Empire of Shadows

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In the dim corner of the club, Liam sat in the shadows; he liked to sit that way.

Observing others from a place where he couldn’t be observed was a hobby of his, or perhaps a form of caution.

Among the seven senior cadres of the Camille gang, each had their own distinct characteristics.

His personality wasn’t particularly flamboyant. Perhaps he had seen too many terrifying things, making him unable to possess the fiery blood of ordinary young people. In truth, he wasn’t old, only in his thirties.

Having been in the Camille gang for over ten years, in some ways, he had actually achieved his initial Federal dream: money, a house, and social status.

But human greed is never satisfied. Having gained some, one arrogantly and insatiably desires more. Greed is a venomous snake; it devours people’s hearts and reason, amplifying all desires.

He had seen people fall into the abyss due to greed and desire. He could only try his best to remain calm, but he couldn’t achieve a state of no greed, no desire; no one could.

He raised his glass and took a small sip of wine. On the strip club stage, two girls performed skillful dances diligently, while the regulars around them drank and chatted.This was the Empire District, the stronghold of the Camille gang. Even if the Empire District sub-bureau had a major operation, they would be notified in advance, so he wasn’t worried about anyone disrupting business here.

However, he had recently heard that the Hazardous Materials Administration had been established. This department would have great power, primarily focusing on the smuggling, storage, sale, and use of tobacco, alcohol, and hazardous materials.

This gave him a bad premonition. If alcoholic beverages couldn’t be sold here, the number of customers would significantly decrease.

Almost half of the sales came from impulsive consumption by customers who had drunk too much.

Before getting drunk, who the hell would be willing to spend far more money than it costs to find a street prostitute, just to have a female dancer perform one more dance for them?

He pondered some future possibilities, trying to understand the trajectory of events. His legs were crossed, and the longer sleeves of his shirt, extending beyond his formal jacket, were rolled back, making his clothes look somewhat exaggerated but also trendy.

The music in the hall was not intense; it was very soothing, and it perfectly complemented the girls’ gentle and graceful movements.

You could even see people’s desires igniting little by little, bursting into flames!

There were live musicians performing here. In fact, no one had expected that those people, besides being good at picking cotton, also had good expressive power in music.

After thinking about other things for a while, Liam began to consider some “private orders” for the evening.

Some important figures wouldn’t come to this kind of venue, but they would have some normal or perverse needs, which required arranging for girls to be sent to them.

These orders came with a hefty price tag; those important figures didn’t care how much they spent, they only cared about whether they could discover their deepest desires!

He once delivered girls for a pastor.

Just as he was considering how to arrange the evening’s schedule, hurried footsteps interrupted his thoughts.

He put down his glass and looked at the person approaching him, one of his subordinates. The man finally stopped not far from him. “Liam, …they called and said Robert has defected to Lance. He might already know your plan.”

Liam paused. “I understand,” he said, downing his drink. “Notify everyone to meet at the villa.”

“Also, find someone to take care of Robert. I don’t like traitors around me.”

Business establishments generally do not store large quantities of weapons or similar items; it would be very troublesome if they were discovered.

In different regions of the Federation, owning legal weapons was not a simple matter, and criminal organizations like theirs often used weapons to commit illegal and criminal acts.

If they used registered weapons, it would be tantamount to telling others that they were responsible. They, like other large gangs and families, used illegal guns.

Weapons were stored in his villa. He then stood up and walked towards the door, speaking as he went, “Don’t forget the orders for tonight. I won’t be here, so you must keep an eye on them for me.”

The two walked to the door. The waiter had already opened the main door for him. He looked at the manager. “If you displease my guests, I’ll send you to my guests and let them figure out how to satisfy themselves!”

The manager nodded. Although he knew this was a threat and not something that would actually happen, he was still a little scared.

The desires of rich people were usually normal, but some had abnormal desires. They didn’t simply need to vent their desires through complex “sex.”

Some of them liked to hit people, some liked to hurt others, or even… The manager didn’t want to end up at the bottom of Angel Lake after just one night, so he quickly promised, “Liam, it’s not my first day working for you. Don’t worry, there won’t be any problems.”

Liam nodded, patted his cheek, and left the Red Heels Club.

Standing on the steps at the entrance, he habitually looked around. Good, there was nothing that made him uneasy. He walked towards the blue sedan parked by the roadside.

This was a new model of car, and its exterior design had changed somewhat from previous cars.

First, it eliminated the dome and became a convertible, and the front was longer and more streamlined.

All four wheels had wheel covers, and the overall color was blue, with a small portion in ivory white, making it look especially high-end and comfortable!

With its advanced paint technology, you could see your reflection on the paint job just by getting close to it. He loved this car!

He had already pulled his car keys from his pocket. Twenty more meters, and he would be able to drive his car home.

There were quite a few pedestrians on the road, and some were paying attention to his car, which made him very happy.

Of all the people who bought expensive goods, only a few bought them for practical purposes; most bought them for the purpose of showing off.

There were too many sounds on the road during the day, so he couldn’t clearly hear the screeching sound of tires rubbing against the ground when a car suddenly started and accelerated in the distance.

He also couldn’t hear the sound of a submachine gun bolt being pulled back and the safety being disengaged. He hummed the tune of the “little cotton picker” and opened the car door.

The heavy car door felt like caressing his girlfriend’s thigh—round and smooth. He was a little intoxicated!

Just then, a car was driving at an extremely high speed on the road, and he saw it coming right next to him. He frowned in displeasure.

In the Federation, with right-hand driving rules, the driver’s seat was on the left. This meant he either had to quickly get in and close the door, or close the door first and wait for the other car to pass before getting in, otherwise there was a risk of a scrape.

He chose the latter, closed the car door, stood by the car, and gave the middle finger to the driver of that car.

However, the next second, a person leaned out of the rear window of the car, a man, and he actually had a braid?

He hadn’t even had time to mock the braided man when, to his disbelief, the other party pulled out a submachine gun!

Almost simultaneously, Liam ducked his neck and ran towards the front of the car, but at this moment, time seemed to be slowed down by God. He was running and escaping for his life, but his speed just didn’t seem to increase.

Rapid breathing filled his entire world. He even saw a bullet pierce the car’s exterior, but at this moment, he was in no mood to turn back and curse the gunman.

Why the hell are you shooting my car when you’re supposed to be shooting people?

He suddenly felt someone push him twice from behind. He stumbled forward and fell to the ground.

But soon, he stood up, leaning on the front of the car. For some reason, his feet slipped a little, and that car suddenly slowed down.

He heard someone say—

“Don’t you f***ing slam the brakes, you almost threw me out!”

When he looked back again, the gunman was already aiming the gun at him.

Flames spat from the barrel, and only then did the surrounding crowd realize what was happening. People screamed and fled in all directions.

The manager, who had just returned to the bar, heard that Liam was shot at the entrance, but he didn’t dare to go out now, because he had no weapon.

A large crowd pulled open the curtains and looked out the window, and they saw a sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives!

That devil-like man stood there. Although he was still present, people could feel that he was melting, melting under the sunlight.

His body, along with his sins, melted away.

The submachine gun in Hiram’s hand had already clicked, signaling an empty magazine. He glanced at Liam, who was beyond saving, and quickly retreated to the back seat, patting the driver’s shoulder forcefully.

The car tires spun madly again, smoking, and the car itself shot forward like an arrow!

“He’s dead?” Dracy (Hiram’s friend) asked from the driver’s seat.

Hiram removed the empty magazine, then replaced it with another, just in case they encountered trouble on the road.

“He got hit by at least a dozen bullets. If he can survive that, tomorrow, even if Lance doesn’t say anything, I’ll jump into Angel Lake myself.”

Dracy wasn’t nervous; he even felt relaxed. “Do you prefer cement number two or cement number three?”

Hiram swung his arm and hit him on the head, causing the car to shake slightly. “I’ll have them grind you up and mix you in, and we’ll go down together!”

The car sped out of the city, startling many drivers on the road with their reckless driving. They even ran a few red lights.

However… without police present at the scene, such behavior wouldn’t have any serious consequences.

Golden Port, as one of the largest ports in the Federation, received a concentration of goods that were then transported to other cities by train, making its railway network very developed.

There were many small stations outside Golden Port City. They drove out of the city from the west, but then drove the car northwest, found a densely vegetated area to stop, changed clothes, and then bought a train ticket back to Golden Port at the station.

After they left, someone called the police. By the time the police arrived, Liam was completely cold.

Even in death, his hand remained on his car.

Some people were very sad about this, but undoubtedly, today was definitely a lucky day for the Red Heels Club…

Officer Hunter was in charge of this case. The new detective for the criminal investigation unit hadn’t reported yet, and the other two were handling other cases. He was relatively free now, which was also related to Mr. Jobav and his assistant completely giving up on pursuing the killer.

Upon arriving at the scene, he looked at Liam lying in a pool of blood and scratched his head, feeling somewhat troubled.

Undoubtedly, a gang member being shot in broad daylight outside his place of business was a gang feud.

Only a few people came to his mind who could pull off this kind of style: Polly, or one of the five major families.

But the five major families weren’t so crude anymore; they had moved beyond the “bottom tier.” Many times, they also had to maintain their image, like the upper class, so the correct answer seemed to be surfacing.

However, he also felt that this incident didn’t quite seem like Polly’s doing. The Brotherhood’s territory was in the Port District, and this was the Empire District. Unless the Brotherhood first dealt with the Red Dog gang and then encroached on the Empire District’s interests, there was no way these two gangs could start a war!

Then… he thought of another case, the one Officer Lukar—no, now Senior Agent Lukar—had told him about earlier. When Will died, the forensic doctor found over forty bullet fragments in his body.

Will and Liam were both from the Camille gang, and both were… filled with so many little darlings.

Perhaps these two cases could be connected.

Other police officers were taking notes at the scene, looking for witnesses, even if some unwilling witnesses reported what they saw.

“The braided man” became an important clue.

Almost at the same time, Heller received a call; someone told him Liam was dead.

If Will’s death was overshadowed by the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in goods, then Liam’s death now finally made him realize that although Lance Family had few people, they were definitely not easy to mess with.

And they used submachine guns in broad daylight. Were these people crazy or what?

The eyes of the entire city’s police would converge on them!

At the same time, he also faced a new problem.

He had initially thought that this Lance and his Lance Family were just a small fry he could extort at any time, but now he had kicked a steel beam. It wasn’t just painful; his toes were fractured.

If he were to continue, the war would escalate, and the investment would become larger and larger.

He had just lost two hundred thousand dollars in goods and was already a bit financially strained. If he continued to wage gang warfare, he wouldn’t have much money left.

All the money Heller’s family had acquired over the years had been laundered by him and used to purchase properties, and even stocks.

He had always been leaving himself a fallback. Although he wasn’t particularly concerned about family members dying during the gang’s rise, he was very uneasy about the inherent danger.

This was a difficult choice!

But no matter what, Liam was dead, and he had to show his stance, otherwise, those senior cadres might have other ideas.

In the evening, the two, dressed in ordinary clothes, took a taxi back to the company. Everyone was there, and seeing their safe return, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“We were just waiting for you two.” The room was filled with smoke; almost everyone had a cigarette in their mouth.

Taking out Liam didn’t make anyone feel much easier.

Taking out Liam and Will were both unexpected outcomes and didn’t mean that the Camille gang was a weak gang. The fact that it had been entrenched in the Empire District for several decades without being swallowed by other gang forces certainly indicated something special about it.

So Lance wasn’t blindly optimistic. At this point, there was no turning back for either side.

Sometimes things were like that; what might have been a small matter could, in its development, eventually blow a hole in the sky.

Lance told them to sit down. Hiram noticed that Elvin, who was still hospitalized, had returned, and the two greeted each other.

“When we took out Will, we thought we should lie low for a while, but their reach extended too far. If we didn’t fight back, they would keep testing our limits again and again.”

“The Camille gang has over three hundred people, ten times our number, but they are divided into several groups by different cadres.”

“We just took out Will’s people, and today we took out Liam. No matter how these people act on the surface, some definitely support going to war with us, and some oppose it.”

“This is an opportunity.”

“Also, we need to expand our personnel. We don’t have enough people.”

“But expansion cannot be blind.”

“I plan to free all of you from production, making you full-time managers, so we need to find some people to take over your work in the company.”

“This group will temporarily be managed by Sean, keeping them from getting involved in the family’s other operations.”

“The other part will be fully dedicated to the family business.”

Elvin had spent over a month at the docks before, and thanks to his quick wit and good social skills, he had met a lot of people.

“How many people do you want to recruit?”

“At least forty people for the company, and let’s recruit another thirty for our side.”

Elvin wrote down the number. “Quite a few ‘blue shirts’ want to join us.”

“Blue shirts” was a term for people wearing the Wanli Company’s uniforms. The influence and deterrence of these uniforms were gradually increasing. Additionally, Lance breaking Johnny’s arm in front of many people made immigrants at the docks feel proud for the first time. Now, they were forming a force!

Some people saw their glory, but whether it was for their own glory or hoping to join this vibrant social group and do something for Imperial immigrants, they showed a strong sense of ambition.

Lance thought for a moment. “You can recruit some at your discretion, preferably acquaintances.”

“Also, ask if anyone who has served in the military is willing to join us. We need some more professional people!”

***

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