Shadow Empire

Chapter 283 Straight Ball and Small Restaurant
In fact...if Lance was really given another chance to choose again, let him know the ending at this moment, and let him choose again.

He would still choose to stand against the mayor. To use a phrase he had read somewhere, his knees were too stiff to kneel down.

He is not Charlie, nor any other man, who can be a dog for wealth, power, or status.

He would rather be a poor man than a rich dog. Although he is poor, at least he is a human being.

This is the irreconcilable contradiction that stands between him and the mayor.

"Should we make some backup plans?" Alvin was a little worried. Bad things seemed to always surround them.

They finally had a meal to eat, but Camilla's gang came to cause trouble for them again.

After dealing with the Camilla Gang, they had not had time to rest for long before a new challenge arose.

I thought everything was over, but unexpectedly the mayor started a new round of trouble.

He was a little annoyed, annoyed by these people who held power but refused to settle.

Lance did not refuse. "We can set up one or two safe houses in Valley City and Venus City. We can provide guns, some cash, and some fake IDs. We can ensure that if anyone needs to leave and hide for a while, including ourselves, we will have a place to go."

"Erwin, don't worry, this matter is much simpler than you think..."

After Lance asked him to do the work, he called Hunter. About twenty minutes later, Lance drove to the place they agreed on, which was Charlie's villa in the Bay Area.

Hunter saw Lance before he got out of the car. After Lance came in, he couldn't help but teased him, "You are much more afraid of death than I thought."

There were four cars in a row, filled with gang members who looked difficult to deal with. Even from a distance, Hunter knew that these people could pull out their guns and shoot at any time and anywhere.

Some rumors about the Lance family are becoming part of the underground world order of Jingang City. For example, if there is a person who doesn't know who killed him, but as long as there is more than one pound of bullet in his body, then there is no doubt that the Lance family should be found!

The quality of the Lance family's gunmen may not be as good as those in Sumuli, but no one will look down on them. At least they dare to shoot and kill, which is actually quite good.

You know, not all gang members dare to shoot and kill people!

Lance didn't care at all about Hunter's harmless teasing. He bumped fists with Hunter and said, "It's always better to be alive than dead."

He paused as he spoke and saw Charlie standing in the hall.

Without his police uniform, former Chief Charlie looked like a successful capitalist. He had his hair combed back and used a lot of hair wax, making his entire head look greasy.

His well-dressed clothes, gold watch, jeweled tie clip and cufflinks showed off his style and wealth.

There was nothing about him that had anything to do with the police.

After a brief handshake, the two went into the living room together.

"I'm going to kill John."

Charlie, who had just picked up the coffee cup and took a sip, suddenly turned his head to the side. He covered his mouth and stretched his head, and coffee flowed out between his palm and chin.

Hunter quickly handed him a napkin. He said thank you, then tidied himself up and looked at him helplessly.

Who the hell would start off by saying such explosive news?

But he had to say, he really liked what Lance said.

After he resigned, he thought the mayor would not appoint a new police chief, at least not until his fight with the Bay Area was over.

Because no matter who is promoted, he will be sidelined. A police chief whose orders cannot leave his office will be a joke to the people of the entire city even if he is promoted!

So even if he resigned, he could still continue to control the police department through his confidants like Hunter.

But no one expected that there would be traitors within the police force, which led to a very bad situation. Those frustrated and marginalized police officers had new choices!

Where there are people, there is competition. Charlie also has people he hates, and Hunter also has people he hates. When they are in power, they can send these police officers to the most remote places to do the most tiring work.

But now, the situation is different. With the addition of these local people, John quickly gathered a local police force.

He disrupted Charlie and the Bay Area's plans. They were unable to sideline John and allowed John to control the Port District Bureau.

This was beyond Charlie's understanding.

It's like... Mr. Jobaf, a once marginalized imperial banker, when the mayor extended an olive branch, it was like a drowning man seeing a life-saving straw.

Even if it was just a straw, he would grab it with all his strength.

The losers have the qualifications to challenge the winner again. They have nothing to lose anyway, so why not give it a try?
After Charlie put away the coffee, he exhaled, "Just pretend I didn't hear you say that."

He was a police chief after all. If anyone knew that Lance had discussed it with him before killing John.

Regardless of whether this idea was Lance's own or not, he had to take the blame because there was no better person to take the blame than him!

People would rather believe that this was a conspiracy than believe that it was Lance's own decision.

Then Lance stood up, which made Charlie and Hunter a little confused again. They also stood up and looked at Lance nervously, not knowing what he meant.

"Charlie, I thought you were a very smart person, but it seems that you are not that smart."

"You have to understand that you want John to be killed more than I do, but you are saying this to me now. You don't make me feel that my IQ has been challenged. You should ask yourself if you feel that you have humiliated yourself!"

"If you insist on talking to me like a politician, I will go back now and take my people to other places."

"There's more than one city in the Federation. We can live well anywhere."

"But you, Hunter, you people, can you go somewhere else and live well like us? Can you guess it yourself?"

Charlie was a little embarrassed, Hunter quickly came over and held Lance's arm, "Charlie didn't mean that, he's just not used to your straightforwardness..."

Hunter gave Charlie a look, and the latter apologized for his behavior a little embarrassedly, "I was stupid, sorry."

Lance then came back to his senses. He wanted to take the initiative. He said he wanted to kill John just to keep the initiative.

He wanted to make these two people understand that it was not that he wanted to kill John for them, but that they needed him to kill John!
"The reason I came here is to ask you, if John dies, can you quickly regain control of the police system in Jingang City?"

Charlie glanced at Hunter, and the two looked at each other for a moment before whispering to each other, not avoiding Lance, who could hear what they said.

It's probably about who to let go to what position, who to move from their original position and so on.

After discussing for about five minutes, the two looked a little embarrassed. "We can try to control it, but the final decision still lies with the mayor!"

"After this, we're not sure how many people are on our side, you know, no matter who's the commissioner, who's the mayor, they're going to rely on the police department."

Hunter's face was dark when he said this.

What he meant was that the mayor would only become more dependent on the police system, and those police officers could gain far more benefits from the mayor than they received!
This is where the difficulty lies!

"We can't convince everyone to stand on our side. Even though John has only been in office for a short time, he still has the mayor behind him."

"If it's just a choice between us and John, I believe they are more likely to choose us, but if it's a choice between us and the mayor, we don't stand a good chance of winning."

Lance looked at the two losers with a bit of sarcasm on his face, "I thought you had already firmly grasped the police system of Jingang City!"

Charlie explained with a wry smile, "This isn't as simple as you think, Lance."

"No matter how big my words are, I am just the former chief, and Hunter is just one of the criminal police officers. How can we compare with the mayor and the current chief?"

"And you can see that, in a sense, we are already losers."

"Then it seems understandable that they would side with the mayor."

Lance did not deny it. He frowned and thought for a while. "I have an idea, but not now. The problem we need to deal with now is to deal with John first."

"After he's dead, see if you can control those policemen, or at least keep them neutral. Then we can find a way to bring them to our side." The two discussed it for a while and decided that this was no problem.

"If it's just a matter of convincing them to remain neutral, I can do that!"

After all, he is an experienced police officer with decades of experience, so he still has some face. "But I can't guarantee how long it will last. Maybe one or two weeks, maybe one or two months, but it may be shorter."

"enough!"

"Then you have to be prepared."

Charlie and Hunter also showed some smiles on their faces. They were indeed happier than anyone else if they could kill John.

After John came to power, Hunter took a long vacation. He didn't want to see John, and he didn't want to do anything according to his orders.

Now, everything seems to be fine.

John didn't know whether Hunter was better or not, but he knew he was better.

He had just come out of the mayor's office. The mayor affirmed his work during this period and also calmed him down.

Eric's death had nothing to do with him directly, and he didn't kill the man, so he didn't have to worry about the mayor taking his anger out on him.

As for whether the murderer can be found, that has nothing to do with him. That is the job of the criminal case team.

What he needs to do is to stabilize his position in the police system as soon as possible and gain the support of more police groups.

No matter which district or branch it is, we must get control of it as soon as possible.

The mayor also hinted to him that if he could do a good job, he would continue to use him.

This made John feel like a blooming flower, and he felt... sublimated!
He always walks briskly!

Now many people in the police system are still waiting and watching. Their attitudes are no longer as resistant as they were at the beginning. He made some adjustments after taking office.

For example, expressing respect for the branch's independent law enforcement power to a certain extent, supporting them in setting up funds, supporting them in collecting reasonable fees, etc.

He promised to increase police incomes and improve their benefits and treatment, which made it easy for some lower-level police officers to switch sides.

What is really difficult to choose are the "superiors". For the grassroots police officers, they don't care who is in power.

Now, what he has to do is to deal with Chief Blue first. After dealing with this person, some of those who are still on the sidelines may turn to him.

Once an advantageous situation is formed, more branches will join in, and he will eventually achieve unification.

But he didn't know how long it would take Chief Blue to figure it out.

Maybe give him a little more pressure?
At this time, John had already immersed himself in the role of the acting director, and his mind was full of images of himself being promoted to a full-time position.

By then, the public security of the entire Jingang City will be under his control. If those gangs want their business not to be disturbed, they will have to pay him!
How much is this?!
He had just returned to the police station and was about to urge those people to investigate Eric's disappearance, when his assistant told him that Chief Blue called him.

This made him happy, and he temporarily gave up the idea of ​​asking the criminal case team about the progress of the investigation and went straight back to the office.

He put his hat away, picked up the phone, and dialed the number for the Imperial Division Chief's office.

"They just said you called me." John's tone was a little aggressive and tough. He knew Blue, so the tougher he acted, the easier it would be to convince Blue.

Director Blue said, "Hmm," "I've considered your proposal for a few days. In principle, I have no need to object, but there are some things I want to discuss with you in person."

"No problem, come to my office!" John smiled. "You'd better drive your special car. I want everyone to know that you are in my office. Do you understand?"

If he could make it known to the whole city and another branch accepted the management of the headquarters, it would be even more pressure on those who were still hesitating!

However, Chief Blue did not agree to his request. "I can do this, but not this time. I want to talk to you about something that is not convenient to discuss over the phone."

"You know, we have other problems to solve besides work."

John simply pondered, "About what?"

"Money, and my place."

John had no other questions. "You name a place."

“I know a small restaurant that doesn’t have many people, but their food tastes good!”

John happily accepted the invitation, "I am very interested in this kind of food!"

"I have to say, John, you made the best choice in your life. I'll be there soon!"

He gathered himself together, hesitated for a moment, and then changed into casual clothes, since they were going to talk about something less public, so he didn't need to dress so formally.

Ten minutes later, he arrived at the small restaurant that Chief Bru mentioned, parked his car, and looked at the sign of "Delicious Sausages" with a smile on his face.

He also likes to eat sausages. He smiled not because he liked sausages so much, but because he felt something good was happening.

He pushed the door open and walked in. The small restaurant was about sixty or seventy square meters in size, with seven or eight tables. Chief Bruce sat behind the window facing the street.

Seeing John coming, Chief Blue quickly stood up and waved, "This way."

John smiled and pointed at him with both hands, slightly bending his knees, giving a sense of "I found you".

He walked over and shook hands with Blue Division Chief, "Did you order food?"

"I just came out of the mayor's office and I'm a little hungry."

He seemed to be just stating that he was hungry, but he was actually telling Chief Blue how close he was to the mayor!

You know, Charlie had been in the mayor's office only a few times during his six years in office, but he has been going there quite often, lately!
Chief Bruce immediately smiled and nodded, "We ordered the signature grilled sausages, grilled ribs, grilled beef and lamb chops, and grilled fish..."

"Wow, we can't eat so much." He chose to sit with his back against the window, "You're wasting it."

Chief Blue seemed to be trying to please him. "It's okay. You can pack up the food if you can't finish it."

John smiled slightly. This was just a warm-up before communication. They hadn't spoken for a while, and his tone when he asked Chief Blue to make a choice was also very stiff.

Talking about some normal stuff now will help ease the atmosphere.

The food arrived soon, and no matter what it was, it smelled tempting. There was only one table in the restaurant, and it was not yet time for dinner.

John wasn't very hungry at first, but when he saw such rich food, he suddenly wanted to eat something.

He helped himself to a small piece of sausage and asked while eating, "What do you want to tell me?"

Chief Blue said seriously, "I can... you know, that's what I mean."

John put down his knife and fork. He wiped his mouth. "Is it difficult for you to say 'come to me'?"

"Bruce, I know. Maybe because I worked under you in the past, you have some misunderstandings about me, which makes you feel that it is uncomfortable or shameful to rely on me now."

"But actually I don't think it's necessary to make yourself look so unpopular just because of some petty vanity."

"It makes me feel that you are not really loyal to me."

"Come on, I'll give you another chance."

He was not joking and looked at Blue seriously. The two looked at each other for a few seconds, and Blue suddenly smiled. "I am willing to join you, John."

John couldn't help laughing. He stood up, bent over, took a piece of steak and put it on Bruce's plate. "I'm just kidding you. Why are you taking it so seriously?"

"Come, try this steak, it tastes really good!"

(End of this chapter)