Empire of Shadows

The summer mornings dawned earlier.

By a little after six, the sky was already completely light, but ninety percent of the city was still asleep.

Whether it was the working class at the bottom or the wealthy in the Bay Area, they all needed longer sleep to compensate for their physical losses.

The physical loss of the rich was because they needed to battle with beautiful girls or handsome boys late into the night, while for the manual laborers, it was simply because they were exhausted from a full day’s work.

The at-least-eleven-hour workday left most heavy manual laborers unable to get up once they lay down on their beds. The time left for them to rest was not much.

But some people would get up very early, for example, the city’s sanitation work, which was contracted out. Those workers got up very early every day, yet their income was very low.

And for another example… reporters!

At 6:15 AM, a large group of reporters once again gathered outside the Bureau of Hazardous Materials, making the guard in the duty room so nervous he could barely breathe.

The last time the Lance Family had hung a leaker on a lamppost outside the Bureau, the entire department had lost face.

The Federation Daily even had a small section reporting on this news, and Director Dale had fired the guard directly.He first looked at the lampposts. No one was dangling from them, which made him sigh in relief. He stuck his head out and looked at the walls on both sides of the street; no one was nailed to the walls either.

The reporters were gathered around a car. Although the car was parked on the roadside and not far from the Bureau, it clearly had nothing to do with them.

He even watched the excitement from the side until Lukar drove to work.

He hadn’t slept well these past two days. For the Bureau of Hazardous Materials, the raid on the dock’s warehouse was a success.

They not only destroyed a warehouse but also shut down a place suspected of openly selling intoxicating beverages, arresting a large number of people involved.

But for Lukar, it was a failed operation, because he still hadn’t caught any leads related to Lance. He was still at large.

Yes, at large. Lance had not received any punishment from the law or justice. He still enjoyed freedom, wealth, and everything else.

Director Dale had spoken to him privately, feeling that he was a bit abnormal when it came to Lance. If he really wanted to catch Lance, he needed to calm down.

It wasn’t about arresting him for every little thing, nor was it about actively provoking him. Instead, he should be like a venomous snake, looking for a suitable opportunity, and then delivering a fatal blow.

Lukar was also reflecting. He was indeed a bit too extreme in matters related to Lance. He needed to sort out his thoughts again, to analyze this problem from a higher level or a broader perspective.

He had left home early. He needed to check some information and think.

When his car arrived outside the Bureau, he already saw many reporters taking pictures in front of a car. He drove his car through the gate and casually asked, “What’s going on at the entrance?”

The guard pursed his lips. “Not sure. A lot of reporters came early in the morning and have been taking pictures of that car. Is it some new model, or a rich person’s car?”

Lukar vaguely felt that something was wrong. After parking his car, he put on his badge and walked over to the car. “Make way…”

This sentence suddenly made many reporters turn their cameras on him. The flash of magnesium strips made it hard for him to open his eyes. He impatiently pushed through the crowd to the very front, then glanced at the person sitting in the back seat and cursed.

Two minutes later, he called the police.

Although the Bureau of Hazardous Materials had great power, in the category of criminal cases, they seemed to be lacking a little.

The police arrived quickly. It was an officer from the city police department’s criminal investigation team, a rookie.

He just glanced at it and said, “It’s very similar to last time, another leaker.”

His tone carried a sense of schadenfreude. Recently, the Bureau seemed to be trying to obtain more law enforcement powers, which was very dangerous and very unfriendly to the police system. Naturally, the police did not like them.

The body had already been bagged, but the scene was still preserved. It was said that they needed to collect some evidence.

By the time people started work, the entire Bureau knew about it. Only this time, they didn’t know whose man had died.

Dale called the supervisors into his office one by one, including Lukar.

He told Dale the truth: it wasn’t his man, but his colleague’s. The matter was most likely related to the warehouse raid.

Director Dale looked at him for a few moments. In consideration of Lukar’s consistently proactive work, he didn’t say much, just told him to reflect on his actions.

On his way out, he saw his colleague. The two walked towards each other, meeting each other’s gaze.

Lukar was calm, while his colleague wore a look of dissatisfaction.

Just as the two were about to pass each other, Lukar apologized, “Sorry.”

His colleague stopped, turned, and looked at him seriously. “The man is already dead, and you’re saying sorry to me?”

His voice was not quiet, drawing the attention of many people, including Ponda, who had just received a sum of money from Lance.

“I didn’t know it would be like this, and the matter is already over. We also seized a lot of smuggled liquor,” Lukar continued to explain forcefully.

“You didn’t know it would be like this, so you decided to act on your own?”

“The one who died was my man, not yours. Of course you don’t care now.”

“You got the credit, everyone says you did a good job. Who cares about the death of a marginal person?”

“You make me sick, Lukar!” His colleague stopped talking to him and walked straight into the director’s office.

Lukar looked at the door that was slammed shut, spread his hands with a helpless expression, then looked at the surrounding colleagues who were watching the scene, and turned to leave.

Ponda asked a colleague next to him, “What’s going on?”

He had only heard a little about it when he arrived and didn’t know the specifics.

His colleague knew a bit more and explained.

“They caught another leaker. It was probably done by the Lance Family. They put the body in the back of a car and parked it outside the gate.”

“Lukar was in the limelight for the warehouse case last time, but it seems the one who died wasn’t his mole, but…”

A few casual words pieced together a rough truth. Ponda committed this to memory.

Back in his office, Lukar sighed. He walked to the window and looked at the sky and the slowly drifting white clouds, lost in thought for a moment.

A “knock, knock” on the door brought him back from his reverie. To him, it might have been only a short while, but several minutes had actually passed.

A clerical agent stood outside the door. “Someone is here to apply for bail for those troublemaking workers.”

Lukar was now in charge of this case. Director Dale had given these supervisors a great deal of authority. Whether to detain them or not was entirely up to the supervisor.

Keeping Johnny was useless. Prosecuting him wouldn’t yield any good results either. As long as he insisted that he was drinking alone at home, no one could punish him for drinking.

So for these drunkards, as long as they didn’t cause too much trouble, the Bureau wouldn’t bother them.

Plus, a mole had just died. Lukar’s mood didn’t seem as volatile as before. “Let them pay the money, then let them go.”

He had interrogated Johnny and the others and couldn’t find any valuable clues or evidence from them.

Even if they testified that Lance was running the workers’ club, the court was very unlikely to accept it, because the words of a drunkard inherently lacked credibility in court.

Plus, they couldn’t produce any actual evidence, so the court wouldn’t accept these unsubstantiated claims at all.

Keeping them here was an eyesore. It was better to send them away early.

The clerical agent quickly brought Lukar’s opinion downstairs, and Johnny and the others were bailed out by the union’s legal counsel.

Spending two days in a law enforcement agency for the first time was a novel experience for them.

The first thing Johnny did after gaining his freedom was to ask about the situation at the docks.

“The situation is getting more and more tense. The management company’s attitude is very firm. It’s highly unlikely they will agree to a pay raise.”

The men gathered around, and someone asked, “What is the union’s attitude?”

The legal counsel was also on the side of the working class. He said loudly, “Of course we will stand with you. We will help you fight for your legal rights from the company, don’t worry…”

When Johnny returned to the docks, he was treated like a hero. Many people ran over to welcome him.

During the two days he was detained, some rumors about him had spread rapidly.

People’s previous bad impression of him had improved because of the demands he made on the company.

Although he knew that everything he did was a script, a play, he liked this performance and was beginning to immerse himself in it.

Everyone surrounded him. Someone touched his hair, someone touched his shoulder, someone touched his arm, someone touched his waist.

“Who the fuck is touching my ass?” he yelled loudly, looking warily at the people behind him. The workers all laughed.

Someone shouted loudly, “Johnny, you bastard, say something to us!”

This was a way of expression unique to the working class. They liked to listen to people talk.

Johnny’s emotions were also ripe. He coughed, cleared his throat twice—

“Detention and intimidation cannot shut me up! My demand will never change, and that is a pay raise for all of us!”

“If they are not willing to give us a raise, I would rather not do this job.”

“I want them to see whether they are more important to this dock, or we are!”

The words were very direct, but the meaning within them made the workers, while cheering, begin to think.

Who was more indispensable to this dock: the office clerks, or them, the people who actually worked on the docks?

Under Johnny’s appeal and call, and with the organization of Vaughn and the union, a strike was brewing and was already beginning to pose a threat to the city.

On Tuesday morning, George, who had already resigned in disgrace, proactively contacted the media. In front of his ordinary house in the Priliccia District, the media attended his speech announcing his candidacy for municipal councilman.

In front of the cameras and reporters, he explained his views. Without him, Golden Port’s public safety had begun to deteriorate rapidly.

This was largely and directly related to the Mayor’s inaction on public safety. To this day, the city police department had not officially appointed a new police chief, precisely because of the Mayor’s negligence.

Charlie believed that the Mayor, as an outsider, had a certain prejudice against the local law enforcement agencies and did not trust the law enforcers of Golden Port.

This would make the relationship between the two sides increasingly tense. And he, Charlie, the former police chief, could solve these problems.

But there was a prerequisite: he must have a better reason to participate in these matters, not as an ordinary person. In that capacity, he was not qualified to say or do anything for the city.

So he decided to run for the Bay Area’s municipal councilman and promised that if he won the election, he would urge the city hall and the police system to communicate effectively as soon as possible to quickly change and suppress the chaotic situation.

He also stated that he was not using such an inappropriate time and event to gain political capital for himself.

It was because he could not bear to witness the rapid decline of the city that he had no choice but to stand up again at the age of retirement.

Charlie’s speech pointed the finger directly at the Mayor, which also caused some of the city’s internal conflicts to surface. Many people immediately expressed their opinions, with some directly blaming the Mayor for the city’s chaos.

Eleven police sub-bureaus and the city police department all expressed their support for Charlie’s campaign, stating that they needed an effective communication channel with the city hall to solve the current numerous problems.

The police’s vague statements further led the public to believe that the current poor public safety was directly related to the Mayor.

The matter of Chief Charlie being forced to resign was also brought up again by some, claiming it was a conspiracy from the city hall.

The Mayor had used some underhanded means to force two suspects to commit suicide, then used the suspects’ suicides to make Charlie lose his position.

They even attributed John’s death to the Mayor’s conspiracy.

Faced with so much slander, the Mayor had no good explanation. He just told the citizens that tomorrow, Wednesday, he would hold a public address. He would clarify many issues and hoped that everyone could come and listen to what he had to say.

The entire city seemed to be growing restless and uneasy.

In the afternoon, after a short rest, Johnny, as a representative of the working class, sat on the other side of the negotiating table with the dock management company, kicking off the three-party talks.

This time, three directors from the dock management company also came. The manager could only sit at the end of the table.

On the union’s side were Vaughn and the legal counsel, along with a few staff members who would record the entire negotiation process.

As for the workers’ side, besides Johnny, they were all worker representatives who represented the interests of the workers. Their interests were consistent with the workers’ interests. This time, they had only one demand: a pay raise.

As the mediator, Vaughn spoke first. “Entrusted by the dock management company, I contacted the worker representatives, which led to today’s negotiation on the wage issue.”

“I should have participated in this negotiation from a neutral standpoint, but as the president of the workers’ union, it’s hard for me to remain neutral, so I won’t speak first now.”

He looked at the worker representatives. “Johnny, in front of these directors, state your demands.”

Looking at the three directors sitting across the table, at the contempt hidden in their eyes, a fire ignited in Johnny’s heart.

Even though he had forced these people to the negotiating table, they still looked down on him, their eyes full of disdain.

Before, he might have had to back down, bowing his head under their calm and contemptuous gazes.

But now, he was going to be a hero, a real hero.

“I have no other demands. You must raise our wages!”

“This is our only condition, and it is a condition that absolutely cannot be shaken!”

The other worker representatives nodded in agreement. They had no other demands, only a pay raise.

Vaughn asked, “Do you have any requirements for the amount of the increase?”

“At least one dollar and fifty cents!” Johnny spoke again. “Other industries get a raise every six months, at least twenty to fifty cents.”

“We haven’t had a raise in over two years. Counting the time until the end of this year, you owe us five opportunities for a raise. An increase of thirty cents each time is a very appropriate number.”

Before he could finish, the manager slammed the table and stood up. “That’s impossible!”

“The income of our dockworkers is already in the middle range in Golden Port. You won’t easily find such a comfortable and high-paying job outside.”

“We can make concessions in other areas, like an extra twenty minutes of rest time each day, and the food will be better, but a pay raise is impossible!”

He said it with absolute certainty, with no room for discussion.

Vaughn also showed some dissatisfaction after hearing this. “We are negotiating, Manager. You need to have a correct attitude.”

“A correct attitude?” he laughed, “Ah-ha.” “There’s no problem with my attitude. I’m telling you, if you think you can get such a big raise just by causing a little trouble, then you’ve got the wrong idea!”

“We will not compromise on this matter. A pay raise is an unreasonable demand, and we will not agree to it!”

Johnny’s anger flared even more. “Why is a pay raise an unreasonable demand?”

“Then what is a reasonable demand?”

“If you’re willing to talk, then talk properly.”

“If you’re not willing to talk…”

The manager cut him off directly. “What, you don’t want to work anymore?”

He goaded Johnny with his words. Johnny’s face turned red, and he stood up with both hands on the table. “You still want to fire me?”

The manager slammed the table, stood up straight, and pointed at Johnny, shouting, “As you wish, you’re fired!”

(End of chapter)