Empire of Shadows

If you could, who would want to die?

The priest didn’t think for too long. “If I talk, can I live?”

If the result was the same whether he talked or not, then he would rather not talk.

Because a traitor cannot go to heaven, but can only fall into hell.

He was a member of the Holy Bell Party, that was true, but he was also a clergyman. If the final outcome was death, then he hoped that he could go to heaven because of his noble character—

One point worth noting here is that many people have mistakenly confused religion with secular law.

Just like his kidnapping of those girls. From a secular point of view, he was indeed guilty. Kidnapping, rape—these charges were enough to send him to the electric chair.

But if you look at it from the religious perspective of a past, unenlightened era, the status of women was always very low, so doing something to them could not be considered a heinous crime.

He had generously helped those girls, married them, given them food and drink and a place to live. This was kindness.

As for violence and the like, that was not a fault, but just a matter of the family relationship between a husband and a wife.Lance took a revolver from the hand of a person beside him, the priest’s own ivory-handled, carved silver revolver. He loaded two bullets into it, and then, with a clatter, he spun the cylinder.

The cylinder of the revolver spun with a rattling sound. Lance’s muzzle was pointing down, so that he couldn’t see the specific situation in the cylinder. “You believe in God so much. God will give you a just judgment.”

The priest hesitated for a few seconds and made a decision. “I believe in your credibility, Mr. Lance.”

“What do you want to know?”

Lance handed the revolver to the person beside him. He turned and put his arm around the priest’s shoulder. “There are many things I want to know…”

He did indeed want to know many things, all the crimes related to the Holy Bell Party, and the kind of crimes that could enrage the believers.

Not all criminal acts can enrage believers, especially in relatively conservative areas. If a member of the Holy Bell Party kills a few dark-skinned farmers who have escaped from the farm because they could not bear the heavy work, the farmers, those believers, they will only think that they have done the right thing!

These people deserve to die.

So, he had to first dismantle the status of the Holy Bell Party in the minds of these people, and then it would be easy to make a move on them.

At the same time, in a funeral home in a certain city in Summuri, two young men also arrived.

One of the young men greeted the girl at the front desk and took the initiative to walk over. “Someone notified us that there is someone we know here now. We plan to take them home.”

The girl at the front desk looked at the young and handsome young man in front of her, a smile on her face. “What are their names?”

“Alberto, and Fordis.”

The girl was stunned for a moment. She looked down at the small card hidden inside the counter, which was not visible to outsiders. On it were these two names.

“I need to make a phone call to confirm!” Her heart beat a little faster. She didn’t dare to continue to look at the handsome young man in front of her. The visitor had no objection.

She picked up the phone, took a deep breath, and tried to make herself look calm. “Manager, there are two gentlemen who say they want to take away the bodies of Alberto and Fordis.”

The manager was also stunned for a moment, and then said, “Have them come to my office.”

As he spoke, he hung up the phone and at the same time, dialed the number Christopher had left for him. “They’re here…”

Two minutes later, under the guidance of the girl at the front desk, the two young men entered the manager’s office.

The manager looked at the two young men in front of him, who were at most twenty-two or twenty-three years old. He felt a little pity in his heart, and also a sense of guilt.

He first invited the two to sit down, and then asked casually, “You don’t look like locals?”

“Something to drink?” he walked to the small bar on the side. “Coffee, or tea?”

The two young men looked at each other. “Coffee, please.”

The manager poured two cups of coffee for them. In fact, everything he was doing was to stall for time.

He returned to the side of the table with the coffee, placed the coffee in front of the two, received their thanks, and then he sat opposite the two.

“Where are you from?”

One of the young men took a small sip from his coffee. “From the Federation.”

The manager showed an appropriate look of surprise. “The Federation?”

“That’s a good place. I hear the air there is sweet, and even the tap water is sweet. Is that right?”

Under Lance’s popularization, they no longer casually used tap water, and also understood the harm brought by the flow of tap water in lead pipes. At this time, hearing others say so, it was inevitable to have a very strange emotion.

The person holding the coffee nodded. “Yes, it’s very sweet. If you have a chance to go over, I’ll treat you to a glass of tap water.”

The three of them all laughed, but the laughter did not last long.

“How are you planning to take the bodies back?”

“With all due respect, if you want to transport the bodies back, you will need special equipment, and not all ships will support you in doing so.”

“I personally suggest that you take the ashes back. The effect is the same.”

“In addition, there is a fee here that you need to pay.”

The manager took out a bill and handed it over. “The fee for storing the bodies, the fee for using the cold storage, a total of about… two hundred and twenty reyas.”

“If you can pay me in federal sols, it’s only thirty dollars.”

Because of the war, the materials on the market had become tight, and the purchasing power of the local currency had begun to decline.

Many people were not very optimistic about this war. Some of the rich had already left in advance. The rest were some poor people.

The Federation had become a place that many people wanted to go to. Even in Summuri, the wealth of the Federation was well-known.

Rumors like “there is a twenty-five-cent coin on the road, but no one picks it up, because every person in the Federation can earn a value far exceeding this coin in the time it takes to bend down, so they won’t bend down for a twenty-five-cent coin,” were almost everywhere.

The negative influence that the Pasoretto family’s resistance against the four major families had brought to the local people was manifested here.

Many people believed that the Federation was a rich place, and that going to the Federation would allow them to go from poverty to wealth.

The Pasoretto family had made a lot of money in the Federation, which was why they were not willing to come back.

Many people were planning to flee to the Federation, whether it was to evade military service or because of their pessimism about the war.

The Federation did not use the are as currency. They also had to exchange it for federal sols in private. This exchange rate was very difficult to describe.

Although Summuri and the Federation had established diplomatic relations, there was almost no major trade between the two sides, so they did not have much of a reserve of federal sols.

If you want to exchange the money in your hands for federal sols, you have to go to the black market.

This thirty federal sols, if the manager took it to the black market, he could exchange it for at least three hundred Summuri reyas.

The young man did not object and took out three ten-dollar federal sols and handed them over.

At the same time, he continued, “Thank you for your suggestion, but we still plan to bring the bodies back. If we need any tools for transportation, please help us to contact them, and also a ship.”

“Money is not a problem.”

The manager had at this time already forgotten his original job, but was considering how much money this business could bring him.

“You will need a special dry ice cabinet for placing the bodies, and it has to be full of dry ice. You will also need a ship that is willing to carry you.”

“I can probably get these things for you…” He took out a pen and wrote and drew on a piece of paper. Finally, he supported his forehead and said, “It will probably cost 1,200.”

He looked at the two and added, “Federal sols.”

He was afraid that the two would say he was extorting them, so he specially explained, “The container for placing the bodies is custom-made, plus the dry ice, it will cost about two hundred. The rest is the shipping fee. After all… you know, sometimes people are very taboo about this, unless you can give enough.”

The two young men did not object. The task that Lance had given him was that as long as he could bring the two bodies back, it didn’t matter how much money it cost.

He had an astonishing amount of money coming in every day. He wouldn’t care at all about a funeral home manager’s lion’s mouth.

Of course, if he really opened his mouth to an ridiculously exaggerated size, Lance wouldn’t mind arranging for someone to make him pay for his greed.

The two young men did not refuse this offer. “When can it be arranged?”

Just as the manager was about to speak, he suddenly closed his mouth. The door behind them opened, and a dozen or so men with weapons in their hands rushed in.

The blond kid on the left turned and stood up. Just as he was about to speak, a brown-haired guy who had walked over punched him to the ground.

The other young man also stood up, but at the same time, several guns were pressed against his head, making him unable to move.

The leader of these people moved his shoulders. “Take them back!”

His gaze lingered on the face of the funeral home manager for a moment, and then he turned and left.

More than ten minutes later, the two young men were taken to a villa. Christopher, who was sitting on the sofa, holding a wine glass in one hand and a cigar in the other, looked at the two young men who had been brought over and frowned slightly.

“Are you Cisco’s men?”

“Where is Cisco?”

“His most beloved Uncle Alberto is dead. Didn’t he come himself?”

He was very familiar with his “cousin.” As an heir to a gangster family, he actually went to some school. He looked down on Francisco from the bottom of his heart.

Along with that, he didn’t think much of his cousin’s subordinates.

When he said these words, the meanness on his face could be taken off and used to peel an apple!

The blond young man pursed his lips. “We are from the Lance Family.”

Christopher was stunned for a moment. “The Lance Family?”

“You are Lance’s men?”

A more unhappy look appeared in his eyes, because all the misfortune had come from Lance.

If it weren’t for Paul having him give his most profitable bar to Lance, the series of things that had happened afterwards would not have happened, and he would not have had to regret the stupid things he had done in the dead of night!

At once, he drew his gun, walked in front of the blond kid, pressed the muzzle against his forehead, and even poked it a couple of times. “As long as you kneel down and say, ‘Lance is a son of a bitch,’ I will let you go!”

(End of a Chapter)