Shadow Empire

Chapter 737: Still Not Realizing the Seriousness of the Matter [666+8]
Lance sat in the office with his legs crossed, thinking about many things. So many things had happened in the past few years, and sometimes he would have such a brief moment of trance.

Just like a person who keeps walking forward, he will also feel confused or tired for a short time.

They will stop and look back at the road they have come. They don't want to go back, but to appreciate and sigh about the road they have come, everything they have now, and the road ahead.

Once they have rested, they will move forward again.

Everyone has a short break in the journey of life.

It’s just that for some people, rest may take a long time, or even a lifetime.

But for some people, rest is just for a moment, a blink of an eye.

He took out a cigarette and lit it. There was still a lot of things to do next, which made him feel inexplicably busy.

But the meaning of life is here, to do what you want to do.

The spring sunshine shining on people will give people a very warm feeling, and also make people feel lazy. He held his chin and looked out the window, as if he was a little sleepy?
Just when he was thinking about whether to take a nap, the phone on the table suddenly rang.

He glanced at it, took a puff of his cigarette, and then answered the phone, "This is Lance."

"Lance, this is Joshua."

The tiredness in Lance's eyes disappeared in an instant, and he hummed twice, "So?"

"We need to talk, Lance."

"War is not the best solution. We have other ways to resolve disputes. I have a suggestion—"

"Let's put aside our hostility towards each other. This is my problem. I will choose to give in. I will give you a part of the land, or you can propose other compensation conditions."

"As long as you don't go too far, I can satisfy you."

Lance listened to him rambling for a long time before he smiled and said, "Why don't you listen to my thoughts?"

Lance was able to listen to Joshua rationally until he finished speaking. For him, this matter might really have a chance of turning around. He sincerely hoped that it could be resolved simply. "You talk, I'm listening."

He acted very sincerely. The pressure from both inside and outside was too great, so he had no choice but to do this.

Lance took another drag on his cigarette, and there was a hint of smile in his voice that Joshua could hear, as if he could see Lance on the other end of the phone line, smiling.

He looked forward to Lance's ideas, and as long as they were not excessive, he would accept them.

But what he got was an idea that made him doubt whether he had heard it wrong.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

“I don’t think I heard it clearly!”

He still couldn't believe what he heard, so he asked again.

Lance said with a smile, "I said--"

“Send Q!”

Without waiting for Joshua to react, he reached out and hung up the phone.

The phone call made him feel a little more energetic, and the sleeping assassin hiding in the spring day did not break his will.

Lance stood up and walked to the door, looking out into the hall for a moment before calling out, "Erwin, come here!"

Elvin, who was playing cards with other young people in the distance, put down the cards in his hand and walked over quickly. "What's the matter?"

Lance motioned him into the office and then sat down in a chair, "Are you ready boys?"

"About what?", he asked.

"About killing Joshua."

Erwin nodded. "The boys are ready." He couldn't help laughing. "Everyone wants to go!"

The main thing is that they can work together with so many senior cadres, so many team leaders, and friends, and work in other places, which is very attractive to many young people.

Lance nodded slightly, "Let them check again, weapons, bulletproof vests, I don't want to come back with anyone's body."

Erwin knew that Lance always cared about this, which was why everyone was willing to listen to Lance's orders. He always considered everyone's safety, including those at the bottom of the family.

He made the "family" really feel like a home, even though he might not be able to call out everyone's name.

On the other side, Joshua, who had hung up the phone, sat on a chair. He looked at the phone in his hand for a while before slowly putting it back on the phone base. The person next to him asked, "What did Lance say?"

In fact, he vaguely heard what Lance said, but he didn't dare to believe that what he heard was true. Maybe it was... some other word with a similar pronunciation but that he was not familiar with?

Joshua shook his head. "If we can't come to an agreement, get ready to fight."

He took a deep breath. He could feel Lance's determination to fight him, which shattered his last bit of fantasy.

He clenched his fists and said, "We are not weaker than them. We are even stronger."

When he said this, no one responded. Although their territory was large and they seemed to have done a lot of bad things, their main opponents were mainly dark-skinned people and immigrants.

These people have been discriminated against to varying degrees in this area. For example, at the intersections where some towns connect to interstate highways, there are signs saying "No dark-skinned people allowed."

So strictly speaking, they relied on bullying the vulnerable groups in the North and helping some extreme racists like themselves to harm those people. They gained everyone's support and expanded rapidly.

They may have had gunfights with some gangs, but those gangs were obviously a level lower than the more professional gangs.

Coupled with the current news from the state government that they want to catch them all in one fell swoop, and the rapidly intensifying conflicts within the gang, everyone knows that this is a disaster for the Holy Bell Party.

If they can get through it, then they are likely to have a new life.

If you can't get through it, then that's all you can do.

Some of them are not optimistic about this.

However, there are still quite a few people who believe that they can definitely deal a heavy blow to the Lance family and make them pay the price for underestimating the Holy Bell Party!
Some members of the Lance family began to move towards the central and northern parts, and the situation and atmosphere within the entire Likalai State became slightly tense.

Many forces have sent people to observe the battle between the Lance Family and the Holy Bell Party, wanting to see more directly whether this "neighbor" is as strong as people say!
Once the underground world of Likalai State has achieved a certain degree of unity and peace has been achieved internally, it will certainly expand outward.

Gang forces in surrounding states are very nervous.

During this period, Zabri (a representative of a mafia family in the southwestern part of Likalai State located in the Gulf region) also called Lance, because the Marcus family, like the Lance family, is mainly composed of immigrants and also has many dark-skinned people.

The dark-skinned people have not yet awakened the talent that their lives are more valuable than gold, so they are still a high-quality labor force that is able to work, willing to endure hardships, and does not need to be paid too much.

The Marcus family absorbed some of the good people, which can be regarded as cheap fighting force.

This has always caused friction between them and the Holy Bell Party. The Holy Bell Party portrays them as the "devil's team", and the two sides would create conflicts from time to time.

But it is not intense, and no large-scale fighting has occurred so far. The Marcus family lacks upper-level power. When everyone's own strength is almost the same, the upper-level power becomes the decisive force.

Seeing that Lance was about to overthrow the Holy Bell Party this time, the people of the Marcus family were also very tempted. They wanted to assist the Lance family in launching an attack on the Holy Bell Party.

But Lance declined, simply because he thought they would cause trouble.

By late March, the Lance family had arrived at Bokan, the northernmost city in Likalai State, a prosperous city compared to other cities in the region.

When the train stopped at a station outside the city, members of the Lance family began to get off the train.

They would not take the train directly into the city, they would have to come out after entering. Joshua was hiding in a small valley. Lance knew that place. It all depended on those priests who didn't want to see God immediately. Between the choice of going to see God and letting Joshua go to see God, they chose to let Joshua go to see God!
At this time, there were some staff members at the station, as well as farmers living nearby who did not plan to go into the city to take the train.

They watched a large number of people in uniform clothing getting off the train. They could not remember their faces, but they remembered the red armband on their left arms.

After Lance got off the car, the leader of the local Imperial gang came up with his men.

Cities are much more inclusive than the countryside because of their large populations, but even so, the local Imperial gangs are not so comfortable.

They are always being bullied by some people, and if they resist too fiercely, the local gangs will beat them together.

They lived a very miserable life during these years until the promulgation of Prohibition and Lance provided them with some alcohol, and the situation improved.

He walked up to Lance, bent down, held Lance's hands with both of his own, and kissed his ring, "Mr. Lance, the car is ready!"

Lance asked him to prepare at least forty vehicles, which would serve as a means of transportation to help them quickly approach Joshua's hiding place.

After all, there is still some distance from here to the small valley, and it is impossible to walk there on foot.

Lance patted his shoulder, "Well done!"

"The production of alcoholic beverages will increase significantly this year. You can apply to me for more alcoholic beverages then!"

The local Imperial gang leader immediately showed a surprised smile. To survive here, money is more important than anywhere else!
If we have to complete a discrimination chain for federal people, then at the top of the chain are the rich!
As long as you have money, you can avoid some troubles, and the bootleg liquor business is the most profitable!
Just as he was about to thank Lance for his generosity, his eyes accidentally caught sight of something that was being "unloaded" from a train not far away: two armored vehicles, and there was a fucking machine gun in the machine gun tower!
When he turned to look at Lance again, his eyes had turned into complete awe!
You're not here to fight, you're here to fight a fucking war!

(End of this chapter)