Shadow Empire

Chapter 775 Mediation
When two equally powerful parties are persuaded to do something, it is called mediation.

So what is it called when being dissuaded from unilateral violence?
Call it cowardice.

When a person is being beaten by another person and he doesn't want to be beaten anymore, he calls his elders to ask the person who is beating him to stop. This is a sign of giving in.

There is no logic in confrontation and fighting, just do it!
If they don’t win back the game now and ask for someone to mediate, people will just think that the Perez family is afraid!

At this time, there was another knock on the door. It was Bob. "Can I come in?"

Fran was about to speak when Robin pointed to the newspaper in front of him.

In fact, Fran didn't want to hide the newspaper. He didn't do anything wrong, but he subconsciously stuffed the "Tide News" into the drawer, for fear that these bastards would come in and see it.

After making sure everything was alright, he took a deep breath and said, "Okay, come in."

The door opened, and Bob stood at the door and poked his head in. He looked at Robin first, and after confirming that there was no one else, he asked, "They want to come in too."

Fran signaled that it was okay, and then Bob pushed the door open, giving up his position blocking the door and allowing everyone else to come in.

More than a dozen people came.

"We noticed something was not right with your breakfast. What happened?"

Fran glanced at Robin. Such bad news should not come from the mouth of him as the head of the family.

Robin relaxed his shoulders, walked to the window, opened it, and lit a cigarette, "Ted is done."

"And it didn't achieve the results we wanted. If we let the senator mediate now, it would give people the impression that we are no match for the Lans family and are actively seeking peace."

"Those who are waiting to laugh at us will make us laugh to death."

The people in the room had different expressions. They asked in detail about what happened and the results. Some people left to make phone calls.

In the end, they confirmed that Ted did rush into Lance's manor for Milo and did die there.

"What a fool!", the lawyer brother pushed the frame of his glasses, "How did he choose his direct line when he rushed into someone else's lair on someone else's territory?"

Choosing the direct lineage must be something most people here agree on. A direct lineage member who was the main driving force behind this matter interrupted him and changed the subject, "There is no point in discussing this now. How should we deal with it next?"

"Continue the war with the Lance family?"

"Is this appropriate?"

"And will Congress, the presidency, allow us to do this?"

He glanced at the others who also advocated in favor of Ted's election to the direct line, and soon they were discussing these issues, leaving the lawyer brother's words in vain.

The lawyer brothers didn't really want to cause trouble for them, they just said it casually.

Ted could have done better, for example, he could have opened fire in the city and caused huge riots.

In this way, no matter how powerful Lance is, it will be difficult to suppress him.

The speed of spontaneous propaganda from the public is sometimes faster and more outrageous than that of newspapers.

Maybe they just fired a few shots, and after some people modified it to satisfy their own fantasies, it turned into a large-scale gunfight, and then both sides used explosives, and in the end they might have lost thousands or even tens of thousands of people!
This is all possible. After all, people's imagination is processed based on what they hear, and it will only become more and more outrageous!

But Ted was stupid enough to attack Lance's manor. It can only be said that he was either really too stupid or his hatred controlled his ability to act.

Either that or his determination and desire to take revenge on Lance has surpassed his loyalty to his family!

Either way, it's a very bad situation for the Perez family now.

They must solve the problem as soon as possible before the situation escalates.

The room fell into silence. Bob wanted to speak several times but finally held back.

If we have to blame someone for this, it must be him.

If he hadn't argued so much with Lance, perhaps there wouldn't have been any follow-up.

Fran could see that Bob, his good brother, had been wanting to say something. "Bob, speak your mind."

Everyone's eyes were focused on Bob. The dark bags under his eyes seemed to have become even darker. The only thing that remained unchanged was his shiny hair.

"We can continue to attack Lance, but this time we can make it bigger and change 'we seek the senator to mediate peace for us' to 'the senator takes the initiative to mediate peace for us'."

"Although this may not necessarily cover up Ted's defeat in Golden Harbor City, at least we did not show weakness!"

"We can gather more people and make a bigger noise, then they will naturally take the initiative to mediate for us."

"In addition, we cannot do nothing during this period of time after the mediation. We must continue to put pressure on the Lans family."

Fran looked up and thought, and the others were also thinking about what he said.

There is something constructive.

This may be the best way to save the Perez family's face now. On the one hand, it tells people that they admit a failure, but will not accept defeat.

When the time comes, gathering thousands of followers will serve as a deterrent to those gangs or forces that are ready to laugh at them.

After all, at their core they are a violent gang, and these people are just bad people.

They might not be able to fight on the Lans family's home turf, but they would have no problem dealing with others on their own turf.

This is indeed a good idea.

Fran lowered her head. "What does the second sentence mean?"

That means the first proposal put forward by Bob was passed.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "The second one means that although we have made peace with him temporarily, we can send people to disrupt his business."

Robin frowned, "We don't have any reliable allies in the south, so it's hard to deal a blow to the Lance family's business."

Bob shook his head. "They're not the only gang in the South. There are many gangs."

“This time they crossed the state line to Indenor State and burned our farm. In fact, they were also provoking the local gangs. We can send people over to persuade them to fight the Lans family.”

"Gentlemen, we are not short of money."

"We can provide them with money, guns, ammunition, anything they want, and all they have to do is do one thing."

"That is fighting, fighting against the Lance family!"

“We provide them with all the conveniences.”

“And we can sell our wine there, too.”

Everyone fell into deep thought again, and what he said did make some sense.

After all, anyone who can become Fran's good brother is not only a real brother, but at least not a fool.

"You can give it a try, but I won't consider it for now."

“There’s smuggled liquor all over the seaside, and the price is lower than ours, so we don’t have a market there.”

"First, mobilize our people and solve our most difficult problems, then consider other things."

"So, does anyone object?" Fran looked at everyone else. The gentlemen in the room looked at each other and finally shook their heads.

After a few days, news began to spread that Ted had suffered a great loss in Jingang City and could not even come back alive.

The contest between the Lans family and the Perez family, and the outcome that people speculated about, became uncertain again.

The Lans family didn't look weak at all. They had already slapped the Perez family in the face twice, but they had no good solution. On that day, two big emails from Jingang City made the Perez family fall into a rage!
"what is this?"

Robin saw the butler and his men pushing two carts towards the house, and he asked curiously.

The housekeeper also shook his head. "This was sent from the south. They said it had to be opened in front of the master. There was a paper box with some things in it. It wasn't very heavy."

"But this big cabinet is very heavy. What might be displayed in it?"

The housekeeper's guess was not unreasonable. The shipping label also said "artwork", so there might be a glass cabinet inside.

Robin felt curious. The Perez family didn't have any particularly good friends in the south, so who could have sent this?

He didn't know and wasn't sure, but he wanted to follow and watch the fun, and soon the things were delivered to the house.

Fran also knew about this in advance. He did not ask the butler to send it to his study or collection room. What if it was not a good thing?
So they were unloaded in the lobby. Fran stood by the railing on the second floor, one foot on the ground, and looked at the housekeeper in the lobby on the first floor, "It can be disassembled."

Many family members gathered here to watch the fun, and the first thing they opened was the small box.

Inside was a box about one meter square, filled with flour or some other powder. In short, it gave people a very dry and choking feeling.

At the request of the butler, a warrior went to touch it and found that there was nothing special. The butler said he would find someone to figure out what it was.

Then they opened the second cabinet, and immediately they saw the wooden crash frame, and then they saw what was inside the frame.

A whole set of equipment supported by special instruments... I don’t know how to put it, but it’s a whole set of lifelike equipment?
Robin was very interested in these things, at least more interested than the box of white powder next to it.

He walked to the display case, opened it, and touched something that looked like animal leather.

A complete set.

A hat, a leather jacket, a pair of leather pants, a leather wallet, and something covered up, I don't know what.

"What animal's skin is this?" He moved closer. "Pig skin?"

“Who makes something out of pig skin?”

These leathers go through a complete process, because they do not need to be colored, filled, or hardened. After being tanned as a whole, they only need to be made into these shapes, sewn, and then worn on the models inside and dried.

The leather felt very delicate, not as rough as pigskin, and was soft yet tough. Robin had never seen this kind of leather before.

Fran on the second floor looked at these things and felt inexplicably familiar. Countless memories were tumbling in his mind. After tumbling countless times, the deepest memory surfaced.

When he was a child, he went to visit his grandfather's exhibits and saw a similar set of things. He tried on the leather boots and then asked his grandfather what it was.

"Human leather goods."

He said, and Robin looked back at Fran, "What did you say? I didn't hear you clearly."

As he spoke, he raised his hand to uncover the thing that was covering him. Then, the moment he turned his head, this guy who could kill people without blinking an eyelid was frightened and screamed!
Ted's face skin was completely peeled off and some fillers were used to make him look like a swollen ball.

It has no eyes and is empty, but the more empty it is, the scarier it is!
Robin cursed a lot and crawled back a long way, rubbing his hands on the ground.

Fran's Lance was extremely ugly, yes, human leather goods, human leather goods made by Ted.

This is not just a mockery for a first-generation immigrant family like them, it has risen to the level of an insult to the family's personality!

It's like a group of dark-skinned people holding guns and stepping on the corpses of old federals, with smug smiles on their faces. It's definitely a work that can arouse great anger!

Coupled with Ted's "peaceful" face, Fran grabbed something nearby and threw it over, "Fuck, fuck!"

"Burn it, now!"

As they were talking, someone found a bunch of ears and scalp from the other side...

What a huge humiliation!
Lance was clearly trying to provoke them. As long as he provoked them and they lost their minds and broke the rules, Senator Cleveland would use official means to cooperate with him and directly overthrow the Perez family!

Now that I have made the nest and put the bait, I just have to see if he is willing to take the bait.

All the older people in the house knew what this meant, and each of them had a particularly grim look on their face. There were similar things in their family's collection room.

That was once a symbol of their ancestors' bravery!
But now, it has become a means to humiliate them!
Almost instantly, the surrounding cadres, combat captains, and family collateral members all began to gather towards the Perez family estate.

The last time such a large-scale gathering occurred was about seventeen or eighteen years ago, when old Perez passed away and Fran had just taken office. There were some problems both internally and externally, and the Perez family faced an unexpected challenge.

Then Fran decisively summoned the core members of the family and solved the problem with iron-blooded means.

So this time, their actions immediately alarmed a lot of people. Many people wanted to know who had made Fran lose his mind again. Even the senator called him to ask about these things.

"Lance must die!"

That was his slogan to the outside world. At first, the senator behind him asked him not to overact, but soon when they found that he didn't seem to be acting, they realized the seriousness of the matter.

The senator found him and talked to him about staying calm, talked about the current domestic situation, and also talked about how if he acted recklessly, Lance's people would find a reason to deal with him.

In short, he said a lot of things and finally managed to calm down the furious Fran. At the same time, the senator also saw the human leather product that looked like a work of art.

In mid-to-late June, after several days of fermentation, Fran finally accepted mediation on behalf of the Perez family.

This time no one dared to speak nonsense and no one dared to continue to provoke Fran.

Because they also heard that it took some people a lot of effort to get the Perez family to stop the war.

If you talk nonsense at this time, you will not only offend the Perez family, but also offend those who contributed to this matter.

If something they had worked so hard to solve was destroyed by just a few words from someone, they would definitely wish that person death more than anyone else!
So the entire social opinion, especially the public opinion in the underground world, suddenly became so clean!

No one openly discussed the strength comparison between the Perez family and the Lance family, and no one mentioned that they did nothing after their two failures. Suddenly, everyone shut up.

Lance did not need to meet with Fran for this mediation. Both parties conducted it through agents. They had no coverage in terms of territory or business. Both sides just expressed that the matter was over and that was all.

But everyone knows that this matter will not end, it will just be paused.

The Perez family could no longer attack the Lance family's assets without reason, and Lance also told Fran the identity of the mastermind behind the scenes.

In fact, he didn't know whether it was true or not, but he believed that his guess was correct.

After receiving the news, Fran couldn't wait to regain his face from the Angel of Death. For a while, many "accidents" occurred in the central region of the Federation, causing many casualties.

More than one exchange of fire occurred on the invisible interstate highway.

After the matter was almost resolved, Tom took the initiative to call Lance and asked him about his final thoughts on the matter.

"I tried to provoke them, but these people were very calm, much calmer than the ones I met before."

Tom said, "You mean what they showed this time was fake?"

"I don't know for sure, but I do know that they are most likely not thinking of starting an all-out gang war."

Tom thought, "I'll mention this to the Senator."

He paused, "Anyway, you still have to be careful."

"Besides, the Senator has some interest in your film."

Some rumors about Lance's filming finally reached the Golden State, and the Navy also participated in the filming, which was the first time in history!
It is said that the script was written by Lance, and Lance himself was also the producer. They were very curious about what kind of story a gang leader could tell them.

As long as it wasn't Lance who was directing, they wouldn't find it unbearable to watch. If it was Lance who knew, Senator Cleveland might have called him a long time ago to ask him to stop making trouble.

Lance did not reveal the answer, "The filming is progressing very quickly, and it will be released earlier than I expected. Maybe we can catch up with the summer vacation."

The speed of filming was so fast because he had invested more than one million and five hundred thousand dollars. This is undoubtedly the highest-cost film in the federation and even in the world!
If one person's work is given to ten people to do, it will naturally not be too slow!
(End of this chapter)