Empire of Shadows

In a corner of the city, inside a certain room, an old man and a young man sat opposite the mayor's secretary.

The two men were dressed very ordinarily, indistinguishable from ordinary people.

If they walked down the street, unless someone stared at them intently, a mere glance would be enough for them to blend into the crowd.

They were the most standard kind of passersby: ordinary clothes, ordinary faces, ordinary hair, but they possessed extraordinary identities.

Assassins.

Assassination is a very ancient profession.

From the very beginning of human society, assassins have been active on the stage of history.

They, along with priests and prostitutes, are considered the oldest professions.

On the coffee table between the two men lay a photograph, a front-facing shot of Lance.

He wore a smile on his face, looking handsome with a hint of shyness, making it hard to associate this sunny, dashing young man with the name "Lance Family."

Even harder to connect him with "One-Pound Bullet"!

The old man picked up the photo, examined it for a few moments, then flipped it over, revealing a lot of information recorded on the back.

He then handed the photo to the young man beside him and looked at the secretary.

"I thought he wouldn't need me until he was about to die."

This sentence actually carried a much deeper meaning.

The old man knew who the mayor was, knew that he was the mastermind, and knew what he was doing now.

The sentence also contained no hint of sarcasm or mockery, simply stating a fact.

A mayor forced to resort to assassins indicated that he had indeed encountered a major problem he couldn't solve himself.

Under the mayoral system, there weren't many opponents capable of making a mayor feel powerless.

The secretary smiled and took out half of a one-dollar bill from his pocket, handing it over.

The old man also took out his half from his pocket.

The two halves were put together, and although they didn't fit perfectly, it was basically clear that they were from the same bill.

He put the two halves together, lit them with a match, and burned them to ashes.

No one spoke throughout the entire process.

The profession of assassin is not as… interesting as people imagine, with rankings and the like.

All famous assassins eventually die early, just like their former targets.

Only those nameless assassins can live to the end.

When the old man was young, he encountered some trouble.

The mayor appeared and gave him a hand, not only allowing him to survive but also saving his family.

To repay the mayor, he promised to do one thing for him: kill someone.

Although the Federation doesn't have the concept of "chivalry," some people still highly value promises!

Even if it means risking their lives to fulfill a promise, they might curse you out, but they will ultimately honor their word.

For some, this is their belief in life, the spiritual foundation for everything they pursue.

The stronger a person's heart, the more they care about the things they've promised.

The old man was like this; his heart was strong, and he couldn't avoid this matter.

Otherwise, he would question himself, and everything he was proud of would be shaken, collapse, and disintegrate.

"This person is very troublesome.

Conventional methods are not easy to deal with him, and you know, he is a gang member."

"He can break the rules, and he was the first to do so."

The old man's calm gaze was like looking at a puff of air.

"I don't care who he is.

I'm here to repay what I owe him.

After I finish, I'll leave."

"But you have to understand that my grandson and I are just gunmen.

We are not like the kind of assassins you know who can take down an entire legion alone."

"He should have told you."

The secretary nodded again.

"Yes, so someone will cooperate with you to find a way to lure Lance out, and then you kill him."

Strictly speaking, the grandfather and grandson were "snipers."

They couldn't possibly be like those described in literary works, taking down an entire legion of modern soldiers alone.

What they were best at was preparing in a suitable ambush location, waiting for the target to come to them, and then pulling the trigger!

Bullets speak!

And can prove their ability.

In fact, more than an assassin, he preferred others to call his grandfather and grandson "sharpshooters."

The old man nodded slightly.

"That makes it easier.

Last time we met a client who thought that giving us each a pistol would allow us to solve all his opponents for him."

The grandson beside him showed some smile on his face.

They eventually completed the task, but the client's losses were slightly larger.

"Our plan is…"

The old man interrupted him.

"You don't need to tell me what your plan is.

You just need to tell me where the target will appear, and then the rest is our business."

The secretary was a little unaccustomed to his assertiveness, but considering that the other party was a professional assassin, he took out the prepared map and drew a few circles.

"This is where he lives, this is where he often appears.

Now his mode of operation is very simple.

Each trip will be followed by a large number of people…"

The old man picked up the map, put it in his pocket, and then stood up.

"I know."

The secretary watched the grandfather and grandson leave, curled his lips, but thinking about the mayor telling him that this old guy was very powerful, perhaps powerful people are a bit strange.

He hoped that Lance could hold on this time.

An idea popped into his head, and then he laughed at himself!

The assassins were already in place, and it was time to urge Wolfe and the Professor.

When the Professor received the call, he was talking about cooperation with several small gangs.

"If Bill hadn't wanted to drive us out, or even kill us, we wouldn't have fought back so fiercely."

"And you've seen that after taking down the Red Dog Gang, we didn't immediately expand outward, but instead discussed cooperation with you."

"Although we are outsiders, we now have a foundation in the port area.

To some extent, we are also people of the port area,"

"The sentence I hear most often since I came here is 'Goldenport City is so big!'"

The young people in the room couldn't help but laugh, because this sentence scratched them in just the right spot!

The most proud thing about Goldenport City is that Goldenport City is very big, much bigger than other cities.

This sentence also reflects the pride and arrogance of Goldenport people in some ways!

Because they don't think there are any cities bigger than Goldenport City.

But in fact, there are cities bigger than it, and more than one.

It's just that these cities may not be as famous as Goldenport City and are not well known.

The Professor's appearance is very deceptive, gentle and scholarly, not fierce at all, and his tone of speech is slow and clear.

Wearing a pair of glasses makes people not feel his threat.

The atmosphere of the chat in the room was very relaxed, and the Professor's tricks had an unexpected effect.

"What I want to say is that Goldenport City is so big that we don't need to focus only on the port area, on our internal affairs."

"If I hit you and you hit me, no matter what the result, we are just engaging in internal friction."

"We should take a longer-term view and look further afield: Precia, the city center, Starlight District…"

"These places where you can make big money are the places we should aspire to."

"Honestly, even if the entire port area is occupied by one gang, the benefits we get from here are not as much as those obtained by a gang in the Bay Area."

"Why do we have to kill each other for this poor place?"

"This is what I don't understand the most.

Who the hell stipulates that we people in the port area can only grab territory in the port area?"

"If you ask me, we should fight out…"

A Mr. Blake sitting in the corner interjected, "You're right…"

But before he could finish speaking, someone next to him immediately ridiculed, "There's no cotton here, brother!"

Everyone understood the joke, and they all laughed for a moment!

The situation of cotton-picking little experts is not good, even worse than immigrants.

At least immigrants are "people."

In the hearts of some people who accept traditional federal ideas, these cotton pickers are just animals and cannot be considered people.

The Blake gang guy who spoke immediately stood up.

He was very tall and strong, and the laughter weakened a bit as he stood up and ended quickly.

The two sides seemed to have a bit of gunpowder smell, and the Professor sighed in his heart, these damn bitches are so damn cheap!

But he still smoothed things over, appeasing both sides, using the method of interest!

"If you guys fight now, I'm afraid a lot of people will laugh, and so will I, and so will they."

"Because there will soon be two fewer gangs to share the benefits with us."

The people on both sides glared at each other fiercely for a while before turning their attention back to the Professor.

"What do you mean by what you just said?" the tall and strong Blake leader asked.

"I don't want to waste time talking to a bunch of idiots here, just say whatever you have to say!"

The guy next to him muttered again, "Of course a pig brain can't figure it out!"

Seeing that the people on both sides were about to start friction again, the Professor quickly said, "Wolfe and I plan to give you two-thirds of the port area!"

In a word, all the contradictions disappeared, and all eyes were focused on the Professor.

In reality, he was subtly shifting the concept; the Wolf Gang didn't actually control the entire Port District. They probably didn't even occupy a third of it.

So, the Professor's suggestion of giving up two-thirds was utterly absurd. They never possessed it in the first place, so how could they give it up now?

But he was only dealing with a group of social rejects who hadn't received higher education, or even finished high school.

Dealing with these people, the Professor, as a high school teacher, was more than capable!

As expected, they quieted down.

"Our plan is to give the Port District to you, while we move into the Imperial District."

"The Imperial District only has one gang, the Lance Family. If we take down the Lance Family, it's the same as ruling the Imperial District."

"With the Imperial District, whether it's the City Center, the Presia District, or the Triangle District, they'll all border us."

"We can then try to touch those places, gradually nibbling away at their territories, and eventually gain more territory!"

"A bar in the City Center, it's said, can earn tens of thousands a day, but here, in this damned Port District, a bar only earns a few thousand!"

What the Professor didn't know was that the poor bar sales in the Port District were related to the Dockworkers' Club.

If the tens of thousands of dockworkers had a need for alcohol, they would go to the club to buy cheap drinks.

Other bars do business to make money, but the Workers' Club is designed to lose money.

If Lance hadn't refused entry to non-dockworkers, their business might have been even worse!

The Professor's words resonated with the people. Everyone said how profitable running a bar was, so why hadn't they experienced it?

In the grand blueprint the Professor briefly described, what they saw was countless amounts of money!

Black people seemed to be very extroverted, with a strong desire to express themselves, perhaps because their ancestors were whipped into their genes for not being allowed to communicate while picking cotton, giving them a strong desire to express themselves now.

"What do we need to do?"

"We don't have any demands. Perhaps the only demand is, don't attack us from behind!"

"Actually, I'd prefer if we could become a single entity. Only in this way will we have an advantage when expanding outwards."

"Of course, this is just a suggestion of mine. You can consider it. I don't necessarily want everyone to be together. That's not realistic, but it really is a good way."

"After merging, you'll still be you, and we'll still be us. We'll just be sharing a gang name…"

Someone knocked on the door, came in, and whispered a few words in the Professor's ear.

Afterward, the Professor excused himself, left the room, and went to the office to answer the phone.

"Sir?"

"Professor?"

"Yes, it's me."

"In a few days, I want to see the results of your attack on the Lance Family. Don't try to delay, even if it's just a little bit. At least let us see it."

The Professor bowed slightly and said softly, "Of course, sir, I guarantee it!"

Glancing at the idiots in the other room, the Professor lit a cigarette. It was indeed about time.

That night, the Wolf Gang carried out a large-scale sweep of the remaining forces of the Red Dog Gang. What was even more incredible was that some other small gangs in the Port District were actually with the Wolf Gang!

This discovery made many people feel unbelievable. They didn't know how the Wolf Gang had gotten together with these people, but they knew that the Wolf Gang was becoming dangerous.

In fact, it was very easy for the Professor to do these things. He simply told these people that a large part of the Red Dog Gang's territory would be given to them.

Since it was for their own benefit, how could they fall behind?

This also led to sporadic gunfire being heard throughout the Port District all night.

As dawn broke, the Red Dog Gang officially became a thing of the past. At the same time, the Wolf Gang also began sending people to tentatively set up a house in the Imperial District.

"They opened a bar, right in our territory."

When Ervin reported this to Lance, he felt a little unbelievable. Were these people crazy?

They actually opened a bar in the Imperial District?

But he quickly realized that something seemed wrong, so he came early to tell Lance.

Lance raised his wrist and looked at the time. It was only a little after ten o'clock. "The news spreads quickly. Who did you hear it from?"

"Some drunks are spreading the word that the Wolf Gang's whiskey tastes more intense."

"So we know that the Wolf Gang plans to plant its flag in our territory."

"Should we send someone to take care of them?"

Lance rubbed his eyebrows. "We just finished those few things, and the Wolf Gang is stepping right over. The mayor must have put pressure on them."

"First, send someone to keep an eye on them. I feel like they're planning to attack us."

This made Ervin a little nervous. "What will they do?"

Lance shrugged. "Now he can't use the police. The Hazardous Materials Management Bureau doesn't care about people like us, so the only thing he can use is the gangsters from Fides."

"The Wolf Gang is from Fides!"

"Be careful when traveling during this time. Let Morris feel around and see if he can find those core members."

"If we can find them, we'll do it again!"

Once a gang loses its pyramid apex, the people below will quickly fall apart.

This is because the gang's resources are basically controlled by a few people at the top of the pyramid. Once these people have an accident, it means that the gang will enter a standstill state.

However, this also made Lance relax a little. If they are only using gangsters, he is not afraid of anyone!

On this day, some other things also happened.

For example, Charlie once again demonstrated his influence over the police system. Almost all the branch chiefs went to his villa, because the branch chief of the Port District branch had also died in the previous attack.

So here, the word "almost" is used, instead of "all."

In Charlie's villa, he talked about many things, such as the unprecedented challenges the police system has recently encountered, such as the Hazardous Materials Management Bureau is taking away the police's law enforcement power, such as "unity."

Charlie believed that the police system has become bewildered and at a loss because it lacks someone to stand up and lead everyone in the right direction.

Although he has resigned and is no longer the police chief, he is willing to serve as a bridge between the police system and the Bay Area to help everyone.

At the same time, he also believes that Hunter is a capable person who can lead everyone back to the old days.

This gathering revealed a lot of information. Although everyone superficially agreed to Charlie's suggestion to let Hunter temporarily take charge of the overall situation, this actually caused dissatisfaction among some people.

He has resigned, he is no longer the police chief, and he is still trying to use his former police chief status to influence everyone's choices.

How can this be satisfactory?

It's just that there doesn't seem to be any other way now, so everyone is holding their noses and accepting it.

But the branch chief of the Blue Division felt that they were dissatisfied with Charlie and also somewhat dissatisfied with Hunter.

An criminal investigation team police officer, why should he be in charge of all of them?