Shadow Empire

Chapter 217: Whistleblower and This is Not a Good Choice and Phone Call

"Actually, you can introduce me to work in your company." Nancy sat in the passenger seat with her hand on the car window.

The wind blew in through the car window and ruffled her hair. It was a wonderful feeling!

Although this is a second-hand car, and according to her, it should be worth four or five hundred dollars, it is still a car after all.

Walking home, riding a bike home, taking the bus home, and taking a private car home are always different experiences.

When she was sitting on the bus, she actually didn't want people on the side of the road to see her clearly, and she didn't want to meet anyone she knew, such as a classmate.

But now, she wants everyone on the street to see her clearly, even though it's just an old car.

She would have liked to run into some old classmates walking along the way or something, and she could ask Rob to stop and have a chat with them.

You can be vain when you have money, and when you don’t have money, you can be vain without spending money.

"You can't do my job." Rob rejected Nancy's proposal because he didn't have a proper job.

After two bomb attacks, the Hazardous Materials Administration received more privileges and material support from Congress, and they solicited rewards from citizens for information on those who ran bootleg liquor businesses.

And they promised that as long as this information was true and valid, and helped them catch the bootleggers and the bars that sold alcohol, they would give the informants a percentage of the value of the stolen goods they obtained from the scene.

If the case value is less than one thousand yuan, the informant can receive fifty yuan.

For amounts within 2,000 yuan and above 1,000 yuan, you can get 10%.

For amounts above 2,000 yuan and below 5,000 yuan, you can get 15%.

For those who spend more than 5,000 yuan and less than 10,000 yuan, they can get 20%!
If the case value exceeds 10,000 yuan, then you can get the maximum reward, 25% of the case value!

Congress had actually realized the difficulty of implementing Prohibition. What they had to fight against were local stubborn forces, and it might not just be criminal groups that were smuggling and selling alcoholic beverages.

Even the local notables were involved in smuggling and selling alcoholic beverages, after all, it was becoming increasingly profitable!

No one can resist the huge profits brought by the rapidly growing market. As for whether members of Congress are also involved, that is another matter. In short, they appear to be very supportive of the Hazardous Substances Administration's efforts to intensify its crackdown on organizations and individuals that violate the prohibition on alcohol.

Then there would be nothing wrong with taking the smugglers' money from the resettlement funds and rewarding the informants.

Rob reported a bar owned by Lance, where he had been with others. Because he was Burton's son, the bar was not very wary of him.

Then he ran and reported the bar.

A total of more than 7,000 yuan worth of cases were seized that day. Based on a 20% calculation, he received about 1,500 yuan.

He used three hundred and fifty dollars of it to buy the car, and the remaining one thousand dollars or so was used to buy two sets of clothes, which he then saved.

He had never come into contact with such a large sum of money.

Reporting Lance's bar gave him a sense of revenge, but what made him unhappy was that he was also at the scene that day, but Lance did not get furious and did not even show a distressed expression.

So he plans to report another one soon.

But this matter was known only to him.

"I have to go to the company, so I'll leave you at this intersection. It only takes you seven or eight minutes to walk back from here."

When the car arrived at the intersection of the street where they lived, Rob pulled the car over. Nancy rolled her eyes and said, "It would take less than two minutes to get downstairs if we just drive in from here. But you asked me to walk back?"

Rob's face showed no room for bargaining, "This way I have to take a long detour."

After the two looked at each other for a moment, Nancy complained and left the car, even giving Rob the middle finger.

"Go to hell!"

She wiggled off and Rob drove to another bar he had heard of.

The scale here might be a little bigger, and he hopes to get more than 2,500 this time!
On the other hand, Lance didn't know that Rob had so many complicated psychological problems. To him, this was just an emotion that only children would have.

But he overestimated Rob's jealousy. Especially when Lance became more and more successful, Rob's jealousy towards Lance grew stronger and stronger.

This is a very complex emotion. Although it does not appear in people very often, it does exist.

"Lance, can I join you?"

While they were chatting, a young man suddenly asked a question, and other young people responded one after another.

They liked the Lance family outfit.

There is a hint of liveliness amidst the seriousness, especially the red armband, which gives them an inexplicable sense of mission!
And joining a gang and becoming a gang member is actually a very cool thing for these young people.

This kind of "cool" is like... they discovered and joined a secret base!
For the vast majority of young people, a "secret base" is definitely the thing they desire most during their childhood and even adolescence, a small world that belongs only to them and cannot be noticed by adults.

They can do anything here, and no matter what they do, there will be no adults to blame them.

Now the Lance Family has become a kind of secret base, a place they long for.

There were many young people around, and looking at these lively young faces, Lance did not agree immediately.

"Do you know what it means to be in a gang?"

The young man who first proposed to join shouted, "It means we are also part of the gang, and this is very... I don't know how to say it, but I know that if I let my classmates know, they will definitely respect me!"

Lance looked at him and reached out to rub his head, ruffling his hair, but he just laughed and didn't mind Lance doing that.

Others also talked about some of the positive changes they thought joining a gang would bring, such as not being bullied and having more friends.

Lance looked at them and finally shook his head. "No, you are only talking about the better side you think, but have you ever thought about it? This is a gang, not an after-school activity department in the school?"

"Our job is to look for troublemakers on the street and do things that you think are cool or special, but we also face more risks than you do."

"My friends, life is not a movie, nor is it a literary work. No one can survive after getting shot a few times."

"When you are in a battle or conflict, a bullet from nowhere can take your life when you least expect it."

"In the battle in the Triangle..."

Someone shouted, "I heard that you fought off the attack of dozens of Camilla gang members!"

The crowd also gave corresponding positive feedback. People were happy to discuss these "legendary stories", especially the story of the Lance family becoming famous in one battle.

But Lance didn't feel very happy. "Yes, you all know something. You know that we repelled the attack of dozens of people on the other side, but do you know?"

“We also had a lot of deaths.”

"Those brothers who were probably talking to you about food, new movies, their new girlfriends, and being with you every day just a few minutes ago."

"In the next second, because of a gunshot, he suddenly fell in front of you and looked at you helplessly."

"You can read from their eyes their desire to live, but you can't do anything about it."

"You can only watch them die in front of you!"

The group of people suddenly fell silent. It was hard for them to imagine such a scene, but Lance's description made them feel heavy.

"In every conflict and fight, someone gets hurt. Ennio has been hurt too..." They are more familiar with Ennio, after all, Ennio used to help them fight in middle school for a fee.

For some imperial immigrants who were bullied in middle school, spending one or two dollars to let Ennio, a "social figure", help them out can indeed bring them a sense of security.

And most of the time after Ennio went there, they would no longer be bullied.

When they heard that Ennio had also been injured, some of them obviously backed off a bit, and their enthusiasm was not as hot as before. "Every one of us has been injured, but some of us were injured more seriously and didn't make it, while some of us were injured less seriously and can still live."

"So it's not as romantic as you think, it's not about someone wearing a trench coat and holding a gun and walking down the street surrounded by girls."

"You are in danger every moment, in danger of death."

"If you have family members who love you, a complete family, and plans for your future life, I don't recommend you join a gang."

"Whether it's our Lance right here or any other gang, I don't recommend you do that."

"Of course if you guys say, I just want to experience gang life, that's fine!"

"I will arrange a few days for you to feel that gang life is not as good as you think, and then you can return to your life."

"Of course, if someone says they really must join us and are prepared to get hurt or even die, well, come on, I welcome you."

"We can become a new family, new brothers, and entrust each other with our lives!"

"But no matter what decision you make, you must think maturely and discuss it with your family."

"I hope you can live well without taking this path. It shouldn't be an option that people aspire to..."

Lance then chatted with these people for a while, talking about his views on the future changes of Jingang City and the future of the Empire District, and then left.

However, what he said was quickly spread throughout the Imperial District through the mouths of these young people.

Especially his last sentence, which made many adults in the family start to think and change their perception of Lance.

At least he looks very different from those scumbags in Camilla's gang. He actually refuses young people to join!
Some of them were once afraid that Lance would lead these young people astray, but now it seems that Lance is doing better than they thought!
On the way back, Ennio wondered, "Why... don't you want them to join us?"

Lance looked out the window at the receding scenery and shrugged, "Gang life is too harsh for them, Ennio."

"Do you think we would be here if we had no choice?"

This question also made Ennio think deeply.

If he had a perfect family and his parents were both able to make money, he should have been in college and making plans for his future life by now, right?

There's no way he could be here!
The reason for coming here is actually very simple. He needs to escape from his past life and find a new direction.

On the way back, no one spoke, and everyone was lost in thought.

After a not-so-long journey, when Ennio parked the car safely, Lance just got out of the car and Maurice came up to him.

After Lance and his friends came out of the Empire Night nightclub, they bought a house near the largest bar and hung a sign that read "Wanli Agency", but it was not open to the public.

This is a place like a gang base, where people gather when they have nothing to do.

There is a large backyard and plenty of room.

"We've had some new faces around the bar, and they don't speak with accents that sound like locals."

"I heard that the new manager of Empire Night, Brinton, is setting up the Viper Gang in Golden Harbor City."

Lance listened to Morris's report and had some ideas in mind, "Send someone to keep an eye on these people. If necessary, we can capture one and test his words."

Morris nodded and left, no doubt thinking that now was the "necessary" time.

Everyone protected this small group from the bottom of their hearts, and Lance was very happy because it showed that he had done nothing wrong.

As for some of the details of the handling, he did not think that this was a problem. After all, in some ways, everyone was still young and had plenty of time and space to grow and mature.

There are actually a lot of gang matters. For example, Alvin will report yesterday's income to Lance, and the bar's daily revenue will be transported here for counting.

Because there are many poor people in the Empire District, and Lance requires that the price of drinks cannot be too high, instead of making a dollar from one person, he would rather make a dollar from two people.

Therefore, we have a lot of change in our hands every day, mostly coins and a few banknotes. After all, for poor people, coins are the mainstream in their world.

These coins can be consumed through other channels or distributed as wages to gang members.

At the beginning, everyone was scrambling to do the job of counting money. When Amen saw the mountain of money for the first time, he was so excited that he was speechless.

But after two days, they didn't want to do it anymore because counting money was so damn boring.

As I kept counting, it seemed as if my brain froze and I lost the ability to think. I could only count subconsciously.

"Yesterday, several bars brought us a profit of 8,152.32 yuan. If one bar hadn't been closed down, our income would have reached 9,000 yuan."

Speaking of this, he felt a hatred towards the whistleblower. Each bar made a net profit of more than a thousand yuan a day, and it was so painful to lose so much all of a sudden.

Not to mention that in order to bail out those people, he also gave 4,000 dollars to lawyer Robben, 3,700 dollars in bail and 300 dollars in lawyer fees.

What a fucking vampire!
After listening, Lance asked, "It seems that our alcohol sales have increased a lot in the past two days compared to half a month ago."

There is an increase of about two thousand yuan. If the closed bars are included, the increase may be close to three thousand yuan.

Erwin nodded. "The Hazardous Materials Administration is like a wild dog waiting to bite anyone. Several bars in the harbor have been closed down, so some customers will come to our place."

He emphasized that "our prices are lower and the alcohol content is higher. No one can compete with us in the low-end market."

"Let Nick continue to make wine and expand the scale. The new season's grapes will be on the market soon. Also, make more potato wine and beer. Summer is coming soon."

Summer is the peak season for beer sales. Who can resist a glass of iced beer after a tiring work?

It would be even more enjoyable if you could watch the girls dancing for free while enjoying a refreshing beer.

“Should we open a few more bars?”

“Now those managers say the bar is full every day.”

Lance nodded. "Our drinks allow us to continue to add locations, so why not?"

While they were talking, the phone on the desk suddenly rang. Lance found it a little strange because the phone ring had only been installed not long ago and the telegraph office should not have printed this phone number in the phone book yet.

Only a handful of people know this number, and now it suddenly rings, what could be going on?

"Hello, this is Wanli Office."

"Is that Mr. Lance?"

The voice sounded familiar, but Lance couldn't figure out who it was for a moment, so he responded, "Yes, I'm Lance, who are you?"

"Mr. Lance, I didn't expect you to forget me so quickly. I'm Lenny from the Liji Group. I hope you still have some impression of me."

Lance immediately remembered who this guy was. He had previously signed a contract with the Ligi Group on behalf of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce, ordering a large batch of first-season grapes from the Ligi Group.

It was this manager Lenny whom they contacted at that time.

"Of course I remember, Manager Lenny, what's up?"

"It seems that we have nothing to touch except commodity trade?"

Manager Lenny laughed heartily, but Lance felt that this might not be a good thing.

"It's like this. Headquarters has some opinions on the contract we signed and hopes that we can sign a new one..."

(End of this chapter)