Empire of Shadows

Lance sat in his office with his legs crossed, thinking about many things. So many things had happened in a few years, and sometimes he would have a brief moment of daze.

It was like a person who was always walking forward, who would also have a brief moment of confusion, or fatigue.

They would stop, look back at the road they had come from. They were not going back, but were gaining enlightenment, feeling melancholy, about this road they had come from and everything they now possessed, and the road ahead.

After they had rested well, they would move forward again.

Everyone will have a short rest in the journey of life.

It’s just that some people’s rest may take a long time, or even a lifetime.

But some people’s rest is just for a while, in the blink of an eye.

He took out a cigarette and lit it. There were still many things to do, which made people feel a little inexplicably busy.

But the meaning of life is here, to do what you want to do.

The spring sun shining on a person’s body will have a very warm feeling, and will also make a person feel a bit of a lazy energy. He rested his chin on his hand and looked out the window. Was he a little sleepy?Just as he was thinking whether to go and take a nap, the phone on the desk suddenly rang.

He glanced at it, took a “hiss” of his cigarette, and then picked up the phone. “This is Lance.”

“Lance, it’s Joshua.”

Some of the weariness in Lance’s eyes disappeared in an instant. He snorted twice. “So?”

“We need to talk, Lance.”

“War is not the best solution. We have other ways to resolve our disputes. I have a suggestion—”

“Let’s put aside our hostility towards each other. This time, it’s my fault. I will choose to back down. I will give you a part of my territory, or you can also propose other compensation conditions.”

“As long as you are not too excessive, I can satisfy you.”

Lance listened to him ramble on for a long while before he said with a laugh, “Why don’t you listen to my idea?”

Lance was able to listen to Joshua finish his words rationally. For him, there might really be a turn for the better in this matter. He sincerely hoped to solve it simply. “You speak. I’m listening.”

He appeared very sincere. The pressure from both inside and outside was too great. He could only do this.

Lance took another puff of his cigarette. His voice carried a hint of a smile that even Joshua could hear, as if he could see the smiling Lance on the other side through the phone line.

He was looking forward to Lance’s idea. As long as it wasn’t too excessive, he could accept it.

But what he received was an idea that made him doubt whether he had heard it wrong.

“Sorry, what did you just say?”

“I don’t think I heard you clearly!”

He still couldn’t believe what he had heard, so he asked again.

Lance said with a grin, “I said—”

“Fuck you!”

He didn’t wait for Joshua to react and hung up the phone.

This phone call had made him a little more energetic. The sleep assassin hidden in the spring day had not destroyed his will.

Lance stood up and walked to the door. He looked at the main hall outside for a while, and then shouted, “Elvin, come here!”

Elvin, who was playing cards with the other young men in the distance, put down the poker cards in his hand and quickly walked over. “What is it?”

Lance signaled for him to enter the office, and then sat down in his chair. “Are the lads ready?”

“About what?” he asked.

“About getting rid of Joshua.”

Elvin nodded. “The lads are ready,” he said, unable to help but laugh a little. “Everyone wants to go!”

Mainly because they could act with so many high-level cadres, so many captains, and friends, and it was also to work in another place. This was very attractive to many young people.

Lance nodded slightly. “Have them check again, their weapons, their bulletproof vests. I don’t want to bring anyone’s body back.”

Elvin knew that Lance always cared about this, which was also the reason why everyone was willing to listen to Lance’s orders. He always considered everyone’s safety, including the people at the very bottom of the family.

He had made the “family” really feel like a home, even though he might not be able to call out everyone’s name.

On the other side, Joshua, who had hung up the phone, sat in his chair. He looked at the phone in his hand for a while before he slowly put it back on the phone base.

The person next to him asked, “What did Lance say?”

In fact, he had vaguely heard what Lance had said, but he also couldn’t believe that what he had heard was true. Maybe it was… some other word that sounded similar but that he was not familiar with?

Joshua shook his head. “We can’t talk. Get ready to make a move.”

He took a deep breath. He could feel Lance’s determination to fight him, which also shattered his last bit of illusion.

He clenched his fists. “We are not weaker than them, and we are even stronger.”

When he said this, no one chimed in. Although their territory was very large, and they seemed to have done many bad things, their main opponents were the dark-skinned people and the immigrant descendants.

These people were more or less discriminated against in this area. For example, at the intersection of some towns connecting to the interstate highway, there were signs that said “Dark-skinned people are forbidden to enter.”

So in a strict sense, they had relied on bullying the weak in the northern region, helping some of the same extreme racists as them to harm those people, and had gained everyone’s support, and had rapidly expanded and grown.

They might have also had firefights with some gangs, but those gangs, compared to the more professional gangs, were obviously a level lower.

In addition, with the news from the state government that they wanted to wipe them out, and the rapidly intensifying conflicts within the gang, everyone knew very well that this was a catastrophe for the Holy Bell Party.

If they could get through it, then they might welcome a new life.

If they couldn’t, then that was that.

Some of them were not optimistic about this.

However, there was still a considerable number of people who believed that they would definitely be able to give the Lance Family a heavy blow and make him pay the price for underestimating the Holy Bell Party!

A portion of the Lance Family began to move to the north-central region. The situation and atmosphere within the entire Likalai State had become a little tense.

Many forces had sent people to observe the battle between the Lance Family and the Holy Bell Party, wanting to observe more directly whether this “neighbor” was as strong as people said!

Once the underworld of Likalai State had formed a certain degree of unity, and their internal situation had calmed down, then they would definitely have to expand outwards.

The gangster forces in the surrounding states were all very nervous.

During this period, Zabri (the representative of the gangster family in the Bay Area in the southwestern region of Likalai State) had also given Lance a call. Because the Marcus family, like the Lance Family, was mainly composed of immigrant descendants, and also had many dark-skinned people.

The dark-skinned people had not yet awakened the talent of their lives being more precious than gold, so they were still a high-quality labor force that could work, was willing to endure hardship, and did not need to be paid much.

The Marcus family had absorbed some of the good ones, which could also be considered a cheap fighting force.

This had made them have friction with the Holy Bell Party all along. The Holy Bell Party had promoted them as the “devil’s team,” and the two sides would have some conflicts from time to time.

But it was not intense. So far, there had not been a large-scale firefight. The Marcus family lacked upper-level power. When everyone’s own strength was about the same, the upper-level power became the decisive force.

This time, seeing that Lance was about to overturn the Holy Bell Party, the people of the Marcus family were also very moved. They wanted to assist the Lance Family in their attack on the Holy Bell Party.

However, Lance had tactfully refused. He purely felt that they would be a nuisance.

In late March, the people of the Lance Family had already arrived in the northernmost city of Likalai State, Bocan City, a city that was relatively prosperous compared to other cities in the same region.

When the train stopped at a station outside the city, the people of the Lance Family began to get off the train.

They would not take the train directly into the city. If they went in, they would have to come out. Joshua was hiding in a small valley. Lance knew that place, all thanks to the priests who didn’t want to see God right away. In the choice between going to see God and letting Joshua go to see God, they had chosen to let Joshua go to see God!

At this time, there were some staff at the station, and also some farmers from the vicinity who lived nearby and did not plan to go into the city to take the train.

They watched as a large number of neatly dressed people got off the train. They couldn’t remember the faces of these people, but they remembered the red armband on their left arm.

After Lance had gotten off the train, the local Empire immigrant gang leader came up to him with his men.

Because the city had a large population, its inclusiveness would be much better than that of the countryside. But even so, the local Empire immigrant gang was not so comfortable.

They were often bullied and harassed by certain people, and if they dared to resist too fiercely, the local gangs would gang up on them for a beating.

They had been very aggrieved these past few years, until the promulgation of Prohibition, and Lance had provided them with some wine, and the situation had improved.

He walked in front of Lance, bent his waist, took Lance’s hand with both hands, and kissed his ring. “Mr. Lance, the cars are all ready!”

Lance had had him prepare at least forty cars. These cars would be used as a means of transportation to help them quickly get close to the place where Joshua was hiding.

After all, there was still a distance from here to the small valley. It was impossible to really walk there on foot.

Lance patted his shoulder. “Well done!”

“The production of liquor will increase a lot this year. At that time, you can apply for more liquor from me!”

The local Empire immigrant gang leader immediately showed a smile of pleasant surprise. To survive here, money was more important than in other places!

If you had to perfect a discrimination chain for the people of the Federation, then at the very top of the discrimination chain would be the rich!

As long as you have money, you can avoid some trouble, and the private liquor business is precisely the most profitable!

Just as he was about to thank Lance for his generosity, his gaze accidentally fell on the things that were being “unloaded” from the train not far away, two armored cars, and there were fucking machine guns in the gun towers!

When he turned his head to look at Lance again, his eyes had completely turned to awe!

You’re not here to have a firefight, you’re fucking here to fight a war!

(End of a Chapter)