Shadow Empire

Chapter 346 As you wish

The sun rises earlier in the summer mornings.

It was past six o'clock and the sky was already completely bright, but 90 percent of the people in the city were still asleep.

Whether it is the lower working class or the wealthy people in the Bay Area, they all need longer sleep to make up for their physical loss.

Rich people lose physical strength because they need to fight with beautiful girls or handsome boys until late at night, while manual laborers simply lose strength because they are tired after a whole day!

The working system of at least eleven hours means that most workers who do heavy physical work cannot get up from bed once they lie down, leaving them with little time to rest.

But some people do get up very early. For example, those workers who do contracted urban sanitation work get up very early every day, but their income is very low.

For example...reporters!
At 6:15, a large number of reporters gathered outside the Dangerous Goods Administration again, which made the guard in the duty room so nervous that he couldn't breathe!
The last time the Lans family hung a leaker on the streetlight outside the Hazardous Materials Administration, it brought shame to the entire department!
The news even received a small space in the Federal Daily News, and Chief Dell fired the security guard outright.

He first looked at the street lamp. He was relieved to see no one swaying on it. He then leaned his head over to look at the walls on both sides of the street. He also saw no one nailed to the walls.

The reporters gathered around a car. Although the car was parked on the side of the road and not far from the Hazardous Materials Administration, it obviously had nothing to do with them!

He even watched the fun from the sidelines until Lukar drove to work.

He didn't sleep well these two days. For the Hazardous Materials Administration, seizing the warehouse at the dock was a success.

Not only did they destroy a warehouse, they also sealed off a place suspected of openly selling intoxicating beverages and arrested a large number of people involved in the case.

But for Lugal, this was a failed operation because he still didn't find any clues related to Lance, and he was still at large!

Yes, at large, Lance has not been punished by law or justice, and he still enjoys freedom, wealth and everything!
Director Dale talked to him privately and felt that he was a little crazy about Lance. If he really wanted to catch Lance, he had to calm down.

It's not about catching them regardless of size, nor is it about actively provoking Lance. Instead, it's like a poisonous snake, looking for a suitable opportunity and then delivering a fatal blow.

Lucard was also reflecting that he had indeed been a bit extreme in matters related to Lance. He needed to reorganize his thoughts and analyze the issue from a higher level or a broader perspective.

He went out early in the morning because he needed to check some information and think.

When the car arrived outside the Dangerous Goods Administration, he saw many reporters taking pictures in front of a car. He drove the car into the gate and asked, "What's going on at the gate?"

The guard curled his lips and said, "I'm not sure. Many reporters came early in the morning and took pictures of the car. Is it a new car, or a rich man's car?"

Lucard felt something was wrong. After parking the car, he put on his badge and walked to the side of the car, "Make way..."

This sentence made many reporters suddenly point their cameras at him. The burst of magnesium light strips made it difficult for him to open his eyes. He impatiently pushed through the crowd and walked to the innermost part. Then he glanced at the guy sitting in the back seat of the passenger seat and cursed!
Two minutes later, he called the police.

Although the Hazardous Materials Administration has great power, they seem to be lacking something when it comes to criminal cases.

The police arrived at the scene quickly, a new officer from the city police department's criminal squad.

He just glanced at it and said, "It's very similar to last time. Another leaker."

There was a sense of gloating in his tone. Recently, the Hazardous Materials Administration seemed to be trying to gain more law enforcement powers. This was dangerous and unfriendly to the police system. The police naturally would not like them.

The body has been packed up, but the scene is still preserved. They are said to be collecting some evidence.

By the time they got to work, the entire Hazardous Materials Administration knew about this incident, but this time they didn't know who died.

Dell called these executives into his office one by one, including Lucar.

He told Dell the truth that the person was not his, but his colleague's, and that the incident was most likely what happened in the warehouse that day.

Director Dale looked at him a few times, and considering that Lucard had been working actively, he didn't say anything, but just asked him to reflect on himself.

On his way out, he saw his colleague, and the two of them walked towards each other, meeting each other's gaze.

Lucard was calm, while his colleagues were somewhat dissatisfied.

As the two were about to pass each other, Lucard apologized, "Sorry."

His colleague stopped, turned around and looked at him seriously, "The person is already dead, and you're saying sorry to me?"

His voice was so loud that many people noticed the situation here, including Ponda, who had just received some money from Lance.

"I didn't know it would be like this, and it's over now. We also seized a lot of smuggled liquor." Lucar continued to force his explanation.

"You didn't know this would happen, so you decided to act on your own?"

"The ones who died were my people, not yours. Of course you don't care about it now."

"You have done a great job, and everyone says you have done a good job. Who cares about the death of a marginalized person?"

"You make people feel disgusted, Lucard!" His colleague stopped talking to him and walked straight into the director's office.

Lucard looked at the door that slammed shut. He spread his hands with a look of helplessness, then looked at his colleagues who were watching the fun around him, and then turned and left.

Ponda asked his colleagues, "What's going on?"

When he came, he only heard a little bit about what happened and didn't know what happened specifically.

His colleague, who knew a little more, explained it.

"They caught another leaker. It should be someone from the Lans family. They put the body in the back seat of a car and parked it outside the gate."

"Lucard was very prominent in the last dock warehouse case, but judging from the situation, the person who died was not his undercover agent, but... "

With just a few casual words, he restored a general idea of ​​the truth, and Ponda kept it in mind.

Lucard returned to the office and sighed. He walked to the window, looked at the sky and the slowly floating white clouds outside, and fell into deep thought for a moment.

The sound of knocking on the door brought him back to his senses from his thoughts. It might have been just a short moment for him, but in fact several minutes had passed.

A civilian agent stood outside the door, "Someone's here to apply for bail for the workers who made the riot."

Lucar is now in charge of this case. Director Dell has given these supervisors a lot of authority. It is entirely up to the supervisors to decide whether to withhold the money or not.

There was no point in keeping Johnny around, and prosecuting him wouldn't have any good results. As long as he insisted that he was drinking alone at home, no one could punish him for drinking.

Therefore, the Hazardous Materials Administration will not intervene with these drunkards as long as they do not cause too much trouble.

In addition, an undercover agent had just died, so Lucard's mood did not seem as irritable as before. "Let them pay the money and let them go."

He interrogated Johnny and others, but couldn't find many valuable clues and evidence from them.

Even if they confessed that Lance was the one running the workers' club, the court would most likely not accept it because what drunkards say is inherently uncredible in court.

In addition, they could not produce any actual evidence, so the court would not accept these arguments without evidence.

It would be better to send them away early than to leave them here to be an eyesore.

The civilian agent quickly brought Lucard's opinion downstairs, and Johnny and the others were bailed out by the union's legal adviser.

It was also a novel experience for them to spend two days in a law enforcement agency for the first time.

The first thing Johnny did after being freed was to ask about the situation at the dock.

"The situation is getting more and more tense. The management company is very determined and will most likely not agree to a wage increase." The people gathered together and someone asked, "What is the union's attitude?"

The legal advisor also belongs to the working class. He said loudly, "Of course we will stand on your side. When the time comes, we will help you fight for your legal rights from the company. Don't worry..."

When Johnny returned to the dock, he was treated like a hero and many people came to greet him.

During the two days he was detained, rumors about him spread rapidly.

People's previous bad impression of him also improved after the request he made to the company this time.

Although he knew that everything he did was a script and a play, he liked the performance and began to immerse himself in it!
Everyone surrounded him, some touched his hair, some touched his shoulders, some touched his arms, and some touched his waist.

"Who the hell touched my butt?" he shouted loudly and looked at the people behind him vigilantly. The workers were all laughing.

Someone shouted, "Johnny, you bastard, say something to us!"

This is a way of expressing emotions that is unique to the working class. They like to listen to others talk.

Johnny's mood also reached a certain point. He coughed and snorted twice.

"Immigration and intimidation can't shut me up. My demands will never change, that is, give all of us a pay raise!"

"If they are not willing to give us a raise, I would rather not do this job."

"I want them to see who is more important to this dock, them or us!"

It was a very straightforward statement, but the meaning behind it made the workers start thinking while they were cheering!
Are the clerical staff sitting in the office indispensable to the port, or are the people working on the port indispensable?

Under Johnny's call and appeal, and under the organization of Vaughan and the trade union, a strike storm is brewing and has begun to threaten the city!
On Tuesday morning, George, who had already resigned, took the initiative to contact the media, who attended his speech on his upcoming election as a city councilor in front of his ordinary house in the Pricia district.

In front of the camera and media reporters, he explained his views to these people. Without him, the public security in Jingang City began to deteriorate rapidly.

This is largely directly related to the mayor's inaction in maintaining public security. Until now, the city police department has not officially appointed a new police chief because of the mayor's inaction.

Charlie believes that as an outsider, the mayor has a certain prejudice against local law enforcement agencies and does not trust the law enforcement officers of Jingang City.

This would cause increasing tensions between the two sides, and he, Charlie, the former police chief, could resolve these problems.

But there is a prerequisite, that is, he must have a better reason to participate in these things, rather than as an ordinary person, so that he is not qualified to say or do anything for this city.

So he plans to run for Bay Area City Councillor, and promises that if he wins the election, he will urge City Hall and the police system to communicate effectively as soon as possible to quickly change and suppress the chaotic situation!

He also said he was not using such an inopportune time and event to gain political capital for himself.

It was because he could not bear to see the city's rapid decline that he had to choose to step out again at retirement age.

Charlie's speech pointed the finger directly at the mayor, which caused some conflicts within the city to begin to emerge. Many people immediately expressed their opinions, and some people even directly pointed the finger of blame for the city's chaos at the mayor.

Eleven police stations and one city police department have expressed their support for Charlie's campaign, saying they need an effective communication channel with City Hall to solve the many current problems.

The police's ambiguous statements further made the public believe that the current poor public security is directly related to the mayor.

The fact that Chief Charlie was forced to resign was also brought up again by some people, who said that it was a conspiracy from City Hall.

The mayor used some shady means to force the two suspects to commit suicide, and then used the suspects' suicides to make Charlie lose his position.

They even attributed John's death to the mayor's conspiracy!
Faced with so much dirty water, the mayor had nothing to explain. He just told the citizens that tomorrow, Wednesday, he would hold a public speech, in which he would clarify many issues and hoped that everyone would come and listen to what he had to say.

The whole city seemed to be becoming somewhat uneasy.

In the afternoon, after a short break, Johnny, as a representative of the working class, sat on the other side of the negotiating table with the dock management company and started the tripartite negotiations.

Three directors from the terminal management company also came this time, and the manager could only sit at the last seat.

On the union side, there are Vaughn, the legal advisor, and several staff members who will record the entire negotiation process.

As for the workers, except Johnny, they are all worker representatives who represent the interests of the workers. Their interests are consistent with those of the workers. This time they have only one request, which is a wage increase.

As the middleman, Vaughan was the first to speak. "I was entrusted by the dock management company to contact the workers' representatives, which led to today's negotiation on the wage issue."

"I should have participated in this negotiation from a neutral position, but as the president of the workers' union, it is difficult for me to remain neutral, so I will not speak first now."

He looked at the workers' representatives and said, "Johnny, state your demands in front of these directors."

Looking at the three directors sitting across the table and the contempt hidden in their eyes, Johnny felt angry.

Even though he forced these people to the negotiating table, they still looked down on him, with contempt and disdain in their eyes.

In the past, he might have just had to give in and bow his head in the face of their calm and contemptuous gazes.

But now, he wants to be a hero, a real hero!
"I have no other request, I must raise my salary!"

"This is our only condition, and it is a condition that cannot be shaken!"

The other worker representatives nodded in agreement. They had no other demands except a wage increase.

Vaughan asked, "Do you have any requirements for the amount of growth?"

"At least one dollar and fifty cents!" Johnny said again, "Other industries raise wages every six months, and the increase will be at least twenty to fifty cents."

"We haven't had a pay raise in more than two years. Between now and the end of the year, you owe us five pay raises, 30 cents each time, which is a very suitable number!"

Before he could finish, the manager slammed the table and stood up, "This is impossible!"

"The income of us dock workers is already considered medium in Jingang City. You can't easily find such a comfortable and high-paying job outside."

"We can make concessions in other areas, such as giving us an extra 20 minutes of rest time every day and better food, but raising our salary is impossible!"

He spoke in a decisive manner, leaving no room for negotiation.

After listening to this, Vaughn also revealed some dissatisfaction, "We are negotiating, manager, you have to have the right attitude."

"The right attitude?" He laughed, "Ahaha." "There's nothing wrong with my attitude. Let me tell you, if you think that making a fuss will give you a raise, then you're thinking the wrong way!"

"We will not compromise on this matter. A pay raise is an unreasonable request and we will not agree to it!"

Johnny got even angrier, "Why is a pay raise an unreasonable request?"

"So what is a reasonable request?"

"If you want to talk, then talk."

"If you don't want to talk..."

The manager interrupted him directly, "Why, you don't want to do this anymore?"

He pressed Johnny with his words, and Johnny's face turned red. He stood up with his hands on the table, "Do you still want to fire me?"

The manager slammed the table, stood up, pointed at Johnny and shouted, "As you wish, you are fired!"

(End of this chapter)