Shadow Empire

Chapter 1134 How do you know I wasn't lying?
The intense gunfire in the city made people realize that something had changed.

This may be the day with the fewest pedestrians on the streets of the old city. Since it became a major city, there have been hardly any pedestrians on the road.

Bob's son was hiding behind an apartment curtain, pacing anxiously back and forth, occasionally standing behind the curtain and looking out onto the street.

Police cars kept passing by on the street, their sirens blaring and stimulating his heart.

"Stop right now!"

"You've made me dizzy!"

His sister complained on the side, while his mother and sister sat in the corner.

This is an apartment bought by an ordinary person. It's a very ordinary apartment, not in the city center but not too remote either. If you had to say, it could be considered a "middle-class apartment".

Of course, in reality, the middle class rarely lives in apartments because they are not cost-effective. They prefer the social atmosphere of a community to the cold, privacy-lacking house numbers.

This place is larger than those cheap apartments of 60 or 70 square meters; it's about 90 square meters. Bob bought six units across three floors.

The six units, which are closely connected, are actually interconnected through some room design elements.

They can move quickly between the six rooms using staircases, hidden doors, or similar means to avoid being trapped in any one room.

These six rooms can be considered safe houses, belonging to different households, and contain canned food, allowing them to stay indoors for extended periods.

If someone moves in at midnight, almost no one will notice that someone has moved into the unoccupied room next door.

Bob's son stopped when he heard his sister's complaints. "It's much more serious than Dad said!"

"With such a large-scale attack, Dad might..."

He was somewhat sad and agitated, while his sister and mother showed signs of sadness, though his older sister's expression remained unchanged.

During this period, the status of women in the Federation improved, but not to the point where it could rival male dominance.

As Bob's daughter, she wasn't highly regarded, and Bob himself wasn't the type to respect women. He didn't allow his daughter to participate in too many family affairs, only permitting her to play and dine with everyone on holidays.

Even though she knew what her family did and had received some of the benefits they provided, Bob wouldn't allow her to learn more, join, or work for the family.

Moreover, his views were rather traditional. He felt that if his boy lost a fight, or was attacked or kidnapped, they would at most beat him up and injure him in a superficial way in exchange for Bob's other deals.

But if a girl is kidnapped, loses the fight, and is captured, her fate will be very tragic.

Those people would vent their emotions by humiliating and torturing her, and this humiliation was itself a shameful label for the entire family—as long as she lived, in some people's eyes she represented this shameful past of the family.

In some families, especially traditional ones, once a woman is forced to commit murder, even if the enemy doesn't kill her, they will create some kind of accident within the family or have her commit suicide to completely erase and forget this shameful past.

Neither of the sisters benefited from the family's wealth, which made the older sister somewhat dissatisfied with her current life.

She felt she wasn't an ordinary person, but she lived a life not much different from ordinary people.

She and Bob met only a limited number of times each year, maybe only a few times, so there was no real affection between them.

Seeing her brother's excited expression, Bob's eldest daughter's expression finally softened, after all, their relationship as siblings was quite good.

Sometimes when she had conflicts with her husband, her younger brother would come to her aid.

She went over and hugged her younger brother. "Nobody wants something like this to happen. The best thing we can do now is to stay here, not let anyone know we're here, and wait quietly."

Do you remember what your father told you?

"If he's tried and sent to prison, the only one who can help him escape is us. It's our responsibility, and you must fulfill it!"

This can be considered one of Bob's backup plans; his children have money, and his son also has some connections.

Bob believed that as long as he was willing to spend money, even if he couldn't get Bob out of prison, he could at least make Bob's life in prison a little better.

The siblings embraced and remained silent.

They had no idea what was happening outside or how Bob was doing. Their original plan was to leave the old city today or tomorrow, but now it seemed they might not be able to leave for the foreseeable future.

Bob's son said softly, "I'll call Fran in a few days; maybe he can find out something."

The family's emotions seemed to have calmed down a bit. For the Perez family, Fran was like... a source of strength!
But what they didn't know was that Fran, whom they saw as a symbol of power and strength, was also having a tough time.

The small cruise ship they had chartered had been forced to stop at sea, and the men arranged by Major General Bruni and the men led by Hailam had intercepted them with gunboats.

There was no fierce fighting. When the shells landed on the sea around the cruise ship, these people who had never experienced war but were about to face the dark cannon barrels all laid down their weapons.

If they do not lay down their weapons, the gunboats will bombard their ships directly.

In the past, some literary works described stories of ships sinking at sea, and some movies also featured such stories. The protagonists would survive dozens of days of despair by relying on a plank of wood, a barrel of wine, their own urine, and some food they could grab from the sea, and then drift with the ocean currents to a nearby island and be reborn.

The reason these stories will always exist only in literature is because their fantasies are too beautiful.

On the open sea, let alone having only a plank of wood and a barrel, even if you have a small boat, as long as the boat has no power, no food and water, a person simply cannot survive.

As the family's top decision-maker, Fran knew very well that if the bombardment began, everyone on the ship would die.

In the end, he chose to surrender.

The gunboats did not approach directly, but instead sent two small boats over. After boarding the boats, they took control of the weapons on board.

Helam then began boarding the ship.

Major General Bruni's men also boarded the ship. He didn't know Fran, but he did know Helam.

Helam spotted Fran in his wheelchair at a glance and walked over with a smile. "Mr. Fran, where are you going?"

Fran's health has recovered moderately, and there is a doctor on board to ensure he doesn't encounter any accidents during the journey.

Fran asked softly, "Are Bob and the others finished?"

In his view, the reason these people were able to find them was clearly because the country had already taken action and Bob was finished, which was why they knew their flight path.

But that's not actually the case. From the moment they set sail, the intelligence was already in Lance's hands.

The reason it took more than two days to find them was simply because the ocean is so vast that it's very difficult to find a ship unless you have very accurate coordinates.

So they simply searched backwards from the port of their destination towards the Federation by waterway, and finally found them when they were still half a day away from reaching the coastal area of ​​Slade.

Hailam picked at his ear. "What the hell did you say?"

"Louder, I can't hear you!"

Fran's gaze was like a knife, as if he wanted to cut a piece of flesh off Hailam!
Even though he's been cornered now, he was once the head of the Perez family, one of the five great families of the Federation. He might not be considered very famous in the Federation, but he was definitely a big shot in the underworld.

And the person in front of him was just a nobody under Lance's command, yet he dared to humiliate him like this!

His emotions and his anger were growing wildly and uncontrollably!

But the situation was terrible, so he could only hold back. "I said, have they already taken care of Bob?"

Seeing his submissive demeanor, some of the older members of the Perez family showed indignation. One of them even stepped forward from the crowd, saying, "You don't need to humiliate us!"

Hailam looked at the man, then at his subordinate, his combat captain.

When the latter leaned close to his ear, Major General Bruni's men immediately moved away slightly, and then the man shouted, "Fran said, 'Have we already taken out Bob?'" "That guy said we don't need to humiliate them like this. I guess he meant that you said you couldn't hear me to humiliate Fran."

In fact... Helam's eardrum repair surgery has been completed, and the surgery was considered successful.

According to the doctor, this "successful" outcome means that the patient has undergone a long period of rehabilitation, and his hearing loss is currently severe.

As for how well it can recover in the future, that depends on God's will.

The doctor can do their best to ensure he can hear, but it might be slightly muffled or something.

It's better to hear something than nothing at all. As for whether there will be new technology in the future, we can fix it again then.

Hailam realized what was happening. He suddenly raised his hand, drew his pistol, and pulled the trigger at the guy who had stepped forward. The bullet struck his cheekbone instantly.

Then, as if the strings of a puppet had snapped, he fell onto the deck.

Helam walked over, and without any expression on his face, repeatedly pulled the trigger at the other person's head until the magazine was empty.

He casually changed a magazine, tossed the empty magazine to the combat captain beside him, and then spat at the corpse on the ground, "Serves you right for laughing at me!"

Those around him, watching his actions and hearing his words, felt a chill run down their spines.

Helam returned to Fran's side, stared at him for a while, and said, "I don't know if Bob is dead or not, but I do know, Fran, you're in big trouble!"

“I don’t care if you’re anyone special. You were kicked out of the Federation by us, so you’re just that.

“If you…”, he turned and pointed his weapon at the men on deck, “…still think you’re something special, then this idiot is your role model!”

He looked at Major General Bruni's men beside him and said, "We need a room to have a proper talk with this important man, Mr. Fran."

Major General Bruni's men nodded. He knew that communicating with Hailam was a bit difficult right now, so they made gestures whenever possible and spoke firmly.

No one asked Fran for his opinion; he was not in a position to offer advice.

Fran was quickly pushed into a room, and the person who brought him there was asked to leave.

Fran probably knew that Helam might be hearing loss, so he took out his notebook and pen and wrote down what he wanted to say.

“I have some health problems and I can’t speak loudly right now, so I will write it down.”

"What do you want?"

Hailam glanced at Major General Bruni's men beside him. He knew it wasn't convenient for these people to state their demands, after all... they were government officials. How could government officials act like gangsters and extort other people's wealth?

So that's why Helam came along – to speak out when it was inconvenient for Major General Bruni's men to do so.

He tossed his hair, and his bangs smoothly covered part of his face. Then he blew on his bangs, a gesture that showed he was very relaxed, perhaps without even realizing it himself.

"The money you took, as well as your private accounts at the Federal Bank and the money inside."

“I know you want to leave here, and I realize that you are no match for us. However, these things that belong to the Federation cannot be taken by you.”

Major General Bruni's man glanced at Hailam. He hadn't expected Hailam to have such a high talent for extortion; he couldn't bring himself to say such a thing.

He didn't actually know that this was Lance's idea.

Federal property should remain federal property, whether it's artwork, jewelry, cash, or bank accounts.

They all belong to the Federation, so they should stay in the Federation and not go anywhere else!

Fran's expression showed some struggle. If he left all these things to them, it would mean that even if they did manage to leave alive and reach Slade, it would be forfeit.

Their chances of making a comeback are virtually slim.

Look at all these people on the ship!
Almost all of them are over thirty-four years old. They may have some of their own children, teenagers or in their twenties, but most of these people are already useless!
The younger generation of the Perez family has never been tempered by blood and fire. If you let them engage in promiscuous sex, drug abuse, and other hedonistic activities, they can find ninety-nine ways to make themselves happy in an instant.

But they simply cannot fight, to battle those enemies!
Fran's original plan was to use the wealth they had now to bribe local officials and find a new protector for the family after they landed.

Then they would win over a group of locals, recruit another group of immigrants or restless laborers, and form a new family.

Because they have protection, money, and domestic smuggling channels, they may be able to make a comeback in just a few years.

But without this money, they would have no chance at all.

Starting with a robbery?
Do you expect young people who can't even shoot a rifle properly to rob a bank or kidnap a tycoon?

Alright!
Fran's silence displeased Helam. "You didn't answer my question!"

Fran snapped out of his daze, glancing at Hailam and then at the middle-aged man who had remained silent but whose identity was clearly special.

After a brief moment of thought, he wrote on his notepad: "I can give it to you, but you must be able to leave alive!"

Helam immediately said no problem, but Fran didn't say anything or make any further comments; he just stared at the middle-aged man.

He felt that the person who truly held the reins, or rather, the one who controlled this "game," was not Hailam, a minor character, but the silent middle-aged man.

After a few seconds, the middle-aged man nodded solemnly, "No problem."

This "no problem" was like a magic pill, making Fran relax a lot. Actually, there were some ulterior motives behind it.

He has more than a dozen accounts, as well as some well-hidden bearer bonds in safe houses in the federal territory.

These are all things that can be readily converted into cash, allowing him to retain a portion of his assets.

As for the original plan, the plan to rise again in Slade may need to be changed, but at least some embers will remain.

He picked up the pen, which felt as heavy as if it weighed several pounds or even tens of pounds, and wrote "I can" on the notepad as if he had used all his strength.

Soon, the two of them pushed Fran back onto the deck. Fran looked at his terrified family members and finally sighed, "I've already talked to them. Give them everything, including my and your bank accounts."

"Don't hold back, it's pointless. These things can help us leave alive, and this matter will end here."

Some people immediately expressed their incomprehension and unwillingness. The guy who stepped forward only said one sentence, "This is impossible..."

Then there is no more.

Helam shot him again and killed him; the entire deck fell silent.

Those people looked around at the people holding submachine guns and rifles. They all knew that at this moment, resistance would only hasten death, and the only way to live was to obey.

Soon, a large amount of valuables were moved onto the gunboat, and the middle-aged man, who had maintained a stern face the whole way, couldn't help but show a smile.

As for what happens next, that's not his business, nor does it require his attention.

After Hailam had registered all the accounts, it was Fran's turn last.

The moment Fran revealed his account and password, he suddenly paused, then looked at Hailam with a strange expression, as if he were both crying and laughing, and asked, "How do you verify the authenticity of these accounts on the high seas?"

"How...how can you be sure we're not lying?"

A surge of anxiety rose within him, uncontrollable, and spread throughout his body.

His expression contorted with fear!
(End of this chapter)