Shadow Empire

Chapter 235 Choices and the Empire's Situation

"No news yet?"

Brinton sat behind his desk, smoking a cigarette, and the ashtray on the table was piled with cigarette butts.

It's been almost two hours. Whether they succeeded or not, they should have provided some feedback.

But so far, no sound has been heard back.

"No, the phone hasn't rang. One more thing, Boss, there seem to be some people around the nightclub."

Brinton was stunned for a moment when he heard this, but then a sense of innate perception similar to that of a living being made him nervous. He immediately stood up and walked to the window to look outside.

The lights from the nightclub illuminated some parts of the street close up, but the streets in the distance were still shrouded in darkness.

He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but he seemed to see some fleeting figures at some alley corners!

They are being watched!
Damn it!

He began to get nervous, his palms were sweaty, and he realized that something might have happened to the group of people who went out.

He strode to the table and picked up the phone, but he didn't know who to call.

If something really went wrong with the group of people who set up the encirclement, they might also be in danger now.

He swallowed, his men still looking at him, he sat back in his chair, pretending to be calm, "I'll think about it, you go out first."

The subordinate nodded and left.

He then called the mayor's secretary and the call was quickly connected.

It might sound a little strange for a secretary to live in the mayor's house, but that's just how he is.

The call is often connected to the secretary's room first. The mayor will answer the call if the secretary thinks the call requires waking up the mayor. Otherwise, the secretary will handle it.

The secretary is not very old, less than 30 years old, but everyone can see that he is highly valued by the mayor. There are rumors that he may be the political successor being trained by the mayor.

But now none of this has anything to do with Brinton. He just wants to know what happened!
"What's the matter that requires you to call me at night?"

"Look, we had a plan before..." He told them how they were going to lure out Lance's gang and then ambush them at the right place.

The secretary listened quietly the whole time and didn't think there was anything wrong with their plan.

This is actually very appropriate from a strategic point of view. If you attack a building by force without using heavy weapons, the price you pay will be very heavy, and you may not be able to do it very well.

"... It's been an hour and a half now and there's been no news. I'm worried that something might have happened."

"I just found some people stalking around the nightclub. They are most likely Lance's men."

After listening to this, the mayor's secretary asked a key question, "How did you know where the Lans Bar was?"

Brinton explained how he got the information about the bar. The mayor's secretary, who had been keeping a calm demeanor, couldn't help but burst out laughing after hearing it.

"Don't you know that there are many Lance people in the Empire District?"

Brinton coughed, "Yes, we have been very careful, and if we don't use this method, it will be difficult for us to find their location."

The mayor's secretary smiled and then sighed, "So this is why you have been hanging out with gangs but have never made a name for yourself. Wait for my news."

He hung up the phone and called the duty number of the Imperial District Police Station.

"I'm a secretary in the mayor's office at City Hall. I'd like to know if there will be any gang fights in the Empire District tonight?" He introduced himself. The operator on the other end didn't expect such a big shot to call in the middle of the night and seemed a little nervous.

"No... sir, no." The sound of flipping through a notebook could be heard through the receiver. "I looked at the police dispatch records tonight. Someone called the police saying that they were stuck in the toilet and couldn't stand up. There was a couple quarreling, and there was also a client and a girl arguing over the price of prostitution."

"But there was no call to the police about the exchange of fire, sir."

"Has anyone reported a shooting?"

"Uh... sir, I checked and there is nothing. It is safe tonight, sir."

The mayor's secretary was silent for a while, "I see, thank you."

He thanked the other party politely before hanging up the phone. Then he dialed Brinton's number and said, "Your people are probably gone."

"You may have fallen into Lance's trap. I doubt whether it is the right thing for the mayor to hand over the Empire District to you."

"If you can't deal with them, there are still many people in Fides who want to take your place. Think it over first."

In the eyes of the mayor's secretary, the failure of this gang fight had no impact on him or the mayor.

Anyway, those who died were all social remnants, so he wouldn't feel sad no matter how many of them died. Instead, the most troublesome thing was that they couldn't complete the mayor's plan.

As for why he was so sure that something had happened?
Because the plan that Brinton had just told him included attacking the bar first. In other words, if nothing happened to them, they would have opened fire.

Only by firing guns can we attract the Lance family to come to the rescue. If we just use our fists to attack each other, the situation will be under control and the Lance family will not go there.

So as long as nothing happened to them, weapons must have been used, but no one at the police station called the police, so the possibility is slim.

If they didn't follow through with the plan at all, what prevented them from doing so?

Obviously, the plan was interrupted!

Either they took action, and even attracted people from the Lance family, but they didn't call back.

The police station is helping to cover up, these sons of bitches, sooner or later they will all be replaced!
Brinton wanted to say something, but the mayor's secretary hung up the phone, saying he needed to rest.

It was obvious that he had no patience for trash.

Brinton gritted his teeth and dialed another number, Fides' number.

"Boss, we killed more than 40 people from the Lance family. The mayor is very dissatisfied with us. He said that if we can't deal with the people from the Lance family, they will hand over the management of the Empire District to someone else."

The leader of the Viper Gang is called Snake. He has the body shape of an ordinary person, but he has a very special head that stands upright, making his head look pointed, like the shape of a poisonous snake.

This man is extremely ruthless. He is the first generation boss of the Viper Gang and a man with some abilities, but only some.

For gangs in underdeveloped cities, if they are ruthless and obedient enough, they will definitely succeed.

The federal government's management of various social classes is actually not in place, and they really need these gangs to assist them in managing the entire city. After all, some things are difficult to do from the federal government's perspective.

But when it comes to the gang, it becomes very easy.

It is a scandal when federal law enforcement officers beat up citizens, but it is quite normal when gang members beat up citizens.

Not only will the citizens who are beaten not make a fuss, they may not even call the police!

But if a politician does this, they will continue to fight to the end even if the person being beaten is bleeding!
Moreover, gangs doing this kind of thing is not a political scandal, it is just a small problem in the average law and order rate!
Snake was a little annoyed when he heard what Brinton said, but he soon calmed down.

"Do you think the revenue of Jingang City is really greater than ours?"

Brinton nodded repeatedly, although Snake couldn't see it, "Their protection fees are basically ten or twenty dollars per business. There are two to three thousand business operators in the Empire District. The protection fees collected every month can reach several hundred, twenty or thirty thousand dollars or even more."

"And the wine here...it's just fucking huge profits!"

"I heard... that the profit from a glass of wine there is more than four times!"

The plan he was talking about was from the leader of another gang that came from Fides. They were developing in the port area and had initially established a foothold.

Although the local neighborhood families and the Red Dog Gang have had conflicts with them, their bar has already opened and has begun to make a profit. Snake's breathing became noticeably heavier. "In other words, if we can occupy the Empire District, it can bring us tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue every month?"

"I'm afraid that's the case. I heard from the grapevine that the Lance family's drinks are very cheap, but they still make more than 10,000 yuan a day..."

Snake's eyes are a little unfocused!
"Three hundred thousand..."

Suddenly, both of them fell silent.

In Fides, although they can make money, due to the size of the city and consumption capacity, their monthly income is only about 50,000 to 70,000 yuan.

After dividing the money, they actually didn't get much. This is usually the case for gangs in relatively backward areas. In the absence of lucrative businesses, it is difficult to accumulate wealth quickly.

"Jingang City is an opportunity." Snake sighed, "I will immediately mobilize people there, including myself."

Brinton was a little surprised when he heard this. "What about Fides..."

"No more."

Snake was decisive. "If Golden Harbor City can provide us with half a year's income in one month, there is absolutely no reason for us to stay here, Brinton."

"Protect yourself and the rest of the people first, and wait for me to get over there..."

After hanging up the phone, Brinton told his men not to run around before dawn. He didn't sleep that night.

There were a few times when he was about to close his eyes, the faces of his former brothers and members appeared in his hazy dreams, waking him up from his half-sleep!

Until dawn, the little light seemed to soothe the fear in his heart and woke him up from his sleep.

He rubbed his face, walked out of the office, stood on the stairs and slapped the handrail hard. The old-fashioned handrail made a "bang bang" sound.

"Are they back?"

A head popped out from downstairs, "No, Boss, no one's back, and no phone call."

Brinton returned to the office, walked to the window, looked at the resurrected city, and suddenly felt a sense of fear!
This city, this region, and them, were not as "easy" as he had previously imagined.

He thought the mayor and the Hazardous Materials Administration were on his side, so he had nothing to worry about.

Now it seems that was too optimistic.

When it was completely light that day, Lance got up, washed his face, and sat in the restaurant to eat the freshly prepared dinner. Everyone else was there.

They made the house in the middle into a kind of public area. Every morning everyone would make breakfast here and eat together. Sometimes they would gather here after coming back in the evening, chat, and then go back to their homes.

"Are they out tonight?" Lance asked while eating a sandwich.

If you don't put vegetables, eggs, ham, etc. on toast, you don't actually need to toast it.

But if it needs to be sandwiched with something soft, it is better to roast it, so that the taste will be better and the flavor will be richer.

Morris shook his head. "They haven't come out yet. They may have noticed it."

Hiram, sitting next to him, blushed. "My question is, I should have left two people alive."

He shot all those who were not dead, resulting in no one calling for help. If someone had called for help, perhaps Brinton and the others would have come out from Imperial Night.

Lance is very familiar with the structure of Empire Night. Once they decide to defend it, it will be a nightmare for anyone who wants to rush in, and it will become a one-sided meat grinder.

Because the moment you rush in through the gate, you cannot be sure where your enemy is waiting for you with a gun. By the time you find the enemy, the bullet may have already entered your body.

Empire Night has too many rooms and is too spacious, but there aren't many doors and windows, so it's not an easy building to attack.

Lance's original intention was to find a way to hook Brenda out and then kill them at the gate of Empire Night.

As a result, Brinton didn't come out all night, as if they knew something.

Hiram felt that it was his fault. If he left two people alive and asked them to call and trick them, maybe they could trick Brinton out.

Lance raised his hand to stop him, "This is because God thought he shouldn't have died last night, but it doesn't matter, we still have chances, many chances!"

Derisi (the young man who joined Hiram) said, "It's possible that we ran into someone from the Hazardous Materials Administration at that bar on West Street last night."

Lance looked at him.

Drissi is not as...lively as Hiram, nor does he take the initiative to do things like Lawn. He may seem a little more passive, so his job now is to be responsible for logistics together with Mello.

The bar needed wine, so Melo transferred some from the warehouse and arranged for him to transport it over.

So he was familiar with all the bars and managers under Lance.

"Tell me about it." Lance ordered another sandwich. At the age of twenty, it was the time for growth.

"They met a guy who was just like what you said, they had never seen him before, but right away he showed up and looked very familiar with the bar and had a slightly impatient expression."

"He said he was introduced by a friend, but the gatekeeper didn't know the name. They didn't let him in, but just told him that there was no bar here."

After listening to this, Lance stroked his eyebrows with his fingers and said, "The bar on West Street needs to move to another location. If they can find it, they will most likely take action."

"The current Hazardous Materials Administration is different from other law enforcement agencies. They don't need any solid evidence before the Justice Bureau will issue them legal documents."

"They can prescribe it themselves. If it is really their people, they may take action today."

"Mero, you make the arrangements."

Mello, who sat not far from Lance but didn't speak up most of the time, nodded, "I see."

Elvin sat on Lance's left, and Maurice on his right. The two of them sat close to Lance, which also represented their position in this small group, or even in the Lance family.

Although everyone wanted to sit next to Lance, most people here understood that they did not have that ability.

They are not top students who graduated from prestigious universities, and some of them may not even have graduated from high school. So it is not a big problem to let them do the work.

But if you ask them to decide what to do and who should do it, they may not be able to take responsibility.

There are some other things, for example, recently many people from the Empire have come to the Federation through various channels.

The situation within the empire had changed from the rebel army besieging the royal family to separatist factions and fighting. The emperor not only escaped from danger, he even almost returned to the imperial capital!

If it weren't for the stubborn resistance of the rebels who occupied the imperial capital, His Majesty the Emperor might have sat back on his throne and issued orders.

This also changed the stance of some nobles. They believed that the royal "rule" had not ended yet, and that the rebels' performance was like shit, which made them extremely disappointed. Some nobles and capitalists began to change their stance and stood on the side of the royal family.

The royal family, which had the support of these nobles and capital, began to move to the south of the empire in an orderly manner. The emperor, who was regarded by the federal people as a stupid, violent and tyrannical dictator, even shouted the slogan of "reform" to cater to the new forces in the south!
The situation in the empire, which had been clear, became confusing again. Many people, especially the federals, were actually waiting for the moment when the emperor was sent to the guillotine by the rebels.

But unfortunately, there is a high probability that they will not be able to see it. Some people believe that the empire will remain in a state of war for a long time.

Many people saw no hope for peace and could only migrate their families to other countries. As the royal family lost control of the central and northern regions, the new forces in the south were not very loyal to the royal family.

Now more people are fleeing the empire.

The Federation is one of their main choices. After all, people have always been advocating that the valleys in the western part of the Federation are full of gold, just like the financial streets in the capital are full of banknotes!
People cannot tell whether these words are true or false, but they only know that since everyone is saying it and no one refutes it, then they must be true.

Of course, Yalan is also a major choice. Yalan’s population base is not that high, and there are more virgin forests. Some areas are even uninhabited, which is very attractive to the imperial people.

It is foreseeable that the number of illegal immigrants in the federal government will experience an explosive growth!

(End of this chapter)