Empire of Shadows

The sounds of police officers talking, things being moved, and the “squeak squeak” of glass being wiped could still be heard from outside the villa’s main hall.

There were many noises around, but at this moment, in this place, in the living room, it seemed to have fallen into a different kind of dead silence.

Stone’s cousin glanced at the rifleman who was still staring at him even in death, and slowly turned his head to look elsewhere.

“Maybe you’re braver than you think?” Lance sat with his legs crossed, his hands resting naturally on his thighs.

The teasing and mockery on his face made Stone’s cousin’s expression very grim. He wanted to shout at Lance, “Let’s try it,” but he was also afraid of the pain.

Yes, he told himself, he was afraid of the pain, not of death.

Everyone will die, whether by gunshot, falling from a building, a fire, being stabbed by a stranger, or possibly being strangled by a noose.

Everyone will die. He wasn’t afraid of the path he would eventually have to walk, he was just afraid of the pain.

“It seems you’re not as brave as you imagined,” Lance gave him a very accurate assessment.

A smile appeared on Stone’s face. It’s unknown if it was the smile on his face, which was actually not easy for people to notice, that stung his cousin’s heart.His cousin once again said something that made people want to laugh—

“I… may not be sure if I’m really not afraid of death, but I can not talk. No one can force me to say anything!”

Lance laughed twice, then let out a heavy sigh. “Sober him up.”

In the midst of Stone’s cousin’s struggles, he was pressed to the ground by the person behind him and given a good beating.

At first, he held on, not even crying out in pain, just holding his breath and enduring it.

But that was only at the beginning. After being beaten for a while, he finally couldn’t help but cry out, and even with a hint of tears in his voice—

“Let go of my finger, you’re breaking it!”

Finally, he was helped up. Lance asked, “Was it Bandy’s order, or Gorry’s?”

Stone’s cousin no longer had a stiff upper lip. “It was Bandy’s order.”

The smile on Stone’s face grew wider. He couldn’t take it after just this much?

He had at least died twice!

From this perspective, he had already done his best. Although he felt a little guilty, felt a little sorry for his family, he now only wanted to be true to himself.

His young cousin noticed the expression on Stone’s face. He could only pretend not to see it.

Lance was very satisfied that his stubbornness had been cured. He said with a smile, “Are you willing to testify in court?”

His young cousin was stunned for a moment. His expression gradually became shocked, and finally, he looked at Stone, and the smile on Stone’s face also disappeared.

One of the conditions for Lance to let him live was for him to testify against Bandy, Gorry, and Fleming in court.

He had agreed.

Perhaps his young cousin had realized this. The shock on his face gradually subsided, and finally, he nodded. “I am willing.”

Lance turned to look at Stone. “You see, he’s much smarter than you.”

Stone could only manage a bitter smile. There was nothing else he could do.

He actually didn’t hate Lance that much anymore. Of course, if he had the chance, he would definitely still kill Lance.

But from a personal sensory point of view, his disgust and hatred for Lance were not as strong as in the beginning.

When he began to understand this person from another perspective, he would find that there was something in him that was not usually seen, a kind of charisma.

You may encounter many enemies, but there will definitely be one who is more like your friend than your friend, but he happens to be your enemy.

After Lance left, Stone’s cousin glared at him.

Stone was a role model for many of his peers. In everyone’s mind, he was a cold “family guardian,” but now, look at what he had done.

Stone sat where Lance had just been sitting. He took a cigarette from the case and lit it for himself. “If you glare at me again, I’ll gouge out your eyes.”

His cousin obediently reined in his temper and looked elsewhere.

Stone took a deep drag on his cigarette and then slowly exhaled. “After I was caught, I refused to reveal anything.”

“I was very scared at that time, but I was mentally prepared to give my life for the family, and I did it, twice.”

His cousin looked over at him, his face filled with confusion. “Twice?”

“Is there something wrong with my understanding, or is there something wrong with what you said?”

Stone shook his head. “There’s nothing wrong, because it really was twice.”

“They strangled me,” thinking of this, he smiled and raised his head, letting his young cousin see the still bright red ligature mark on his neck.

“They strangled me with that kind of noose, and then they revived me.”

“I felt an immense fear. You haven’t died, you wouldn’t understand that feeling. Fear was like a solidified shape in my body, freezing my soul!”

“Then they continued to press me for those things. I was still holding on. I refused to answer, and then they strangled me a second time.”

He flicked his cigarette ash, his expression appearing very calm and composed, as if he were just talking about a very ordinary thing.

“But this time, it took them ten minutes to revive me.”

“Ten minutes!” he nodded, emphasizing the word that described the span of time. “At first, it only took one or two minutes, and then ten minutes. What about next time?”

“Twenty minutes, half an hour, or will I never wake up again?”

When he said this, his eyes were a little dazed, and then he sneered twice. “I’ve died twice. I’ve done enough for the family. I don’t deny it, I was really scared.”

“If you want to laugh at me, then come on!”

“To be honest, I don’t really care about your mockery. I just feel… a little emotional.”

“I’ve done so much for the family, and even faced the fear of death, endured the pain of dying twice and being revived.”

“But they didn’t even consider how to negotiate with Lance to save me from this bastard’s hands. Instead, they sent a good-for-nothing like you to assassinate me!”

His young cousin immediately retorted, “I’m not a good-for-nothing.”

Stone looked at him. He was a little stubborn, but thinking of what Stone had just said, he didn’t dare to continue to glare at Stone.

This made Stone unable to help but laugh. “Maybe you weren’t a good-for-nothing before, but you are now.”

He paused for a moment. “Anyway, since you’ve already made a decision, you have to understand that we have no way out.”

His young cousin also fell silent. He was not as fierce as Stone, and really wouldn’t talk until he died.

He felt that as long as he was about to die, he would say everything.

Since that was the case, why suffer once more?

The news of Stone’s failed assassination quickly reached Bandy’s side, which made him even more agitated and uneasy.

He was now like a hyperactive patient, unable to sit still for a moment without feeling pins and needles under his butt, and unable to stand and walk a few steps without wanting to sit down.

The chaotic emotions gave him no moment of peace, not even for a moment!

When a person is about to die, they will have a physical feeling called a near-death experience.

Sometimes people often say that after old people have suddenly finished交代 some important things, they will find a place to lie down and then slowly leave this world.

They know their own death date, which is the near-death experience.

The feeling that makes you understand that your life has begun to count down is terrifying. He felt it. His life had also begun to count down.

But it was not because of a problem with his bodily functions, but because of Lance.

“Do we need to arrange for more people to deal with Stone?”

Fleming sat opposite him and asked the extremely haggard Bandy.

Bandy shook his head. “He’s on guard now. There’s no point in sending more people. It will only continue to lose our manpower. There’s no need to send anyone.”

“All our hopes now rest on Gorry.”

“If he can succeed, everything will still be in time.”

“If he also fails…”

Bandy sighed. “Then it means that fate is so.”

He could only say this, could only think this way. It was fate.

Just like the demise of the three major families, now it was their turn.

Gorry still didn’t know that Stone had escaped. He had found a retired sniper from the army.

Attacking Lance was of little significance. More than one gang had tried, but they had all failed.

The bulletproof car and his subordinates around him were his strongest guarantee for getting through danger.

So he could only try to snipe him from a distance.

He gave the sniper a large sum of money, solving some of the problems the sniper had due to lack of money. He was willing to complete this mission for Gorry as a return.

These few days, the two had been observing the terrain together. An excellent sniper is definitely not the kind of guy who just shoots casually.

He needs to find a suitable sniping spot, design a plan of action, and be able to ensure that he has time to escape the scene after he opens fire.

He was just helping to assassinate a person he didn’t know. He wasn’t selling his life directly for the money Gorry gave him.

He was not that cheap, and the money Gorry gave him was not that much.

These few days, they had been following Lance from a distance. It had to be said that Lance’s defense was too perfect, too safe!

On the high-rise buildings around the bank and where he lived, there were people standing guard.

They hadn’t discovered these when they were on the ground. It was only when they tried to go to the roof of the building opposite the bank to find a place to shoot that they found that there were actually people with guns on duty on the roof.

Two people, standing on the edge, were chatting while keeping an eye on the door leading to the rooftop.

No matter how they went up, they would be discovered.

And in other places, the route Lance took out was uncertain, and they didn’t know where Lance was going. It was impossible to set up in advance and wait for him to come to them.

As long as he was in the city, as soon as Lance got out of the car, his men would appear on the roofs of the surrounding buildings.

As for the places where there were no tall buildings around, his men would immediately spread out, while ensuring that they could take care of each other, so that no one could get close to Lance.

So, there were only two options now.

Either to attack Lance on the way, with a low success rate.

Or to find a commanding height around the bank, seize the opportunity of one or two seconds, and solve the problem once and for all…

(End of a Chapter)