Shadow Empire

Chapter 415: Mediation Again
Rick's son's body was not sent directly to the morgue, but was put in a body bag and sent to the Cassia family's manor.

They don't have this rule, and they don't intend to solve the problem through police means.

It took only twenty minutes from the time he received the news to the time the body was transported back, and he seemed to have aged several years in an instant.

He slowly walked to the body bag, hesitated for a moment, and unzipped it.

As the body bag was opened, a broken human face appeared before him.

He looked at the face with many bullet holes on it, and Rick felt a strong sense of anger and some nausea.

He had seen many dead people, killed by others or by himself, so many that he couldn't even count them.

But never before had I felt as nauseous as I did now, after seeing my son's body.

This is actually a stress response. If Will (Kent's brother) had not died, then the two of them would definitely be able to exchange their experiences about the reactions when seeing the bodies of their loved ones.

One lost his brother, the other lost his son.

They both felt like vomiting, but Rick held it back, while Will vomited all over the floor.

His gaze stayed on the broken face. The bullet holes had been simply cleaned, leaving only small dark red holes. In some places, fat had been squeezed out, and it was yellow and red, like a tumor.

His broken and sunken eyeballs would become the core of Rick's nightmare tonight. With trembling hands, he zipped the body bag again, then turned around and asked someone to quickly signal people to take the body bag away.

"Get someone to clean it up. I want him to leave cleanly."

He walked to the side, took out a cigarette and lit it, his emotions filled with anger.

He was angry at the killer and also at his own son. He had already warned this bastard, but he was scolded out by him. He should have insisted more.

But he was too careless. He didn't think that these people would actually attack his son, and succeed!

After taking two puffs of the cigarette, the weak nicotine was not enough to suppress his anger. He walked up to several bodyguards who were responsible for protecting him and started beating them up.

The bodyguards were beaten to the ground and did not dare to get up. They were "frozen" on the ground in various twisted postures like a group of performance art masters.

Their eyes were all fixed on Rick, and he was still kicking a hapless guy who was holding his head.

It was very painful when the soles of the shoes with iron palms kicked people, the pain was excruciating, but the bodyguards dared not do anything, not even to shout.

After venting for a while, Rika finally took two steps back. He took two deep breaths to smooth out his uneven breathing, and at the same time struggled to pull the hem of his clothes hard.

There were still two or three puffs left on the cigarette that had fallen to the ground. He bent down to pick it up and took a puff. "Who did this?"

No one spoke, they were just bouncers and they didn't know who arranged those drinks.

"Go check it out!"

After venting his anger, his temper improved a lot. "I remember one of you said that there are still people alive?"

"Some girls."

"He must like them very much, and let them go down to keep him company."

His assistant had a strange look on his face. The girls were now in the police station. Someone had called the police and they had been taken away by the police.

Rick looked up at him, his eyes bloodshot, "I don't give a damn what method you use!"

Rick is furious now. Don't try to reason with him. This is not a good option for someone who is used to solving problems with violence.

After the two looked at each other for a moment, his assistant gave in and said, "Okay, you have the final say."

But he didn't really plan to kill people in the police station, that would be too stupid. He would wait for the girls to be released and then kill them quietly.

Rick's anger seemed to have subsided after getting the answer he wanted. He looked at his son's body being sent away and said softly, "It must have been Sarifu and the others who did it. It must have been them. Only they would do such a thing."

"He's still so young and he hasn't done anything wrong. They shouldn't treat him like this!"

He lit another cigarette, as if he was confused. But for a gangster, how could he understand something?

Everyone says not to involve family members, but some people kill them all.

The first gangster who said "don't implicate your family" must be a high-ranking member of the gang. Only they are afraid of their families being implicated. As for those at the bottom of the gang and the bottom of society, they have nothing left and don't care about these things at all.

The richer people are, the more they fear losing, because they really have it!

It's like that Scrabble game in the Federal Post, where the reporter interviews a passerby and asks him if he wins a thousand dollars, would he be willing to donate all his winnings to charity?
He said he would donate it all.

The reporter offered him a chance to donate five dollars to charity, but he refused.

The reporter was very curious, why are you willing to donate one thousand yuan but not five yuan?

The answer is so obvious, because he doesn't have a thousand dollars, so he doesn't care, but he really has five dollars!

They don't care when they lose, they can sacrifice everything as long as they can go further.

But when they achieve success and have happiness, they will be afraid of losing it!
Rick never thought about whether those people he killed or their gang killed were someone else's sons, husbands, or fathers of a family.

But when it came to him, he found it a little hard to accept.

Many senior officials in the family gathered around him. They had all heard about this and stood around him.

"When will the new gunners arrive?", he asked.

The officer in charge of picking up the person took a look at the new watch on his wrist, the kind with a calendar, and said, "In the next two days."

He didn't say anything. He planned to wait for two more days, just two days.

But he was willing to wait, while some people were not. In the battle between him and the Tita family, many people died on both sides, but his deaths were mainly those worthless gunmen from Yalan.

A gunman who is willing to risk his life for a few hundred or one or two thousand dollars.

What Salifu lost were his friends, brothers, and relatives!
That night, Rick drank some wine and sat on the head of the bed. He was a little afraid to sleep, and also afraid of the darkness.

He always felt that his son would find him in his dreams, and he felt an indescribable fear when he thought of that broken face.

He had driven his wife away because she kept crying and her sobbing was very disturbing.

He needed some wine to help him fall asleep, and just as he picked up the bottle again and was about to pour himself a glass, the phone suddenly rang!

The sudden ringing of the phone was so harsh in this quiet room that his hand holding the bottle of wine shook.

As he cursed, he gave up on wiping up the wine that had spilt all over the bedside table and picked up the phone.

"Boss, our bar was attacked."

Almost all criminal groups in the Federation are now engaged in the business of smuggling liquor. These liquors are smuggled in from other places, such as the Yalan region, at prices as cheap as free.

In Asia, because of the federal prohibition, the price of alcohol has also increased, but not much, the increase is about 20% to 30%.

A bottle of wine that used to cost 50 cents might now cost 60 or 65 cents.

Yalan has world-class vineyards and a hot and humid climate, which is suitable for growing a variety of crops for brewing wine. If you sell at a high price, someone will sell at a low price, and the competition will be fierce.

These 60-cent liquors are smuggled into the Federation, and their cost is about 70 cents, but in bars, they can be sold for four dollars or even more.

This is not to mention the better or worse quality wines, which all have five to ten times the profit.

Profits of more than five times are enough to drive people crazy!

In addition to the human trafficking business, the Cassia family also runs a liquor business, which is now a cash cow!

He didn't know if it was because he drank too much or because he heard too much bad news, but just as he felt his anger starting to roar again, a surge of energy rushed to his head, making him a little dizzy.

"What about the loss?"

"How are the guests?"

In fact, the loss is not important to them. It is just some wine. They have channels and can replenish it quickly.

But if the guests get frightened, it will become very troublesome, after all, it is the guests who ultimately spend the money and the money can only be earned from them.

The caller was very direct. "It's not good. They used submachine guns and some guests were injured."

"Fuck, how dare they attack guests?" While he was on the phone, the sound of a police siren suddenly rang out from the receiver, and then he heard someone introduce themselves, "We are from the Tobacco, Alcohol and Hazardous Substances Administration. Who are you calling?"

The voice of his subordinate came from the receiver, "I'm hanging up first."

He said and hung up the phone with a bang, leaving Rick's head buzzing!

He couldn't sleep anymore, so he turned over, put on his coat and went to the living room. The people on duty in the living room all stood up. They were playing cards.

In fact, this job is quite comfortable, being a bodyguard for the boss.

If you don't consider the possibility of getting into danger, most of the time they are just like this, sitting somewhere smoking, bragging, or playing cards.

"Just let me know, I need to go out for a while..."

Soon a convoy was ready, Rick sat in the bulletproof car in the middle, and the convoy left the manor.

The Starlight District was very lively as the nightlife had just begun, and the news spread quickly. People soon knew that a bar had been attacked by gangs and some customers were injured.

In fact, in most gang fights in the past, it was relatively rare for guests to be injured.

No one wants to offend guests and will try to avoid them, but now that a guest has been injured, it means that the conflict has begun to escalate indefinitely and even the guests are not safe.

In an instant, in less than an hour, the popularity of the Cassia family's bar dropped visibly.

Of course, the Tita family's bar has also seen a decline in popularity, and they all speculate that the fight between the two sides will continue to escalate.

What’s even more interesting is that after the bar was attacked, the Hazardous Materials Administration showed up and arrested a lot of their people.

Two senior cadres, twenty to thirty core members, and some peripheral members were all arrested.

All of a sudden, all kinds of rumors were spread.

Instead of going to the Starlight District, Rick went directly to see Bendy.

In Bendy's study, Rick had been massaging his temples to relieve his headache, "I need your help, Bendy."

"My son died and my bar was destroyed by them. They are such bullies!"

Bandy knew what happened today and was amazed at the high efficiency of those people. At the same time, he also realized that he could not mediate even if he wanted to.

After the mayor was killed, he wanted to restore the five major families. Of course, he also realized that this was most likely impossible.

If he might have thought there was a possibility of trying it before, now there is no possibility at all.

Rick's son died, and that alone was irreconcilable.

But this is also in Bandy's interest. He hopes that these people will fight to a loss, and then he can get rid of everyone else in the end.

"How do you want me to help you?"

"Help me make an appointment with Salifo and tell him you want to talk to him. When he comes over, we'll kill him."

Bendy looked at Rick like he was a fool, "You want me to sell my credibility to take out Salifor for you?"

Maybe he used to be a gang leader, but now, he is not the same person he used to be, and their family has almost been cleansed.

The more whitewashed a family is, the more important its reputation is, because it is the only way for them to gain the trust of the upper class who are also white and black.

Perhaps sensing the dissatisfaction in Bendy's tone, Rick lowered his voice with a hint of guilt in his tone, "I know this will be difficult for you, but this is the way for us to resolve the current mess as quickly as possible."

"Once we kill Salifo, they will be leaderless."

"Francisco, that useless kid, is not a threat at all. We can easily take care of him."

"As for the Lance family, it won't be difficult to deal with them once we have some time!"

While listening to his analysis, Bandy was thinking about more follow-up matters, such as finding a way to deal with Rick in front of him, and then driving away Fergal, so that the entire Jingang City would belong to him.

But... he didn't really want to rely on selling his reputation in exchange for such business.

It is easy to lose it, and it takes much more to regain it than what you lost!
Seeing that he was hesitant, Rick continued to lobby, "In the past six months, fewer and fewer people have visited Jingang City. I know that your casino is not doing well. This is an opportunity to solve all the problems at once, Bandy."

"If you let me continue to fight him, no matter whether it's day or night, as long as the gunfight doesn't end, it will be difficult for the public security in Jingang City to return to the way it was before!"

"There's Pasletto, Lance, and others coming up. When will this end?"

"We have to resolve this as soon as possible and get everything back on track!"

"Besides, we won't publicize this matter. Who knows what role you played?"

Bendy glanced at Rick with an expressionless face, but the desire to get rid of this guy became stronger in his heart.

But he's also right, it's time to get everything back on track!

He nodded. "I'll call Sarifor."

Rick looked at him without saying anything or making any other moves. Bendy suddenly felt embarrassed and annoyed. "You want me to hit you now?"

Rick seemed to be unable to sense Bendy's dissatisfaction and anger. "The sooner the better."

"You're such a fucking..., well, you win!"

No swear words were used, but the expression was spot on.

He picked up the phone and dialed Sarifu's number, using the speaker function.

The call was quickly connected. "Hey, good evening, Salifu. I heard you did some big things today?"

Sarifu's laughter came from the speaker on the phone. "It's okay. We can't let him steal the limelight all the time, right?"

Bandy was silent for a while. "I think we should sit down and talk again. You have killed his son, and he has paid a heavy price. It's time to use this incident as an opportunity for us to have a good talk."

"We are all friends. There is no need to make the situation so ugly. It's time to stop before more people leave us."

"Whose idea was this?" Salifu asked.

Bendy said very perceptively, "This is what I think. We used to be very good friends. Even if we had some conflicts, it's all over, isn't it?"

"There's no need to fight to the death over others!"

Sarifu's tone became less friendly, "Why don't you say he killed my friends and relatives?"

Bendy said, emphasizing, "You just killed his son!"

"I didn't do that. Either Alberto or Lance did it. It has nothing to do with me."

Bendy and Rick looked at each other, the latter's teeth almost breaking.

Bandy continued to persuade, "No matter what, we should talk one last time. There is no hatred that cannot be resolved. Don't let others take advantage of us because of our conflict."

They all knew very well who this "others" was referring to.

After a long while, Sarifu said, "I'll decide the position."

"no problem!"

"But it can't be on your territory, otherwise Rick will most likely not come. I suggest putting it near the city center. We have no conflicts or contradictions with Fergal, and he can guarantee our safety."

After thinking for a while, Sarifu agreed...

"Fuck these sons of bitches, I'm going to kill them!" Rick exploded the moment the phone was hung up.

"Alberto, and Lance, I remember!"

He had always thought that it was Sarifu who killed his son, but now he realized that it was these two guys.

Bandy wanted to remind him that Salifo might not tell the truth, but in the end he didn't. Letting Rick confront everyone was a good thing for him, and he would even encourage him to continue doing so.

Recommend this book, it is written by Kui Lao, it is very good, thank you
I am so annoyed. I really want to punch this stupid Doomsday.



(End of this chapter)