Shadow Empire

Chapter 233 Who is the Fisherman?
"You must know which warehouses the Liji Group owns on the docks."

Jack frowned after hearing this. "If you want to take some agricultural products from their warehouse to make up for your losses, Lance, I can only say that this idea is not very realistic."

He looked at Lance and explained the reason in detail, "The prices of those agricultural products are actually not too expensive, just like wheat, potatoes and the like, a meal only costs a few dozen dollars."

"If you expect to recover your profits by emptying their warehouses, I think it is unrealistic. How many tons do you have to take away to make up for your losses?"

He shook his head. "The only possible source is their top-quality beef, but that beef has a special warehouse and special people to guard it. It's easy to get a little out, but it's almost impossible to get a lot out."

"Because you need to use a lot of trucks, cranes, and hoists. Even if you work in the middle of the night, many people will notice you, not to mention that they also have night shift staff and security guards. You don't have the time and space to do this."

As he spoke, he was also trying to find a solution for Lance, but after thinking for a while, he still had no good ideas. "I can tell you about their warehouse configuration, but I can't help you with other issues."

Lance didn't tell Jack about his plan because he was not sure whether Jack could be trusted, and the plan would have great power, so he would not tell anyone before implementing it.

The claim was only part of the problem; his real goal was the share price of Liji Group.

In the Federation, the financial sector is booming unprecedentedly, and all kinds of financial games have been developed by capitalists.

You can buy stocks and then sell them after they appreciate, or you can borrow some stocks from a brokerage firm and sell them for cash, then wait for a period of time and then buy back the stocks at a lower price and return them to the brokerage firm.

There are many ways to make money here, but the strange thing is that it is always a small group of people who make money.

Once some claims and scandals arise in a group company, the negative developments will soon be reflected directly in their stocks. This is how Lance wants to get justice.

He heard something similar from a friend named Lin, about the means and methods used by some capitalists to embezzle the people's wealth.

This time he needs to borrow some and use it on the capitalists.

In view of Lance's persistence, he finally decided to tell Lance the configuration of Liji Group's warehouse.

The two of them had something to eat outside the racecourse at noon, and when it was past half past twelve, a large number of people began to enter.

Lance casually bought a few horse tickets and went into the stands with Jack.

He had watched sports games, like the sailing team game, which Alberto had dragged him to watch.

The two commentators explained the game slowly and leisurely throughout the whole process, and even chatted during the commentary, saying some things that had nothing to do with the game.

But at the racetrack, the commentator's mouth seems to be borrowed from someone else, and the deadline for returning it is about to come. If you don't use it well, you would seem to be letting yourself down.

From the moment the horses are out of the race, the noise is almost like the sound of submachine gun fire, and it doesn't stop until the horses cross the finish line.

The moment the horses crossed the finish line, many people around stood up excitedly, raised their hands high and waved their horse tickets.

But there are also quite a few people who would stand up cursing and wave their lottery tickets away, accompanied by various greetings.

Say hello to the racehorses they bought and also to the jockeys.

Jack had no intention of chatting with Lance at all. He began to look through the lottery tickets in his hand, took out a few of them separately, tore them into pieces with a look of frustration and threw them on the ground.

"I lost a few bucks."

Lance didn't feel much about this, "How much can you win if you win?"

Jack took out the remaining ticket in his hand and said, "If the horse I choose can come in first place in the next race, I can get two dollars in return from the Jockey Club."

Lance showed an expression that everyone understood. "It sounds like a small amount. Only two pieces."

Jack added, "If I guess right in the third round, it will give me a reward of ten dollars."

"In the fourth game, if I guess right again, they have to give me fifty dollars!"

"Fifty times the profit, Lance. You can get fifty dollars for one dollar. And you know, it's not like there's no chance. We can choose not to buy those underdogs. We can only play the first place!"

"There are many ways to play here, but we are all looking for the one with the highest odds, and that's the one we are playing now."

Lance asked a crucial question, "Have you ever won?"

Jack was silent for a while. "Well, you win. I am often only one step away from victory, but I always fail to take that most crucial step!"

"I'm never too far away from victory, maybe I just lack a little luck!"

Winning is always a low-probability event. In a game that can obviously be controlled by humans, luck and probability are never what determines victory or defeat.

Since they need some lucky people to continue to encourage others to keep investing, there will always be a few lucky people every time.

They will be happy that they won the grand prize, but at the same time regretful that they bought too little. Only in this way can people be stimulated to be more greedy.

Until all the games were over today, Jack had not allowed himself to become a dream chaser.

"I invested a total of twenty-two dollars, and now I have five dollars in my hand. At least I didn't lose everything, right?"

Lance could hardly agree with him, "But you lost seventeen dollars."

Jack rolled his eyes, "But I still have five bucks."

"But you lost seventeen dollars..."

Jack took a deep breath and clapped his hands at his sides, "Well, I lost seventeen bucks. It was a bad day!"

"I have to go back for dinner tonight. My daughter needs me, so..."

Lance held out his hand. "It's okay. I have something to do tonight. We'll contact each other later."

"Goodbye."

"goodbye!"

After watching Jack leave, Lance returned to the car.

The federal government doesn't seem to care much about smuggling now, but sooner or later they will, and then smuggling will become difficult.

Especially...when the FBI starts looking around for opportunities to seize power like a wild dog greedy for power, something in the entire country will change.

In the evening, everyone gathered together again, and Alvin had already found out some information through some channels.

"Several large gangs have come from Fides, and they seem to be planning to develop in Jingang City."

"These people have appeared in other districts, but they are from other gangs, especially in the harbor area. They have begun to fight for territory and have caused friction with the surrounding neighborhood families."

"The leader of the Viper Gang is still in Fides. If Brinton can open up the situation in Jingang City, then all of them will move to Jingang City."

"This place is much more prosperous than Fides, and it is also full of temptations for gangs like them. It can be seen that in the next period of time, more gangs from other places will come here."

"The underground world of Jingang City will definitely be in chaos for a while."

"Fides and his team have been at the Empire Night Club. I heard that they renovated the third floor and turned it into their base. There are always quite a few people there."

"Including Brinton, it seems that everyone lives in the Empire Night."

"If we take the initiative to attack them, we may encounter a stubborn counterattack."

Lance took a cigarette out of the ivory case, slammed the cigarette butt downward on the riverbank to make the tobacco firmer, then he picked it up and lit it.

"If we take the initiative to attack Empire Night, we will be in a passive position. We all know that house, and the materials used are very solid."

"I mean to find a way to trick them out. As long as they leave the house, we can find a place to ambush them."

"We have a better chance of winning if we are prepared to fight against the unprepared."

Everyone agreed with this suggestion. Except for Ennio, all of them had participated in the gunfight in the Triangle Area, and they all knew that they were able to survive because the house they were in at the time was easy to defend and difficult to attack.

If Camilla's gang wanted to rush in, they would have to endure a round of bullets. No one could survive being hit, so they couldn't get in at all.

Even in the street fighting that followed, the other side was unable to advance due to lack of cover. After everyone exchanged fire for a while, the Camilla gang was defeated. The power required for attack is always higher than the power required for defense, and this also requires the attacker to have strong psychological quality and ability to withstand pressure.

Lance was not worried about their mental quality and ability to withstand pressure, he just didn't want so many people to die.

After a brief discussion, everyone agreed that Lance's idea was a great one, and at least it could reduce their casualties.

Since everyone agreed, Lance continued, "Aren't they trying to find out where our bar is?"

"Then find a bar as bait and try to lure them out."

Ennio was a little worried, "Will we encounter any danger?"

Lance shook his head. "Even if we don't tell them where our bar is, do you think they won't be able to find it?"

"There are 200,000 people in the Empire District, and there are at least several thousand or even tens of thousands of alcoholics. The characteristics of these people are too obvious."

"Not everyone is on our side. There are many people on the side of 'money'. As long as they are willing to spend money, they will definitely get some clues."

"So instead of responding passively, it is better to proactively give them the news."

"Even if something goes wrong, we've only lost a bar. It's easy to rebuild. All we need is alcohol."

"But what they will lose is their lives which they will never get back!"

In the end, everyone agreed with Lance's ideas, and Lance handed the matter over to Erwin to make a plan, and he would make the final decision.

In the past few days, the middle-aged man who appeared in the bakery that morning came every day and bought more bread every day in an attempt to get along well with these old men.

This also made him a regular customer of the bakery and a "familiar face" in the eyes of the old men around him.

It was another morning. The middle-aged man came to the bakery at around nine o'clock. He bought half a pound of bread and asked the owner to cut it into thumb-sized pieces. Then he went to the table outside.

He tore open the brown paper bag and signaled that everyone could eat. The four old men sitting at the table did not hesitate and started eating directly.

This kind of bread from an ordinary roadside bakery is not soft at all, and it has no aroma of butter or other spices, and it is not sweet.

It was just plain salty bread, hard and tasted terrible.

But it cannot be denied that it is indeed one of the foods that can be used for entertainment when chatting.

The old men’s teeth are not very good, so they can eat a small piece of bread for a while.

The topics everyone talked about were still so... divergent, from "The Secret History of the Imperial Emperor" to "The Rebellion of the Imperial Rebels", from the Federal President wearing teddy bear underwear to the First Lady swearing.

Anyway, for them, there is nothing in this world that they don't know.

In order to join in the conversation of these old men, the middle-aged man has made up for some lessons in the past few days.

He now has to finish reading "International News" and "Golden Port Today" every day before coming here, otherwise he can't chat with these people at all.

It would be better to read some newspapers like The Planet, The Federal Journal and The Post. These old guys have too broad and diverse knowledge, and most people can't keep up with their topics.

Middle-aged people have gradually found some sense and can interject from time to time and express their own opinions.

The elders' listening and occasional affirmation gave him the illusion that he should have studied hard and maybe he wouldn't be in a gang now...

It was almost noon, and everyone had almost finished the half pound of bread on the table. The middle-aged man was about to leave.

Before leaving, he still wanted to tentatively ask these old men.

"It's been a pleasure chatting with you. I've recently discovered that I really enjoy being with you. You've taught me a lot, and my perspective on the world is different now than it was before."

"Sometimes I really want to buy you a drink to celebrate, or to thank you for saving my life..."

It's a combination of sensationalism and prying eyes, and he is very good at this.

When he said this in the past, the old men would just brush it off, but today, the situation was obviously different.

An old man who looked skinny had an expression on his face that the middle-aged man could not understand. He seemed a little proud and like he was showing off. He stomped on the ground with his crutches in both hands.

"If you really have this intention instead of just talking about it, maybe your idea can be realized."

He paused and said, "Do you know how much it would cost to buy all of us a drink?"

The middle-aged man suppressed his ecstasy and asked, "How much?"

"At least two dollars!"

Including the middle-aged man, there are five people in total. If they drink a 25-cent bomb, that would be $1.25.

And it is very likely that they will not just drink one glass, they may drink two glasses, or drink whiskey or gin.

The middle-aged man resisted the urge to take out a handful of money and said with a look of contempt, "It's only two dollars."

The skinny old man laughed, "I hope you can still laugh when you get to the bar."

He looked at the others and said, "We all have things to do tonight. Let's go together tomorrow at seven o'clock tomorrow evening."

The middle-aged man was eager to get this information right now. His voice was trembling slightly. "Can you tell me where it is? I'll go over and wait for you."

The skinny old man didn't buy it. "I told you, we'll go together then. You don't want to renege on your debt, do you?"

The middle-aged man immediately denied it, "Of course not... Since you ask me to do so, then how about we meet tomorrow night?"

The skinny old man confirmed again and again, "See you there."

Then the old people said goodbye to each other and left.

The middle-aged man also left quickly. He took a bus to the next stop and then drove back to Empire Night.

"So, you'll know where the bar is tomorrow night?" Brinton showed a satisfied smile and patted the middle-aged man on the shoulder. "Good job. After we deal with the Lance family, the bar will be handed over to you to run."

The middle-aged man could hardly suppress his ecstasy. He certainly knew how profitable bootlegging in Jingang City was. This meant that he was about to become a high-ranking member of the gang!

This money is enough for him to support a large number of subordinates!
"thanks, thanks!"

"Brinton, I will always be your loyal friend!"

Brinton hugged him as if he hadn't reacted. "You don't use the word loyal between friends. You use the word 'trustworthy'!"

"Yes, I am trustworthy. I will always be your trustworthy friend!"

Brinton laughed, and after a while he began to assign tasks.

Since we can find out where the other party’s bar is tomorrow, let’s take action tomorrow night and not give Lance any chance to resist. Just beat them down!

Of the one hundred or so people from the Viper Gang who came this time, except for a dozen or so who stayed at Empire Night, almost all the others were arranged to go out.

He wanted to establish his position in Jingang City in one fell swoop and let the gangs here know that although Fides was not as prosperous as here, the gangs in Fides were no weaker than those in Jingang City!
He even had some thoughts and impulses to challenge the five major families. Who the hell stipulated that the five major families were the five major families? Who stipulated that the Viper Gang, he, Brinton, could not become the next of the five major families?
The Viper Gang members immediately began to gather together, and these changes were clearly seen by the eyes in certain corners of the block.

As the crime rate in the Empire District has dropped significantly, there are pedestrians and even people strolling on the street even at seven or eight o'clock.

Countless pairs of eyes eventually formed a surveillance network, and no one could escape so many gazes.

The next afternoon, several old men were waiting at the bus station with smiles on their faces. Their efforts had already been reaped, and all that was left was to enjoy the fruits of victory!
At around six o'clock, the middle-aged man hurried over. The first few old men said they wanted to take the bus, which made the middle-aged man want to say that he had a car and could take them along.

But considering that he was playing the role of a frustrated middle-aged man, he finally did not do so and got in the car with the old men.

When the bus left with seven or eight cars that were obviously abnormal, Morris stood in a public telephone booth and made a phone call.

“They took the bait…”

(End of this chapter)