Shadow Empire

Chapter 781 Rejection, News, and Emergencies
At the end of August, a guy named "Adams" called Lance and invited him to Golden State to attend this year's federal joint meeting.

It sounds very grand and like some important event.

But in fact, Mr. Adams omitted a key word - gangster.

The gang joint meeting is held once every one to two years. It was held last year and is being held again this year. The main reason is that this year is the "first year of war" and many things in society are changing.

Gangs also need to keep up with the development of social forms and cannot be left behind by this fast-moving society.

This is an event that all gangs in the Federation want to participate in. It can be said that the joint meeting is the standard for determining whether a gang is truly qualified to step onto the big stage of the Federation.

No matter how much ordinary gangsters brag, as long as they cannot attend joint meetings, it means that their influence is only effective locally and they are just small players in front of their national counterparts.

There is no doubt that the Lance family has done a lot of great things in the past two years and has met the criteria for attending the meeting.

Adams is a well-known and active social activist in the South, as well as a broker. It is more appropriate for him to contact Lance.

The reason why gangs are gangs is because these people are either unruly, or full of doubts about authority, or are full of rebelliousness, or simply have a bad brain and are pure evil.

They need to figure out Lance's attitude first.

Too bad Lance refused, inviting him to Golden State?
He tried not to go to Golden State until he killed those people in the Perez family.

Even if we have to go, we'll have to go in a fucking armored vehicle!

His refusal was expected by some people. After all, he had just ended the conflict with the Perez family. The Perez family had a great influence in the central region of the Federation, and it was very likely that Lance would not come.

Some people laughed at Lance for being timid, but only those who were older understood that not being influenced by some public opinions and impulses at a young age meant that he could go further on this path.

Lance's refusal to attend the joint meeting itself was a questioning of the authority of the joint meeting. In addition, Fran had been saying bad things about Lance in front of other people, so the attitudes of the five major families towards Lance were not very good.

Maybe I don’t hate it, but I definitely don’t like it. I’m neutral but I don’t like it.

But no matter what they think, it doesn't mean much to Lance, because he has decided to occupy the South first.

In the company's entertainment room, everyone sits together and plays cards, a highly competitive form of play.

The game can involve four to eight players. Although it is called poker, it is more like a board game using playing cards, where points are gained or lost based on attack, defense and strategy.

The person with the highest score at the end wins.

This is a relatively complicated gameplay, but the interesting thing is that everyone can play it.

Its rules are no simpler than learning a math formula, but 99% of the people here may never learn that math formula in their entire lives.

But for these things, these complicated and confusing game rules, they can quickly remember them, use them skillfully, and remind others whether it is right or wrong to do so.

Maybe those people are right, there are no real fools in this world, only willing and unwilling.

Lance then pulled out two cards and placed them face up in front of him, "When is Ethan's next boxing match?"

Erwin looked at the cards in his hand while answering Lance's question, "The tenth of next month is a Saturday, and they have scheduled it for eight o'clock on Saturday night."

As he pulled out some cards, he continued, "If he can beat his opponent this time, he will be qualified to challenge the boxing champion."

Others were not surprised. If Ethan had not been a latecomer and had no great reputation in the boxing world, the only thing he could do was to fight his way out step by step.

And it's not easy to fight.

If it weren't for Lance's support behind him, Ethan would have found it difficult to get a chance to fight top-ranked boxers, let alone a qualifying match to challenge for the light heavyweight champion.

Here you can’t fight anyone you want, nor can you fight whenever you want.

To put it simply, if you want to fight with famous people, they also have to consider issues like what to do if they lose.

So they will evaluate, they will weigh the pros and cons, and if they don't have a great chance of winning, they won't fight you.

You have a lot of skills but you can't improve your ranking at all.

You say you are the best in the world, do you have a gold belt?
Have you knocked down those celebrities to prove your strength?

So behind this there needs to be a series of operations, including the operation of capital and the operation of power.

They will only fight you if you offer them an offer they can't refuse.

Money, power, influence, or threats.

Without considering the appearance fee, Lance overcame one difficulty after another. Now he has become quite famous. This time his opponent's appearance fee reached 350,000, which was paid by Lance himself.

The other party said that he would not play if the amount was lower than this. If he lost, his ranking would be lowered and he would also lose some stable income, so there must be sufficient compensation.

Three hundred and fifty thousand was enough to become a boxing champion, but now, this was all he could do.

Ennio didn't quite understand this. "If he beats his opponent this time, can he fight the boxing champion?"

Erwin shook his head. "It's hard to say. It depends on whether the boxing champion is willing to fight him."

Ennio put his cards on the table. "Can he refuse?"

"Then what's the significance of this challenge qualification?"

Erwin knew more about this matter and he was more concerned about Ethan's development in the boxing world.

Now, after more than half a year of continuous challenges, Ethan's ranking has begun to rise rapidly, and he has been nicknamed "King Kong".

But he is too young and has no big capital behind him, so even though he is very strong in the boxing world, no one takes him seriously.

The current boxing organization is still in its infancy and many of the rules are not reasonable, such as the issue of challenging the boxing champion.

All they stipulated was that boxers registered with the league had to be in the top ten to challenge the champion, but they did not say that the champion had to accept the challenge.

Boxing champions can avoid fights, but avoiding fights all the time will ruin their reputation, so it seems that the only option left for boxing champions is to accept the fight?
That is not the case. If someone else challenges the champion at this time, and the champion agrees to the challenge of another challenger, then a year may be wasted from preparation to competition to post-match recovery.

When Ethan challenges again, the boxing champion can respond to other people's challenges. As long as the boxing champion doesn't want to fight Ethan, there is always a way to avoid fighting him.

"My points." Lance threw the cards in his hand into the deck and added some points to his scoreboard. "Once Ethan meets the requirements, it will not be up to him whether to fight or not."

Erwin smiled and said, "That's true."

As Ethan's ranking rose, few people were really willing to fight with him. This unknown newcomer was difficult to deal with.

If you promise people that you deserve to win, they won't cheer for you, nor will you gain more benefits and advantages by defeating an unknown boxer.

But if we lose, the losses will be huge.

So it was basically Lance who spent a lot of money to pave the way and forced them to fight all the way.

But when it comes to the level of boxing champion, relying solely on money may not be enough to make him accept the challenge, and some other means must be used.

Making more imperial people appear in front of the public with a positive image is what Lance has always been doing.

The easiest way for a group to avoid becoming a victim is to gain control of more upper-level resources and power.

With more celebrities, capitalists, and even politicians who immigrate from the Empire, the social status of the Imperials in the Federation will improve.

They were chatting about these topics and some family matters when the door of the entertainment room was pushed open.

Lance glanced towards the door. It was Bolton.

Bolton has selected someone to manage part of the intelligence on his behalf, although he does not want to do so. He has been poor and down and out, so he knows better that the only way to be safe is to hold power firmly in his own hands.

But Lance spoke up and told him not to be so "alone", so he had no choice but to do as he was told and give some of his power to his subordinates. At this time, he was in a hurry and had no expression on his face. While others were shuffling the cards, Lance asked casually, "Would you like to sit down and play for a while?"

Bolton shook his head and walked over to Lance. "Our people got some news further south."

Erwin started dealing cards. Lance tilted his head and held the cigarette in his mouth, with the butt of the cigarette slightly higher so that it wouldn't burn his eyes.

But even so, he squinted at the cards in his hand and asked vaguely, "What news?"

"Some say the Sumurians are transporting large quantities of liquor to the Federation."

Lance stopped moving, and Erwin did not continue dealing cards. He turned his head and looked at Bolton. "Is the information reliable?"

Bolton swallowed and said, "I believe it is reliable. I have asked them to investigate again."

Lance took a deep breath. He had actually always wanted to go to Sumurri Island to see what ability those old stubborn people had to protect Christopher. However, because of the war and the complicated situation on Sumurri Island, he probably would not get any good results even if he went there.

He was thinking about how to solve this problem, but he didn't have any good idea for the time being. Unexpectedly, they took the initiative to send him some interest.

What does this mean?
This meant that there was not enough money on Sumuli Island, and as long as they were broke and uncomfortable, Lance was happy.

"Let someone inquire around a bit more and find out a little bit more, then contact the local Imperial gang and wipe them out at once."

"You should worry more and don't be stingy with the money, understand?"

Bolton nodded repeatedly, "I know."

Lance didn't say anything else to him. He picked it up again and started a new round of games. All this was just a small episode in the day.

The waves outside the window kept hitting the rocks on the shore. It looked like a rough sea, but it sounded like the sound of waves with a hypnotic effect.

A gust of hot summer wind blew in from the window just right, lifted the curtains, and blew on people, instantly blowing away the sleepiness and cooling down the heat.

Summer is a hot season. Although the sea breeze can make people feel cool and calm their restless hearts, the cool breeze is not available all the time.

On such hot days, people's emotions will fluctuate more and get out of control more easily.

Summer is the peak season for Carl's business. The soldiers saw too many long skirts and white legs, and they couldn't control themselves.

The plan that Lance and Admiral Miles collaborated on has long been put into practical use. Regardless of whether the soldiers need it or not, the military will issue them "physical therapy cards."

One card allows them to receive 30 minutes of therapy services to relieve stress and soothe their emotions.

Even if some naval soldiers are shy about going for health care, there will be soldiers they are familiar with to take them there.

During the lunch break and evening every day, you can always see many soldiers walking towards the northern part of the base. Lance has asked Carl to build several buildings similar to single apartments there.

These buildings are not very tall, they are all four or five-story steel structures, which is also the most popular construction method in the federation.

The steel structure materials are produced in the factory according to the requirements of the design drawings. When they are transported to the construction site, they only require simple assembly and welding, and the main structure of a house is formed.

Then the next step is to reinforce it and do other work, and the construction of the house can be completed in a very short time.

Although this type of structure has a short construction period and many advantages, it also has a lot of disadvantages. For example, once it encounters a fierce flame, the steel will melt and cause big problems.

But the federals didn't think such a big fire would happen, at least most people didn't think a huge fire would happen. They had a complete fire-fighting system and could easily put out the fire.

The houses here also adopt this model. Each house is only more than 20 square meters and includes a bedroom and a bathroom.

Posted on the wall outside each room are photos of the workers, their numbers, and their health certificates from the last month.

Each building has about two hundred rooms, and there are more than a thousand girls working here.

This place became a good place for soldiers to relax, and it was even more crowded when the weather got hot.

Carl patrolled his territory. He knew that there were many people outside talking about him behind his back, saying nasty things and cursing him.

But he doesn't care.

While those people were still rummaging through trash cans for other people's leftover food, he was already living in a big villa and eating the food that the chef prepared for him in front of him.

With a daily income of several thousand yuan, he would be willing to do anything even if these people came together to beat him up, let alone scold him.

Moreover, he listened to Lance's request and never forced anyone to work here.

Everyone who came in to work volunteered, even some girls from the Federation!

The prices here are not high, but the advantage is that the customer base is stable. Sometimes we can receive seven or eight or more than ten guests a day, and the distribution is fair without any additional exploitation.

With an income of more than ten, twenty or thirty yuan a day, you are considered a high-income earner even in Jingang City.

They did not have any hatred towards this place and they respected Carl very much. After all, they supported themselves and their families through their own efforts.

If they are free, they will say hello to Carl or chat with him.

But now, they didn't have much time. The whole floor was filled with those noises, and Carl was also getting a little angry.

Whenever it’s busy, Carl will patrol the different floors so that if any problems arise he can deal with them in a timely manner.

These soldiers are all young men, and sometimes they have quarrels or even fights over who should go first, and he needs to deal with them in a timely manner.

As soon as he arrived at the third floor of Building No. 2, he heard a quarrel. He immediately walked towards the place where the sound came from. Several soldiers were bullying a girl.

Carl pushed the crowd aside and walked in. The soldiers who came here to relax basically knew Carl and knew that Carl was the manager here. However, they were not like the girls here who lacked respect for Carl.

After all, Carl was a Slad, and the business he ran made the soldiers look down on him somewhat, so some of them did not give Carl much face.

After squeezing into the crowd, he saw a girl squatting on the ground crying with her arms around her shoulders. He walked over and checked the girl's body and found no exposed wounds.

The only thing worth mentioning is the red and swollen slap marks on her face. It can be seen that she was hit very hard, and the face is slightly swollen.

Then he turned his head and looked at the three soldiers standing together with a cold face, "What happened, gentlemen?"

"So much so that you have to slap a young girl?"

"Does this make you look stronger than the others?"

There were some laughs from the surrounding soldiers.

One of the soldiers pushed Carl in annoyance, "She refuses to serve us!"

Carl frowned, turned his head to look at the girl squatting on the ground, and then chose to believe the girl instead of the soldiers' words.

After all, those who are willing to work here and can stick with it are already mentally and physically prepared.

If someone is unable to do it, they basically won't come, and if they come, they will leave quickly.

He noticed that the girl had been working here for at least a month, which meant that she was mentally and physically prepared.

He asked, "What's wrong?"

The girl was a little embarrassed to say, "They want to come together, but they only give one card."

More laughter rang out around them. Not all soldiers were bad. Someone in the crowd said, "Isn't this just freeloading?"

This sentence caused another round of laughter. The three soldiers looked unhappy. "Fuck, didn't it say that one ticket can only be used by one person?"

(End of this chapter)