Empire of Shadows

The gunfire didn't completely die down until midnight, as if the entire city had descended into chaos. Lance didn't fall asleep until late into the night.

Too many things had happened tonight. People were still reeling from the mayor's assassination attempt during his speech when the city erupted into even greater unrest.

The gang controlled behind the scenes by the mayor launched "gang wars" the very day he was shot. Lance received a call from Foster late that night.

At 11:30 PM, the Cassia family attacked the Pasleito family's manor. The two sides engaged in extremely fierce fighting, which didn't end until after 3:00 AM.

But everyone knew that this end only referred to the end of this particular battle, not the end of the entire war!

The city's turmoil focused people's attention on the mayor's assassination and the gang clashes, so much so that they barely noticed the dockworkers had started to strike!

Everything seemed to converge at once, making the ordinary people of Goldport City feel both incredulous and distinctly aware that a hand, or many hands, were manipulating everything that was happening and changing.

This feeling was terrible for ordinary people. They were like leaves swept off a freighter by the wind and dropped into the sea.

When the leaf looked at the sea from the ship, it only felt refreshed and happy, but when it fell into the sea itself, it understood what "stormy waves" meant!

Lance arrived at the downtown hospital at around 7:00 AM. The city center had become much quieter. Many shops had bodyguards maintaining order at their entrances or inside, and the storefront windows of some shops were shattered all over the ground.

Apparently, someone had looted their shops in the middle of the night. For robbers, looting brand-name stores in the city center was clearly a very attractive crime.

Those expensive brand-name items could be sold for higher prices when fenced, and there was no worry about not being able to sell them.

This destruction made the atmosphere in the city center somewhat tense. On the way to the hospital, Lance witnessed two roadside robberies and someone being stabbed.

After the convoy entered the hospital, the atmosphere here clearly felt more relaxed.

Medical groups were the most difficult people to provoke. They had a lot of money and were willing to spend it.

Whether you were a criminal or a politician, if they felt you were affecting their ability to make money, they would take care of you.

The guards with submachine guns or rifles at the entrance were warning all criminals not to come here looking for trouble.

On the bench outside Morris's ward, Lance saw Enio.

The sound of footsteps startled Enio awake. He flipped over and sat up, his hand reaching into his chest until he saw that the people coming were his own.

"I'm sorry!" Lance apologized.

Enio and Morris were good friends. Both of them had been brought to the Federation by their families when they were very young.

They had been here for almost fourteen or fifteen years.

At that time, all you needed was a ship ticket to come here. The Federation was in its fastest period of development and needed a large number of workers, so at that time, you could become a Federation citizen without any conditions.

Enio's father was busy pursuing his Federation dream, and Morris's father hadn't yet become a complete gambling addict and was also busy with work.

They lived relatively close to each other, on the same street, and got to know each other over time.

Enio liked to protect the weak, and Morris was already short, so the two of them became a team.

Most of the time, from the outside, it looked like Enio was playing the role of the older brother, protecting and helping Morris.

But in reality, the one who really played the role of the older brother was Morris, who had been going in and out of casinos since he was a child.

He was clearly more mature than Enio, and although he was small, he was more opinionated than Enio.

After Enio's parents divorced, his feelings for his original family became much weaker, which also led to a closer connection between him and Morris.

Although the two of them weren't related by blood, they were truly like brothers!

Enio's eyes instantly turned red, and Lance gave him a hug. "I will make the people who hurt him pay the price!"

Enio nodded, his voice a little choked, "I believe you!"

Lance released him. "Is he awake?"

"I don't know..."

Lance had someone call the doctor. The doctor smiled when he saw Lance, but he quickly realized that it was best not to smile at this time.

He wasn't very afraid of these gang family members, because these people would also get injured, get sick, and eventually come to the hospital.

As long as they couldn't leave the hospital, the doctors didn't have to be too afraid of them. On the contrary, these people were high-quality customers!

Look, a gunfight, four people rescued. Although three died, those three who died also had to pay a large amount of rescue fees!

The doctor walked over with a serious expression. "Mr. Lance!"

"How is my friend doing now?" he asked.

The doctor picked up the clipboard in his hand, which recorded the monitoring situation from last night. "Mr. Morris's vitality is very strong. He may wake up sooner than we expected."

Nurses and doctors on duty were responsible for checking Morris's condition in the ward at night. Someone who had been rescued from this kind of injury was very likely to have some inexplicable emergencies, and would die if they didn't receive treatment in a short period of time.

So someone had been watching him all night, and still was, with two nurses and a doctor guarding Morris's life.

Of course, don't think that this was because the hospital was so responsible. After they heard that Morris only had basic insurance and that Lance was willing to pay the full amount, they became so attentive.

Otherwise, if it wasn't too... blatant to arrange a few more doctors, they would have loved to arrange a hundred doctors in Morris's ward to protect him alone!

"That's good news. Can we see him now?"

The doctor nodded. "Of course, but if you want to go in, you have to be fully disinfected, otherwise you can only look from outside the glass."

"He has too many wounds on his body. We have to make sure the room is as quiet as possible to reduce the risk of infection."

The group came to the doctor's office and saw Morris lying on the hospital bed through the huge glass wall.

He hadn't woken up yet, but his whole body was already slightly swollen. The doctor explained that this was normal.

He was lying naked on the bed, and the doctor had also inserted a catheter for him. Although that looked a little funny, no one could laugh.

The places on his body that were wrapped in bandages were still faintly oozing blood, showing that he had really suffered this time.

Coming out of the hospital and standing on the steps, Lance lit a cigarette.

Enio clenched his fists. "Lance, let me go this time to fight the Wolf Gang."

Lance didn't refuse. "Okay, but you have to take care of your own safety. I don't want you lying down again after Morris wakes up."

He paused and looked at Boton, who was sitting in a wheelchair beside him.

In fact, Lance knew that Boton didn't need to be in a wheelchair. The bullet had only shattered one of his ribs. The surgery had corrected the position of the rib, and he was now wearing a special suit to ensure that the rib wouldn't shift.

He could walk on his own, as long as he didn't run or jump, but he still chose to sit in a wheelchair. This seemed to show a little more 'sincerity,' after all, he was now someone who had studied abroad for the family.

"Morris's people will cooperate with you first. I want to figure out the situation of all the Wolf Gang's senior leaders, including that Wolf and their other leader."

Boton endured the severe pain caused by breathing, and the uncontrollable smile on his face almost made him lose his composure. "No problem, I will take care of all this as soon as possible!"

Although Morris lying down was bad news, it might actually be good news for him.

He could intervene in more family affairs and gain more importance and say.

If nothing happened to Morris, he wouldn't have this opportunity!

Lance nodded slightly. "Go do it as soon as possible."

"Yes!"

He suppressed the throbbing in his heart, his hands gripping the wheels of the wheelchair, his knuckles turning white from the force.

The professor at this time was slightly embarrassed, but only a little, because he had calculated that Lance would definitely retaliate against the Wolf Gang.

The fact also proved that he did retaliate, but the professor miscalculated the target.

Counting Chobaf's people and the people in the bar, they actually suffered heavy losses this time.

Two senior leaders died, and about thirty core members died. Although Wolf didn't say anything, from the pained expression on his face, you could see that he was also hurting!

The atmosphere inside the Wolf Gang was much better than some gangs. Wolf didn't actually have much personal charisma, which also meant that he didn't have any airs.

Anyway, everyone was brothers. He regarded himself as the head wolf, and he would take care of everyone else. From their perspective, the atmosphere was actually good.

The death of so many people left him without much of a smile all morning, but this kind of thing... it didn't seem appropriate to blame the professor, after all, the professor was only half wrong, not completely wrong.

In Wolf's office, Wolf asked, "What do you think they will do next?"

Everyone around him looked at him. Although he didn't see any mocking expressions on their faces, the professor was still a little embarrassed. Wolf really didn't know how to ask questions.

Knowing that this question would embarrass him, he still asked it.

Sometimes the professor didn't know if he was really stupid or pretending!

He coughed to cover up his emotions, "We can't wait. Continue the attack, little by little."

"Don't forget, besides our own ideas, there's also the task he gave us."

Hearing the professor mention this, a reluctant expression appeared on Wolf's face, but he was helpless. After all, the mayor was nominally and for the most part actually the ruler of this city, and he couldn't refuse him.

But then he thought again and asked, "I heard he was seriously injured…"

The professor pushed up his glasses and looked at him, "He told us several days in advance when to take action, and then he was shot before we even started."

"Wolf, I never expect you to keep up with my thinking, but I hope you can use your brain a little more for such simple questions."

Wolf looked annoyed. "No one taught me these things, damn it!"

He slammed the table. "So, are we attacking now?"

The professor nodded. "Let those small gangs charge ahead. If they refuse, tell them that whoever seizes the territory will own it from now on."

This sentence made Wolf's eyes widen. Perhaps knowing what this guy was going to ask, the professor explained, "Don't worry, they won't grow faster than us."

"Just find a reason to leak some information to Lance when the time comes."

"He will help us solve our problems!"

These small gangs still maintained relative independence after joining the Wolf Gang, which was not in the gang's best interests. So, the professor planned to solve these problems once and for all this time, letting Lance help him solve them.

As long as their core members and leaders died, the rest would naturally become true members of the Wolf Gang, helping them complete their localization.

A look of disdain appeared on Wolf's face, although he admired the professor quite a bit.

The professor turned a blind eye to this disdainful gaze. "If you have no questions, go and act. Watch out for their people on the street!"

Because of the attacks on Bolton and Morris, the entire Empire District had become tense. The old men's eyes were like those of hawks, locking onto every pedestrian and every car on the street.

Bolton's injury was like the sky falling for them. Many people relied on Bolton to live a happy old age.

For them, they didn't care who was the mayor or who was a city councilor, only Bolton's health mattered.

In fact, these people all knew that above Bolton was the Lance family and Lance, but these old men had too low of a social status to even contact a "big shot" like Lance.

So, Bolton became especially important to them.

Several old men were still talking about the attack that happened yesterday. Of course, they were discussing the case of Bolton being shot.

"Have you heard?"

"Mr. Bolton sent five thousand dollars to the family of the waiter who died for him. He is truly a great gentleman!"

The other old men also showed admiration and a little envy.

After all, that was five thousand dollars. If they had five thousand dollars, they wouldn't have to worry about money until they died!

Bolton went to see the waiter's family in the morning. In front of everyone, he stuffed five thousand dollars into their hands.

In his version of the story, the waiter took the initiative to distract the gunman for him, creating an opportunity for him to escape.

It was only because he had praised the waiter before and given him a few tips.

He was very touched, so he decided to repay the waiter's family with five thousand dollars.

This matter quickly spread throughout the Empire District. Many people said that Mr. Bolton was a kind and righteous man.

He clearly didn't need to do anything for the person who died accidentally in the shooting, but he still gave such a large sum of money.

The waiter's family was also very grateful for Bolton's compensation. They accepted the fact that their loved one was gone, and they didn't resent Bolton either. They even hoped that their other children could work for Bolton.

Of course, Bolton refused. He didn't want tragedy to befall this family again…

The old men said these words, sighing at everything.

Suddenly, an old man saw two cars coming from the direction of the Port District.

The people sitting inside were all young, and looking at the serious expressions on their faces, they didn't seem like normal people. He quickly stood up and ran to the phone booth.

Soon, Lance heard the news.

Now Bolton also had his own office in the company, as well as his own phone.

Lance didn't even need to give Ennio instructions; he left with his men.

Constant phone calls gathered information about abnormal movements throughout the Empire District. This was why the professor considered Bolton a target to deal with.

He thought Lance was blind, but he wasn't!

Gunfire that occurred in other districts gradually entered the Empire District. The people who lived here also knew what had happened in the past few days. When gunfire rang out, they would leave the scene as soon as possible and hide in alleys or roadside shops.

After the gunfight ended, they would come back outside.

The entire city had gunfire ringing out almost all day long. Goldport City had never been so chaotic.

Charlie had begun to try to control the situation, but the effect wasn't very good.

Everywhere was gang warfare, fighting for territory, or simply engaging in firefights to attack the enemy's vital forces.

People kept calling the police station, saying that the glass in their homes had suddenly been pierced by a bullet, and some unlucky people had even been accidentally injured—

The bullet penetrated the not-so-thick wooden wall and hit him!

The entire police station was flooded with endless phone calls. A large number of workers had gathered at the port. Johnny stood at the core, waving his fist and leading the workers to protest the port management company's decision!

In the port management company manager's office, many businessmen and captains were negotiating with the manager.

Some people hoped that the manager could arrange for their goods to be loaded onto the ship as soon as possible, and warned the manager that if their goods could not be sent out in time due to their reasons, resulting in claims, they would sue the port management company.

Some captains were also asking the manager to arrange for people to unload the goods as soon as possible. They had no plans to stay here for a long time, and even floating on the sea or on the dock required huge daily usage costs!

The manager's office was full of people, and his brain was about to explode!

But besides saying "I will arrange it as soon as possible," he had no other good solution!

He had already hand-picked some workers. These workers were willing to cooperate with him to continue working, but even if he bribed enough workers to reach several hundred or even a thousand or two working, it was still not enough to take care of the port that needed more than ten thousand people to operate normally!

The urban area was full of gunfire, and there were also strikes at the port. Goldport City was completely in chaos!