Empire of Shadows

Golden light illuminated the mysterious veil of Goldport City, gradually revealing its exquisite outline through the light mist.

It awoke from its slumber, also activating all the people living in this city.

Early in the morning, the Goldport City Police Department held a press conference.

A large number of reporters flocked to the scene, having received some advance notice that major news related to yesterday's large-scale operation would be disclosed today.

In fact, some reporters already knew some scraps of news, such as the kidnapping and sex crimes committed by Red Heels, which might also involve some respectable people.

They were not very interested in the case itself; they only wanted to know how many big shots had been Red Heels' clients and what they had gained from Red Heels.

Chief Charlie sat in the center of the conference room with a serious expression, and every police officer's expression seemed particularly solemn.

When the time was almost up, Chief Charlie began with a sigh as his opening remark.

He suddenly stood up, and before the reporters knew why he was standing up at the very beginning of the press conference, he bowed deeply.

More than ten seconds later, he slowly straightened up, "I apologize to all citizens for our insufficient efforts in combating and regulating urban crime."

"I sincerely ask for the forgiveness of the general public, and I guarantee that I will dig out every participant."

He said things that the reporters did not understand amidst their confusion, and then he sat back down, "What I am going to say next is related to yesterday's large-scale operation."

"Yesterday, we... destroyed the Red Heels Club. Many people are not clear, or have heard, that we were arresting a wanted criminal."

"But in fact, this was a statement to avoid alarming them. Actually, we received some appalling reports alleging that the Red Heels Club was involved in kidnapping, imprisoning, injuring, and killing young girls from all over the country."

"They used violent means to force these girls into sexual transactions, providing sexual services to certain people."

"And in this process, they would be injured, or even killed."

"We successfully rescued all the young girls we could find and arrested the main criminal ringleaders and their subordinates."

"During the overnight interrogation yesterday, we have begun to gradually break down the psychological defenses of some criminals, and we have obtained some unimaginable things from them."

"I can't imagine what kind of darkness and hell they went through to persevere until our rescue, and therefore I feel ashamed..."

Chief Charlie faced the reporters as if he really felt ashamed, constantly expressing the emotions he wanted to show.

In fact, he had known what Red Heels was a long time ago, and had even assisted the Bay Area's wealthy in handling a corpse once; he didn't trust the people at Red Heels, so he handed it over to Charlie to take charge.

He knew the nature of Red Heels for about... a dozen years, but he only knew that it provided harm and killing services to the Bay Area's wealthy for about seven or eight years.

During such a long period, he never did anything, and even felt that the existence of Red Heels was of great help in stabilizing the security of Goldport City.

At least those Bay Area wealthy people wouldn't cause public panic when they wanted to do something terrible—

At that time, the girls in Red Heels were all illegal immigrants; they were invisible people in qualified countries, and even if they were killed, no one would seek justice for them, let alone cause any social uproar.

Until recently, they seemed to have kidnapped several federal girls, possibly because the tastes of those wealthy people had changed, or Sam was bolder than Liam (the previous boss).

In fact, if they were not at the center of the storm, they would still be able to continue operating, and Chief Charlie would not have sealed it up.

What exposes all the darkness to the sunlight is definitely not justice, but struggle.

As this press conference ended, more and more people knew about this matter.

Some newspapers printed supplements almost at noon, just to specifically report this news.

In order to make the supplements not so thin, they also took out some old missing person news and linked it to this news, making the whole thing look even more terrifying.

Lance saw the supplement in the office at noon; Sam and Booker became "demon-like criminals."

Borton reported that many people went to the Red Heels Club and smashed the glass of Red Heels with stones or something else, and some people pried open the gate of Red Heels and looted everything inside.

Federal people are like this; they always have some emotional expression channels that others can't understand.

It seems that this kind of looting behavior is also a positive catharsis of emotions.

Many people also gathered at the police station, demanding severe punishment for Sam and Booker. People from all walks of life seemed to be publicly expressing their hope for the death penalty.

Chief Charlie did not respond to this, but many people already knew the outcome of this matter—the two masterminds committed suicide in fear of crime, and the notebook had been taken away by Councilor Wade.

A successful performance must not have only one or two actors.

If it were before, Alvin and the others might have felt like most people... that this was a victory for justice.

But after Lance's explanation, they finally saw the essence of the matter.

In fact, there has never been any justice or fairness; it's just that their value made them dangerous, so they were thrown out.

The best way to keep yourself safe is to keep yourself valuable and not too dangerous.

Just after lunch, Vice President Vaughn found Lance, wanting to talk to him about something.

They found a small restaurant in the Imperial District, and Lance reluctantly ate a little more.

Federal people eat later, possibly around 12:00 to almost 1:00 PM for lunch.

And in the evening, 6:00 to 7:00 PM is the time most people eat.

The two found a roadside stall and sat down. Vice President Vaughn behaved quite like a working class in this regard. He was not picky about food, and even enjoyed eating at roadside stalls.

"Scott has compiled the things you mentioned before and sent them to the General Federation of Trade Unions. The General Federation of Trade Unions has attached great importance to it, and the Labor Federation is very interested in your ideas."

"However... Lance, I must apologize to you. Scott did not mention your name in this matter," Vice President Vaughn seemed very embarrassed.

He and President Scott were well aware that the "Grand Skills Competition" for the working class was definitely a grand event that could increase the influence of the Labor Federation and the trade unions!

Independent conception and borrowing other people's ideas bring completely different political benefits to them.

If Scott reports this matter upward, saying that it was someone else who proposed it and he adopted it, then the General Federation of Trade Unions and the Labor Federation will not rate him too highly, at most thinking that he has keen insight and accurate judgment, and that's it.

There are countless regional union chairmen with keen insight and accurate judgment in the entire Federation; these are not enough for him to be directly transferred to the General Federation of Trade Unions to take office.

Only if he puts these credits into his own pocket, saying that it was his own idea, will the General Federation of Trade Unions and the Labor Federation feel that "this is a talent," and only then will they have the idea of transferring him to the General Federation of Trade Unions.

As for whether he can continue to perform very well in the General Federation of Trade Unions, it is actually not that important anymore.

It's like the fattest meat has already been eaten into the stomach, does it matter whether it is digested well or not?

Vice President Vaughn also obtained some political benefits from this. In Scott's report to his superiors, he stated that he conceived the core framework, Vice President Vaughn supplemented some of the details, and Lance's role was to provide funding and prizes.

The General Federation of Trade Unions attaches great importance to this, but considering that they have not done this kind of thing before, and they are not sure whether peer competition will cause some unexpected problems, they first let Goldport City start it.

First, a local technical competition will be held in Goldport City under the name of the "Likalai State Dockworkers Union Technical Grand Competition."

If everything is indeed as they want it to be, the effect is very good, bringing more influence.

Then they will launch it nationwide.

The Labor Federation also thinks so, and the Labor Federation has also been thinking about how to continue to refine "skilled workers." After all, some skilled workers' skills are indeed much better than others, but there are also some people who have reached the level of skilled workers, but they are always a little worse than the best.

Now perhaps they can use this method to also divide skilled workers into levels and grades.

"...So, Lance, I'm very sorry, I didn't fight for all the benefits for you," Vice President Vaughn looked like... he was indeed full of guilt.

But Lance knew that presumptuously guessing an actor's acting level is not only an insult to the actor, but also an insult to one's own intelligence.

"Vaughn, we are friends!"

"I remember you said before that if Scott is transferred to the General Federation of Trade Unions, you will serve as the chairman of the union in Goldport City?"

Vaughn did not deny it, "Scott also wrote my name into the report, just to pave the way for me. As long as he can enter the General Federation of Trade Unions, I will definitely be able to take over his position."

There is no doubt about this, unless some people want to disgust a member of the General Federation of Trade Unions who has just entered the core level.

If someone from the General Federation of Trade Unions does this, then Scott will not be able to rise, and they will prevent Scott from progressing.

But as long as he can get in, for his sake, Vaughn's vice-chairman will not have problems.

Lance seemed very happy. "Then it's all worth it. Vaughn, we're friends!"

"These ideas don't really benefit me, but if they're particularly valuable to you and Scott, why should I be stingy with things that have no value to me?"

"Just say it's the result of your discussions. I won't blab. You can completely trust me on that."

Vaughn was taken aback. Besides feeling slightly guilty towards Lance, Scott had also specifically instructed him to come and talk to Lance about this.

To appease Lance's emotions. After all, directly copying someone else's idea, using it for your own benefit, and gaining huge profits from it – no one would be happy about that.

If Lance were to talk nonsense, things could get very ugly.

But Vaughn didn't expect Lance to understand his meaning so quickly. He didn't know if Lance genuinely understood or if it was just a coincidence.

"That's not what I meant, Lance. I completely trust you!" Vaughn looked very sincere, not at all like he was acting.

He thought for a moment and said, "Recently, some people have been asking about the club. But don't worry, as long as I'm in King's Harbor, the club will always be yours!"

Lance's eyes flickered slightly. "Who would be interested in a constantly losing workers' club?"

Vaughn didn't realize the importance of this. He shrugged. "It seemed like people from some consulting firm..." He patted his pockets. "They gave me a business card. I don't have it with me, but I can get it for you when I get back."

Lance nodded slightly. In the Federation, anything related to consulting firms was definitely connected to politics.

He felt a bit of a headache, but he didn't show it.

Then Vaughn was a little... embarrassed. "The union didn't approve as much money this time. Scott and I thought that if we're going to do it, we should do it on a grand scale."

"After all, dockworkers from all over the state will be coming here. As the host, we definitely need to show... you know, we don't want to lose face."

"And it's not just people from the state union, but also people from other state unions and the Labor Federation will be coming."

The union currently has money in its account, but not much. If they were to just hold a simple event, there would definitely be no major problems.

It would just be a matter of covering the food and lodging for these people and providing some prizes.

But Scott plans to use this opportunity as a way to advance into the general union, so he definitely can't make it too shabby.

If he wants to stand out, he definitely has to spend more money.

But he doesn't have the money. What should he do?

"What's your budget?" Lance chose a beef rib and started sucking the meat off it.

Vaughn scratched his head. "About thirty-five thousand to fifty thousand dollars."

"The union account still has some money. We can scrape together a hundred thousand dollars."

A hundred thousand dollars to buy a path to promotion, and it's not even his own money. This is a good deal!

"Are you saying I should sponsor it alone?"

Vaughn nodded embarrassedly. "We hope you can support us a bit. If you don't have enough, we'll find other companies to help a little."

Scott and Vaughn analyzed that Lance has many bars under his control, so he must have a lot of money.

And he would definitely be willing to sponsor it all by himself, so they don't have to worry about Lance not paying.

This made Vaughn feel like Scott was scheming against Lance, and he had always thought Lance was a good young man, which made him feel a tiny bit of guilt.

But only a tiny bit.

Lance, as Scott had predicted, since he had decided to pay, it would be most appropriate for him to pay for everything himself.

He let out a breath. He didn't really care if he was being schemed against by Scott or Vaughn, because this matter was beneficial to him.

At least he could become familiar in the dockworker and Labor Federation circles. Those people in the Labor Federation would know that he could sponsor so much money at once, and they might come looking for him in the future.

You need to know that, during this period, the Labor Federation and unions in the Federation were absolute capital killers—not capitalists.

Their destructive power to capital was astonishing, so in fact, the congressional side had already begun to consider how to dissolve the influence of unions and the Labor Federation among the working class.

Even the current concessions of politicians and capitalists to unions and the Labor Federation are a means for them to disintegrate the Labor Federation.

By actively retreating, they allow the two to become arrogant and conceited!

Arrogance and conceit are the first crazy steps towards destruction. Although they don't seem so arrogant now, eventually, they will lose themselves in their eagerness for success.

Just like at this moment.

"No problem, I'll pay for it, but I also have a request."

Vaughn, of course, wouldn't refuse. "Tell me, and I'll try my best to persuade Scott."

"First, I need to put the Wanli Affairs' signboard in the most conspicuous position, and directly name me as the exclusive sponsor of the event's funding."

Vice President Vaughn heard a term he hadn't heard before, exclusive.

But this term wasn't so difficult to "chew on." Soon, he understood Lance's meaning. "No problem."

"Second, I need at least one seat on the podium, and as close to the center as possible."

This was even less of a problem. Vaughn agreed directly. "Okay."

"Third, if we need to present awards to the winners, then I need to have the opportunity to appear alone to present the awards and bonuses to the winners, and not just once."

Vaughn nodded repeatedly. It was just giving money, not anything else. "No problem."

"Finally, the certificates will have the name of Wanli Affairs Institute printed on them, and I will also give them some small souvenirs and picture albums."

Vaughn carefully reconsidered everything and confirmed that these were all reasonable requests. "I don't think there's a problem. I can agree to it. Even if Scott is dissatisfied, I will persuade him."

Lance picked up a towel and wiped his hands, then extended his hand to shake hands with Vice President Vaughn. "Happy cooperation!"

"Thank you for your support, Lance. This saves me a lot of trouble!"

"I guarantee that your investment will definitely be worth it. As long as I'm in King's Harbor, no one will be able to take the club away from you!"

Lance smiled very happily, as if he really believed it. "I believe that!"

In fact, for Lance, it was a good thing that Chairman Scott could advance into the general union. He owed him a big favor.

If there were places where he needed his cooperation in the future, there would be a reason and an excuse.

Of course, it was also possible that Chairman Scott would refuse, but that wouldn't matter either.

If he really refused Lance's request, Lance would make him understand what the consequences would be for only wanting to take the benefits without being willing to give anything!

I have to go out later. The next chapter may be a little late.