Shadow Empire

Chapter 791: Forbidden to get free stuff and find something for them to do
Chief Derek turned to look at the five young men, all of whom had expressions of fear to varying degrees on their faces.

Suddenly he felt that this was not a bad thing. At least it could allow these young people to put aside some of their inherent prejudices and blind optimism.

It's actually like a bedtime horror story where you tell them there's a big bad wolf living in the forest who eats children.

They may not take you seriously until they actually see the big bad wolf.

If this incident makes them alert, then it's a good thing.

He turned to look at the restaurant manager, "Thank you, tell Mr. Lance that he is very grateful for his hospitality."

In fact, both he and the manager knew that this sentence would not reach Mr. Lance's ears, but the manager still nodded and smiled as he opened the door to the outside world for them.

Chief Derek turned and looked at the five young men, still smiling, "Let's go, we're going back."

Several young men seemed to be frightened and walked outside quickly, their steps a little messy.

In the parking lot, they looked around in panic, trying to find someone hiding in the corner and staring at them, but they found nothing.

Sitting in the car, the female agent couldn't help but ask, "Is he staring at us?!"

Chief Derek stopped starting the car and looked at the female agent, "He's not staring at us. That's what I'm telling you, don't be optimistic, stay alert."

"The Lance family has too much control over this city. That's why we can find evidence of their crimes here."

"It is indeed easier to go to Maintenon, but we will never get access to the core criminal evidence of the Lans family!"

"To be honest, I was also shocked, but this just tells me that we have chosen the right direction because they, he, are paying attention to us!"

"They were wary, worried and even frightened by our arrival, so they did this to scare us."

"Keep your emotions normal and calm yourself down."

"We are FBI agents, we are employees of the federal government, he dare not hurt us at will and without reason!"

Unlike other law enforcement agencies, the superior of the FBI's Golden Harbor Branch in the city is the FBI, which reports directly to the President.

Killing them would most likely alert the director general, or even the president, so as long as their ill will towards Lance and the Lance family was not exposed, Lance would most likely not take direct action against them.

Chief Derek gave an explanation, which calmed the young people down and made them feel relaxed.

Now they live in the FBI dormitory, and after sending these young people back and watching them go upstairs, the smile on Derek's face gradually faded.

He calmed the young people down very well, trying to make them less frightened.

Fear will cause them to make mistakes, and mistakes at this time can actually kill people.

But this incident made him feel a heavy pressure.

He drove back to his residence, but instead of getting out of the car, he sat in it and lit a cigarette.

He thought this would be a fun game in the end, but in reality, everything was under Lance's control.

He pounded the steering wheel hard, and suddenly the sound of a horn in the night brought all kinds of insults from the surroundings.

He smoked a cigarette and looked at the dark and deep sky. The stagnant water in Jingang City was much more terrifying than he had imagined.

He sat in the car for half an hour and finally confirmed his previous idea: not to investigate any cases related to the Lance family. This was the only way for now.

For his own safety and the safety of his men...Fuck!
Everyone met in the office early the next morning. Although these young people didn't say anything, it was obvious that they didn't get enough rest last night.

Chief Derek didn't get enough rest either. He had much more to think about than these young people.

Fortunately, Lance's "greetings" seemed to be just a greeting. In the week after this incident, they seemed to have walked out of the shadow shrouded by the Lance family. Ordinary FBI agents also arrived at their posts one after another and started their official work.

At this time, there are only a dozen days left until the Holy Farmer's Festival.

In the morning, Roger (the old man from the Imperial Chamber of Commerce) and Mr. Martin (the confidant of Earl Griffith, the leader of the Imperial Rebel Army) arrived outside the office early. When they saw Lance, they immediately stood up.

A smile immediately appeared on Mr. Martin's face.

Lance is now becoming more and more famous in the Federation, which also means that Lance can play a more important role.

To put it bluntly, even if Earl Griffiths the Younger wanted to sell out the country, the price could be higher.

For a rebel who hates this country and is chased around by the emperor, going home has long lost its meaning for him.

The only thing that matters is living, taking revenge, and overthrowing the royal family!

The first person Mr. Martin found was Roger, because many people said that Roger had various scarce medicines worth tens of millions of federal soles.

The rebels had just fought a battle with the Imperial Army not long ago. This time, due to the betrayal of a traitor, although the rebels inflicted heavy damage on the Imperial Army, they also suffered heavy losses.

Not to mention the consumption of ammunition, the most critical issue is the lack of medicine.

Even if there are no bullets or weapons, they can still get them.

There are still some nobles willing to sell weapons to Earl Griffiths the Younger on a small scale.

They didn't want His Majesty the Emperor to get out of this matter so quickly.

Once His Majesty the Emperor has resolved the problem of the rebels, he may begin to retaliate against those nobles who had previously wavered in their stance.

Therefore, they hope that the rebels will continue to exist so that they will not become too powerful and will continue to cause trouble to His Majesty the Emperor.

There are reports that His Majesty's headaches are becoming more and more frequent.

There are places to replenish weapons and ammunition, but various potions are really difficult to get.

Some large pharmaceutical factories within the empire are controlled by the royal family and nobles, so it is almost impossible for them to obtain medicines.

It just so happened that Mr. Martin recently heard that the Imperial Chamber of Commerce had a batch of various special medicines stockpiled before the outbreak of the war, so he immediately contacted the official president of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce, Roger.

Roger himself didn't dare to make the decision on such matters. Martin saw through his predicament at a glance and begged to come here to meet Lance, hoping to get the batch of potions.

Lance welcomed the two into his office. After listening to Mr. Martin's explanation of his purpose, he did not refuse. Instead, he asked, "Can Earl Griffiths still come up with tens of millions of federal soles now?"

"It seems I have to look up to him!"

There is actually a hint of sarcasm in this sentence. Having lost his "rear", Earl Griffiths the Younger now relies entirely on overseas activists like Mr. Martin to raise funds.

His family accounts had long been confiscated by the royal family, and almost all of the castle and the artworks inside had also been confiscated. He had no money at all!
Mr. Martin asked for the special medicine in Lance's hand as soon as he opened his mouth. It was indeed a bit... arrogant, or conceited.

He seemed to have not heard the meaning of Lance's words, and said seriously, "Mr. Lance, this batch of medicine is very important to us!"

“Please sell them to us!”

Lance pursed his lips, "How much money can you come up with?"

Mr. Martin said with an impassioned look, "No money!"

Roger, who was standing next to him, widened his eyes. He suddenly felt that this man was not very smart, so he moved a little further away from him to avoid the blood splattering on himself.

Without waiting for Lance to respond, he added, "Earl Griffith has contacted me. He promised you, Mr. Lance."

"As long as we defeat the royal family, Earl Griffith will replace the royal family as the new ruler of the empire, and he will promise you a dukedom."

"Then people will call you 'Duke White'!"

Lance smiled and said, "I respect Lord Griffiths, but I don't think he can prove that he can do what you say."

"His situation is always dangerous, and the things he promises are like deceiving the fools in the countryside."

"I believe no mature leader would make such a promise unless he has lost hope of winning."

If you think about this kind of promise clearly, you can tell it is absolutely impossible to fulfill, or there is definitely something wrong with it.

If he did that, would he grant Lance a fief?
With the fief, Lance was at least a governor.

Being a governor in the empire as a duke is already miserable. Normally, when one reaches the duke level, there is a high probability that he will develop in the direction of a duchy. If Earl Griffiths really did what he said and overthrew the royal rule, it must have been with the help of other nobles.

Where could he canonize Lance?

He would confer Lance on the fiefs of those nobles who were at odds with him but whom he could not easily take action against, or who were not strong enough to take action against, and let Lance fight to the death with those nobles.

If he wins by chance, I'm afraid Lance won't have much strength left. By then, he can find a reason to say that Lance despises the royal family and wipe him out.

If I can't win, that's great. I can use someone else's hand to deal with Lance, shock these nobles at the same time, and fulfill my promise.

This is only the case if he can win. If he can't win, everything will be in vain.

Regardless of whether this idea came from Earl Griffiths Jr. or Mr. Martin, they were bullying Lance's "commoner" status and thought he couldn't figure out what was going on.

Once he is fooled, there will be endless troubles.

However, neither Mr. Martin nor Earl Griffiths realized that although Lance still looked the same Lance, he had actually become a different person.

Such little tricks are of no use to him.

Mr. Martin wanted to say something else, but Lance raised his hand to stop him. "This batch of goods is now worth 13 or 14 million. I can't make decisions for other people's things. I can only guarantee my share and give you a fair price."

"Ten million. Once the money arrives, we will arrange for someone to ship it to you immediately, or you can take it away yourself."

"Mr. Martin, if you think I cannot understand the trouble you and the young earl are in, you can go anywhere and ask if your face is worth three or four million."

This sentence hit the point directly, and Mr. Martin's expression changed slightly.

The combined face of these people is only worth about 300,000 to 500,000 federal soles a month.

Mr. Martin was not a fool, on the contrary he was very smart, so he realized that his little trick had been discovered.

This also made him a little anxious because he felt that Lance was dissatisfied with them.

Lance will give them 100,000 yuan every month. This 100,000 yuan may not seem like much, but it is still very helpful for the current rebels. Both food and ammunition require money, and this money can be of great use.

He quickly stood up and bent down, "I apologize for our recklessness, Mr. Lance. I will contact Earl Griffiths as soon as possible to discuss this matter."

"I'll take my leave now."

Lance didn't try to persuade him to stay, just nodded and let him leave.

He was certain that these people had no money. Even if Earl Griffiths Jr. had money, he would not use it to buy medicine to treat his wounded soldiers.

The reason is simple. In some chaotic empires, human life is worthless!

A dose of special anti-inflammatory medicine now costs more than one hundred yuan per injection, but more than one hundred yuan can hire several soldiers to fight, especially those untouchables, or those low-level speculators who want to overthrow the rule of the royal family and the aristocracy.

Upper-class speculators speculate with money, power, and connections, but they don’t have these and can only use their own lives.

These people's lives are worthless, and they may not even need to be paid any salary. They can also bring their own dry food to participate in this war.

Earl Griffiths wanted to get these drugs, essentially because he wanted to gain more initiative at the political level of the empire.

These drugs are actually more like a kind of strategic materials. They can make Earl Griffiths Jr.'s "situation" look not so bad, just like those capitalists who can live in the office but must have a luxury car.

He wanted to use these drugs to give people some confidence after suffering a devastating blow.

If they were only considering practical use, Lance felt that it would be enough for them to buy a potion worth hundreds of thousands. Who the hell would inject a special medicine into a worthless lackey?

After sending Mr. Martin away, Lance asked Roger to sit back down. "This batch of drugs is becoming more and more eye-catching. People who should notice it will soon notice it. Find a way to sell some of it, as long as the price is right."

“Too much of a good thing is trouble!”

Roger also had some feelings, "I understand, I will contact some buyers."

He paused, with an embarrassment on his face. Lance raised his chin, "Anything else?"

Roger faltered, "Some people are willing to pay a high price, higher than the market price, but..."

He didn't even finish but Lance knew what he meant.

It must be the Dantra people. The Federation's medical technology is pretty good worldwide. Even if it is not the most advanced, it is first-class.

It is normal for them to want to import large quantities of drugs from the Federation, but it is difficult to do so now because of the war between the two sides.

It is inevitable that some businessmen will buy these drugs through smuggling and sell them to the Dantra Republic at a higher price.

On the one hand, they gain huge benefits by posing as "patriotic businessmen", and on the other hand, they make huge profits from the blood and sweat of patriotic people.

And it's also very face-saving to say it out loud.

Lance didn't like these people very much. Instead, he felt a little disgusted with them.

He frowned, "Although we are from the Empire, we are now nominally Federation people."

"It would be fine if these things were not discovered by others, but once they were discovered..."

"Roger, you and your family will disappear."

He paused for a moment, "Those merchants in Dantra will find out that we have made a lot of money from them. When the time comes, they will find a way to create a confidential document to expose you, and you will have no place to cry even if you want to."

He thought for a while and said, "The new FBI Director Derek is an interesting man. You should contact him and tell him that you know some Dantra spies are operating in the Federation. Then find a way to arrest these people."

"Patriotic!"

"We will too!"

Roger was originally very conflicted about this matter because the other party offered too much, but now that Lance said this, he had nothing to hesitate about.

"I know what to do, Mr. Lance."

Lance raised his hand to signal that he could leave. He turned around and went to the FBI's Golden Harbor City branch as Lance instructed.

If his driver wasn't also an old Jingang native, he might not have heard of this department.

After all, even until now, many people don’t even know what it is mainly used for and who it serves!

Roger arrived at the inconspicuous four-story building. He entered the lobby, but there was no one inside.

If there wasn't an FBI (Golden City Branch) sign hanging outside, he might even wonder if he had come to the wrong place.

He knocked on the desk at the front desk, and after a long while someone came jogging over.

A young man who looked only about 24 or 25 years old, "Sir, do you have any questions?"

To be honest, the tone was not very polite, but Roger didn't care. He didn't know why Lance asked him to do this, but he knew that he had to do it.

"I came... to call the police."

He searched his mind for a long time and only found this one word to describe what he was going to do.

The young man was stunned for a moment, then became a little excited, "What do you want to call the police for?"

Although Roger felt that the young man was a little unreliable, he continued, "I found some suspected Dantra spies operating in Jingang City. I think they have bad intentions."

"I don't know if the police are in charge of this matter, so I came here to try my luck."

These excuses actually did not hold up at all, but young people are young people and they had no experience, so he took the case immediately.

"I haven't asked yet, what should I call you, sir?"

"Call me Roger..."

(End of this chapter)