Shadow Empire

Chapter 192 Debts, IOUs, and Courtship

Mr. Ted looked at Lance who was sitting in the chair opposite him. He was obviously the one standing, but he felt like he was a head shorter than the others.

The girl at the front desk and several employees were standing outside the door, which made him feel his face getting hot and swollen.

He has always been the most powerful one, and in front of his employees, he is almost a tyrant!
But now…, his hand was on the phone, "If you don't leave here, I'm calling the police."

Lance raised his chin, "Report it, report it now. If you don't know the phone number, I can tell you."

The two looked at each other for a moment. Mr. Ted did not see any fear in Lance's eyes. Instead, he looked at him with a provocative look, as if he was really urging him to call the police.

He knew that once this call was made, some things would be difficult to undo.

He glanced at the employees who were watching the fun outside the door. He felt a little embarrassed and annoyed, but helpless. He was held down and couldn't get down.

Lance looked back and saw the employees outside the door immediately looked away, some even ran away from where he couldn't see them. He then signaled to Hiram to close the door.

When the wooden door separated the room from the outside, Mr. Ted was obviously slightly relieved.

He took his hand off the phone and sat back in his chair, "Are you guys from Jobaf?"

Lance shook his head. "He packed the debt and gave it to me. You don't have to care who I am. You just need to know that you owe me money now."

He took out the loan evidence. Although Mr. Jobaf knew that it would be difficult to recover the money, he still made sufficient preparations and had all the documents ready.

Lance was very clear about his approach and purpose. He wanted to use this method to tell Arthur and others that he had the capital to refuse and even the possibility of taking legal action.

And strongly, through such behavior, a message is expressed - "This is the last time!"

But in the end, everyone saw that the 300,000 debt he gave to Lance was the result of his every compromise, and they always found a way to continue extorting money from him.

He ignored a fact, or rather he was unwilling to admit it, that is, in the federation, the judiciary was just a plaything of the powerful.

Just like Prohibition, such an outrageous constitutional amendment could be passed and required to be enforced throughout the federation, which actually illustrates this truth profoundly.

But Mr. Jobaf was unwilling to admit that the Federation was such a country that deviated from all his understanding of the beautiful Federation.

In fact, it's not just him, there are many more people like this, such as Bolton in the past, and Ennio's father who was still a salesman. They have essentially seen that this place is like hell and not beautiful.

But they cannot admit it, because once they admit it, it means that everything they have struggled for and paid for over the past few decades is worthless and meaningless.

Even an adult can have a mental breakdown in an instant!

The only thing they can do is to keep going. Mr. Jobaf still believes that he can change his situation after decades, and Ennio's father still believes that he can eventually reach the pinnacle of life by selling those worthless things.

Bolton, on the other hand, has now embarked on another path, a path that may not be correct, but at least makes him begin to feel good.

Looking at the complete loan agreement, Mr. Ted began to sweat a little.

If this creditor was Mr. Jobaf, then it would be easy for him to deal with him. But now that this creditor has been replaced by someone who doesn't look easy to deal with, he doesn't know what to do.

He wanted to play rogue with Lance, but it seemed that he was definitely no match for Lance and his people in this regard.

So he was just like those people. When he found that being a gangster didn't work, he started to reason.

"I still don't know how to address you..."

"Lance."

"Oh my God!" Ted had heard of this name. With the Empire District right next to it, he must have heard of this name.

When he learned that Mr. Jobaf had sold the debts in a package to Lance, he actually didn't hate Lance as much anymore. He wasn't even that angry anymore. Instead, he was extremely dissatisfied with Mr. Jobaf!

If you have the guts, go find Arthur and get your money back instead of tormenting me like this!
He did not ask Lance how much he had paid Mr. Jobaff for these debts, but he knew that he would have to pay it back.

"I only actually got $10,000 out of that debt, and the other $15,000...was taken by someone else."

He didn't want to say the name Arthur.

But now, regardless of whether he wanted to say it or not, Lance poked his finger on the agreement, and the sound coming from the desktop was telling Mr. Ted that the situation was different now.

"I don't care who took the fifteen thousand. Now your signature is on this agreement. There is only one way you can go."

"Pay me back the money you owe me."

"Or we can try to squeeze every last penny out of you to ensure that you can pay off this debt. I can't guarantee what means we will use. It depends on whether you cooperate with us."

"Now, you can choose."

Mr. Ted's expression changed many times in a short period of time. He finally pursed his lips and told where the missing money went.

"Arthur took the fifteen thousand. I can only pay you ten thousand and the interest."

"But I can't afford to repay the money I didn't get."

Lance stroked his chin and asked, "Is this Arthur the son of Congressman Williams?"

Mr. Ted had an indescribable expression on his face, an expression that often appears in a very strange psychological reaction.

The victim will begin to identify with the perpetrator, and even stand with the perpetrator mentally, and may eventually become their accomplice, helping them to harm others.

He didn't need to ask, Lance knew the answer.

"Yes."

He touched his chin. There was some stubble on his smooth chin, and some scratches. "Do you have any evidence?"

Mr. Ted's eyes flickered a little, "No."

Actually, there was an IOU, which stated that Arthur had borrowed some money from him, fifteen thousand dollars, without interest.

The reason why Mr. Ted insisted on asking Arthur to write this IOU was actually because he had the same idea as Mr. Jobaf. He wanted to make Arthur feel disgusted about taking money from him in order to reduce the possibility of being blackmailed by Arthur.

In fact, this was true. Later, when Arthur was going to borrow money from him again, he mentioned the IOU and expressed his concern about Arthur's ability to repay the loan. Arthur seemed to have eaten shit and stopped coming to him.

The reason why he was blackmailed by Arthur several times was that he had successfully obtained the logging permits around Jingang City through the help of Congressman Williams.

With this logging license, he has an advantage over others in this industry.

Maybe one cubic meter is only a few tens of points less, or one or two pieces less, but if this number is magnified to the material used in an entire single-family house, it is basically over one hundred cubic meters, so it has a great advantage.

It was also because of this that he was harassed by Arthur several times.

He had no intention of handing over the IOU.

Lance shook his head. "Then just take out the money, Ted. Don't push me. You know who we are and what we will do."

“No matter what we do, no one will find it strange.”

Mr. Ted thought for a while and was about to answer when Lance stopped him. "Don't answer so quickly. Think about it again."

"Don't wait until you have endured the pain you can't bear and then have to take out money or things. It's unnecessary, really unnecessary!"

This IOU from Arthur is actually very useful to him. If he needs Senator Williams in the future, this IOU will come in handy.

It is actually worth more than the fifteen thousand dollars it represents!
But he also didn't want to take out the fifteen thousand yuan. It was not one hundred and fifty, one thousand and fifteen, but fifteen thousand yuan!

For him, it is a considerable amount of money.

He looked at Lance, and at the idiot beside him who kept shaking his hair, thinking about the good reputation of Lance and the Lance family spread in society, and he suddenly had an illusion. Maybe he could be tougher?
Mr. Ted hesitated and said, "I know someone from Doug's family..."

Lance leaned back, "Wrong answer."

Hiram walked up to Mr. Ted, and under the latter's somewhat puzzled gaze, he picked up the ashtray on the table and hit him on the head twice.

Blood immediately flowed from Mr. Ted's head. He touched his hot and wet head and looked at the bright red thing in his hand, feeling dizzy.

At this time, he finally realized that his acquaintances with Arthur, Congressman Williams, and Doug's family were all meaningless now.

Lance looked at him calmly, "You can choose again."

As he spoke, he took out a handkerchief and wiped off a drop of red blood on his collar. Fortunately, the clothes were dark and it could not be seen.

Perhaps the two ashtrays slowed Mr. Ted's reaction so much that he forgot for a moment that he was doing a multiple-choice question.

As Lance said "Time's Up", Hiram swung the ashtray in his hand and hit the frame twice.

The ashtray was not made of glass or agate or anything, otherwise Mr. Ted would have been lying on the ground dying.

This is a beautiful wooden ashtray.

It is shaped like a tree well, with a deer head carved on it, which seems to be drinking water, and looks very artistic.

Especially now, it is stained with some blood, giving this lively artwork ashtray full of natural atmosphere a more cruel taste of the forest.

The people who made it probably didn't expect that it would be as useful for hitting people on the head as it is for the artistry it represents.

Lance leaned back again and again, but two drops of blood still splashed up.

"You need to be careful, it almost splashed on my face!"

At this time, Mr. Ted finally came to his senses. His face was soaked with blood and he was in pain.

The blow from the wooden ashtray hurt his head, but it wasn't fatal. He now wished he could faint instead of staring at Lance and the idiot beside him with wide eyes in horror, which meant he would continue to be beaten.

"I... don't have that much cash. I need time to raise the money."

Lance shook his head. "I am interested in your evidence now. Ten thousand dollars plus your evidence, and I will return this loan agreement to you."

"You only get so much. There's no reason for you to pay for other people's mistakes, right?"

Mr. Ted had a severe headache now, and he was very angry, towards Mr. Chopper and Arthur, but not so much towards Mr. Lance in front of him.

Under Lance's gaze, he finally compromised, "I can give you..." He paused and hesitated, as if he had struggled internally before asking, "Will you ask Arthur for money too?"

Lance smiled more, "He owes me money. Even if he is Congressman Williams' son, he still owes me money. He can't change this fact."

Perhaps it was Lance's insistence on getting the money that touched Mr. Ted. He stood up, walked to the safe and opened it.

There was a kraft paper bag inside, which was very large and strong, the kind made of heavy kraft paper and was waterproof.

In the entire bag, there was only a small piece of white paper torn from somewhere, on which was written:

"I borrowed fifteen thousand dollars from Ted in June of 1023, and will repay it by the end of the year. Signed by me, Arthur."

Next came a large check and more than a thousand dollars in cash.

Lance packed everything up and handed it to Hiram, "See, what did I say?"

"You will definitely do what we say in the end, so why do you have to go through this hardship?"

"By the way, you can call the police after we leave, but I still remind you as before, you have to be prepared to bear the consequences!"

He picked up the hat on the corner of the table and gently put it on his head. The newcomer who followed him had already opened the door. He walked to the door and looked at Mr. Ted again. "Have a nice day, Mr. Ted."

After saying that, he walked out directly, just like when he came, walking with the wind!
After making sure that Lance and the others had left, Mr. Ted walked out of the office with his head covered.

He looked scary and the girl at the front desk screamed in fear. Some people asked him if they needed to call the police or an ambulance, but he stopped them.

He drove himself to a nearby clinic. He just looked scary, the bleeding had stopped...

On the way back, Hiram was a little curious, "This note is so important, how could it be worth fifteen thousand?"

Lance smiled, "If used well, it could be worth far more than fifteen thousand."

In fact, Mr. Jobaf also had Arthur's signature, but Mr. Jobaf did not give it to him.

This is one of the reasons why he cannot integrate into the federal society. He always uses the imperial people's thinking to deal with the federal people's way of doing things.

After Lance returned to the office, he called Morris over.

During this time, Morris had been staring at Eric. Not only him, but several other people were also staring at Eric.

After Morris sat down, he talked about Eric's daily life during this period -

"He usually sleeps until noon, then goes out for a walk after two or three in the afternoon, and then goes to the Seidel Opera House in the Starlight District to listen to opera on Wednesday and Saturday nights."

"He was mainly pursuing a female opera singer named Shayna. Every time he went there, he would buy a lot of flowers and give them to the actress."

"He will try to contact Shayna at other times. He is madly using our money to pursue that girl."

"But he's like an ATM. He hasn't even held Shayna's hand yet, but he's already spent at least one or two thousand yuan."

The "romance" in the Starlight District is much more expensive than that in the Empire District. An ordinary dinner may cost dozens of dollars.

If you want to be romantic, one or two hundred yuan is normal.

Those flowers were two for a cent at the dock, but in the Starlight District, they were wrapped in colorful paper that cost a dozen sheets of a cent and sold for one dollar a bunch.

It's easy to make money from rich people. When they need something, you can give it to them, and as long as the price is not outrageous, they will pay for it.

Listening to Morris talking about what Eric had done during this period, Lance couldn't help but laugh and said, "He's like a male dog in heat. Who is this Shayna? Why didn't he use force?"

Morris shook his head slightly. "I didn't find out, but I heard that she has a good uncle who is very famous in opera and is friends with some senators."

"There are many people pursuing her. Many young people in Jingang City are pursuing her. This makes it difficult for others to force her because everyone is watching her."

Lance smiled and made an analogy, "They turned the pursuit into a game, but they themselves don't know it. I believe that whoever can pursue Shayna will be the most successful young person in Jingang City!"

"Is Congressman Williams' son among them?"

Morris nodded. "Arthur is just one of them. I also saw Mr. Pasletto's son."

I have met Mr. Pasretto's son Lance twice. He is about 27 or 28 years old and has the angular facial lines of a Sumurian. However, he may not be appreciated by the Federals because he is too "hard".

Although the two had met, they had not talked much. It seemed that he did not have a good relationship with Alberto, and Lance was obviously assigned to Alberto's side.

"It sounds complicated!" Lance put all these things into his mind, "Keep watching them and try to spread some rumors, saying that Shayna only belongs to the people of Jingang, not outsiders."

This outsider must be referring to Eric. The mayor is not a native of Jingang City, but an outsider.

The balance between him and the local forces is just the result of a trade-off. It does not mean that he can suppress the locals, and it certainly does not mean that he will be afraid of the locals.

Maybe these old men have a tacit understanding with each other and are not so easily provoked into conflicts, but young people are definitely not as stable and smart.

They are in a state of rage right now. It would be easier to kill them than to ask them to take a step back or fight for mate rights!
(End of this chapter)