Shadow Empire

Chapter 304: Food for the Gentlemen
As the new vice president of Parkson Bank Jingang City, Jonathan was previously in charge of loan business and has seen big money.

But no matter how much or how big the money was, it all belonged to the bank and had nothing to do with him.

Sometimes when he was chatting with others, someone would joke that since he had seen countless amounts of money, did that mean he no longer had any desire for money?

In fact, how is it possible for someone to have no desire for money?

Money and power are things that human beings can never be satisfied with!

It has been like this since childhood!

They have been around humans in different forms since they began to instinctively compete for more breast milk, and it was not until humans entered society that they appeared in front of people in the most primitive way.

Money, and power!
So money still makes Jonathan's heart beat faster. The more money he has, the faster his heart beats!

Eight digits, just thinking about it made him feel a little crazy!
At the same time, he was also impressed by Lance's courage. He dared to touch this money. You know, this is the money of several thousand people...

Jonathan was suddenly stunned. “They didn’t use this money for investment?”

Lance just looked at him without saying anything. Jonathan might have gasped more times today than in the past six months combined!

If they don't invest such a large amount of money and keep the funds rolling, why should they pay such high returns to investors?
In fact, he had discussed this with the president and other people within the bank. The reason they had not completely concluded that they were committing fraud was that there was indeed such a profitable business, bootlegging.

The huge profits from bootlegging made banks salivate, but the federal government was too strict and they dared not do it.

But I heard that some directors are also engaged in bootleg liquor business privately, and they can make one or two times the profit by just reselling it, which can fully support the 15% rebate.

Some of them believed that Balz Investment Bank used the money to buy illegal liquor and then tried to smuggle it into the federation in order to maximize profits!

As long as one million can come in for a wine worth three million, the company can break even. If two million can come in, the company can make three million. With such huge profits, 15% is not even considered much.

But when he heard that the money was still in the bank, Jonathan knew that these people were scammers!

Any chance of taking a bite out of this?
He thought for a moment and picked up the phone, "I need to talk to a friend of mine, wait a minute."

"Go ahead." Lance was not anxious at all. He lit a cigarette.

Jonathan picked up the phone and told the general situation. He did not mention Lance, but only said that he had heard about it.

The vice president had a wide social circle, so he didn't find it strange to hear about such things. What Jonathan didn't expect was that his friends told him to keep quiet and not to meddle in other people's business.

"This matter is more complicated than you think. Stay out of it. Do you understand?"

"I'm reminding you of this because of our good relationship..."

The sound of a door closing came from the receiver. When the footsteps approached from afar, the receiver was picked up again. "They know this is a scam. Do you understand what I mean?"

"People in the city and even in the state House are involved, and now they are waiting."

"If you intervene rashly, you might ruin their plans."

Jonathan was silent for a while, "Thank you, if it weren't for you, I would have been in big trouble!"

Laughter came from the receiver. "It's nothing. We are friends, so we should help each other. Besides, this matter has nothing to do with you or me, so there won't be any problem even if I tell you."

"Compared to these, have you looked at the documents recently sent by the bank?"

Jonathan glanced at Lance and said, "I have friends here. We can talk about this later."

"Okay, see you later."

Jonathan hung up the phone and looked at Lance. He rubbed his face and said, "The friend I called just now told me that they actually knew it was a scam..."

Even at this moment, when he said this, Jonathan felt a little unbelievable!

Since they knew it was a scam, why didn't anyone stand up to stop these people?

Let them cheat so much money in Jingang City?
But when his eyes inadvertently fell on the document sent by the bank's top management, he suddenly understood something.

The economy is actually not good. In the past two years, with the shadow of war looming, imports and exports seem to have been growing, but domestic consumption capacity has been declining.

The financial market seems to be having its final carnival, and some people are preparing for the future!
Tens of millions of dollars may not be enough to feed them, but at least they can keep their stomachs full when they encounter danger.

"Lance, I don't know how to say this, this matter...it's best if we don't get involved!"

Lance actually heard some of what was said in the receiver. He nodded and put out the cigarette in the ashtray. "Yes, I understand."

Jonathan knew that Lance was about to leave, so he quickly stood up, walked over to Lance, stretched out his hand, and held his hand tightly. "I'm very grateful that you can trust me, so I hope you can trust me again. Don't touch this matter, it involves some big shots..."

Lance nodded and interrupted him, "I understand. Don't worry, Jonathan, I won't be blinded by the money."

Jonathan had a thousand things to say but didn't know where to start, so in the end he could only sigh.

When Lance came out of his office, he also understood that some big shots were raising pigs, and they must be raising pigs to eat pork.

Baltz Investment Bank was their pig, so the money had already been owned by someone else.

Although he couldn't move the eight-digit funds, he could still move the two or three million in the cellar of the villa.

When he returned to the cabin in the suburbs, his expression had changed slightly.

He looked at the president, Peyman, and the secretary beside him, and a hint of sarcasm unconsciously flashed across his face.

The wounds on their feet had naturally stopped bleeding, and although Lance couldn't see it, he knew that they were swollen.

Both of them still have a fever.

Seeing Lance coming back, the secretary licked her pale lips and said, "I need some anti-inflammatory drugs. I can buy them with money."

Peyman also said so. They all knew that they had a fever and were being infected by bacteria and viruses.

Fever is terrible for humans, it means their bodies are waging a battle of life and death.

If you win, then nothing can get worse.

But if they lose, they die!
The secretary could at least maintain his shock, but President Peyman was about to cry.

Their feet were so swollen that they felt severe pain even when their soles touched the ground.

President Payman, who had never suffered any hardship in his life, could not endure this. He had already begun to beg bitterly.

Looking at him, Lance didn't feel that he was that pitiful. They had cheated thousands of people, and some people might have bet their entire family's belongings on this!

Once they run away, it means that these thousands of people will be left with nothing. Some people may even take out debts to invest in them. These people will collapse and may even jump off the building!

So no matter how pitiful these two people became at this moment, Lance could not feel the slightest bit of pity.

"Who can take me to the villa?", he asked.

President Peiman quickly shouted, "I can, I can, I'm fine!"

Lance looked at the secretary, he thought secretary would be a more appropriate term.

The secretary just looked at Lance calmly, "I have the key, I know the guard, I will cooperate..."

Before he could finish his words, a gunshot rang in his ear. He opened his mouth expressionlessly, as if he had just finished speaking and had not had time to continue. He slowly turned around and saw a hole in President Peyman's head.

He collapsed on the chair, with a lot of blood spurting out from the back of his head and other things. The blood was flowing very quickly, and soon it was dripping down the seat of the chair.

The secretary began to tremble all over, and his teeth were chattering. He couldn't control himself in the face of great fear!
"You... killed him!" He looked at Lance with disbelief, fear, terror, and luck. His eyes were extremely complicated.

If this was a movie, he would definitely win some award just for his ability to speak with expressions right now!
Lance put away his weapon, "I have been much more merciful than those you are about to kill."

Forty minutes later, Ennio came with several special injections of medicine, some for anti-inflammatory and some for pain relief.

The doctor told Enio that these could be used together, and seemingly injected him directly. It must be said that the Federal Medical Group is very capable in terms of special medicines, especially special pain-relieving injections. In less than 20 seconds, the secretary's swollen feet that could not touch the ground stepped on the ground and he could not feel the pain.

It felt like his whole body was numb, and all the discomfort was escaping from his body. He had never felt so comfortable before!

"I hope you can cooperate with us and don't let me use any tricks."

The secretary glanced at President Peiman and nodded slowly. He had already figured out the current situation. "I will cooperate with you."

Two second-hand cars that were obtained from somewhere else soon arrived at the villa area mentioned by the secretary. The guard did not stop them. The secretary said that he needed some workers to do something for him, and the guard let them pass directly.

The villa area was very quiet. Two cars slowly parked in the villa's garage. Led by the secretary, they found the entrance to the cellar outside the house.

When the cellar was opened, a musty smell came out.

During this period, there were no particularly advanced polymer materials or anything like that. Most of the materials used were very ordinary materials, even in the villa area.

The group entered the cellar and soon saw piles of banknotes, some of which had grown mold.

"Fuck!" Ethan cursed, "Don't they care about the money at all?"

Lance walked to the corner where the money was piled and briefly examined it. "They don't care about the money because it's not theirs."

"Although there are mold spots, it can still be used after treatment, so we'll move them all out."

There are all kinds of bacteria on the banknotes themselves. In addition, the temperature in the cellar is suitable, and moisture seeps in from the surrounding walls. In such a comfortable environment, it is difficult for mold not to start growing.

There was some scattered money on the ground, which was picked up.

When they left, Lance took his secretary with him. If they left on their own and the secretary died here, then they would be highly suspicious.

Even though Lance and his team had a good relationship with the police, there was no way to suppress this case.

Jonathan made it very clear that there are many big shots paying attention to this matter, and if they find someone willing to take the blame, they will definitely not miss this opportunity.

At that time, it may be the state police who solve the case instead of the local police.

In order to make everything look more real, they did not leave immediately but went to the villa.

Lance asked them to make some...working noises while he sat on the sofa with his secretary.

The secretary was a little nervous, "I have done what you said, Mr. White."

He was reminding Lance that he was cooperating and asked him not to kill him.

He was nervous, and Lance shook his head slightly, "I won't kill you now, don't worry."

He paused and said, "Do you think I'm smart?"

The secretary said sincerely, "You are one of the smartest people I have ever met."

This was a nice thing to say about Lance, and he thought Lance would be happy or pleased, but Lance was still shaking his head, "No, no, no, I'm not the smartest person."

"I used to have several friends, and each of them was too smart to be human!"

"I'm a very proud person and I seldom admit that I'm inferior to others. But in front of those people..." He seemed to be suddenly lost in thought, recalling the days he spent with those people when he lost his freedom.

After thinking for a while, he smiled knowingly, "...I am the least intelligent among them, although I always think I am not stupid."

"But even so, I and those who were much smarter than me were eventually caught."

"This shows that there is actually no shortage of smart people in this world, right?"

The secretary didn't know what he meant, so he could only nod and say, "Yes, that's true. No one can always be the smartest. There will always be people who are smarter than them."

"I agree with you. Do you want to smoke?" Lance took out a cigarette and handed it over. The secretary took it and put it in his mouth.

Nicotine can directly penetrate the blood-brain barrier, and even painkillers cannot eliminate its stimulation to the brain.

This doubles the joy!
He narrowed his eyes slightly, seeming to enjoy the calmness and sense of security that the cigarette brought him.

Lance continued, "I'm not the only one who saw through your scam. There are many others who saw through your scam, but you know... why didn't they expose you?"

The secretary was now 90% calm. He flicked the ash off his cigarette and asked, "Why?"

"Because they are waiting for the moment when you become the fattest and most beautiful!"

Lance's words made him absent-minded for a moment. After he came back to his senses, he smiled and shook his head. He didn't believe it. "Maybe it's possible, but you're exaggerating."

"If anyone had really seen through it, they would have called the police long ago."

Lance pursed his lips and suddenly felt a little pity. Pity was not for his fate, but for his stupidity and those who were deceived and even more stupid!
"If we call the police or expose your lies, the money will only be taken away by those who were deceived. Do you understand what I mean?"

"They don't expose you just to make you return the money to the victims!"

At this point, the secretary already understood. He stared at Lance blankly, his lips moving, unwilling to believe that this was true.

"Do you know why I suddenly stopped talking about asking you to transfer the money?"

Without waiting for the secretary to answer, he took the initiative to say, "Because someone told me that I can't touch that money!"

He took a last puff of his cigarette, picked up the rag on the table, put it out, then wrapped it in a piece of paper and put it in his pocket.

"Let's go, it's almost time."

The two cars left quickly, and the guard, still without checking, bent over with a smile and respectfully saw the secretary off from his warm little home.

The car returned to the cabin in the suburbs. When approaching the cabin, the secretary already realized that something was wrong, but now he had no way to resist as there were people around him.

Regardless of whether they had guns or not, he didn't think he could defeat these two men in hand-to-hand combat!

When the car stopped, he saw that a pit had been dug next to the cabin and President Peyman was lying in it.

Lance didn't even invite him into the house, which made him realize that there was no chance!

"Can I have another cigarette?"

"Also, do you have any painkillers?"

"I'm afraid that when a bullet hits me, I'll be afraid of the pain."

Lance had someone inject him with another painkiller. He lit a cigarette tremblingly, his eyes a little unfocused, "...So, from the beginning, our fate was already determined."

He seemed to be asking Lance, but in fact, it was an affirmative sentence. He had already felt that even if Lance didn't kill him, he wouldn't live long.

Lance nodded slightly, "So, I'm sorry, Mr. Secretary, you go first, and soon your companions and some of the people you deceived will be here to accompany you."

The secretary suddenly laughed so hard that tears came out of his eyes. "We have been worried and frightened for so long, but in the end...haha, in the end it is not ours at all!"

Perhaps the smoke choked him, and he coughed violently, unable to straighten his back.

After he coughed for a while and stood up again, half of his cigarette accidentally fell to the ground.

He looked at the half-smoked cigarette and suddenly sighed heavily, "Can you give me another one?"

Two squirrels on a distant tree were curiously looking at the creatures near the cabin. Suddenly, the sound of gunfire echoing in the valley startled them and they jumped and ran back to hide in the tree hole.

The entire forest was filled with the sound of gunfire, bang... bang... one more would have been a bit rude.

The two men threw the secretary's body into the pit. Lance lit a cigarette, took a puff, stood beside the secretary, and put it in his mouth.

Soon, the dust began to cover everything...

(End of this chapter)