Empire of Shadows

"My god!"

GOOGLE SEARCH TWKAN

The family of three looked at Lance with some horror. Several lives had vanished so simply before their eyes, which was a huge shock to the middle class!

You should know that in the Federation, the people who most adhere to and maintain the rules of social operation are the middle class!

Because the middle class can be said to be the beneficiaries of the current social rules, they are more spontaneous and heartfelt in maintaining these social rules than the lower class.

What they maintain is not just the rules, what they abide by is not just the law, but also the foundation that allows them to escape their class!

But at this moment, they felt a huge shock, because this society is ultimately not quite the same as theirs!

"Clean up a bit," Lance said, sitting on the sofa and exhaling. The continuous waving of the vase made him a little breathless. He lit a cigarette, glanced at the Barbara family of three opposite him, and shrugged. "I might have accidentally broken your vase."

It was a silver vase with certain characteristics and artistic style, an antique left behind by a now-extinct country on Tanfitte Avenue.

Two thousand dollars was a very reasonable price. It wasn't pure "silver alloy." Natural oxidation had blackened part of it, while the parts more easily exposed to friction were noticeably shiny.

This contrast of light and dark, black and white, brought some artistic expression and gave people a lot of reverie!

But now the body of the vase was dented, obviously changing it from a "perfect condition" item to something less perfect, perhaps only worth three or five hundred dollars.

Barbara's father swallowed. His eyes still held some lingering fear. He glanced at the vase; the dent seemed to have some hair and even bone fragments stuck to it, and he felt an urge to go to the bathroom!

"It's okay, it's just a vase!" he said in response to Lance's words. Damn it, it was too scary!

William walked to the window and looked outside. He saw that the lights of the distant villas were all off. He returned to the sofa and looked at Lance. "They heard the gunshots. Will there be trouble?"

Lance shook his head. "Don't worry, everything is safe."

The people Lance brought were cleaning up the bodies. They were very professional and even had special body bags—

At this time, body bags were made of waterproof cloth or canvas brushed with a layer of glue, so that even highly rotten corpses would not leak juice from the body bag and make a mess.

Just put the body in, then pull the rope buckle, and the body can be sealed inside.

Perhaps his emotions had been slightly relieved, Barbara's father's mood stabilized a lot. He looked at Lance, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say, and finally could only look at William with a pleading gaze.

William sat next to Lance and rubbed his head. He was just about to speak when Laun walked over, "Excuse me, please lift your foot."

"Oh, okay!" William lifted his foot and watched Laun drag the little boss's body out, leaving a bright red trail on the ground.

Looking at this bloodstain, William didn't even know if he should put his foot down.

Newspapers often said that footprints were the key to solving murder cases!

Then they started cleaning the scene with very professional techniques, showing they were veterans.

William's words were blocked in his throat, and he took several puffs of smoke before saying in a muffled voice, "Will this cause trouble?"

Lance shook his head. "The Dougge family is already on the opposite side of us. If it were someone else today, they might be able to leave, but the people of the Dougge family don't need to be kept."

"And you saw it, he has a strong desire for revenge and a strong possessiveness towards Barbara."

"What he said is actually right. No one can come every day, even me."

"If he is allowed to leave, the next time he comes, he won't be so polite to face you."

"They might be on the side of the road, or in a place with few people, and then a van stops beside you, grabs you, and drives away. The whole process won't take a minute!"

William said softly, "You seem very familiar with it?"

Lance rolled his eyes. He felt that William was not so nervous anymore and was starting to relax and even joke. "No, but I've heard of it."

William didn't believe it, but he was indeed quite relaxed now, although still a little uncomfortable and disgusted.

"Golden Port City will become chaotic during this time. Barbara, you are a beautiful girl. Beauty is your asset but also your fatal wound."

"It's best not to go anywhere during this time. Just stay at home and keep your phone accessible at all times."

"Including you!" He looked at Barbara's parents. "You'd better buy a few guns tomorrow and a few boxes of bullets. You all need to learn how to shoot people."

Barbara's father felt something was wrong. As a successful member of the middle class and a semi-privileged person, he smelled something different in Lance's words.

"Lance, are you saying there will be riots or something?"

He seemed very worried. "But now the entire Federation seems very stable!"

People who have experienced those bad years know how bad that era was. Going out without carrying a gun would make you prey, and even having a gun wasn't necessarily safe.

Lance just nodded twice. "But everything will be fine!"

As they were talking, the sound of sirens came, and the family of three immediately became nervous. William also looked at Lance nervously, as if asking him if he should hide first.

But Lance looked very shocked. He had met the branch director of the Pulisia branch and had chatted with him a few times.

Under the publicity of Branch Director Blue, many people now know that Lance likes to make friends with the police very much, and he does know the leaders of the entire police force.

In this era where black and white are indistinguishable, this is actually a kind of power, a kind of power different from that under the sun!

Because of it, there is even more deterrence!

Then someone stood outside the yard and shouted loudly, "Mr. Lawrence, someone heard gunshots coming from your side. Are you okay?"

"There are a few police officers here. They want to understand the situation!"

Lance looked at Alvin. Alvin walked out of the house. Before long, two police officers walked in.

They saw several young people still cleaning the blood stains in the cracks of the floor tiles, which made their expressions become serious.

Then they saw Lance. They weren't sure if this Lance was the Lance they knew, but they still came in.

Lance picked up the phone, dialed a number, and waited for about twenty seconds before the call was connected.

"It's me, Lance… Yes, I encountered some situation here. A mad dog tried to attack me. I solved it, and now someone has called the police…"

"Yes, it's your police officers. They are here… Okay…"

He held the phone in his hand, "Your director's phone, who will answer it?"

The two police officers looked at each other. One of the older ones stood up. "I'll do it."

He held the microphone with both hands, nodding and saying yes, and the caution and care on his face turned into a flattering smile. Finally, he handed the phone back to Lance. "The director said he has a few more words to say to you, Mr. Lance!"

He behaved very respectfully, which made the Lawrence family, including William, feel a little eye-opening!

Lance took the phone, said a few words with a smile, and finally hung it up.

After the phone was hung up, the older police officer smiled and said, "Mr. Lance, we have figured it out. A mad dog attacked your friend, and it was shot dead."

"Fortunately, no one was injured!"

Lance nodded slightly, glanced at Alvin, and Alvin walked over and put his arm around their shoulders. "Thank you for making a trip."

Both of them said things like "It's okay." When they reached the door, Alvin took out a stack of money from his pocket. "How many people came?"

The two police officers looked at each other again. "Four people, Mr. Alvin."

Alvin counted out eighty dollars and patted it into their hands. "Go have a drink, relax, and then go home and sleep. Everything is no different from yesterday, right?"

Again, it was a big shot, and again, it was the superior of their immediate boss. What else could they do?

They could only clench the money tightly in their hands!

"Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Alvin, and thank you, Mr. Lance!"

Alvin patted the two on the back. "Go home early and don't let your family worry."

The two thanked them repeatedly and left the house, telling the manager that there were no problems.

As for them not seeing the corpse of the mad dog, that was not important. They would consider these problems when someone reported that someone was missing.

Before the problem broke out, they would never be nosy.

However, they also indirectly confirmed the rumor that Mr. Lance was very generous. Just coming over to say hello earned each person twenty dollars in benefits. Suddenly, they were a little envious of their colleagues in the Imperial District.

They could see Mr. Lance every day. How many benefits could they eat?

In the living room, the family of three plus William were now dumbfounded as they watched all this happen. The continuous stimulation had made them unable to express their thoughts!

They were all civil servants, and they all knew that there were many, many problems in this society, but hearing about these things and having these things happen before their eyes were absolutely different.

It's like when someone says they masturbated until they bled. You'd just think it's an exaggerated rhetorical device, or even believe it's just a rumor fabricated by some moralists to scare you, until you actually do masturbate until you bleed.

That kind of thing that you'd only treat as a joke, in an instant, makes you feel fear, your hair standing on end!

But at the same time, a more real world was also presented before them.

Everyone's fear began to subside after seeing the police come. For them, the police ultimately represent justice, even if that justice is slightly dusty.

Since even justice doesn't think Lance is wrong, then what do they have to be afraid of?

Lance then patted his leg and stood up. The room was also cleaned up pretty well. "The matter is resolved, I should go back."

"Do you have a gun here?"

Barbara's father nodded repeatedly, "Yes, it's in the drawer."

"The Constitution protects your right to use it, you should make good use of it."

"Alright, we'll leave first," he glanced at William, "Are you coming or not?"

William thought for a moment, "I won't leave tonight."

The whole family showed him kind expressions. Although sometimes having an extra person at home is annoying, at this time, having an extra person only makes people feel at ease.

Soon Lance's people left. Those bodies were all loaded into their own cars, and those two cars were also driven away by Lance's people.

After watching the convoy leave, the family finally breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"You guys go tidy up…" Barbara's father asked his two ladies to leave first. He took a bottle of wine and went to the second-floor terrace with William.

There were two lounge chairs here. He usually liked to lie here in the evening to admire the fiery sunset.

At this time, a slightly cool evening breeze blew, dispersing some of the irritability in his heart. "Is he always like this?"

William wasn't really sure. He didn't fully understand Lance's work and life, but this wasn't the time to show weakness, "He's always like this."

The two held wine glasses and lay on the lounge chairs, "You let Patricia be with him… Aren't you worried?"

William shook his wine glass, seemingly drawn into the glass, the swirling liquid rippling in circles.

He took a sip of wine, "It's her choice, and Lance is different from others."

"He doesn't extort ordinary merchants. Although he also does illegal business, most of these businesses don't profit by harming others."

Barbara's father pointed at him with the hand holding the wine glass, "Camilla Gang."

"Yes, the Camilla Gang." William wasn't surprised that the other party could say this name. Everyone in Goldport City knew that the Camilla Gang specialized in kidnapping Imperial immigrants for extortion.

This kind of thing is actually very disgraceful, but who can help it when these kidnappings can bring a lot of wealth?

Especially those wealthy immigrants. Maybe they were privileged classes attached to the nobles in the Empire, with money in their pockets!

Hearing William say that Lance never did these businesses, he was also a little surprised, "In that case, he is indeed different from ordinary people."

"But the mafia…"

The Lawrence family is actually a very traditional family. William knew that his brother was still worried about Lance's identity, "You saw the attitude of the police."

"I've been busy with the election recently. The more people and things I come into contact with, the more I realize that the society we live in is not as beautiful as we imagine!"

He spread out his hands, "Look, ordinary people can only earn money through the lowest-level labor, not to mention ordinary people, let's talk about us."

"If we don't consider using some of the power in our hands, we would still be living in the old house on the farm."

"Your income in these years is definitely not simply obtained through wages. In fact, if you really investigate, you can't explain a lot of the money."

"Going further up, those wealthy people in the Bay Area, the politicians in this city, who isn't trying every possible way to make money from this city?"

"Everyone is making money, brother!"

"Think about the Wade family's big manor, think about the officials' villas, luxury cars, those luxury goods, how much can their salaries support their spending?"

"Recently, I understood a principle!" He picked up his wine glass and took a sip. The alcohol had already begun to have some effect on him, "The reason why those poor people are poor is not because they don't work hard, but because they are not qualified to take more profit from this society!"

"And those who are qualified are frantically grabbing benefits for themselves!"

"This society is like this, rotten to the core without me or you!"

"Lance is a good young man, and he's different from others. Did I just say that?"

Barbara's father nodded and said, "Yes, you just said that."

"So, I think this is an opportunity, an opportunity concerning the rise of our Lawrence family!"

"The Wade family are natives here, the Williams family are also natives here, but they have all forgotten that we are too!"

"Old Lawrence was also a farmer here!"

Barbara's father couldn't help laughing loudly, "But farmers and farmers are different!"

"Their slaves number in the thousands, and half of Goldport City is his plantation!"

William also couldn't help laughing. Actually, this was an exaggeration.

The Wade family had more than seven thousand slaves at its peak, and half of Goldport City was his plantation!

The Williams family was similar, just on a smaller scale.

As for the so-called "Old Lawrence family", although it was also a farmer, all the slaves added up were only a few hundred people, which was not the same level at all.

So they would sometimes joke that when Mr. Wade wasn't feeling well, he would whip those who were working, and a hundred slaves would die.

When Mr. Williams wasn't feeling well, a whip would kill fifty slaves.

When Mr. Lawrence wasn't feeling well, a whip could only kill nine, because one of them was his son!

Of course, this is a joke, but it's not entirely.

After the two laughed at this self-deprecating joke for a while and calmed down, Barbara's father asked seriously, "Do you think Lance can become a big shot, like the five major families?"

Perhaps in his eyes, the five major families are already the top forces in Goldport City.

William shook his head, "No, I think his achievements are far more than that. Judging from his actions, honestly, I think he should go into politics more."

"But you know, this path is very difficult for him to take!"

Lance's identity is always a big problem. Now his level is not high, and he doesn't involve sensitive things, then no one will bother him.

But when his level is high, or even plans to enter politics, his identity will become his fatal flaw.

Perhaps this is why he hasn't considered taking that path, because in the current social environment, there's no need to even go, it's a dead end!