Empire of Shadows

In the office, Lance was handling a call from Panda.

He was indeed somewhat surprised by the information Panda provided, but it wasn't unreasonable.

What he was curious about now was Panda's attitude. He had been trying to win Panda over, but Panda hadn't been very receptive. He always remained outside Lance's control; he didn't want to be controlled by Lance.

The most important thing about making friends is being able to open up to each other.

Lance turned to look at the azure sky outside the window, lit a cigarette, and said, "Do you just want to inform me of this news, or do you want me to help you?"

Panda didn't answer immediately. He wasn't a fool. To be selected from the elite of various law enforcement departments, his IQ was at least within the normal range.

He understood what Lance meant. If he said he just wanted to tell Lance the news,

then it was very likely that they would find nothing that night, and Weber would fly into a rage, blaming someone for leaking the information.

Panda had handled many cases related to smuggled and illegally brewed alcohol, in those underground brewing workshops, including private homes.

The moment you walked in, you could smell that special aroma of fermented crops.

Very fragrant, very rich.

Some people would close their doors and windows tightly to avoid being discovered, but the more they did, the more the aroma of fermentation would slowly spread around.

Some people would directly open the doors and windows to keep the brewing area well-ventilated. Although this was effective, more people could smell the aroma.

Even if Lance's people withdrew and removed all possible evidence and traces, they would still know that someone had seemed to be brewing alcohol there, at least for the past week.

So, the first answer was not a good choice.

The basis for Weber's reconciliation with him (Panda) was that Weber could win this major case, thereby having his uncle lobby the State Alcohol Beverage Control to give Weber a chance to become the director.

But if he couldn't get this major case, he wouldn't be qualified to compete with Director Dale, and his reconciliation with Panda would be nullified.

Then, there seemed to be only one correct answer, after excluding a wrong one.

This was what Lance wanted, he knew.

Once he made such a request, it would be equivalent to leaving a handle in Lance's hands. This handle didn't need any paper documents or recordings; it only needed him to say it.

A dozen seconds passed quickly. Panda's mind was filled with many things: his experiences during this time, Lisa's experiences, and Weber's刁难 and reconciliation.

He had never so strongly desired to gain a higher position and more power!

"Help me."

"Help you with what?" Lance continued to ask.

A heavy voice came from the receiver, "Help me get rid of Weber."

Before saying this sentence, it seemed to have a special magic that made it difficult for Panda to say it.

In fact, he didn't know that what was making him unable to say it was his bottom line. His bottom line was preventing him from doing so, but obviously his bottom line wasn't firm, at least not as firm as his desire.

The bottom line was easily pierced. After breaking through the bottom line, everything seemed to become easier.

The bottom line was like that membrane. Before it was pierced, it was extremely difficult, but after it was pierced, everything became moist.

"After Weber dies, I will be the most qualified agent to take his place. When the time comes, I'll catch some suspects and send them to prison. No one will be able to find fault with my promotion, and this matter can end there."

"I've been thinking about this problem these past few days, Lance. You're right, we're friends."

"Friends should help each other!"

Lance couldn't help but laugh after hearing this. "I'm glad you can understand this, Panda. Not only do we not have hatred or animosity between us, but we should be the most complementary partners!"

"Don't rush too far ahead tonight, to avoid friendly fire."

After hanging up the phone, Panda calmed down and became clear-headed. He turned his head and looked at the azure sky outside the window, countless images flashing through his mind, unable to calm down for a long time.

An afternoon was enough for Lance to prepare for various responses.

The abandoned farm was already on the verge of being abandoned. Lance's own distillery had already moved to a more remote valley, more hidden than the farm.

Moreover, the wind in the valley was strong, which helped to dissipate the odors emitted during fermentation and distillation, and it was easier to hide.

The farm was still being used temporarily because many tools were inconvenient to dismantle and move. Even if it was abandoned, it wouldn't affect the subsequent production and sales.

Especially since Lawrence Farm had also begun to supply Lance's liquor system with alcohol, he now had an ample supply and didn't have to worry about not having enough liquor just because he was short of one farm's distillery.

Both major groups of the Hazardous Materials Investigation Bureau were preparing for the raid that night, but they didn't know who the target of this mission was, or where the location was.

Weber had already gone there once secretly. He saw traces of trucks passing by on the ground, and a faint aroma of fermentation and distillation in the air.

This was indeed a distillery.

Weber was in a state of excitement all afternoon. He had already spoken to his uncle on the phone, confirming the news and the existence of the distillery. They talked about the issue of Director Dale.

His uncle told him that Dale was now in Congress, and his influence in New Gold City had been weakened to the extreme.

He had indeed done a few good things, but he had also done many stupid things, and the mayor's affair had also implicated him.

For the congressmen, they were never short of handy tools.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of graduates from elite alliance universities, with outstanding backgrounds, connections, or personal abilities, were waiting for their call. The higher up you went, the less you lacked talent.

Dale had no irreplaceable value. His relationship with the mayor was too close. Even if they were not as closely connected as in the past, his value in the eyes of the congressmen was basically zero.

Senator Cleveland had not even met with the mayor, let alone made a phone call, during his time in Gold Port City, and his position in Congress was constantly improving.

Even if some people had some connections with Director Dale, they would not offend Senator Cleveland for the sake of a toolbox full of tools.

Politics, especially in the matter of taking sides, had no logic or reason.

I don't like this person, but you talked to him, so I don't like you either!

There's no need to reason, and I don't care why you talked to him, but you just talked to him, that's all!

So, Director Dale was in a bit of an awkward position. Someone was already eyeing the position under his ass.

If Weber could catch a major case, a major case that could alarm the Congressional Alcohol Beverage Control, then Weber's uncle could help him lobby to see if he could take another step up.

Director Dale had made enough mistakes before. Those mistakes were harmless when no one was looking for trouble.

But when someone wanted to make trouble for him, those mistakes were fatal!

This news was very encouraging to Weber, and he became even more excited about the operation that night.

At six o'clock, it was theoretically quitting time, but at Weber's request, the people from both major groups stayed behind.

He ordered some food for everyone. A large number of fast-food boxes were delivered to the Hazardous Materials Administration. This money was definitely paid from the operation funds, not from his personal expenses.

The food standard was good, customized for everyone at a price of one dollar, with bread, vegetable salad, half a sour fruit, and some beef cubes and fries.

This might be the first time that everyone had an early dinner together with other colleagues in the office. Panda sat in his seat, eating the food somewhat absentmindedly.

Everyone else thought it was delicious—the owner of the fast-food restaurant actually knew better than the average housewife how to make people praise the food strongly!

It might not be healthy, but it was definitely delicious!

"Do you know something?" his colleague at the next table asked. "Weber took you to his office. Do you know something?"

"Can you satisfy my curiosity before we leave?"

Panda glanced at her, "No comment!"

"Don't make me beg you!" his colleague asked again in a slightly playful tone.

If it were other things, Panda would have said it, but in this matter, he couldn't let his suspicion grow.

If he told these colleagues, someone among them might betray him, or tell others without thinking it was a betrayal, that he had revealed information about the mission, so he wouldn't say anything.

Once something happened to Weber, the Alcohol Beverage Control and his uncle would definitely make things difficult for the local Hazardous Materials Administration, and he couldn't become a scapegoat.

He shook his head again, "No comment, you'll know soon enough."

Seeing that he really didn't want to say, his colleague didn't ask any further. At six-thirty, everyone began to prepare for the mission.

As the leaders of each action team entered the meeting room, the atmosphere in the hall became slightly serious.

About ten minutes later, the leaders of each team came out of the office. They asked all agents to check their weapons, ammunition, and then prepare for action.

Everyone was forbidden to make phone calls, and they were forbidden to leave people's sight. Even going to the toilet required two people to go together!

At the same time, they also knew the destination of this mission, the abandoned farm in the suburbs.

In one-to-one error-free version!

The nights in late March came as early as in autumn and winter. Before seven o'clock, the sky was already completely dark. A line of police cars left the Hazardous Materials Administration Bureau without sounding their sirens.

For a time, all the bars in the city became frightened. Who knew if they had found the location of some bar and were planning a surprise raid.

They often did this kind of thing, making it impossible to defend against.

It wasn't until more than ten minutes later that people relaxed a little. They heard that the cars had left the city.

They didn't know what was outside the city, but as long as they weren't coming to make trouble for them, they were satisfied.

At 7:25, the convoy arrived at the outskirts of the abandoned farm. They brought two police dogs specially trained to search for alcohol.

The two police dogs had already become restless. Because they were wearing muzzles, they couldn't make any noise.

But from their constantly shaking bodies and anxious expressions, it was clear that there was something nearby that Weber was looking for.

In the distant darkness, under the moonlight, some of the farm's buildings could be vaguely seen. Two of the warehouses had faint lights on!

Weber had considered coming during the day, but during the day, so many of them would be too conspicuous. They might be discovered by the distillery's people before they even got close.

These people would definitely arrange some mobile outposts outside to guard against investigations and discoveries by the Hazardous Materials Administration Bureau.

Although there were many inconveniences at night, the darkness also provided them with protection.

The ground on the farm was not easy to walk on, and the muddy road, churned up by trucks, made it even more difficult for the police to pass. So, Weber asked everyone to walk.

A distance of two or three hundred meters wasn't far, but the key was that with each step sinking deep and then shallow, you could feel your shoes getting noticeably heavier after just a few steps.

But since Weber himself was walking, no one had anything to say.

This case was obviously big, and the director and senior agents attached great importance to it. Even if they had some complaints, they wouldn't voice them.

If the case was solved, the credit would be divided equally, and everyone would receive a bonus.

The closer they got to the abandoned farm's warehouse, the stronger the aroma of fermentation and distillation in the air became. Everything seemed fine. The only problem was, why were there no guards here?

Even if there were no sentry posts, why wasn't there even a watchman? Was it because the weather was still cold?

Even if the weather in March was cold, it was still above freezing. Weber stood in the open field, the wind whistling around him, and a strange chill inexplicably arose.

The surrounding weeds, some half a person tall and some even as tall as a person, swayed constantly in the wind, touching him, giving him a very eerie feeling.

Because there were so many of them, he wouldn't have had this feeling if he hadn't been paying attention. But now that he noticed it, he felt like something was spying on him from the bottom of his heart!

He rubbed his arms and continued forward.

Two large groups had already surrounded the two warehouses. Panda, standing to the side, revealed a puzzled expression. He didn't know how Lance planned to deal with Weber, but he decided to follow Lance's instructions and not get too close.

As the action team's arrangements concluded, several people suddenly kicked open the warehouse doors, and then all they heard was warnings like "Hazardous Materials Investigation Bureau!" and "Hands up!"

The fact that there was no one in the warehouse was unexpected, but there was a lot of alcohol here!

Weber came to a wine barrel. He found a blunt object from the side and smashed it against the barrel. After smashing it several times, he broke a hole in it.

Strong alcohol flowed out of it. He reached out and took some into his mouth, and his face immediately turned slightly red.

"Whiskey!"

"Take inventory! How much alcohol is here!"

They quickly inventoried it. One hundred and twenty barrels. These were all small butt barrels, with a capacity of 250 liters, but the actual amount would be slightly less, not completely full.

Filling them completely could easily cause the barrels themselves to rupture. Most barrels would leave about three to five liters of space to ensure that they wouldn't break or shatter during transportation due to collisions and vibrations.

"How much is this worth?" Weber, listening to these reports, suddenly became excited. "What about the other warehouse?"

The other warehouse contained about seventy or eighty barrels of whiskey, totaling two hundred barrels!

"More than five hundred thousand worth of alcohol!" Weber's heart rate had already started to accelerate. A case of five hundred thousand might not be able to alarm Congress, but if they could catch some people and get them to confess more smuggled alcohol and funds, accumulating some historical sales...

Then this illegal private brewing case, with a value of at least a million, would definitely be able to alarm the Congressional Alcohol Prohibition Committee!

If he could then find a way to secure judicial support and have the main culprits sentenced to death as a "negative example" to warn society, then alarming Congress would be inevitable!

Weber had already seen what he wanted. It was waving to him not far away, and he was completely excited!

"Search! There's no way so much alcohol could be left unguarded. See if they're in the surrounding rooms..."

Soon, the surrounding warehouses and houses were searched. Although they found traces of people living there, they didn't find any living people.

Weber guessed that they might have alerted these people when they arrived, causing them to escape in advance. Not catching anyone made Weber less excited than he had been.

"We found something in a house..."

Soon, some ledgers and a locked box were brought to Weber. He first looked at the ledger.

The ledger contained some shipping records, how much was shipped to whom and when. Some key information used code names, but overall, it could still be seen that this was a distillery with a very large throughput!

Then his gaze fell on the locked iron box. It was about a foot square, and felt heavy in his hand, indicating that it should contain a lot of things.

It was locked with an ordinary lock, which was easily pried open, and then it was placed in front of Weber.

As the initiator and commander of the entire operation, this kind of thing would definitely be handed over to him to open first.

"Hopefully, the things inside will give me a surprise!" he said to the people around him, then placed his hands on both sides of the iron box's lid and began to apply force.

As it was slowly being opened, Weber thought of many things.

For example, there might be some codebooks inside, some contact information, some more important things that would make it easier for them to catch the distillery's boss.

The people around him actively gathered around, their eyes fixed on the iron box that was constantly being opened.

When the lid was lifted up a little, Weber clearly felt some resistance. He frowned slightly, and with a forceful upward heave, the resistance disappeared in an instant.

Then the lid suddenly lifted upward, revealing the true face of the things inside.

Weber stared wide-eyed at the things inside, countless emotions churning in his chest, and finally condensing into one sentence—

"Holy shit!"

Panda, who was standing outside the building smoking, turned his head curiously, and then a wave of air directly blew him away!