Shadow Empire

Chapter 150: Solutions and Hugging a Thigh First
In fact, they realized something was wrong when they arrived at Empire Night Nightclub.

The gunfire had stopped before they arrived at Empire Night, and it was said that the only car had suddenly left about twenty minutes ago.

The people in the Empire Night did not dare to risk going out. The four corpses on the steps were still reminding them that this was not a joke and people would really die!

Whose life is not life?

Everyone has parents, maybe a wife and children, and they join the Camilla Gang or work here just to make money!
There is no higher ideal, and even if there is, it has nothing to do with what is happening before our eyes!
Coupled with the fact that the phone at the manor could not be reached, this situation eventually occurred.

The two confidants who had just got off the car immediately turned the car around and returned to the manor.

The drivers did not dare to delay and stepped on the accelerator to the bottom. Fortunately, there were few cars on the road at night and no police guarding the traffic lights.

They were deceived. No one attacked the Empire Nightclub at all. The purpose of Lance and his men doing this was to mobilize all the people guarding the manor!

While cursing Lance's shamelessness and meanness, the two men kept looking around anxiously. Perhaps only by doing so could they reduce their anxiety.

However, the two were not too worried because the safe house was really safe.

Almost all of Heller's family were killed by enemies in gang fights, so he cares a lot about his own safety. Not only does he have a safe house in his manor, but there is also a safe house in the Empire Night nightclub.

They'd seen the safe house and tried to destroy it.

It is difficult to destroy it, whether with hot weapons or anything else.

Heller was not kidding about his own safety. He even joked that if they wanted to catch him out of the safe house, there would be no way unless he came out on his own initiative, even if the federal army came!

As long as Heller doesn't do something stupid and run away on his own, they don't need to worry at all about Lance and the others being able to hurt Heller.

What they have to do is to rush back before Lance leaves.

Although I don’t know if it’s too late.

The attitudes and ideas of these two people are actually the same as Heller's. They cannot always be passive in defense, but must find ways to take the initiative.

During this time they have been on guard against Lance's attacks, and they also realized that this was Lance's conspiracy.

But it's no use knowing that all this is a conspiracy.

Or stay in the nest and wait for Lance to come to you.

Or, find a way to lure Lance out, set up an ambush in advance, and eliminate him and his men after he enters.

Many people watched the situation develop while wondering what they would do if they were Heller.

But they found that they couldn't seem to do better than Heller.

Although they were tricked this time, they felt that this might be an opportunity!
"Let's go, go back immediately!" One of them shouted, and the people beside the car immediately got back on the car. More than a dozen cars quickly turned around and drove towards the manor.

More than eighty people, all armed with submachine guns, how could they lose?
The road was very dull and no one spoke. Some people were ready for a fight to break out, while others were filled with nervousness.

Four of their senior officials have already died at the hands of Lance and his gang. No one knows how many more they can kill, or whether they will stop here or continue.

When the cars had run two-thirds of the way, the first car suddenly lost control of the direction and crashed into the grass on the side of the road.

Although the second, third and fourth cars noticed it, they still lost control one after another.

"It's a three-edged nail." Someone got out of the car to check and picked up a nail from the ground.

Looking at the triangular nails in their hands, the two men seemed to have given up any hope of being able to get back in time.

They had to abandon the four cars with flat tires and drive the other cars ahead.

As for the others, they ran there.

When the convoy arrived at the manor, they saw the previous scene.

The front tire of a truck was stuck in the fountain's pool. Two chained gates were between it and the fountain. The entire manor was silent, with no gunshots or other sounds.

There were no cars here, and they seemed to have already left. One of the two henchmen stamped his feet in anger, "They left too fast!"

The other person shook his head. "We came back too late, almost an hour later. If they found that they couldn't get into the safe house, they would definitely search it and leave. Who would stay until now?"

"But we also have to be careful..."

They carefully held their weapons and walked towards the house in coordination. At this time, they could already hear strange "popping" sounds in their ears.

Henchman A frowned, "Did you hear anything?"

Confidant B, who was standing in the crowd, looked around and said, "I heard it, but I didn't see anything..."

The gate of the manor building faced due south, and they came in from the east and could only see the side of the building.

They didn't know what made the noises, but they all thought they came from the house.

The sound made them a little nervous at first, but when they only heard the sound and saw no movement, they quickly relaxed their vigilance.

Until, they could see the main door of the building.

About twenty of their people were tied with ropes and hung on the wall from the roof. The sea breeze was very strong on that December night, and these people were blown back and forth against the outer wall, colliding and rubbing against each other.

When someone is blown high up by the sea breeze and then loses the support of the wind in a very short time, he will fall heavily against the wall with a "bang".

The dark brown walls had turned red and dark, and the lights that were originally used to illuminate the exterior of the house now illuminated them.

"Ugh!" Someone couldn't help but vomit. The sound seemed to be contagious, and soon more people began to feel nauseous and sick.

The expressions of the two henchmen were as dark as the bottom of a pot. Henchman A pointed at a few men who had no vomiting reaction and said, "You guys, go to the roof and put them down."

Several men nodded and ran into the house first. The carpet in the hall was completely soaked with blood. When stepping on it, there was a sticky feeling of slowly sinking.

And with every kick, they could hear a "puffing" sound, which made them feel an indescribable strangeness in their hearts.

A creepy feeling began to linger over them. The manor that once made them extremely envious and jealous was now so quiet that it made them feel scared!
Restraining their psychological discomfort, they rushed to the roof, took out their daggers and began to cut the ropes.

On the other side, when two trusted men strode into the study, they actually already had some ominous premonitions in their hearts.

But until the last moment, they would never believe that Heller would die, even though there was a safe house!
When they looked through the observation hole on the security door and saw Heller cosplaying as a fish, they were speechless for a moment.

He was floating back and forth in the water, his face as pale as his two confidants outside.

But before they could react, there was a fierce exchange of gunfire in the manor. The two men pulled out their pistols and just leaned half of their bodies out of the study when the bullets forced them back.

Lance didn't leave!

Of course Lance didn't leave!

Now that he's gone, where can he find these people?

So he simply hid the car and pretended that they had already left, and these people just broke in like that without even much defense!

All of them were scattered, and Lance used his local advantages to continuously absorb the separated gang members. Although the battle was fierce, it did not last long.

Everything outside the house had completely destroyed these people's will to resist. In addition, Haile and his two confidants did not show up, and soon some people collapsed and ran away.

If they didn't run, the battle might have continued for a while, but if they ran, it would only end the battle sooner.

When the two confidants heard that the gunfire outside had gradually subsided, they looked at each other and realized that everything was over.

"We surrender..." They threw their guns into the corridor and walked out of the study with their hands raised.

But what greeted them was not forgiveness, but bullets!

Several people walked up to them, raised their submachine guns, and fired the last bullets in the magazines at them.

Seeing that they were not completely dead yet, Lance lit a cigarette, "It is God's business to forgive you, but for me, I will only kill you!" He stepped over the two bodies that were about to become corpses, came to the study, picked up the phone, and dialed Mr. Pasreto's number.

After the phone rang about four times, someone picked up the phone. "The gentleman has gone to bed. If there is anything unimportant, I can help you pass it on..."

It was the butler's voice. Lance sat on Heller's chair, which was the same one in Empire Night's office and could completely cover his body. "I'm Lance. The Camilla Gang is a thing of the past. I hope to get help from Mr. Pasletto."

The butler was stunned when he heard this, "Heller..."

Lance looked at Heller, who was still cosplaying as a goldfish, and said, "He's diving next to me."

But it seemed that the butler had no sense of humor and did not seem to understand what Lance said.

"He has been diving for half an hour."

Now he understood, and the housekeeper seemed to understand the joke, laughing twice, "Please don't hang up..."

The housekeeper hung up the phone. In fact, Mr. Pasletto was not resting. He had just returned from a social event and was enjoying a massage.

Here are the most skilled girls from Sumurri Island. Of course, they don't have that kind of skills, but massage skills. They will make Mr. Pasreto's body completely relaxed and allow him to fall asleep better.

The butler was halfway there when the joke seemed to have kicked in and he couldn't help laughing a few more times.

At this moment, he was lying on the sofa bed, feeling so comfortable that he was about to fall asleep. The butler's footsteps and laughter made him turn his head and look towards the door.

"Sir, it's Mr. Lance's call."

"He has dealt with Heller and his men, and Camilla has helped. He hopes to get your help."

Mr. Pasretto was a little surprised, "What happened just now?"

He raised his hand, signaling the two girls that they could leave, and did not forget to say thank you.

Then he stood up while washing the towel, "Tell him to wait for a while, I'll change my clothes and come over..."

"By the way, what were you laughing at just now?" He looked at the butler with a probing look in his eyes.

Five minutes later, some voice came into Lance's receiver. "Very funny joke, Lance!"

It can be heard that the butler told this joke to Mr. Pasletto. Compared with the butler's lack of sense of humor, Mr. Pasletto, who is obviously better at socializing, has a rich sense of humor.

"I hope Heller didn't forget his diving equipment..." He paused, "What do you think?"

"The Empire needs someone to manage it, and I am the best person to do it. I have legal identification as a federal citizen, and I have a very deep friendship with the people of the Empire."

"I will make this place very stable, and I will find ways to provide more jobs for the people here and for the people of the federation."

"In addition, I will quickly obtain the more than 8,000 votes at the dock..."

If the previous words seemed insignificant to Mr. Pasletto, the last sentence aroused some interest in him.

Being a manager doesn’t actually require much personal ability. Management work is not a technical job, and you don’t need to know the difference between one thread and two threads when touched with your fingers.

There is no need to make the stitches so fine that there is no room for fault.

You just need to tell people that this is what you can do, but that is not possible, and let them know what the consequences are for breaking the rules!

These low-level managers in the federation emerge in endlessly. It is not that the federation produces a lot of managers, but that there is no threshold for becoming a manager.

But the rulers do.

Sometimes there are rules that even the highest rulers must follow, and everyone knows the consequences of not complying with them.

As long as people follow these rules, the game factors they set for these rules become particularly important.

Like taxes, unemployment rate, economic development speed, and...votes!

Many people call "votes" the "basis of rule." The direct election system for grassroots rulers requires them to please all voters. Whoever can influence the attitudes of voters can decide who is the boss at the bottom, which is also the most powerful level.

"Eight thousand votes is a lot in other cities, but for here, it's a little lacking."

Lance continued, "There are still 120,000 people in the Empire District. I can't guarantee that everyone will have a vote, but there are at least about 20,000 legal votes."

This was during the time that Lance was hiding, and he read some things that were helpful to him, among which the issue of voting rights was mentioned.

After the Civil War, the federal government pushed for a new amendment, the Voting Rights Act, to address the citizenship issues of cotton pickers and the growing number of immigrants.

This bill stipulated that male cotton pickers and male immigrants were eligible to vote, but it also stipulated that they "must be people who are helpful to society."

So how do we determine whether a skilled cotton picker or an immigrant male is helpful to society?
In fact, the federal government and capitalists have long understood this point -

In the beginning, before this amendment, they stipulated that the landlord class was the master of the federation, but as the times changed, it became less likely that everyone would be a large landowner or a large farmer.

This requires flexibility.

How to work around it?
Either you pay taxes, letting people know that you are at least middle class, or even a capitalist, and have an innate right to vote, or you spend a lot of money.

This kind of consumption does not mean that if others buy one donut and you buy two, it proves that you can consume more than others and you will be given the right to vote.

You have to buy a house!
Today, if an immigrant or a cotton picker goes to participate in serious political activities and advocate for his rights, they will ask if you drove here and then ask what neighborhood your house is in.

It’s not “the house you rented” or “where you live now”, but “the house you bought, and what community it is in”.

If you can buy a house or pay large taxes, you are a contributor to society, and everyone else is not!
So the content of the new amendment is very simple. Only adult males who are born in the federation and are federal citizens, own their own property or have long-term tax payment certificates, and are at least twenty-one years old can obtain the right to vote.

That is the right to vote.

In fact, many local citizens cannot meet this requirement, let alone picking cotton and immigrating.

A house of a few thousand dollars may seem cheap, but who the hell would use twenty years of savings to buy a house just for the right to vote?
Many federal citizens rent houses and do not have the right to vote.

As the recent equal rights movement is advancing, Congress is said to have begun discussing whether to give women the most basic political respect, that is, to allow "women who are helpful to society" to get votes.

But it seems that most women cannot get the vote because most of them do not own their own property.

But the dock is not as bad as Mr. Pasletto said. The Imperial District can only get 10,000 or 20,000 votes, but a dock alone can get at least 8,000 votes. You can imagine how valuable the votes are.

And, workers have power!

Mr. Pasretto in the receiver kept thinking for a while, "You have to be able to do this before I can help you speak."

"And I want to ask what you can do for me if I help you."

Lance took a deep puff of cigarette and exhaled slowly. Mr. Pasretto on the other end of the phone line couldn't help but follow the line. Seeing Lance at this moment, he looked quite excited.

"I can help you wash your money more cleanly at a lower cost, get more votes, and have a greater social impact."

Mr. Pasletto was noncommittal after hearing this. “Are you going to join my family?”

"No, I'm at your service!"

One is a master-servant relationship, the other is a subordinate relationship. Mr. Pasretto did not rush to refuse or be unhappy, but seriously considered the feasibility of this matter.

To be honest, the conditions proposed by Lance are still very attractive.

Considering the relationship between Alberto and him, Mr. Pasletto finally made a decision, "Okay, but you have to pay the money on time like other families or gangs!"

Lance stood up immediately, "No problem, Mr. Pasretto!"

"gentlemen?"

"Boss!"

(End of this chapter)