Shadow Empire

Chapter 773 A Gift for Mr. Fran

Ted was lucky. Although he was shot twice, he did not die immediately.

He lay on the ground in a daze, looking up at the people who had fallen dead around him. There was a trace of confusion and hesitation in his eyes, as if he was wondering about something.

A young man walked over through the gaps between the corpses, stepping on the blood on the ground. He kicked the weapon out of Ted's hand, then grabbed his hair and dragged him from between the corpses to the bottom of the stairs.

He coughed violently twice. The collision when dragging him caused him pain, and the pain made him cough.

One bullet hit the thigh and the other hit the lower abdomen. There should be no injuries to any vital parts. At least he is still conscious now.

Just when his mind was in a mess, clear footsteps sounded from a distance. He realized something, raised his head with difficulty, and looked towards the corridor on the side of the second floor.

About ten to twenty seconds later, Lance appeared in front of him, protected by some people.

"An unrealistically young man" is how some people describe Lance. It doesn't mean that he is really young, nor does it mean that at his age, being able to achieve such an achievement is simply incredible!
Lance stood on the steps, his entire soul still having not fully returned to his body from the ocean of music.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and took two deep breaths. The strong smell of blood in the air made him slowly open his eyes.

He looked down at Ted who was looking up at him from the bottom of the stairs. There was no hatred or hostility in his eyes, just a normal gaze.

But this ordinary gaze gave Ted some complicated emotions at this moment. He thought of the crucifixion, and God also looked down at the world in this way.

I also thought of the statues of gods in the temples. They looked down upon the world with such indifference.

He stretched out his hand, wanting to touch Lance who was standing high above him, but he couldn't even climb the first step.

He felt deeply exhausted, and finally could only cling to the ground, breathing slowly. Although he was not dead yet, he was not alive either.

Lance walked down the steps slowly and came to Ted. He lifted Ted's chin with his toes and looked at his lifeless face. "They all say that the Perez family is amazing, but why can you only do this much?"

"Are they exaggerating your abilities, or is that all you are?"

Ted tried his best to look fierce as he stared at Lance, "Fran will avenge me."

Lance shook his head slightly, "This is my territory. No matter how many people come, they will die."

"I'm sorry about your son, but this is his fate, and yours as well."

Lance loosened his foot, ready to free him, and he suddenly said, "You'll be like this one day!"

"What did you say?" Before Lance could say anything, Erwin next to him kicked him.

Ted suddenly had an emotional outburst, perhaps it was a moment of last breath, and his body regained strength.

Every cell in his body was making a final effort.

He coughed and laughed, "You, you guys, will be like this one day."

"You either kill or you are killed. One day you will be killed too."

Erwin was about to take action, but Lance stopped him. He looked at Ted who was able to lift his head by himself and said, "You are right. When we set foot on this road, this is our fate."

"But some people's fate is in the hands of others, such as you."

"Others, like me, control their own destiny."

He pulled the pistol from Erwin's waist, turned off the safety and pointed it at Ted's head, "Is there anything else you need to convey to Fran?"

"This is my appreciation for your courage."

Ted was silent for a while. "Tell him for me, send Q!"

Lance nodded seriously, "I will."

The next second he pulled the trigger and the bullet shot into Ted's forehead. His upright body immediately fell heavily to the ground. Lance walked over and fired a few more shots.

Until he was completely still.

He noticed that some of these people were pretending to be dead, at least he found one, and he pulled the trigger at the guy who was pretending to be dead, and soon the guy who was pretending to be dead was deader than dead.

Lance flipped the safety off his pistol and put it into Erwin's holster, "Clean it up, and watch out for those who are playing dead."

Soon, another burst of gunfire was heard in the sky above the suburbs, but it was not intense and had a sense of rhythm, with the sound of gunfire being very regular.

It is true that some people were pretending to be dead, and some could not bear the pressure and suddenly tried to do something else, perhaps to escape, or to do other things, but they were quickly killed by the vigilant gunmen.

Lance returned to the side hall, sat on the sofa, looked at the people who were a little out of breath, and his eyes quickly fell on Hiram's shoulder.

"Shot?"

Hiram shook his hair, "Minor injury."

He was too easily excited and stood up when he was excited. He had to be grateful that it was night time and that he had no time to aim at the opponent, so he only hit the shoulder.

If he moved to the side any further, let alone half a meter, or even thirty centimeters, he would have to go to see God.

Blood was oozing out of the shoulder. There was a doctor in the manor who had removed the bullet from Hiram and bandaged it.

Laun said, "The shot hit the bone. The doctor said he will have trouble lifting his hand in the future."

"Fuck, shut up!" Hiram suddenly became furious, which was rare. He stared at Lawn, "This is my fucking business, don't say anything!"

Lawen looked at him without fear. The two were actually very good friends. It was Hiram who brought him and several others to join Lance.

Lance knew what Lawn meant. Hiram was seriously injured tonight, and it might be difficult for him to use one arm in the future.

He was worried that this bastard would do something bad again in the future, so he probably meant to ask Lance to have him take fewer combat missions in the future.

But for Hiram, he believes that his greatest role in this big family is to fight!

In terms of the time he has been with Lance, he is definitely not as good as people like Elvin who came on the same ship with Lance. Even if Lance is really close to them, overall, if we quantify the favorability.

Erwin was one hundred, and the best he could do was ninety-nine.

He is not as smart as Sean. Sean is in college and will soon come back to work for the family. He may even bring more young people with higher education.

In terms of management ability, he is no match for people like Melo. However, as the true steward of the family, he has made an indelible contribution to the current stable development of the Lance family.

Everyone has their own strengths, and Hiram feels that he has no other strengths except fighting.

If he is not allowed to fight now, what else can he do?
Go work as a bartender in a bar and then just wait to die?
Watching other brothers still fighting and killing in glory, he was like an outsider, chatting about how to mix a certain kind of wine?

This was not the life he wanted, so he suddenly became angry.

Lance raised his hand and pressed it lightly, "Alright, alright, there's no need to argue over such trivial matters. I will have the best doctor check your wound and try not to affect your performance as much as possible."

"If it's really difficult for your arm to recover its previous flexibility..."

When Lance said this, Hiram suddenly became nervous. Lance was mean and deliberately didn't say anything else immediately, which made him anxious for a while.

Then he smiled and said, "You are most likely not destined to use rifles. You should practice more with submachine guns in the future."

A smile was visible on Hiram's face. He waved his fist, then turned around and punched Laun. The two glared at each other again.

"How many casualties did we have?"

"And how many of them did we kill?"

“Who can tell me this?”

Melo walked out of the crowd. "We just counted the bodies. There are a total of 179 bodies. They caught more than 20 people who escaped outside. I heard that there are others who took advantage of the chaos and ran away."

Lance was not surprised to hear this. When they drove in and found that the place was full of gunmen, there were more than a hundred people following Ted forward. It can be said that these people are indeed elite.

But this also means that they will suffer heavy losses. "What about us?"

Melo shook his head, "We have suffered casualties..."

"Let's talk about it separately."

Lance reminded him.

Sometimes they would confuse this number in order not to deceive, but to calm Lance's emotions. If there were one hundred casualties, it might be that one died and ninety-nine were injured.

But it is also possible that if one person is injured, ninety-nine will die, which leaves a lot of room for maneuver. But Lance doesn't play that game with him.

Melo could only smile bitterly and said, "We also have 37 people who were shot and have left, and about 20 people have been sent to the hospital for treatment. There are 30 to 40 people with minor injuries. I haven't counted them specifically."

Erwin explained, "Their bus rushed directly into the flower bed, disrupting our original formation. Many of us were directly exposed to their guns."

It turned out that they were in the area in front of the flower bed, where there was a fountain and some independent small flower beds, and they were defending and counterattacking around this area.

But Ted simply ordered the driver to step on the accelerator to the maximum and crash directly into the first line of defense.

Those guys were attacked from both sides at the same time, and some of them stood up in panic.

They were not as lucky as Hiram, who had managed to avoid being shot many times when leaning out of the car windows. This time, even in such a chaotic scene, he was only shot in the shoulder.

Many people were not so lucky and fell to the ground immediately after being shot.

Lance's scalp itched a little. "Give him compensation according to the family's rules."

"People's income is low and prices are high now, so give them half as much, and keep everything else the same."

Mello nodded and made a note of it.

The Lance family's pension is very high. Currently, the federal military's pension is only seven or eight thousand dollars, and it is not certain that all of it can be received.

Lance's starting price is already 10,000 yuan, 10,000 yuan, and now add half of it, which is 15,000 yuan.

There are people out there who are willing to work hard for three to five thousand dollars. Fifteen thousand dollars is indeed a lot, but in Lance's opinion, it is still too little.

Because life is priceless!

Of course he was not saying anything sarcastic. To him, the lives of his own people are priceless, while the lives of his enemies and outsiders are cheap, worthless, and even despicable!

So he was able to give so much money, and this money also made many imperial immigrants think that he was a good person.

Sometimes it is really easy to win over the lower classes of society. As long as you are not so harsh and not so stingy, they will be loyal to you!

Lance assigned them some tasks and then went to the study alone. He first called Mayor Williams.

The housekeeper told him that Mayor Williams had called and it was not late yet, so Mayor Williams must not have slept yet.

As his best partner in Jingang City, it was necessary for Lance to tell him something.

The call was quickly connected, and before Lance could say anything, Mayor Williams took the initiative to ask, "Did you win?"

Lance was a little stunned, then laughed dumbly, "Yeah, I win."

"I heard the gunfire was very intense."

"There were about 200 people who came, some of them ran away, and the rest stayed."

Mayor Williams couldn't help but curse after hearing this exaggerated number, "This wasn't a hundred years ago!"

"These people are really crazy, I will sue them!"

As a mayor, he had some status within the Socialist Party and could complain at party conventions, state conventions, and the national Socialist Party convention.

Even if the people in Golden State don't do anything to the Perez family, they will still feel somewhat disgusted with this family.

The Perez family did not take the social rules of the Federation seriously at all by sending so many people to attack the local prominent families so blatantly!
Lance chatted with him for a few more sentences, and suddenly seemed to think of something, "Were the ancestors of the Perez family the first immigrants to arrive in the Federation?"

This question also stumped Mayor Williams. He couldn't answer it for a long time. Lance didn't force him to come back. He just said "forget it" and exchanged a few words with him before hanging up the phone.

Then he called Tom again and told him how he had quickly dealt with the people sent by the Perez family, and then asked the same question.

For Tom, as long as Lance was fine, he didn't care about anything else, but he still knew the questions Lance asked.

After all, the five major families are indeed objects that need people's attention.

"Yes, the first person whose origins can be traced back to the Perez family was an exiled criminal on the Hope who later became a sailor."

"what happened?"

"Do you know any psychic skills?"

The Federals really fucking believe this!
They actually believe that some people can communicate with dead spirits!
Lance laughed twice, "I don't know how to call his ancestors to me, but I know how to send him to see his ancestors!"

Tom was stunned for a moment and then burst out laughing. "Has anyone ever told you that you are humorous?"

"Everybody says that!"

After laughing for a while, Tom continued, "Someone may want to mediate. Other senators visited Mr. Cleave today. You should be prepared."

Although Lance was a little surprised, if they were going to mediate, why did they send someone over? He couldn't understand.

Ultimately he could only think that this might be a little ploy by Fran to see if he could get the upper hand.

If he gets it, he won't mediate.

If he can't get it, he pretends not to know.

"I understand. I'll contact you if you have anything."

After hanging up the phone, Lance asked the butler, "How do they deal with the natives?"

The question was nonsensical, but the butler soon realized that Lance was probably talking about "how the first immigrants treated the natives."

He listed some of the more outrageous pieces, including a full set of leather goods made from indigenous skins.

Sometimes it is really hard to believe that the Federals are no different from the natives in terms of superstition and ignorance!
The natives called them "white devils", and the federals wore leather goods made from the skins of the natives, which were said to ward off the curses of witches...

In some museums, they still have evidence of their brutal treatment of the indigenous people back then, complete sets of leather goods!
Lance nodded slightly, "Go find some natives and ask them if they are willing to make a set of leather goods for the Perez family, using the skins of people in their direct lineage."

"As for the others, cut off their ears and mail them to Mr. Fran. Remember to use a refrigerated truck so they don't rot on the way."

You have to leave some gifts for Fran that can make him feel different, otherwise he will send people to harass him for no reason, and Lance will get impatient.

Of course he knew that there would be an all-out gang war between him and Fran after the war was over, so there was no point in pretending to be harmonious now, there was no need.

Although the butler didn't quite understand Lance's "bad taste", he still did it.

Compared to Lance's behavior which can only be described as "bad taste", the nobles are the real perverts!
After finishing the things at hand, Lance smiled, shook his head, picked up the phone and dialed Fran's number.

Fran didn't sleep. For him, who was in his prime, the daytime was before 11 o'clock at night.

He had no social engagements today, so he sat in his study, smoking, thinking, and waiting.

The phone on the desk suddenly rang. He was startled at first, then he took a deep puff of cigarette to suppress the surging emotions in his heart, and then answered the phone.

"It's me, Fran."

"Mr. Fran, Mr. Ted wants me to pass on a message to you on his behalf."

"How is he?" Fran's emotions began to fluctuate. He realized that Ted might have failed and been arrested.

Because he could still ask Lance to convey some information to him, which at least proved that he was still alive at the previous moment.

He was caught, that's what Fran guessed.

Lance chuckled a few times, "Why don't you listen to what he wants to say first."

Fran was silent for a while, many thoughts colliding in his mind, and finally stopped, "What did he say?"

"He said……"

“Send Q!”

"beep……"

"beep…………"

(End of this chapter)