Shadow Empire

Chapter 800 Who is the robber? [666+7]
Time always passes quickly for adults, not to mention the busy work.

Around seven o'clock in the evening, the wine dealer pulled his baseball cap down and hunched his neck as he came to a roadside restaurant. He ordered a set meal, then stood there and took a look, then walked towards a table in the corner where there were already guests.

Alvin also walked in from outside at this time. He randomly selected a set meal, then chose a seat that was relatively easy to observe, and sat down.

After a day's observation, it was found that this wine dealer was just a "retailer" at the lowest level. His job was to receive the goods and then sell them in small batches. He was not even a wholesaler, but just the lowest level in the entire sales chain.

There was no point in catching him, so Alvin decided to keep him and catch the person behind him.

Originally they had no plan to venture into the restaurant, because entering would mean that Erwin would not be able to do any tracking activities in the future.

At least they cannot be responsible for any activities that may involve a come-uppance with this wine dealer. This is indeed not appropriate for them since they don't have many manpower to begin with.

But they saw the wine dealer outside actually going to a table with guests, and Alvin immediately concluded that the wine dealer might know these people.

As the "brain" and commander of the team, he did not have to participate in the front-line operations, so he walked in directly.

He walked to the bar and sat down, not too far away from the wine dealer, about seven or eight meters. He could feel that the people at his table were staring at him.

Erwin didn't turn around and smiled at the waitress, "What do you recommend today?"

The waitress looked at him with her hands on her waist. After a while, she said, "Beef and beans with rice."

Erwin quickly found the "Beef and Bean Rice" on the menu and nodded. "That's it."

In fact, the only region in the Federation that currently mainly consumes rice is the southern region. The northern region still mainly consumes bread, wheat and beans, and they do not eat rice.

Rice was a very unfamiliar thing to the Federals. Its appearance was not the result of the diversification of the Federals' diet, but was caused by the complex omnivorous diet brought by the pure immigrant group.

Many immigrants mainly eat rice. The restaurants they open and the food they prepare all have immigrant styles.

And began to get the Southern Federals to accept rice.

But they did not fully accept it. Like this restaurant, their rice is not pure rice, but mixed with a lot of beans.

Another type is mixed with wheat kernels, potatoes and carrots.

But it may not be long before they start getting used to eating plain rice.

This restaurant's business is pretty good. Shops that can survive in small cities all have their own unique skills.

Some of the more popular foods were prepared in advance, so Erwin didn't have to wait too long.

When a plate of mixed bean rice is topped with thick beef sauce and a large spoonful of minced beef is placed on the rice.

Even though Alvin had this in mind, he was stimulated by the rich aroma of beef and rice and swallowed his saliva.

“Eggs, they look delicious!”

"Give me another...tropical juice."

Then he lowered his head and began to enjoy the cheap but delicious food.

The two people in the corner withdrew their gaze and looked at the wine seller sitting opposite them.

The wine dealer pulled out an envelope from his pocket and handed it over. "Business isn't very good today. I only have 415 dollars."

One of the bigger guys took the envelope, took out half of the bills, counted them briefly, then took out forty-two dollars and handed it over.

The other person said while enjoying his dinner, "Business is not good after the Shengnong Festival. You have done well enough."

"After you buy the goods you have, the other goods will be placed in this location. Here is the key."

He handed over a card with some addresses written on it and a key stuck on it.

The wine dealer took the address and took a look at it. It was not too far from where he was selling things today. He was a little confused, "Why can't we sell in one place?"

“Many guests won’t be able to find us!”

“I’ve lost some clients to be honest, I’m sure they still want the wine but they can’t find me.”

The guy sitting opposite him shook his head and said, "This is not your problem. Your problem is to sell more and better wine."

"Listen, we're not making things difficult for you. We're giving you the opportunity to make money. You shouldn't ask about things that are not good for you. Do you understand?"

The guy opposite patted the wine seller's cheek with his greasy hand and said, "Don't make trouble for yourself!"

The wine dealer's expression was not so happy, but he held it in.

These two men are state police. He is actually beginning to suspect that these guys might have secretly taken the wine out of the warehouse and sold it.

So they tore off the labels and sold the wine secretly.

This kind of thing has happened more than once or twice.

It’s just that they rarely had contact with alcohol before. What they had come into contact with before were various small appliances, daily necessities, food and the like.

It seemed that they had caught a big fish this time. However, the wine dealer did not ask any more questions, as long as he could make money.

The other person signaled that he could leave. He said goodbye to the two of them, then stood up and left quickly.

Alvin was still sitting at the bar and didn't leave. He planned to keep an eye on the two men for a while. As for the wine dealer?
People outside will continue to stare at him.

The two men met about a dozen people in one night before they left and were tracked directly to where they were temporarily living, a middle-class neighborhood.

Because entry and exit of this community requires someone's consent or registration, Erwin did not follow in.

At night, they parked their two cars in two lanes respectively. At dawn, they got up and continued to watch. Until around seven o'clock, they saw the car from last night driving out of the community - they remembered the license plate number, which was not difficult.

But when Erwin saw the two people sitting inside, he couldn't help but curse.

"Son of a bitch..." He signaled another car to follow, and he went to another street, found a public telephone booth, and dialed Lance's number.

Lance is discussing labor support for the new industrial zone with James (Mayor Williams' eldest son and city councillor).

Now the Lens Labor Agency is very popular among capitalists. Everyone wants to hire such workers who do not require them to worry about anything. Both parties are actively negotiating this matter.

There is a small problem here with Mayor Williams, the problem is that if they use exclusively Lans workers, it means that the unemployment rate for locals will go up.

How loud a federal politician speaks depends entirely on how much support he has.

Moreover, Mayor Williams doesn't just want to work for a few years. He wants to completely consolidate the power of the Williams family in Jingang City before stepping down, so he really needs support.

He was a little busy, so asking James to come and talk to Lance was also a test for James.

"Sorry, I'll take a call."

Lance's hand pressed to the receiver and James immediately stood up, "I'm going to go have a cigarette."

Lance smiled and had someone take him to the lounge next door before answering the phone, "This is Lance."

"Lance?"

"I, I found a problem that I don't know how to describe. You definitely can't guess where these wines come from."

Lance laughed twice, "It can't be from the Hazardous Materials Administration!"

“It’s not right, but it’s almost there.”

"We found the San family's previous employer yesterday and have been keeping an eye on them ever since. Just now I saw them going out in police uniforms."

“They are the police!”

Lance was stunned for a moment. This was indeed something he had not expected.

He thought about many possibilities.

For example, the local gangsters were jealous of his batch of goods. After all, they were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and the market price was around two million. Some people were jealous and robbed their goods.

It is also possible that it is simply a case of black-eating black. The compatriots in the neighboring state are very unscrupulous and want to do business with no capital, so they just swallow up both the people and the goods.

He also thought that it was possible that the Hazardous Materials Administration discovered their transport truck and detained both the people and the goods. He even asked Dell to investigate.

But now, he knew the answer: the police.

"The police robbed our goods?"

He took out his cigarette case and pressed it. The ivory case immediately opened. He took a cigarette from it with one hand and put it between his lips. Then he lowered his head and lit it with the table lighter on the table. "Continue to investigate and see how many people are involved. Don't alarm them. I have to think about what to do."

Erwin agreed, "I'll be as careful as possible."

The two communicated for a while, and Lance decided to send more people over. He was not very confident with only Erwin and his men.

Once law enforcement is involved, confrontation becomes difficult.

If you harm them, it is assaulting a police officer, which is a felony. Local law enforcement agencies, including ordinary people and gangs, can attack you.

But they don't need to take any responsibility for hurting you. They can find any reason to arrest you, or even kill you quietly, and there will be no aftereffects.

Lance is not familiar with Inden State and does not have any strong connections there. It is not a good time for Alvin to make any big moves now. He needs to think carefully about what to do.

After hanging up the phone, he thought for a while, but didn't have any good ideas. If this matter disturbed Senator Cleveland, it would make him seem... incompetent.

He was a little troubled for a while.

"Go and ask Mr. James to come back and tell him that I'm done with the call."

Not long after, James came back from the lounge next door with a smile on his face. Seeing his appearance as the "future successor of Jingang City", Lance seemed to have a flash of inspiration in his mind for some unknown reason.

"What state did Congressman Wade go to?"

(End of this chapter)