Empire of Shadows

One by one, the warehouses were pulled open. One warehouse after another of agricultural products was contaminated by industrial waste. The general manager’s blood pressure instantly rose significantly.

For larger, thick-skinned fruits and agricultural products, like pumpkins, it was relatively easier to handle.

But how to handle the thin-skinned ones?

Casual washing could potentially rub off the skin, and most importantly, the pungent smell was not so easy to get rid of.

Just the cost of washing all these agricultural products already exceeded the profit they could bring to the company, not to mention that even if they did nothing, just disposing of these contaminated agricultural products would also require costs.

“What’s the total loss?”

He stood some distance from the warehouse. A staff member reported a number, “Warehouses number five, seven, and nine have been contaminated. The total loss is about $350,000.”

$350,000.

The general manager held his forehead and turned to look at the sea in the distance. His head was aching now.

He didn’t know how to report to the head office, to tell them that because of some waste engine oil and the like, the company had lost a large sum of money, and they might have to spend another $20,000 or $30,000 to dispose of these contaminated agricultural products.What would the board of directors think?

What would the president think?

He didn’t know.

He only knew that this group of people, Lance, was really not to be messed with.

The sound of police sirens gradually approached from a distance. Soon, two police cars stopped outside the warehouse. Several police officers got out of the cars, wearing uniforms and wide-brimmed police hats, and walked towards the warehouse.

The general manager quickly walked over.

“Who called the police?”

“I had someone call the police.”

The several police officers stopped, turned to look at the general manager, “What’s wrong?”

“Did someone steal your things?”

Thefts often occurred at the docks, and basically, 95% of the theft cases were more or less related to the workers.

There were too many warehouses here, and many of them were short-term, maybe only rented for three to five days.

They followed a cargo ship from some other place here, stayed in the warehouse for three to five days, and then took the next cargo ship to another port.

This kind of situation was very common. If it weren’t for the workers acting as insiders, those theft gangs would have no idea which warehouse had valuable things, nor would they know when to strike.

Theft was also the most common type of case at the docks. After all, the things were just lying there. For the workers, it was actually very easy to obtain this wealth, as long as they were bold enough.

The general manager shook his head. “You’d better go in and see for yourselves. It’s not convenient for me to say.”

The few police officers looked at each other. Two of them walked in, and then they quickly came out, with some unpleasant emotions still on their faces.

It was too pungent.

“You must have offended someone,” the police officer in charge of this case made a judgment.

A large amount of agricultural products had been smeared with these waste materials, basically completely ruined.

And these agricultural products with waste materials could neither be directly buried in the nearby land, nor thrown into the river or the soil.

The Federation’s laws on industrial pollution control had been submitted and passed one after another more than a decade ago.

Among them, the more famous ones were the “Water Pollution Act” and the “Toxic Chemicals Act.” These two acts clearly stipulated that it was prohibited to dump garbage that could cause oil slicks into natural waters, and it was also prohibited to naturally discharge or landfill chemical compounds that were toxic and could cause harm to the soil, plants, etc.

This garbage must be treated to be harmless, and the cost was not low.

If they hadn’t offended someone, those people might not have used such a troublesome method to retaliate against them.

“There are two other warehouses like this,” the general manager added. The police officer, who was watching his rookie record the scene, looked up at him.

The police officer’s eyes were filled with a look that said, “You must have some clues.” “Who have you offended recently?”

The general manager said that name, “It might be… the Lance Family. I’m not sure, but we should have some issues with them.”

The four police officers all looked at him, their gazes as if to say, “Are you fucking kidding me?”

The general manager, feeling a bit uneasy under these gazes, kept his focus jumping between the four people, and finally landed on the police officer. “What happened?”

The police officer shook his head. “No, why do you think it’s them?”

The general manager was a bit at a loss as to what to say, because they wanted to default on the payment, which had caused Lance to lose millions in profits.

And then this time they had set a trap to get revenge, and the company had decided to go head-to-head?

And he had no evidence.

The police officer seemed to have noticed this. He took a few steps forward and came to the general manager’s front. “Do you have any evidence?”

The general manager shook his head. “I don’t have any evidence at the moment.”

The police officer poked him in the chest with his finger. “If you don’t have evidence, don’t talk nonsense. This will add a lot of extra trouble to our investigation. You are misleading us.”

The general manager felt that there was nothing wrong with the content of what he said, but the way he presented it… seemed a bit off.

But he couldn’t pinpoint where the problem was. He could only nod and say, “Okay, I won’t say anything without evidence anymore.”

The police officer nodded. “That’s for the best.” He paused. “We will arrange for people to investigate this case, but I’m afraid there won’t be any major results in the short term.”

The police officer tilted his head. The other officers had already started to get in the car. The general manager couldn’t help but chase after them for two steps and lowered his voice, “I know Chief Duke.”

They had had contact before. The Liji Group had donated a lot of money to Charlie, who was then the police chief. They had held a police team event.

As the Port District was a more core area for the Liji Group, the Port District sub-bureau had also participated in this event.

At that time, Sub-bureau Chief Duke was not yet the sub-bureau chief, just a deputy sergeant, but he was also qualified to participate in this kind of capital-organized donation event.

At the event, the general manager had met Duke.

He wanted to use this method to tell this police officer that he also had connections in the police department.

The police officer sneered. “You can call him, have him come out of his office to handle your case. You seem to trust him more.”

After speaking, without waiting for the general manager to say anything more, he got into the car and left, leaving only the general manager with a “what happened” look on his face.

He looked at the surrounding staff. Those people consciously looked away. He could only curse a few times and light a cigarette.

At this time, the people from the insurance company also arrived. After a simple inspection of the scene, they told the general manager that these goods were not insured.

The general manager’s face was full of disbelief.

“How is this possible?”

“We’ve insured many of our agricultural products.”

He repeatedly emphasized, “Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

The few on-site insurance company staff shook their heads. “We can confirm that these are not insured. The warehouses and goods you have insured do not involve these few warehouses and the things inside.”

“There is a copy here. You can take a look for yourself.”

The general manager snatched the copy of the insurance policy and began to read it carefully.

The more he read, the uglier his face became, because the things in these warehouses were really not insured.

The staff member over there continued, “And, sir, even if these were insured, we might not necessarily compensate you.”

“To be honest, we have never encountered this kind of situation before, so it is not in our compensation rules.”

With the spirit of insurance companies trying every means to deny claims, as long as the contract did not state “contaminated by waste engine oil,” then they would 100% deny the claim.

The general manager couldn’t help but curse a few more times. If before, he still had a glimmer of hope…

If the insurance company could compensate a part, then the head office might not be so angry.

But now, not only would the insurance company not pay a cent, but they would also have to spend money to dispose of this industrial waste. If you also calculated the profit they should have obtained, their actual loss might exceed $500,000.

$500,000!

This wasn’t $5,000, not $50,000, it was $500,000!

His face extremely grim, he had someone guard the other warehouses and drove back to the company himself. He had to report this sudden situation as soon as possible.

Just as he was taking the elevator, thinking about how to report this matter to the vice president or the board of directors, he suddenly thought…

If the goods in these warehouses were all for short-term storage, did that mean they would also face contract claims?

A chill made him feel a strong sense of unease.

If you also counted the claims, even if it was a 50% compensation, the total loss might exceed $750,000.

At this thought, his speed became even faster. The moment he was about to enter the door, his secretary took out a small package and handed it over.

“Someone said it must be given to you. This is a gift.”

The box was not too big. He took it in his hand and shook it. There seemed to be something inside. He was in no mood to open it now.

He closed the door, walked to his office chair, and sat down. He spent a few minutes sorting out his thoughts for speaking, and then picked up the phone…

More than twenty minutes later, the call was hung up. The board of directors was naturally very dissatisfied with him, believing that he also had a responsibility in this.

He of course knew that this was the board of directors looking for a scapegoat, some choices made. He could only passively respond.

But fortunately, the specialist would be arriving in Golden Port soon. At that time, he would temporarily hand over all his power to the specialist.

The board of directors asked him to urge the local police to solve the case as soon as possible, or to provide some valuable clues.

As for his mention that it might have been done by the Lance Family, although the board of directors said nothing, he believed that they would probably include this speculation in their choices for handling it.

After hanging up the phone, he sat there in silence for a long while before remembering the package by his hand.

He used an exquisite letter opener, worth $4.99, to cut open the outer layer of the package. Inside was a box. He opened the lid.

It was a simple model like a sand table, a toy in the shape of a crossroads, a small car that had been violently destroyed, and a truck model.

“What the fuck is this?” He reached out to grab the truck. The moment his hand touched the truck, his whole body trembled as if he had been electrocuted.

He remembered the last specialist.

He had died just like this on the way to the Starlight District.

This was intimidation, a threat.

But he was also really scared.

He looked at this toy for a long time, stood up, and paced back and forth a few times.

He didn’t want to die.

He also had connections in the board of directors. The vice president was his connection. He still had a bright future. He had money, his family also had money. He had not yet enjoyed these beautiful things.

“These gangsters are so fucking lawless, fuck!” he waved his fist and roared in the office.

The excellent sound insulation of the wooden door blocked the spread of the sound. The secretary outside the door did not hear his roar.

But even if she had, there was a high probability that she would not have said or done anything.

He cursed the inactive city hall inside, cursed the inactive Charlie and his police department, and the new Chief Hunter.

He even cursed the Lance Family and Lance himself a few times.

But in the end, he sat down on the sofa, dejected, his hands covering his face.

He had been threatened by a gang.

A simple, yet terrifying threat, because it had indeed happened before.

He was a little bewildered. He felt that this time the company would lose again.

The police cars that had been dispatched quickly returned to the police station. The officer went to the chief’s office and reported the matter.

Sub-bureau Chief Duke nodded slightly after listening. “You’ve done well.”

The officer asked, “The case over there?”

Sub-bureau Chief Duke thought for a moment. “Just follow the procedure. If you find any important clues, remember to let the rookies do it.”

A look of understanding appeared on the officer’s face. Let the rookies do it, to put it bluntly, was to destroy the evidence.

Whether it was direct destruction, or the evidence’s validity disappearing during the collection process, these were all good methods.

And the reason was also very sufficient. The rookies were not familiar with these things, so they messed up. The police department would deal with them internally.

As for whether they would really be dealt with, and how, that was an internal matter of the police force, and had nothing to do with them.

“Is there anything else?” Sub-bureau Chief Duke asked. The officer shook his head, and he let the other party leave.

He then picked up the phone and dialed Lance’s office number.

Lance had just given them money. If he went to touch Lance at this time, Lance wouldn’t even have to do anything. The police officers would make things difficult for him.

Don’t look at the fact that he was a sub-bureau chief, but if the police in the sub-bureau were dissatisfied with him being the chief, if they went on strike, he, the sub-bureau chief, would also lose his job.

Yes, the police would also go on strike, and the police had gone on strike many times.

For the Federation people, the police was just a job. If necessary, it was completely acceptable for them to do so, and they would have no psychological burden.

The call was quickly connected.

“There’s a case at the docks…” he briefly recounted. “Is there anything I need to pay attention to?”

Lance’s gentle voice came from the receiver. “Thank you. I believe we haven’t left any important evidence. If there are other discoveries, you handle them and give me a call.”

Sub-bureau Chief Duke laughed heartily. “This is what I should do. Everyone is very grateful to you.”

The two chatted briefly and then both hung up.

Sub-bureau Chief Duke looked at the phone and shook his head. Why mess with Lance for no reason?

Perhaps ordinary people still admired and were obsessed with the legends of the Five Families.

But as a law enforcer in this city, he knew very well that Lance’s strength had already surpassed that of the weaker ones.

He was not a king, but he already had the potential qualifications to challenge a king.

News spread quickly at the docks. By noon, almost everyone knew about it, and many people had run over there to watch the excitement.

Some remembered the unseen uniformed workers from last night, but they were all sensible enough not to say anything.

There were now three groups of workers working at the docks.

The first group was mainly local workers like Johnny and Dave.

They were the group of workers who were on Lance’s side, having chosen to stand with Lance since the last strike.

The second group was a group of workers mainly composed of immigrant workers and illegal immigrants. They were one of the largest groups on this dock.

And this part of the people, almost all of them were working for Lance. Lance controlled their work opportunities here.

Especially those illegal immigrants. Lance only needed to say one word, and they would lose their jobs.

The third part was the refugee workers, mainly composed of refugees. They lived at the very bottom, had not had any contact with any interest groups in the Federation, and were absolutely clean in terms of interests.

At the same time, they all also worked for Lance. Strictly speaking, it was Lance who had hired them and sent them to work at the docks.

So Lance had the power to fire them at any time.

Under the coverage of these three groups, they could actually easily guess some of the inside story, but no one would say it out loud.

The new dock club had already started its trial operation. People were once again enjoying cheap alcoholic beverages.

And all this was brought by Mr. Lance.

They were grateful to Lance. How could they report him?

Whether it was the police or the Liji Group’s investigators, everyone said they had not seen any strangers, nor had they seen any oil tankers or the like come to the docks. The investigation had directly entered a dead end.

At a little after nine in the evening, Bandy had just returned from a social engagement. His butler, while taking off his coat for him, said, “A gentleman from Golden State has been calling you. He left a number and said he would wait for you until dawn.”

Bandy had drunk some wine. His face was a little flushed. At this moment, he was taken aback for a moment. “Golden State?”

“Yes, sir.”

This made him sober up a little. The special district was in Golden State, and the capital of the Federation was also in Golden State.

He took a hot towel from the maid, wiped his face, and felt much more energetic. “Send a pot of strong coffee to my office, and get some fruit.”

“Also, get things ready. I’m going to take a bath tonight.”

People began to go about their business. The butler followed behind him and came to the study.

Bandy looked at the name and phone number on the card. An image of a slightly portly man with a small mustache appeared in his mind.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number…

(End of chapter)