Shadow Empire

Chapter 1114 Deafness
"Hoo..." Hailam straightened up in the room, looking at the dilapidated room and the corpses lying on the ground, and let out a heavy sigh.

He walked to the light bulb, raised his arm to look at his forearm, where there was a gunshot wound; the bullet had torn through his muscle, and the bleeding had been stopped.

The wound looks a bit scary.

Gunshot wounds can exhibit two extremes: on the side where the bullet entered the body, the bullet hole is often very clean and shows no signs of significant damage.

If it is a penetrating wound, then in the part where the bullet penetrates, the wound will not only be larger, but also a lot of tissue will be torn apart and turned out.

Looking at the horrible wound, Hailam could only curse a few more times.

Undoubtedly, his motor function was temporarily reduced by half, and he will not be able to continue dual-wielding until his wounds have fully healed.

"Should we go back first?" someone asked. "Your injuries don't look too serious."

An exposed wound with bits of flesh presents a significant challenge to a surgeon's surgical skills and decision-making abilities. The choice between preserving more tissue or cutting it off is a difficult one.

Hailam did not answer the question. "Let's see first. If there are no other questions, we'll go back together later."

The bodies in the duty room had been thrown downstairs from upstairs, each one landing heavily on the ground with a dull thud.

The warehouse door was also opened from the inside.

"The surrounding land has been hardened, so if we were to bury it, we might have to transport it to a much farther place."

One of his men stood in front of Hailam and began to recount a problem they had encountered that wasn't exactly a big deal.

Factory grounds are typically hardened because they need to transport materials and finished products, and to reduce water accumulation.

Hardening the ground has many benefits, and almost every factory does it. However, it is not an easy task to drill a hole in a hardened ground and then dig a pit inside it.

It would have been difficult to do, at least until they had construction machinery.

It would be simpler to just move the bodies away.

Hailam looked around at the dark factory and curled his lip. "Just find a pool or something, throw them all in and burn them, then cover them up with something."

His men began to arrange for people to do it, while he himself went into the warehouse.

The warehouse contains a large quantity of maple leaf extract, neatly arranged in two types: liquid and solid. The effects are similar, only the application scenarios are different.

This was the first time Hailam had seen so much maple iris extract. The farm that had been burned down there before only contained raw materials, which looked like ordinary plants.

But now, seeing these things processed and neatly arranged in beautiful glass bottles, he felt a stirring in his heart.

He didn't know how much the things here were worth, but he knew they would be very valuable.

"How much are all of these worth?" he asked casually, picking up a small bottle. It was a comfortable little bottle to hold, and when he unscrewed the cap to take it out, there was a small spoon on the cap.

Simply align it, reinsert it, shake it, and pull it out; that's the amount for one use.

These items from the Perez family were supplied to high society, so they were exquisitely made, gilded, and looked very valuable.

“There are at least a million worth of goods here,” said a captain who knew a little about Maple Leaf Grass, as he walked over to the goods and touched the extracts in the glass bottles.

A glimmer of light appeared in Hailam's eyes. "What should we do with these things?"

The captain didn't understand at first, thinking that Hailam wanted to take them back. "Just load them onto the truck, don't let these glass bottles break."

But he quickly realized what he had done and hurriedly explained, "I misunderstood!"

"Just flush them down the drain."

Hailam nodded. "Didn't I hear that some people burn them?"

The official's expression was somewhat strange. "Unless you want everyone to lie down, I don't recommend you do that."

Burning so much maple iris extract might make the residents near the industrial area feel happy tomorrow.

Hailam weighed the small bottle in her hand. "Then let's do it."

When people heard that goods worth millions were going to be flushed down the drain, some showed a hint of reluctance, after all, it was goods worth millions.

Hylam seemed to have noticed this as well. "Listen, this is Lance's decision. If you don't want to get into trouble, you'd better keep your hands clean."

He walked over and sat down. "I'll be watching you from here."

Soon, these people got to work. The warehouse had a sewer system, and they smashed the glass bottles against the iron bars of the sewer. The glass shards mixed with solid powder and grease fell down together.

Meanwhile, they somehow got hold of a water pipe and kept flushing the sewer drain.

Even if the Perez family knew that these things had been flushed down the sewers, there was nothing they could do.

The water flow will carry the powders and greases to farther places, while some will remain in place during the flow.

Unless they clean out the entire factory's drainage system, it will be very difficult for them to recover these goods.

And even if they clean it up, they might not be able to find it.

As large quantities of maple iris extract were flushed down the drain, a family member approached and said, "I've noticed a hollow sound coming from somewhere; there might be a basement here."

This surprised Hailam, and he immediately stood up. "Take me to see."

They soon arrived at a place where someone was already inspecting it. After the floor was pried open, there was a steel plate on the ground that covered an area of ​​about five or six square meters.

The bluish-gray steel plate lay quietly on the ground. Hailam stomped his foot hard, and the dull sound told him that the thickness of the steel plate was probably greater than he had imagined.

There is a door frame-like structure around the steel plate, and some signs of use are visible to the naked eye.

It wasn't the kind of wear and tear from many years ago; it was more recent. Some of the areas they used to support their bodies were covered in putty, which shone even in not-too-strong light.

If these oils are not constantly rubbed together, they will eventually be broken down by nature over time.

He climbed down, pressing his ear against the gap between the steel plate and the "door frame." There was no sound coming from inside, but to say there was absolutely no sound was not quite right; there was a buzzing sound inside.

He didn't know if it was a natural sound coming from the hollow or if some machine was working inside.

Then he took another sniff, and a strange smell filled his nose; there must be some big secret inside!

With a curious smile on his face, he clapped his hands and stood up. "Pry it open."

The young men around him immediately brought out a crowbar and began trying to open the steel door.

But this was no easy task; the heavy steel door was fitted almost perfectly into the frame, and there was nowhere to put leverage.

It appears that it can only be opened from below. The surrounding ground is clearly different from the cement ground in other places; it should be made of concrete, which greatly increases the difficulty of opening it.

After several minutes of work, they had only managed to create a small gap in the steel plate's entrance, the "gate."

Hailam stared at the crack, which was about the thickness of a finger, and stood there in a daze for a while.

The pain in his arm kept telling him that he should go to the hospital now.

He was certain there were people down there; if the basement could only be opened from the inside, then there must be people down there.

What's hidden inside?
Could there be more extracts?

He didn't know, but he knew that what was inside must be very important to the Perez family. Millions of dollars worth of goods were just piled up in the warehouse. They clearly had a much safer place, so what was inside this more secure underground warehouse?
Countless thoughts collided in his mind, sparking brilliant ideas.

About two minutes later, he ordered, "Go and drain the fuel from their tanks and ours."

"Just leave us what we can drive back; bring all the rest over now!"

The young men around him immediately began to act according to his instructions. The Lance family was much better at obeying orders than other families and gangs, after all, they had all undergone military training.

They quickly collected all the gasoline using some small tools they carried in the vehicle. Hailam had someone take a chisel and aim it at the small opening, continuing to chisel deeper to see if they could make the opening bigger.

In the dead of night, the sound of sledgehammers clanging and banging echoed through the deathly quiet factory area. Anyone passing by would probably break out in a cold sweat.

Meanwhile, the workers in the underground factory were crammed together.

They were completely indifferent to what was happening; the intense, repetitive work had already taken a toll on their mental health.

It wasn't exactly fear or anything; I just stayed there quietly, like a competent tool.

This place produces extracts of maple iris day and night. The air is filled with tiny, visible particles, and the temperature feels rather muggy.

Some machines nearby were still humming and running, but no one turned them off, and no one dared to.

Here, people can die, but machines cannot stop.

In the past, the Perez family had some competitors, including other major families among the five great families of the Federation. Some of them had tried to find out where the Perez family produced the extract of Maple Leaf Grass, but they could never find a single clue.

Their goods seemed to appear out of thin air in the warehouse. Of course, the Perez family would also use empty trucks to come and go to confuse the situation, so no one knew that the factory was actually in the basement.

This is a converted basement, made of reinforced concrete, and even has a telephone line connecting them to the outside, as long as they aren't broken into immediately.

Fran had a way to make the outsiders leave empty-handed.

Whether it's the government or the gangs.

No one had ever imagined that such a thing would happen. The almost naked workers in the factory looked up numbly at the steel plates on the entrance stairs that were constantly vibrating.

After about ten minutes, the hammering stopped, and the factory manager breathed a sigh of relief. He prayed in his heart that perhaps the group had given up.
If he could get through on the phone, he would have contacted the estate long ago and asked them to send someone over.

Perhaps they've realized they can't get in, so they've given up?

He was quite confident about the safety of the basement.

After a while, someone suddenly asked, "What's that smell?"

Gasoline?

At first, no one realized what was happening, but they soon discovered that gasoline was flowing in continuously through some gaps near the steel plate.

The person in charge looked terrified. He immediately grabbed whatever he could find to block the flow of gasoline and rushed over to try and stop it from getting in.

However, there were too many gaps created by the impact and chiseling, allowing gasoline to flow in continuously.

The person above, Hailam, could clearly feel someone below preventing the gasoline from flowing in. At first, it was flowing very fast, but now it was flowing very slowly, which meant that someone was blocking it.

He stomped his foot on the steel plate. "Open it now, and I can guarantee you'll be alright."

There was no response, and Hailam stopped speaking, simply telling people to continue.

Some of the chiseled openings are wide enough to fit a little finger through; the moment an open flame is brought in, the area below will instantly turn into a sea of ​​fire.

Seven or eight minutes later, all the gasoline had been poured out. Hailam lit a cigarette, glanced at the steel door that remained tightly closed, and casually tossed the unburnt matches into the gaps.

In an instant, everything around the crack began to burn fiercely.

A small blue snake slithered into the basement through a crack. In the enclosed space, the four walls leading down the stairs suddenly burst into flames, visible to the naked eye.

What terrified them even more was that the entire air seemed to ignite at that moment!
Hailam stared blankly as the flames that had been burning "gently" on the ground suddenly shot upwards. He then shouted, "Get down!" The moment everyone dropped to the ground, a violent explosion occurred in the basement.

The energy was released violently in the enclosed space, and the entire basement was like a giant bomb. The crazy force directly blew the steel door away!

The loud explosion traveled very, very far!

Dust fell in a flurry, and Hailam stared wide-eyed at his surroundings. The whole world was silent.

Some of his men were injured, and some lay there motionless, but whether they were injured or motionless, there was no sound in his world.

The sound seemed to have said goodbye to him; he kept patting his ears, but couldn't hear a single sound.

He can't hear anymore.

He shouted and cursed loudly, his expression contorted, but after trying for a while without success, he didn't care anymore.

He walked to the open passageway and looked inside. The basement was a mess, filled with broken glass, tools, and pieces of furniture.

In the corner of the room, a group of almost naked people lay on the ground, many of them with blood seeping from their noses, mouths, and ears.

In a few places, and in areas where a lot of raw materials are piled up, flames are still burning.

Hailam, swaying slightly, supported the combat captain beside him. Without caring whether the captain could hear him, he said "Let's go" and led him away.

That night, Bob tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. He had already disposed of Hull's (the police chief's) wife and children in a fit of anger, and now, thinking about it, he felt somewhat remorseful.

The decisions made were not problematic, but sometimes they were too impulsive. These two people were more valuable alive than dead.

This almost completely severed their relationship with the police station, and the bearded chief will definitely target them even more now.

When faced with the state's violent apparatus, Bob, as the current temporary controller of one of the five major federal families, also felt somewhat powerless.

A larger-scale firefight?
Things are not like they were decades ago, when family members could simply carry guns in the streets. Now we live in a society governed by the rule of law, information spreads very quickly, and the federal government would not allow them to do so.

They clearly possessed great power, yet they were powerless to do anything, which made him feel extremely frustrated!
What's most infuriating is that neither the mayor nor the bearded bureau chief maintained a neutral stance on this matter.

So much money is poured into these people's mouths every year, only to be met with their "fairness and justice" in return. This makes him feel that the network of relationships his family has built up over the years is a joke!
However, his reason told him that this was actually the best possible outcome, at least it was fair and just.

If even fairness and impartiality cannot be achieved, then that is the most disastrous outcome.

He now has a new plan: tomorrow he will create some disturbance in the city to attract the attention of the police.

Then, with more manpower and resources, they dealt with the Lance family, who had seized their businesses, in the shortest possible time.

For some reason, even though it was time for him to sleep, he just couldn't fall asleep.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. "Bob, are you asleep?"

Bob immediately sat up. "No, what's wrong?"

The door opened, and the person outside looked at him with a serious and solemn expression. "Someone heard an explosion coming from the factory. We called the warehouse, but no one answered, and neither did the factory."

Bob's face turned ashen. He threw on a coat, stood up, and headed for the door.

If the warehouse and factory are discovered and overturned, it will be a huge loss for them!

(End of this chapter)