Shadow Empire

Chapter 1203 Suffering Losses

"call……"

"call……"

A man dressed in an expensive suit had already crawled into an old trash can by the roadside. His expensive clothes were covered in filthy garbage, and the pungent stench almost made him vomit.

But he forced himself to slow his breathing as much as possible, and after taking two deep breaths, he gradually gained control.

Inside the pitch-black trash can, his eyes widened, his perception of his surroundings heightened to its peak at that moment!
He didn't know if the world of the blind was like this, since they couldn't see anything, so the changes in the surrounding environment seemed to be magnified and presented in his mind.

This may also be related to his concentration; he could even hear the sound of mice climbing around.

The sound of footsteps approaching from afar drew his attention, and as the footsteps drew closer, his heart leaped into his throat.

The footsteps were very dense; at least five or six people were running towards him. He was terrified!
"The person has disappeared..."

"Look for each other separately."

Soon the footsteps turned into two groups of people, gradually disappearing in two different directions.

After a while, the young man hiding in the trash can finally climbed out. He didn't care about the trash on his body. After confirming that no one was around, he ran back in the direction he came from under the cover of night.

These Lance family members are so hateful!
His eyes were filled with unyielding hatred. He was the only survivor in the entire stronghold, and the constant sound of police sirens in the distance seemed like a mockery.

The police only came to clean up the mess after the shootout ended, but this also shows that a huge change has taken place in Indenau State.

He must go back and relay the news from here.

Whether it was out of fear of death or because he genuinely wanted to send the message back, he was lucky enough to escape unscathed.

He didn't dare go back to the "company," so he went directly to the parking lot not far from the company, drove away in a spare car, and wanted to relay the news that had happened there back to the company.

Two days later, he finally appeared before Christopher.

Christopher has been living a very pleasant life these past few years. Leonard exiled him to the Commonwealth, intending to teach him a lesson, but he has done quite well in his liquor business here.

Gradually, Leonardo's dissatisfaction with his family turned into satisfaction with Christopher's earning power, and now the two are basically in a situation that is half family and half business partners.

The young man who had always been suppressed by Paul has finally achieved success in his own right, which is everything he wanted.

In the past, several years ago, he would sometimes regret his decisions when he thought about the past in the quiet of the night. He shouldn't have hurt Paul; he should have figured out sooner what stupid things he had done.

But as his situation continues to improve, he has begun to ignore the matter and even feels that what he did was what he should have done and was the right thing to do.

If he hadn't gotten rid of Paul, he wouldn't have achieved everything he has now.

He commands immense influence and is the gang's big boss. He has endless money and is always surrounded by actresses or beauties. Social elites are also among his guests.

This is the life he wants, and everything he has done to achieve it is worthwhile!
He firmly believed this!
He should have stood in a more glorious place and enjoyed people's adoration, instead of living like a clown in the Pasreto family as an "adopted son".

At this moment, he was wearing high-end clothes made entirely by a famous tailor. He pinched his nose and moved away from his subordinate, whose body was already starting to smell and grow mold. "You look like you were just pulled out of a cesspool. Who the hell would take this dung ball to take a bath first?"

His subordinates all looked at him with disdain, but eventually someone stepped forward, after all, this was a good opportunity to show off in front of the boss.

Let alone taking that smelly person to take a bath, even just having sex with him would be something someone would be willing to do, as long as it achieves their goal.

Half an hour later, the transformed subordinate returned to Christopher, sitting on a soft chair with his legs crossed, his toes twitching back and forth.

He looked the guy up and down and nodded slightly. "You look much better, at least you look like a human being."

"So, tell me what exactly happened over there, and what made you look like that?"

The guy who had just returned from Indenau went over what he wanted to say in his mind and said in his own words, "Our business in Indenau is finished."

At first, Christopher didn't think it was anything too serious; perhaps his capable subordinate had run into some trouble?
Or perhaps their business in Indenau was attacked; such things are quite common.

The profit margin on alcoholic beverages is very high, and everyone wants their products to be sold in the market so that they can make more profit.

After all, the market is only so big, but there are so many products. What should we do?
struggle.

In a legitimate market competition, this struggle is most directly manifested in price reductions and promotions to attract more customers to buy one's own products, compress the market share of competing products to the limit, and then kick them out of the market. After gaining pricing power, one can then reprice the products.

That's what capitalists used to do; they would compete with their rivals in the market by providing subsidies or directly lowering prices.

Once their competitors were eliminated, they would control the market. This was a common monopolistic practice in various industries during the early days of the Federation.

Later, the federal government passed the Antitrust Act, which cracked down on, dismantled, and reorganized all monopolistic capital.

One by one, large monopoly groups disappeared from people's sight, but their monopolistic behavior did not stop; it just changed to a way that was more acceptable to people and less likely to arouse their resentment.

It's like... the actual controllers of every similar product in the market come from a group of people who monopolize 98% of similar products in the industry, which is equivalent to controlling the market.

They formed an industry self-regulatory organization, with 98 out of 100 seats held by their own people.

Such monopolies operate silently.

Business competition is extremely brutal because the enormous profits behind it can drive people to do it.

The same applies to illegal and criminal businesses, but the competition is even more direct—physical destruction!
I'm selling alcohol, and you're selling alcohol too. We're both gangsters, so we can't engage in a price war like in commercial competition. Therefore, they'll only try to eliminate each other.

So, instead of having two beverage suppliers, now there's only one. Isn't that a monopoly?

Christopher used these methods to become the largest liquor supplier in South Yaan State, and Sumuli's gunmen were quite skilled.

He thought that the small conflict that occurred in Indenor State was just a similar exchange of fire. He had suffered a loss this time, so next time he would just send more people to take out those who had caused him the loss.
But when his subordinates said, "The business is over," he realized something was wrong.

His nonchalant smile vanished instantly, and he leaned forward, saying, "Explain yourself clearly. I don't like guessing!"

This is actually a manifestation of a lack of culture, but that's how gangsters are.

If they were highly educated and well-mannered, their outward appearance would likely be more complex than it appears.

His subordinate swallowed hard, then began to recount the whole story—

“Governor Wade had some conflicts and disagreements with the Lance family before. The Lance family couldn’t control the entire state’s liquor market, which is why our liquor was able to enter Indenor State.”

“But Governor Wade was killed over there last month, and many people suspect that it was Lance and his men who did it.”

"After the lieutenant governor took office, he began to purge Governor Wade's influence, while the Lance family continued to expand."

"The whole state has been fighting for the past month. If they don't submit, they will be destroyed. They are too arrogant and too overbearing."

"Moreover, it has also affected us."

"The night before last, we had just delivered a batch of wine when, on our way back, we saw the Lance family attack our company. They killed everyone. I ran out as fast as I could, just to get this news back..."

His speech was somewhat disjointed, but Christopher understood it, and his expression was grim.

"The Lance family killed all our people, so what about our goods?"

There are at least tens of millions of dollars worth of wine in the warehouses in Indenor!
Interstate shipping is a bit complicated, with many uncontrollable factors along the way. Given the high demand, each shipment involves multiple trucks traveling together to reduce costs. The total amount of wine in the Indenau state warehouses isn't actually that much; it's only about six or seven million, or seven or eight million.

His subordinate swallowed hard. "It seems they took it."

Christopher, who had been sitting still, adjusted his posture, but no matter how he sat, he was uncomfortable, so he stood up and walked back and forth a few steps.

His gaze lingered on the subordinate's face several times, his eyes filled with anger!
Whether it's goods worth seven or eight million or tens of millions, this is a huge loss!

His relationship with the Bianchi family is complicated; it's more of a kinship-cooperative relationship, though the kinship aspect is weaker since he killed his wife, while the cooperative aspect is more clearly defined.

If it's a family relationship, and he was working here under orders, the loss of such a large quantity of goods primarily affected the Bianchi family. He personally suffered some losses as well, but not much.

But now it's a partnership. Leonardo, that old guy, won't pay for his losses with the Bianchi family. This money loss is all for his personal interests!
How could he not be angry?
Making money is indeed easy, but to get that money back, it would take at least two months of work for nothing, and maybe not even that, because their sales network in Indenau State has also been disrupted, making their profits even lower.

The purchasing power on the West Coast is still a bit weaker than on the East Coast, and the market in South Yaan is not as big as in Indenor. Of course, if possible, he would prefer to sell his wine in Licale, which is where the consumption is the highest.

He pointed at the subordinate who had escaped back. He knew this had nothing to do with the bastard, but he was still very angry.

Christopher's change in mood made everyone hold their breath; ever since he killed Paul, his emotions had occasionally spiraled out of control.

If it gets out of control, it will be a disaster for everyone.

He wouldn't kill someone for no reason, but he would point at someone's nose and say some nasty things, and might even get slapped a few times.

We're all gangsters, even the lowest-ranking ones, we still have our pride.

For them, perhaps all that's left is saving face.

Just when people thought he was about to lose control, Christopher took a deep breath and managed to suppress his emotions, which were about to spiral out of control.

"Get out of my sight before I beat you up."

The henchman left the room without looking back. Christopher sat back down in his armchair, crossed his legs, and unconsciously put his thumb in his mouth, starting to bite his nail.

He was no longer concerned about the collapse of his business in Indenor and the loss of a large quantity of goods; he was concerned about whether Lance would continue to expand westward.

If they intend to take over the markets in the three southern states, it means Christopher will soon be facing the Lance family head-on!

He was a little afraid of Lance and the Lance family. Although he was unwilling to admit it, he was just afraid!
He recalled how he had dealt with the two men under Lance when they went to retrieve Alberto and the bodies of his men, only to be captured by Christopher.

He demanded that the two men kneel down and beg for his mercy, and called Lance, asking him to come over in person, but the two men refused.

Even after being tortured!
As they lay dying, one of them said something that left a deep impression on him—

Lance will personally send you to hell!

Thinking about it now, he still feels a chill.

After a moment of silence, one of the guys next to him... who was somewhat thoughtful, bent down slightly and said, "I think we should talk to Leonardo and the others about this. After all, they can also profit from selling alcohol here."

"There's no reason why we should bear the trouble on our own while they pretend they know nothing. What do you think?"

Christopher glanced back at his subordinate, hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "You're right, bring me the phone."

This subordinate was someone he discovered later and could be considered a trusted confidant; those who had followed him back to Sumuli Island before were practically useless.

They used to have no problem eating, drinking, and having fun with each other, but once they were asked to do something serious, they couldn't do this or that well.

Even without Paul's protection, he grew rapidly and knew he needed to build his own team.

Fortunately, most of these things are done, and he now has his own team.

The phone was quickly placed in front of him. He thought about how to speak, and then dialed the Bianchi family's number.

After being transferred by the butler, the call was eventually answered by Leonardo.

"Speak quickly, I'm playing cards right now."

You can even hear the voices of the people at the card table through the receiver, as well as the sound of chips being thrown onto the table.

"We've run into a little trouble."

Leonardo placed the receiver on his shoulder, braced it against his shoulder, and then tossed a few chips onto the table.

Lance Poker.

This is its official name. Of course, some people also call it "Federal Poker." However, as Federal culture begins to permeate the world, more and more people will know that it is actually called "Lance Poker," invented by a man named "Lance White."

It has to be said that this kind of game, which involves both wit and courage and can generate adrenaline to bring strong stimulation and pleasure, has become the most popular game among gamblers around the world without much promotion.

Leonardo is living a comfortable life now. He advocated for participating in the war, and the war was won.

Although there are some negative opinions about him within Sumuli, these opinions mainly come from the lower strata of society.

Because he sent a large number of young men from the island to the battlefield, and nearly 40 percent of them never returned, he was the most hated person by the ordinary people of Sumuli Island.

However, the ruling class and high society liked him very much because the war victory also brought them war dividends.

During wartime, it was the men from ordinary families at the bottom of society who were responsible for going to their deaths, but when the war profits came, they basically all went into their pockets, while the ordinary families who paid a heavy price for the war gained almost nothing.

Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't rely on ordinary people for a living, so he doesn't feel the dissatisfaction, hatred, or disgust that ordinary people have towards him. On the contrary, he gets along very well with the political figures and celebrities around him.

They often went fishing, played cards, and did anything together, including gambling.

The winnings and losses in a single game can amount to tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan, or even more, but this amount of money is no longer that important to him.

"What trouble?" he asked absentmindedly.

Christopher frowned. "The Lance family destroyed our company in Indenor. Our business in Indenor is finished, and we lost a shipment."

Leonardo's expression changed slightly, after he had previously seemed indifferent. "How much was lost?"

"Ten million."

He threw the cards on the table, and then, amidst the curious glances of others, took his phone and went to a quieter, more distant place.

He lit a cigarette. "What are you planning to do?"

Before Christopher could answer, he said, "This loss is on your tab. I can't cover it for you, understand?"

Christopher didn't answer. After a while, he said, "Let's put that aside for now. I'm worried that Lance and his men will continue to expand into our current territory."

“If they do that, our business could suffer a devastating blow.”

"This isn't 'my business' or 'your business'; it concerns the future interests of all of us, do you understand?"

"Leon?"

(End of this chapter)