Empire of Shadows

Our

Officer Lukar’s “startling the snake” tactic worked very well. The next day, Lance arranged several groups of people to search for Will’s whereabouts everywhere.

For immigrants in the Imperial District, Lance might still be an unremarkable young man known only to a few.

But Will was definitely a very famous person; people loathed him, hated him, and feared him.

No one wanted to be provoked by these people, so they firmly remembered the Camille gang’s executives.

However, there was no significant gain for the time being. He seemed to have disappeared from the Imperial District. Finally, Lance had no choice but to have people disperse and keep an eye on the places where he was most likely to appear.

As soon as he was spotted, they were to contact Lance as soon as possible.

At the same time, they also discovered some people suspected of being from the Camilla gang appearing around the office, which meant Ennio’s whereabouts had been exposed.

Lance had long had this premonition; even Officer Lukar knew Will was looking for him, and he hadn’t intentionally hidden, so Will was bound to find him.

Now, both sides were competing to see who would reveal a weakness first, and who could hide better.From the moment they were discovered, Lance demanded that they sleep at the company at night, reducing instances of being alone, and giving the other party no opportunities.

Being unable to go out for two or three days, everyone was holding back their anger.

The headquarters of the Camille gang was on a street in the northwest of the Imperial District. This used to be a nightclub called “Empire Night.”

It was once one of the top entertainment venues in the Imperial District, offering various ways for people to enjoy themselves, along with countless amounts of tobacco, alcohol, women, and everything else.

Despite still being lively, its recent performance was not as brilliant as in the past due to Prohibition.

After all, compared to other expensive expenditures, tobacco and alcohol had become relatively civilian entertainment options.

Moreover, alcohol was the fastest and most effective stimulant, quickly getting people into the mood.

In the office on the fourth floor, Heller, the boss of the Camilla gang, sat in his wide boss chair, toasting his cigar. Sunlight streamed through rows of windows, and tiny dust motes floated up and down in the sunlight.

There was some dust in the corners of the old floor, seemingly never able to be cleaned, and that was the dust’s home.

Sunlight, dust, and some animal heads hanging on the walls completely isolated from the outside noise, forming an independent world, as if time had slowed down at this moment.

In the quiet room, people could faintly hear the slight scorching sound of the flames licking the cigar, and the tiny crackling noises produced by the tobacco leaves deforming as they were ignited.

No one spoke, as if even breathing had stopped.

After Heller had toasted his cigar, he took a puff, and the flavors of nuts and a hint of sweetness filled his mouth, enjoying the wonderful experience the cigar brought.

The nicotine in the smoke particles would, as he swirled the smoke in his mouth, eventually adhere to his oral mucous membranes and then be absorbed by the membranes, quickly acting on the brain.

With just one puff, he felt relaxed and comfortable. He looked up at Will, who was sitting on the sofa in the distance, and stared at him for a while.

For the past month, Will had been like a madman, ignoring all gang matters, relentlessly searching for the enemy who had killed his brother.

Some people already had opinions, because his original work had been distributed to others.

The Camilla gang’s business had been quite busy recently, and everyone didn’t have that much time, which was why he called Will in for a talk.

It was time to stop.

Heller was a middle-aged man. According to his registered information with the federal government, he was forty-seven years old this year, but he looked a few years younger than his actual age.

Even indoors, he wore a pair of amber-tinted, shiny silver-rimmed glasses. His neatly combed, slightly fluffy side-parted hair was meticulously styled with plenty of pomade, making it look sleek and glossy.

He wore a floral shirt without a vest, with a distinctly Federal-style light grey suit jacket over it, which looked a bit loose.

When the sunlight occasionally fell on his gold watch, a golden gleam would reflect off the ceiling.

He opened his mouth, and thick smoke was exhaled from his slightly yellowed teeth, accompanied by his voice, “Will, during this time, you have refused all the work assigned to you by the gang.”

“I know your brother died, and you’re very sad. I also feel heartbroken for Kent; he was a good young man.”

“But since he’s been dead for so long, you should let it go. Life goes on, work goes on.”

“You’ve had a long enough leave. Now it’s time to get back to work.”

Heller pushed his right eyebrow with his middle finger, his palm obscuring his changing expression, “Tomorrow, a batch of liquor will be coming in from outside. The ship won’t dock; it will be at sea. You’ll take your men to meet the ship then.”

“They all have their own work to do. Currently, only you are free, so I’m assigning this to you.”

“You’ll take your men, pick up this shipment, and then deliver it to our warehouse in the suburbs.”

“You need to be careful not to make too much noise. Although we’ve already dealt with the port district sub-bureau and the Coast Guard, it’s still best to be cautious.”

The price of alcohol had soared like crazy, but the price of foreign alcohol hadn’t changed at all. All gangs, families, and criminal organizations had noticed this situation.

From the day the President announced national prohibition, countless cargo ships filled with alcohol sailed on routes to the Federation.

Even though the Camilla gang specialized in extortion, with alcohol prices rising so ridiculously, they didn’t mind dabbling in the smuggling business.

Seeing that Will didn’t speak, Heller took it as a sign of agreement. “This batch of liquor is worth two hundred thousand, but if we were to sell it, we could get at least three hundred and fifty thousand or more.”

“This is our first transaction with them. Once we establish a more complete sales channel, the profits will continue to increase…”

Heller was still thinking about expanding sales channels. In Golden Port City, he might not be able to compete with the five major families, but outside Golden Port City, there were many satellite cities and secondary markets.

Those were also his dumping grounds.

Just as he was envisioning his alcohol empire rising, Will suddenly said, “Three days.”

Heller was momentarily taken aback. “What?”

“What three days?”

Will looked over, “Give me three more days. I’ve found the person who killed my brother. I need to make some preparations, and then kill them.”

“Three days, in three days I’ll deliver this shipment to the place you specify.”

The faintly visible eyes behind the amber lenses gleamed fiercely. “Are you refusing me?”

Will shook his head, “No, I’m just asking for three more days… No, two days. The day after tomorrow, I will solve all problems and deliver the goods to your designated location. I guarantee there will be no omissions.”

“If there are, I’ll take all the responsibility.”

Heller rested his hand on the armrest of the chair, his cigar twirling between his fingers. “Will, I understand how you feel.”

“My father, my uncle, my brothers and sisters, many people have died.”

“I love them very much and want to avenge them, but we must first take care of ourselves.”

Will was completely unaffected by Heller’s subtle warnings in his words and continued, “He was my only family, and now he’s dead. My heart is tortured every day.”

“I can’t sleep at night now. Every time I close my eyes, I see Kent in the morgue, making me sad, angry, and f***ing disgusted!”

“Heller, I have never asked you for anything!”

Eyes are the windows to the soul. Heller hid his emotions behind his amber sunglasses. He took another puff of his cigar, and after a dozen seconds, he nodded. “I’ll have someone else do it. You go get your revenge.”

“But, Will, this is the last time!”

He raised his finger and pointed at Will, “Also, you won’t get any money this time.”

Will breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I promise, there won’t be a next time.”

After Will left, Heller sat there for a while before picking up the phone and dialing another executive’s number. “Come to my office…”

For Heller, money was the most important thing. He was very disappointed in Will.

As for Will himself?

He didn’t care; now he just wanted revenge! Just out of the nightclub, the subordinate who was smoking by the car immediately threw away his cigarette butt and opened the car door for him.

After he got in, he asked, “Did you find Ennio?”

The subordinate in the passenger seat nodded, “Found him. Ennio is hiding in that labor office all day now.”

“It’s full of their people; he’s hardly ever alone, at least not in the past few days we’ve observed.”

The Camilla gang started with kidnapping. Their members might not be proficient, but they at least had surveillance and reconnaissance skills.

They even entered the office to observe but never found a good opportunity.

The car drove out of the nightclub’s parking lot. Will seemed a bit agitated. “How many people do they usually act with?”

“About a dozen, and… they don’t look easy to deal with.”

Will punched the seat in front of him, “I don’t care if they’re easy to deal with or not…”

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. “Just go in directly. Whoever blocks us, kill them.”

The driver looked in the rearview mirror. “Will, someone’s following us.”

Will had long known that Lukar had arranged people to watch him, and they were watching him brazenly. He was annoyed by this, but now he didn’t dare to casually kill police officers.

The police officers behind them were from the homicide division, unlike the patrol officers on the street, and the price to pay was different.

“If they like to follow, let them follow.”

This also gave him a little time to calm down. “Do they also live in the office at night?”

The subordinate in the passenger seat shook his head. “They probably discovered us. They haven’t left at night for the past two days. We don’t know which room they’re staying in.”

Will raised his wrist and glanced at his watch. It was already afternoon.

Considering Heller’s dissatisfaction and threats in his tone today, Will thought about it and finally decided not to wait for them to be alone, but to take action directly, and tonight.

“After we get back, notify everyone to come to a meeting.”

Behind Will’s vehicle, a plainclothes police officer frowned. “Do we have any other colleagues watching them?”

His partner sitting next to him shook his head, “Haven’t heard anything.”

Ever since Will brazenly killed the woman Kent had kept, Lukar had demanded that surveillance officers be in pairs and carry weapons.

He didn’t dare to bet whether Will would act against police officers; they dared to act against important figures, so acting against police officers didn’t seem difficult.

Two people, safer.

Their vehicle was further away, but they clearly noticed that someone else was following Will, which made them very curious.

The partner in the passenger seat took out a notebook. “I’ll write down the license plate number first. I’ll figure it out when I go to the police station tomorrow.”

“That’s all we can do.”

Will’s car arrived in the southwest of the Imperial District. The environment here was better, and the best communities in the Imperial District were all here, including villas.

After the car entered a villa community, the car that had been following Will did not stop and left directly.

This made the two police officers following behind a little more puzzled. Could it be… just a coincidence?

They weren’t sure, but they would report this matter and investigate the license plate number.

And now, their job was to openly watch Will, so their car also entered the community and parked directly opposite Will’s villa on the internal road!

The gang member in charge of the gate immediately told Will after seeing the two, and Will cursed a few times telling him to ignore it, so he didn’t take it to heart.

He knew Lukar’s intention: to find the killer of his brother through him.

This was also one of the reasons why he was in such a hurry!

What if Ennio suddenly decided to surrender due to pressure and was protected by Lukar? His brother would have died in vain!

He couldn’t possibly rush into the Golden Port City Police Department to kill Ennio, could he?

Perhaps there was a one in ten thousand chance at the precinct, but at the city department, it was basically impossible.

He had to eliminate this bastard before Ennio became aware or took action, and before Officer Lukar took action, so time was very tight.

As for this almost face-to-face surveillance, he could only pretend not to see it. Perhaps Officer Lukar now hoped he would make a mistake to stall him.

At a fork in the public road outside the community, Morris got out of the car and walked to a pay phone booth by the roadside.

He inserted a two-cent coin, and after hearing the prompt, dialed the office number.

“I followed him all the way. Now he’s at Senlin Lake Villa, I saw him go in… Okay…”

A moment later, he hung up the phone, walked out of the phone booth, and lit a cigarette.

Then he looked left and right, got back into the car, and drove back to park near the main entrance of the villa.

At the office, Lance hung up the phone. The office had already closed early, and the room was filled with their own people.

“Morris has found him. He’s at Senlin Lake Villa.”

Lance looked at the people around him. No one flinched, not even Sean this time.

He lit a cigarette. “He’s found us. The people watching outside these past two days have confirmed this, and we’ve found him too.”

“We’re already ‘face to face.’ It’s just a matter of who strikes first.”

“Whoever strikes first will have the advantage, catching them off guard when they least expect it.”

He paused here. “Does anyone know anything about this Senlin Lake Villa?”

Ennio raised his hand. “I know.”

Ennio was a legal immigrant who had been there for many years. Golden Port City had developed fastest in the past twenty years or so, so it was not surprising that he was very familiar with the area.

Senlin Lake Villa was a speculative product of a real estate developer. This company wanted to hype the concept of a “new bay area.” Anyway, it was by the sea, and further west from Senlin Lake Villa, there was also a beach.

But clearly, there weren’t too many rich fools. People only wanted to continue developing the existing bay area, not some new one.

Soon, the concept of a “new bay area” disappeared, leaving only some high-end real estate projects in a less developed area.

Now, these villa areas and high-end communities were inhabited by middle-class people; there were no truly wealthy individuals.

And the new house Lance and his people bought was actually two streets north of Senlin Lake Villa. Geographically, they were neighbors with Will!

“…The occupancy rate here isn’t very high. Many houses are listed for sale with real estate agents.”

Ennio shrugged, “My father often looks at this information. He always thinks he’ll be able to afford one of them in the future.”

The wealthy weren’t willing to live here, and those who wanted to buy couldn’t afford it. This might be the cost of failed speculation.

After Ennio finished speaking, the room fell silent, with only the sounds of people continuously smoking.

A few minutes later, Lance threw his cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out with his foot. “We’ll make our move tonight.”

No one objected. Then he began to assign tasks: who would be in which car, and who would carry what weapons.

Meanwhile, Will sat on the sofa in the living room, the room thick with the smell of smoke. He smoked one cigarette after another. All his subordinates, over thirty of them, had already arrived.

The total number of Camilla gang members was approximately over two thousand, which of course was what they claimed, including some peripheral members who were not involved in criminal activities.

The core members numbered only less than three hundred.

They had six senior executives, plus Heller, and the organizational department, with eight or nine core members sharing these members.

On average, each senior executive controlled a core force of only thirty to forty people.

They had to bear all the expenses for these people, so sometimes it wasn’t that they didn’t want to expand their strength, but that the money they had didn’t allow for unlimited expansion without restrictions.

After everyone had pretty much arrived, Will’s gaze swept over their faces one by one. He took a deep breath. “We’ll make our move tonight…”

(End of this chapter)