Shadow Empire

Chapter 1202 Everyone’s Thoughts

Chester had considered these things before accepting the invitation to take this special job: accepting bribes and exchanging power for money.

Such situations are very common in the military, and he was one of them, a participant in one link of the chain.

You could even say that there's some connection between him and Lance—

The liquor that Lance sent to the front lines, the "Golden Lion Metal Cans" which were used as a remedy to reduce the stress and tension of the soldiers and were also popular among them, was sometimes intercepted by the military high command and then sold to the Slade and their allies.

Alcohol may not be so scarce under normal circumstances, and Slad has a lot of land and grain, so they also make wine.

However, after the outbreak of war, food became a controlled strategic resource and was not allowed to be used for brewing. The public had a strong desire for alcoholic beverages.

This was the case throughout the entire war zone; all allies of the Slad Republic were required to register their food supplies for unified distribution.

Therefore, during the war, Slade and his allies, including the middle and upper ranks, were in dire need of alcohol.

Because of Prohibition, alcohol prices in the federal government skyrocketed.

In Slade, the price of alcohol skyrocketed because the war had banned brewing.

In a sense, two countries with different environments and power dynamics have miraculously reached an agreement on the issue of alcohol prohibition.

Logically speaking, if Sumuli Island is still selling alcohol to the Federation, they could also sell it in Slard and make money, with less risk. Why don't they do that?
The logic is actually quite simple. If they really were to transport and sell alcohol to Slade, then the Slade, who have always been at a disadvantage, couldn't handle their old rival, so how could they not handle a little brother who had been disobedient during the war?

Everyone else knows to send grain to the front lines, so why are you using grain to brew alcohol and trying to sell it to make money from the war?

This is a destruction of the overall ideological unity, a betrayal of war and sacred friendship!

Therefore, even if some countries have surplus food to brew alcohol, they will not sell it to Slade.

Slade's war was a war concerning the survival of the nation and the entire ruling class. They would take the allocation of resources during wartime more seriously than anyone else, and they would not act recklessly.

Therefore, small tin cans from the Federal military supplies, and canned luncheon meat for the sergeants, became hot commodities in Slade.

Chester also sold these military supplies. These items were supposed to be delivered to the soldiers at the front, but they withheld some of them to sell for profit and pocket the money.

He was well aware that the Federation was corrupt from top to bottom, and he had considered that Lance or other capitalists might give him money.

But when his eyes fell on the check, he never imagined they would give so much!
Chester's connection to the Socialist Party stems not only from his own membership in the party, but also from the fact that his wife's father was a member of the Federal Socialist Committee and had a good relationship with Senator Cleveland.

When they were selecting their next person, they considered that this person should be reliable, one of their own, and ruthless enough, not an idealist.

The position of FBI Director is like the sharpest knife in the hands of a political party. They need a knife that can easily cut through other people's flesh and blood, not a dull knife that can't even pierce through.

A colonel who has reached the pinnacle of his career in the military is a good option.

Lacking the support of the military, and if there is no significant exchange of interests between the military and his wife and the Socialist Party, then it will be very difficult for him to take the crucial step from colonel to general.

The war gave him the opportunity to rise from major to colonel, but it wouldn't give him the chance to cross real class barriers.

So his wife's father made a decision, paid a price, and exchanged favors to get his son-in-law out.

Before taking up the post, the old man had spoken with Chester about this matter.

He should not reject any overtures or requests from the Socialist camp. He must first establish a firm foothold before he is qualified to negotiate with others. Until then, he must do whatever others say.

Chester was also a smart man, otherwise he wouldn't have been recruited as a socialist before he enlisted. Although the army was relatively autocratic and vertical, it also gave him some opportunities to develop.

He imagined his first ill-gotten gain might be five thousand, ten thousand, or twenty thousand yuan.

In his mind, this was already a lot. You have to know that the average wage in the federal government is only a little over fifty dollars (according to statistics). Five thousand dollars is almost ten years' worth of income for an average person.

But to his surprise, Lance gave him 100,000!

He stared at the number on the check, lost in thought for a moment, before snapping back to reality. He said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Lance, I've never seen a check with such a large denomination before."

"I was getting a little distracted."

Lance expressed his understanding, saying, "Many people get distracted when they see a long string of zeros that is beyond their comprehension."

"This is actually a kind of 'expansion'. Your cognition and your life are expanded. You can accommodate more things, which is a good thing for you."

“You are a smart and capable person, and I believe you can handle these things.”

"After you go back, buy yourself a few nice outfits and a nice house. They might come to visit you."

"I heard you're still living at your wife's father's villa?"

Chester looked a little embarrassed. "We're planning to move out."

Having found a suitable job, and one that is particularly good, he is indeed no longer suited to continue living in his wife's father's house.

“Perfect timing. I have a vacant house in the suburbs. You can move in there. I’ll have someone give you the address and the keys later.”

“You are now a senior federal employee. Your appearance and demeanor will determine whether those people respect you and listen to you.”

“We all have high hopes for your development and future, Chester.”

"I won't say things like 'Don't let me down,' but please, don't let those who care about you down!"

Chester nodded vigorously. "I understand, Lance..."

Lance stared at him, and instead of saying "sir," he simply said Lance's name.

"very good!"

"It seems we're friends now. We can communicate more, and with others too. Timely communication can avoid ninety percent of trouble..."

The two chatted for a while longer before Lance left first.

Chester watched Lance's car disappear at the end of the road before driving back to his current residence, which was his wife's father's villa.

The old man smiled when he saw him return. "How did the talk go?"

He knew that if Senators Cleveland and their ilk wanted to use his son-in-law, they would first have to make him one of their own, and someone had to be in charge of that.

The senator had previously told him that he would introduce a "friend" to his son-in-law, which was actually a formal attempt to win him over.

To decide on the next steps, if this matter weren't so urgent, there would only be a few days. If the former president is missed, there will be no chance for nomination, and Congress will most likely not be able to pass it. Many things would definitely have been dealt with before then.

So this actually gave Chester a good deal.

Next came the president taking office, forming a cabinet, and changes in congressional seats. All the "gentlemen" returned to their places of origin, and no one cared about Chester until these last few days, when they returned to the center of the Union from all over.

That's why we had this meeting.

"It's alright!" Chester walked to the sofa, sat down, took the envelope out of his pocket, and handed it over. "He gave it to me."

His wife's father picked up the envelope, opened it, glanced at it, and then whistled, "One hundred thousand dollars, not bad. They seem to accept you."

As he spoke, he returned the envelope and the check to Chester. "Don't think this is a lot. If you knew Lance White, who transfers hundreds of millions of dollars to the Socialist Party every year, you wouldn't think this hundred thousand dollars is anything."

Hearing this, Chester himself was taken aback. "How does he have so much money?"

In his mind, "wealthy" seems to be a word with an upper limit.

Of course, this is also related to his limited understanding of wealth. In reality, Lance isn't among the wealthiest people, but he will become one. Those conglomerates and families that truly monopolize a particular industry within the Federation—they are the hidden super-giants behind the Federation!

For example, oil, steel, and those military and chemical groups that are becoming behemoths, as well as medical groups!
These funds can make money just as fast as Lance, and they're much more discreet and secure!
Some people may have a vague idea of ​​how rich capitalists are, but few realize just how insane the profits of healthcare groups can be!

Those seemingly insignificant special drugs may only cost a few dollars per injection, and for ordinary people, one injection may just be one injection.

But in reality, their production lines produce these special drugs worth only a few dollars every day without interruption and then sell them all over the world. Every day, as many as 100,000 people use these special drugs, the actual number is far greater than that.

Their profit could be 200,000, which would be 2 million in ten days, 6 million in a month, and 72 million in a year.

But they don't just have one effective drug; they may have dozens of effective drugs on the market.

Those hospitals can charge wealthy individuals tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan for a single organ transplant.

Therefore, while Lance's wealth is indeed considerable to the highest levels of the Federation, it is by no means astonishingly large!

Chester's wife's father chuckled twice. "He now controls the entire state of Licarle, and soon he will control the liquor smuggling and sales market in Indenor. His factories are more terrifying than the printing press."

"They're printing money for him every single day without stopping!"

Chester didn't ask why no one was taking care of it. As a retired officer, he knew very well that these were military supplies, which were privileged, and Lance even had a license.

He sighed after a long while, "These things have really had a big impact on me."

His wife's father sat down next to him and patted him on the shoulder. "So you need to study hard and pay more attention. I can't help you climb higher in the army, but I can still pave a way for you outside."

“We all know the importance of the FBI. First, you make people dependent on you, then they fear you, and ultimately you control the entire situation, understand?”

Chester nodded. "I know what to do."

He then shared some of the things Lance had told him with the elderly man beside him. His wife's father also strongly agreed, saying, "Lance is absolutely right. People are all base. If you're wearing clothes that cost thousands of dollars, or clothes that cost only a dozen dollars, when you meet them, their attitude will be completely different!"

"Don't worry about the money. The fact that he can give it to you by bank transfer means that everything has been taken care of. You can go and buy some things."

"If there's anything you don't understand, or if you don't know how to handle it, just tell me."

"First, let's stabilize our jobs."

"If you want to become someone they can trust, you must first integrate into their society."

After parting ways with Chester, Lance didn't go straight back; instead, he arranged to meet with both Director Ford and Director Ike.

The first to arrive was Director Ike, who took a strong initiative in meeting with Lance.

Firstly, Lance held crucial leverage over him. Regardless of whether he was forced into it or not, once these things were released, he would be finished. Therefore, he took the initiative.

Secondly, Lance can also bring him more benefits.

As a supervisor of agents, he should theoretically be able to obtain more wealth or something else, but in reality, this is not the case because he is not a front-line staff member.

On the contrary, those on the front lines and those in the branch offices are able to rake in benefits until their hands are sore.

He sits in the headquarters office all day, never getting involved in the actual execution work, and no one gives him money.

So when Lance made the call, he immediately found an excuse to leave the office and come to see Lance.

The two were chatting when there was a knock on the door. Manager Ike was startled, immediately shut his mouth, and looked at Lance with some nervousness.

Because after he arrived, Lance told him that another friend was coming over later.

This made him feel a little pressured and nervous, after all... it was indeed a bit inconvenient for him to appear next to Lance in his current identity.

But this was Lance's request, and he could only accept it, not object.

As Lance said "Come in," the door opened, and Supervisor Ike looked at the person who entered in surprise, while Supervisor Ford, who was standing outside the door, also looked at Supervisor Ike in disbelief.

Both are now senior agents in the FBI, truly high-ranking officials, and they have regular contact with each other.

We can't call each other friends, but we're definitely colleagues who know each other quite well.

They hadn't considered that Lance actually had other people in the FBI, which left both of them somewhat speechless.

"Come in first."

Lance gave a brief instruction, and then Manager Ford seemed to realize something and quickly walked into the room, his expression towards Manager Ike somewhat strange.

"I don't need to introduce you, you must already know each other."

The two looked at each other and nodded with wry smiles.

Ford's manager joined the party because of a friend's introduction and because he genuinely felt that Roland was no match for the Socialists.

But he didn't know how this Director Ike had defected to him. As Roland's former confidant and a director who could be sent on missions abroad, he had actually defected to Lance.

He couldn't help but think of the attack on Ike and his team earlier. Was it all a staged performance orchestrated by them?
He didn't realize that was the key to their acquaintance and becoming "friends." He thought that before that, Director Ike was already one of Lance's men, which was why he led a group of Roland's trusted elites to "go to their deaths."

Looking at it this way, some of the seemingly illogical points suddenly become understandable.

He had an assessment of this supervisor, Ike, whom he didn't usually interact with much—he was a ruthless person!

After all, many of those who died were his own trusted confidants.

Of course, regardless of what he was thinking, he maintained a smile on his face. "Of course, I meet with Supervisor Ike frequently, and we also cooperate in our work."

Supervisor Ike nodded as well.

"Since you have no problems, I won't bother you. The reason I called you here is because I've already met your new director."

"Although he is the candidate pushed by the Socialist Party, I need you to keep an eye on him."

"On the surface, try to get closer to him. He won't eliminate you people in the short term. When he decides to take action, I will protect you if necessary."

The Ford manager hesitated for a moment, "Since he's one of our own..."

Lance didn't let him finish speaking. "It's not entirely true. As you all know from the investigation, the FBI is a very special and important department. If it weren't for the time constraints, he probably wouldn't have been able to get this position."

“He wasn’t truly one of us until he had completely gained our trust.”

"Besides this matter, the reason I'm arranging this meeting for you today is also to avoid any conflicts at work."

"Did you do what I asked you to do last time to develop some more manpower?" he asked the Ford manager.

The latter nodded. "Some senior agents are already siding with me."

Lance was satisfied. He glanced at Supervisor Ike and said, "You should continue to develop your trusted men, the kind who only listen to your orders."

"After a while, I will find you some things to do so that you can legally and legitimately make some benefits, and at the same time, let your people gain some merit."

"I must remind you that even if you change the director, you still need to be careful and cautious, and not give anything away."

He paused for a moment as he spoke, and the atmosphere became somewhat serious.

Both supervisors nodded in agreement, as obediently as students in an elementary school classroom.

(End of this chapter)