Shadow Empire

Chapter 186 Help the Children, Get Together and Take Action
A few days after payday, Lance's several bars in the Empire District were already open.

Cheap sparkling wines and tropical cider are offering an alternative to beer and cheap whiskey, and bars are offering “upgrades”.

That is, adding higher-proof alcohol to the wine, the price is fifteen cents per ounce.

It doesn't look cheap, but the cost price of potato wine is no more than one yuan, so if it is only used as an auxiliary material to increase alcohol, each bottle can be sold for about three yuan and fifty cents.

Profits nearly doubled.

In fact, Lance could ask for more because the prices in other bars are not cheap, but now is the stage of grabbing the market, so he will not raise the price.

Moreover, under his promotion, the concept of "popular bar" began to spread gradually among alcoholics.

"Let everyone have a drink after work" is the slogan of these unnamed bars.

But everyone knew who they belonged to, and they were all very grateful to Mr. Lans for keeping the prices of the drinks so low.

Even if it is just a nickel cheaper, it is already something many drunkards cannot refuse.

Not to mention, here, girls are free, and each girl can get a free glass of tropical fruit wine.

In addition, Lance told the girls that they didn't have to worry about danger when consuming here. As long as they felt unsafe, they could tell the bartender or any bar staff and they could spend the night in the bar.

Or the bar will arrange for someone to take them to the place they specify.

This move has been welcomed by many avant-garde girls who want to explore nightlife. With more girls in the bar, naturally there will be more male customers.

This is a mutually beneficial positive effect.

In the afternoon, he returned to Empire Night Club. After all, he was still the manager here. Before he entered the door, he saw some people directing others to take away the gambling table.

Lance did not participate in the gambling table incident. The mayor might have felt that a small role like him was not enough to negotiate with the Kodak family, so he had always entrusted lawyer Orson to do the handling.

It seems that the result of the negotiation was not very pleasant. The Kodak family may not be afraid of the "outsider" mayor.

Lance watched the excitement for a while, and after he saw them move the gambling table and gambling equipment into the car and take them away, he returned to the office and called Attorney Orson.

"This is Jingangcheng Shengda Law Firm. How can I help you?" A sweet girl's voice came from the receiver, a very sweet one.

If I had to describe how sweet it is...

It's probably as sweet as the voice of a girl with golden hair tied in two ponytails, a pretty face, a hot body, and wearing a pink and white striped T-shirt, sitting at a desk, biting a lollipop, and speaking.

People love blondes!

"I'm looking for Lawyer Orson. I'm Lance."

The girl seemed to know who he was. "Wait a moment, don't hang up."

She pressed a hold button on her fancy phone that would not fool the operator into thinking the call was over, and would keep the line connected without Lance hearing any sound or interrupting her ability to continue using the phone.

She pressed another colored button and the call was connected quickly, as internal calls always are.

"Mr. Orson, Mr. Lance wants to speak to you. He's on line seven."

"Got it, thank you, I'll take his call."

After the girl hung up the phone, she continued to do her own thing. She didn't need to do anything else. Lawyer Orson only needed to connect to Line 7 to continue talking to Lance.

"What's up?"

Soon, Lawyer Orson's voice came from Lance's receiver. "When I came here just now, I saw people from the Kodak family moving the gambling table away. Do you want to stop them?"

Lawyer Orson leaned back, and the back of his chair was noticeably pressed down, making it more comfortable for him.

"No, you don't need to do anything, just let them take the things away."

Lance fanned the flames and asked, "Does the law here require the Kodak family's consent to open a casino?"

Lawyer Orson laughed twice when he heard this, "No...Okay, Lance, I know you are a little unhappy with Eric's decision."

"It's not just you who hates him, I hate him too, but what can I do about it?"

"Do your own thing, and I'll let Kailu give you some compensation."

"If nothing else, then this is it."

"Well, bye, Mr. Orson."

"Bye, Lance."

Soon a staff member came over and asked Lance what to do with the vacant space. Lance asked them to set up some independent private rooms.

Empire Nights nightclub also offers oral sex services, but the prices here are not cheap.

If ordinary strip clubs represent the mainstream of the market, a 30-minute close dance plus a blowjob at the end costs about ten yuan, then here, the price starts at fifteen yuan and there is no upper limit.

The girls here are of better quality, and before they got this job, they would perform on stage as actors.

If a customer takes a fancy to them, they can ask the waiter whether they can provide additional services.

If they have no objection, they can go to other independent boxes with the guests.

Among these girls, only about 30% are immigrants, and the rest are federal native girls and local indigenous people.

In a society that is constantly being corrupted by capital and vanity, many concepts are quietly changing. For example, when people in the Federation heard about co-educational schools, it was as if they had heard the most horrible thing.

But now, church girls' schools are becoming less and less.

Of course, after saying so much, the core problem is still poverty.

Making money while lying down is really the best choice for many girls who don’t want to work and don’t have job opportunities.

As for the natives, they had no choice but to do so.

The federal government did not allow them to farm, mine, or work properly, or even to enter and leave the reservation at will.

The federals had many ways to force them, and the reason was ridiculous, which was to respect and ensure that the indigenous traditions would not be interfered with by civilization.

On one side is the hunting life that is no different from that in ancient times, and on the other side is a bustling metropolis.

Almost all indigenous young people do not have the opportunity to receive education, which also means that they do not have many good job opportunities.

With various operations, they seem to have no way out.

Participating in criminal activities and selling bodies have become one of the few ways for young indigenous people to survive in big cities, and to survive quite well.

People who are used to eating refined grains always want to have some coarse grains.

The ancestors stepped on their corpses and spat on them, and now the guests from the Federation rode on them and spit on them as well, thick and sticky.

Erwin pushed open the door and saw Lance staring out the window. He walked over curiously and took a look. All the gambling tables had been taken away, but other gambling equipment was still being loaded.

"If the nightclub loses these tables, it will lose a lot of revenue."

Erwin had managed it for a while and he knew very well that the nightclub's income mainly came from two parts: alcohol and the casino.

In the past, when the price of drinks was not high, the income mainly came from casinos and girls, but now that the price of drinks has increased, the girls' profitability has weakened.

After losing the gambling table, next month’s income might just barely exceed ten thousand, or around one, two, three, or three at most.

Lance agreed with Erwin, "Too little."

Erwin didn't react for a moment, "What?"

Lance watched as a few people picked up some chips scattered on the ground and threw them into the car. He turned back and sat back in his chair. "The income has been reduced too little."

"Our bar will definitely have a huge impact on their bar, but it is impossible to take away all their customers in a short period of time."

"This month, the bar and the nightclub provided the mayor with at least 40,000 to 50,000 yuan in revenue."

"Even if the casino is gone and alcohol sales drop, even if they are cut in half, he still has an income of more than 20,000 yuan a month."

"It looks like half of it is missing, but he still has so much, so I said, it's too little."

“We have to find a way to make his income even lower.”

Erwin looked at Lance blankly, seemingly not understanding why he did this. Lance explained, "If the revenue in the Empire District remains high, he will keep an eye on the business here." "Only when he feels that he can't make money here will he look away."

"Plus, if the income doesn't drop, Eric will come every month to get the money, and there will be money every time, so we can't let him get into trouble."

Erwin gradually realized what was going on. "You mean..."

Regardless of whether he really understood or not, Lance raised his chin slightly and said, "We need to help him chase that female star or something, find a way to make him spend more money, and then let him reopen the casino."

"I remember that some of the gambling equipment on Kent's side was confiscated by the police, right?"

Kent is Will's younger brother, the unlucky guy who was "overeated to death". There are several gambling tables and corresponding gambling equipment in his casino.

After Kent's death was discovered, the gambling equipment was naturally confiscated.

He doesn't have a license, which makes his business illegal, and those things should still be piled up in the police station.

Erwin nodded, "It seems so."

Lance took out a cigarette case, threw one to Erwin, and lit it himself. "Go to the old tailor and arrange some decent clothes for Morris. Ask him to find a way to find out what Eric has been doing recently."

“See if there’s an opportunity to put him at odds with other competitors, or find a way to help him spend more money.”

"This kind of brain is obviously not very good, it should be easy to deal with!"

Erwin stood up, "I'll do it right away."

After he left, Lance picked up the phone and called the Imperial District Police Chief's office. It was Blue Chief who answered, "This is Blue, Imperial District Police Station..."

Anyone who could hit him directly on his desk was either his superior or someone he couldn't afford to offend.

Or maybe he is his "benefactor", so he has to serve him carefully, so he keeps a low profile.

"I'm Lance, Blue."

"You scared me, Lance. I thought some big shot was upset with me."

Lance understood something, "What happened?"

Blue seemed to want to talk, "Hey, what do you say?"

"A group of more powerful masters came to do some kind of opinion poll. The city hall asked us to make the streets more beautiful and to be careful not to allow any crime to occur."

"Thanks to you, Lance, otherwise we would have been very busy. But even so, there are more than 300 people in the entire police station, but only less than 20 people are left. The others have been sent out on patrol!"

"These damn bureaucrats, they have no idea how much pressure and expenses this will add to us!"

Police force has always had a cost, but many people seem unaware of this, or ignore it.

As Blue complained, Lance roughly understood the cause of the incident. The representatives of the Likalai State Socialist Party would conduct a public opinion survey in Jingang City during this period.

This is what the federal political parties like to do most. After all, for politicians, "public opinion" and "support rate" are as important as their two balls. If they cannot touch them anytime and anywhere, they will feel seriously uneasy!
For a small character like Chief of the Blue Division, party affiliation is actually not that important to him.

"By the way, after all this talk, is there something you're calling about?"

After venting his emotions, Chief Blue felt that his relationship with Lance had become closer. After all, Lance listened to his complaints patiently. You have to know that in the Federation, except for psychologists, other people will make you shut up the moment you open your mouth.

"A batch of gaming tables and gaming equipment were seized from your branch in the Kent case. Are they still there?"

"Wait a moment..." From the receiver came Director Blue's roar, covering the microphone, and some rustling sounds.

After about four or five minutes, after the slightly harsh "pop" sound caused by the change in pressure when the palm left the microphone ended, the sound returned to normal.

"The things are still there. It seems that the case has not been closed yet. Do you need these things?"

Selling evidence is a tradition of the Federal Police. Not to mention a few gambling tables, they even dare to sell contraband to the bad guys by kilograms!

Hearing that the things were still there, Lance smiled a little more.

It seems like opening a casino is simple, but in fact, it is not. The two most troublesome things are the dealer and the gambling table and gambling equipment.

It is possible to find dealers from other places, but it would be very troublesome to get gambling equipment and tables from other places.

Almost all local casinos are monitored by the Kodak family. Occasionally, there are some small disturbances, but as long as they don't blatantly challenge them and don't expand on a large scale, they actually turn a blind eye.

Some people say that the Kodak family has a stake in the local gambling table and gambling equipment business, so if they buy it, they will be exposed.

"Of course, keep it for me. Actually, you don't have to worry too much about this case because the person who reported it is also dead."

Blue didn't react at first, "What?"

"That's terrible. Who reported the case?"
"Will."

"..."

"Well, that's true." He paused, "When are you coming to get it?"

"At the end of the month, until next month."

Lance mentioned the Imperial Branch Darts Competition again, which made Blue very excited all of a sudden. "I have an idea. In addition to our darts competition, can we organize a city-wide police party or something like that?"

"You take the lead."

Originally, Chief Blue didn't want to answer, but when Lance asked him to take the lead, he felt that it was not impossible.

"Let me think about it. This concerns tens of thousands of police officers across the city."

"No problem, you can still talk to someone about it. Those big shots never show sympathy to us little characters."

"No one will care about us except ourselves."

"Waiting for your good news!"

After hanging up the phone, Chief Blue understood what Lance meant. He hoped to make friends with more Jingang City police officers.

Logically speaking, he shouldn't stop him, after all, this was Lance's business, but he also knew that once Lance got to know more police officers, he might not be taken seriously as he was now.

He also had a little selfish motive. With a stable extra income of one thousand yuan every month and the feeling of being valued, who would be willing to give this up?

But if he were to take the lead in this matter, then the meaning would be different. All those who benefited from it would owe him a favor, and this would definitely be of great help to his promotion.

But…if he really took the lead, he would have to face the wrath of Chief Charlie. After all, the Bay Area Hound was just old, not dead.

Given his status in the eyes of the bigwigs in upper society, Bruce felt that he might not be able to handle it.

But...if he gave up, he would always feel unwilling, and he was very conflicted.

Just when Chief Blue was conflicted over whether to risk offending Chief Charlie and get the support of most police officers, or give up this opportunity, William (Patricia's father) could no longer sit still.

"I want to resign!" He put the resignation letter on his supervisor's desk.

As a civil servant, voluntarily resigning is an incredible thing in the federation, and William is also a member of the City Hall Office.

This almost means that he has reached an upper-middle level despite being a low-level civil servant.

Going further is no longer something he can achieve by relying on his own ability, so he has no reason to resign.

When his supervisor read the resignation letter, he was a little... surprised, "You're going to run for city councillor?"

Candidates for city councillor will be exposed sooner or later. Instead of hiding it, it is better to show it openly, which is actually a way to create momentum.

He nodded and said, "I have worked in an office for 20 years and recently I want to go out. I am not young anymore. I want to give it a try while I still have the strength."

The supervisor did not try to keep him and put the resignation letter in a drawer, because when William was going to run for city councillor, it meant that he must have received support.

Keeping him at this time would not make William think that he is a good person, but would make him look like a clown.

"When you need me, give me a call. We have been colleagues for so many years, and I will support you."

Before the results come out, the supervisor doesn't mind saying something good about him. What if he succeeds?
The situation of the Socialist Party is somewhat delicate now. Voters in some places have turned against it, so William may not be without a chance.

"Which district are you going to?"

"Imperial District!"

(End of this chapter)