Shadow Empire

Chapter 1117: The Search Continues and the Attack

The three agreed to meet at a secluded coffee shop, far from the city center, where there weren't many pedestrians on the street.

The girl's parents arrived early and chose a seat by the window.

Both of them were very nervous.

What they had experienced in the past two days made them vaguely realize that their daughter's disappearance might not be a simple matter.

The police were unwilling to even file a case. They consulted professional lawyers, who advised them to "search within limits." Generally, there are no precedents for finding missing persons cases that the police do not file.

Whether they are alive or dead.

They didn't understand why their daughter had disappeared overnight, nor did they understand why these people were unwilling to look for her.

Their only hope now rests on the person who called them and offered some help.

Around 10 a.m., about ten minutes later than the scheduled time, a man wearing a hat pushed the door open and entered from the outside.

As soon as he entered, his gaze lingered on the few customers in the café for a moment before finally settling on the couple by the window.

The waiter approached and asked, "Are you alone, sir?"

She was holding a menu and a small note. The man in the hat shook his head. "Thank you, but no thanks. I'm here to find someone."

The waiter pursed his lips and went back to the counter, while he walked straight to the couple and sat down.

"If there are no surprises, it was you who posted the missing person notice," he said, getting straight to the point after sitting down.

This made the couple quite uneasy. The girl's father almost stood up, but considering the surrounding environment, he eventually sat down.

He moved forward, the edge of the table pressing hard against him, wanting to get closer to the man in order to get news of his daughter.

"Yes, we spoke on the phone yesterday."

The man in the hat turned around and looked left and right. He looked a little nervous, which made the girl's parents nervous as well.

"Listen, I've seen her, that girl. Do you know what she's doing now?"

The girl wasn't the type of college student. Her family could afford to take out a loan to support her through college, but she herself wasn't cut out for it.

High school is a crucial turning point in the lives of federal teenagers, and college acceptance rates are low for almost all public schools due to the environment.

Public school tuition is lower, which leads to poorer families often choosing public schools, as the federal government is a class-based society.

The children of the upper class, the children of the middle class, and the children of the lower class, along with their families, are in different environments.

Some of their family's lifestyle habits carry over into school, so most students in federal public high schools are not doing very well.

They skipped classes, dated, fought, extorted, blackmailed, and did whatever they wanted, including sexual contact.

On one hand, there is a joyful, chaotic, and exciting life; on the other hand, there is the pain of studying. These young people, who lack self-discipline, often get lost on that terrible path.

The girl's academic performance was not good. She had several relationships during high school. Because she was pretty, she also joined the cheerleading team and had close relationships with the boys on the school team.

After graduating from high school, she started mingling in various circles. Although she didn't have excellent grades, she had a pretty face, an attractive figure, and blonde hair. People liked to hang out with this kind of federal girl.

She indulged in a false vanity that didn't belong to her every day, and under the guidance of her "agent," she frequented various high-end venues.

Perhaps for her, this was a source of pride; she had broadened her horizons, gained connections, and enjoyed the life of high society.

But in reality, she was just a chamber pot, a chamber pot for the upper class.

However, her family was unaware of this. In front of her family and her parents, she remained an angel—clean, pure, and spotless.

"She said she works as a model," the girl's father said nervously. In reality, it's impossible for a person to completely hide their other side.

The girl's father had also noticed inconsistencies in her life, such as her bringing home cash and some high-end items.

Although he didn't know what those things were, he could tell at a glance that they were expensive and beyond their means.

Out of respect for the child, he didn't ask too many questions, but simply told his daughter to protect and take good care of herself.

So he could only say what he knew.

The man in a hat sitting opposite him shook his head. "Model... you could say that."

"In reality, she played the role of a high-class escort. Her company and her agent would take her to all sorts of parties."

“You know, those higher-class parties, with more young people, and more open parties.”

The girl's parents looked pained; her mother could hardly believe it. "She's not like that, it can't be!"

The man in the hat simply looked at them calmly. "If you think I'm lying, I'll leave now."

The girl's father immediately held down the girl's mother, his expression showing sadness and pain. "Please continue."

The girl's mother looked at her husband in disbelief, as if asking him why he would admit to such a thing after his daughter had gone missing.

Or perhaps, he knows something that only he himself doesn't?
“Her agent has a nickname, ‘Bad Chef.’ Before she disappeared, I saw him take some girls to a party, including your daughter.”

"That's all I can tell you, out of consideration for her being an innocent girl."

The man in the hat looked a little nervous. He glanced around and leaned forward slightly. "I have to go. Don't tell anyone we've met."

As he was about to stand up and leave, the girl's father immediately reached out and grabbed him, saying, "Where am I supposed to find this lousy cook?"

The man in the hat struggled twice but couldn't break free. The two looked at each other, and in the girl's father's eyes, he saw something unwavering.

A moment later, he took a business card out of his pocket, placed it on the table, then pulled it back into his sleeve with a sharp movement, and quickly left with his head down.

It was a business card, the business card of a modeling agency manager, with a name, two phone numbers, and an address on it.

The couple looked at each other, but neither spoke first.

After a little over a minute, the girl's mother asked, "Did you know she was doing this?"

The girl's father hummed in agreement. "I'm not sure, but I feel that sometimes things are a bit off. Sometimes she brings back large sums of cash, as well as some high-end-looking items."

“I asked her, and she said it was a reward for her hard work.”

Perhaps out of trust in his daughter, these doubts eventually became reasonable within that trust, until the problem erupted.

No problem erupts overnight; it's not an instantaneous event. There's always an accumulation of problems that happen gradually, without people noticing, until they finally explode.

No one was innocent in the explosion.

"But even if she really was doing that, that's no excuse for her disappearance. We have to find her. Whatever she did, whatever she did wrong, she's still our daughter!"

The girl's mother was worried, "But we are just ordinary people, how can we resolve this?"

The girl's father looked at the business card in his hand again, and finally gritted his teeth, "Find a reporter." "As I just said, no matter what she did wrong, she is still our child. If she should be punished, it should be the law or us who punish her, not let her disappear without explanation."

The couple quickly became determined again. The girl's father had met some reporters for work, and among a pile of business cards, he found a reporter he had met who was very interested in big news, and then dialed the number.

The reporter was indeed very interested in the case of the missing girl.

He wasn't interested in the case itself, but rather in the missing girl; to put it more bluntly, people like to see news like this—

If a beautiful girl disappears and her fate is unknown, people will feel sympathy for her because of her face and figure.

The reporter quickly met with the girl's family, and they discussed the matter. The girl's father even showed the business card.

These things immediately piqued the reporter's interest.

"You mean, this might involve some people from high society?" The reporter's breathing became noticeably rapid.

Many people say that the Federation is not a society based on personal connections, but a "points-based society" where the level of effort you put in at work and the number of points you earn will determine the position you ultimately obtain.

But that's not actually the case; the Federation is a more... terrifying society based on personal relationships than people imagine.

Some people don't even finish high school before they have to work on an assembly line, and they stay in that job for life.

However, some people can intern at the Presidential Palace, graduate as secretaries to municipal councilors, and in two or three years become municipal councilors. They can become mayors at the age of thirty and rise rapidly through the ranks.

The same applies to journalism. If you want to become a top journalist, have your own column, and have your own brand influence, there are only two paths you can take.

First, you need to get some high-profile news stories and win the Golden Newspaper Award. The Golden Newspaper Award is the key to becoming a columnist. Only with the Golden Newspaper Award can you have the opportunity to start your own column at the newspaper.

Having a column is essential to attracting investors and capitalists, thereby expanding one's influence and accumulating more wealth.

Secondly, it exposes painful news about the upper class, news that strikes at the heart of the lower class, leaving them breathless.

This can also attract a lot of attention, gain greater influence, and thus have its own fans, and the opportunity to start a column.

The Golden Newspaper Award is awarded to several dozen people every year. While it may be considered highly prestigious, some may not argue that it is, given that many people receive it annually.

However, it wouldn't be entirely true to say that it has no value whatsoever.

There are at least hundreds of thousands of journalists in the federal government, but only a dozen or so of them receive this award each year—one in ten thousand, or even one in a hundred thousand.

There aren't that many important news stories or that many important moments in this world. To win the Golden Newspaper Award, unless someone is willing to create news for you, most journalists simply can't get this award.

Therefore, for these ordinary journalists, the only way to advance their careers is to obtain news that touches on sensitive issues.

Although doing so may be a thorn in the side for some, the impact is real, and the greater the impact of the news, the safer the reporter becomes.

Those in high society wouldn't risk offending the entire society to solve their problems.

A journalist eager for success looks at the business card in his hand, already having a series of plans in mind. This is definitely not just a news story; it can be turned into a feature article, a feature article that will shake the entire society.

However, reporting on it requires certain skills and cannot be done blindly. He knew very well that if he immediately pointed the finger at certain big figures in high society, the newspaper would not give him the opportunity to publish the news.

He needed to use the girl's mysterious disappearance as a starting point to gain people's attention and then force the newspaper to compromise with him.

After having a complete plan, he began to take action. "I will figure this out. You can continue your investigation. We can exchange information about the clues we have obtained every night to help us find your daughter."

The girl's parents reached a deal with the reporter, who left immediately. The girl's mother then asked, "Do you think we can succeed?"

After a brief silence, the girl's father said, "Are you going to give up?"

"Abandon the truth, let her just disappear, leave our lives, leave this world?"

At this point, the girl's parents already had a feeling that their daughter was dead, but the last glimmer of hope was still supporting them, making them want to find out the truth about her disappearance.

The news of the girl's parents meeting with reporters quickly reached Lance, who was somewhat surprised.

“I was originally planning to help them take this step, but I didn’t expect them to take it first.”

He pondered for a moment, "Have someone keep an eye on them and provide some protection. The game hasn't officially started yet, so let's not let them get wiped out."

Allen nodded. "I'll take good care of them. Should we protect that reporter too?"

Lance gave him an affirmative answer, "This reporter played an important role, trying to find a way to leak some information to him, without making it too obvious."

He'll get more excited if the reporter gets some intelligence, but you can't let him see the target directly.

If you were to tell him right now that the man was Porter Jr., the grandson of the popular presidential candidate Porter, the reporter would probably immediately erase all his writing and then choose to leave New Gold City, find a remote place where no one knows him, and hide for a few years.

We must put him in a certain depth, and put him in a very bad and awkward situation.

There was no way to escape, so we had to keep moving forward to make it easier for the script to continue.

After arranging the work by the river, Lance began to frown at the news coming from the old city.

The bearded chief was attacked in his office. They mailed him a bomb, but he was lucky; his secretary opened the box while checking the mail, and the bomb exploded.

His secretary was blown to pieces, and the bearded bureau chief himself was also slightly injured—fragments of the shattered walls and wooden doors flew onto him.

Even so, he did not leave the police station, but instead had the hospital arrange for two surgeons to come to the police station to stitch up his wounds.

He had just called Lance and believed that the Perez family was behind these actions, which further solidified his resolve to cooperate with the Lance family and completely eliminate them.

What Lance wants to know now is not what the bearded chief thinks, but how the mayor and the state government view this matter.

Today they can mail bombs to the police station, and tomorrow they can mail bombs to the city hall, the mayor's office, or in front of other government officials.

“Enio should have arrived in the old city by now?” Lance glanced at the time and calendar on his watch.

The others in the room gave him a positive answer, "It should be around noon today. He's probably already arrived and is just waiting to settle in."

Meanwhile, Enio had just gotten off the train and quickly got into a police car parked by the roadside, arriving at the Lance family's base there.

Looking at the room full of "police officers" and those familiar faces, he couldn't help but laugh out loud. "The moment I walked in, I even felt a little... like my hair was about to explode."

"I was thinking, who the hell brought me to the police station? Fuck, guys, you guys really surprised me!"

Several captains who were familiar with him came over and hugged him. Then they took out a police uniform that fit Enio. "You have one too."

“It’s not convenient for us to move around in plainclothes here. The Perez family has a very high level of control, so we have to wear police uniforms.”

This was also a novel experience for Ennio. He had heard about Helam wearing a police uniform and enforcing the law everywhere. As a man, he had thought that being a bad guy was something every man had at some point.

So becoming a law enforcement officer, a police officer, is also an option!

He quickly changed into a new police uniform and wore a wide-brimmed hat, looking very handsome. Facing the mirror, he saluted his reflection.

After he turned around, he gathered all the team leaders together. "Now, we need to have a meeting."

(End of this chapter)