Empire of Shadows

Today, Mr. William (Patricia's father) is returning from the state government, and Patricia said her mother suggested everyone have dinner together tonight.

Lance had no objections to this, and he also had some ideas he wanted to discuss with Lawrence.

So, he rejected Vaughn's suggestion to consider meeting with Chairman Te tonight to chat and drove directly to the train station.

And at 6:40, he waited for Mr. Lawrence.

Lance honked the horn on the side of the road. He immediately noticed the situation and saw Lance getting out of the car.

This book is first published on 𝕥 𝕨 𝕜 𝕒 𝕟 . 𝕔 𝕠 𝕞.

"Did they send you to pick me up?" William handed the luggage to Lance while using a towel to beat the dust off his body.

The dust at the station was too heavy. His dark woolen clothes were covered with many tiny dust particles. These grayish dust particles were particularly noticeable on the dark clothes.

Lance put the luggage in the trunk and opened the car door for him. "Pat never actively asks me for anything, so since she opened her mouth, even if the President wanted to see me, I would tell him to talk to me tomorrow morning!"

William wasn't rigid at all. He said with a smile, "I hope the President can forgive me."

The two got into the car, and as the car drove down the road, William took the initiative to talk about the situation at Barbara's birthday party. "Did they cause you any trouble?"

Lance was a little strange. "It seems like everyone thinks they will cause me trouble."

William shrugged. "Our family's situation is very special. In this large family with so many members, everyone wants to be the most remarkable one in the family."

"And... my grandfather has seven children, so a lot of the time it's not entirely for ourselves, but also for our parents."

"They care more about their position in the family. People might be like this when they get old."

Lance was very curious. "Why do you and Mrs. Lawrence only have... Pat as a child?"

This topic made William laugh. "Because I had enough!"

"Back then, we were more than twenty brothers and sisters on a farm. It was simply a disaster!"

"I don't want my child to be like I was back then. Although it's lively, it's also suffocating."

"And although she is one in our family, she still has many brothers and sisters in the entire clan. She is not lonely at all."

The two chatted idly and soon arrived at the community where Mr. Lawrence's family lived. The security guard at the entrance of the community already recognized Lance. Although he felt that he was no worse than Lance, just not as handsome, not as energetic, not as young, and didn't have a car or money, he had the same positive and upward heart, and a more mature age!

He was working hard to become the captain of the security team. He was not the kind of person without pursuits.

Unfortunately, he had forever lost the opportunity to pursue the beautiful Miss Patricia.

"Good evening, Mr. Lawrence, Mr. White."

Lance had registered with the community service company, so the security guard knew his name. As someone not so familiar, he wouldn't directly call Lance by his first name, but used his last name instead.

"Good evening!"

Lance took out a pack of cigarettes from his briefcase, the kind that costs ninety-nine cents a pack, and handed it over. "I'm trying to quit smoking, maybe you'd be willing to do me this small favor."

The security guard was stunned for a moment, but then his face filled with a smile. "Of course... I mean I'm very happy to be of service to you, Mr. White. Thank you for your generosity. I'll open it now."

He trotted over, vigorously pressed the button, the gate rose, and he also took off his hat. "Wish you have a pleasant evening."

Lance raised his hand, smiled, stepped on the accelerator, and left.

William looked at Lance with considerable interest. "Sometimes you don't act like a young man at all."

"How should young people behave?"

"Impulsive, flamboyant, rash, reckless, and often making stupid mistakes. You are different from them."

Lance parked the car on the side of the road and pulled the handbrake. "If you suffer enough, you will be more mature than others. Actually, I envy those peers more. At least they haven't suffered so much."

William was stunned for a moment, then his eyes filled with appreciation. "A wise conclusion!"

The two got out of the car, and Lance helped carry the luggage. Just as the two walked to the door, the door opened.

Mrs. Lawrence and Patricia stood inside the door. "Welcome back, dear. We have prepared a sumptuous dinner."

"Hopefully it's something I love to eat!" William kissed his wife on the face and then hugged his daughter.

Lance carried the suitcase up the steps, and Mrs. Lawrence also gave him a brief hug. "Thank you for making the trip for us. Come in quickly, we can eat."

Lance said thank you, then winked at Patricia. The little girl rolled her eyes and followed Mrs. Lawrence back into the room.

The table was full of a sumptuous dinner. Two-centimeter-thick beef cubes were today's main course, stewed with small potatoes and small tomatoes, and some spices were added.

Then there was also a fish that Lance didn't know the name of. It should be a sea fish. Federals don't like to eat freshwater fish very much because freshwater fish often have many bones.

There were also some hand-grabbed lamb chops, vegetable salad, soup, and a little macaroni and bread rolls.

In short, it was very sumptuous.

There wouldn't be too serious content at the dinner table. William talked about some of his sights and sounds in the state capital.

Although various intercity and interstate transportation tools were already very common during this period, people still didn't travel far very often. These things that were very common to the locals in the state capital became interesting to Mrs. Lawrence and Patricia in Mr. William's mouth.

After dinner, after learning from Mrs. Lawrence that Lance wanted to chat with him, William took Lance to the study on his own initiative.

Mrs. Lawrence brought red tea and three plates of pastries before leaving. It must be said that Mrs. Lawrence is definitely very capable in terms of cooking and pastries.

William picked up a small cookie, motioning for Lance to try it too. "There are meat-filled cookies, you definitely haven't eaten them before."

Indeed not. Lance picked up one. The cookie was a little thicker than ordinary cookies, and you could see a stream of oil seeping out from inside.

William finished eating it in a few bites, patted his hands, and shook off the residue on it. "She originally wanted to make a meat pie, but the first time she made it, under the interference of some unknown factors, it became a huge meat cookie."

"But after we tasted it, we thought the taste was pretty good, and we made some suggestions, so you see its current evolved form."

"People in the community like this kind of meat cookie, but not everyone can make it well!"

Lance tasted it. The taste was indeed good. "Very delicious."

"So..." William leaned back in his chair, "Emily said you have something you want to chat with me about."

Emily is Mrs. Lawrence's first name. Federal women will change their last name to their husband's last name after marrying their husband.

Her current name is Emily Lawrence.

"Yes."

Lance nodded, took out a cigarette, and handed one to William. William took the cigarette and said with a smile, "You just said you were quitting smoking."

Lance showed an indifferent expression. "Failed now!"

The two men couldn't help but laugh. When the smoke from the cigarettes began to linger, Lance said, "I now have about 3,700 work cards in my hand."

"These work cards represent 7,400 jobs, and also represent that at least 3,700 illegal immigrants are working for me."

"I plan to expand this number."

Lance and William didn't talk about the Immigration Bureau's problems because they were both very clear that at this stage, the Federation couldn't do without these cheap illegal immigrants.

To some extent, illegal immigrants have no human rights. Like the cotton-picking experts in the cotton fields in the past, they are an indispensable part of economic development.

Maybe one or two illegal immigrants are reported, and the Immigration Bureau will take care of it, but when thousands of people gather together, they dare not take care of it.

William put the ashtray in the middle of the table, signaling him to continue. "The social status of these illegal immigrants is a problem. The President promised to solve the embarrassing problem of the identity of illegal immigrants before, but now it seems that he is unwilling to talk about this issue."

William understood what he meant. "Are you saying you want to help them change from illegal immigrants to legal immigrants?"

"I'm not too sure about this matter, because in fact, so far, there has been no further news from the President's Office."

"You know, before the election, whatever the President promises may be his way to get votes."

"Now that he has been re-elected, he may not fulfill those promises, and the anti-immigration protests have not been over for long. If he does so now, it will only make him very passive."

"Even if this policy is to be implemented, it cannot be implemented within the next year or two."

"They will drag it on, maybe it can be resolved in the last two years, but not in these two years."

"They made a deal with the Liberal Party, maybe this is also among the conditions."

The backbone supporters of the Liberal Party are these people, landlords, farm owners, and even former slave owners.

They will definitely favor the large landlord and large farm owner classes in various policies.

And illegal immigrants without human rights obviously greatly help these groups. They can use illegal immigrants like they used slaves in the past.

In order to obtain their continued support, they will definitely find ways to keep illegal immigrants in their current state.

They've done this sort of thing before. Historically, they've announced plans to grant legal status to illegal immigrants, then forced them to build railways, dig tunnels, and construct highways.

Once the construction is nearly finished, these illegal immigrants disappear. Then, they select some honest ones to become federal immigrants, and the cycle begins anew.

"Is there really nothing we can do?" Lance asked.

William shook his head. "Absolutely nothing, unless some... political movement occurs, forcing the state government to pass local laws to grant legal status to illegal immigrants."

"Such situations are rare. Given the current social climate, it's unlikely to happen. And even if it did, it might not truly solve the problem."

"Furthermore, this status would only be legal within the state. Once they leave, they're still illegal federal citizens."

"But that might not be entirely true. Perhaps the President, mindful of his promises, might introduce some policy changes."

"However..." William flicked his cigarette ash. "Having such a large force at your disposal is never a bad thing. You never know when it might come in handy."

At that moment, William had a vague idea. If Lance could one day turn these people into federal residents with voting rights...

Then his running for councilman wouldn't seem like a joke.

Meanwhile, a middle-aged man in his thirties emerged from a basement, cursing. He'd lost another two dollars, damn it!

He'd earned four and a half dollars working odd jobs all week, and it was gone in one night!

Gambling is a killer!

He looked at his hand, wishing he could chop it off with a knife!

Every time he lost, he swore he'd never gamble again, calling himself a son of a b*tch if he did.

But as soon as he got his paycheck, he'd skip going home and head to the nearby casino to play a few rounds.

It wasn't like he never won. He had won before.

Once, he won eleven dollars, lived it up for two days, then returned it to the casino along with the original stake. But at least he'd won.

This further convinced him that his losses were just temporary bad luck, and that he could win if his luck turned.

So he'd gamble whenever he had money, lose it all, regret it, but return next time he had cash.

He cursed himself, cursed the gambling table, cursed the casino. As he cursed, he seemed to get less angry.

Just as he was about to leave the alley, two people suddenly blocked the entrance.

He froze for a moment, then immediately turned around, but someone was blocking the other end too.

A fair-skinned, well-mannered man walked towards him. "Do you know Kent?"

The gambling addict swallowed hard. "Yes, sir, but I haven't seen Kent in a long time."

Will stood about a meter away from him. "I heard you used to gamble at his casino. What happened there in late September, early October?"

The gambling addict was scared, and so much time had passed that he couldn't remember. "Sir, I don't know."

Will stared into his eyes. "No, you must know. Think carefully."

The gambling addict was almost crying. "I really don't know, sir. I'm just a small fry. Please let me go!"

Will stared at him for a while, then signaled that he could leave. The gambling addict couldn't believe it was true. As he turned around cautiously, Will grabbed a wooden plank from the side of the alley wall and swung it at the gambling addict's head!

The plank shattered instantly, sending wood chips flying everywhere. He was knocked to the ground by the force, half his face numb and swollen.

He retreated to the corner of the wall. Will tore at his collar. "Do you remember now?"

"If you still can't remember, we have all night to help you remember..."

A dozen minutes later, Will re-buttoned his torn collar, straightened his clothes, and got into the car by the roadside.

After being seriously injured, Mr. Gambling Addict finally remembered what had happened during that time—

"Sir, I remember now. Someone was lending money in Kent's casino, and then... they seemed to have a small conflict. Kent detained a few people, and I don't know what happened after that."

He told Will the name of one person he knew, Ennio, an Imperial immigrant.

At 8:30 PM, Ennio's father dragged his tired body back to the apartment building.

Another day of not selling anything. He couldn't understand why his colleagues could easily sell their products, even making several sales a day.

But when it came to him, he could only sell two or three items a month. Sometimes, to maintain his basic salary, he even had to buy some of the products himself.

He had read dozens of inspirational books about how salespeople become CEOs of listed companies, and bought many books on salesmanship or how to become a successful salesman.

He could memorize all these books and sales pitches, but he still hadn't succeeded.

On the contrary, buying these books had emptied his entire savings.

He wanted to become a winner in life, to realize his federal dream. He wanted everyone who looked down on him to open their eyes and see how he became a successful person!

But every day, the harsh reality made him feel pain. He didn't understand why success was so cruel to him.

The apartment building's manager glanced at him sideways and then looked away. He used to greet Ennio's father when they first moved in.

He always dressed like a white-collar elite, with shirts, ties, trousers, and leather shoes.

But now, the manager had recognized the true face of this guy. He was just a loser.

Riding the shaky elevator to his floor, he picked up the cardboard box on the ground, which contained the products he needed to sell, and also his federal dream.

As he arrived at his doorstep, he prepared to take out his key, but he found that the door was ajar. Immediately, a surge of anger rose from the bottom of his heart.

Ennio, it must be that little bastard who's back!

A destructive emotion brewed, surged, and exploded in his body!

His entire demeanor changed. He pushed open the door and placed the things on the cabinet by the door.

The room was dark, but he didn't care. He was too familiar with this place. He could walk the right path even with his eyes closed.

He took down the leather whip hanging by the door. He was going to let Ennio know who was whose father!

Turning the corner, he saw someone sitting in the darkness in the living room with their back to him. It must be that little beast. The angrier he became, the calmer he was. He walked over with the whip in his hand and swung it forcefully...

The scream didn't come from Ennio, because Ennio was currently enjoying delicious food and having fun with his companions.

The scream came from Will. He hadn't turned on the lights to avoid scaring people away, but he never expected that before he could do anything, this person would give him a whip...