Shadow Empire

Chapter 1139 Puzzle, Understanding, Becoming and Carelessness

When Roland was very young, something happened. When he was in school, someone in the class would always lose something, but no matter how hard they looked, they couldn't find out who took the classmate's things.

This displeased the parents and students alike. After several items were stolen, the school claimed they had caught the "thief," a seemingly ordinary, somewhat introverted, and timid student.

At that time, Roland was not yet the bureau chief, but just an ordinary student. He did not think that this person was a thief. He did not even dare to look people in the eye when he was talking to them. How could he be a thief?

This incident was driven by the dissatisfaction of many parents. At a school assembly, they publicly "executed" the student. The principal, the board of directors, and the class teacher went over all the things he had done and gave him a very severe punishment: expulsion.

The federation is not an independent society; to put it more simply, there are connections between things and between people.

And this connection is actually very close. Some people may not think so, but that's because they don't have this close connection.

To give a simple example, if a powerful student wants to get into an elite university, even if he doesn't have his family involved, the school, including his parents' friends, will be very happy to write a letter of recommendation for him to attend an elite alliance school.

But an ordinary child from an ordinary family cannot do this, so in his world, the world is "simple," but it is not.

The expulsion of that introverted student meant he would have almost no chance of finding a school to attend in the area, as no school could withstand the immense pressure from the student's parents—"You fucking want to recruit a thief into my child's class?"

Are you living too comfortably?

These students' parents can be quite dramatic when they make a scene, and private schools would be even less likely to accept such powerless, morally corrupt students.

After this incident, the thefts in the class completely stopped, and everyone was celebrating. The thief had been driven away, and justice had been served.

Later, Roland learned in an unexpected incident that the introverted student was not actually the thief, but the school was under pressure and could not find the "master thief," so they directly chose a child from an easy-to-bully family and used this extreme "warning" to solve the problem.

As they had anticipated and needed, the problem was solved perfectly; the thefts ceased because the real thieves were deterred.

He couldn't guarantee that his next theft wouldn't be discovered, nor could he guarantee that he would be much luckier than that unlucky fellow.

Later at work, Roland met that introverted classmate who was living a very difficult life.

During the conversation, he learned that his father felt ashamed because he had been expelled from school, which led to a heated argument with his mother at home, after which his father kicked them out.

Then his mother soon abandoned him and ran off with another man, while he went straight into society.

Later, he did many things and was struggling to survive.

What impressed Roland the most was that this introverted classmate who was wrongly accused actually became a thief, a criminal.

It was around that time that he gained some deeper insights into life and society.

Sometimes, whether it's the truth or not is not important to many people; what matters is the result.

He was somewhat restless, sitting down and then standing up again, sometimes clenching his fists, sometimes running his fingers through his hair as he paced back and forth.

Finally, he seemed to make some kind of decision, picked up his car keys and left the investigation bureau; he needed to go to a safer place to make the call.

After driving around the city for more than ten minutes, he arrived at a small hotel that looked deserted and easy to observe. He asked for a room with a telephone and sat down.

He then kept an eye on the area around the small hotel, making sure no one looked like they were watching him, before dialing the phone number in New Gold City.

First, he had someone find out about the family's situation, and then he made a phone call to the bank.

"Check a few accounts for me; they should have had financial dealings with this account..."

He gave those personal details to the other party, one of which was for guarding his own account.

He knows the names of the guard's family members and has their accounts, but he cannot determine what the guard's family members' accounts are; he can only do so through other means.

As the person who earns the money in the family, his account will definitely have some transactions with his family members' accounts, and that's the clue.

On the other end of the phone was a bank employee, who, like the guard, was also from New Gold City.

Director Roland had a few transactions with this bank employee, which could be considered a cooperative relationship. The other party helped him obtain intelligence information about bank accounts, and in return, he paid the other party a fee.

"Another case investigation?" Clearly, this bank employee thought it was the same as before, that he was on the side of justice.

Director Roland answered after a few seconds, "Yes, we are investigating a case."

"Give me half an hour; there are too many cabinets in the archives."

After hanging up the phone, Roland kept smoking, one cigarette after another. He always wanted to be a righteous, positive, and heroic figure.

He wanted to bring sunshine and justice to the world, but he always faced some difficult choices.

Between sacrificing himself and sacrificing someone who had made a mistake and was not innocent, he chose to save himself.

He knew very well that only he could bring the power to change the world, and no one else could.

They will only make the world more polluted.

Twenty minutes later, he made another call, and the other party had already checked the information. "Of the five accounts you gave me, three have been used frequently, and two of them have had transfer records with the accounts you provided, using bank checks."

“One account seems to have more frequent transfers, with transfers almost every month. The other account has only had three transfers, and the amounts are all small, with the largest being ten yuan.”

Upon hearing this, Roland breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. The information you provided is very important."

"After the case is closed, it will be the same as before."

The bank employee laughed after hearing this, "I trust you."

The old rule he mentioned was that some expenses would be reimbursed through public funds after the case was closed, including the "consulting fees" paid to him, so the bill would only be settled when the case was deemed satisfactory.

It wasn't much, thirty or fifty yuan, and at most it didn't exceed one hundred yuan.

For simple tasks like today's, Director Roland would usually give him twenty yuan.

Making a phone call for half an hour and earning twenty yuan is already a lot.

He compared the account information with the information in his notebook, and found that one account belonged to his wife and the other should belong to his son.

Director Roland seemed to be struggling at this point, but in the end he gritted his teeth.

He didn't understand the school's approach before, but now he does.

He called home, and his cousin answered the phone.

"Please transfer 50,000 yuan to this account, using that separate account."

His cousin hesitated for a moment, but still agreed. Those accounts belonged to Director Roland, and the right to use them was in his cousin's hands, since it was all Roland's own money anyway.

After his cousin had written down the account number, Director Roland casually asked, "How has he been since he enrolled?"

He was still a little dissatisfied when talking about his son's schooling, but fortunately the matter was eventually resolved satisfactorily.

“Very good, but... you know, they don’t know who his father is, and his classmates might be a little curious. Sometimes excessive curiosity can hurt him.”

In this society, single-parent families are not a good thing, especially matrilineal single-parent families, which often represent vulnerability, marginalization, and vulnerability to being bullied.

Although such incidents don't happen often in private schools, it doesn't mean they won't. Fortunately, Director Roland's cousin has visited several times and temporarily resolved the issue.

They tried to bully the guy, but were "fought back," and they won't bully him again until they get a satisfactory result from a reassessment.

Hearing this, Director Roland sighed. Perhaps the people he felt most sorry for in his life were his wife and children. But everything would be alright. Once he had achieved his plans and goals, become a truly important figure, and no longer needed to hide anything, he would bring them to his side and let them enjoy everything they deserved.

The current period of dormancy and forbearance is all for the sake of a happy life in the future.

"I can't take care of them much, so please take care of them for me."

"If you have any questions, call my office. If you need money, there's money in those accounts you can use directly."

After exchanging a few more words, they ended the call at Director Roland's urging to transfer the money as soon as possible.

Although Director Roland's cousin didn't understand why his brother, who was already a big shot, wanted him to do this, he had gotten used to following orders over the years.

He was one of those who had been brainwashed by Director Roland's ideals, and he began transferring money to the account.

However, the bank gave him feedback that the account he used, which he didn't use often, didn't have enough money for 50,000 yuan. He didn't pay much attention to it. He made 49,800 yuan and transferred the remaining 200 yuan to a more frequently used account.

After finishing these things, he didn't say anything to Roland and went back to his work.

After leaving the hotel, Roland immediately drove to find Lance. He wanted to face Lance again, a real confrontation, not like the ones he had done a few days ago.

Lance didn't hide. He had already acquired many of the Perez family's properties, not only taking them over but also obtaining the property documents. Although Director Roland had taken the most lucrative piece of the pie, Lance had still made his share.

Moreover, even if some property ownership documents were missing, he instructed the bearded bureau chief to arrange for the creation of some genuine fake certificates as soon as possible.

Next, we need to examine these assets and then take over the other party's business.

"I don't run the bar or sell alcohol myself."

"What I'm saying is what people want to hear: I don't do illegal business!"

There were local police officers and some local gang leaders in the room. The destruction of the Perez family left behind a large vacuum, and not only here, but other cities will also be subject to a new round of "sweeping".

Lance won't compete with these local gangs for territory because it's unnecessary. Competing for territory requires a lot of manpower, and it's not convenient for the Lance family to continue expanding at the moment. Besides, no business is as profitable as selling alcohol right now, so why pay more costs to do something that doesn't bring in any reward?

So he doesn't occupy these territories; he gives them up for local gangs or even the police to operate.

When the bearded bureau chief heard this, he couldn't help but laugh twice at first. This laughter was like a contagious disease, and soon others couldn't help but laugh as well, and eventually they all joined in.

Everyone burst into laughter, and the bearded bureau chief even laughed until tears streamed down his face.

This was the funniest joke they'd heard all year: Lance and the Lance family didn't do illegal business?
Lance himself said, "Is there anything funnier than this?"

Seeing them laughing so hard they were almost out of breath, Lance took a puff of his cigar, crossed his legs, and slowly asked, "Is it that funny?"

One sentence abruptly silenced the laughter in the room, freezing everyone's expressions, some even looking pained.

If someone else had asked them that question, they would have laughed and replied, "That's funny." But since Lance asked it, they dared not laugh.

You're laughing?

The Perez family was the last one to laugh; look at them now.

Seeing that some of these people's faces had turned red and purple, Lance finally smiled more gently. "Well, it is indeed very funny."

Laughter rang out in the room again, but it wasn't as pure as before; it had become more complex.

After laughing for a while, Lance raised his hand to signal people to stop, and the laughter quickly subsided.

He was like a top-notch music conductor, with everyone's emotions, behavior, and actions under his control.

"That's a more official way of putting it. To put it more directly, I actually look down on these businesses, or rather, my business is too big. Although these businesses are profitable, I don't want to compete with you for business."

“I’ve talked to Hull about this before. The local market and local businesses should be in the hands of locals.”

“But we’ve taken down such a huge behemoth as the Perez family, it’s impossible for us not to take any benefits. If we did, we would be truly stupid, not just pretending to be stupid.”

“My demands are very simple: I don’t want the Perez family’s territory, power, or anything they left behind, but the drinks sold in their bars must be sourced from me.”

"As I just told you, I don't sell alcohol directly, but I do wholesale."

"By the way, I have a Ministry of National Defense license. My business is legal. I transport the alcohol over and hand it over to you, but what you do is none of my business, and I don't care whether it's legal or not, understand?"

These gang leaders and police officers finally realized that what Lance wanted was the entire city's liquor market.

They were shocked by Lance's enormous appetite!

At this moment, as one of Lance's closer partners, the bearded chief asked a question that his gangster friends were very concerned about: "What's the price of this drink...?"

Getting goods from Lans is not a bad idea; after all, it's all the same whether you get the goods from someone else or not. What they're worried about is the price.

If the prices of drinks at Lance are clearly unreasonable and far exceed the "market" price, they will not buy from Lance, even if it will cause conflict with Lance.

After all, self-interest is the only constant, nothing else matters.

Lance brandished his cigar. "It will be seven percent cheaper than the market price. I can guarantee that our quality is the best in the Federation, and our price is the most attractive in the Federation!"

"But!" His change in tone jolted people back into a frenzy.

"I also have more rules for the game than others."

"The 5% discount I'm giving you is a concession we're making as friends. Since you've accepted me as a friend, I'm giving you a portion of my profits so we can all make money together."

"The remaining two percent is for the welfare of Hull, the local police, and other people in the system. I will have someone keep an eye on this money."

"As for how to divide it, that's none of your business. I'll discuss that with Hel and the local people who will get involved later."

The bearded bureau chief was taken aback. Lance had only mentioned the club before, not that there was any other money involved.

He jolted awake and swallowed hard. He didn’t know how much it was, but he knew it was a lot!
His eyes also became fervent. No wonder he had heard some people say that everyone who had worked with Lance spoke highly of him, including ordinary people, citizens, and those in Golden Harbor City.

Even he couldn't say Lance was bad!
Is this still a fucking human being?
This is God!

Whoever can make him rich is God!
The benefits of doing this are obvious: at least in the short term, these people will be on his side, whether it's the gangs, the local law enforcement agencies, or even the mayor.

There are other cities nearby, and Lance will also go and talk to them, hoping they will be more sensible.

The gang didn't object. With lower procurement costs and unchanged selling prices, they could make more profit. They were willing to hand over a pre-arranged portion to the police.

After all, the most important thing in making money and doing business is stability and sustainability.

Everyone got what they wanted. Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Lance's man walked in from outside. He walked up to Lance, bowed, and said, "Roland is here. He says he wants to see you."

Lance nodded slightly, placed his cigar on the ashtray shelf, then stood up and straightened his clothes. "A friend has come in, we need to talk alone."

"If you have nothing else to do, you can call it a day."

“Of course, if you have any issues regarding the allocation of territory, it would be best to sit down and discuss them, after all…”, he pointed to the ceiling, “the situation has become somewhat tense recently, and it would be best to resolve it peacefully if possible.”

That's all for now, see you later!

Everyone stood up and escorted Lance to the door. Just then, Roland, who had been waiting impatiently, walked over and saw Lance surrounded by everyone.

The two were standing more than ten meters apart, staring at each other without either of them giving way!
(End of this chapter)