Shadow Empire

Chapter 328 Betting
"Oh my God!"

The family of three looked at Lance in horror. Several lives disappeared so easily in front of them. This was still a huge shock to the middle class!
You know, the people who follow and maintain the rules of social operation the most in the federation are the middle class!
Because the middle class can be said to be the vested interest group of the current social rules, they will be more spontaneous and heartfelt in upholding these social rules than the lower classes.

What they uphold is not just the rules, what they obey is not just the laws, but also the fundamental thing that makes them free from class!

But at this moment, they felt a huge shock, because this society was different from them after all!

"Clean it up." Lance sat on the sofa and exhaled. The continuous waving of the vase made him a little breathless. He lit a cigarette, glanced at Barbara's family of three across the street, and shrugged, "I may have accidentally broken your vase."

It was a silver vase of certain characteristics and artistic style, an antique left over from a vanished nation on the Tampit Road.

Two thousand yuan is a very reasonable price. It is not a pure "silver alloy". Natural oxidation makes part of it black, while the places that are more likely to be exposed to friction are obviously shiny.

This visual difference of light and dark, black and white brings some artistic expression and gives people a lot of imagination!
But now the bottle is dented, and it has obviously gone from being a "perfect product" to not so perfect. It may only be sold for three to five hundred yuan.

Barbara's father swallowed, his eyes still showing some fear and uncertainty. He glanced at the vase, and there seemed to be some hair or even bone fragments stuck in the concave place. He had an urge to go to the toilet!
"It's okay, it's just a vase!", he said in response to Lance's words, damn, that's scary!
William walked to the window and looked outside. He saw that the lights in the villa in the distance were turned off. He returned to the sofa and looked at Lance. "They heard gunshots. Will there be trouble?"

Lance shook his head, "Don't worry, everything is safe."

The people Lance brought were cleaning up the bodies. They were very professional and had special body bags.

At this time, the body bag was made of waterproof cloth or canvas with a layer of glue, so that even if there were some highly decomposed corpses, the juice would not leak out of the body bag and get everywhere.

All you have to do is throw the body in and then pull the rope buckle to seal the body inside.

Perhaps because his emotions were slightly relieved, Barbara's father became much more stable. He looked at Lance, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say. In the end, he could only look at William for help.

William sat next to Lance and rubbed his head. Just as he was about to speak, Lawn came over and said, "Please lift your feet."

"Oh, okay!" William raised his foot and watched Lawen drag the little boss's body out, leaving a bright red trail on the ground.

Looking at the bloodstain, William didn't even know whether he should put his foot down.

Newspapers often say that footprints are the key to solving murders!

Then they started to clean up the scene, using very professional techniques, and it was obvious that they were veterans.

What William wanted to say was stuck in his mouth. He took several puffs of cigarette before muffledly saying, “Will it cause trouble?”

Lance shook his head. "The Doug family is already on the opposite side of us. If it were someone else today, they might be able to leave, but there is no need for the Doug family to stay."

"And as you can see, he has a strong desire for revenge and a strong possessiveness towards Barbara."

"What he said is actually quite right. No one can come here every day, not even me."

"If you let him go, he won't be so polite to face you next time he comes."

"They could be on the side of the road, or somewhere where there aren't many people, and then a van pulls up beside you, grabs you, and drives away. The whole process takes less than a minute!"

William whispered, “You seem familiar?”

Lance rolled his eyes. He could sense that William was less nervous and starting to relax and make jokes. "No, but I heard about it."

William had a look of disbelief on his face, but he was indeed quite relaxed now, although he still felt a little uncomfortable and nauseous.

"Golden Harbor City will be in chaos during this period. Barbara, you are a beautiful girl. Your beauty is your asset but also your fatal flaw."

"It's best not to go anywhere during this period. Just stay at home and keep your phone connected at all times."

"Including you!" He looked at Barbara's parents, "You'd better go buy some guns and a few boxes of bullets tomorrow. You all need to learn how to shoot people with guns."

Barbara's father felt something was wrong. As a successful middle-class and semi-privileged person, he smelled something different from Lance's words.

"Lance, are you saying there's going to be a riot or something?"

He seemed worried, "But now it seems that the entire federation is very stable!"

Anyone who has experienced those bad times knows how bad they were. If you go out without a gun, you will become prey, and even if you have a gun, you may not be really safe.

Lance just nodded twice, "But everything will be fine!"

As they were talking, the sound of sirens was heard and the family of three suddenly became nervous. William also looked at Lance nervously, as if asking him if he wanted to hide first.

But Lance seemed shocked. He had met the chief of the Priscilla branch and had chatted with him for a few minutes.

Thanks to Chief Bruce's publicity, many people now know that Lance likes to make friends with the police very much, and he does know the top leaders of the entire police force.

In this age where black and white are not distinguished, this is actually a kind of power, a power different from the power under the sun!
Because it has more deterrent power!

Then someone standing outside the yard shouted loudly, "Mr. Lawrence, someone heard that there was a gunshot coming from your side, are you okay?"

"There are several police officers here, they want to know what's going on!"

Lance looked at Erwin, who walked out of the house, and soon two police officers walked in.

They saw several young men still cleaning the bloodstains from the gaps between the floor tiles, which made their expressions become solemn.

Then they saw Lance. They were not sure if this Lance was the Lance they knew, but they came in anyway.

Lance picked up the phone, dialed a number, and after waiting for about twenty seconds, the call was connected.

"It's me, Lance... Yeah, I had some situations here, a mad dog tried to attack me, I dealt with it, and now someone called the police..."

"Yes, it's your officers, they're right here, okay..."

He held the phone in his hand and asked, "Who will answer your director's call?"

The two police officers looked at each other, and one of them, who was older, stepped forward and said, "Let me do it."

He held the phone with both hands, nodding his head repeatedly, and the caution and care on his face turned into a flattering smile. Finally, he handed the phone back to Lance, "The chief said he has a few more words to say to you, Mr. Lance!"

He behaved very respectfully, which opened the eyes of the Lawrence family, including William!
Lance picked up the phone, chatted for a few words, and finally hung up.

After the call was settled, the older police officer smiled and said, "Mr. Lance, we have found out that a mad dog attacked your friend and it was shot dead."

"It's very lucky that no one was injured!"

Lance nodded slightly and glanced at Erwin, who walked over and put his arm around their shoulders, "Thank you for the trip."

They both said something like "It's okay", and when they reached the door, Erwin pulled out a wad of money from his pocket and asked, "How many of you are here?"

The two officers looked at each other again, "Four, Mr. Erwin."

Erwin counted out eighty dollars and slapped them into their hands. "Go have a drink, relax, and then go home and get some sleep. Everything will be the same as yesterday, right?"

He is a big shot and the boss of his boss. What else can they do?
You can only hold the money tightly in your hands!
"Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Erwin, and thank you Mr. Lance!"

Erwin patted them on the back and said, "Go home early and don't let your family worry."

The two left the house with many thanks and told the manager that there was no problem.

As for the fact that they did not see the body of the mad dog, that is not important. They will consider these issues after someone calls the police to report that someone is missing.

They will never meddle in other's affairs before problems break out.

However, they also indirectly confirmed the rumors that Mr. Lance was very generous. Just by coming over and saying hello, each of them received a benefit of 20 yuan. Suddenly, they were a little envious of their colleagues in the Empire District. They could meet with Mr. Lance every day, and who knew how much benefit they could get?
In the living room, the family of three plus William were staring at all this happening in amazement. The continuous stimulation made them unable to express their own thoughts!
They are all civil servants and they all know that there are many problems in this society, but there is an absolute difference between hearing about these things and seeing them happening in front of their eyes.

It's like when someone says that someone bled while applying glue. You would just think it's an exaggerated rhetorical device, or even think it might just be a rumor deliberately fabricated by some moralists to scare you, until you actually bleed.

Things that you would only treat as a joke will instantly make you feel terrified and your hair will stand on end!

But at the same time, a more real world also appeared before them.

Everyone's fear began to subside after seeing the police coming. To them, the police represented justice after all, even if this justice was a little dusty.

Since Justice doesn't think Lance is wrong, what do they have to be afraid of?

Lance then patted his legs and stood up. The room was almost cleaned. "It's settled. I should go back."

"Do you have any guns here?"

Barbara's father nodded repeatedly, "Yes, it's in the drawer."

"The Constitution protects your right to use it, and you should make good use of it."

"Okay, let's go first." He glanced at William, "Are you going or not?"

William thought for a moment and said, "I won't leave tonight."

The whole family showed him kind expressions. Although having one more person at home can be annoying sometimes, having one more person at this time will only make people feel at ease.

Soon Lance's men left, and the bodies were loaded into their own cars. The two cars were also driven away by Lance's men.

After watching the convoy leave, the family finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Go and pack up..." Barbara's father asked the two ladies to leave first. He took a bottle of wine and went to the terrace on the second floor with William.

There are two lounge chairs here. In the evening he likes to lie here and enjoy the fiery sunset.

At this time, the slightly cool evening breeze blew, blowing away some of the irritability in his heart, "Is he always like this?"

William actually didn't know much about it. He didn't fully understand Lance's work and life, but this was not the time to show his weakness. "He's always like this."

The two of them were lying on the recliners with their glasses of wine, “You let Patricia and him… Aren’t you worried?”

William shook the wine glass and seemed to be sucked into the glass, being swirled around by the swirling liquid.

He took a sip of his wine, "It was her choice. Besides, Lance is different from the others."

"He doesn't extort ordinary vendors. Although he does illegal business, most of these businesses do not make profits by harming others."

Barbara's father pointed at him with the hand holding the wine glass, "Camilla's help."

"Yes, the Camilla Gang." William was not surprised that the other party could say this name. Everyone in Jingang City knew that the Camilla Gang specialized in kidnapping imperial immigrants and extorting them.

This kind of thing is actually very disgraceful, but who can blame these kidnappings for bringing in so much wealth?

Especially those wealthy immigrants, maybe they were the privileged class dependent on the nobles during the empire, and they have money in their pockets!
When William said that Lance never did these businesses, he was also a little surprised, "So, he is indeed different from ordinary people."

"But the gangs..."

The Lawrence family is actually a very traditional big family. William knew that his brother was still worried about Lance's identity. "You saw the attitude of the police."

"I've been busy with election work recently. The more people and things I come into contact with, the more I realize that the society we live in is not as beautiful as we imagined!"

He spread his hands and said, "You see, ordinary people can only make money through the most basic labor. Let's not talk about ordinary people, let's talk about us."

“If we hadn’t considered using some of the power we had, we’d still be living in the old house over there on the farm.”

"Your income over the years is definitely not simply earned through wages. In fact, if you really check, you can't explain a lot of money clearly."

"Those wealthy people in the Bay Area and the politicians in this city, who isn't trying every possible way to make money from this city?"

“Everybody’s fishing, man!”

"Think about the Wade family's large estate, think about the villas, luxury cars, and luxury goods of those officials. How much can their salaries support their consumption?"

"I've recently understood something!" He picked up the wine glass and took a sip. The alcohol had begun to have some effect on him. "The reason why those poor people are poor is not because they don't work hard, but because they are not qualified to take more profits from this society!"

"And those who are qualified are frantically trying to gain benefits for themselves!"

"This is how society is. It's already rotten without me or you coming in!"

"Lance is a nice young man, and he's different from the others. Did I just say that?"

Barbara's father nodded and said, "Yes, you just said that."

"So, I think this is an opportunity, an opportunity for the rise of our Lawrence family!"

"The Wade family is native to this place, and so is the Williams family, but they all forgot that we are the same!"

"Old Lawrence is also a farmer here!"

Barbara's father couldn't help laughing and said, "But farmers are different from farmers!"

"They have thousands of slaves, and old Lawrence is whipping his son!"

William couldn't help laughing. In fact, this was an exaggeration.

At its peak, the Wade family owned more than 7,000 slaves, and half of the city of Jingang was his plantation!
The Williams family is similar, just a little smaller.

As for the so-called "Old Lawrence Family", although they were also a farmer, all their slaves added up to only a few hundred people, which was not even on the same scale.

So sometimes they would joke that if Master Wade felt uncomfortable, he would whip the slaves who were working and kill a hundred slaves.

When Master Williams was not happy, he could whip fifty slaves to death.

Master Lawrence was upset and whipped them, but he could only kill nine of them because one of them was his son!

It's a joke, of course, but not entirely.

After the two of them had finished laughing at this self-deprecating joke, Barbara's father asked seriously, "Do you think Lance can become a big shot, like the five major families?"

Perhaps in his eyes, the five major families are already the top forces in Jingang City.

William shook his head. "No, I think his achievements are far more than that. Judging from his actions, I honestly think he should go into politics."

"But you know, this road is difficult for him to walk!"

Lance's identity has always been a big problem. Now his level is not high and it does not involve sensitive things, so no one will bother him.

But when he reaches a higher level, or even plans to enter politics, his identity will become his Achilles' heel.

Perhaps this is why he is not considering taking that path at the moment, because given the current social environment, there is no need to take that path at all, it is just a dead end!

(End of this chapter)