Empire of Shadows

Countless people had already gathered outside the main gate of City Hall. They were shouting something in alarm. A large number of police officers had already rushed here, forming a wall outside City Hall.

They held small round shields and wooden batons, and some of them already had their hands on their holsters. Did everyone look particularly cold?

Perhaps this word is not quite right because they were not facing those gang members, nor were they thugs, but their faces did indeed show a cold expression.

The kind of expression that they should have only shown when facing criminals and crime was now being shown when facing ordinary citizens who had suffered losses.

This was a fantastical world. Sometimes people couldn’t tell if the police were really the police, just as they couldn’t tell now whether the citizens who hoped to recover their losses and get an explanation were good people or bad people.

The defensive line formed by the police firmly blocked those citizens outside City Hall. They came like a flood but were repelled every time.

Thank God, the police had finally played their proper role!

The terrified and angry crowd was everywhere. They had been cheated out of all their wealth. Now, their only hope of getting all their wealth back was pinned on City Hall.

The mayor stood behind the window of his office looking at the chaotic square in front of City Hall. The secretary informed him that the people for the meeting had all arrived.

He did not leave immediately but stood here, looking at everything below.After about two minutes, he then turned and walked towards the conference room. They had indeed given him a difficult problem, but this difficult problem would not be the one to knock him down!

Almost all the office heads of most departments were gathered in the conference room. They were also discussing this matter, but it was not very clear whether the direction of their discussion was the citizens who had been scammed and suffered losses.

It was also possible that they were discussing how the mayor would get through this crisis.

The moment the mayor entered the conference room, the entire room fell silent.

Some people greeted him, but some just looked at him, with a faint smile at the corner of their mouths.

They liked to see the mayor in a difficult situation.

For most of the people here, the mayor’s existence was always a hidden danger.

On one hand, they received the salary issued by the Federation government, and on the other hand, they also received some other benefits from the local interest system.

The mayor raised his hand in response to them and then sat down in his seat, “It is only at this moment that I truly know what has happened in this city.”

“I trust every one of you very much, and I also trust the professional quality that each of you has.”

“You are government officials. Your job is to solve problems for the people who live here.”

“I haven’t seen many scenes of you solving problems. On the contrary, I have seen the scene of you being unable to solve a problem and letting it become a time bomb!”

“I do have to bear a certain amount of responsibility for this matter. As the mayor, I am clearly derelict in my duty.”

“But some of you also have to bear the same responsibility. In the process of your specific city management work, you actually did not discover this problem, letting it become a hidden danger and trouble. This is your dereliction of duty!”

“I am not a patient person. I will go and apologize to the public later. After I come back, I hope to see your resignation letters on my desk.”

As he spoke, he stood up, “This is the last bit of dignity I am giving you.”

After he finished speaking, without waiting for the officials who had already started to say something, he strode out of the conference room.

The secretary followed closely with a smile. They had already gathered a large number of reporters. The mayor was going to apologize to all the citizens of the city and take responsibility, and hold people accountable.

The scammers were highly unlikely to be found, and the money was also highly unlikely to be recovered, but he could get rid of some officials to vent everyone’s anger.

In fact, this crisis was a problem for him, but at the same time, it was also an opportunity!

He had a reasonable pretext to carry out a large-scale purge of the government officials in the entire City Hall, to clean out all those who were not originally on his side.

As for the deceived public?

He had a way to solve it.

At 10:15, in another large hall of City Hall, the reporters who had already gathered were already prepared to “interrogate” the mayor.

From the moment he entered the hall, almost every reporter raised their hands high and said the questions they wanted the mayor to answer!

The mayor walked to his position and quietly watched them clamor. After two or three minutes, the reporters finally quieted down.

“Are you done talking?” His one sentence made the scene, which still had some noise, truly fall silent.

He looked at the other reporters, “Today’s press conference mainly needs to solve a few things. First, I need to apologize to all the citizens who have been scammed!”

He walked to the side of the podium, bowed, and after a while, slowly straightened up.

He was already old. Although it was just a bow, it also made his face flush red.

He took a deep breath, and his face looked a little better, “I was also extremely shocked when I first heard about this matter, especially that our government officials did not even realize its risk.”

“This is the first time I’ve known some of the details, for example, the super high rebate. This kind of obviously unreasonable situation has existed for a long time, but no one has ever questioned it, no one has done any review work. This is our dereliction of duty, the dereliction of duty of government officials.”

“All officials associated with this matter will be punished accordingly. There will be a more formal explanation later.”

“At the same time, I also believe that there will always be people who discover some clues from their operations, but they just don’t know who to tell and how to say it.”

“The police, the judicial department, the prosecutors, it seems there is no suitable department that can handle this matter, so much so that they can only watch as many people are deceived.”

“So this is the second thing I want to mention. From today on, we will establish multiple reporting and supervision mechanisms.”

“Citizens can tell us about the problems and events they consider dangerous and potentially risky by filling out forms, making phone calls, etc.”

“We will be opening a dedicated hotline at City Hall to handle these complaints from citizens and solve the problems of citizens.”

The mayor paused as he spoke, “Now you can ask questions.”

In an instant, all the reporters raised their arms and waved them vigorously. The mayor chose a reporter he had seen several times, from the “Golden Port Today” newspaper.

That reporter stood up, first thanked the mayor for letting him be the first to ask a question, and then asked a question that people were very concerned about, “We currently do not know how much money is involved in this financial fraud case. According to inaccurate calculations, it may have exceeded ten million.”

“If this money cannot be recovered, it will inevitably have a great impact on people’s lives. How do you plan to solve the problem of these people returning to their lives?”

A very neutral question. The mayor was very satisfied and remembered this person. In the future, when calling on people to ask questions, he could let him stand up and answer first.

“Good question!”

“We will ask the bank to help us track the flow of funds as much as possible, to see if we can regain control of them before they disappear.”

“In addition, I will talk to the bank. For some victims who have invested all their funds, we will provide necessary low-interest or interest-free loans.”

“This money can help them stabilize their current lives first. In addition, we will conduct a safety assessment of all the financial companies in the city.”

“To prevent similar things from happening again at the source!”

Lance sat in his office listening to the radio broadcast from the press conference at City Hall. He looked at the brilliant and beautiful city outside the window, his mind full of what the mayor had said.

If before he had some doubts about whether the mayor could control this city, then now, he could feel that the mayor was dismantling the city’s defenses bit by bit.

Just because he had a helper, a helper who could leverage huge benefits and had law enforcement power!

As he was thinking about these problems, the phone on his desk suddenly rang. He picked it up casually, “This is the Wanli Firm.”

“Hey, Lance, are you free tonight?”

It was Alberto’s call, “Not necessarily. Is something the matter?”

“Paul has invited some other gangs who are still standing with us. We need to have a closer connection. Everyone will sit down and talk tonight.”

“You are also on the invitation list.”

Lance considered for a moment, “Where?”

“On the top floor of the Summit Hotel in the city center.”

The Summit Hotel was probably the best hotel in Golden Port, with no rival. Two presidents and dozens of senators had stayed here for a short time.

It was precisely because of these special “experiences” that more big shots would choose the Summit Hotel as their place to stay when they came to Golden Port, and it was also because of these people’s choices that it became more legendary!

It was said that to this day, the Summit Hotel still kept some of the daily necessities used by the two presidents, and even the newspapers they had read and the fountain pens they had used!

Someone had once hoped to buy one of the fountain pens used by a president for $300, but was refused. Now someone had offered up to $2,000, but they were still unwilling to sell.

Negotiating or doing other things in such a legendary hotel would have an inexplicable sense of historical weight.

Paul had chosen a good place!

After considering it again and again for a moment, Lance agreed, “I will bring people there. Also, try to make the time a little later. I think nine o’clock is a good time.”

Alberto immediately replied, “No problem, I will talk to Paul about the time. Bringing people is also no problem, but it’s best if the number is not too large.”

“Mr. Paul’s side will not bring too many people either. At the same time, the three major families guarantee your safety…”

After hanging up the phone, the news on the broadcast had ended. He jiggled his crossed ankle a few times. He could feel that Pasoretto and the other two families were feeling great pressure!

They didn’t seem to have any particularly good way, but the mayor’s pace had not stopped!

They had to band together, otherwise, it was highly likely they were not the mayor’s opponent, even though they had been suppressing the mayor before!

Perhaps this is the truth of this world. No one can occupy the peak forever. The predecessors will always be caught up by the latecomers, and even surpassed.

Every time the wheel of the times rolls forward, it will crush those who were once glorious at the very bottom, crushing all pride to pieces!

The problems and influence brought by the explosion of Basil Investment Bank were still spreading. People all over the city were discussing these things.

Some people had already lost hope for the future and life. They had invested not only the wealth they had in their hands, but also borrowed a large sum of money to invest.

Some people, on the other hand, had suddenly become a little gleeful after the anger and fear because compared to those who were more unlucky, their losses were not even worth mentioning.

Of course, the happiest were those who had no money to invest. They had escaped a disaster because of their poverty, and were discussing this scam and some other things with the people around them with smiles all over their faces.

The mayor once again became the core character of public opinion. People were discussing his apology to the citizens, discussing some of his arrangements and disposal methods. It was said that several major banks had taken the initiative to stand up and expressed their willingness to obey the mayor’s arrangements and provide a low-interest or interest-free loan to the deceived people.

People thought the mayor was very formidable. Although this money had to be paid back, it did indeed solve the problems of many people, allowing these people’s work and lives to continue.

The scale of the people who were deceived this time was too large, and the statistics still needed a lot of time.

Barbara was very unlucky and was also taken away by the police for investigation. As one of the company’s employees, even if she was also a victim, she had to go through the entire investigation process.

It is unknown whether it was because of the influence of this matter, but almost all the bars in the city were full tonight.

Some people were gloating and holding up their wine glasses, loudly showing off to the people around them things like “I have a friend who lost everything.” It seemed that such topics could always attract many people, and also attract more people to say “that’s nothing” and “I also have a friend who lost more.”

Of course, there were also some people around them, sitting alone in a corner, holding a wine glass and pouring the wine from the glass into their stomachs in large gulps.

They didn’t join the small circles of the people around them because they were the “I have a friend” in those people’s mouths.

Alan was also drinking. They were arranged to enter the bar first. Beno had been here before and had gotten his face known by the doorman, so he could bring more people in.

He squeezed out from the crowd. He had just gone to the toilet, and when he came back, he almost couldn’t find them!

His expression was a little strange at this time, a look of hatred and disgust, and his face was constantly changing.

“What’s wrong with you?” Beno asked.

Alan’s face was a little flushed. After a good while, he let out a breath, “Someone just touched my little brother when I was walking back!”

“F—k, if I find him, I will definitely kill him!”

He didn’t tell these people that the bastard had also squeezed him.

It hurt a little, but it was also… inexplicably comfortable.

He was a little embarrassed and used his anger to cover it up.

The three of them laughed out loud after hearing this. Beno put his arm around his shoulder, “Take it easy. Maybe it was a girl?”

Alan said in a muffled voice, “That arm was covered in hair!”

The three of them laughed even louder after hearing this. Only he was sulking, but as he was sulking, in the end, he couldn’t help but laugh too.

“Have they arrived?” Beno asked.

The toilet had a small window through which you could see outside. It couldn’t be opened, but you could talk or observe. Alan had already seen Hiram and the others.

The four of them placed their wine glasses on the small round table next to them, turned, and walked towards the security guards standing in the corner. The wine glasses they had left behind, which still had wine in them, were snatched away in less than a few seconds.

At this time, the door of the bar was knocked on again. The doorman, cursing, opened the observation window. He was going to make the professor give him a raise sooner or later.

Doing this job every day could drive a person crazy. It hadn’t been quiet for long before there was the sound of bang bang bang knocking on the door, and then the same repetitive actions.

He was a gang member, not a f—king doorman!

He glanced at the two people outside with some annoyance, “We’re full, go somewhere else.”

As he spoke, he was about to close the observation port with a click, but soon the knocking sound came again. He opened the window again. Just as he was about to curse again, he suddenly froze.

In front of him was a five-dollar bill, and the person behind the bill, “You dropped five dollars here. If you don’t take it away, I’ll put it in my own pocket.”

He watched the banknote fall to the ground. After hesitating for only two seconds, he opened the bolt, “That’s my money, you sons of b—tches, don’t you touch it!”

He opened the door and bent over happily. His hand had already touched the five dollars on the ground, but he was surprised to find that there were more than two people in front of him.

There were more pairs of shiny leather shoes. He even felt a little chilly behind his head. He slowly straightened up and saw a scene that made his blood run cold.

There were twenty or thirty people gathered at the entrance, maybe more. They were all staring at him, obviously with unfriendly intentions!

With a gunshot, the people in the bar quickly ran outside in a frenzy. The security guard next to Alan had just drawn his pistol when he took out his gun and killed the other party. In an instant, the bar became even more chaotic.

A few minutes later, Hiram sat in the chair in the manager’s office, took the phone on the desk, and gave Lance a call, telling him that everything was taken care of.

As for the manager?

He was lying in a pool of blood next to him.

After ending the call, the group quickly left. When the professor and Wolf arrived with their men, all that was left here was a ruin!

Meanwhile, Lance, in his reinforced luxury sedan, appeared outside the Summit Hotel.

Today’s Summit Hotel was not the same as usual. From outside the main entrance, there were groups of three or five people gathered together, wary and on guard against each other.

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