Empire of Shadows

After the few of them had clinked their glasses, their excited emotions had calmed down a little. There was a technical backbone who was different from the others. He had a slightly worried look on his face.

The manager frowned. He walked to the side of the backbone and asked in a low voice, “Why are you unhappy?”

“Everyone is very happy now. Don’t spoil the boss’s mood!”

The technical backbone squeezed out a smile. He had actually tried very hard, but he still couldn’t smile.

This guy was from Gold Star City, which was right next to Golden Port City, and was also a city that was being sucked dry by Golden Port City.

So he was very clear about what Golden Port City, what the Lance Family, represented.

“I’m not. I’m just a little worried.”

“Worried about what?” The manager glanced back at the boss, who was watching the “money-printing” assembly line with the factory manager. “What do you have to worry about?”

“An income of a few hundred a day. You’ve been here for a month, and you’ve already earned what you would have earned in ten years. What do you have to worry about?”

His tone was slightly uncomprehending, and he began to comfort him. “Don’t think so much, understand?”“Work hard. At a time like this when you can make money, try to work for two years.”

“In two years, you can retire.”

“Not everyone has such an opportunity, you know?”

He looked at the technical backbone in front of him and supported his elbow with his hand. “Alright, cheer up. I’ll get you a car. Be happy. The good days are still long!”

“What are you guys talking about?”

Just as the manager was trying his best to comfort this guy, the boss and the factory manager had noticed that they were not right.

The manager quickly said, “It’s nothing. He’s having a little trouble at home. I’ve already solved it.”

The boss looked at him with a questioning look, and then at the technical backbone. “I don’t believe it. You tell me yourself.”

The manager stared at the technical backbone with a warning look, signaling him not to talk nonsense.

The technical backbone hesitated for a long while before he gritted his teeth and said, “I’m a little worried.”

The manager cursed a few times in his heart, sighed, and said no more.

The boss was even more curious. “What are you worried about?”

The technical backbone looked at the people in front of him and decided to tell the truth. “I’m from Gold Star City. I know the situation over there. What we are doing is equivalent to meddling in the business of the Lance Family.”

“They have recently completely controlled the underground liquor market of Likalai State. We all know what these fruit bricks will eventually become. What we are doing is equivalent to robbing money from the pockets of the Lance Family.”

“They are a gang. I’m worried that they will retaliate against us!”

When the boss heard this, on the contrary, he didn’t feel that it was so important. He pursed his lips. “What trouble can he cause us?”

“Sir, please note that we pay at least two or three hundred thousand in taxes every day. And as our income increases, this expenditure will become more.”

“A tax of tens of millions a month, isn’t that enough for the state government to provide us with protection?”

“You know, this business is legal!”

“I have found the most professional lawyers. They have not found any illegal clauses that meet this regulation of ours. In other words, the law cannot solve me, but it can solve the people of the Lance Family!”

“So… what on earth are you worried about?”

The boss didn’t think this was a problem at all. If he was willing to invest in this project, he must have done his research in the early stage.

He had indeed also found a top lawyer from the Gold Diamond Law Firm and had specially consulted on this issue.

It was also the first time the lawyers had encountered this. They had studied it for a period of time, and it was said that they had also communicated with the people from the Department of Justice. In the end, they had determined that selling “fruit bricks” was not against the law.

No yeast ingredients were added to the fruit bricks. It was the grape skin that was at work.

Grape skin itself carries the factor of fermentation. When it rots in other fruit pulp, as long as there is enough water and sugar, a natural fermentation group will soon be formed, and in the end, the sugar will be turned into alcohol.

He had already warned people to drink it as soon as possible, otherwise it would spoil.

No matter who it was, even if the Bureau of Hazardous Materials wanted to find trouble with him, they couldn’t find any trouble with him. This was a qualified product, and no one could find fault with it.

He did not take the technical backbone’s words to heart, and then shook his head. “Alright, give him a bonus of a thousand. Although your worries are of no significance, I thank you for your contribution and consideration for this factory, for us!”

The technical backbone was a little dazed. Of course, he understood every word, every sentence that the boss said.

But… the factory had found a loophole in the law. Did this have any direct relationship with the Lance Family being a gangster organization?

They were not the police. They had to follow the rules. They were a gang!

If you piss them off, they won’t reason with you at all. They’ll just open fire and solve the problem!

But the boss’s attitude of everything being under control made the technical backbone feel that he might have really thought too much. He said a thank you, and then a smile also appeared on his face.

“That’s right!”

“When you should be happy, you must be happy. You don’t have to care about other things.”

“Even if something really happens, we will be the first to go up!”

The technical backbone raised his wine glass. “Yes, I was thinking too much. I’m sorry, boss, I’m sorry.”

He tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp. The boss laughed heartily. His laughter had a hidden arrogance.

To be able to earn hundreds of thousands every day, who else could be more profitable than him?

After lunch, he left the factory. The work on the assembly line was very boring. It was no problem to watch for a while. If you watched for a long time, you would feel tired.

He and his friends had invested so much money and had earned so much money. They were not here to suffer and be punished. What they wanted was happiness, the stimulation brought by consumption!

After lunch, he drove his car to find his lover. She was a female student who had just graduated from college, and had just graduated for a year.

In just one year, the cruelty of the real society and some things that had happened at home had made her completely bow her head to reality.

Every month, the boss would give him three hundred dollars, plus some extra money occasionally. A year was only four or five thousand.

Four or five thousand could buy “love.” What a cheap era!

Of course, recently the business of fruit bricks had boomed. As a macho man, he didn’t mind showing his generosity to his little lover.

Just as they had closed the door and were playing, someone suddenly rang the doorbell.

The ding-dong ding-dong of the doorbell kept ringing, which made the boss very annoyed.

He had not yet reached the sprint stage, so in the dilemma, he finally chose to temporarily end the battle.

He put on his clothes, put on his pants, and while cursing, he came to the back of the door and directly opened it. “Who the fuck is there?”

His friends, his acquaintances, did not know this place, so he judged that it was definitely not someone he knew.

This was an ordinary, slightly better middle-class community. Safety was guaranteed. Almost no serious crimes had ever happened, so he had opened the door very decisively.

No matter who was outside the door, in terms of social status, they were not his match.

His impatient tone almost overflowed. When he seriously saw the person outside the door, he inexplicably felt a cold chill!

The weather in May was not cold anymore. People had also taken off their trench coats. The golden beaches of Golden Port City were full of girls and big boys in swimsuits. The taste of summer was getting stronger and stronger. It had arrived!

But the two people outside the door were not only wearing trench coats, but also leather gloves.

The three pairs of eyes met.

In just a second or two, the boss suddenly wanted to close the door. Just as it was only a centimeter or two away from being completely closed, a huge force suddenly came from outside, directly knocking him back several steps.

One of the guys wearing small sheepskin gloves directly took out his handgun and pulled the trigger at him!

There was no running, jumping, and closing his eyes to dodge the bullets. He didn’t even make a move to dodge before he felt someone punch him a few times.

He had been shot!

He began to shout loudly, “Hel…”

Unfortunately, the two young killers would not wait for him to finish his sentence, because this was not a script, and they were not acting.

The other person also drew his handgun. The two of them kept pulling the trigger at the boss and walked up to him.

With the sound of the empty slide, with only a clicking sound and no bang, the two of them changed their magazines.

One of them took out a photo of the boss, with a cross drawn on it in red pen. He casually threw it on the ground, along with their two handguns.

These two guns would most likely not be used again in the future, so they had also left the handguns at the scene. Then the two of them turned and left, and drove their car towards the interstate highway outside the city.

After they had gone far away, the young girl upstairs finally poked her head out. When she saw the boss, her face was so scared that it was pale.

But the first thing she did was not to call the police or something. She ran into the room, took out the wallet that the boss always carried with him, took out all the money inside, and put it in her own handbag…

This was just the first one.

Lance had never considered reasoning with these people, because just as the boss had said to the technical backbone, this was a legitimate business, and they would pay taxes.

If he was counting on solving them through proper means, besides Lance having to spend some personal favors, and very big ones at that, otherwise there was really no way to deal with these people!

Tax revenue was related to whether the governor was tough in front of the Presidential Palace and Congress, so as long as he paid taxes, and a lot of them, the governor’s side would definitely protect him.

But he had forgotten, or rather, had not taken the technical backbone’s words to heart.

His opponent was not an ordinary competitor who would only use the means allowed by the rules. What he had to face was the rule-maker, and even more so, a gangster who would not reason with him!

Just one moment of carelessness, and he had paid the price of his life. But he was not to be pitied. At least he had also enjoyed a few days of “huge profits.” At the moment of his death, he should be satisfied!

Many things had happened in the next two days. Several vineyards had been burned to the ground.

Most of the vineyard owners had also died in their vineyards.

There were also several merchants who had also encountered all kinds of accidents or revenge killings, and no one had survived.

For a time, in Likalai State, and even in the neighboring states, a not-so-comfortable rumor began to spread.

As long as you don’t follow Lance’s rules, he will definitely come for you!

(End of a Chapter)