Empire of Shadows

"Actually, you could introduce me to work at your company," Nancy said, her hand resting on the car window as she sat in the passenger seat.

The wind blew in through the car window, lifting her hair. This refreshing feeling was simply wonderful!

Although this was a used car, worth perhaps four or five hundred dollars in her estimation, it was still a car.

Walking home, biking home, taking the bus home, and riding home in a private car were always different experiences.

When she was on the bus, she didn't want people on the roadside to see her clearly, and she especially didn't want to run into anyone she knew, like classmates.

But now, she wanted everyone on the street to see her clearly, even though it was just an old car.

She especially hoped to run into some old classmates walking by, so she could have Robb stop and chat with them.

When you have money, you can be vain. When you don't have money, there's also vanity that doesn't cost anything.

"You can't do my job," Robb refused Nancy's suggestion, because he didn't have a proper job at all.

After being attacked by bombs twice, the Dangerous Goods Administration received more privileges and material support from Congress. They were offering rewards to citizens for information about those running illegal liquor businesses.

And they promised that as long as the information was true and effective, leading to the capture of these bootleggers and the bars selling the liquor, they would give a percentage of the value of the seized goods to the informers.

For cases worth less than a thousand dollars, the informer would receive fifty dollars.

For cases between one thousand and two thousand dollars, they could receive ten percent.

For cases between two thousand and five thousand dollars, they could receive fifteen percent.

For cases between five thousand and ten thousand dollars, they could receive twenty percent!

If the case value exceeded ten thousand dollars, then they could get the maximum reward: twenty-five percent of the value!

Congress had actually realized the difficulty of enforcing the Prohibition. They were fighting against stubborn local forces, and it was possible that not only criminal groups were smuggling and selling alcoholic beverages.

Even local prominent families were smuggling and selling alcoholic beverages, because it was becoming more and more profitable!

No one could resist the huge profits brought by a rapidly growing market. As for whether the congressmen themselves were involved, that was another matter. In any case, they publicly supported the Dangerous Goods Administration in increasing its crackdown on organizations and individuals violating the Prohibition.

So, taking the money from the bootleggers and using it to reward informers was perfectly acceptable.

Robb reported one of Lance's bars. He had been there with others, and because he was Boton's son, the bar didn't take much precaution against him.

Then he went and reported the bar.

That day, they seized over seven thousand dollars' worth of goods. At twenty percent, he received about fifteen hundred dollars.

He used three hundred and fifty dollars to buy this car, and the remaining thousand dollars to buy two sets of clothes, and then saved the rest.

He had never handled so much money before.

Reporting Lance's bar gave him a sense of revenge, but what annoyed him was that he was also at the scene that day, and Lance didn't fly into a rage, or even show any signs of distress.

So he planned to report another one soon.

But this was something only he knew.

"I have to go to the company later, so I'll drop you off at this intersection. It's only a seven or eight minute walk back from here."

When the car arrived at the intersection of the street where they lived, Robb pulled over. Nancy rolled her eyes. "It's less than two minutes to drive in there and get to the apartment. You're making me walk back?"

Robb's face showed no room for bargaining. "It would be a big detour for me."

After a moment of eye contact, Nancy got out of the car complaining, and even gave Robb the middle finger.

"Go to hell!"

She sashayed away, while Robb drove to another bar he had heard about.

This one might be bigger, and he hoped to get more than twenty-five hundred dollars this time!

On the other side, Lance didn't know that Robb had so many complex feelings. To him, it was just the kind of emotions that children have.

But he overestimated Robb's jealousy, especially as Lance became more and more successful, Robb's jealousy towards Lance grew stronger and stronger.

It was a very complex emotion, and although it didn't often appear in people, it did exist.

"Lance, can I join you?" a young man suddenly asked while they were chatting. Other young people also echoed the sentiment.

They liked the Lance family's uniform.

It was serious but with a hint of playfulness, especially the red armband, which gave them a strange sense of mission!

And for these young people, joining a gang and becoming a gang member was actually a very cool thing.

This "coolness" was like... they had discovered and joined a secret base!

For the vast majority of young people, a "secret base" was definitely the thing they longed for most in their childhood and even adolescence: a small world that adults couldn't detect, belonging only to them.

They could do anything here, and no matter what they did, no adults would criticize them.

Now, the Lance family had become a kind of secret base, a place they yearned for.

There were many young people around. Looking at these lively, young faces, Lance didn't immediately agree.

"Do you know what it means to join a gang?"

The young man who first proposed to join shouted, "It means we're part of the gang too, and it's very... I don't know how to say it, but I know that if my classmates knew, they would definitely respect me!"

Lance looked at him and reached out to ruffle his hair, messing it up, but he laughed it off and didn't mind Lance doing that.

Others also chimed in, talking about what they thought were the positive changes that joining the gang would bring, such as not being bullied and having more friends.

Lance looked at them and finally shook his head. "No, what you're saying is just the better side of things, but have you ever thought about it? This is a gang, not an after-school activity club at school."

"In addition to looking for troublemakers on the street and doing some things that you think are cool or special, we also have to face more risks than you do."

"Friends, life isn't a movie, it's not those literary works, where no one can survive after being shot a few times."

"In a battle, in a conflict, maybe when you least expect it, a bullet flying from somewhere can take your life."

"In that battle in the Triangle..."

Someone shouted, "I heard about it, you repelled the attack of dozens of members of the Camilla gang!"

The crowd also responded positively. People were happy to discuss these "legendary stories," especially the story of how the Lance family became famous in one battle.

But Lance didn't feel very happy. "Yes, you all know some things. You know we repelled the attack of dozens of opponents, but do you know what else?"

"We also lost a lot of people."

"Those brothers who might have been discussing food, new movies, and their new girlfriends with you just a few minutes ago, the ones you were with every day..."

"In the next second, because of a gunshot, he suddenly falls in front of you, and then you watch him helplessly."

"You can read the desire to live from their eyes, but you can't do anything."

"You can only watch them die in front of you!"

The group suddenly fell silent. It was difficult for them to imagine such a scene, but Lance's description made them feel heavy.

"Every conflict, every battle, someone gets hurt. Enio has also been injured..." They were more familiar with Enio, after all, Enio used to charge them to fight for them in middle school.

For some imperial immigrants who were bullied in middle school, spending a dollar or two to have Enio, this "social figure," stand up for them could indeed bring them a sense of security.

And most of the time, after Enio went, they wouldn't be bullied again.

When they heard that Enio had also been injured, some people obviously retreated a little, and their enthusiasm was no longer as intense as before.

"We've all been injured, it's just that some people are injured more severely and didn't survive, and some people are injured less severely and can continue to live."

"So this thing isn't as romantic as you think. It's not a job where someone wears a trench coat, carries a gun, and walks down the street surrounded by little girls."

"You face danger every moment, the danger of death."

"If you have family who love you, a complete family, and plans for your future life, I don't recommend you join a gang."

"Whether it's our Lance family or other gangs, I don't recommend you do that."

"Of course, if you say, I just want to experience gang life, that's no problem!"

"I'll arrange it for you. A few days to let you feel that gang life isn't as good as you think, and then you can return to your lives."

"Of course, if someone says they really have to join us and are prepared to be injured or even die, okay, come on, I welcome you."

"We can become new family, new brothers, entrusting each other's lives!"

"But no matter what decisions you make, they must be based on mature consideration and discussion with your families."

"I hope you don't need to walk this path and can still live well. It shouldn't be a choice that people aspire to…"

Lance then chatted with these people for a while, discussing his views on the future changes in Goldport City and the Imperial District, before leaving.

However, his words quickly spread throughout the Imperial District through the mouths of these young people.

Especially his last sentence, which made many adults in families start to think and also begin to change some of their perceptions of Lance.

At least he seemed very different from those scumbags in Camilla's gang. He actually refused young people from joining!

Some of them had once been afraid that Lance would lead these young people astray, but now it seemed that Lance was doing better than they had imagined!

On the way back, Ennio was a little puzzled, "Why… don't you want them to join us?"

Lance looked at the scenery receding outside the window and shrugged. "Gang life is too cruel for them, Ennio."

"If we didn't have no other choice, do you think we would be here?"

This question also made Ennio think deeply.

If he had a perfect family and his parents were both capable of earning money, he should already be in college planning his future life, right?

He wouldn't have come here!

And the reason for coming here was actually very simple: he needed to escape from his past life and find a new direction.

Everyone was silent on the way back, lost in thought.

After a short journey, Ennio parked the car steadily. As soon as Lance got out of the car, Maurice greeted him.

After Lance and the others came out of the Imperial Nightclub, they bought a house near the largest bar, with the sign "Wanli Affairs Office" hanging up, but it was not open to the public.

This was a place similar to a gang base. People usually gathered here when they had nothing to do.

There was a large backyard and many rooms.

"Some unfamiliar faces have appeared near our bar, and their accents don't sound like locals."

"I heard that the new manager of Imperial Night, Brinton, is forming the Viper Gang in Goldport City."

Lance listened to Maurice's report, with some calculations in his mind, "Send someone to keep an eye on these people. If necessary, you can grab one back to find out what's going on."

Maurice nodded and left. Without a doubt, he thought now was the "necessary" time.

Everyone was wholeheartedly maintaining this small group. Lance was very happy because it showed that he had not done anything wrong.

As for some of the details of handling things, he didn't think it was a problem, after all, in some ways, everyone was still very young and had plenty of time and space to grow and mature.

There were actually many gang matters, such as Alvin reporting to Lance on yesterday's income. The daily revenue of the bar would be transported here for counting.

Because there were many poor people in the Imperial District, and Lance required that the price of alcohol should not be too high, he would rather earn one yuan from two people than one yuan from one person.

So there was a lot of change in hand every day, mostly coins, with a few banknotes. After all, for the poor, coins were the mainstream in their world.

These coins could be spent through some other channels, or they could be distributed as wages to those gang members.

At first, everyone scrambled to do the job of counting money. When Amen saw the pile of money like a small mountain for the first time, he was so excited that he couldn't speak.

But after doing it for two days, they never wanted to do it again, because counting money was really too damn boring.

Counting and counting, it seemed that their brains were frozen, and they didn't even have the ability to think, they could only count one by one subconsciously.

"Yesterday, several bars brought us an income of 8,152 yuan and 32 cents. If a bar hadn't been shut down, our income could have reached 9,000 yuan."

Speaking of this, he had a sense of hatred for the whistleblower. Each bar had more than 1,000 yuan in net profit every day. Losing so much at once made Alvin very distressed.

Not to mention that in order to bail those people out, he also gave 4,000 yuan to lawyer Robben, 3,700 yuan for bail and 300 yuan for lawyer fees.

What a fucking vampire!

After listening, Lance asked, "Our alcohol sales seem to have increased a lot compared to half a month ago."

There was an increase of about 2,000 yuan. If you include the closed bar, there may be an increase of almost 3,000 yuan.

Alvin nodded, "The Dangerous Goods Administration is now biting whoever they see like wild dogs. Several bars in the port area have been shut down, so some customers come to us."

He emphasized one point, "Our prices are lower and the alcohol content is higher. No one in the low-end market can be our opponent."

"Let Nick continue brewing, expand the scale. The new season of grapes is coming soon, and brew more potato wine and beer. Summer is coming."

Summer is the peak season for beer sales. Who can refuse a glass of ice-cold beer after a tiring day at work?

If you can also watch the chicks dance for free while enjoying a refreshing beer, it will be even more pleasant.

"Should we open a few more bars?"

"Now those managers say that the bars can be filled every day."

Lance nodded, "Our alcohol supports us to continue to increase our business locations, so why not?"

While they were talking, the telephone on the table suddenly rang. Lance felt a little strange, because the telephone had only been installed not long ago, and the telegraph office shouldn't have printed the number in the telephone directory yet.

There were very few people who knew this number. Now that it suddenly rang, what could it be?

"Hello, this is Wanli Affairs Office."

"Is this Mr. Lance?"

The voice was a little familiar, but Lance couldn't remember who it was for a while. He agreed, "Yes, I'm Lance, who is this?"

"Mr. Lance, I didn't expect you to forget me so soon. I'm Lenny from Ligee Group. I hope you still have a little impression."

Lance immediately thought of who this guy was. He had previously signed a contract with Ligee Group on behalf of the Imperial Chamber of Commerce, ordering a large batch of first-season grapes from Ligee Group.

At that time, they contacted this Manager Lenny.

"Of course I remember, Manager Lenny, what's the matter?"

"We don't seem to have any contact outside of commodity trade?"

Manager Lenny's laughter was very hearty, but Lance felt that this might not be a good thing.

"It's like this, the headquarters has some opinions on the contract we signed, and hopes we can sign a new one…"