Shadow Empire

Chapter 1229 Greetings from Afar

"Wang Defa?" Leonardo walked to the trolley and casually turned the package. A muffled "thump-thump" sound came from inside, clearly indicating that something was rolling.

He turned the package over and saw the label on it; it was an express mail from the federal government.

These kinds of mail aren't cheap; they might cost ten or even twenty or thirty yuan in postage to get them delivered as quickly as possible.

Because the Federation is sparsely populated... well, that's referring to the rural areas. Actually, it's not like that in the cities. Hundreds of thousands or even millions of people live together in one place, which has absolutely nothing to do with being sparsely populated.

However, since everyone had to mail their letters to different places, and there was no high-tech automated sorting equipment available at the time, this process was entirely done manually.

By the time they had sorted through the mail from a city over several days and loaded it onto the trucks, it was already almost a week later.

A week later, some things may have already passed their expiration date, so speeding up emails becomes especially important.

They will arrange for someone to deliver this mail by bicycle to the nearest cruise ship bound for its destination...

This little bit of work is worth the postage of ten or twenty yuan.

Leonardo was unaware of these things. He looked at the square box that made a thumping sound when it was turned on, and hesitated for a moment about whether he should open it.

The butler noticed his hesitation. "How about... I take care of it for you?"

Leonardo snapped out of his daze and tugged at his collar, his bow tie nearly coming undone.

"No, no need, just open it for me."

The butler nodded and took out a letter opener from his pocket, a tool specifically designed for opening envelopes and such boxes. He easily pried open the outer shell, revealing the wooden outer casing underneath.

"Do you smell anything?" Leonard sniffed twice. There was a strange smell in the air, like... he couldn't quite put his finger on it, like entering a room that hadn't been opened for a very, very long time.

It grew so long that upon entering the room one could smell an unpleasant stench of decay, as if everything had withered away.

Without a doubt, the scent came from this box. Leonardo's heart raced slightly. He glanced at the butler, who noticed his gaze. "Shall we continue opening it?"

Leonardo's gaze returned to the exquisite wooden box. The copper plating on its four corners indicated that the box was not cheap.

He thought for a moment, then reached out and opened the box. Inside was a shredded head, its withered eyes seemingly still staring at him.

He staggered back several steps as if he'd been electrocuted, and couldn't help but curse, "Fuck, fuck!"

"What the hell is that?"

"Someone come quick, damn it, is everyone dead?"

Several officers on duty at the manor immediately arrived, along with their subordinates. Leonardo's other son-in-law jogged over and asked, "What happened?"

He first checked on Leonardo to make sure he wasn't injured, and then focused his attention on the box.

He only glanced at it before he couldn't help but curse, "A 'generous gift crab,' who the hell got this rubbish?"

He took a few steps closer. "Is that Christopher the fuck?"

Christopher's head lay in this perfectly sized wooden box, and at this moment he actually looked more like a prop.

To make sure the head wouldn't make a mess of the box, they drained the blood from the head.

Then some preservative solution was injected and infused into the head through the blood vessels in the neck.

The substance, due to the influence of blood vessels, filled almost every inch of the head, including the brain. After it was drained, they applied some preservatives to the surface and put it in a box.

Because the weather isn't hot right now, they don't need to worry about spoilage caused by the heat, and there are also preservation methods. It doesn't look fresh and is somewhat dehydrated, but you can tell it's from Christopher.

More people rushed over, and when they saw the human head in the box, everyone wore a look of utter disbelief.

This is the first time someone has ever pickled the heads of a member of their family and sent them back!
After his initial panic, Leonardo gradually calmed down. He walked to the cart, his face dark as he looked at Christopher inside. At that moment, he felt nauseous.

However, he didn't vomit it up; he just waved his hand, signaling someone to take the disgusting thing away.

Just as people were closing the box and preparing to take it away and burn it, there was a letter at the bottom of the box. The butler picked it up and handed it to Leonardo, who opened it and began to read.

The content inside is very simple—

"You're next! Sincere greetings from the Federation!"

The next second, he clenched the letter into a ball in his hand, his facial muscles trembling slightly. Undoubtedly, the threat had worked.

"Come with me to my study."

He strode toward the study, followed closely by the other cadres, while the team leaders and the like were dismissed.

Only family executives are allowed into Leonardo's study. Many people think that gangsters are a group of lawless, unruly people who don't follow the rules, and that they represent chaos.

But that's not actually the case. The larger the gang or organization, the stricter their internal rules.

They will be told what kind of person they are, what they can do, and what they cannot do from the very beginning.

If they break these rules, the consequences are usually not good.

Upon entering the room, Leonardo immediately ripped off his bow tie. Instead of sitting down, he paced back and forth by his desk. "It must have been Lance who did it!"

As she spoke, she couldn't help but slap the table twice, "That son of a bitch, it must be him!"

"Now I need some pointers from you on how to deal with this provocation."

As the head of the Bianchi family, Leonardo had never been threatened or provoked like this from the moment he was born until the last second!

This is not just a threat to him personally, but a threat and provocation to the entire Bianchi family!
If he doesn't retaliate, what will the other three major families think?
What will his rivals think?
The room was mostly filled with Leonardo's younger generation, his sons, nephews, and the like. His peers had long since retired and were living a comfortable rural life.

These young people, who were not young at all, looked at each other, and finally their eyes fell on the three oldest people among them.

They were Leonardo's son, son-in-law, and nephew, the three people he valued most. His son-in-law spoke first, "I agree with the counterattack; the Bianchi family's reputation is always paramount."

"But we face several problems in our fight back."

"First, how do we retaliate?"

"Should we send someone to the Federation to assassinate this Lance White?"

"Or perhaps we should try some other methods?"

"Secondly, my biggest concern right now is our liquor business in the Federation. With Christopher dead, I doubt anyone knows whether the people there will be able to continue fulfilling our sales targets."

"Some people might be able to guess it, but they don't dare to say it, because that's what I think too."

"We will lose the federal market, which is a very important market."

"Third, if we lose the federal sales channels, the family business will definitely need to be adjusted."

“If we can’t sell that much stock, our factory won’t need to brew that much alcohol, we won’t have that much profit, and we’ll have to rearrange our expenses.”

The others nodded in agreement as they listened to what he said; it was a very mature and correct view.

The most important thing to resolve now is the issue of family benefits, rather than simply the question of whether or not to seek revenge.

Leonardo's face flushed slightly. He wasn't stupid; he could understand the meaning behind these people's words, even though he thought the same thing.

He walked to the chair and sat down, his eyes somewhat sinister. "What are you thinking?"

His son-in-law coughed. "My thought is that what we need to do most right now is to continue expanding our market. If we really lose the business in the federal government and can't find a replacement in a short period of time, we'll be in big trouble."

"Furthermore, we don't sell these drinks directly to the Federation. We act as higher-level wholesalers, selling them to Federation smugglers. Where they ship them to is none of our business."

"Doing this will reduce our profits a bit, but it's better than nothing."

Everyone in the room was listening to what he was saying. Leonardo gradually calmed down, thought for a moment, and nodded, saying, "You can give it a try. I'll leave this to you."

Indeed, wealth, especially large sums of money, is the most fundamental guarantee for the continuous expansion of a family.

“Leon, all he does is try to scare you with these petty tricks. Do you think he and his men would dare come here?”

His son-in-law acted as if it were the most natural thing in the world, saying, "This is Sumuli. Even when the prime minister takes office, the first thing he does is come to visit us. This is our real home ground."

“As long as it’s him, or his people come, we can guarantee they won’t leave alive. He obviously knows this, otherwise he wouldn’t have sent something like that to disgust you. He must have brought people with him.”

"So don't worry, we're here, there won't be any problems."

"The only problem now is sales channels."

Under their persuasion, Leonardo gradually calmed down his unease about the matter. Lance indeed dared not come here, as the entire island was filled with their people.

“There’s another question,” Leonard’s nephew asked. “Dover is dead, but he still has some men, and that guy (brother-in-law) is still in the Federation. Should we bring them back, or find them something to do?”

Christopher's ability to boost liquor sales in the federal government was entirely due to his familiarity with the federal mob and his knowledge of how to communicate with them.

Previously, they had no competitors, but now, their strongest competitor has emerged, and they are likely to be completely helpless against it.

No one in the room answered the question because they couldn't.

Leonardo considered for a moment and said, "Let them continue to find ways to maintain their current sales and distribution channels, and avoid friction with the Lance family as much as possible. I think..."

He looked at the three people sitting at the front of the group and said, "Someone still needs to be there to keep things under control."

"Everyone says the Federation is the future of the world. I didn't really believe it before, but now I do."

“Nowhere else besides the Federation can you sell that much alcohol.”

“We used to have Christopher. Although that little bastard was often disobedient, at least he wasn’t too bad when it came to making money.”

“Now that he’s been taken out, we need someone to take his place and give orders from the federal government.”

“Not everything has enough time to be sent back for us to discuss, make a choice, and then notify them.”

After considering it for a while, the other three felt that this was indeed a very important matter.

After discussing for thirty or forty minutes, the matter was basically settled: Leonardo's nephew would lead a team to the federal government to oversee the work.

At Leonardo's request, his nephew could consider first forming a federal gang mainly composed of Sumurians, and then using this gang to fight against Lance White's Lance family.

After confirming everyone's tasks, Leonardo returned to the gambling table. The others at the table noticed that something was off about him, and those who were close to him jokingly tried to find out what had happened, but he didn't say anything.

If the other three major families knew that his trade with the Federation had been cut off, he believed he would become a laughing stock in Sumuli's high society.

The head of the Bianchi family, one of the four major families, has been threatened by the federal mafia, which will cause the Bianchi family's image and deterrent power on the island to plummet.

He rolled his eyes and focused on the cards in his hand. "It's nothing, just some small things."

He had barely finished speaking when he couldn't help but curse "egg" and slammed the cards on the table, losing again.

That's how it is at the gambling table. When you're upset, you're more likely to lose money than usual, as if some unseen force is manipulating everything!
After losing several hands in a row, he couldn't control his temper, but he couldn't vent it at the gambling table. He slammed the cards in his hand down and stood up. "This is no fun. You guys play. I'm going to take a break."

The others naturally wouldn't refuse. After Leonardo walked away, the people around the gambling table began to speculate about what terrible situation he had encountered that could make him so angry!
Leonard's personal conduct has improved considerably since Christopher helped him sell his liquor to the Commonwealth.

Money can not only satisfy people's material needs, but also their spiritual needs.

What could make Leonardo DiCaprio "break down" must be no small matter!

(End of this chapter)