhere."

Lance nodded and released his hand. "I will."

He then left the police station with Ethan. Interestingly, as they were leaving the police station, just as they were coming down the stairs on the left side of the entrance to the second floor, the same people who had attacked Ethan also came down from the other side.

The two stood on the steps looking at each other. Ethan appeared relatively calm. Boxing had taught him not only how to reason with his fists, but also how to be calm and rational.

In boxing matches, many people try to provoke their opponents, causing them to lose their ability to think rationally, and then look for an opening to knock them out.

Ethan learned to control his emotions, and after losing control time and time again, he finally became rational and calm.

Of course, if necessary, he will also unleash all his emotions, without restraint, and fall into a state of frenzy.

The people on the other side had obviously seen them too, and their faces showed some surprise, followed by a ruthless look.

The leader glanced at Lance, but his gaze finally settled on Ethan's face, and he made a throat-slitting gesture.

It's clear that these people have just been released on bail by their lawyers.

In minor cases like this, if someone is granted bail, the police station is very likely not to detain them indefinitely, as long as they don't leave the city.

As for the expedited court hearing, they just need to go there on the scheduled date to receive the necessary processing.

This did not cause any serious consequences, and since they had the Perez family backing them up, they were basically just doing unpaid labor and paying fines; they were unlikely to be imprisoned.

Therefore, they are not worried about the fairness and justice of the judiciary at all!
Sometimes that's the funniest thing: in the federal government, the people who are truly worried about justice being like a sharp blade falling on their heads are always ordinary people.

Capitalists, politicians, and gang members are less likely to be judged by the fair and just legal system.

Some people cannot be judged by justice, because they themselves represent justice and the standard of justice.

How can justice judge itself?

For others, these just trials are meaningless; they have ways to make the trials fall, but not on them, or they fall lightly.

Only ordinary people, who can neither embody justice and fairness to forgive themselves nor have the abundant resources to escape judgment.

Despite the provocation, Lance remained calm and watched them leave before leaving the police station.

“I’ll have someone follow you during this time to prevent this kind of thing from happening again,” Lance said, offering Ethan some protection after they got into the car.

Arrange for a few men, the kind who are willing to fight and kill.

This is New Gold City, where gun use is more sensitive, so all that's needed is three to five people to follow Ethan and fire if necessary. The police and the FBI will arrive at the scene quickly.

They don't need to kill many enemies, just enough to protect themselves.

Ethan didn't refuse; he nodded and said, "I've made you come all this way."

Lance laughed and punched his strong arm lightly. "We're brothers!"

The convoy stopped briefly in front of the police station. Lance thanked Attorney Gogg, who was standing by the roadside waiting to say goodbye, once again before letting the convoy leave.

At that moment, in the police chief's office, the police chief looked at everything that was happening below, a strange expression on his face.

Just now, his good friend, the FBI director, called him and talked to him about something.

This whole thing was orchestrated by his good friend, who told him about it in the hope that he could find a way to make it happen that the two of them would meet at the police station.

Aside from the trouble they've gotten into with Lance over the years, the Perez family has remained extremely arrogant and domineering, especially among their lower and middle-level gang members.

When others hear that they come from the Perez family, they generally hold them in a certain awe.

After all, with such a big reputation, others don't know whether hurting these lower-level members will attract the attention of higher-ups or even retaliation, so even if they are provoked, they often choose to remain silent.

This leads to these people becoming increasingly arrogant the further down the social ladder they go.

Their provocations against Lance will escalate into Lance's retaliation against them, ultimately achieving the FBI Director's goal—to reignite the conflict between the two families. He is even considering bringing in more families to expand the scale of this family war.

Although the police chief felt the plan was a bit hasty, he still helped out.

He first had the bail office on the other side temporarily suspend the release, and when he knew that Lance and the others came out of the office to prepare to leave, he had the bail office sign the papers.

This brought the two together, and indeed, the scene his good friend had hoped to see occurred.

They provoked Ethan, and by extension, Lance.

They probably don't even know who they're provoking, but it doesn't matter, that's just how they are.

Watching the two groups of people leave the police station one after the other, the police chief sighed softly. He didn't really know if what he was doing was right or wrong, but he had no better choice.

Lance had provoked these law enforcement officers more than once, and even dared to kill members of the Perez family in a car accident in front of the police station.

This is practically like hanging up the New Gold City Police Department and whipping them; even their ranchers never whipped people with dark skin this ruthlessly.

Not only was his body aching, but his heart was aching too. For a time, he, the police chief, even became a laughing stock among his colleagues.

Lance clearly couldn't fit in with these people, and he didn't intend to do that, so this was the only way.

Since we're not on the same path, let's eliminate them!
He slammed the cigarette in his hand to the ground, sending sparks flying everywhere, then stomped on it with his heel, grinding it down hard, hoping they would have a good fight!
As the car drove along the road, Lance was deep in thought, but was quickly interrupted by Ethan's voice, "If you're planning to retaliate, take me with you."

Lance turned to look at him, then slowly shook his head. "You're a boxer with a bright future, Ethan."

Perhaps your legend and a legendary history will be recorded in the future of the federal boxing world. Do you remember when we talked about this before?
"Joining the gang was a last resort for us. If possible, I would rather work hard with you all, start a business, and eventually become a glamorous tycoon, capitalist, or even politician in people's eyes."

"Instead of representing negativity, destruction, and chaos in people's eyes, the gangsters!"

"This is a last resort, a choice made out of necessity. If there is any possibility, I will find you a new road, a road that is different from this muddy path."

"You, Sean, and our big movie star, as well as those brothers and sisters who have switched to ordinary jobs!"

"This is your path. It may be tedious and mundane, but at least it is stable."

"What you need to do now is not to rejoin the darkness with us, but to embrace the light!"

"Go train in boxing. I want to see you become the Federation heavyweight champion, win that gold belt, and let everyone know that this world isn't just for Federation people and people with dark skin to win gold belts. We can do it too!"

Ethan clenched his fist, pursed his lips, and didn't express his emotions verbally, but simply nodded vigorously, "I will."

Lance had the convoy stop briefly at the gym entrance to take Ethan back. He instructed the coach to keep Ethan in check and also arranged for a car to remain behind to protect Ethan from further attacks.

The coach was very grateful for Lance's decision. He also believed that Ethan had a very high chance of winning the heavyweight championship belt. He was born to be in the spotlight, and it would be a waste to put him in other fields.

After Lance left, Ethan returned to the boxing gym and began extra training.

And he made a decision that greatly pleased and relieved his coach: he would stay at the boxing gym for the time being, because he wanted to fulfill his promise—to win the gold belt!

When the convoy restarted, Lance lit a cigarette, and Madol, who had been holding it in the whole way, finally couldn't help but ask, "What's next?"

Lance glanced at the sky and chuckled, "What else can we do?"

"Of course, we'll wait until it gets dark."

Madol said somewhat hesitantly, "I think someone wants us to fight each other."

Lance nodded in agreement. "That's right, but there's another problem here: if this hadn't happened, would we have avoided war?"

After thinking for a moment, Madol shook his head and said, "No, we will still go to war."

Yes, war will break out again. Several direct members of the Perez family have already died at Lance's hands.

If they die in gang wars, that's their fate. From the moment they followed their families into the underworld, or even from the moment they were born and bore the surname "Perez," it was destined that their lives would not be easy.

They enjoyed all the conveniences, wealth, power, social status, and influence that their families brought them, and naturally they also had to bear the corresponding responsibilities.

But not only were their deaths somewhat unjust, but more importantly, the Perez family had to compromise after their deaths, which was what they found unbearable.

Having learned their lesson twice, they know it's not the right time to act, so they're holding off until the situation is perfectly suited for a full-blown fight.

"Since we're going to take action eventually regardless of whether this happens or not, it doesn't really matter whether it happens sooner or later."

“More importantly…” he took a deep drag on his cigarette, “I want to see who, who, is behind all of this.”

"If they want it, they will become careless, complacent, and reveal their weaknesses."

After listening, Madol let out a sigh of relief. "It's good that you have a plan."

The convoy quickly accelerated, merged into the traffic, and disappeared into the busy daily traffic of New Gold City.

Meanwhile, the men who attacked Ethan drove back to their territory. The guy who planned and carried out the attack was a combat captain from the Perez family.

He placed bets on the Skullcrusher to win the last boxing match between Ethan and the Skullcrusher.

Based on everyone's analysis, the Skull Crusher's win rate is actually similar to Ethan's, maybe a little higher, such as 55% to 45%, so Ethan has a chance of losing.

This is because the Skullbreaker has a very impressive track record, with stats far exceeding Ethan's, which gives people the illusion that the Skullbreaker is more experienced and stronger than Ethan.

Ethan, being a newcomer, might suffer some losses due to his lack of experience when facing veterans.

Then the combat captain bet two thousand dollars on Skullcrusher Victory. If he won, he would get sixteen hundred dollars, which would be a considerable sum of money.

But in the end, Ethan won.

Two days ago, someone found him. It was someone he couldn't afford to offend. That person had the same experience as him, and also bet on the skull crusher to win, but lost the match.

The other party made a request to him, hoping that he could teach Ethan a lesson and preferably send Ethan to jail.

The combat captain, who had lost such a large sum of money in one go, immediately agreed. He had been wanting to do it anyway, and that's how he made it happen.

Up until this moment, he didn't feel that what he did was inappropriate. He had only attacked a boxer, and neither of them had caused any serious consequences. His lawyer told him that at most he would have to do a few hundred hours of community service, which was nothing to him.

Those community organizations would never dare to tell the court that they didn't do volunteer work, otherwise they would show these people why people are afraid of gangsters!
Now that he was back in familiar surroundings, he immediately started complaining, "You bunch of useless trash, you always tell me that you used to be able to take on three or five people by yourself, and some of you could even take on ten!"

"And today you've made me lose face!"

He walked over and pointed at the bruised and battered men, saying, "Eight of us ganged up on one guy, and he almost beat us all up. You sons of bitches, do you still dare to talk big to me?"

"Ok?"

His men all looked embarrassed, and the youngest one couldn't help but say, "This guy's punches are too heavy, Boss!"

"When he punched me in the face, it felt like I was being hit head-on by a truck. I was even sent flying!"

Another gang member couldn't help but complain, "He punched me, and I felt like my intestines were broken. I can't even stand up!"

These people began to complain one after another, which made the combat captain even angrier. "Is it still my fault?"

Looking into their eyes with that "if you hadn't made us do this, none of this would have happened" look, he cursed, "You sons of bitches, you're all so easy to feed!"

"Soon we'll become the laughingstock of the family, Fuck!"

The serious atmosphere instantly dissipated, and the people started laughing and joking again. "Let them laugh if they want. If anyone's not happy, let them go and fight that Sen guy one-on-one!"

"I guarantee that big guy will beat their shit out!"

After joking around for a while, they realized that the combat captain hadn't participated at all. His expression was somewhat sinister, and his eyes revealed a sense of irritability.

"This can't be left like this, I have to kill him!"

The others looked at each other and fell silent. It wasn't that they were afraid of killing; they had also done dirty work for the family and executed two people.

They just felt that... just because he lost money, he should kill the person who made him lose money. Wasn't that a bit... unreasonable of Young Master Du?
But the combat captain clearly didn't think so!
"If we don't get rid of this person, we'll definitely become a laughing stock. In the future, when there are family events or any benefits, we won't get a chance, understand?"

"Only his blood can wash away our shame!"

"Can you fight?"

What can we plan?

"Even if you're a skilled fighter, can you withstand attacks from a dagger or a knife?"

"Can it withstand bullets?"

"It's not convenient these next few days. We just came out of the police station. If we take action now, the police will definitely be watching us."

"Wait a few days, and then we'll figure out how to deal with him."

The others looked at each other, and finally agreed.

After making this decision, the combat captain seemed much more relaxed, and a smile appeared on his face. He took out a few bottles of liquor from the cabinet. "Shit, I was so thirsty at the police station, and they wouldn't even give me a sip of water. Those sons of bitches!"

The others also started to gather around, laughing and joking, and began to enjoy their favorite gangster lifestyle.

Cigarettes, alcohol, and young people walking in from outside, yearning for their lives—on public buses.

(End of this chapter)