Empire of Shadows

The immense force sent Beno flying. He tumbled a few times after landing, and despite the intense pain all over his body, he struggled to his feet, wanting to escape.

He knew all too well the kind of punishment a "traitor" would receive in a gang!

Whether simply out of disgust and hatred for traitors, or to warn those walking on the edge of danger, gangs would use the cruelest and most ruthless methods to warn people.

Some mistakes cannot be made, because once you touch them, what follows is hell on earth!

He regretted it now, regretted taking Lucar's job, regretted listening to his cousin and being tricked into wanting to use this opportunity to enter the Dangerous Goods Administration.

He regretted knowing it was dangerous but still stubbornly persevering, regretted that he actually had opportunities to explain everything, but always luckily thought he wouldn't be discovered!

He regretted so many things!

He didn't even have time to say sorry to his family, nor to apologize to himself for his short life!

He struggled forward, his whole body aching, not running fast, but still trying!

Until…

Suddenly, a sharp, tearing pain came from his head, and his whole body was restricted by this force, falling backward onto the ground.

Hiram grabbed his hair and had him tied up. Allen also chased after him, looking at Beno, who was looking up at him, with a somewhat empty gaze.

"Me, or you?"

Hiram flicked his hair and lit a cigarette.

Allen's eyes showed something more. His gaze fell on Hiram, then on Beno, who was being stuffed into the car. He bit his lip, "Me."

Hiram patted him on the shoulder, "You're a good man, get in the car!"

The car quickly disappeared into the streets, and no one thought of calling the police. They could tell from these people's clothes that they were from the Lance family.

Now, both the Imperial District and the Port District have a lot of "tolerance" for the Lance family, because they are indeed not quite the same as traditional gangs, not relying on exploiting the poor as their main source of income.

Although some say they sell beverages containing intoxicating alcohol to the public, which is also earning money from the people, those alcoholics can completely choose not to buy!

No one forces them to consume in Lance's bars, they are only ever forced by themselves.

The car quickly arrived in the suburbs. Now they like to work in the suburbs, where things are not so particular to deal with, and relatively easier to handle.

The door of the lakeside cabin was opened, and Beno was thrown onto a chair.

He actually had multiple fractures in his body, and now being thrown heavily onto the chair, he was in so much pain that he wanted to curl up!

Everyone else left, including Hiram.

Before leaving, Hiram gave Allen a confirming look, "Don't disappoint us!"

With that, he also left, this was his respect for Allen.

Allen lit a cigarette, his hand trembling slightly. He looked at Beno, his emotions already relatively calmer.

"Why did you betray us?" he asked.

Beno was silent for a while, then said, "Because they promised me they would get me into the Dangerous Goods Administration."

This answer made Allen not dare to believe his ears!

"Do you think you're having a bad time in the family?"

"The money you get from the company every month is several times, maybe even more, what you could make doing those jobs!"

"Everyone in the whole district respects you, even fears you, isn't that glorious enough?"

"I completely don't understand why you would betray us for such a role, a role that opposes us!"

Seeing Allen's emotions starting to get out of control again, Beno stopped talking.

He lowered his head, looking like his spine had been pulled out.

Taking two puffs of his cigarette, Allen asked softly, "Do you regret it?"

Beno slowly raised his head to look at him, nodding slightly.

Allen cursed a couple of times, then pulled out a dagger from behind and walked towards him.

Beno's eyes showed some desire for life. He knew that Allen's family was actually very unhappy, and he had come to the docks at a young age to find a living.

His desire for family affection was stronger than others, so Beno became his good friend!

Just when he thought Allen was going to untie him, Allen whispered in his ear, "I've always treated you like a brother. As a brother, the only thing I can do now is to make it quick for you!"

The next second, the sharp dagger pierced his chest. Beno looked down at the wound left by Allen after pulling out the dagger, which began to bleed rapidly.

He suddenly began to gasp uncontrollably, like a drowning person about to drown!

He stared at Allen with wide eyes, but Allen reached out and covered his eyes, "You are my brother, but Lance and the others are also my brothers."

"You did something wrong to us, don't blame me!"

The moment the heart stops beating, it produces a feeling of "I'm going to die," a feeling that is issued by biological instinct, also known medically as a "near-death experience."

Once a near-death experience occurs, it means that a person's life is under extremely strong threat, representing the possibility of dying at any time!

If an ordinary person has a chance of surviving a near-death experience, then his situation has no chance of survival.

His eyes were filled with a desire to live, but that desire was quickly being extinguished.

He thought of his life before, he thought of his cousin finding him and mentioning the matter of going undercover.

He had been messing around on the streets before, and never felt that there was any difficulty in this, and he also had the support of law enforcement behind him.

But he didn't expect that this would be the end of his life.

His whole body began to relax, the light in his eyes as weak as a flame about to go out.

When the look in his eyes completely disappeared, he died beside Allen.

Allen looked at him, feeling very sad. He turned and walked outside.

Hiram was chatting with the others. They saw Allen walk out with blood on his body and hands, and they all looked at him.

"I finished him, but I'm a little… not quite used to the aftermath."

Hiram walked over and patted him on the shoulder, giving him a hug, "I'll take care of it, you go back first."

An honor kill must be ceremonial. It's not like giving Beno a knife and considering the honor kill complete.

Every gang has its own characteristics. Like the Brothers gang, which is completely finished, their past practice was to tie the upper body of the executed into a cross.

Let the executed kneel on the ground in this special way to confess their sins. Many people say they are arrogant, which can also be seen from here.

Hiram entered the room with a cigarette in his mouth. He looked at Beno, who was already dead, and curled his lips, "You have a good brother!"

Otherwise, everything he was about to endure should have been done while he was alive.

The next morning, the Dangerous Goods Administration once again topped the headlines of major newspapers. Another guy hanging on the streetlights outside the Dangerous Goods Administration became the city's front-page news.

Like everyone else who had been hung here before, or died here, his ears, eyes, and tongue were all clenched in his hands, which meant he was an informant.

But today he was different, because there was a big hole in his chest, and the most important thing for a living being was gone.

Behind him, the words "Liar" were engraved…

When he heard his subordinates report these things, Director Dale took a day off, citing high blood pressure and being unable to work.

But he didn't sit idle at home. He went to the hospital and to the mayor's office.

The mayor had a copy of "Today's Goldport" on hand, and it was on the first page.

Beno, hanging in mid-air, once again made "Today's Goldport" one of the most terrifying newspapers in recent times.

Grading is still too early for the current Federation. People have not considered whether these impactful images can cause huge mental harm to some people!

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why there are so many perverts in the Federation during this period. They sense each other through newspapers, and then show off their skills or even declare war on each other through newspapers!

In other states, these things are indeed still happening. Two serial perverted killers are constantly challenging the authority of law enforcement.

They interact by leaving puzzles on the bodies.

The federal government has sent a large number of elite detectives and so-called "super detectives" to reward the capture of these two bastards, but so far there have been no good results.

Some people suggested not letting the newspapers report these things, but this would instead anger the two perverted killers, who are setting riddles or puzzles for each other, and only when they solve each other's riddles or puzzles will they proceed to the next "interaction."

Otherwise, they will commit crimes frequently.

In this era when various investigation equipment and technology are very backward, and there is no systematic investigation experience, it is indeed difficult to deal with such unreasonable perverted killers.

Fortunately, Goldport City has not had such a pervert so far.

The mayor's gaze fell again on the body hanging in the newspaper. This doesn't count.

"Are you planning to do nothing?" Director Dale didn't seem as frustrated as he had imagined. It wasn't his people who died, anyway he had no face left now.

The mayor leaned back on the pillow, "The deputy governor and the secretary of state have all come to Goldport City, but they haven't even called me, let alone come to see me."

"I've been abandoned!"

Director Dale seemed somewhat… uncertain. "But you don't seem like you've been abandoned!"

The Mayor shrugged. "I've accepted my fate. I accept the result. I lost this gamble, that's all."

"Losers don't have the right to do this or that."

He was silent for a moment. "The truth is, it was always going to be difficult to control Goldport City. We tried, we failed, and we lost all our capital. That's it!"

He even started to comfort Director Dale. "Look, I lost everything, but you haven't."

"Your job is prohibition. The more criminals you catch, the more Congress will value you. You really… don't need to be so anxious!"

"You're not like me. My value must be reflected in my control over this city, but your value is reflected in your enforcement of prohibition."

He sighed softly. "Dale, just do your job, and you won't lose."

Although that's what he said, the extent of what he could do with and without the Mayor's support was different.

Feeling that the Mayor had completely given up, he couldn't help but ask, "Is that it?"

The Mayor seemed to be in a good mood now. "There must be the first spark to ignite the entire prairie."

He glanced at the secretary standing by the window, hinting at something.

Although he had lost hope, he had left enough political legacy for the secretary. He would definitely go faster and higher than himself!

Director Dale also looked at the secretary. He and the Mayor weren't exactly long-time friends. He didn't know why the Mayor would rather cultivate his secretary than care about his illegitimate son, leading to his early demise.

Perhaps this is the extraordinary nature of extraordinary people.

He pondered for a while. The Mayor was his best ally. He didn't want to fight alone, but he had to stimulate the Mayor's "desire to survive."

He thought back and forth, and thought of something that might be slightly useful later.

"Recently, I heard a rumor that the Coda family intends to act as an intermediary, bringing the Cassia family and others to the table for negotiations, to restore the era of the Five Families' rule."

The Mayor's face showed a mocking smile after hearing this. "The Five Families?"

"Have they considered Lance's thoughts?"

"Will Lance agree to let them continue as before?"

Director Dale's intention was to ask if the Mayor could take advantage of such an opportunity to do something.

Once Councilor Williams ran for Mayor, the Five Families would definitely become weak. Could he unite the Five Families to fight against Councilor Williams?

But what he didn't expect was that the Mayor actually gave him such an answer.

Director Dale was a little confused. "Is the Lance family that powerful?"

"Aren't they just running a bar business?"

The Mayor looked at him with a look of an idiot. "You think it's not powerful to control a gang in two districts?"

"Goldport City is more complicated than you think, Dale. If they weren't powerful, they would have been eaten long ago."

"I've only recently figured this out!"

"Think about it carefully, haven't almost all forces been harmed to varying degrees, but only they have made great progress!"

"Even if those are two relatively backward and poor places, that's still two districts, hundreds of thousands of people!"

The Mayor glanced at Director Dale, and the temperament of a former ruler flashed across his face. "Everyone underestimated them. He will give everyone, give this city, a huge surprise!"

Director Dale's gaze fell on the newspaper again. He suddenly recalled that several times the Hazardous Materials Administration had embarrassed themselves, it was related to Lance and them.

Lance and the Lance family, are they really that strong?

He also suddenly thought that could Lucar's death be related to them?

Director Dale's idea about the Coda family intending to re-promote the stability of the Five Families was not based on listening to other people's nonsense.

This matter was spread from within the Coda family. Their relationship with the Coda family was much better than imagined.

Because the Mayor's leadership was one aspect, and secondly, there was also the reason from the Congressional side. A considerable portion of the Coda family's casino profits were ultimately sent to the Special Zone.

So, when everyone had good relationships with the background, or even the same background, the exchange of information became smooth.

Now that the Mayor was finished, his "uprising" was over, then everything should return to the origin.

From the Coda family's perspective, this was also very beneficial to them!

If the Cassia family was really destroyed, then the strengthened Keane and Tita families might pose a threat to the Coda family.

Then it would be better to let them continue to hate each other. As long as they crossed the line, he would mediate. No matter how it changed, the Coda family's interests would not be harmed!

The Cassia family was also willing to negotiate, after all, they were also under great pressure now. Once the Bear Gang was destroyed, the Keane and Tita families would stare at him. Even if they could infinitely spawn troops from Yalan, they probably wouldn't last long!

In mid-August, the Bear Gang from Fides had begun to show some signs of decline, and the intensity of the gang war with the Keane family around the city center had also dropped sharply.

According to some unreliable social rumors, the Bear Gang planned to leave.

The Mayor couldn't give them strong support, and now the police were also looking for trouble for them, so they were very passive.

Of course, they also said that if they had to be kept in Goldport City, they definitely couldn't leave, but if they couldn't leave, no one would want to be comfortable!

So now the situation in the city center has suddenly eased, and the gunshots have become sporadic, or even inaudible.

Ennio's father came to the company early in the morning. The company had promised him that if he could complete excellent performance before September, he would be promoted to business manager.

That way, he wouldn't need to run first-line sales anymore, but could sit in the office, leading ten to twenty salespersons, letting them go out to run sales, and taking three percent of the salesperson's performance.

For this reason, he even spent a sum of money to buy some goods himself.

More than six hundred yuan.

From his point of view, once he became a business manager, he would belong to middle management, and these investments could be recovered quickly.

There were only a few days left until September, and he was one step closer to his dream!

In fact, he spent his own money to buy these things, wanting to become a manager, in fact, he wanted to prove to his son that although this dream was somewhat unrealistic, he was still persisting and approaching the dream!

What he wanted to prove was not only that he was one step closer to his dream, but also a certain dignity as a father!

He came to his desk and carefully cleaned it up, because he would soon have an office of his own.

He also prepared a cardboard box to pack his things later.

His face was full of smiles, and he would take the initiative to greet anyone he saw.

At half past nine, the HR manager asked him to go to the office.

He tidied up his clothes and entered the office.

He was just about to sit on the chair opposite the HR manager when the HR manager stopped him, "No need to sit down, just a few words."

"You're fired, you can go out and leave with your things!"