Empire of Shadows

Our

Upon hearing the siren, Johnny and the people who were beaten with him breathed a sigh of relief, but a small accident also occurred—

Some people in blue work uniforms actively blocked the police car, even surrounding it.

Even if these people were illegal immigrants, Officer Feren would not dare to actually drive over them. When it comes to killing, victims have no nationality distinction.

Even illegal immigrants.

You can beat him, humiliate him, curse him, but you don’t kill them or cause serious injury, otherwise the criminal investigation team will definitely be dispatched.

This forced him to voluntarily open the car window and quietly say to a worker who was glaring and blocking his car door, “We’re on the same side.”

At this moment, he felt Lance’s power more clearly!

These people usually avoided the police, but now they were willing to block them here, which also made Officer Feren feel that Lance would definitely become one of the big figures in Golden Port City in the future.

A few minutes later, the police car slowly arrived at the scene. They arranged for people to bring Officer Feren and his partner over, otherwise they would have been blocked at the entrance all along.Officer Feren coughed, and he and his partner walked over, pretending not to know Lance, but in fact, some people had already seen these two police officers outside Lance’s office earlier.

And this also made these Imperial people in blue uniforms feel Lance’s power; he could even manipulate the police!

“What happened?” Officer Feren asked.

Baker stepped forward voluntarily, “I beat them up,” then picked up a bat, “with this.”

Someone in the crowd couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Undoubtedly, one person definitely couldn’t beat several people; this was blatant lying, but who cared?

They only felt relieved, amused, and a greater sense of cohesion and solidarity; they didn’t find it absurd or unacceptable.

Johnny had come to his senses. He clutched his arm, looking at Lance, his expression changing.

He could say that Lance hit him, or he could say nothing at all.

He was the primary victim; both the police and the court would respect his testimony more.

But now he was a little scared.

However, someone behind him suddenly pointed at Lance’s side and said, “They also made a move!”

Johnny remained silent; he didn’t say that.

Officer Feren looked at Lance, “He said you also made a move.”

“Did you make a move, sir?”

“This is a slander!” Lance emphasized.

“Whether you made a move or not, we will investigate thoroughly,” Officer Feren looked businesslike, and he said to the person who reported Lance’s involvement, “Your name, home address, sir.”

The man looked bewildered, but he still spoke, “My name is…, I live at…”

As he spoke, he suddenly realized that someone next to Lance was also recording what he was saying, and he suddenly closed his mouth.

Officer Feren looked at him, “What number on this street do you live at?”

He was a bit confused, why did it feel like this police officer was helping this group of people?

But he knew this was not a good time to say these things. He shook his head and stopped talking.

“If you’re unwilling to speak, I can’t take them back for investigation.”

He still didn’t speak. Officer Feren put away his notebook and looked at Johnny, who was clearly more severely injured. “Do you need me to call an ambulance for you?”

Johnny shook his head, gritting his teeth, “You take me to the hospital.”

Ambulance transportation fees and on-board treatment fees are expensive, and this part is not covered by medical insurance, so he was unwilling to pay this money.

Officer Feren nodded, then looked at Baker, “You’ll have to come with us. Before that, I need to search you.”

Baker cooperatively placed his hands on the police car, and Officer Feren’s partner briefly searched his body, finding no contraband or dangerous items. Then he took out handcuffs.

But Officer Feren stopped him, “I think he’s safe, there’s no need for handcuffs.” Then he opened the back car door, “You go in first…”

According to federal local law, when the responding officer determines that the suspect is merely a suspect and not dangerous, they can choose not to make the suspect wear restrictive devices, such as handcuffs. This is the officer’s right.

Baker said thank you, got into the back seat, followed by Johnny, whose left arm was broken and severely swollen. He had probably managed to hold on until now due to an excessive secretion of adrenaline in his body.

Officer Feren left his partner to continue with routine procedures, while he himself took Baker and Johnny away…

As Lance and the others left, the gathered people also dispersed, and what happened here began to spread as they departed.

The dock quickly returned to calm, but the shock and after effects it caused were far from subsiding.

Vaughn called Lance as soon as he arrived at the dock at around nine o’clock. Someone had told him what had just happened.

As the vice president of the dockworkers’ union, he felt this was a very serious matter!

If not handled well, it could potentially lead to a series of unpredictable consequences.

As a union official, Vaughn was well aware that with a little guidance and organization, it could easily turn into another protest or something similar, and he had to curb such a possibility.

Lance arrived quickly, and this was his first time visiting the union’s office.

It was located right on Pier 1, a two-story building, with each floor measuring approximately eight hundred to one thousand square meters. The vice president’s office was on the second floor.

After knocking, Vaughn ushered him in.

“What exactly happened?” Vaughn couldn’t help but complain as soon as he sat down. “I was still eating breakfast, and they called me several times saying someone was causing trouble at the dock, and a dockworker was injured. If this isn’t handled well, it will be very troublesome.”

Lance simply explained what had happened, and Vaughn felt a bit annoyed after hearing it.

Actually, he also knew about the dockworkers bullying illegal immigrants. Although they were called the Dockworkers’ Union, they weren’t particularly fond of these illegal immigrants either.

So, sometimes when such things happened, their choice was to let it go.

In the past, these illegal immigrants, especially the Imperial illegal immigrants, were very loose and did not form a group. They didn’t dare to speak up when they were bullied.

Because there were no impressive big figures or tough characters among the Imperial legal immigrants.

The Camille Gang had some reputation, but they were clearly more brutal to their own countrymen than the Federal people!

Moreover, the local workers had paid their union dues, while those illegal immigrants had not, which was enough for the union to know how they should choose.

So the union’s attitude had always been to ignore it. As long as it didn’t cause major trouble, they would pretend not to know.

However, the situation was clearly different now. Lance’s appearance changed this situation, and he even took action himself.

Lance looked at the frowning Vaughn, somewhat puzzled, “What are you worried about?”

Vaughn looked at Lance for a while, “I’m worried that this Johnny might cause trouble.”

Lance seemed very relaxed, “I guarantee, no one will cause you trouble.”

Vaughn was still a little uneasy, “But the impact is very bad, and it might be used by some people. You know, the anti-immigrant issue wasn’t long ago.”

“Vaughn, we can’t always ignore these problems. Today, this is just a small matter… Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Did I say something wrong?”

“This is indeed a small matter. Someone was injured, but it didn’t affect the dock work, and no one died.”

“But will it always be like this?”

“When contradictions accumulate to a certain extent, after the power of rules can no longer restrain it, it will definitely explode, and everyone will be hurt!”

“We can no longer do nothing and ignore everything!”

Vaughn’s brows furrowed even deeper after hearing this. “But what can we do, or do you have a solution?”

“I plan to have them pay union dues to the union, so the union will have more power to intervene. You are better than me at controlling and resolving the problems and conflicts at the dock, and you will also have a reason to intervene.” Vaughn was stunned when he heard this, “Do they have money?”

Lance’s answer still surprised him, “They don’t, but I do.”

Vaughn was a bit speechless after hearing this, “So many workers, and the monthly union dues are as high as two thousand dollars. Are you sure you want to pay this money for them?”

In reality, Lance wasn’t paying all of this money himself, because his firm profited from both ends: both the work card holders and the people renting the work cards had to pay him money. That is, for one job, each person would give him one dollar.

He could get four dollars per work card. The owner of the work card would get a stable thirty-two dollars per month, and the illegal immigrants would get at least fifteen dollars per job per month.

It didn’t seem like much, but it was stable. If a person did two jobs at the same time, it would be thirty dollars, which was already close to the income of a Federal citizen!

These illegal immigrants were not lacking in hardworking people, they just lacked job opportunities.

Lance believed that taking a portion of the profits from them and returning it to them through other means was completely feasible!

He wasn’t short of money now; what he lacked was a good reputation and standing in the hearts of the Imperial immigrants!

This was clearly a good opportunity to spend a small amount of money for a big reputation, and he wouldn’t easily let it go.

Vaughn was a bit indecisive. “But… they are all illegal immigrants. We have never accepted union dues from illegal immigrants.”

“Everything has a first time, and I think this can be tried as a precedent for the Federation.”

“They are workers first, and then there’s the issue of their status. Since they are workers, what’s wrong with paying union dues?”

“The entire Federation will more or less face some of these problems. If you solve them first and provide a path that other unions can refer to, I think you might become famous.”

Vaughn was somewhat moved. For him, life’s pursuits were nothing more than two things: money and reputation.

Of course, his pursuit and desire for these two things would not be so blatant; they would be relatively subtle.

Having seen through everything in middle age, ideals are never as important as life itself. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have accepted Lance’s kindness and accepted the twenty dollars for nutrition.

Nor would he have kept that three hundred dollars separately instead of putting it into the public account.

“I need to discuss this with the president. No one has ever done this before.”

Lance continued to increase his persuasion, “It’s because no one has done it before that it makes sense for us to be the first!”

“If someone else has already done it, the reputation and benefits will belong to others, and what does that have to do with us?”

“Vaughn, I treat you as a friend, that’s why I’m saying this. People won’t remember everyone who crosses a bridge every day, but they will definitely remember who built that bridge!”

Vaughn was somewhat moved. If President Scott took another step up, and he worked hard here, he could become the president of the dockworkers’ union.

Golden Port City is the economic engine of the Federation, and many eyes are on it. Even if he is just a dock union president, he would have some standing in the federal political arena.

Over the years, there has been no shortage of people who jumped directly from the union system into politics, such as a certain state governor, who was previously the president of the largest local union.

Because he had a very good base of public support, after deciding to run for governor, he easily gained a high approval rating.

Without considering what he would do next, at least he was already the governor, and perhaps in the future, he would be a senator, or even the Federal president!

His long-dead dream began to attack him again. He pursed his lips, “I will try my best to talk to President Scott about this.”

“And you’re right, this is something that benefits both of us.”

“The union gets more dues, which can help us better assist those workers who need help, and also help us better carry out our work.”

“At the same time, we can also better help those vulnerable groups who need help, after all, they are also workers!”

As for Johnny and his friends?

Vaughn no longer cared so much. Of course, he still had to say what he needed to say. “After I discuss it with Scott, I’ll let you know immediately, but what happened this morning, you must handle it cleanly. I don’t want this to escalate.”

Lance nodded, then got up to take his leave.

When he left the union office, there were already many people in blue work uniforms by his car.

They immediately went up to Lance when they saw him, and Jamie was among them.

What happened this morning gave him an inner exhilaration. Watching Johnny being beaten to the ground, he wished he could be Lance, but he knew he couldn’t.

However, this didn’t prevent him from reaching a climax!

“Lance, I don’t know what to say. No one has ever looked after us like you have.”

“Even my father wouldn’t be like this at home. I really don’t know what to do to express my gratitude to you!”

He was very excited. After suffering too much injustice and unfair treatment, finally, Lance, like sunshine, tore through the haze, making him so moved that he wanted to cry!

Everyone else stood beside him, thanking Lance for everything he had done for them.

“We came from the Empire, and no one knows if we’ll ever have the chance to go back. Here, besides looking out for each other, there’s no one else who can genuinely help us.”

“Now that I have some power, I should fulfill my duty and ability to help you solve problems. This is what I should do.”

Jamie’s friend was a bit worried, “They didn’t cause you trouble, did they?” “They” here referred to the union, because they were guarding there, fearing that Lance would be difficult.

Lance shook his head, “President Vaughn is a very easygoing person. We talked a lot… Oh, right!”

He raised his voice slightly, “I just talked to President Vaughn about helping you pay your union dues. You don’t need to pay; the office will pay.”

“This way, if there are any conflicts between you and local workers in the future, even if the union doesn’t help you, they won’t side with them!”

“I’m not saying this to get your gratitude; I just want you to know that you are no longer alone in the Federation.”

“But you must also remember that even if our working environment changes, we still cannot relax our vigilance; we must still unite.”

“I believe that one day, our actions will become the catalyst for changing our living environment!”

He patted Jamie on the shoulder, “Go to work. Don’t let those capitalists find fault with you.”

“If you get fired for absenteeism, I won’t help you, after all, that’s your fault!”

The atmosphere was very relaxed. Lance bid them farewell one by one, then left the dock under their watchful eyes.

Soon, this news began to spread among the immigrant workers. Lance was going to pay their union dues, and they would also become members of the dockworkers’ union, enjoying the union’s guarantee and protection!

If capitalists mistreated them, the union would stand up for them!

This made some people incredibly excited; they had never experienced such a lenient working and living environment.

Those who had been there for several years even felt that all of this was unreal!

Suddenly, a powerful person was going to stand up for them. Suddenly, they could join the union and gain union membership. Everything was getting better and better, making them want to cry uncontrollably and vent all the grievances of these years through tears!

President Scott arrived in the afternoon. He also knew what had happened at the dock, but since the situation hadn’t escalated, he wasn’t very worried.

After Vaughn told him what happened, he quickly focused on the matter of illegal immigrants paying union dues.

As for Johnny and the like, to him, those were minor issues. In fact, if Johnny wasn’t smart, he wouldn’t mind helping Johnny become smarter.

This was clearly paving the way for him to advance to a higher union organization. Anyone who sabotaged it would be his sworn enemy!

When Vaughn finished relaying Lance’s opinions and expressed his own views, he proposed the idea of meeting with Lance to discuss it.

“Set up a meeting with him, the sooner the better. This is a very thoughtful young man, and I believe the general union will really like this.”

“If I can get promoted, Vaughn, I’ll nominate you to succeed me.”

Hearing such a direct promise, Vaughn clenched his fists. Wasn’t this exactly what he wanted?

“I’ll call Lance now…” A few minutes later, he smiled, “He has plans for tonight. I’ve scheduled it for tomorrow morning.”

Although President Scott was eager to meet Lance, he still understood his busy schedule. “No problem, you did very well, Vaughn.”

(End of this chapter)