Empire of Shadows

This was the most comfortable sleep Feigal had in a while, free from any burdens, worries, or anxieties. Lying on the soft bed, with his head resting on the soft pillow and covered with the soft blanket, he felt as if he had returned to the womb.

He curled up like he had before he came into this world, the darkness around him bringing not fear, but a sense of security.

Until—

He felt someone calling him from behind. He didn't know what was there, he only wanted to move forward, but the calls from behind grew clearer and clearer, and even a face appeared in his dream.

“Fack!” Suddenly, he sat up violently, slamming his fists on the blanket, and glared angrily at the person standing in the doorway of the bedroom. “You ruined my good dream!”

“Now, you have one minute to tell me why you did this.”

“If your reason doesn’t move me, I’ll make sure people know what the price for doing this is!”

The person standing in the doorway wasn't moved by his bad temper, and simply said calmly, “Our warehouse in the West District was burned down.”

The next second, Feigal, who had looked like he was about to eat someone, froze.

He calmed down, instantly, “So, our stuff…”

He stared at the person in the doorway, who continued in that steady voice, “Nothing is left.”

Awake.

Completely awake!

He turned on the bedside lamp, even though his eyes hurt so much he could barely open them. It was a sign of not getting enough rest.

His body, even his organs, seemed to be protesting, and he had no choice but to get up.

“What the hell happened? Did Lance's people attack?”

He walked out, into the study. After asking for a strong coffee, he lit a cigarette. “That son of a bitch is always everywhere. What did he do?”

“Someone heard intense gunfire near the warehouse, and then it went up in flames. By the time our people arrived, it was too late. They could only watch it burn to the ground.”

“They hid people in the trucks.”

“It wasn't booze inside, it was their men.”

Feigal, holding the cigarette, forgot to even smoke it. He just stared with his mouth slightly open at the guy in front of him. If this guy wasn't his cousin, if they weren't related by blood…

He would open the second drawer on his right right now and pull out the loaded pistol inside to kill this guy!

Listen to what the hell he's saying?

Is this some kind of movie?

But he knew that no one would lie about something like this.

“What's the evidence?”

“There was nothing in their trucks.”

Feigal leaned back in his chair, looking a bit颓废, “How much stuff was in the warehouse?”

“Hundreds of thousands worth of goods.” After the person opposite him said that, Feigal couldn't help but laugh.

“Hundreds of thousands?”

He didn't look angry, still smiling, even his tone seemed relaxed.

But the guy across from him knew that this was a sign of his anger, and he deliberately moved back a few steps. “Yes, about seven or eight hundred thousand worth of goods.”

“Fack!”

He slammed everything within reach on the desk to the ground, including his strong coffee.

He stood up and yelled loudly. His temper wasn't always this bad.

But after the war with the Bear Gang broke out, it got worse and worse.

He also knew why Feigal was so angry, because the family's finances were actually in trouble.

The war with the Bear Gang had created a huge deficit in the family's finances. Compensation, disability payments, all of that was money. If you want your men to be willing to risk their lives for you, then you have to show the sincerity and means that will make them willing to do so.

Six thousand dollars per person. As for injuries and disabilities, those were even more troublesome.

The bombed bars, re-purchasing properties, buying large numbers of cars, paying salaries, all of these were huge expenses.

It took more than half a year for the family's financial situation to improve slightly, but it couldn't be said to be healthy.

If it weren't for the high profits from alcohol, it might have taken him even longer to recover.

But now, the finances were in trouble again.

People were dying constantly now.

Eight thousand for each death, the price had gone up.

Even eight thousand wasn't enough. Some of the cadres were even demanding as much as ten thousand or even twelve thousand, and they had good reasons.

If he didn't agree, their men might not be willing to risk their lives.

In fact, a living life was only worth eight thousand dollars, which was indeed a little less.

Ten people were eighty thousand, a hundred people were eight hundred thousand, plus those who were seriously injured and needed surgery. They couldn't risk their lives for the family and have to pay for their own surgery, right?

Sometimes the surgery costs might not be less than the compensation, and there were also various special drugs and other problems.

And the destroyed bars and the alcohol inside…

He got a headache just thinking about all of this. In just two short weeks, his and the family's wealth had visibly shrunk dramatically, and now a warehouse had been burned down, he was so angry that he laughed!

But soon, he sat down again. He took a deep breath of the cigarette, and then slowly exhaled, little by little, the smoke slowly dissipating from his mouth and nostrils.

As the leader of the five families, he would have times of emotional breakdown, but he would manage his breakdown time well.

Now, he was starting to calm down.

“Forget it, it doesn't matter. If our plan below works, we can get these losses back from Lance.”

“If this plan fails, whether we can recover these losses or not won't be so important to us anyway.”

He took another puff of the cigarette, this time exhaling it all at once. “Arrange things as usual.”

In the middle of the night, the cadres were called to Feigal's manor. It was said that someone heard arguing coming from Feigal's study.

Feigal said it was because the cadres themselves hadn't gone, leaving everything to their subordinates, which led to all of this happening.

The cadres believed that this was clearly a suicide mission, and that arranging for people to do it was the most they could do.

They couldn't possibly be foolish enough to go and die themselves. If Feigal wanted them to do that, they would leave the family!

What happened last night eventually became known to everyone in the family. They were all discussing these things. In their opinion, Feigal's irrationality had caused the family to lose a large sum of money again.

The already tight situation had become worse, and some people had even started talking about splitting the family or leaving the family, which had attracted some people, and for a time the entire family was restless.

This news spread again, and this time the content that spread was more detailed. Some even knew what each of them said and thought.

True and false, making it difficult to tell.

Lance had already heard this news a day later, and the news of the Keane family's split was being spread more openly outside.

This made Lance feel very strange. How did they fall into internal strife for no reason?

The people who came at night were all there, and they had all heard about this. Someone asked, “Should we do something?”

Lance looked at him, “Like what?”

“They are currently on the verge of internal strife. We can try to push them, maybe we won't even need to do anything, they will split up or even kill each other.”

Lance listened and nodded, “That's a good idea, but I think something is wrong with this.”

“If we burn down one of their warehouses, they will split up. They had already split up when we took out their bar.”

“And the Coda family is still there, they are very rich. With Bandi and Gory's brains, they wouldn't sit idly by and watch Feigal and the Keane family fall into internal strife because of money.”

Lance crossed his hands together, his index finger and thumb touching each other. He was thinking.

This matter had a very strange atmosphere, and he was a little unsure.

“Let's wait and see for now, and talk about it when they really have internal strife.”

Ervin captured the key words in his words, “You mean, this is fake?”

Lance shook his head, “I don't think it's real.”

The others frowned as well, and after thinking about it carefully, it did seem a little strange.

In the next few days, Lance's side didn't have any major moves. Anyway, there was some friction around the areas that were being handed over, and the gunfights became less frequent than before.

The news inside the Keane family was also constantly being updated, as if someone was deliberately leaking these messages.

This made Lance even more suspicious.

If he had conflicts with these people, whether it was Ervin or others, he wouldn't make the whole world know about it.

Even if someone accidentally overheard this news and leaked it, he would try to resolve it as soon as possible when he found out about it.

Whether it was resolving the person who was spreading the rumors or resolving the conflict, he couldn't let the problem continue to spread.

But Feigal didn't seem to be doing that, but was entangled in the internal problems of the family, and continued to argue without compromise or concession.

At the end of April, news came out that some of the Keane family's senior cadres had directly announced that they would no longer listen to Feigal's leadership and command.

This news seemed to shock the entire city!

After the super big news of the five families becoming four families, another big news appeared.

Feigal immediately shrank his forces, transferring most of the people to his manor, seemingly powerless to do anything about the city center now.

“…I heard that at least two-thirds left, maybe that's an exaggeration, but it's definitely more than half.”

Morris couldn't help but cough twice. "They have indeed disappeared. Some of the lower-level gang members don't know who to listen to or what to do, so it's quite chaotic."

Lance nodded and asked, "What's the situation with the Coda family?"

Morris shook his head. "They're still maintaining that state of readiness, but there's no other movement."

Lance frowned. "They've been on high alert, but they haven't done anything. With Fegal in so much trouble, perhaps this is their bait."

Someone had already discussed this with Lance. Since the Keane family was divided by internal strife, those who left said they wouldn't return even if Fegal was killed.

So now is the best time. The Keane family's strength has fallen to an all-time low. They seem to know this, so they've all gathered in the manor.

This gives the impression that they can be completely swallowed with just a little effort.

Even Lance, knowing that something wasn't quite right, felt a slight urge to act.

Because if he could kill Fegal and disintegrate that faction, then the Coda family would have to face them directly.

In that situation, Lance would have Alberto and Francisco persuade the Tita family not to interfere, since they had already suffered heavy losses in the war against the Cassia family.

The head of the Tita family had been killed, and they might not be willing to get involved.

If Lance also promised to allocate some benefits to them, they would likely side with Lance.

At that point, the Coda family would have no choice but to confront them.

A crucial step, he thought.

But precisely because it was so crucial, he felt that something was amiss.

As he was considering his next course of action, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him.

His original plan was to use the Keane family to force the Coda family out. Now that they were actively showing weakness, wasn't this a good opportunity?

Give it a try!

He beckoned to the others. "Come over, I have a new idea..."

While Lance was laying out his new plan, Fegal was on the phone with Bandy.

"Do you really think he'll attack us?" Fegal was still worried, after all, it was a major issue concerning whether they could survive in Goldport City in the future, so he couldn't help but care.

"Sometimes I think this world is really interesting, Bandy."

"Look, we're actually being forced into this situation by a young man. Sometimes I still feel like this is all just a dream."

"A terrible dream. I look forward to waking up from this dream more than ever, but I also know it's not a dream!"

"This feeling, I don't know how to say it, but it really sucks!"

Lance's rise was too fast, or rather, the five families had ruled for too long, so long that they believed the order of Goldport City would never change in the slightest.

Arrogance is often the first step towards destruction.

And they've taken more than one step down that path.

His words silenced Bandy. Who could have imagined that things would develop like this?

Camilla's gang almost ended Lance and his people before. This insignificant roadside character actually managed to climb up. By the time they started to take it seriously, it was already too late.

A mud-covered thug chasing after a respectable gentleman with a firewood knife. The outcome is actually very clear.

Now, what he needs to do is soothe Fegal's emotions and prevent problems on his end.

"You have to trust me, Fegal. My people have been watching Lance. As soon as his people move, I'll send reinforcements to you."

"You just need to hold the manor for a short time, and our people will attack them from behind."

"Whether Lance is there or not, this time we will definitely weaken his strength significantly. Then, whether we sit down to negotiate or directly erase him from Goldport City, the decision will be ours."

Fegal was still a little worried. "What if... he doesn't come to attack me?"

Bandy shook his head and immediately said, "Impossible."

"Someone else, Alberto, or someone else, I believe that's possible, but not Lance."

"His ambition is great, so great that he wants to swallow the entire Goldport City. He won't miss this opportunity, because if he misses this opportunity, he won't have another one!"

"He will definitely attack. Trust me!"

Although he didn't have much actual contact with Lance, he could feel Lance's ambition, an ambition that almost didn't need to be said or expressed, it just radiated out!

Fegal was silent for a while, and finally he accepted Bandy's statement, "If he really comes, you have to be fast!"

In fact, those internal strifes were also fake. Those people are now outside the city. There's no way around it, Lance has too many people. If they stay in the city, it will only make Lance suspicious.

So these people have all gone outside the city. The speed at which they want to return is definitely not as fast as Bandy and his people.

If Lance really comes, he may not be able to hold on for long.

"Don't worry, I will definitely arrive at the first moment."

After hanging up the phone, both Fegal and Bandy had a feeling that they wouldn't have to wait too long for this day.

In the past few days, Lance has been looking at the map. The map has many red lines drawn on it, and without the knowledge of others, he also had people drive back and forth from the Coda family's security company to Fegal's manor to see how long it would take.

Not just one road, but several roads were driven over and over again. Now what he needs to do is choose one of these roads to ambush.

Bandy doesn't actually have many people on his side now. As long as he wipes out the people he sends out, he will basically be completely crippled!

So finding the route he chooses is very important for the next plan.

But Lance doesn't dare to guess which route Bandy will choose. What if his brain doesn't work like a normal person's brain?

There is a precedent for this.

Who the hell would cut off almost all of their gang business in order to whitewash themselves?

In this era, who the hell would think about whitewashing themselves for no reason?

The federal government hasn't even submitted or passed any similar issues or proposals like the "Anti-Organized Crime Law", and there is no law.

In this era where the federal government and the gangs jointly manage society, it is not a good time to whitewash.

Just when everyone didn't dare to guess which way they would choose, a young man suddenly asked, "Why don't we help them choose?"

Everyone's eyes were focused on the young man. Being watched by so many senior executives, including Lance, the young man's face quickly turned red and hot.

Introverted people can't get along in gangs, at least it's difficult to get ahead in gangs.

Violent organizations need more extroverted expression, otherwise it will cause misunderstandings. His face was not red because of introversion, but purely because of excitement.

He knows this is an opportunity!

An opportunity that will allow him to become a senior executive in the future!