Empire of Shadows

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The “Tide Newspaper,” which had recently become a huge hit due to the “had some knowledge” incident, was now in almost everyone’s hands. It’s unknown if they were trying to disgust Director Dale, but they also launched a serialized photo series centered on “Office Romance.”

It featured either beautiful female law enforcement officers or beautiful female criminals. Anyway, someone was always getting hurt.

They created a specious word by respelling the name of the Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol, and Dangerous Goods.

If you looked at each letter carefully, then in the end, it was definitely not what you thought it was.

But if you just took a cursory glance, then it was what the creator hoped people would associate it with.

A promiscuous female director named “Daier” was pressed down on a desk. This sparked people’s enthusiasm for buying, and for a time, the “Tide Newspaper” was almost sold out!

The apartment manager looked at the unclothed, young, and beautiful girls inside, sighing while drooling.He never understood why these young and beautiful girls had to engage in such a lowly profession. They could clearly find a decent husband with their looks and figures.

Even if they didn’t want to rely on a man, they could find a “vase” position in a big company, instead of flaunting themselves in these newspapers and magazines.

What would their fathers see, what would their mothers think, and what about their relatives?

Truly shameless!

He felt the little money in his pocket and sighed. How wonderful it would be if he had money.

As he was thinking about these things, the sound of many footsteps suddenly echoed in the lobby. He quickly put away the “Tide Newspaper” and then put on a rather indifferent expression. “I…”

He had wanted to say, “What can I do for you,” but looking at these people wearing hats and trench coats, who looked hard to mess with, he couldn’t get the words out.

Hiram walked to the counter and flipped his hair. “I need… the spare key to this room.”

The apartment manager squeezed out a smile. “We… don’t… provide…”, he watched as Hiram put his hand into the pocket of his trench coat, and he quickly opened a drawer. “Here, it’s right here!”

As he spoke, he placed a spare key on the counter. Hiram had originally intended to give him some benefit, but he also realized the reason for the other party’s action. He smiled, took out some money, counted out ten dollars, and placed it on the counter. “You didn’t give us the key, and you didn’t see us, right?”

The manager nodded repeatedly.

Many apartments have spare keys. When tenants rent a room, they sign a security agreement. Without their permission and in the absence of law enforcement action, apartment managers are not allowed to enter these rooms at will.

But in reality, they couldn’t do this. Almost no one in the whole country could.

In other cities, including Golden Port, there had been more than one case of apartment managers using spare keys to violate tenants.

But the situation in the whole country was like this. They had a legal reason to keep a spare key. Whether they could abide by the contract and moral norms depended purely on the manager himself.

But the problem was that in this era, and even in any era, being an apartment manager was not a decent or socially respected job. This destined that the people who did this job were all from the bottom of society.

When they had the right to enter and exit tenants’ rooms, it was hard not to have some evil thoughts.

If one day, their reason couldn’t control their impulse, then evil would happen.

However, this had nothing to do with the present. The group took the key and went upstairs. Jimmy, who was gnawing on tasteless food, planned to leave tonight. He couldn’t possibly stay here any longer.

As for his girlfriend?

As long as you have money and a gun, where can’t you find a girlfriend?

The potatoes were hard to eat, and the boiled beef was also hard to eat. He couldn’t quite figure out why the beef his girlfriend cooked was quite easy to chew, but the beef he cooked was as tough as a leather shoe.

At this moment, the sound of a key being inserted into the lock came from outside the door. He slanted a glance and then looked away. That bitch!

There was some disdain on his face, but soon, his eating movements froze.

Without a doubt, the person outside had turned the key in the wrong direction. The door was locked!

His girlfriend had lived here for a long time. It was impossible for her not to know which way to turn her own door key.

The next second, he pulled out his pistol and shouted loudly, tense and vigilant, “Who’s there!”

The person outside seemed to have realized this as well. The speed of turning the key clearly quickened, and soon the door opened.

Jimmy couldn’t help but fire his gun, but there was no one outside the door.

He looked for a place to hide in the living room while observing.

Soon, someone seemed to be looking in. He fired two more shots, missed, but it also made that hat retreat.

He was extremely nervous now, guarding this spot in the living room while thinking about how to escape.

But no matter how he thought, he couldn’t find any way out.

His apartment faced the street, and there was nothing outside the window.

If it were an apartment facing away from the street, there might be an emergency fire escape outside the window.

He was very desperate now. He didn’t want to die.

The other party seemed to probe a couple more times. He fired two more shots. Two or three minutes later, his gun was empty.

Hiram walked in holding a submachine gun. Jimmy, with no bullets left, slowly raised his hands…

Ten minutes later, three police cars arrived here. Apart from seeing a few bullet holes in the wall, they didn’t find anything unusual.

There were no witnesses, or rather, the witnesses didn’t dare to testify. This was a situation that the police in Golden Port often faced.

The deterrent power of criminal organizations was too great. Even if one, two, or three or five people went to jail because of an eyewitness’s testimony, they still had dozens or hundreds of brothers outside!

The so-called “Witness Protection Act” was like a joke in the Federation. Even before these eyewitnesses appeared in court, their names and personal information might have already been leaked.

In this era where the judicial system was like a fishing net with countless holes, whoever was stupid enough to have a “sense of justice” would not have a good end.

The police investigation, like all similar cases before, yielded no feedback or clues. Even the apartment manager insisted that he hadn’t seen anyone go up or out. At this point, the police also hastily wrapped up and left.

On one hand, these witnesses did not cooperate, and on the other hand, they themselves were too lazy to investigate.

Who knew whose head this case would eventually fall on, let alone whether finding out the truth of these cases would make them pay a heavy price.

Just like that, a case that clearly might involve kidnapping and murder was defined and handled as a “missing person case” in the Port District police files.

And the way they handled missing person cases was often passive. Only when clues to a missing person case were found in other cases would they reopen the investigation.

Before that?

They would only tell the families of the missing persons to print more missing person notices…

About twenty minutes later, Jimmy shook his head and got rid of the hood. He was locked in a place like a garage. The ground was covered with waterproof cloth, as were the walls.

The whole room was dark green, which made him feel a little flustered.

He focused his attention and looked around, his gaze finally landing on two people he knew.

Mr. Jobav and his assistant.

In an instant, he understood why he was here now, and not somewhere else.

The two of them were talking to a young man. He had a vague feeling of familiarity with that young man, but he couldn’t quite place it.

Perhaps the approach of death had enlightened him. He suddenly thought that this person might be Lance!

But this answer he had guessed could only make him more helpless.

“I have given you the justice you wanted. I hope revenge makes you feel a little better. Whatever you do to him, I will clean it up.”

After Lance gave them a few instructions, he left first.

The others left the room in silence, but they didn’t really leave; they were all outside the room.

At this time, only Mr. Jobav and his assistant were left in the room.

“Let me go,” Jimmy looked at the two of them, licked his lips, his voice a bit hoarse. “Please, you are not the kind of ruthless people. I know you don’t dare to kill me.”

“Come on, beat me up, and then let me go…”

Mr. Jobav just watched quietly. Today’s avenger was someone else.

The assistant’s eyes were a little red. “You killed him, tortured him for half an hour.”

Jimmy stopped talking. He knew who the assistant was talking about, the young man hiding in the Xilin District.

Polly had demanded that he perform an honor killing. He had to do as Polly instructed, torture him, then pose him, and finally stab him to death.

“This was all Pol—”

Thwack!

The dull, hollow sound of a hollow aluminum alloy bat hitting bone was exceptionally clear in this room.

Jimmy looked at his clearly broken shinbone and let out an unprecedented roar!

He wanted to shift the blame to Polly, but what greeted him was a bat with the force of a home run!

Five minutes later, Mr. Jobav couldn’t take it anymore and came out of the room first with an ugly expression. He had never thought his assistant had such a violent side.

It wasn’t until twenty minutes later that the assistant came out of the garage, his body stained with a lot of blood.

Although he looked terrible, at this moment his vitality actually looked much better than before.

Most of the negative emotions in his heart were expelled, and his whole person seemed to have become cheerful again. The gloomy temperament about him had also disappeared a lot.

He sincerely thanked Lance for everything he had done for him!

However, he couldn’t express his gratitude to Lance in person because Lance had already left. He had things to do at night and hadn’t stayed.

The assistant took off his blood-stained coat and pants and burned them in a fire.

He stood by the fire and watched for a long time, as if saying goodbye to his hatred.

It was clearly a bit cold, but he felt that he was in a warm environment. Not only was his heart warm, but his whole body was warm!

A small character like Jimmy, hated by men and dogs, was not worthy of the treatment of being put in an oil drum and sent to Angel Lake. He was directly thrown onto a woodpile, doused with gasoline, and soon turned into some bones.

These bones would be crushed and sent to a nearby pet food factory, ground into bone meal, and made into pet food.

People would never find any trace of him again, as if he had never appeared.

…

Eric looked at the convertible parked in the box with a satisfied smile. He had put in a lot of effort for this convertible.

He caressed the white, smooth body of the car. There was even an inscription on the car body—From Eric to his beloved Shayna.

This sentence was “drawn” on the front left side of the car with silver-white metal pieces. When light shone on it, it would sparkle.

A confession full of love!

The car seat was filled with bright red, blooming roses. The contrast between white and red made the whole car look even more appealing to girls.

Red roses were not easy to come by now. They were either bought from a greenhouse or imported from the tropics. But no matter where they came from, their price was astonishingly expensive.

But it didn’t matter.

The casino at the nightclub was like a gold mine that could never be dug out. It would produce an income of two to three thousand dollars every day. Even if this carload of flowers cost him more than five hundred dollars, he didn’t feel the slightest bit of pain.

Anyway, this money would come back tomorrow!

There was a performance by Shayna today. He wanted to give her this gift after her performance, in the full view of the public.

He glanced at the few young men on the other side who represented the “locals,” a disdainful expression on his face.

He was giving a luxury convertible worth twenty thousand dollars. What could they give?

The opera performance lasted for two hours, but the chapters with Shayna were only about forty minutes.

Shayna on stage was full of charm. Her professionalism was very strong. She had received the most professional training since she was a child, which gave her a calm stage presence that did not match her young age. Many people were her supporters.

Plus, the recent “battle of pursuit” centered around her had given her a higher status in the minds of young people.

This was also one of people’s blind followings. In fact, many people didn’t know Shayna at all at first, especially those who didn’t watch opera.

But as the rivalry between Eric and some young masters began to be reported by the media, some young people also began to pay attention to the girl who caused the conflict between these two groups, and thus began to like her.

They couldn’t necessarily say what they liked about Shayna; they just liked her simply because “everyone likes her.”

For Shayna, this might be what she really wanted, rather than those valuable gifts.

Watching Shayna leave the stage, Eric couldn’t sit still anymore. He ran backstage to be attentive. His competitors would not let him go and be attentive alone so easily; they all followed.

A group of people surrounded Shayna, taunting and provoking each other. At first, she was not used to this situation, but gradually, she actually began to get used to it.

On the contrary, if these people weren’t digging at, satirizing, and laughing at each other, she would feel a bit dull.

“Shayna, I have specially prepared a special gift for you today. You will definitely like it!”

Shayna rolled her eyes, looking at Eric who was fawning over her like a pug through the mirror. “I don’t like those things. I’ve already said so.”

“If I need anything, I will buy it myself…”

She didn’t like Eric because Eric was just an illegitimate son. If she were to marry, she would definitely choose the orthodox heir of a prestigious family, not a… bastard.

Of course, she wouldn’t say it out loud. That way, she couldn’t continue to use these people’s rivalry to gain exposure for herself.

Recently, “Federal Opera” magazine had even reported on her. Although the content was not much, it was indeed good news.

Eric acted as if he didn’t hear the impatience in her tone and continued to say with a thick face, “I bought a car for you, Easter’s Moon Goddess. Only it can match your temperament!”

Shayna, who was originally planning to refuse, had already opened her mouth, but… she slowly turned to look at Eric, an irrepressible surprise in her eyes.

Just as his lackey had said, clothes, accessories, Shayna would get tired of these things after using them once or twice. No matter how many were given, they would eventually be sent to an antique shop to be sold as second-hand goods.

Sometimes she even wanted to wear them, but the thought of who had given them to her instantly made her lose interest.

Only a car, especially a luxury car, was something she needed every day.

The car she drove now was an ordinary car. Of course, this “ordinary” was only ordinary for their class. At four or five thousand, it was actually a pretty good car.

But compared to the “Moon Goddess” specially built for women, and a convertible at that, what woman could resist?

Eric instantly felt that his twenty thousand dollars was well spent. “Of course, it’s parked right outside…”

“Take me to see it!”

This was a rare initiative from Shayna recently. She even took Eric’s hand for a moment, which instantly made Eric feel like he was about to… erupt.

He glanced at those locals with the unique look of a victor and led his goddess away from the backstage.

“What do we do now?”

Someone asked.

Everyone had different thoughts. Each of them had a prominent background, but no one said anything.

It wasn’t that they didn’t have money, but that they were considering whether this money was worth spending.

Before, when they didn’t spend much money, they didn’t really care. A few dozen, a few hundred, one or two thousand, three or five thousand, if it was lost, it was lost.

But now the consumption level had clearly upgraded. Now it was twenty thousand. What about in the future?

Thirty thousand, fifty thousand. If they could get a result from spending this money, they might not be unwilling.

But that Shayna was clearly taking all the benefits, but didn’t want to give anything to anyone, which made them a bit hesitant.

Although they were young, and some people thought they were stupid, they were not really stupid.

It’s unknown who suddenly said, “Arthur, didn’t you say you made a lot of money recently?”

“How dare you watch us get pushed down by an outsider bastard?”

Arthur did indeed make a lot of money, but half of that money was taken away by his mother, who said she was saving it for him and would give it to him in the future.

Anyway, it was highly unlikely he could get that money back. He didn’t really care. After all, after two business deals, besides the principal, he himself had received more than two hundred thousand.

If Senator Williams hadn’t stopped him from continuing to smuggle liquor, he would have loved to jump right into this industry!

Usually, he didn’t have a very high status among this group of people, far inferior to James. People didn’t pay much attention to him either.

However, he was very careful. “I don’t have that much money.”

The person who spoke squeezed out from the crowd. “You can buy a villa, in your own name, but lend it to Shayna to live in.”

“This way, the money is still your money, but it can win back our face. What do you think?”

Arthur was still hesitating. At this time, a peer beside him couldn’t help but say, “If you won’t do it, I will!”

(End of this chapter)

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Additional chapters: /caleredhair