Shadow Empire

Chapter 412: The End of the Miniature

A drop of rain is ready to fall from the cloud with the help of gravity.

It dives towards the ground from a high altitude with indomitable courage. Its mission is to create a small splash of water in the shallow puddle on the ground!

The gray and gloomy clouds gave birth to it, so it is also gray and gloomy.

After it had passed for who knows how many meters, the outline of the city appeared in front of it.

Is this the city?

The colorful neon lights spreading across the misty city were a beauty it had never seen in its life.

At this moment, it didn't want to crash into the ground anymore, it wanted to see the world better.

But it had already used up all its strength in the process of falling, and it could no longer stop what was happening!
It looked at the prosperous city greedily, and it was getting closer and closer to the ground.

It saw a large number of black umbrellas and people wearing raincoats. They were standing in the rain, not knowing what they were doing.

What’s interesting is that among these people, there was a man standing there. He was not wearing a raincoat or holding an umbrella. He just stood in the heavy rain.

The gloomy sky, the gray rain, the black people, and the lonely soul.

The little raindrop inexplicably had a hint of philosophy. It saw that this person also exuded a gray soul, lifeless and dull.

With a "pop" sound, people may not even notice that a small raindrop fell on the ground, splashing a small water drop.

Mr. Jobaf would not notice this either, he just looked at the people around him.

The water soaked his hair, making him look like a madman who had fallen into the water. He repeated what he had just said, "I'm sorry."

The expressions of the people around changed. One of them, a woman who looked to be in her forties, turned pale and said with trembling lips, "Don't scare me. What do you mean by 'I'm sorry'?"

Mr. Jobaf stood there for a long while, then sighed heavily, "The bank is out of money."

"I do not believe!"

Immediately someone shouted, "You have to be kidding us, Mr. Jobaf?"

"How could you be so rich without money?"

"Okay, I admit that you tricked me and scared me to the point where I could barely stand. Can we go in and get the money now?"

The man's voice was steady at first, but soon began to tremble. Everyone could hear the fear in his heart!

Mr. Chobaff seemed to accept the fact. “I’m not kidding you. There’s no money in the bank now.”

An old woman dropped her umbrella and rushed to Mr. Jobaf. She grabbed his collar and used the toughest gesture and said the weakest words.

"Please, Mr. Jobaf, this is my husband and I's life savings, you can't do this..."

“We trust you…”

Mr. Jobaf let the rain hit him head on. The only thing he could do now was to say "I'm sorry".

People could no longer control their emotions. Some people spat at him, some punched him, and some kicked him to the ground.

He curled up, holding his head, and let the rubber shoes fall on his body like raindrops.

He didn't feel the pain because his heart hurt more!

The police car appeared here, they pushed the crowd away, arrested several people, and then helped Mr. Qiaobaf out from the innermost part.

His face was covered in blood, and the soles of his leather shoes were not made of soft leather, so they cut several holes when he stepped on his head.

The blood and the rain made him look even more miserable. He endured the pain in his body and bent down, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."

Among the crowd who were still cursing and angry, suddenly someone started to cry and shout with emotional breakdown. They really put all their life savings into the bank.

They trusted Mr. Jobaf too much, and the older they were, the more they trusted him, because he had, in a sense, become a special "symbol" among the imperial immigrant community.

But it was this trust that made them miss the opportunity to make up for their losses.

In fact, based on the things he mortgaged, he could still squeeze out some money, hundreds of thousands, or two or three hundred thousand. But even if he got the money, it would not change the current situation at all.

Looking at those people collapsing to the ground, he felt numb all over.

"I will give you an explanation."

He said this and turned back into the bank.

The staff in the bank were all looking at him worriedly. He forced a smile and said, "I don't know what to say. Anyway, thank you for your hard work over the years."

"I'm sorry to all of you."

The employees were all silent, even though they had prepared themselves mentally and had foreseen this day.

But when it happens, it is still difficult for everyone to accept it calmly.

Some of the ladies even cried out loud.

This is not just a huge emotional injury. Some of them have worked here for more than ten years, twenty or thirty years, and this place is like their second home!

Now, this family is about to break up. How can I not be sad and upset?

In addition, this also means that they are about to lose their jobs, and those who are younger may be slightly better off.

They can still find jobs outside, but what about the older ones?
For example, they reach the awkward age of forty or so. Factories won’t want them, other banks won’t want them, and they may never find such a comfortable job again.

Emotional hurt and confusion about the future make everyone very painful and sad.

Mr. Jobaf took out his pocket watch and handed it to the supervisor, "This watch is worth a little money. You can exchange it for money and pay everyone's salary this month."

"This is the last thing I can do for you."

The supervisor took out his watch and said with some pain that he couldn't express, "Mr. Jobaf, is there no hope at all?"

He shook his head. If the mayor won, then this would not be a problem. The banks would be happy to lend him money even if he had no collateral.

But now that the mayor has lost, he has lost all chances of turning things around.

He pursed his lips and said, "That's it."

"If you don't leave now, you will soon be unable to leave."

"Remember to go out the back door, you may not be able to get out from the front."

The bank was already crowded with people, and if they walked through the main entrance they would have to face the surging crowd.

The supervisor wanted to say something, but Mr. Jobaf waved his hand, so he could only swallow his words. "Then we'll leave first, Mr. Jobaf."

He nodded. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

"Remember to lock the door..."

Mr. Jobaf returned to his office. He thought a lot, but still could not find a solution.

Suddenly, someone threw a brick and broke the office window, and curses from outside began to come in quickly through the broken window.

People cursed him terribly, questioned his family, his wife, and even the fact that they had no children became a target of their attack.

The rain poured in and landed on the expensive floor, chairs, and various places. He just stared blankly.

After a long time, he changed rooms, picked up the phone and called his cousin.

"Jo?"

"I heard that the bank went bankrupt. What happened?"

Mr. Jobaf was silent for a moment. "As you heard, I'm bankrupt."

"Oh my god...is there anything I can do for you?"

Mr. Jobaf sighed softly, "No, you are not capable of doing anything for me, so stay out of this matter!"

"I just want to say I'm fine, don't worry about me, say hello to everyone for me, everything will be fine."

"Everything has a solution, just like an opera has an ending."

His brother heard that there was something wrong with what Mr. Chobaff said, "Don't do anything stupid!" "I lost everything, but I still have my family. I am really happy to have you..."

He hung up the phone and went back to the lounge, where he combed his hair and changed into a new set of clothes.

He took a thick book from the bookcase in his office and opened it. Inside was a small flat wine bottle with about three ounces of wine.

He poured himself a glass of wine and raised the glass to himself in the mirror.

A moment later, he threw the wine glass hard to the ground, and the sound of someone smashing the door was heard downstairs.

He is Jobaf, the light of the imperial immigrants, and he will not accept such a miserable defeat!

He opened the secret compartment in the drawer and found a pistol inside.

The wind was blowing outside, and the rain was blown into the room, some of it falling on his face.

He sat there for a long time.

He couldn't face those depositors outside. Just as the old woman said, a family's life savings were all in the bank, but he lost it.

He could not forgive himself, nor could he make up for the losses of these people. At this moment, it seemed that he had no other choice but to die.

Using his own life to atone for his mistakes, perhaps this is the only solution he can think of.

He glanced at the pistol in his hand. He asked his assistant to buy this pistol when he was blackmailed for the first time. At that time, he told himself that if someone blackmailed him again, he would use this gun to kill those people.

But until this moment, the gun had never been used.

Those who blackmailed him were not punished, but he was the one who was constantly blackmailed and extorted.

What is wrong with this world?
He doesn't understand!

A mocking smile appeared on his face. He didn't expect that the first bullet from the pistol he used to protect himself was aimed at himself.

He raised the gun with trembling hands and pointed it at his temple. He took a last look at the gloomy sky outside the window, said "goodbye" silently, and pulled the trigger.

The bullet penetrated his skull and hit the wall with some blood, and he fell there, motionless.

Ten minutes later, the bank's door was pried open by angry people. They rushed into the bank and saw Mr. Jobaf sitting on the chair.

At this moment, the weather, which had been raining for a long time, suddenly cleared up miraculously.

The dark clouds were broken up by the sunlight and melted into the blue sky.

The whole sky seemed to become bluer, and the sun became warmer.

The police did not call for an ambulance, as no one could help with such injuries, so they just asked the medical examiner to drive the morgue over.

It was clearly a suicide scene that made no sense, and the forensic doctor also believed that everything here was consistent with the theory of suicide.

Mr. Jobaf was put into a coffin belt and then taken to the morgue in full view of the public.

The bank was sealed, but the people standing outside were confused.

Now that Mr. Jobaf is dead, who should they ask for the money?
Who can return the savings accumulated by those families for one or even two generations?
Lance knew the news immediately after Mr. Jobaf committed suicide. People from the Imperial Chamber of Commerce have been paying close attention to the situation here. After all, most of them are lucky.

At Lance's reminder, they had already withdrawn their funds from the bank in advance.

At this time, a large number of members of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce gathered at Lance's company. In fact, the house was not too small, but there were so many people in the room that it looked very crowded.

It's time to move to a bigger house.

Roger sighed, "I have known Mr. Jobaf for at least thirty years. In my mind, he has always been a very capable person in running a bank."

"I didn't expect... that he would go bankrupt and choose this path."

Someone followed up on his words and said, "This is an inevitable result. He owes so much money. Who can solve his problem?"

“Who can solve the problems of those depositors?”

Roger sighed, "Even more unlucky are those elderly people who didn't get their money out in time. Autumn is coming soon, and their lives will be very difficult."

Everyone looked a little annoyed. In fact, when Lance hinted that there might be problems with Jinda Bank, they didn't think it was true.

The funds were transferred only because Lance helped them make money and in order to continue to follow Lance's pace of making money.

But now, they can only feel grateful.

However, some people still had some money in the bank and did not withdraw all of it. They had also known Mr. Jobaf for a long time and were too embarrassed to do so.

Now, the money has disappeared, which makes them very depressed.

Roger couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Lance, where did Mr. Jobaf's money go?"

Lance sat on the chair, pressing his hands on the armrests. "He has a lot of money, but he doesn't have the ability to protect it, so anyone who has the ability to tear a piece of meat off of him will be attracted by his wealth."

"Gangsters, hooligans, including the mayor."

"He had many opportunities to change, but every time, he chose the wrong option. It was this society that led to the tragedy, and it was also he who chose this path."

“We are not powerful, but we must make one thing clear to those who covet our wealth.”

"They can covet our wealth, and even want to take it away, but they must also be prepared to break their own teeth!"

"As long as we fight to the end every time and don't let them have an easy time even if we lose, they will slowly understand that we are not easy to mess with."

He paused and said, "International food prices have been rising recently. This is a good project to invest in. We can stockpile some food."

When talking about making money, everyone immediately got rid of the pessimistic atmosphere and became excited.

Roger licked his dry and cracked lips and said, "Mr. Lance, we all know that food prices are rising, but we don't have much money now."

“All the money was invested in that batch of drugs!”

The price of that batch of drugs has increased by more than 40 percent and is still increasing, and at a fast pace.

This was a very successful investment and everyone thought they would double their money again.

The longer the war drags on, the higher the value of these millions of drugs.

Of course, the increase in food prices is actually very shocking, but its unit price is too low, so people may not have noticed it yet.

Lance nodded slightly. "I know, but that's not a problem. We can mortgage this batch of medicine to the bank and use the money to stockpile some food."

Someone asked, "Mr. Lance, why don't we continue to stockpile medicines?"

"Medicines have now become a sensitive resource, and it is not easy for us to obtain such large quantities of goods on a large scale."

The Pasletto family can no longer get large quantities of medicine. Medicine is one of the most important supplies in the war, and the federal government has begun to implement limited regulatory measures.

If it is a reasonable purchase, it is not difficult to deal with the hoarding behavior of ordinary people like Lance.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with gentlemen hoarding goods. After all, they hoard goods for the country and the people, unlike people like Lance who only do it to make money.

It is not in Lance's current interest to attract some people's attention for the sake of making money. In front of the real top leaders of the federation, he is still just an insignificant little character.

He briefly explained that the price of food was increasing at a rate no slower than that of medicine, that it was also a core critical commodity, and that hoarding food now would not cause unnecessary trouble, and they agreed.

The Federation was not involved in the war, so food was not considered a controlled commodity, and the federal government did not think they would be involved in the war.

The matter was decided quickly, and everyone worked together to find a way to fill the warehouse.

With the new money-making project, Roger's pace became a little more brisk, not at all like an old man of his age.

A series of problems caused by Mr. Jobaf's death are still fermenting. Lance asked lawyer Rob to transfer the three large houses to his name as soon as possible to avoid any conflicts of interest.

Major banks are also pushing to complete the change of ownership of the mortgaged assets as soon as possible to avoid having to distribute their residual value to the depositors.

The collapse of a bank did not cause any impact on Jingang City's finances, but instead gave these banks a piece of fat profit.

As for those depositors who collapsed on the roadside, they were never the concern of the rulers.

No one cares what they will do in the future.

It may not be long before the focus of public opinion shifts away from these issues and people don't even talk about them anymore.

Until one day they appeared in newspapers a few months later, accompanied by shocking headlines such as "frozen to death" or "starved to death", and once again became people's after-dinner pastime.

(End of this chapter)