Shadow Empire

Chapter 110 It’s not the time to open the blind box

Officer Phelan has been working at the Port Police Station for seven or eight years. He has moved his house from the remote northwest corner of the city to a community closer to the city center.

Many people think that the port is not a lucrative place, and the best police stations should be the two police stations in the city center and the Bay Area police station.

But in fact, there is a lot of money here.

Because there are so many people here, there are many different operators surrounding these workers.

In other places, they might charge merchants thirty or forty yuan in security fees, but in the port area, it’s only a dozen or twenty yuan at most.

Although the cost is reduced by half, the number of business operators here is astonishing, and everyone still has plenty of money.

Ports are also where the largest and most concentrated grey industries are.

Those police stations in the city center or the Bay Area don't dare to go to nightclubs with big shots behind them and collect various fees.

But in the Bay Area, those bars, street prostitutes and the like must pay honestly, otherwise they can't stay here!

Even if a woman only gives them one dollar a day, according to incomplete statistics, there are at least two thousand people engaged in this industry in the port area.

This does not include those who are not counted and are also paying!

And sometimes they will use other methods to blackmail those merchants. Of course, it is a bit excessive to use the word blackmail directly. It should be "negotiation".

Just five minutes ago, he was planning to extort a few dozen dollars from the boss of this Wanli Labor Agency, but now, he just hoped that he could leave safely.

This is the most crazy time for the gang. Not long ago, Polly was shooting people in the street with a submachine gun in broad daylight a few blocks away. And now he has not been punished. He is still sitting in his office smoking good cigarettes and drinking expensive wine.

This is the Federation.

Fortunately, the young man sitting opposite him was not a madman like Big Polly, which made him feel relieved.

Lance didn't quite understand why Officer Phelan was so nervous, but he still politely opened the cigarette box on the table and signaled that he could smoke.

Looking at the cigarettes in the box, Officer Phelan hesitated for a moment, then took one, took out his lighter and looked at Lance.

Lance was stunned again, then he smiled even more happily. He took a cigarette and put it in his mouth. His hand seemed to be reaching into his pocket for a lighter, but he was actually waiting.

"I have a fire here." Officer Fearon stood up, leaned forward and lit his lighter.

Almost all lighters of this period were kerosene lighters, which had a smell when turned on, and some people did not like the smell of kerosene.

Lance didn't like that. He would rather carry matches on his body than smell of kerosene.

But there are always some people who think that this smell makes them more manly, so they are very fond of kerosene lighters.

Lance stood up and moved a little closer across the table, letting the flame curl under the cigarette butt. He took two puffs and patted Officer Phelan's hand. "Thank you."

Officer Phelan also lit up the cigarette in his mouth, and the two of them sat back down. It didn't seem like they were here to interrogate them, but more like they were here to build relationships.

Taking a puff of cigarette seemed to relax Officer Phelan to a certain extent. He said carefully, "Mr. Lance, do you know Hammer?"

"A dockworker. Someone said last night that your people were looking for him everywhere."

Lance nodded, "Yes, I know this person, but I haven't found him either."

"You can go ask him. He beat up my friend for no reason outside the dock last night, causing him to have surgery in the hospital."

"All the fees add up to more than 5,000 yuan. I want to find him and get the money back."

Officer Fearon didn't expect such a thing to happen. This was something they didn't know about. He quickly took out his notebook and wrote down the general situation of the incident, including Alvin's situation.

"So you went to him because he beat up your friend first and then injured your friend, right?"

Lance nodded and said, "After all, it's several thousand dollars. My friend... you know, there are some problems with his identity, so this money can't be used for social security."

"Even if he can't give us all, he should at least give us half, don't you think?"

"Many people saw this. You can find out if you just ask around."

Officer Phelan nodded and said he would check. "Mr. Lance, Hammer is missing and some people think it may be related to you."

Lance showed a disdainful expression, "This is a typical slander. I am more eager to find him than you are. After all, it's five thousand dollars!"

"I think he probably ran away to avoid this incident. I heard he didn't have much money."

Officer Phelan made a few more notes in the notebook, "So you haven't seen him."

Lance nodded. "If any of you can provide me with clues that will lead me to catch him, I'll give him two hundred dollars."

"If you can send him to me, I'll give him a thousand dollars."

"Whether it's you, your colleagues..." Lance raised his hand and glanced at the police officer standing by the door, "or your friends and family, you can take the reward from me."

Feren wasn't sure whether Lance really hadn't seen it, but he didn't care much. So what if he died?
Are there not many unsolved cases in Jingang City every year?
"Can I know where you were last night?" Lance said briefly, "I was working here at first, and then I heard that my friend was beaten and seriously injured, so I went to the hospital."

"You can find the doctors at the hospital. We also invited doctors from the Bay Area to perform the surgery. They can testify for me."

"Later, we couldn't find Hammer, so we went back. My friends can testify to this."

"Until you come to me now."

"By the way, if we never find him, I'm going to sue him straight away."

Officer Phelan recorded the entire trip. In fact, these testimonies cannot be verified because all the people he mentioned who can prove these words have some connection with him in some way.

Seeing this, he realized that he couldn't get anything out of Lance, and he didn't want to stay here any longer, so he said goodbye.

Lance seemed to remember something at this moment, "Sorry, I thought you guys would stay a little longer, and even forgot to ask them to bring two cups of coffee."

Just as Officer Phelan was about to explain something, Lance opened the drawer, took out four five-dollar bills, and placed them on the table. "My question is, please go have a drink with your partner. It's too hot!"

Officer Phelan essentially wanted to refuse, but before he could say anything, Lance said, "Don't be so quick to refuse. I know it's hard for you to run around in the hot sun. Being a police officer is not an easy job."

"Those in offices won't understand you, but I know this."

"The coffee in the coffee shop next door is good, you can try it."

Officer Phelan looked back at his partner. The two stared at each other for a moment before he raised his eyebrows and said, "I can't do anything to you." "Well... well, thank you for your generosity, Mr. Lance!"

Lance held out his hand, "You keep us safe, and I buy you a cup of coffee. Who can say that's inappropriate?"

Officer Phelan put the money in his pocket, all smiles on his face, "Yes, yes, no one can say anything."

Lance shook his hand, "If you have further information, feel free to contact me." He took a business card from the table and handed it over, "I am familiar with many police officers. We are all very good friends. I think we can become good friends."

Officer Phelan had completely understood what Lance meant and responded enthusiastically, "I definitely will!"

"So……"

"We're going to continue our investigation now, Mr. Lance. Goodbye."

"goodbye!"

The two men left the office, and Officer Phelan's partner whistled, "He's a nice guy." For the sake of twenty bucks.

In fact, there was no need for Lance to give them money, just those gang-like people before would make them understand that this was not the kind of small shop that they could blackmail at will.

And the fact that Lance has expressed that he is friends with many police officers ensures that he has people in the police system who can speak for him.

This kind of person who is not easy to deal with still gave them twenty dollars. It's not just a matter of money, it's decency!

Mr. Lance is a decent man, so they should be decent too.

Officer Ferran raised his eyebrows and grabbed the notebook in his hand. "So we have to make sure that what he said is true. I don't want the port area to have one less good person and one more bad person."

As for those people who looked difficult to deal with, they didn't care about the weapons on the table at all.

This is the fucking federation. The Constitution allows people to bear arms. Bearing arms is a crime. Seventy percent of federal officials should be hanged!
The investigation went much more smoothly than they expected. Many people saw Hammer beating Erwin, and some saw Erwin being sent to the hospital by Lance and others.

Officer Fearon went to many places to inquire, and in the end everyone said that they had not seen Hammer. In addition, Lance's men also went to Hammer's home to look for Hammer, so it seemed that he did not have any direct contact with Hammer.

Officer Phelan returned to the police station with some evidence and testimony he had obtained, and then handed them along with his conclusions to his superiors.

The case was handled by a sheriff, who, after reviewing the materials collected by Phelan, asked, "So your view is that Hammer escaped?"

Phelan nodded. "I found out from the hospital that Lance's friend doesn't have health insurance. The surgery and follow-up costs will be around $5,200. He probably realized he was in big trouble, so he hid it."

The sheriff put the document back in front of him and read it again. "A typical brainless and impulsive guy. The consequences are now beyond his ability to bear."

He shook his head and put the document together with other files about Hammer and threw it into the file basket. "Go talk to his wife. If the victim wants to sue, they may have to auction their house if they can't afford the compensation."

"It's better for her to find a way to contact Hammer. Some things can't be avoided, and they must be faced."

No matter what happened to Hammer, whether he ran away or was dead, the sheriff knew one thing.

That is, if there is no substantial evidence to prove that Hammer is dead, such as finding his body, then the case will not rise to the standard of criminal prosecution.

If the criminal case team does not join in, the follow-up of the case will always be done by their ordinary police officers. However, with so many things happening in the Hong Kong area every day, it is impossible for them to arrange someone to keep an eye on this matter every day.

Therefore, there is a high probability that this case will be like other unsolved cases. After a period of time, no one will pay attention to it anymore.

As for going to Angel Lake to open a blind box just for a bottom layer?

forget it!
Isn’t it good to be alive?
(End of this chapter)