Shadow Empire

Chapter 261 Sunshine after the Rain
The whole city was filled with a tense feeling as if a storm was about to come. Fishermen on the boardwalk by the sea were pulling hard on their fishing rods, fearing that the taut fishing lines might break at any time.

There seemed to be a huge terror hidden beneath the pitch-black sea surface. The moment the fierce sea breeze swept the waves and hit the rocks, it was like thunder!
Boom!
Rain began to fall rapidly from the gloomy sky. The few pedestrians on the road ran to a nearby place where they could take shelter from the rain, and stood there, looking at the dark sky.

Those who have just arrived in Jingang City seem to be unable to adapt to the sudden change in weather here. The sun was shining brightly one second, and the next second dark clouds came from nowhere, completely covering the entire sky.

The heavy rain brought with it the unique fishy and salty smell of sea water, as well as the smell of vigorous vitality at the turn of spring and summer - a fishy smell emitted by soil and grass.

"It doesn't look like this rain is going to stop any time soon."

Under the eaves of a roadside house, someone who was hiding from the rain said something out of boredom.

At this time, people have not gone crazy. They are not crazy enough to continue walking in the rain even when it is raining heavily. Everyone will hide from the rain like normal people.

Maz lit a cigarette. The sudden rainstorm seemed to make his cigarette be tainted by moisture, making it feel a little damp and the smoke was particularly thick.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to rain,” he said, but it also sounded like he was asking.

The old man next to him looked at him with a smile, as if trying to find the shadow of his past in his young and tender face.

He doesn't mind sharing his experience and insights with young people. "There are at least fifteen minutes left. In fact, I really like the sudden rainstorm. It will allow us all to stand here and rest for a while and wait for a while."

“Life is interesting. We are all chasing, but we don’t know what we are chasing.”

“Sometimes stopping, standing for a while, and thinking for a while will make us move faster when we start again.”

Everyone else looked towards him, and the old man felt satisfied, which was what he liked.

When they are young, boys and girls like love. When they are in their prime, they are obsessed with money. Only when they reach middle age or old age will they realize the value of health.

When they are completely old, one night they will suddenly realize that they are fucking old!

This is cruel.

But cruelty does not mean that life is only dark. He passes on his experiences and knowledge, which he believes is meaningful.

Maz smiled and nodded. "How did you know it would take fifteen minutes to dissipate?"

The others were also curious, and the old man smiled and said, "When you have lived here for sixty years and have seen perhaps thousands of such rains, you will be able to know everything like I do."

Perhaps it was the old man's idle chatter that dissipated a lot of the strangeness between the people hiding from the rain. They also started chatting and talked about the recent efforts of the Hazardous Materials Administration to catch smuggled liquor.

It has been a week since the Good Luck House was closed, and although it has resumed business, people who have lived here for a long time know that things have just begun.

The locals became somewhat uneasy, but outsiders did not feel that.

They talked about many things, including the upcoming dock workers' union athletic meeting, which was probably this. It was said to be very lively, and people were not prohibited from watching.

Maz was smoking a cigarette and listening to them talking about these things. He suddenly felt relieved for no reason.

His undercover career during this period was not easy. He had to be extremely careful every day, fearing that any flaws would be revealed and bring about fatal disaster.

But... he thought these people were stupid. Those from the Lance family hadn't discovered that he was actually an undercover agent until now.

What annoyed him was that he could not get any important intelligence, and he was also unable to pass the news on in time. For two consecutive weeks, every time he passed the news, the bar would move.

He had doubts at first, but now he thinks it was just bad luck or bad timing.

He wanted to talk to the contact again to see if he could change the message delivery time to every two or three days, so that he could "achieve merit" and take a step closer to becoming a "federalist."

The heavy rain really stopped after twelve minutes, and the remaining sparse drizzle could no longer stop people from hitting the road.

The old man took off his hat and said goodbye to everyone with a smile. Many people also said goodbye to him, thinking that he was a very interesting person.

Maz came to the place he had agreed to meet with the contact person. He didn't actually see the contact person, but he had agreed with the contact person that he would write the information on a piece of paper and then clip it to page 200 of the public telephone book in front of him.

After he leaves, the contact person will come over and take the information hidden in the phone book.

Every time, they met in a different place to avoid being discovered. Who knows if there would be some smart ones among those seemingly silly peers who would follow him quietly?
Not long after he arrived at the phone booth, he opened the phone book and put the note with some information in it.

It records the work of the people he currently has access to, for example, Erwin will mainly follow Lance and make decisions when Lance is not around, so he is considered the number two person.

Morris is responsible for searching, tracking, infiltration, surveillance and other tasks, and is considered the number three person.

Hiram was in charge of combat work, and some of the things he had boasted about were also recorded by Maz on a piece of paper, such as Hiram saying that he killed dozens of enemies under the fire of more than a dozen guns.

Although it was obvious that this kind of thing was not credible, he still wrote it down because he didn't like Hiram very much.

He collected all the similar personnel information and intelligence he could. Now that they were unable to pass on useful intelligence, the contact person, or the Hazardous Materials Management Bureau, changed their thinking.

I hope they can provide more intelligence and evidence about the Lance family's crimes. As the power of the Hazardous Materials Administration grows, maybe they can make arrests based on "I think" alone without any substantial evidence.

As for Lance, he had no chance of meeting him, but had seen him from afar a few times and thought Lance was a "powerful character".

After he finished all this, it seemed like he made two calls, but in fact he didn't make any calls. He left the phone booth without looking back.

What he didn't know was that not long after he left, someone stood up to pay the bill in a coffee shop diagonally across the street.

While he was checking out, another person entered the phone booth.

After the contact person paid the bill, crossed the road and came to the phone booth, he unexpectedly discovered that the information that should have appeared on page 200 was missing.

He chased out of the phone booth and looked around, but didn't see Maz or anyone who might take the information!

He kicked the trash can on the side of the road hard, returned to the hazardous materials management bureau, and reported the matter to their superiors.

But now the senior agents, as well as Chief Dale, are dealing with those bars.

In fact, after sealing off the Lucky House, Director Dell gradually calmed down after talking to the mayor.

However, he has no way to retreat and has decided to fight against the evil forces in Jingang City to the end!
Now, his mind is full of how to deal a heavy blow to these criminal forces. He even mentioned the idea of ​​conducting a large-scale search of the entire dock warehouse area.

This idea was suppressed by the mayor. Now they only offended the gangs, and the local politicians have not been punished yet.

Who knows if they are hiding anything in the warehouse at the dock. If they are also alerted and enter the scene, they will be even more passive.

At this stage, their main task is still to crack down on and raid underground bars. They have already shut down several bars in the Starlight District and the Bay Area, causing heavy losses to the operators behind these bars!
At this time, he had no intention of discussing the life and death of an undercover agent.

Maz walked around outside, bought some cooked food, and returned to the office.

He greeted everyone he met, shared some of his food, and then started working.

Just as he was about to start moving things, Allen called him, "The boss wants to see you."

Maz clapped his hands and stamped his feet. There was a thin layer of mud on the wet ground. After walking around outside, the soles of his shoes were covered with mud marks.

He got along well with Allen during this period, especially when he knew that Allen also joined halfway, his attitude became better.

"Did you tell me what you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked tentatively.

Alan smiled and shook his head, "Who knows?"

"But I heard that a new bar is about to open. Maybe they will let you be the manager..."

This was a joke, but it did make Maz a little tempted. Sometimes he was quite conflicted. If he didn't have a strong desire to become a federal citizen, perhaps he would have submitted to his current life.

He took out a handkerchief and wiped his hands, "I'll be there right away." Alan called out from behind, "Don't forget me when you become rich!"

He waved his hands and walked into the room, "No, I'll let you be the bartender then..."

He took a deep breath. This was the first time Lance had summoned him alone during this period of time. He was a little nervous. To be honest, he was afraid that he would reveal his flaws.

After preparing himself mentally for a while, he knocked on Lance's office door and asked, "Boss, Alan said you were looking for me?"

"Come in."

The door opened and Ethan stood behind it looking at him. In fact, the two men were about the same age, but Ethan's eyes made him feel scared.

He didn't know that this was a look that only one who had dealt with one's own kind would have, a look that showed indifference to life.

He squeezed past Ethan and into the door. Hiram was sitting on the sofa, trimming his nails with a dagger. Everything seemed calm, just like usual.

He gathered his thoughts and appeared in front of Lance, who asked him to sit on the chair.

"I heard that you've been doing very well recently. You're very active at work and your mind is very active." Lance opened the cigarette box and motioned for him to feel free.

Maz took out one of the cigarettes and lit it. "Thanks, Boss." He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. The pressure was much less. "These are what I should do."

Lance placed a note on the table and leaned forward to push it over, "Is this what you're supposed to do?"

At this moment, Maz's brain went blank for a moment, and his instinct told him to run!
But his reason told him that he couldn't run away, and the best thing to do now was to sit where he was.

His hands were shaking a little as he placed the cigarette in his mouth and took a deep breath. One could see the tobacco being quickly ignited by the suction.

"Boss..."

"Call me Mr. Lance."

"Mr. Lance...I don't know what to say."

Lance looked at Maz, "You've been here for more than half a month. You should be able to see clearly that we are different from those gangs."

"We don't collect protection money, we don't blackmail ordinary people, we don't cheat or rob them, we just sell alcohol and provide protection for some girls' business, but we never force them."

Lance spread his hands. "Maybe from the perspective of federal law or those big guys, some of the businesses we run are illegal."

"But from our own perspective, every business we do is legal and reasonable."

"You can't stop people from drinking, just like you can't stop them from breathing the air. If the gentlemen in Congress say that breathing the air is wrong, then are we all going to die?"

"Maybe I'm not a good person, but I'm definitely not a bad person either. I won't hurt ordinary people for no reason."

"But you always want to get what you want by hurting me, which is actually wrong!"

Maz felt a tingling sensation all over his body and he swallowed, but this very common action made him feel a little difficult.

"Mr. Lance.", he tried to speak but Lance stopped him with his head shaking.

"You've had three chances, Maz." Lance's tone was filled with regret, and this emotion made Maz extremely nervous!
Maz seemed to realize something, and he shouted loudly, "I am innocent, Mr. Lance..."

He tried to stand up, but just as he exerted force, Ethan pushed him back into the chair.

Lance scratched his eyebrow. "When people are judged after death, everyone says they are innocent."

"But whether you are really innocent or not, I believe you know better than me!"

The next morning, Maz's contact came out of the apartment. He currently lives in an apartment not far from the Hazardous Materials Administration.

He bought the house, but the rest of his family doesn't live here.

What happened yesterday made him feel a little uneasy, and he planned to find a way to withdraw Maz. Regardless of whether he was exposed or not, the contact person felt that he was in danger.

He was the one who arranged for Maz to go in. Maybe other people didn't care about Maz's safety, but he still had a sense of responsibility.

He planned to take the initiative to contact Maz and bring him back safely.

Just as he was about to leave the apartment door, he suddenly heard someone screaming outside the door. When he was about to go out to see what happened, suddenly, a figure fell from the sky outside the apartment door!
It dropped, bounced up, and began to swing back and forth outside the gate.

The contact person looked at the neck which was stretched very long and was obviously broken into several sections. Only muscles and skin were left connecting the body to the head which was tilted and hung on the rope.

His mouth was sealed, his eyes were gouged out, two fingers were inserted into his ears, and eyes and a tongue were nailed into his hands.

Many people vomited when they saw this. The contact person seemed to have thought of something. He rushed out of the apartment and looked towards the roof. Sure enough, he saw a head sticking out.

A mocking smile appeared on the man's face, and then quickly disappeared.

"Fuck!" He asked the apartment manager to call the police while taking off his coat and rushing up to the top floor. But when he opened the iron door on the top floor, there was no one there.

The sound of a car starting in the alley made him rush to the side of the back street. He leaned over the edge of the roof and looked down. Two cars had already started and were driving outside.

He cursed a few more times and gave up chasing because he knew he couldn't catch up.

Once the car entered the road, it only took a few turns to get rid of him, and he had no chance at all.

By the time he got downstairs, the police had arrived. They took Maz off the noose and put him in a body bag.

He’d be sent to the coroner and be messed up.

Seeing that the police were disrespectful of the corpse, the contact person showed his ID, "Agent from the Hazardous Materials Administration, this is my informant..."

Several policemen glanced at him sideways, said nothing, and continued to treat Maz's body roughly.

This made the contact person even more angry. As soon as he pushed one of the policemen, the other policemen put their hands on their holsters and stared at him at the same time!
This action also calmed him down for a moment. He raised his hands and took two steps back. "I will file a complaint against you."

The leader sneered meaninglessly, "Whatever you want to do!"

The contact person was very annoyed, but there was nothing he could do.

He knew that this was Lance and the Lance family demonstrating against him, but he could do nothing!

At the same time, another undercover agent was killed in the same way.

Police soon took the body away and launched an investigation.

Lance left two undercover agents behind.

The first undercover agent has not yet connected with anyone else, which even made Lance and others wonder if they had guessed wrong.

There is another one who was left behind by the Hazardous Materials Administration. Lance needs to disguise him as a lucky man so that he can continue to pass on some information to the outside world.

Sometimes, it is much more convenient to use the Hazmat Bureau than to do it yourself.

The death of the two undercover agents made Lucard feel that the time had come, and the Lance family began to recruit people again. Under his arrangement, Beno quickly mixed in with this group of people and became an outer member of the Lance family.

Lucard and Beno had discussed that they should not have contact too often, and even when they did, they could not touch or get close to each other.

This is a very dangerous task. In order to allow Beno to break into the core layer of the Lance Family, Lucard also promised him that no matter whether he had committed any crime or even murder during his time in the Lance Family, it would not be recorded in his file!
Only in this way can Beno climb up with all his strength!

(End of this chapter)