Shadow Empire

Chapter 173: Uncompromising, Values, and Dark Shadows

"Lance is an unreasonable man!" Sam said aggrievedly on the phone. "I have apologized to him and promised to compensate the medical expenses of his subordinate, but he still refuses to hand Lisa over to me."

"Sir, I don't have any roots here. I can't force him to do anything. Will this make Mr. Hof feel dissatisfied?"

Sam was scolded and threatened by Lance. After thinking it over, he finally called the mayor.

He knew that doing so would lower his rating in the mayor's eyes, but his work hadn't even started yet and he encountered a major difficulty. He didn't know what to say.

He even regretted coming to Jingang City now. If the introducer hadn't told him that the mayor would attach great importance to this job, he would have been tempted.

If only he were still in Paradise City now!
At least he wouldn't be bothered by people trying to provoke him and threaten him!
The mayor listened quietly and thought for a while, "I'll talk to Lance, and you can arrange for another girl to go over to Mr. Hof."

"He's not upset because you didn't send Lisa over. He's upset because the toy you promised to give him didn't arrive when he needed to vent some emotions."

"Since you lost one, give him a better one, plus your sincerity, do you understand what I mean?"

It is impossible for an opinion leader of the Socialist Party in Jingang City to have much "real love" for an illegal immigrant from the empire who is engaged in the flesh trade.

His anger was only because he had taken a shower, turned down some unimportant work, prepared various props to vent his emotions, and waited from the afternoon until the evening.

Not only did he waste several hours, but he even walked around the house in his bathrobe like a fool!
What made him angry was that he was fooled, not that it was about whether a certain girl came or not!
All his assistant had said to Sam was "give me a reasonable explanation" instead of "bring Lisa here."

In fact, Sam could have figured it out if he thought about it carefully, but these things happened so fast that he didn't have time to calm down and think.

He was constantly angry, and deep down in his heart he might have the idea of ​​"making Mr. Hof furious, triggering the mayor's anger, and helping him deal with Lance."

It is just obvious that politicians in an important city like Jingang City, which has economic and political status, are more rational than politicians in a city that has developed by relying on gambling and pimping.

What the mayor said made Sam realize that his idea of ​​using the mayor's power to deal with Lance had failed, so he had no choice but to agree.

But he also said, "Lance said that we are not allowed to use girls from the Empire, otherwise he will cause trouble for us again."

The mayor was slightly displeased, "Watch your wording. He must be looking for trouble with you, not us."

"Since he has made a request, then you can change some girls. I don't believe that there is no girl from any other ethnic group in Jingang City except the girls from the Empire."

Sam was still struggling, "But they're cheap, and..."

The mayor interrupted him rudely, "Don't say some things on the phone, and remember, this is your job, not mine."

He paused for two or three seconds to give Sam some time to accept it, and then his voice returned to normal. "Okay, I'll talk to Lance and ask him not to bother you."

"The next two years are very important to us. I don't want some plans to go off track. Do you understand me?"

Although Sam was reluctant, he could only agree, "Yes, sir, I understand."

After he hung up the phone, he glanced at Booker, walked back and forth a few steps, and picked up the phone, "Is there anything better in stock now?"

The voice on the other end of the line buzzed, "Yes, what price range do you want? Any other requirements?"

Sam recalled Mr. Hof, who was like a hero in some people's eyes, and his little quirks, and said, "She should be young, not too tall, with a good figure, so that people would want to bully her."

"White skin, dark brown hair, not so easy to compromise, you know, some people like to rebel."

"Two to three thousand is fine."

He thought of something, "Oh, by the way, no one from the Empire, including other girls from the Empire."

The person on the receiver couldn't help but laugh, "Are you in love with some Imperial girl?"

Sam cursed a few times, "Anyway, I don't want girls from the Empire, nor girls from the Federation. I don't want to cause any trouble. I'd rather have an illegal immigrant..."

The person on the other end waited for a while and could hear him flipping through something like a picture album. After about three minutes, the sound ended.

"Three thousand, right? Originally it was going to be three thousand five. When do you want it?"

"immediately!"

At the same time, in Valley City, an immigrant girl from abroad who yearns for the federal government and life in a big city is serving dishes in a restaurant.

Lunch time was very busy, and Valley City became very popular because of its pleasant climate.

Many people come here to travel or live here, and since it is located not far to the north of Jingang City, it has created a fairly prosperous city center.

Valley City has a population of more than 300,000, but its population is growing very fast. The local city hall believes that in ten years, Valley City's population may exceed 500,000.

Almost doubling in ten years, this is already the limit of their imagination!
But in any case, the rapid growth of population and city size makes this place full of opportunities.

"Here is the meal you ordered...", two servings of tomato beef macaroni were brought to the table. The female customer at the table seemed to be doing other things. The moment she turned around, she touched the plate in the girl's hand.

It fell on the female guest's skirt and also stained her own pants, and two screams rang out in the restaurant.

The girl suddenly looked desperate. She felt extremely unlucky and didn't know how much money she would have to pay for the dress.

Now she could only apologize and try to help the customer solve the problem. The manager also came over.

"I'm sorry, I will compensate you.", she said sadly.

The female guest smiled and said, "It's okay. I was also a waitress and encountered these things before."

"The last time I was in your shoes, a lady forgave me, and now I'm passing that forgiveness on, so I won't ask you to pay for my dress."

"But you have to go back with me to change clothes. I live not far away, right next door..."

This surprised the girl and the manager was relieved. He gave the girl a look that said "you have to take care of these", said that the dishes would be discounted today, and then left.

The girl agreed immediately, took off her apron and left the restaurant with the female guest.

The girl herself was embarrassed by the large stain on her snow-white skirt, and she tried her best to shield the female guest from being stared at.

Perhaps it was because the female customer said she had served dishes before, which made the girl not be at all wary of her and she chatted with her a lot.

She lived not far away, just across two streets from the alley. After they entered the house through the back door to avoid the embarrassment of being discovered by the neighbors, they soon arrived at the female guest's "home".

As soon as she entered the door, the girl felt something strange. All the furniture here was covered with a layer of cloth, and the floor was covered with newspapers, as if it had just been renovated or was being renovated.

She turned around and looked at the female guest, somewhat confused, but she was not greeted by the female guest who was very polite to her, but by two fierce-looking adult men.

She had realized something was wrong. Her eyes of disbelief lingered on the woman for a moment. She turned around and opened her mouth to call for help, but an arm strangled her neck.

She slapped the strong arm hard, but it was meaningless and useless. She gradually fell into coma due to lack of oxygen.

A male customer who was still dining in the restaurant saw something outside the kitchen window, then stood up, paid the bill and left, leaving behind an empty table, an unfinished lunch, and a girl who never came back.

A van quickly left the city and rushed all the way towards Jingang City.

Maybe the manager or owner of the restaurant would call the police because the girl didn't come back, but it is more likely that they would not do that.

Because they employ illegal immigrants here, once the police start investigating this case, they will definitely investigate his employment situation.

Not only will they get nothing, but they will also have to face fines that may not be cheap, so they won't do that!
As for the girl’s roommate, or someone else?

It is possible, but the probability is also low. No one wants to get into trouble, no matter what the reason is.

So basically, her disappearance was not even like a pebble thrown into a lake, which could create a ripple. Her disappearance was like a speck of dust falling into the water, without any ripples.

The girl who came to apologize for her behavior is still on the way. The mayor has already called lawyer Orson. Shengda Law Firm, like Jinzuan Law Firm, is a large law firm covering the whole country and has always had a cooperative relationship with the mayor.

The mayor has collaborated with their firm and Orson himself many times. In addition, Orson has helped the mayor deal with some matters outside of the law, so he is considered one of the mayor's confidants.

This is a very important network of contacts. For Attorney Orson, if one day he gets tired of being a lawyer, he can use his identity as the mayor to directly enter politics.

Lawyers going into politics have always been a hot topic in the federal government, and they have great advantages.

Federal voters and taxpayers who do not understand the law are always foolishly convinced that lawyers who understand the law will be more careful to abide by the rules than incompetent politicians and dangerous capitalists.

But what they don’t know is that the authority and strictness of the law do not make lawyers cautious, but instead teach them to exploit loopholes in the law.

Allowing lawyers who can break their own moral bottom line for money or something else and are accustomed to finding loopholes to enter politics... I hope the people of the federation can be happy!
"Sam told me something. Go talk to Lance and make him figure out who is in charge in this city!"

Lawyer Orson looked at the receiver in his hand and found it very interesting.

Although the mayor didn't sound very angry, he was definitely unhappy.

He then thought about it and went there in person.

This was the second time Orson met Lance. In his eyes, Lance was a very interesting young man.

After a brief handshake, he sat down across from Lance's desk, "I heard you and Mr. Sam had a bad argument."

Lance opened the cigarette box and pushed it over. "We have some differences of opinion."

Lawyer Orson laughed. He thought Lance's wording was very interesting. "For example?"

Lance shrugged, "Like, at least I still think I'm a human being, but he obviously isn't one anymore."

Lawyer Orson didn't react at first. It was the first time he heard such a statement, but he soon realized that it was related to Sam's job. When he thought about his own hellish job, Lawyer Orson seemed to understand.

"There's nothing too serious about what you said."

"But, Mr. Lance, a trainer can work with wild animals because that's a job, not anything else."

"We don't ask trainers to sleep with the beasts, or even breed with them. Outside of work, you can be a human and he can be a beast."

“But at work, you are just colleagues, there are no people, no beasts, only who does a good job, or who doesn’t do a good job.”

Lance shook his head slightly. "I heard that lawyers are very flexible about their bottom line. It seems to be true. Is work more important than being a human being?"

Lawyer Orson was not annoyed at all by Lance's sarcasm. As a lawyer, it was normal for people to point fingers at him and say nasty things to him.

There were also some people who lost lawsuits because of him, and they cursed him with all kinds of dirty words, but he didn't care at all.

If he cared about these things, he would have been pissed off long ago.

He lowered his chin slightly, and even looked a little proud as he said, "I'm just more focused on my work than you are."

"Besides, work is work and life is life. Besides work, I will also donate to charity organizations or help those in need."

“Only those who can clearly distinguish between work and life can go further in this great era.”

After listening to this, Lance seemed to be thinking seriously, and then said, "I will seriously consider it and try it, but I am not sure whether I can do it or when I can do it."

This is a typical perfunctory response. Lawyer Orson still looked very gentle. "You have a lot of time to think about your life and future, but you can't waste other people's time."

"Mr. Sam's, mine, even his."

Lance remained unmoved. "I don't intend to interfere with Mr. Sam's work. I've already told him that as long as he doesn't use the Empire Girl, I won't cause him any trouble."

"Besides, this is related to a more important level of work. If you are really focused on your work, you should stand on my side!"

He paused as he spoke, "I am currently unifying the Empire District. I believe that 10,000 or 20,000 votes here will be very important to the mayor."

"Add to that the longshoremen's votes that I will be able to get soon, at least 20,000 valid votes, Lawyer Orson, will this help you focus more?"

Lawyer Orson's expression changed slightly. He thought for a moment and said, "I will convey your thoughts to him, but if you lie..."

"No one will lie, Lawyer Orson!" Lance said with certainty.

Lawyer Orson left soon after. Although Red High Heels' work was important, it was the kind of work that required long-term efforts to produce results, and it would not have much effect in the short term.

You can't just use these things to blackmail others, because that would make the mayor the common enemy of everyone.

On the contrary, the votes mentioned by Lance are the key thing that can directly and effectively determine the distribution of power within the city, and its priority will obviously be higher than Sam's work.

Lawyer Orson went directly to the mayor's office and briefly explained these things. After the mayor pondered for a while, he nodded slightly.

"If he can handle that, then forget it."

Lawyer Orson nodded to indicate that he knew. If he could handle this matter, nothing would happen. But what if he couldn't?

No one said anything because they all knew the consequences of not being able to handle it.

During this time, Sam also called Lance and asked him for the two kidnapped men, and his tone was very bad.

He had been doing well in Paradise City over the years and had developed the habit of not wanting to be rejected. Now that Lance made him feel unhappy, he would definitely not speak to Lance in a good tone anymore.

In the end, the two parted ways unhappily on the phone.

In the afternoon, the new toy arrived and he personally took it to see Mr. Hof.

As the mayor said, Mr. Hof was just unhappy about being cheated by a pimp, not that he really had any regrets about Lisa.

When he saw the new toy and Sam hoped that he could help Red High Heels tame the new toy, Mr. Hof generously forgave him.

The girl was fixed to an iron frame with an unyielding look on her face, as if she had not yet realized what fate she would face next.

But none of this had anything to do with Sam. He returned to Red High Heels to continue placing orders. Since Booker's batch was no longer needed, he had to get the toys in order as soon as possible.

He was busy until after ten o'clock in the evening before he went home.

The red high heels are full of paint smell these days because he has built a new house.

When he took a shower, ate something and was getting ready to go to bed, he suddenly heard something making some noise in the attic.

He felt a chill in his heart, and called two of his men over with weapons in hand. The three of them bravely went up to the second floor together.

One of his men was forced to stick his head out and look around the attic, but felt nothing.

One of the men suddenly said, "The sound seems to come from outside. Is there something hanging on the roof?"

"Wires, or something?"

The three of them went up to the attic. It was pitch black outside. Sam walked to the window, but before he could push it open, suddenly a black shadow hit the glass with a bang!
This was scary enough, but what was even scarier was that the thing seemed to be a person...

(End of this chapter)