Shadow Empire

Chapter 698 Promotion and Discovery
After Senator Cleveland finalized some things, he asked Lance to give two numbers to Tom to ensure that he could find Lance anytime and anywhere.

When Tom came back from outside, he said while smoking a cigarette, "Please help me change my schedule for the next few days."

Tom's expression changed slightly, and he bowed slightly, "I understand."

Tom was just one of his staff members, not his chief of staff.

Well, senators don’t actually use the title “Chief of Staff”; it’s not just a title but also an official position.

What this actually means is that Tom is not yet an indispensable member of the senator's staff.

He has a status, but it is at an intermediate stage. When meeting Lance, he will be the one who comes forward, and when meeting other people, they will be other staff members.

Every staff member has his or her own strengths, or plays an irreplaceable role in certain areas.

The person in charge of Senator Cleveland's daily schedule must be the most important secretary. He did not make the call himself, but asked Tom to do it. In fact, he also took this opportunity to send a signal without communication.

Some political tactics can actually be used in life. If he tells others that Tom has been promoted, it will give people a very deliberate feeling.

We are all staff members, we are all smart, and we all like to think about random things. You can never be sure that some of them will think about other things.

But if he is allowed to do it directly, the impact of these things will be more buffered.

Tom quickly went to the office next door and found their "chief steward". He told him Senator Cleveland's request. The chief aide looked at Tom meaningfully, then opened his notebook and took a few glances at it.

Then he stood up and said, "There are a few important trips. I'll go with you."

Tom didn't refuse. He waited at the door with his chief aide.

It wasn't far to Senator Cleveland's office, only a 20-30 second walk. During this time, the chief aide suddenly asked, "Do you have anything to do after get off work tomorrow night?"

Tom was a little surprised. He immediately replied, "Nothing. It's just the life of a middle-aged man."

The chief aide smiled and said, "It just so happens that I have nothing to do either. Let's have a drink together after get off work tonight."

Tom didn't refuse, "Okay, I'll wait for you in the parking lot!"

He now walked to the door of Senator Cleveland's office, twisted one hand on the handle, and when he finished speaking, he reached forward and pushed the door open.

"Please come in!"

The chief aide nodded slightly and entered the room.

Tom did not follow him in. He closed the door again, walked a few steps to a window in the corridor, took out a cigarette box from his pocket and lit a cigarette.

Looking at the good weather outside the window, it was just like his mood at the moment.

He smiled and shook his head, then exhaled all the cigarette he had just smoked.

Unexpectedly, what gave him the opportunity to move up was not his ability, nor the "big shots" he knew, but a small character like Lance, whom he had looked down upon in the past.

A small role brought him a huge improvement!
This is fun!

Lance came out of Senator Cleveland's office and returned to the car. This time, only he and Hiram came, and no one else was there.

After all, this is where the senator works. He can't bring all those people here. What would that mean?

And Hiram did not enter the house, he just played the role of a driver.

"Are you done talking?" Hiram shook his hair and looked at Lance sitting in the back seat through the rearview mirror.

Lance nodded, "We're done talking for now, let's go back to the hotel."

Hiram started the car. He had been here once before and walked here twice, so he was quite familiar with the road.

Some people are born with this uncanny ability, they can remember a road they have walked once.

Vehicles moved in the bustling New Gold City, and the city's luxury gave Lance and Hiram a feeling that this was "another world".

No matter how many times you watch it, it will always give you a deep shock!

So prosperous!

In Jingang City, buildings with ten or twenty floors are already considered very tall buildings in the city, but here, there are many buildings with one hundred or more floors.

The people here use crazy determination and means to constantly break the records of the number of floors and heights of buildings, as if they want to leave a deep mark in an era!

For this country, and for themselves!

"A jungle of steel." Hiram suddenly said something that made Lance look sideways.

"Did you eat something wrong?" he asked.

Hiram didn't react at first, "What?"

But he soon realized what Lance meant by this, "Damn you!"

"Even though you're the boss, Lance, can't I just say a few short sentences with some level of skill?"

He looked at Lance through the rearview mirror, and Lance raised his head with a grin, "You better watch the road!"

Hiram then turned his gaze from Lance in the rearview mirror back to the road, "I have my own feelings, okay?"

"And I feel like this is a steel jungle. The skyscrapers make me feel very small, like a small animal walking in the jungle, a little mouse or something."

He spoke his true feelings at the moment, and Lance did not refute him this time.

Because when he came here, he actually had some of the glory and madness of this city, which will not be out of date even after fifty years.

It represents the level of this country's industry, and also represents the ambitions and desires of the entire ruling class!

Everyone feels insignificant here, unless they are the "builders" here.

The car quickly returned to the hotel. Since Lance had nothing else to do today, he agreed to take everyone around.

There are a lot of people coming this time, and everyone has a strong curiosity about Jinzhou and Xinjin City.

Plus, this place is indeed much more prosperous than Jingang City. These people don’t say they feel inferior, but they are more or less unable to let go.

There is a direct relationship between a person's pattern and their vision.

When a parent tells his child that he wants to be an excellent steel worker in the future.

So for this child, his vision is limited to the stage of a steel worker.

These young people had never thought that they would have such a day, so even though they are already very rich, richer than most people here, they still can't let go.

Lance didn't feel anything about these things. He took everyone to some famous attractions and went to a shopping mall to buy some things.

As we saw more things and came into contact with more things along the way, we naturally began to adapt.

"The things here are much more expensive than those in Jingang City." In the mall, Alvin picked up a belt in his hand and then put it down.

The same belt only costs 19 yuan in Jingang City, but here it costs 24.9 yuan, which is 5 yuan more.

Lance didn't think there was anything wrong with it, "This is New Golden City. Golden State is the true core area of ​​the entire Federation. The ruling class rules the country from here."

"They represent not only power but also wealth, things that are ostensibly for everyone, but in reality, they are never for everyone."

“So it’s a little more expensive, which is normal. There are many more rich people here than in the Bay Area!”

The group also bought some things in the mall. It is worth mentioning that Ennio also came this time, and his father came with him.

His father also joined the Lance family. Although there was no stable job suitable for him, as long as there was work and he was capable of doing it, he would be allowed to do it.

His father received the same salary and allowances as other young people, and Lance did not give him more just because he was Ennio's father.

When it comes to traveling, young people may only have a short-lived interest in it, which will pass easily.

On the contrary, Ennio's father was very interested. He took Ennio to try on a lot of clothes and bought a lot of things. He also knew Morris, after all, they were from the same neighborhood, and he also knew Morris's father. He was also very sad and incredible about the death of old Morris.

In short, the relationship between their two families is pretty good. He is selecting goods for Morris and plans to bring them back as gifts for him.

This group of people is not small. If the outermost bodyguards are included, there are about 20 to 30 people.

A crowd of this size in a large shopping mall still attracts people's attention, the tellers, the tourists, everyone.

"That person... seems to have been seen somewhere."

On a bench in a shopping mall in the distance, a man who looked to be in his thirties frowned, his eyes fixed on Lance.

His companion turned around and looked in that direction, but it was just an unintentional glance.

Just as Lance said, Xinjin City is the center of the entire federation, and similar groups can always be seen here. They come from other parts of the federation and even from abroad.

There is some emotional out-of-control shopping here, and for the locals, the more out-of-control the outsiders get after seeing the greatness of this city, the more comfortable they feel!

They will have a sense of honor, as if... looking at outsiders from a higher perspective, the city also elevates them!
But the second person's casual glance changed his gaze, and he quickly turned around again, with a wider angle, staring at Lance for a few more times before turning around and saying to his companion, "Don't stare at them, it's Lance."

"Lance?" His companion frowned, and in his not-so-bright mind, there was a stick called "Lance" stirring, but after stirring for a long time, nothing came up. He could only look at his friend with a look for help.

The guy he was staring at lowered his voice a little, "Lance White, the one from the Lance family, have you forgotten?"

"Jordon!"

The first person who saw Lance's eyes became a little dazed and his mouth opened slightly.

In an invisible place, a bubble emerged from his brain, containing some content with flashing sounds, images and text.

As the bubbles rose a certain distance above the brain, they exploded with a bang, and all the sounds, images, and texts were released in an instant, exploding everywhere!
His eyes also focused and he cursed "Fuck" under his breath. Just as he was about to continue looking, he was held down by his companions.

"Don't fucking alert them, we have to call the Boss."

He nodded immediately, "You're right, let's go now."

Both of them were members of the Angels of Death, and Jordan's death was very embarrassing for them, especially since they had no way to retaliate and some people were already using it to mock them.

But it cannot be said that they are incapable of such things. The Angel of Death does have a certain influence in the North, but the Lance Family is in the South. They originally wanted revenge, but a series of events that followed directly scared them away.

If they were to fight Lance on his territory, they might not be afraid. Isn't that what gang fights are all about?
You shoot me and I shoot you, it depends on who has a stronger life.

But who the hell knows that the police in Jingang City are all Lance's men, and the national police system is an invisible entity.

Even if they are the angels of death, they will try their best not to actively harm the police. Even if they have to do so, they must do it without leaving any evidence, otherwise it will be very troublesome.

To deal with the Lance family in Jingang City, the police in Jingang City are a firewall, so they simply came back directly.

I didn't expect that Lance would not stay in the South, but now came to Jinzhou and was discovered by them!
The two men quickly stood up and walked out of the mall. The actions of the two "passersby" would not alarm Lance and his group, who were still selecting qualified goods from the stores one by one.

The two men walked out of the mall gate, and one of them went into a roadside telephone booth and dialed the gang leader's number.

Soon the call was connected, but it was not their boss, "We want to speak to the Boss."

The person who answered the phone was a little impatient. "Hundreds of people ask to speak to the Boss every day. If you don't have any better excuse, I'm going to hang up."

The little minion didn't dare to provoke these big men just because he found Lance, so he quickly said, "I found Lance White, and they came to New Gold City again."

"Lance White?"

"What the hell is that?"

"You mean a person?"

The minion quickly explained it again, which made the person on the other end of the phone take it seriously immediately.

Jordan is… just an old guy, an old guy who is already on the edge, but he is too old!
Many people used to hang out with him, or knew him and were his juniors.

Being a gangster is not a profession that can ensure longevity. For most gang members to live to the age of fifty, it is already very impressive.

Even the gang leaders may not live to be fifty years old, and only a few people in the entire gang system can live to this age.

People seem to see a lot of middle-aged and elderly gang leaders, but in fact this is just survivor bias.

For example, Heller did not live to be fifty, and neither did his father or grandfather.

Gang fights are extremely brutal. The longer a gang leader lives, the more enemies he will have and the greater the danger he will be.

People hope that Jordan can live to retirement age, which is itself a good wish for him and themselves.

I hope I can retire smoothly from the gang and live a final carefree life.

Therefore, the death of Jordan, a guy who had already been marginalized, shocked the entire Angel of Death.

Soon a new voice came into the receiver, "You said you saw Lance, where is he?"

The guy who made the call looked back at the name of the mall and said, "A shopping mall on the road in Xinjin City."

"Very good, keep an eye on them, I will arrange for someone over there to go over there."

The boss of the Angel of Death does not live in Xinjin City. Their reputation is too bad. If he dares to show up in Xinjin City, the police station will soon come to his door and send him to jail.

Whether it is the capitalists or politicians here, they will not allow such people who can threaten them to live in the same city with them.

However, the Angel of Death has an office here, disguised as a small gang.

There are also gangs in Xinjin City, and there are quite a few of them. These gangs are also engaged in various criminal businesses, currently mainly the human trafficking and alcohol business. The maple vine business is also increasing year by year, and there are also businesses in various special medicines.

These can bring them huge profits. The gangs in Xinjin City are actually more like commercialized gangs.

They no longer have such a strict concept of "territory". It is not the case that you are not allowed to come here or go there. Everyone's forces are intertwined.

As long as there are no contradictions and conflicts in business, we can coexist peacefully.

Lance and the others were unaware that they were being targeted, and they were still shopping in the mall. At this time, outside the mall, more than a dozen cars quickly parked on the roadside.

There were some guys who looked like bad guys sitting in the car. Two minions took the initiative to walk over because they knew the local "Boss".

The Boss's expression was not very friendly, because they should tell him about this kind of thing, so that he could show his face in front of the big Boss.

As a result, they reported it themselves.

The two were a little embarrassed, but now they could only pretend not to know.

"Are you sure they haven't left?"

The little minions nodded repeatedly, "They must still be inside. We have already checked... just now."

The person he was talking about was his companion just now. The local leader nodded and stopped talking.

A group of people sat in the car and waited quietly.

At this time, Lance and his friends also bought a lot of things. The mall operators were very familiar with these "big customers" and they arranged staff to push some carts behind them.

The kind of car that can hang clothes and help them transport some of the things they buy.

Lance and the others don't need to take these goods back themselves. The mall will deliver them to the designated rooms of the designated hotel.

If rich people are still burdened by things when shopping, it must be that they are not rich enough and need to use some packaging bags to show that they can afford these things!
"I've been around for a while, is there anything else you want?"

Lance asked as he stood in front of them, "If we've bought almost everything, we'll go back."

"I never thought that shopping with you guys would be so tiring!"

(End of this chapter)