Empire of Shadows

In the emergency room, a young nurse with a pale face walked in pushing a cart. A doctor on a break walked over to her, picked up some medicine from the cart, and delivered it to the operating table.

“Are those people still here?”

The young nurse nodded. “More people have come. Should we call the police?”

The doctor, who had been transferred from another hospital to take charge of the emergency, was not very familiar with them, but at this moment, he clearly wanted to say something to ease the tense atmosphere.

Sometimes, when you’re too nervous, you make mistakes.

“They are just the patient’s friends. Why call the police?”

As he spoke, he directed his assistant to hand him some instruments.

Morris lay before him, his chest and abdomen opened up. He had been shot twelve times, some in the legs, some in the body, and had been in a near-death state the entire time.

Now, the bullets had basically all been removed, but the remaining work was more extensive and troublesome.

First, the doctor had to deal with the internal organs that had been hit by the bullets, cleaning out the dead tissue. Then, he had to treat the wounds and finally suture them up.This surgery was very complex, involving multiple organs. Even just cleaning and suturing couldn’t be completed by him alone.

So, there were a total of three surgeons at the operating table, operating on Morris simultaneously.

Morris was young and had a chance to pull through. He, as well as the doctors, were racing against death.

The sooner the surgery ended, the greater Morris’s chances of survival. However, they all had an assessment of Morris’s condition.

Even if he survived, he would be sickly. The most serious were the two gunshot wounds to his lungs, which would be with him for the rest of his life.

Even if he made it, he would lose the ability to engage in strenuous activity in the future. Even just climbing a few extra flights of stairs could leave him breathless.

Things like a ruptured intestine were now the lightest of his injuries. Of course, cleaning up digestive and intestinal fluids was also a troublesome task, and they had to find ways to prevent infection.

On the other operating table lay Morris’s father. The doctors had already stopped resuscitation and had covered his body with a white cloth.

“Thirty-one shots, all in the back.”

“He must be this young man’s father. He traded his own life for this young man’s chance to live.”

“This is what a father is.”

The doctor in charge of resuscitating Morris’s father sighed. Although he didn’t know the specific situation at the time, he could make a simple analysis from the injuries.

The people trying to kill them had rushed up to them, and then this old man had thrown himself on top of the young man, shielding him from most of the damage.

“I’m a bit tired,” one of the surgeons working on Morris called out. A doctor immediately came over to take his place.

After dealing with the two gunshot wounds on Morris’s left lung lobe, the doctor in charge of the entire rescue plan took a step back. “You continue to handle the other wounds. I’ll go out and talk to the patient’s family.”

He personally pushed the gurney with Morris’s father’s body out of the operating room. Lance immediately stood up. He walked to the gurney, somewhat hesitant.

“It’s the old man,” the doctor said proactively, which made Lance sigh in relief.

Although this man was Morris’s father, from Lance’s perspective, he had no contact with the old man, so there was no talk of any emotional connection.

“Morris… how is the other one’s condition?”

The doctor had the nurse push the gurney to the morgue. The body would be placed in a freezer there, pending confirmation from the police or the deceased’s family that no further examination was needed and that the death did not involve any criminal case.

Only then could a funeral be held, or he could be directly cremated.

However, not many people chose cremation. In this era, people still believed that only by being buried in the ground could one go to heaven.

After all, under the long-standing influence of religious civilization, people firmly believed one thing: only heretics would be purified.

Yes, cremation was called a “purification ceremony” in the past. What good family would choose cremation? It was always burial.

The doctor and Lance walked out into the corridor. “The young man’s condition is also very bad. I don’t know if letting him live is a cruel thing for him.”

Lance lit a cigarette and gestured for him to continue.

“His lung lobe has three holes in it. Breathing and movement will be very difficult in the future. Any slight movement will make him feel out of breath.”

“His intestine was ruptured in two places, and there’s a risk of infection. The wound itself isn’t a problem.”

“We removed a part of his intestine and stomach. His diet will need attention for some time to come.”

“In addition, a part of his liver was also removed. A bullet tumbled in his liver, and we really had no way to clean it. Also his right kidney was pierced, and we had to remove it.”

“He also has many gunshot wounds in his legs. He might walk with a limp in the future.”

Lance couldn’t help but ask, “It’s all bad news. Is there any good news?”

The doctor nodded. “The good news is that he might live. That’s the best news, isn’t it?”

Lance was at a loss for words for a moment. But this was indeed very, very precious good news for Morris. He didn’t know what to say at this moment and could only stare blankly for a while.

“I hope he also thinks this is good news.”

The doctor was not too optimistic. “I said might, which doesn’t mean he will definitely live. The only thing we can do is our best to help him achieve this goal.”

“Also, the hospital equipment and technology here are too poor. My suggestion is to transfer him to the one in the city center. We have experienced doctors and comprehensive support measures…”

Lance sighed. He dropped his cigarette and extended his hand to shake the doctor’s. “In any case, thank you for being able to come.”

He beckoned to Mello. “Tell my friend how much money you need. He will pay you.”

“Also, I accept your transfer plan. You see how to arrange it, but I have one prerequisite, and that is to ensure that nothing happens to him!”

Lance let go of his hand and let Mello coordinate with him, then returned to the corridor. He stomped his foot and walked outside. A few people followed at first, and then most of them followed.

“Call Ennio and tell him about Morris,” Lance instructed.

Ennio and Morris were the best of friends. They were like blood brothers who shared no blood, having grown up together since childhood. Their relationship was much better than that of ordinary relatives.

If he didn’t tell him now, he would only blame Lance and the others. So it was better to tell him early.

“I know, I’ll have someone call him right now.”

Lance lit another cigarette. In fact, he would toss away every cigarette he lit after only three or five puffs. But if he didn’t light one, he felt like something was missing from his hand.

“First, we’ll collect some interest from them,” Lance said, exhaling smoke and looking up at the dark sky.

The Professor was in a very cheerful mood at this moment. He pulled his gaze back from the dark sky outside the window and placed it on the people in the room.

This was an experience he could never have felt when he was a teacher.

The students didn’t respect him. Some mischievous ones would even play pranks on him. When he was a teacher at school, he didn’t feel any of the dignity of being a teacher, only helplessness.

But now, it was different. These people trusted him very much, which gave him great satisfaction. “This Lance person has a fatal flaw, and that is that he cares a lot about the friendship between brothers.”

The Professor sat on the sofa, holding a wine glass and swirling it gently. A portion of the Wolf Gang’s senior cadres and Wolf were all here. They had attacked Bolton and Morris at almost the same time, achieved good results, and suffered no major losses. It could be said that this was a huge success.

This also made them admire the Professor even more, because this was all his plan.

At this moment, no matter what the Professor said, they thought he was right.

“I don’t know if he’s pretending, or if he’s really like this. But as long as it’s someone who cares about brotherhood, when faced with this situation, he can’t be conservative.”

“If he’s not aggressive enough, it will even make people think that perhaps…” the Professor pursed his lips and shook his head, “…they will think that maybe he doesn’t care about his brothers as much as people imagine.”

“I heard that Morris is still being rescued, his life uncertain. He must do something.”

“What do you guys think is the most likely thing he will do at a time like this?”

Wolf scratched his head. “If I were him, I would bring people over to fight us.”

The Professor glanced at Wolf with an appreciative look. Although this fool was brainless most of the time, he was right this time.

“I just want to provoke Lance. If he wants to show his brotherly affection, he will definitely come for revenge.”

“So I had you gather your men today and wait for them to come to our door!”

“The people above always think we’re making no progress. What do they know?”

“If we cross districts to deal with Lance, even if we’ve taken out his two eyes now, we still don’t have the advantage.”

“But conversely, if we let them come and attack us, then we are the ones with the advantage.”

“As long as they enter the Port District, even if we can’t eliminate them today, we can make them suffer heavy losses, and they will no longer be qualified to compete with us.”

“At that time, the only path left for them is to flee.”

“Golden Port is beautiful!” The Professor raised his glass and took a sip. After swallowing the wine, he licked his lips. “The first time I came here, I fell in love with this place.”

“So, no matter what, I will not leave.”

“Since we are not leaving, then someone has to leave!”

He looked at Wolf. “Go be a wolf king. Lead all the wolf cubs and tear all the prey to shreds!”

Tonight, the Wolf Gang’s headquarters was a huge trap. They had arranged a large number of gunmen around. As long as Lance’s people came, they would inevitably be shot into sieves.

And the Professor believed that they had to come!

All that was left was to wait quietly.

At this moment, Lance was indeed assembling his men and arranging for weapons to be distributed.

He couldn’t take everyone with him. If the Wolf Gang came to raid the headquarters, the loss would not only be in manpower and wealth, but also in face.

So some people had to stay at the headquarters, just in case.

Elvin looked a little worried. “They might be waiting for us.”

Lance stood outside the company’s main gate. He nodded. “I know.”

This made Elvin even more worried. He was afraid that Lance was blinded by hatred. “Shouldn’t we figure out the situation before we make a move?”

Lance’s gaze fell on him. “I didn’t say I was going to the Port District to fight them head-on. There’s another group of Wolf Gang members in the Empire District.”

Only then did Elvin react. “You mean… the Wolf Gang members on Mr. Jobav’s side?”

Lance nodded. “They are also core members of the Wolf Gang. They think they can stop me by being with Jobav.”

“And their bar…”

Hearing this, Elvin was relieved. He found Hiram and briefly explained. Hiram was also relieved.

At a little after 9:40 PM, Mr. Jobav was still looking at materials. As October approached, the election for municipal councilman was about to officially begin.

His chances of winning were limited. He had to find a way to raise his support rate as soon as possible in the remaining month or so.

The sudden clamor downstairs made him frown. These people from the Wolf Gang were very rude.

He convinced himself that these rude people were from the very bottom of society, that this was just how they were. If they became less rude, it would actually seem abnormal.

But… they were too noisy!

If only someone could make these people quiet down.

He put down the documents in his hand, looked at the dark night sky outside the window, and recalled every past event. In this late, unquiet night, feeling lonely, he thought of his wife.

He thought of many things, and also thought of regret.

Regret is an emotion that everyone has. When people have walked a certain distance forward, they will have more or less regretful emotions about every choice they made on the path they have walked.

“I should have chosen this.”

“I should have chosen that.”

When the fruits of their harvest are not sweet enough, or perhaps could have been sweeter, people will regret, feel annoyed, and even feel remorse.

Mr. Jobav also regretted. Why had he been tricked by the Mayor’s few words, with the lure of “municipal councilman” and “high society,” into getting on his boat?

If he… had chosen Lance’s suggestion back then, burned the warehouse to the ground, and just been a whore instead of a dog, would things be different now?

He didn’t know. Once a person makes a choice, there is no going back. They can only bite the bullet and walk on.

This was a terrible journey. He was not only physically exhausted, but also mentally exhausted.

The tranquility of the distant night sky was suddenly shattered by dense gunfire. He stared in the direction of the gunshots, somewhat dazed.

All night, there were gunshots everywhere. If not here, then there. There were even brief explosions. The city seemed to have lost all order!

Police cars patrolled the streets like crazy, yet they still couldn’t stop various crimes from happening.

He suddenly felt a deep sense of disappointment, even disgust, towards the Mayor and the locals.

He stood up and left the study. He was going to rest.

If he had stayed in the study a little longer, he would have seen a line of car headlights stop outside his villa, and then be extinguished.

At this time, in the living room on the first floor of the villa, the people from the Wolf Gang were still talking loudly and unrestrainedly.

The living room table was covered with various meat products, and the corners were filled with wine bottles.

Working here at Mr. Jobav’s was the happiest time for this group.

Two senior cadres were leading the team here, with a total of more than thirty people, divided into two teams.

One team was smaller and was usually responsible for Mr. Jobav’s personal safety. The other team was larger and was responsible for the security of various campaign activities.

When there were no such activities, they would eat and drink here, since it wasn’t their money anyway.

The two senior cadres were both discussing today’s sudden move against the Lance Family. “Actually, it’s not just us making a move. The Bear Gang has also made a move, and everyone else has too. Listen to the gunshots outside, the whole city is in chaos!”

His face still had the flush of excitement left from the stimulation of alcohol. The surrounding gang members also cheered, which gave him more desire to talk!

“After we finish off the Lance Family, we will occupy the territory of two districts, and then we can put pressure on Priliccia.”

“The gangs over there are not that great, whether in terms of strength or financial resources. At that time, we will definitely be able to take another district.”

“Brothers, of the eleven administrative districts, to take three of them, even the Five Families at their peak were probably only at this level!”

“The times are about to change. This time, whether it’s the Three Great Families, the Four Great Families, or the Five Great Families, the Wolf Gang will have a place among them!”

“Cheers!”

A large group of people, some sitting, some standing, raised their wine glasses high. The whole hall exuded a strange smell, not quite stinky, but a little bit stinky if you had to say.

He raised his glass high and drained the wine in one gulp. Under the stimulation of alcohol, he felt an unprecedented happiness and burst out laughing!

When people laugh, most of them subconsciously close or squint their eyes.

After laughing for a while, he raised his hand to wipe the tears from the corner of his eye. When he opened his eyes again, the smile on his face instantly froze.

The next second, his entire head suddenly snapped back. A bloody hole in his forehead made everyone sober up in an instant!

Hiram, holding a submachine gun outside, held down the trigger through the glass. It wasn’t just him; almost everyone was doing the same.

The bullets formed a storm of destruction in the living room!

Splattered blood and wood chips were everywhere. Furniture, walls, decorations… even people, were shot into sieves!

These people couldn’t organize any counterattack at all!

Thirty or forty seconds later, the entire hall, as if baptized by some terrible force, became a ruin.

Hiram walked into the room, took out his pistol, and methodically finished off the bodies on the floor. He wanted to give these people everything Morris had experienced, exactly as it was!

Meanwhile, in the Wolf Gang’s still-under-renovation bar, a few gang members left behind were also chatting.

They were used to staying up late. Even if there was nothing here, as long as there was a little wine and a little food, they could chat and drink late into the night.

“Do you guys smell something?”

Someone suddenly asked.

When you drink too much, your reactions become slow. The others all started sniffing.

At first, they didn’t notice any smell, but after carefully discerning for a while, everyone smelled a strong smell of gasoline.

“Is the car leaking oil?”

Sometimes those old, worn-out cars would leak oil. After all, the technology of this period was not advanced enough. It was normal for the fuel line or engine to leak oil for some reason.

Someone stood up, swaying. He was going to check the situation. After all, a fuel leak was very dangerous.

But he hadn’t taken more than a few steps when he found thick smoke seeping into the room from under the door.

He subconsciously opened the door, and thick smoke instantly rolled in from outside. Everyone was instantly scared sober!

Waves of heat accompanied the smoke, making people fear the world outside. At this time, the harm caused by thick smoke was more terrible than an open flame.

Although flames would burn a person’s body, as long as you weren’t foolish enough to let the fire burn you, there was always a place to hide.

But thick smoke was different. First, it made it impossible to see the escape route, and then inhaling too much thick smoke would lead to fainting.

Fainting at the scene of a fire…

The people in the room ran towards the door in a panic. At this moment, their minds were completely blank. They had no idea where to run and could only subconsciously search for an exit based on their vague memories.

Some people found the direction of the main door and rushed towards it, but the main door was locked from the outside. The fire had already begun to consume the entire building, and flames were starting to appear everywhere.

They ran towards the stairs again. As long as they could get to the second or third floor and jump out, they could survive.

They could no longer care about others; the only thought in their minds was to save themselves.

Someone was the first to rush into a room on the second floor. He could vaguely see the outline of the window. The oxygen from outside was sucked into the room by the high temperature, creating an area with less smoke.

This person quickened his pace, running through the flames, and leaped forcefully towards the outside. He flew out horizontally and fell heavily to the ground.

He did not show a pained expression from the fall. His face was full of the joy of surviving. He looked back at the house engulfed in flames and even wanted to laugh out loud.

But the sound of footsteps disturbed his expression of emotion.

He turned his head and saw a pair of legs walk up to him. Then his gaze followed the legs up. He saw a pistol, and a person holding it.

The dark muzzle was pointing at him. He looked up at the person. The fire crackled and burned, illuminating the person’s cold face and destroying all his hopes of survival.

“Shit!”

Ring, ring, ring…

The phone in front of Lance suddenly rang. He immediately reached out and answered it. “This is Lance.”

“Mr. Lance, I have some good news. Your friend, Mr. Morris, he made it through all the surgeries.”

“If there’s no infection, he will wake up tomorrow…”

(End of chapter)

You can support the translator and get advanced chapter by join his patreon at /caleredhair