Empire of Shadows

Chief Charlie sat in his office. He should have been at the scene, especially since these were tasks from those important figures.

But at this moment, no tension or other emotions could be seen on his face. He was quietly savoring the coffee he had just brewed himself.

The rich oils and aroma left an indescribable mellowness and fragrance between his lips and teeth with every small sip.

Coffee beans costing hundreds of dollars a pound – this was the best coffee he had ever tasted.

He couldn't bear to buy such expensive coffee beans himself. One of the big shots in the Bay Area had given them to him, about seven-eighths of a pound.

That big shot only tasted it once and thought it didn't taste very good, so he gave the rest of the beans to him.

Hundreds of dollars a pound.

Some people might have the same thought as he once did after hearing this, a feeling that 'I can afford it if I grit my teeth'.

But in reality, it's not a matter of being able to afford it or not.

This is life, not gritting your teeth!

For others, they don't need to grit their teeth to enjoy such things as a normal part of their day.

And those who need to grit their teeth to achieve all of this will never experience that kind of ease and comfort.

The emperor wears the crown not because wearing the crown makes him the emperor, but because he is the emperor, the crown is given a special meaning.

Life is the same.

Because for many people, this may be the entirety of a certain stage of life, rather than enjoyment in life.

Chief Charlie couldn't experience it either. Actually, he was quite wealthy. Over the years, he had done many terrible things and received rewards from those "dog owners".

But coffee costing hundreds of dollars a pound was still too far from his life.

He was waiting, waiting for a phone call.

Waiting for the mayor's call.

As he had guessed, the call came quickly.

"No one told me there would be a major operation today, and Eric was there too."

The mayor's voice didn't have any anger, as if he was describing a very ordinary thing.

Most cities in the Federation basically implement the "mayor system," which means the mayor is the highest ruler of the city, deciding the development, process, and outcome of everything in the city.

But the truth is, not every mayor is the actual ruler in the true sense; they may just be on the surface.

However, even so, they still have the power to appoint the highest officials of various departments in the city. This is granted to them by Congress and the federal government, not anyone else.

Chief Charlie had actually sensed something unusual. He was a little uneasy at first, but now he became very calm.

People always feel all kinds of unease, fear, and anxiety before terrible things happen.

But when they really start to face terrible things, they will become calm again, because the "unknown" has become "known."

The mayor was very dissatisfied. He was dissatisfied that their struggle would involve Eric.

But Chief Charlie acted as if he didn't understand, and bluntly reported the work situation.

"Your Excellency, Mayor, a wanted criminal may be hiding in the Red High Heels Club. In order to ensure the safety of the people's lives and property, we can only act first."

"Actually, I was just about to call you to report this matter, but you called me one step ahead. It's good that if you don't understand anything, I can explain it to you."

The mayor's laughter came from the receiver, "No, I have no questions, Charlie. I remember you have two more years before you retire, right?"

Chief Charlie seemed to be thinking. After two or three seconds, he replied slightly slowly, "Yes, Your Excellency."

The mayor's voice revealed a tone of blessing or expectation, "It's not easy. Not all police officers can stay in one position until the end of their lives. You are amazing. I hope your police work can have a perfect ending, Charlie."

"Tell me if there are any new developments."

"That's it."

The phone call didn't have any anger, but Chief Charlie heard something different from it. He hung up the phone, picked up his coffee, and took small sips.

His eyes stared deeply at the things placed on the table, as if they were full of great attraction.

A person's life is about constantly choosing a path at different forks in the road. Before reaching the end, no one knows whether the path they gave up would be better than the path they chose.

On the other end of the phone, the mayor put the receiver back on the base, and he lit a cigarette.

If it's purely for enjoyment, he would use a cigar. This isn't to say that the pleasure brought by a cigar is necessarily greater than that of a cigarette, it's just that he's used to using cigars when enjoying himself. It's a personal habit.

And when thinking about things, he needs cigarettes. The feeling of cigarette smoke entering the lungs brings another kind of experience, allowing him to be more engaged and concentrate.

Only he and his secretary were in the room. He stood by the window, looking at the city in the night.

The downtown area of ​​Goldport City is very prosperous even at night, not to mention the more prosperous Starlight District and Port District. This is really a "city that never sleeps" in people's mouths.

But unfortunately, it's been six years, and this city still hasn't accepted him.

Maybe beautiful things are harder to get. He thought so, and at the same time asked a question, "Do you think Sam can hold on?"

The secretary shook his head, "I want to believe he can hold on, but we can't be so optimistic. Everyone has weaknesses. If they find Sam's weakness, he definitely won't be able to hold on."

The mayor nodded in agreement, "Yes, everyone has weaknesses. If you find the weakness, even a giant will fall."

The "giant" he was referring to was a giant in mythology. This giant was born strong, and even demigods might not be his opponents.

He led the entire country to constantly expand, until he did something stupid himself, revealed his weakness to a woman, and was then killed by a small dagger.

"Although having his mouth pried open won't cause us irreparable losses, it will eventually become a big trouble."

"People always like to see bright things, but the night always comes as scheduled. Since they don't want to see it, then don't let them know."

The mayor stretched his hand holding the cigarette out of the window and flicked the cigarette with his index finger, "I believe that the old friends in the Bay Area agree with me on this. Find a way to shut him up."

The secretary nodded, "I'll arrange it now."

In the Red High Heels Club, the guests were gathered in the hall. In addition to Eric's group, there were five other guests.

The faces of these guests were very ugly. At least two of them had appeared in the 'Goldport Today' newspaper. Although the other three had not been in the newspaper, they were not ordinary people either.

No one likes to be harassed in this situation. The reason they come here to spend money is because they value the vaguely visible mayor behind Red High Heels.

As a result, now they are standing here with other guests and those girls. There are even police officers asking them to register information. This is simply terrible!

However, after they saw Eric, they felt a lot better.

Eric was asked to be searched, and they found syringes, injectable painkillers, and a dagger on Eric.

In theory, the Federation does not oppose people carrying weapons, and the Constitution also provides content to protect the right of the people to carry weapons.

Carrying weapons is their right to protect themselves, and no one can deprive them of it, but... when the police really want to cause you trouble, even if the charter states that cotton-picking prodigies and ordinary federal people enjoy the same rights.

They will still ride on them like the previous owners of these prodigies and tell them to 'calm down'.

Although they sometimes don't understand who should be the one to calm down.

Eric, wearing only his underwear, felt like he had lost a lot of face. He stared at every police officer present today with resentful eyes, but the police officers didn't care much, because they dared to bet that Eric would forget their appearance in a while.

The entire Red High Heels was almost turned upside down. Every room, even every sofa and pillow, was cut open with daggers.

Sam, who came out of the general manager's office, looked at all this with a livid face. What he was actually more worried about was those girls, afraid that they would talk nonsense.

However... most of the girls who can work above have completed the 'domestication' process, and he has been instilling some concepts in these girls.

There are powerful forces behind Red High Heels. Even if they run out and call the police, they will be the ones who suffer in the end.

Hopefully, this will keep them quiet for a while longer.

Watching the club being messed up, Sam gradually began to get angry, "The wanted criminal you are looking for is not here. Can you please let our guests and girls go first, and then get out of here?"

He used an impolite tone. Several police chiefs looked at him with a smile, but Sam's heart was sinking as he looked at the expressions on their faces.

He didn't bring up the matter of making a phone call. He was worried that the police, or rather, the forces behind the police, would make an issue out of this. He always insisted that he believed the mayor would save him.

Soon, the sound of something hitting the ground rang out in the club, and Sam's face became even more ugly.

Before long, accompanied by the sound of "There is a cellar entrance here", Sam pursed his lips tightly and couldn't stand still.

He supported himself on the nearby sofa, slowly shuffling towards it before finally collapsing onto it.

He had actually considered the possibility of someone coming to make things difficult for them, so he had prepared the cellar in advance. He thought these people would leave soon, but he underestimated the determination of those wealthy individuals to completely eradicate Red High Heels this time.

The police meticulously tapped the ground with metal rods, inch by inch, eventually discovering the entrance to the basement in a corridor.

Soon, Booker was brought up, along with a girl draped in clothes, who had been horribly tortured.

Booker was brought before several police chiefs, with Chief Blue of the precinct also present. One of the officers grabbed Booker's hair, forcing him to look up so everyone could see his face.

"Isn't this Mr. Booker, who escaped from the state prison...?"

Booker had previously been sentenced and was serving his time in Lycal State Prison, but the mayor decided to restart the Red High Heels club and had him released.

This was a small matter for the mayor; he had enough connections to make it happen. Back then, they hadn't fallen out, and everything was easy to arrange.

Now that they had fallen out, Booker's existence had become a problem.

Logically, Booker should still be serving his sentence in prison. Without release documents from the Justice Bureau and the Department of Justice, his appearance here could only mean one thing: he had escaped!

The wealthy individuals in the Bay Area believed that the warden of the state prison wouldn't risk his future to protect Booker; he would certainly claim that Booker was indeed an escaped convict, they just hadn't disclosed it to the public.

Faced with these police officers, Booker was clearly terrified. He stared at Sam with pleading eyes, as if begging Sam to save him!

But Sam could only pretend not to see. At this moment, his priority was to ensure his own safety before considering whether to rescue these people.

Actually... he also knew that he most likely couldn't do it. When these people decided to target Red Lantern, its fate, and their fates, were already sealed!

"Take him back and question him thoroughly. We must extract from his mouth how he escaped from prison."

Another police chief spoke. He was originally a precinct chief, but he was demoted because of Eric's case.

Now he was here to vent his emotions.

Booker was hooded and taken away.

Chief Blue of the precinct looked at Sam, "Mr. Sam, things here are not as simple as you say."

"We suspect you of kidnapping, imprisoning, torturing, and forcing these girls into sexual trafficking, so your people have to come back to the police station with us to assist in the investigation."

"Including you!"

Sam still tried to remain calm. He swallowed hard, "I need to call my lawyer."

Several police chiefs exchanged glances and agreed to his reasonable request.

While Sam went to make the call, a police officer trotted over, "There's a call, from Chief Charlie..."

By now, many people had gathered outside Red High Heels. Lance's men were maintaining order. The residents of the Empire District were very supportive and protective of the Lance family.

No unexpected situations occurred at the scene. Even a few reporters who tried to sneak in were caught by those maintaining order, beaten, and thrown out.

As a large number of police officers emerged from inside, along with two buses, reporters in the distance began to take photos frantically.

A large number of girls were put on the buses, along with five patrons who voluntarily requested to wear hoods.

Thugs and staff were also arrested in large numbers.

Several precinct chiefs walked up to the reporters and began to discuss the police's sudden action with great enthusiasm.

"We received a tip that a very fierce and evil escaped convict was hiding here, in the Red High Heels club."

"During the raid on the Red High Heels club, we discovered that this strip club was illegally providing sexual transaction services, which is a clear violation of federal law."

"In addition, we also found a girl who had been kidnapped and imprisoned in the cellar. They tried to use violence to force the girl to be at their disposal and accept sexual transactions."

"We have arrested some of the main suspects..."

Sam was also hooded and pushed into a police car.

His lawyer told him to go with the police first, but not to say anything or admit anything, and to remain silent until he arrived.

The police have many ways to make him slip up, and if he does, there will be big trouble.

Being arrested isn't scary at all; what's scary is blurting out nonsense without being mentally prepared.

Chief Blue of the precinct and the others were afraid that someone would hijack the convoy halfway, so they not only arranged for a large number of police officers to follow but also had Lance's men follow along.

For the first time, the police and the public were cooperating closely, which gave everyone an indescribable feeling, as if... their understanding of the world had deepened by a third!

The convoy finally returned to the city police station without incident, and these people were sent inside. Lance's work was also considered finished.

Actually, he hadn't done anything tonight, except for beating up a few clueless reporters. He spent the rest of the time spacing out.

When Chief Blue of the precinct told them they could leave, they drove back.

On the way, Elvin asked Lance with some curiosity and confusion, "Are the mayor and the others really not going to care about Sam and Booker anymore?"

Lance glanced back at the city police station, which was no longer clearly visible, then sat up straight again and shook his head, "No, because everyone knows that this matter ends here."

Not only Elvin but even Maurice, who was driving, didn't quite understand, "Why?"

"Sam and the others were arrested, weren't they?"

"If some evidence of them working for the mayor is dug out of their mouths, wouldn't the mayor be very passive?"

Lance asked back, "Who can decide the mayor's fate?"

Neither of them understood this question very well, so Lance helped them answer, "The state government and the state legislature."

"If they want to kick the mayor out, they must let Sam arrive at the state government alive and explain those things to the state legislators in the state legislature."

"But have you considered that Sam and the others not only possess some information about working for the mayor, even evidence."

"They have also provided many girls for the wealthy individuals in the Bay Area."

"The mayor's trouble is at most that his methods are a little unscrupulous. Even if it affects his future, at least it won't ruin him."

"If he has already taken some precautions, it won't even affect his career."

"But if the privacy of those wealthy individuals is made public, for example, if those terrible things they did are revealed by Sam or Booker, who do you think will be more unlucky?"

Lance sighed. He suddenly thought of this when he saw Sam and Booker enter the police station alive!

This is just a counterattack, not a full-scale war. Before they launch a full-scale war, they must eliminate those things that might affect the outcome before they truly start the war!

"You wait and see, before long, Booker, Sam, and even some of the girls who have provided services to the Bay Area will commit suicide out of fear of their crimes."

Lance's words made everyone in the car feel a chill that penetrated their bones. For a moment, they didn't even have the desire to speak.

Children always yearn for the adult world, just like Mr. Choabov always yearns for high society.

But the real high society is not glamorous at all, nor is it full of light and glory!

High society is the dirtiest place in this world!