Empire of Shadows

“If you haven't seen the city at five in the morning, you're not qualified to have dreams…”

A sanitation worker rubbed his eyes. The lights inside the bus weren't strong enough to fully illuminate every word on the book, and he seemed to be struggling to read.

He was an immigrant who had just arrived in the Federation, having recently obtained his legal immigrant status, and found a job sweeping the streets.

The sanitation work in Goldport City was contracted out to several different companies. The city hall paid them forty-two and a half dollars per person to handle different areas, not including the cost of garbage trucks and the like.

But they only paid these workers twenty-two dollars, arguing that they only needed to work two or three hours a day and could find other jobs, so this was a reasonable amount.

Whether it was reasonable or not, no one knew, but many people were willing to do it, especially newly arrived immigrants to the Federation.

They had spent a lot of money to come to this country, and they desperately needed a job to keep from starving.

Twenty-two dollars wasn't much, but it was enough to fill their stomachs.

The bus slowly came to a stop, and the driver banged on the door, shouting, "Number Seventeen, get off the bus…"

Each section was assigned to a sanitation worker. The sanitation worker with the number “Seventeen” badge on his chest stood up from his seat and put the motivational book, *How to Realize Your Self-Worth*, into his pocket.

This was the motivation that had kept him going during this time. He firmly believed that all his efforts would eventually be rewarded.

He believed that seeing Goldport City at five in the morning qualified him to realize his dreams. When he stood at the peak one day, he would be grateful for his past positive efforts.

He picked up his broom and began to sweep the streets.

He hadn't thought about the question of what direct relationship there was between sweeping the streets at five in the morning and realizing his dreams, and he couldn't think about it either, because once he did, some things would change.

Number Seventeen was the road in front of City Hall. Not far away, the bus stopped and someone else was kicked out.

The two exchanged a glance in the dim morning light and silently continued to sweep the ground.

Until he discovered a long, rectangular object lying on the ground.

“A tarp?”

He bent down and touched it. These things were actually quite common in Goldport City, because there were often thunderstorms in the summer, and the purpose of the tarps was to protect things from getting wet.

“Who would leave such a big roll of tarp here?” He stood up and looked around. There wasn't a single car on the street. He bent down again and tried to pick up the tarp.

This was a considerable income, at least two or three dollars!

But for some reason, this tarp was so heavy. Was there something else inside?

Driven by curiosity, he pushed the rolled-up tarp forward until he let out a "Fuck!" that startled the whole street, and then stopped!

At a little after 5:20, a large number of police cars arrived. John's eyes were bloodshot. He had only slept a little after one o'clock last night.

Just after taking office, young Master Eric had been kidnapped. If the mayor had nowhere to vent his anger, then he would be the best choice.

He didn't dare to be negligent, and he stayed up until late at night before dozing off in his clothes in the office.

As a result, the phone rang early in the morning.

There was good news and bad news.

The good news was that Eric had been found.

The bad news was that he was dead!

At this moment, John stood not far away, looking at the entire street, his mind a mess!

Three criminal investigation officers arrived, but Hunter had recently taken leave.

They investigated the scene until after six o'clock, but they didn't find any more evidence.

“A car passed by here in the middle of the night, and then he was dumped. This is just our speculation.”

“What kind of car, we don't know. Who was in it, we also don't know.”

“The traffic here is too heavy. Even if there are witnesses, they won't know which car it was.”

“No valuable items or fingerprints were found on the tarp used to wrap the body, and no blood stains were found either.”

“Eric's pants were wet, but there were no urine stains in the tarp. This shows that they dealt with any possible residual traces before wrapping him up…”

John's head was spinning. “Just tell me directly, can you find the murderer or not!”

The three criminal investigation officers shook their heads. This was obviously impossible.

In this era of relatively backward criminal investigation methods, people still often used “deduction” to solve major cases.

It sounded like deduction had a romantic flavor, but in reality, it was also a helpless choice due to the backwardness of technical methods.

At the same time, deduction also caused many wrongful convictions, but they needed to give the public an explanation, so sometimes what was said to be deduction was more like making up a story that the public could be satisfied with!

One of the newly promoted criminal investigation officers said, “Chief, we should still focus on the hotel. They couldn't have left no clues at all. Also, finding that girl can also solve the problem.”

John had a headache. He didn't want to hear this. “Go do your job.”

Then he walked to the public telephone booth, hesitated for a moment, but the mayor would know about this sooner or later. He knew how to make himself look like a dog that pleased its master.

He finally dialed the phone at six-thirty.

The mayor was already awake at this time. He was doing simple exercises. His current series of victories filled him with energy. In order to cope with the various challenges ahead, he had to ensure he had a qualified body.

After receiving the call, he was silent for a while and had people prepare to travel, but no sad emotions could be seen on his face, only solemnity.

At seven o'clock, a large number of reporters gathered at City Hall. At this time, the mayor looked much more “normal,” haggard, sad, all kinds of emotions piled on his face.

He choked up several times and couldn't speak, but everyone knew what had happened.

Eric was dead, and he was going to declare war on evil!

This seemed… to have become something he had to do. If he still had the option of resigning before the news of Eric's death came, then only a day later, less than twenty-four hours, Eric's death made it impossible for him to resign, but instead strengthened his idea of eradicating evil!

Many citizens who were still looking forward to the subsequent development of the plot were dumbfounded, because many people believed that Eric would eventually return safely, and they would definitely make some shady deals.

But now, Eric was dead!

Those poor people who earned twenty or thirty dollars a month, lived in cheap apartments filled with mold and the smell of urine, and couldn't even afford a complete steak, began to empathize.

They actually began to sympathize with the mayor's plight. Perhaps this was the most bizarre scene in the world!

Food sympathizing with diners!

What's even more interesting is that the mayor should have shown extreme anger, but at this time, it was the five major families who were truly angry.

They felt that someone was forcing them to go to war with the mayor, because now that Eric was dead, they had no basis for negotiation, and it also gave the mayor an excuse to drive them to extinction.

Now it was no longer a question of whether to go to war or not, but a question of how to preserve themselves and drive the mayor away!

At nine o'clock in the morning, a new message came that Congress had passed the final voting resolution to fully strengthen the armed forces of the coast guard in various places.

A part of the navy's warships would be phased out and given to the coast guard in various places, and a large number of new warship production and construction plans were approved.

It was claimed to the outside world that this was a normal process of military equipment being phased out and replaced, but in fact, some terrible judgments about the future international situation were being confirmed, and Congress also felt the clouds of war, and they began to reorganize their military equipment.

Some people were worried about this, and some people felt… that this was not something worth people's concern, because war was very far away from them!

Unlike what ordinary people were paying attention to, the smuggled liquor industry ushered in its first real earthquake!

Smuggling by sea would become more dangerous, the price of liquor began to rise again, and the drunks sighed, and everything seemed to be moving in the direction that the congressmen had expected.

In the afternoon, Branch Chief Blue from the Bloom branch came to the company to see Lance.

As soon as he entered the office, he plopped down on the sofa, took off his wide-brimmed hat, lit a cigarette, and said somewhat sullenly, “John contacted me.”

Lance sat behind the desk, a little surprised. “Shouldn't he be chasing the murderer in Eric's case right now?”

“What did he ask you to do?”

Branch Chief Blue looked very depressed. “He asked me to stand on his side.”

He looked up at Lance. “Now many police officers in Goldport City have defected to him. Lance, I'm worried that John will be able to truly control the entire police force in Goldport City.”

John was his old subordinate. His old subordinate had transformed into the branch chief of the port district branch, which already made him a little depressed.

His relationship with John wasn't very good. John made a lot of money when he left, without leaving anything for the branch.

Now when he came over, his attitude was somewhat threatening. John gave him two paths.

Either listen and join the new police system centered around him.

Or, become a thing of the past along with Charlie and those old stubborn people!

He and the mayor were going to reorganize the police system, and all disobedient people would be kicked out.

“I don't question whether he has this power, because the mayor is behind him.”

“No matter who it is, the five major families, the Bay Area, or Councilor Wade or Councilor Williams, they don't have the power to directly appoint the police chief or branch chief, but the mayor does.”

Bureau Chief Blue rubbed his face, "He gave me three days to consider..."

Lance frowned after hearing this, "So you've also given me three days."

Bureau Chief Blue immediately said, "I don't mean that, but I really don't have a good solution. I can't resist them!"

"Right now, we're not even united. If I don't do it, there are plenty of people willing to take my place!"

"You, you guys, have to do something!"

It was clear that although the Bureau Chief didn't want to associate with John, he didn't want to lose his current job.

Everyone says being a police officer is bad, but no one says being a police bureau chief is bad.

Lance nodded slightly, saying, "What you said makes some sense. I'll make a call."

He picked up the receiver and dialed Paul's number.

"This is Pasreito Manor..."

"I'd like to speak with Mr. Paul. This is Lance."

"Please wait a moment."

After about four or five minutes, the phone was picked up again, "This is Paul."

"Mr. Paul, my friend Blue, who is the bureau chief of the Imperial Precinct, is here with me. He told me that John is forcing them to make a choice."

"Either stand with John and the mayor, or pack up and get lost. I feel it's necessary to disclose this matter to you..."

Paul grunted after listening, "Thank you for the information, Lance..."

He was originally going to end the conversation, but then he thought of something, "Since you've discovered this problem, are you interested in helping us solve it?"

"You mean...?"

Paul chuckled, "Of course, I mean John."

Lance was silent for a moment, "Are you asking me to get rid of the police chief?"

Paul heard the reluctance in his words, "It's the 'acting' chief, and an 'acting chief' not recognized by us. No one will delve into this matter."

Lance didn't say anything. After about ten seconds, Paul must have sensed Lance's resistance.

He was currently facing a bit of trouble. The five major families had just finished a meeting together, and some problems had emerged within them.

Eric was dead, the mayor was "crazy," and they might have received some news from elsewhere. The Coda family was the first to propose withdrawing.

As the most profitable family in Goldport City, their connections spread throughout Licarai State and Congress. A large amount of funds was transferred to the state government, the state legislature, and Congress every year through various means.

As long as they guaranteed to continue delivering benefits, someone in Congress would stand up to protect them.

Bandi was very clear that the Coda family was not irreplaceable. Anyone could be replaced, as long as they possessed so many licenses. Even without any foundation, they could build up the casino industry in a very short time.

On the contrary, the Coda family would become nothing once they lost these.

Someone in the state government supported the mayor in disintegrating Goldport City's stubborn local forces. Bandi had retreated a bit, or perhaps he had reached some kind of deal with the state government.

With one less of the five major families, the remaining four families seemed to be able to resist the mayor.

Subsequently, Rick, the representative of the Cassia family, also proposed a similar idea. He wanted to step back, feeling that Eric wasn't killed by them, and they had no reason to clean up someone else's mess.

Moreover, the Cassia family's core business was human trafficking and vicious criminal cases. Without the support of the police, or rather, turning a blind eye, their family business would shrink across the board!

In particular, Congress had just announced the strengthening of the coastal patrol team, which dealt a double blow to their business.

Two of the five major families had left at once. The remaining three, although they still wanted to hold on, were clearly struggling.

They felt that the Cassia family and the Coda family must have known something, or someone had promised them something, so they suddenly withdrew.

This sense of betrayal made the remaining three families feel angry!

At the same time, they also felt something was amiss, because now they not only had to fight against the mayor's group, but also had to guard against the possible backstabbing from former friends!

Who knew if the Cassia family and the Coda family would take the opportunity to stab them in the back in order to cater to the instructions of certain big shots?

Many of Paul's men were guarding their core industries, and the manpower that could be spared became less.

In addition, getting rid of John was inherently a dangerous and politically risky task. Paul suddenly thought of Lance, who had unified the Imperial District. He might be a good choice.

"I'll give you a bar in the Starlight District. Also, if you need it, I will publicly support you in public."

After a moment of continued silence, Lance said softly, "Deal!"

He hung up the phone and looked at Bureau Chief Blue, who quickly straightened his spine, "I won't say anything, don't worry, Lance, my mouth is very tight!"

Seeing that Lance didn't seem to want to talk to him, he picked up the wide-brimmed hat on the table and stood up, "I have something to do..."

Lance signaled that he could get lost, and he quickly left!

It was too damn scary to talk about how to get rid of the police chief in front of the police bureau chief. These people didn't treat the bureau chief as a police officer!

However, Bureau Chief Blue wasn't angry. If Lance could really get rid of John, he would cheer instead!

So... could he do it?

Lance brought everyone else over. In the office, "Paul said to let me get rid of John. I agreed."

They didn't ask why, they only asked one question, "When do we move?"

Lance shook his head slightly, "There are still a few days. We must maximize the benefits of this matter."

"Morris, do a few things. Keep an eye on John and some people who are close to him."

"Hiram, prepare weapons and magazines for us. I don't want the operation to be hindered."

"Melo, prepare the vehicles. This time our opponent is not easy to deal with. Ask them if they can install some steel plates in the door panels..."

Lance gave the orders in an orderly manner. He let everyone know what they had to do and how to do it.

After some of them received their instructions, Lance let them all leave to prepare.

Elvin stayed behind, "Is it necessary to do this?"

"If we don't act, the five major families will definitely act!"

Lance shook his head, "They have already broken down internally."

If Lance's previous conflicts with the mayor and his people hadn't reached the point of no return, if he hadn't rejected the mayor's solicitation, then he wouldn't have to worry about these things now.

Anyway, after all the purges, he would eventually survive.

But the problem was that he not only rejected the mayor's solicitation, but also killed the Viper Gang, giving the mayor a hard slap in the face!

Once the mayor fully controlled Goldport City, then his end would be near!

Between his own misfortune and the misfortune of others, Lance chose the misfortune of others.