Empire of Shadows

In the courtyard of Lance’s large mansion, the chefs from Manteno’s best restaurant had already begun to cook dinner.

They did not know who this meal was being cooked for, nor did they know who would be sitting at the dinner table enjoying the food they had made.

They were not at all concerned about these matters, nor were they keen on them.

This kind of thing had happened to them many times. As the best restaurant, they could always receive such orders—

Some special guests were not suitable to appear in public, but they were very fond of some of the food in their restaurant.

Then these special guests only needed to spend an extra sum of money, and the chefs could go to the place they had designated to cook the evening’s dishes for the guests.

During the whole process, they would not come into contact with the guests. After all the food was cooked, it would be covered with a cloche to keep it warm. Serving within ten minutes was the best time.

If it exceeded ten minutes, it might cool down a little and cause the taste of some dishes to change a little. But if the customer’s home had a larger oven, then there would be no such problems.

Of course, they could also provide professional equipment to ensure the temperature of the food, and would not damage the taste of the food because of the water vapor. This also only required an extra small sum of money, which was enough.

In the reception room of the large mansion, several executive committee members of the State Prohibition Committee were here—This was a very interesting phenomenon. In the Federation, the people who could really make decisions on certain matters were often not the most capable in business.

Because the most capable in business were always on the front line, and those on the front line were always minor characters.

Before Dale had joined the State Prohibition Committee to serve as an executive committee member, the executive committee member who was mainly in charge of presiding over the state’s prohibition work was holding a wine glass and looking at the chefs who were working hard in the courtyard.

This scene was particularly comical.

An executive committee member of the Prohibition Committee was drinking, but the people around did not think there was anything wrong.

Because even the senators of the Congressional Prohibition Committee, they would also discuss the work of prohibition while drinking.

Drinking and work were two different things. Now it was private time, so no one cared whether they were suitable for drinking.

This guy was named Tim. His family background was basically the same as most people of his class.

He didn’t have a very prominent family background. He was from a middle-class family. His father was a lawyer, and his mother was a physician. He had a younger brother and a younger sister. From a young age, he had received an elite education, with the goal of becoming a person of a higher class.

After graduating from high school, with excellent grades, and under the operation of his father, he had obtained an invitation from an Ivy League institution, becoming one of the reserve lackeys of the upper class.

Because he had been in contact with some very realistic things since he was a child, and his family’s education had not made him develop in the direction of “I am the sun,” his father had used one bloody case after another to make his mind more mature and realistic than his peers.

So during his college years, he had made friends with some capable classmates and had become a lackey for these people.

Some people looked down on him, including his first love girlfriend.

His first love girlfriend felt that he had a good family background, excellent academic performance, yet he had to become a lackey for some “villains.” She was extremely disappointed with him!

But the facts proved that what he had done was right!

He had already completed the class leap by turning himself into a lackey, while those classmates who thought they could change the world were still struggling at the bottom.

This time, when Dale had “airdropped” down, not only had he not regarded Dale as a rival for power, but on the contrary, under the dumbfounded gaze of many, he had taken the initiative to cooperate with some of Dale’s measures.

He knew very well that the person behind him was no match for the person behind Dale, or rather, the person behind Lance.

He considered his own ability to be definitely superior to Dale’s, but if the person above was useless, his ability would become meaningless.

The thing about ability, he had already seen it very thoroughly twenty years ago. It was just a gold-plated tulip.

With it, you can get some extra praise.

Without it, people will not say anything.

As for whether you are willing in your heart, that is another matter.

This was also the most common problem that their class encountered. Even if they had gone all out, they had gone all out on the wrong object.

His own reflection in the plate glass looked no longer young. The chatter of his colleagues was in his ears, but he was thinking about how he could get close to Lance.

Others were not very clear about his thoughts. Some even thought… he was just not very happy, because now was the era of Dale’s rule, and everything had to be listened to by Dale.

After a while, the convoy came back from outside, and Dale also returned to this room.

The moment Tim turned around, his face was full of smiles. He drank the remaining little wine in his glass in one gulp, placed it on the table by his side, and then walked towards Dale at the door.

“Mr. Lance is going to change into a set of clothes and will be down soon.”

In fact, the people of the Federation were a very casual group, but on some issues they were particularly entangled. What to wear on different occasions, which was clearly a very simple matter, was made very complicated by them.

Soon Lance had changed into a set of clothes suitable for receiving important guests in his own home and came down. He entered the room, and Tim was already standing at the very front.

“Let me introduce you. This is Mr. Perry, Tim Perry. He has given me a great deal of help in my work.”

“The fact that I was able to familiarize myself with my work so quickly is largely thanks to him!”

Lance extended his hand and shook his. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Perry. I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time!”

Tim also smiled and expressed the same view. “Thank you for having Dale come to work with us. It’s a great honor for me to be able to make a friend like you. This is also my, and our, honor!”

The two’s hands quickly let go. It was enough for him to express his position and attitude. Then Dale introduced the people behind him to him.

After the introductions were over, everyone sat down separately. There was still about twenty minutes before dinner began.

Because some dishes had to be cooked by the chefs after Lance had arrived, this was also to ensure that the dishes were in the most perfect state when they were served.

Of course, this kind of booking that would have changes also required an extra small fee.

At this point, the extra fee was already much higher than the price of the meal itself.

Lance, without any hesitation, sat down in the main seat. After everyone else was seated, he said with a smile on his face, “Thanks to everyone’s help this time, we were able to discover and eradicate a cancerous tumor that was entrenched in the northwest region of this state.”

“How much wine did we find in their warehouse?” he looked at Dale.

Dale said with a smile, “About 3.5 to 4 million.”

“Yes, four million worth of wine. Looking at the entire Federation, this is also an amazing achievement!”

“The congressional side must have already given you an award!”

Tim nodded. “Indeed. So far, this is the largest batch ever seized.”

Creating a record is something that every politician longs for, because having a record means being noticed by the higher-ups.

And being noticed means that if there is a suitable opportunity, the opportunity will favor him.

“It can be seen that the State Prohibition Committee has an outstanding performance in the work of prohibition. You are all the backbone of the country. The stability of society depends on you!”

A young man in his twenties saying such words in a group of middle-aged men in their thirties and forties did not make people feel presumptuous or uncomfortable. On the contrary, it felt very harmonious and reasonable.

“But…” the conversation turned, and the expressions of the people in the room became a little more serious.

“The current situation of prohibition in the state is still not optimistic. A large number of private liquor workshops, and even private brewed liquor, and also inferior liquor mixed with industrial alcohol, are flooding the market.”

“They not only destroy the results of our prohibition work, but also cause some ordinary people who buy a drink to be injured.”

He recounted the incidents of casualties caused by industrial alcohol. As for whether it had already happened, he was not very concerned.

The thing about “news” does not necessarily have to be all true. If it must be true to be news, then this world would have fucking been destroyed long ago.

He would use his influence in the news group to publicize these news stories. Whether it was Congress or the local areas, they would definitely increase the力度 to publicize this news.

Because “drinking may cause casualties” is undoubtedly the best persuasion for prohibition. What if you drink fake wine, drink yourself blind, drink yourself to death?

The others all nodded one after another, agreeing with Lance’s point of view. So much so that some people looked at Lance with a slightly strange look in their eyes.

Who didn’t know that Lance was the fucking biggest producer and seller in Likalai State?

In the past, he had to be secretive about his production. Now, after getting the franchise, he didn’t hide it at all. Although they were still not very clear where it was, from his shipment volume, it could be seen that he was producing at full capacity.

As for the market, in the liquor of the vicinity of Golden Port City, Golden Lion brand whiskey had already occupied at least one-third of the market, and other smuggled liquors had to give Lance money to get in.

Recently, the Holy Bell Party had been wiped out. Many people said that it was because Lance had taken a fancy to the territory of the Holy Bell Party and wanted to dump his own wine on their turf.

As for how it was, everyone was not clear, but it was definitely not groundless.

Tim had tasted the meaning in Lance’s words. “Mr. Lance, please rest assured. We will increase the intensity of prohibition in various regions. We will absolutely not let go of these criminals who dare to destroy social stability!”

Lance took another look at Tim. This guy was very shrewd!

He smiled with great satisfaction. “That’s for the best. Not to condone any criminals and criminal acts is the bottom line of us law enforcers!”

But there was a tail to his words, which made people feel that he hadn’t finished.

Sure enough, after two or three seconds, he added, “But you also have to be careful to distinguish.”

Be careful to distinguish?

Distinguish what?

Tim frowned slightly, and the others were also thoughtful.

But this was not the best time to ask. This kind of question was best discussed in private, not asked publicly, even if everyone knew he was alluding to something.

The subsequent topic became much more relaxed. Under the leadership of Dale and Tim, everyone talked about some interesting things, both at work and some real rumors from the upper class.

As they chatted, they came to the topic of war. Men are like this. The topic of conversation is always inseparable from politics, war.

IIn truth, young men love to talk about women too — but the people here have already moved past that kind of shallow amusement.

They’ve simply seen too much, played too long. The novelty wore off ages ago.

Teenagers gossip about the neighbor’s young wife out of a naïve sort of fascination, still caught in that hazy mix of curiosity and fantasy.

Middle-aged men? They never mention such things. Not because they’ve grown virtuous, but because—well, they already have one at home… and a few more outside.

So war became the topic of conversation while waiting to enjoy dinner.

Because the channels for these people to obtain information were limited, their channels for obtaining information in this aspect were consistent with those of the ordinary people of the Federation. They were all obtained through the official media, newspapers.

Even if they had doubts about these reports, they could only be doubts.

They talked about the current situation, the development, and the future of the war.

As they talked, Tim felt that Lance’s participation in this topic was not enough. With the thought of considering for the master, he took the initiative to put the topic on Lance’s hands.

“Mr. Lance, what do you think the future development trend will be?”

“About this war!”

Lance thought for a moment. “The situation will not be too bad, and soon we will have new actions and plans. As for the result, it is very difficult for me to give a judgment.”

“But I believe in one thing!” he picked up his wine glass and took a sip, then slowly put it down, and raised his eyebrows. “The Federation will win!”

The amount of information in this sentence was too great!

In an instant, the gentlemen in the room were speechless. Except for those who were really stupid, the others had read too much information from his words that they had previously suspected but were not confident about.

What did Lance mean by “it won’t be too bad”?

It means that the current situation is actually very bad. If the situation were really good, he would only have said “it’s not bad” or the like.

Then he mentioned new actions and plans, and that he could not predict the consequences. This meant that the military was not always planning to follow the tasks assigned to them by the allies and to always play the role of a wall on the battlefield. They had their own ideas.

As for the final “the Federation will win”?

Tim had already associated it with the recent and ongoing conscription. They were planning to exchange casualties for results!

Tim glanced at Lance and felt that this young man was terrifyingly scary!

Not just his own wrists, his ability, but more importantly, the network of interests, the network of relationships he had established in this society.

There are too many capable people. Tim himself is a capable person, but he is not doing as well as Lance. On the one hand, his ability is not as good as Lance’s. On the other hand, his network of relationships is far worse than Lance’s.

The information revealed by Lance’s words all revealed an implicit message to them: Lance had a very close connection with the military’s top brass, the Department of Defense’s top brass, at least in one aspect.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to obtain this very confidential information, and this also made the people here recognize him more.

At this time, one of Lance’s men knocked on the door, came in from outside, and stood by the door. “Dinner is ready.”

Lance nodded, stood up with his hand on the arm of the sofa. The chefs in the courtyard also brought the dishes to the dining table, and put on the cloches, and then began to pack up and leave.

During this period, the gentlemen in the room who needed to go to the toilet went to the toilet, and those who needed to clean themselves cleaned themselves.

Seven or eight minutes later, everyone came to the garden.

Lance’s subordinates played the role of waiters. They opened the cloches, revealing the sumptuous food inside.

Lance smiled and touched his stomach. “I’m already hungry, so… let’s begin!”

“Does anyone need to pray first?”

The gentlemen all shook their heads with a smile. Although they were believers, they were not that faithful.

The Lord could hardly do anything, but power, wealth, could. Even if they were believers, they were believers of power, believers of wealth.

It has to be said that the reason why the cost of this dinner was ridiculously high was because the taste was indeed not bad, and everyone ate very happily.

Seeing that it was getting late, and Lance had also been on the road for almost a whole day, the people also planned to take their leave.

Anyway, Lance would be in Manteno for a few more days. They would have plenty of opportunities to visit Lance in private.

Lance did not ask them to stay. He also really wanted to rest. “I have prepared some small gifts for you. I have already had someone put them in the trunk of your car.”

Tim and the others were stunned for a moment, but did not refuse.

Everyone knew that Lance was now a super-rich man, and if the two sides wanted to have a deeper friendship, these small gifts had to be accepted.

They all thanked Lance one after another. Lance glanced at Dale. “You too.”

Then he said with a smile, “Alright, I won’t keep you. I hope you have a safe journey.”

These people did not immediately go to see what Lance had sent after they left the villa, but said goodbye to each other. If the things Lance had sent were different, it would be very embarrassing to open them.

These people’s minds were all very flexible, and they directly rejected this possible occurrence.

Tim drove very fast all the way. When he got home, he saw a briefcase in the trunk.

He had originally wanted to pick it up with one hand, but found that he couldn’t pick it up at all. It was too heavy.

He had to use both hands to be able to pick up the briefcase.

Just like that, he would carry it for a while, and then stop for a while. Under his wife’s strange gaze, he returned to his study, and after sending away his wife, who had come to find out what had happened, he opened the box.

As the briefcase was slowly opened, he looked at the contents inside, and said with an expressionless face, “Holy shit”!

He reached out and stroked the gold bricks. A total of ten kilograms of gold bricks were lined up, and under them was a villa transfer agreement for Manteno. With just a signature, no matter who it was, he could get a large mansion worth more than 30,000!

This was just a meeting. Tim knew this very well. He now wanted to cooperate with Lance even more.

A friend who was generous with money and had strong connections. He, Tim, was determined to make friends with him!

He was not the only one with the same idea. Being a member of the Prohibition Committee did indeed bring in some money, but compared to what they got, Lance obviously gave more!

To give so much, it was really impossible to refuse!

(End of a Chapter)