Empire of Shadows

Just as Lance and William were discussing Mr. Chobaf becoming their opponent, Mr. Chobaf was also talking to the mayor about this.

"…Lance has a very high status in the eyes of imperial immigrants. If he supports that William to run for election, it's hard for me to say that I can win steadily."

The mayor sat behind his desk, frowning as he looked at the documents on the table. His left hand held a cigarette, which he hadn't smoked for a long time.

So much so that a lot of ash had accumulated.

As if he had figured something out, or as if Mr. Chobaf's words had startled him, his hand trembled slightly, and the ash fell on the edge of the table.

He quickly picked up the document and blew hard at it.

The ash was blown away, and after shaking the document, he remembered that Mr. Chobaf was still there.

"Wait a moment."

He took out a pen and made some annotations on the document, then put the document into a file bag.

After tightening the cap of the fountain pen, he looked at Mr. Chobaf, "What were you saying just now?"

Sitting on the sofa, Mr. Chobaf could clearly feel the mayor's lack of importance towards him. He wasn't a fool; he was just a bit "naive" before.

He had experienced many things and seen many people, and he could feel the mayor's indifferent attitude towards him.

But he wouldn't take it to heart. This was an inevitable process on his way to success and entering the upper class.

"I was saying that Lance will support William in running for the Imperial District's council seat, and I might be in big trouble."

The mayor frowned, "William… what's his last name?"

"Lawrence."

"William Lawrence… I seem to have heard this name before."

He picked up the phone and dialed a number, "Do you know someone named William Lawrence?"

Soon, the guy on the other end of the line told him everything the mayor wanted to know.

He hung up the phone and looked at Mr. Chobaf, "William used to be a civil servant in our city government. He recently resigned and is now running for the Imperial District council seat, because Lance is supporting him?"

This sounded like a declarative sentence, but it was actually a question.

Mr. Chobaf nodded, "I'm afraid that's the case."

The mayor "ha"ed, leaning back in his chair as if he had heard a relaxing joke, "Why would he support a former civil servant to run for city council?"

"And why do you think he will be your opponent, even a big trouble?"

Different altitudes, different perspectives. From the mayor's point of view, a "civil servant family" was just a civil servant family.

In the federal administrative system, this could only be considered the bottom rung of the political ladder, and he didn't take it to heart at all.

When would a city mayor start worrying about an ordinary low-level civil servant and his family?

This was also why he couldn't understand why Mr. Chobaf saw these as troubles on his election road!

A mob boss and a former low-level civil servant were now making a banker with the support of the mayor's faction feel troubled. Was he kidding him?

In fact, Mr. Chobaf had already said it once, but now he had to say it again. This was the price of success, he told himself.

"Lance's status in the eyes of imperial immigrants is no lower than mine. As long as they have the qualifications to go to university, he will take out money to help them realize their dreams."

"He doesn't charge any protection fees in the Imperial District, and he also set up an Imperial Chamber of Commerce…"

The mayor relit a cigarette, listening to Mr. Chobaf talk about what Lance was doing now. He couldn't help but look at Mr. Chobaf a few more times.

The look of looking at a waste product was not captured by Mr. Chobaf, otherwise this would become another "price" for him to squeeze into the upper class.

From the mayor's point of view, Mr. Chobaf's base in the Imperial District was large and solid, but besides attracting deposits and lending money to those poor people, he didn't seem to have done anything particularly meaningful.

Holding regular gatherings counted as one, and free food and… water did make people grateful to him, but it was just gratitude.

He could actually do more, do more and better than Lance, but he didn't do anything.

It seemed that besides running his bank and investing, he had no other achievements in terms of influence.

Even his influence was only because he was very rich, and he was treated as a "totem." If these external factors were stripped away, he really had nothing to commend.

"In that case, you have indeed encountered a trouble."

The mayor flicked the ash off his cigarette, "I heard that Lance is a local, but some of you say he is an imperial person. What's going on?"

Mr. Chobaf wasn't too sure either, "I heard that he modified his identity through some channels and then became a local."

"Is this useful to us?"

The mayor shook his head, "If William did this, then it would be very useful, but whether Lance changed his identity or not has no impact on William."

"Even people will support him because he is an imperial person!"

After the mayor finished speaking, he fell into thought. It was his idea to have Mr. Chobaf run for city council.

In this kind of battle, having one more person on your side means one less person on the other side. This is definitely not a difference of "one"; it's a difference of "two."

He didn't know if Lance and William supported those locals, but at this time, all fence-sitters were enemies.

Either enemy or friend, there is no middle ground!

He quickly made a decision, "But you don't need to care too much about these things. As long as Lance disappears, and no one provides William with campaign funds and public support, he will definitely not be your opponent."

"A local and a successful immigrant of their own race, they know who to choose to truly represent themselves."

Mr. Chobaf wanted to say something. He vaguely understood what the mayor meant by "disappearing."

He wanted to say that this was an "internal" problem, but in the end, he didn't say anything, because this was also the "price," the "price" of climbing up. Someone had to sacrifice.

Either him, or someone else.

Of course, the mayor also felt that Mr. Chobaf's mood was a bit low, "Joe, do you know what your biggest problem is?"

Having reorganized his emotions, Mr. Chobaf immediately asked, "What is it, sir?"

The mayor raised his hand and pointed at him, "It's your weakness, Joe."

"If someone else were standing in your position, you would already be a member of King's Harbor City's upper class, instead of like you are now. I heard that even those gangsters can blackmail you."

"You have more than 200,000 supporters here. This force makes anyone in King's Harbor City afraid to mess with you. Once these 200,000 people demonstrate and march, it will affect the operation of this city."

"Then whoever caused all of this is the enemy of all vested interest groups in this city."

"But look at yourself. After so many years, there has been no development or change at all. It really makes people not know what to say."

He shook his head and said, "With your personality, even if you become a city councilor, I'm afraid you won't be able to do it for long."

A trace of dissatisfaction, a trace of anger, and a trace of inexplicable understanding flashed in Mr. Chobaf's eyes, but he smiled on his face, "Yes, you are right. I am indeed too weak sometimes."

The mayor nodded slightly, not knowing exactly why he was nodding, "It's not too late to realize your problems, at this time."

"You can rest assured to prepare for the election. Lance shouldn't have established any charitable foundation yet?"

"Go to the city and set up one that specializes in helping imperial immigrants living in difficult conditions. You don't need to give everyone money or things. Pick a few typical ones. You should know better than me."

Mr. Chobaf nodded, "Yes, I know what to do."

The mayor continued, "Joe, see, you know everything, but in the past, you didn't do anything, and you let a young man take the lead."

"But fortunately, it's not too late."

After letting Mr. Chobaf leave, he dialed the phone of his personal secretary, "Let Brinton and the others rest well and then get to work. Uproot Lance's gang as soon as possible. I get annoyed just hearing their names now."

A small character actually dared to refuse his solicitation?

Whether he was a local or not, it made him feel very embarrassed, especially the lawyer Olsen's seemingly smiling, but not smiling expression, which made him very angry.

After hanging up the phone, he got up and walked to the window. The cool evening breeze blew in, causing him to squint his eyes slightly.

If he didn't consider the issue of vying for power and profit, retiring in King's Harbor City would actually be a good choice.

He looked at the cars on the city roads and fell into new thoughts.

At the same time, Robb's heart was beating violently, and he left the bar with a slight drunkenness.

The people here didn't respect him.

When he was planning to have another drink, the bartender refused him and told him that he was already drunk.

What he needed now was not "another drink," but "to go home and crawl into bed for a good night's sleep," and "don't forget to have a glass of milk before going to bed."

When the bartender finished speaking, everyone around was laughing, but Robb didn't laugh.

He was really drunk. He had already consumed two Jagerbombs and two whiskeys today, and he was starting to lose control.

But this damn bar was really fun. It was full of young girls who were willing to respond to his advances, which made him very happy.

Even the pain of losing Serena seemed to disappear in the process of flirting with these girls.

Now, he just wanted two more drinks, one for himself and one for his "female companion." He felt he had a chance to take this girl home tonight; he had driven here.

But the bartender not only refused him but also made him a laughingstock. He cursed a "fuck," seemingly wanting to do something impulsive, but he quickly controlled his emotions.

Because two bouncers stood behind him.

"If it weren't for your father's sake, I would have taken you to the back right now instead of letting you leave!" The bartender tilted his head, and the two bouncers dragged him out the door and threw him out.

At the moment the bar door closed, he vaguely heard people's laughter. His flushed face made it hard to tell if it was from drinking too much or from anger.

He went to a phone booth diagonally across from the bar street. He glanced at the few people standing outside the bar alley in the distance, took out two one-cent coins, and inserted them into the public phone coin slot.

"This is the Hazardous Materials Management Bureau complaint hotline. How can I help you?"

"I want to speak with Officer Lucar (Senior Agent)."

"Hold on…"

After about twenty seconds, a voice rang out, "This is Lucar, who's there?"

Rob's heartbeat became more and more powerful, and also faster and faster. He felt his mouth was dry, probably from drinking too much. He should have listened to the bartender and had a glass of milk.

He pressed his hand on his chest, seemingly wanting to make it beat less violently, "It's me, Scarecrow."

Scarecrow was his code name. In the Federation, Scarecrow had many special meanings. He felt he could become a watchman.

"Oh, Mr. Scarecrow, thank you very much for your last report, which brought a huge advancement to the cause of justice. So this time, do you have good news for me again?"

Rob looked back at the intersection in the distance and lowered his voice a little.

He actually knew that the other party couldn't hear him, and it was impossible to hear the sound of someone making a phone call from a phone booth dozens of meters away, but he still lowered his voice.

"In the Empire District… about one hundred fifty or sixty meters east of the road, there is an alley facing south, and there are several people standing at the entrance of the alley."

"There's a bar inside. You can see at least ten thousand dollars worth of alcohol and money, and possibly one or two hundred drunks drinking!"

Officer Lucar whistled, "No problem, should the reward be transferred to the previous account?"

"Yes!"

After speaking, he hung up the phone and went back to drive, parking the car in the distance.

He wanted to witness the arrest process in person. That bastard bartender actually dared to laugh at him?!

Okay, let these people see how terrible the consequences and costs of mocking him are.

With accurate information, Lucar quickly gathered a large team. He requested that they not sound the sirens on the road.

Recently, there have been many "passersby" around the Hazardous Materials Management Bureau. They blatantly stood around the gate, and as soon as they pulled the sirens, these people would immediately call the police.

If they turned on the sirens, these people would quickly figure out where they were going, so now even if they took action, they wouldn't sound the sirens.

And Director Dale asked them to mobilize collectively when they were bored.

As long as they went out, the bars in the entire city would be restless!

Moreover, this could also paralyze these people, making them not know whether this operation was really going to arrest bars and bootleggers, or just playing with them.

An armored vehicle and five police cars left the Hazardous Materials Management Bureau. Those people at the gate started making phone calls again. Although they themselves were very annoyed, it was necessary.

Lance's bars also received calls. Elvin also arranged for people to guard the door, but this time they were not heading south, but towards the Prussia District.

So the people who made the calls were not so nervous, and the bars did not close, but continued to operate.

But what they didn't know was that these cars entered Prussia, circled around twice, and then suddenly began to accelerate towards the Empire District.

By the time the lookout at the alley saw these convoys, they were already close at hand!

A lookout ran to the bar door and banged on the door hard, "The cops are here!"

The strong man responsible for guarding the door turned his head and ran. He slammed the button on the inner wall of the bar hard. The music and lights disappeared all at once, replaced by incandescent lights.

"The police are here!"

In the brief few seconds, the entire bar was like a pot that had exploded. They arranged for the guests to leave from the other door, while others packed up the night's cash and had people take the easiest-to-carry banknotes away first.

The people from the Hazardous Materials Management Bureau were too fast. They quickly surrounded the building and soon found another exit in the next unit—several people who had drunk too much were shouting wildly, eventually attracting the agents' attention.

When the machine gun on the armored vehicle was set up, the people who were still making noise stopped making noise, and they sobered up.

Lucar walked in through the bar's door. The special strange smell inside the bar had not yet dissipated. He took a deep breath.

This is the smell of fame and fortune!

He moved his hands, and without even needing to speak, the large number of reinforcements who had rushed over had already begun to clean up the scene.

The guests were escorted to the roadside and squatted down with their hands raised, while the bar's operator, the bartender wearing a dark brown vest, was standing at the very front of the crowd at this time.

"Identify your people."

Officer Lucar vaguely felt that this bar should be Lance's property, which made him excited!

The bartender didn't speak, but just spat at him, but he dodged it.

The next moment, he threw a backhand hook, hitting the bartender in the stomach, making him unable to stand up straight.

At this time, a colleague came over, "The reporters are watching you. It's best to wait until we get back to vent anything you want to vent."

Lucar nodded, then signaled the reporters to come up and take pictures.

He stepped on a few boxes of wine, just like the ancestors of the Federation stepped on the bodies of those natives, holding a bottle of wine in his hand, and showing a smile to the camera…

Rob, who witnessed everything in the distance, showed an unprecedented sense of爽快 vengeance!

Lance destroyed his life, and he has now狠狠报复 retaliated against everything, which made him feel an unprecedented sense of淋漓痛快!

The news quickly reached Lance's ears. He was also very annoyed about the fact that another bar had been raided.

"Check on Lucar's situation, and also, find out who is selling out the addresses of our bars?"

Elvin didn't know how to answer this question, but soon the phone on the desk rang.

The call was from Morris, who brought a piece of news that Lance wanted.

"Lance, I might know who it is…"

There is also an extra update