Empire of Shadows

"Mr. Lance, I know this is excessive, but we really have no choice."

An old man who looked to be in his fifties stood before Lance, his back bent by life and this hardship, making him appear somewhat unwell.

He was very thin, wearing a gray hat, "I no longer have the ability to work, and I've been looking for a job recently, but... no one wants to hire me."

"All my savings are in the bank. Originally, I could have relied on these savings to live, but now..."

He choked up as he spoke, "I've lost hope of living, Mr. Lance."

"I know this isn't your problem, but I... I want to live, Mr. Lance. My grandson hasn't grown up yet."

"I want to watch him graduate, see him get married, see his children..."

He wiped away his tears, "I don't know what to say, but I want to live!"

Burton, standing to the side, introduced the old man's situation to Lance.

His wife had died many years ago, and his son had also died in a work-related accident, but fortunately, he left behind a child.

The factory was unwilling to fully accept the compensation plan for the work-related death, and they fought a lawsuit with the old man's family, trying to reduce the amount of compensation.

Although the old man's family won the lawsuit, after deducting lawyer fees, they did not receive enough compensation to change their lives, only about eight hundred dollars.

Adding some money he had saved himself, he had a total of one thousand dollars in the bank.

They all trusted Mr. Choppav, and they all deposited their money in Jinda Bank, which had an annual interest rate of about 8.8%, which was more than eighty dollars.

Calculated this way, he could receive eight dollars in interest each month.

Occasionally finding a sporadic job, he could at least ensure that he wouldn't starve to death and still have a thousand dollars for emergencies.

His son had left him a child, but the child had been taken away by his mother, so now, strictly speaking, the old man was living alone.

Originally, his life might not have been so wealthy, but at least he could survive and wouldn't starve to death.

But now, losing this money was equivalent to losing hope of living.

Lance felt somewhat heavy-hearted after listening, and the others around him also surrounded him, talking about their similar tragic experiences.

Many of them were elderly people without the ability to work; they were the real and worst victims.

Only the elderly would deposit a large amount of savings in the bank.

For young people with the ability to work, they were more accustomed to spending and didn't have the habit of saving.

Because they could earn money, they were willing to spend it. Only the elderly, who could no longer earn money, would save and economize.

After the disaster, the situation for younger victims with the ability to work was slightly easier to resolve; they could still find jobs.

Although they lost a sum of money, they could still survive and had hope.

After all, their wage demands were lower than those of local workers, and they didn't have illegal status like refugee workers.

Some capitalists, who weren't so confident in refugee workers and were unwilling to pay more, preferred immigrant workers.

But what about these elderly people who had lost their ability to work?

They couldn't find stable jobs at all, and factories wouldn't want these elderly people without the ability to work. They could only face a cruel society and be eliminated.

Lance looked at them and reassured them, "This is indeed a problem, and I will think of a solution."

"Choppav is dead, and he can't possibly find a way to raise funds in his grave to return the money to you."

"I also can't pay this money for him, because it will make more people think that I should repay debts that don't belong to me."

"I have to think about it and see if there are other ways to help you."

After soothing these people's emotions for a while, they dispersed on their own. They also knew that it was unrealistic to ask Lance to be responsible for this money; they only hoped that Lance could help them get through the trouble at hand.

If it were someone else, they might not even say anything, simply contemplating how to cope with the coming winter alone.

Trying their best not to freeze to death in their cold beds on some cold night.

But because the person in front of them was Lance, a compassionate gang leader, they had the courage to come and say something.

Back in the car, the atmosphere was a bit heavy. Lance looked at the scenery constantly receding outside the window, lost in thought.

This was the most bustling area of the Empire District, and both sides of the road were filled with pedestrians, including many elderly people.

They were pushing carts or pulling simple trailers with ropes, carrying garbage that could be sold for money.

There were also many people rummaging through trash cans, searching for unfinished cigarettes.

Before the invention of cigarette filters, people wouldn't smoke cigarettes to the very end, as it would burn their lips, so they would throw away the small stub.

These cigarette butts were worthless to them, but for these elderly people without income, they were still a way to earn some money.

They gathered the unburned tobacco together, re-rolled it into cigarettes, and then peddled them to passersby.

Five cigarettes for a penny, or even more. After picking up cigarette butts all day, they might only be able to sell them for a few cents.

But even these few cents could allow them to eat a few bites of bread and avoid starving to death.

Sometimes, only by looking down can you know how hard people's lives are, and only then can you know that simply living has already exhausted some people's strength!

Looking at the street scenes outside the window, Lance took a puff of his cigarette, "We can provide some free food and free winter supplies to help them get through this winter first."

"But don't give them cash. Giving cash will make things troublesome and bad."

"We just want to help them survive, not make them completely dependent on us."

Erwin recorded it, "This may require a lot of money, and it may also attract some controversy and trouble."

His ability to think about things was now much more advanced than before. In fact, a person will grow differently when they take on different responsibilities in different environments.

He could already think of more things, such as the trouble of "you have it, but I don't."

Who can receive these relief supplies, how are they divided, and will some people feel resentment because others have them while they don't?

These could all become problems.

Lance quite agreed with his idea, "People are like this. If everyone's life is difficult, there's no problem."

"But if someone's life suddenly becomes better, it will make some people feel unbalanced."

"When distributing supplies, pay attention. If anyone makes trouble, give them a lesson."

"Remind me when we get back that this matter needs to be discussed with William."

William is now a municipal councilor in the Empire District. This is clearly a good political achievement. If Lance cooperates with him to promote this matter, it will definitely allow him to gain great prestige.

Whether for anyone, prestige is an important resource, especially for public figures.

Prestige can help them a lot in all aspects, especially for politicians!

Erwin nodded, "I will remind you."

"If we do this, it may cost a lot of money."

Lance curled his lips, "We can earn tens of thousands of dollars every day. Added together, this expenditure is still within our affordability."

"It's also a resource for us!"

The elderly people on the roadside, those who rummage through garbage heaps for food and resources to survive, had long been unmoved by the vehicles speeding on the road, because they knew.

No matter how bad their lives were, those who drove cars, especially luxury cars, would not stop to give them a second glance.

Trying hard to earn even just one more cent today is their most important job right now.

When William heard that Lance was going to distribute relief food, he quickly drove over directly, as this was very attractive to him.

Why can capitalists in capitalist societies corrupt politicians at unimaginable speeds?

It's actually very simple, because capitalists hold everything that politicians crave!

Public opinion needs financial support, policies need financial support, and the realization of political programs needs even more capital support!

Capital has been integrated and penetrated into every corner of this society, and everything related to politics must have financial support behind it.

This makes it impossible for politicians to get rid of capitalists.

For example, what William is doing now is fulfilling his campaign speeches when he participated in the municipal councilor election. He wants to build a new high school.

This cannot be achieved with just a few words. It requires finding a suitable site, then building a house, and hiring teachers and equipping the teaching staff.

These educational resources outside of the government's plan are all "self-funded projects." William doesn't have money, and the public can't possibly pay for it, so he can only ask capitalists for help.

If the capitalists propose some mutually beneficial requirements in this process, should William agree?

If he agrees, the capitalists will pay for him to build a new high school, allowing him to gain the approval of voters and thus gain greater political prospects.

But this will also bind him more closely with the capitalists, because now he may only be promising to build a high school, but in the future, he may be promising things like employment rates and crime rates, which require more funding.

If he doesn't agree, then the school cannot be built, and he will not be able to continue to gain the support of voters. People will think he is a liar, and thus he will not go far in politics.

William was already beginning to sense this atmosphere, and as soon as Lance mentioned it, he drove over.

"Have you seen the new house?" Lance asked after they sat down.

William had already been there, and his face was full of smiles. Mr. Chobaf's villa was luxuriously decorated, very large, and in a great location.

It wasn't far from the city center, maybe ten minutes by car.

The surroundings were quiet, and the environment was very private. Apart from the Imperial District not being very lively or wealthy, there were no shortcomings.

But William didn't care about that. He believed that with Patricia's efforts, he would eventually have a villa in the Bay Area too—

He might not be able to afford to buy it himself, but as long as Patricia worked hard, Lance would remember him.

"The house is great!" he gave Lance a positive answer first. "But it will take some time to clean up. Emily hired six servants, and they only managed to clear a small area today."

"And I think our housing expenses will increase a lot!"

Lance said with a smile, "These are not problems, I will take care of it, which is why I didn't put the house in your name."

The house was still Lance's property, and Lance paid all kinds of fees and expenses every month. Strictly speaking, William and Emily were just "tenants" of the villa.

The Federals actually liked this, especially those at the bottom. They preferred this kind of clearly defined relationship, and William even signed a contract with Lance.

Although they might be a family in the future, they could not engage in any behavior that could potentially involve the transfer of benefits before Lance and Patricia got married.

Funny Federals.

After briefly chatting about the house, their topic naturally shifted to relief efforts.

"How much money are you planning to invest in this?" William asked. "And can your funds support these relief efforts?"

Lance explained his ideas, and after William listened, he considered it for a moment. "Each person can have half a pound of canned meat and beans per day, and half a pound of whole wheat bread. We can add some ingredients."

"Add some plant fiber, which will make them feel fuller and take longer to digest. Simply put, it won't be so easy to feel hungry!"

"We may also need to distribute some candy that can quickly replenish calories. I have to calculate it."

He took a pen from the pen holder and grabbed a piece of paper to calculate. After a while, he said, "If you add some other things, like matches, your daily expenditure will be about fifteen to twenty cents."

"What are your considerations?"

"Not everyone can receive relief!" Lance set the tone first. "Only elderly people who have lost their ability to work can receive relief. For those who still have the ability to work, if they can't survive, we can find them a job."

"There are so many factories in the west of the city, there will always be one that suits them!"

William frowned after listening. His concern was the same as Elvin's, "This will cause trouble!"

Lance chuckled twice, "William, have you forgotten what we do!"

William was stunned for a moment, then laughed dumbly. He remembered that Lance was not a government official, nor was he the president of some big company. He was just a gang leader!

You're going to cause trouble with the gang?

Aren't you afraid of living too long?

Thinking about it this way, this matter was actually very easy to implement, and some problems could be solved. "You need to provide these supplies to at least twenty to thirty thousand people every day. Including other costs, it will cost about ten thousand."

He was a little speechless when he heard this number. More than ten thousand a day, more than three hundred thousand a month.

From this month until the end of winter in March, there are at least four more months, which is almost one and a half million!

One and a half million, used for relief without asking for anything in return. Even he was feeling… He didn't even know how to express the emotions churning within him.

"This winter must be golden, because it will be worth more than a million to you!"

William slightly emphasized his tone and then asked, "Is it worth it?"

"This one million is not for doing business. If you put in the effort, there will be a return, even if it's not much, even if you lose money, there will be some."

"If this one million is invested, it will be gone. Even if people remember your kindness, you are just a gang leader and cannot obtain political or other benefits from this gratitude."

Lance still maintained his previous attitude. He smiled and spread his hands, "Although I lost a lot of money, William, it will make me feel very comfortable!"

"I don't lack money!" He lit a cigarette and took a big puff. "When my bars in the Star District are fully open, my monthly income will be seven or eight hundred thousand."

He held up a finger. "Every month, at least!"

"I'll take a portion of it and use it here. It won't change my overall income and expenditure, but it can make me feel great!"

William seemed to be discerning the truth of this matter, but he couldn't see through it. He shook his head and said, "I really don't understand!"

Lance thought for a while, "Yes, you don't understand, and it's hard to understand, because you're not me."

"We just need to do this thing well now, as for the others, who cares!"

William nodded. "Yes, we just need to do this thing well."

He paused. "But you will make the mayor, and the rich people in the Bay Area, lose face. You have done what a government should do, and what those big capitalists should do."

"They will only dislike you more!"

This was a fact, a bloody fact.

Sometimes doing good deeds can also cause trouble, and some people will dislike you because you make yourself noble, and those who would not have been considered morally inferior will become morally inferior in your contrast!

If they also want to become noble, they have to spend money, but not everyone is willing to pay this money, and in the end, it will further highlight your nobility.

The more noble Lance appears, the more insignificant others will appear, and the more they will dislike him, even hate him.

Lance still had the same attitude, "I don't care."

"William, caring too much about others will only make yourself uncomfortable. If they don't like me, they can come and punch me, otherwise, they better hold it in and don't let me know!"

Looking at the intense confidence that was almost shining through on Lance's face, William felt the call of a kind of personal charm!

He also laughed, "They probably wouldn't dare to do that!"

He breathed a sigh of relief. "I will make a plan and arrange it properly. You can rest assured about this matter."

After the business was over, William's expression suddenly became a little awkward. "I have something I need your advice on."