Shadow Empire

Chapter 196 No Money [Monthly Ticket 666+7]
"Lance..." Chief Bruce was wearing plain clothes. After losing his outer layer, he suddenly felt... a little scared.

I'm really scared.

It is said that many people died tonight, and he doesn’t even know how to explain to his superiors!
Lance's face was more smiling. He walked to Chief Blue, put his arm around his shoulders, and sat down on the sofa with him.

"People are focusing on the bombings, no one is paying attention to the gang fights, so you don't have to worry about it at all."

"And you see, we solved it quickly this time, and there won't be any sequelae."

Chief Blue instinctively wanted to refute and re-establish his authority through rebuttal, but when he turned to look at Lance and met the other's eyes, he suddenly felt that what Lance said made sense.

When Lance was about to say something else, the phone on the table suddenly rang. He walked to the table, picked up the phone, and immediately hung up the receiver.

"Lance, you are playing with fire!" Bill's angry roar came from the receiver. "You are destroying the peace between us. You are starting a war."

Lance didn't seem to be affected by his words and asked in a normal voice, "So, you want to go to war with us?"

Just one sentence silenced Bill.

Perhaps to save face, Bill lowered his voice a little, "If that's what you want, we can go to war!"

Lance wasn't threatened, "Are you sure?"

Bill was silent again. Lance didn't wait for him to say anything and said directly, "It's just the loss of a few bars, Bill. I didn't touch your warehouse or your girl."

"With these things, you can soon have ten bars, a hundred bars, a thousand bars!"

"As for the men you lost?"

"I know that your dominance in the Red Dog Gang is not that strong. I also heard that some cadres would directly refute your opinions in meetings."

"They don't respect you, Bill. You are the boss, not them!"

"Look, isn't the situation better now? Are those people who like to refute you a thing of the past? Has your authority been enhanced?"

"Change 'your Red Dog Gang' to 'your Red Dog Gang', and you actually made a profit, Bill!"

Bill almost laughed out of anger when he heard this. "Should I even fucking thank you?"

"You're welcome, but if you really want to thank me, you can say so."

"You're so fucking shameless!" Bill didn't know what to do.

But I have to say that what Lance said does make some sense.

Because he often appears indecisive, his senior executives sometimes help him make decisions as the boss.

Just like what happened tonight, he originally wanted to resolve the issue with Lance in a friendly and peaceful manner, but some people felt that they should act tougher and let Lance know that they were not to be trifled with.

Under the demands and unification of these people, he, as the boss, can ultimately only choose their decision.

He didn't think there was anything wrong before, but now that Lance said this, he felt... that he was indeed right.

There is wine and girls, and the lost things can be quickly found in the port area.

Moreover, the income of the port area is higher than that of the empire area, and it is also more prosperous. He did not dare to expand before because the Brotherhood Gang was not so easy to deal with, but now that they are in big trouble, the Red Dog Gang has some opportunities.

While Bill was thinking about these things, Lance continued, "I will unify the Empire sooner or later. Even if not now, it will be someday in the future. Sooner or later, we will have to face this situation."

"A little later or earlier, I don't think there is any difference."

"If you feel you must prove your courage by asking us to go to war, you can give it a try."

"But my suggestion is, think about how you will take over the territory left behind by the Brotherhood if it is uprooted, and whether anyone will come to seize the territory left behind by them..."

"Okay, I've said enough, so that's it."

"If you want to start a war, come on. If you don't want to start a war, think about yourselves!"

He hung up the phone and turned to look at Chief Blue, "What a waste!"

Suddenly, Chief Blue didn't know whether this sentence was referring to Bill or him, but fortunately, Lance quickly told him the correct answer, "Don't think too much, I'm talking about Bill."

He walked back to sit next to Chief Blue and said, "After we unify the Empire District, the public security here will only be better. You should be happy."

Chief Blue couldn't smile at all. He looked a little sad. "I don't know how people will talk about this tomorrow."

Lance seemed nonchalant. "Without a corpse or a victim, what trouble can there be?"

"More than these, I want to know what your decision is."

Chief Blue didn't react at first, "What decision?" But he soon remembered, "Are you talking about the party or something like that?"

Lance nodded. "Sometimes I even doubt whether they were responsible for the explosion themselves."

Chief Blue's expression was a little strange. "Why would someone blow himself up?"

Lance handed him a cigarette. "Think about it. Now that the Hazardous Materials Administration has become the victim, the state government and Congress will pay more attention to the situation here. In order to protect the authority of Congress on the issue of Prohibition, they will definitely receive more policy support and resource allocation." "Tobacco, alcohol, and hazardous materials are related to almost all crimes. At that time, they will be able to intervene in everything, and they will be stronger and faster than the police system."

"When that happens, your situation will be very embarrassing."

"They have a judicial office within them that can issue them legal documents. What about you?"

"It may take several days to apply for a search warrant. How will the citizens and the rich people in the Bay Area view you by then?"

“You have to unite!”

“I don’t mean for the police to confront them, but we must at least send a message that this is our own Jingang City, not theirs!”

Lance patted him on the back and stood up. "I have some local specialties from the countryside. Take a box with you when you leave."

He took out a paper bag from the drawer and placed it on the coffee table. "I have something else to do. I need to go out for a while..." He changed his clothes and put on a hat. "You can leave at any time."

With that, Lance left, leaving him alone.

Chief Blue opened the paper bag with some curiosity. Inside was a beautiful-looking wooden box. Curiosity made him start to wonder what was inside.

Money, or something else?
When he opened it, a small gold bar was lying quietly in the soft red cloth, and he immediately closed the box.

One hundred grams.

gold.

The next day, the news mainly reported the explosion in the Hazardous Materials Administration Bureau, and there was no detailed coverage of the fierce gang fight that occurred in the Empire District at night.

Only in the corner of the last page of the current affairs section was there a small report saying that a brief riot had occurred but calm was soon restored.

The reporter here questioned whether the security in the Imperial District is as good as people say, and whether there are some unclear or invisible situations.

But that’s where it ends, without any further exploration.

At a press conference held by the Hazardous Materials Administration this morning, Director Dell said that he would investigate the murderer thoroughly and find out the person who installed the bomb and the mastermind behind the scenes, even if it came at a heavier price.

At the press conference, a reporter asked a question: "Do you think this explosion is directly related to your public destruction of smuggled liquor worth 300,000 yuan at the dock?"

Director Dell admitted in front of all the media that he did not rule out this possibility and would treat it as the main direction of investigation.

This response, to a large extent, made the media and the public believe that it was the Brotherhood that did it.

Because logically speaking, the only major case solved after the establishment of the Hazardous Materials Management Bureau was the smuggling of liquor by the Brotherhood Gang. They had every reason to retaliate, and it made sense logically.

Motives are a very important part of the federal judicial system.

However, Lance believed that this matter was definitely not that simple, and Big Polly was very likely to have been cheated.

In the next few days, the Hazardous Materials Administration began to frantically sweep the Brotherhood's territories and bars. They got accurate intelligence from somewhere, and one by one, the deeply hidden bars were dug out.

Perhaps because they were filled with anger, they took ruthless action when they closed down these bars this time, and almost every time they shot and killed those who were involved in the crime in the bars.

Bartenders, thugs, anyone who didn't surrender immediately would be shot.

According to rumors, they even beat an innocent citizen to death, but it is not certain whether it is true or not because there has been no further news so far.

And Lance has been watching.

Until this afternoon.

The door of Empire Night's office was pushed open with a bang, and Eric walked in from outside. This time, he was not accompanied by lawyer Orson, but only a few lackeys.

When Lance saw him, a smile flashed across his face, but it quickly disappeared and he hid it well.

"Kailu told me that there is not much money in the account. What's going on?" he asked rudely as soon as he came in.

He had found the convertible he wanted, but now the problem was, he needed money!

Lance sat behind the table and answered slowly, "Are you talking about the nightclub's revenue?"

"What else?" Eric's voice was a little loud, but the lackeys around him were very honest.

These people had a wide range of social contacts, and they knew that Lance had just taken over the entire Empire District.

Maybe he would not embarrass Eric for the sake of the mayor, but he might not embarrass them, so they all remained silent.

These days, it's not easy to be a good lackey.

Lance put his thumbs together on the table and said, "I can't see the operation of the nightclub. Only Ms. Kailu can check the daily accounts."

“But if you say our profitability has declined, I don’t find it surprising.”

"Because our gaming tables were removed, about half of the revenue here comes from those gaming tables..."

(End of this chapter)