Empire of Shadows

In this world, those willing to lend a hand when you're in trouble are ultimately few and far between.

On the contrary, there are more who will step on you when you're down on your luck.

Someone, likely someone from another bank, leaked the news of Jindar Bank's current operational difficulties.

Banks are all about making a profit.

If Mr. Chobaff's Jindar Bank is indeed experiencing financial difficulties, then for these banks, it's a new "feast."

Jindar Bank's depositors, and the goods that Mr. Chobaff has to quickly mortgage at a low price to cover the deficit, are all coveted by the major banks.

Even if Mr. Chobaff can overcome the immediate difficulties, they will still find ways to bite off a piece of him through mortgage lending.

If he… doesn't make it through, then that's even better!

They can not only get those collaterals at extremely low prices, but also gain a large number of depositors, achieving growth in performance. In any case, they will never be the losers!

With this in mind, they naturally won't be idle. Soon, rumors about Jindar Bank running out of money began to spread even more frantically.

Mr. Chobaff's base is these Imperial immigrants and illegal immigrants. They don't quite trust the Federation's banks, which is why Jindar Bank and Mr. Chobaff's business miracle came about.

But now, this miracle seems to be coming to a halt.

More and more people are starting to demand to withdraw their savings. The doors of the bank are already crowded with people, waving their deposit and withdrawal slips, with faces full of anxiety and even fear!

There are also some homeless people waiting to withdraw money. They are also loyal customers of Jindar Bank, because anyone can deposit money here.

Whether they have an identity or not.

Many reporters have already arrived, all waiting for the opportunity to interview Mr. Chobaff. At this time, Mr. Chobaff has realized that he is about to be finished.

He can only pin his hopes on the mayor, which is his last chance!

The mayor, lying in his hospital bed, listened to what he said, including his request, and finally shook his head, "I'm sorry, Chobaff, I can't do that."

"The funds you invested in those infrastructure projects have all been transferred to the project accounts. Even I can't take them out."

"You should understand how nervous the contractors are about this money, and in the absence of other funds coming in, I must first ensure the interests of the city's development, not personal interests."

"If you can find someone to take over these projects, I can help you transfer the rights."

Mr. Chobaff's idea was whether he could move some of the money invested in urban construction. Obviously, the mayor just lost, he's not stupid.

Even if he lost, these infrastructure projects are solid achievements, at least ensuring that although he has no chance to go further, he can live peacefully until retirement.

Moreover, for him, Mr. Chobaff is just someone who pays for him. He doesn't care what will happen to Mr. Chobaff in the future. He's already like this, why would he care about others?

Watching Mr. Chobaff's desperate back as he left, the mayor's mood was actually heavy.

He knew very well that the problem Mr. Chobaff was facing now was the same problem he was facing, and this problem had no solution.

Win, take all; lose, and you have to accept it.

Political struggles have always been so cruel.

Just a few days ago, the weather was sunny and bright, but a few days later, there was a storm, and the world seemed to be destroyed under the dark clouds!

"So, he has no chance to turn things around now?" Lance listened to people talking about Mr. Chobaff's situation. This is the hottest topic in the Imperial District these days.

Because the major banks have cornered Jindar Bank, they only give Mr. Chobaff very low credit limits when he wants to mortgage those valuable things to other banks.

For example, those works of art, originally worth tens of thousands, can only be worth ten thousand after being evaluated by those banks, 20% to 25% of the value, and no one can find any fault with it.

After all, the price of art is not like gold. The major banks did not lower the price when exchanging for gold, after all, if they don't accept it, there are places that will buy it at the market price.

However, other things whose prices may be controversial have become worthless.

Now, Jindar Bank has been blocked, and the door is full of people waiting to withdraw money.

No matter how much money he brings in from the outside, it will be pocketed by those withdrawing money in no time. This road in his life has come to an end.

Borton, sitting in the corner, was also quite sentimental.

In fact, perhaps no one else has as much feeling for the names "Chobaff" and "Jindar Bank" as he does, because that was once an existence he didn't even have the qualifications to look up to!

Before, at the gathering outside St. Naya Cathedral, he wanted to approach Mr. Chobaff up close many times, but he was stopped by his assistant or bodyguard.

They looked at him with the eyes of looking at garbage, as if telling him that a piece of garbage has no qualification to approach Mr. Chobaff!

At that time, in Borton's eyes, Mr. Chobaff was the representative of the Federal Dream, even not just one Federal Dream, but two, three, or even ten Federal Dreams!

But now, he is about to go bankrupt, and he, who was once looked down upon by him, seems to be becoming successful.

He said humbly, "I heard that's the case. People say that people from other banks are besieging him, and he probably won't be able to hold on."

Lance nodded slightly, "Have people pay attention…"

Before he could finish speaking, Corinda knocked on the door, opened the office door, and poked her head in, "Mr. Chobaff wants to see you."

Lance didn't expect that they were talking about Mr. Chobaff, and the other party came directly.

Ervin glanced at Lance, then stood up. Everyone else in the room stood up. Lance nodded, "Let him in."

Mr. Chobaff had no other choice. If he had any other way, he wouldn't have come to Lance.

He watched many people come out of Lance's office, slightly tidied up his clothes, not wanting to look too embarrassed, and then pushed the door in.

Lance sat behind the chair, not even standing up. He didn't let Mr. Chobaff sit down, just letting him stand there blankly.

He didn't even say to have someone prepare coffee or anything else.

"I need your help, Lance."

Lance didn't make any expression, just continued to look at him. He had to continue, "I need a sum of money."

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, and Lance shook his head slightly, "Mr. Chobaff, you see, from the time you came in until now, you have been directly calling me by my name."

"You don't make me feel your respect for me, so how can I help you?"

"Maybe you will think… I am a bit too much, even a little too calculating, but you forgot that when you hired the Wolf Gang, our last bit of friendship was gone."

"Now you come to me for help, you need to have an attitude of asking for help, understand?"

Mr. Chobaff's face originally had no color, looking very haggard. He couldn't sleep at all these days.

As soon as he closed his eyes, his mind was full of the situation of bankruptcy, the anger and helplessness of his efforts and dedication over the years going down the drain, so there was no color on his face at all.

But even so, it turned rosy at this time, but then it began to turn white again.

His face seemed to hide a magician, who knew a magic trick to change colors.

After a while, he hunched over, bent down, lowered his head, and stared at his toes, "Mr. Lance, I need your help."

Lance nodded slightly, "I've heard a lot, Mr. Chobaff. It's difficult for me to make the move to lend you money at this time, because you can't pay it back."

"And even if I lend you a little money, you actually can't change anything."

"Your credit has collapsed. Even if you make up for all the deficits now, you have no chance to turn things around."

"If I were you, I would now hide some valuables and then declare bankruptcy."

"At least this way you can still have a guarantee of life in the future, so you won't have to find a new job in your old age too miserably."

Mr. Chobaff's pale face began to turn red again, not knowing whether it was because of shame or some other reason.

"I want to borrow a sum of money," he repeated this idea again.

The two looked at each other for a moment, and Lance frowned, "Do you have anything to mortgage?"

He nodded, "Antiques, works of art, real estate."

Lance thought for a while, "I don't know much about antiques and works of art, so I can't reach a deal with you in this regard, but real estate is possible."

"I want that house in your bank, as well as your villa and manor."

Mr. Chobaff's face turned white again. His lips moved, and finally he said the answer, "No problem."

He couldn't possibly have a problem, because he still wanted to persevere. He felt that he might still be able to solve the current problem!

Seeing that everyone was from the same Imperial hometown and had a good relationship before, Lance gave him 40% of the price, which was already very high.

Although he also knew that the price Lance gave was very low, he still wanted to thank Lance, at least Lance was willing to lend him money.

The manor plus the villa plus the house, estimated at about 300,000, a total of 120,000. 120,000 can't solve his current problem at all.

Lance, here is the mortgage contract. Once Mr. Chobaf doesn't repay the money, Lance has the right to take his house.

At the moment of signing, he hesitated slightly, after all, these things represented all his successes over the past few decades, especially the house in the bank.

But now, he really needed this money, even if it didn't seem like much.

Finally, he signed his name on these documents and pressed his fingerprint. Lance had someone take the cash to him.

He quickly took the money and left, leaving without looking back.

Erwin asked Lance if this would make his situation better?

Lance told him that doing so would only make the situation worse!

In fact, any bank facing a run has no particularly good solution, because the reason for depositors to withdraw money is reasonable and legal.

You can't refuse them, for whatever reason. As long as you refuse, it will cause panic among people. This is also why Mr. Chobaf knows it's impossible but is still trying to resist!

Resisting might still offer a chance. If you don't resist, there really won't be any chance!

After he got the money, he went directly to the bank and, in front of everyone, put the money into the bank. But doing so, as Lance said, didn't solve any problems. Instead, it made the people withdrawing money even more frantic!

Even if he had the tellers tell the people withdrawing money that withdrawing money now would not only incur high handling fees but also not accrue interest, it still couldn't stop people's desire to withdraw money.

How long can he last? No one knows, but what people do know is that he won't last too long.

Lance didn't continue to pay much attention to him. He just had Lawyer Robben prepare to transfer the three properties to his name at any time.

For several days in a row, the news about Jinda Bank's inability to cash out deposits intensified. Even the mayor, who was lying in bed, began to pay attention to this matter.

He organized various government departments to follow up and investigate this matter, and even while lying in his hospital bed, he did not forget to tell reporters that he would do his best to ensure the interests of the people.

It was at such a time that the meeting of the five major families began.

The meeting place was in the Corda family's casino. In this "storm", the Corda family may have been the only force that didn't participate. Although they also betrayed everyone, they didn't do anything too excessive.

So much so that even now, the Corda family still believes that they are "neutral" rather than leaning towards the mayor, so they undertook this part of the work.

In fact, the city had become turbulent during this period, and their casino business had also become much worse.

No one wants to travel or play in a dangerous area, and Golden Port City is not the only city with legal casinos to choose from.

Tourists who come here to gamble and travel are actually the mainstream group of casinos.

Now that this group is avoiding danger and not coming, the casino business has naturally become not so good.

Alberto and Francisco arrived early. Bandi also saw Francisco. He took the initiative to walk over, expressing his condolences for Paul's death while trying to persuade Francisco to stand on his side.

"The city is too chaotic, everyone is very tired, whether it's us or those at the bottom, it's time to get everything back on track."

"I believe that after this, people will be more convinced that uniting together is the most correct approach."

"Don't let temporary hatred cloud your mind, understand what we need!"

Francisco didn't make any statement. Alberto responded, "We will consider it."

Seeing that these two clearly didn't want to cooperate, Bandi really didn't have any good solution. They all believed in the mayor's evil, and didn't expect to fail in the end.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to say anything to these young people now.

"In short, people crave peace, this is an opportunity."

After he finished speaking, he smiled and turned to leave, because the Keane family had arrived. Compared to these people, he actually preferred to communicate with the Keane family.

The war between the Keane family and the Bear Gang had also come to an end. The Bear Gang had begun to leave Golden Port City, and they didn't chase after them.

Both sides suffered heavy losses. If they continued to fight to the death, it would be very detrimental to the interests of the family. Their war with the Bear Gang ended here.

They also craved peace to make up for the losses during this period.

Watching Bandi lobby around the leader of the Keane family, Alberto withdrew his contemptuous gaze.

Afterwards, the people from the Tita family arrived. Salif looked like he was in bad shape. His arm was in a cast and hung around his neck, and there were many abrasions on his face.

Rumor has it that he was almost killed in the previous firefight, so he had the biggest temper!

He took the initiative to walk over to Alberto after seeing him, greeted Alberto, and then looked at Francisco.

"I deeply regret your father's death. I hope you have come out of the grief."

He glanced at Bandi, who was lobbying the Keane family, and a look of disgust appeared on his face. "Child, I haven't been to college, so it's difficult for me to give you any help in this regard."

"The only thing I can teach you is to never forget hatred. Once you forget hatred, you will no longer be you!"

"Remember hatred, and then take revenge. This is what we should do!"

"If it weren't for that Cassia and his gang of bastards, our situation wouldn't have become so bad, and Bandi and his people too!"

"They betrayed us, they don't deserve to be forgiven!"

Alberto nodded and said, "We don't intend to reconcile with them either. We have lost a lot of people, we can't just stop because they say so."

Salif nodded repeatedly after hearing this, "Yes, yes, you are right."

"Why should they start a fight whenever they want, and stop whenever they want?"

"This war will absolutely not end until that bastard's head is torn off and used as a ball to kick!"

The meeting hadn't even started yet, and it seemed to foreshadow the outcome of the meeting.

The Cassia family was the last to arrive. It seemed they also knew they were annoying, so they appeared last.

The moment Rick appeared, Salif suddenly stood up, grabbed the teacup at hand and threw it at Rick.

Rick dodged while cursing, "Are you fucking crazy?"

Salif reached into his arms, but all the guns were left outside. He cursed "Fuck", rushed over to fight Rick hand-to-hand, but was immediately pulled away by Bandi and his men.

"Calm down, calm down…"

"You fucking want me to calm down?", Salif pushed away the person blocking him, "I'm telling you, there's me without him, and him without me in this city!"

"Negotiate, negotiate your mother's negotiate!"

Saying that, he kicked open the door and walked outside.

Alberto glanced at Francisco, and immediately stood up and walked outside.

"Are you leaving too?", Bandi's face showed some dissatisfaction.

If Salif could vent his anger here, it was because although the Tita family suffered heavy casualties, the overall framework was still there. As long as the money was in place, they could quickly rebuild a group of people.

Then why shouldn't the Pasreto family negotiate?

Paul, this extremely authoritative person, died, and the family fell into internal strife. In Bandi's view, they were the most hopeful to negotiate and even more hopeful than him and the Keane family to stabilize and solve internal problems.

Alberto looked at him with a slightly raised chin, "It's not that we can't negotiate, but we have to negotiate with guns, with bullets, not with our mouths!"