Empire of Shadows

The tall police officer and the short police officer lived together. They had bought their houses together, and they also lived in the same house.

Neither of them was married, but they both had their own girlfriends.

Ever since they had started to extort the passing trucks with the police captain, their pockets had gradually become full. Every month, they had to be on duty for about twelve to fifteen days. Every day, the interstate highway was full of running cash!

A truck could get a “fine” of two to five dollars. To stop twenty or thirty a day was an ordinary person’s monthly salary.

In other words, they worked for a month, which was equivalent to an ordinary worker working for a year.

The comfortable life brought by money had made them unwilling to get married.

If someone had studied this aspect, they would have found that the richer a family’s economic condition, the later the marriage age of the members of this family.

What money could bring them was a wider world, which allowed them to have more desire to enjoy this world, to explore this world, instead of putting reproduction and these things in the first place.

So look at those rich people. Besides the necessary political marriages, most rich people would enjoy life until they were tired of that kind of life, and only then would they settle down.

And the poor people, they needed a more stable family structure earlier than the rich, because they were not competitive in “nature.”Once they had missed the best time, it would be very difficult for them to find a suitable partner of the opposite sex, and it was even possible that the inheritance of their genes would end here.

The two police officers both belonged to the high-income group. This did not include the things they sold, such as various stolen goods, so they had more time and opportunity to enjoy life.

They had hired a maid, and every day was spent in full enjoyment. This kind of life was actually pretty good, a kind of collective, but not quite a collective life.

So they would often joke with each other. You play a prank on me, and I’ll play a prank on you.

The shorter police officer did not feel the hand on his shoulder being taken away. On the contrary, a force was bending him back. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Shit, don’t piss on you…”

The moment he turned around, he had already held it in. He just wanted to scare his good friend, but what greeted him was a baseball bat.

With a thud, he lay on the ground.

The taller police officer, who was inserting the key into the car door in the parking lot, looked at the alley under the street light that the light could not reach. “Hey, did you run into trouble?”

There was no response. He shouted again, and there was still no response.

He pulled out the key that had already been inserted into the car lock, with a “you’ll see” expression on his face. “Alright, you win. you’d better be careful. I’m not that easy to fool…”

He walked to the entrance of the alley. When he was still a few steps away, he suddenly stopped and then lightened his footsteps. He guessed that his good friend was leaning against the wall, preparing to give him a “surprise.”

So now, he planned to give the other party a “surprise” in return.

Just one more step, and he would be able to see the contents of the box. With a smile on his face, he took a step out and said in a slightly exaggerated and grand tone, “Let me see which little bastard…”

His voice grew lower and lower, until he could no longer hear it—

Four or five people were standing in the alley. One of them was holding a cigarette in his mouth and was tossing a bloody baseball bat in his hand.

In fact, at night, it was impossible to tell if it was blood or something else on the baseball bat, but this baseball bat was white, and that black, flowing thing could only be blood.

He saw his partner lying in a pool of blood, and then he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

He had thought that his partner had been beaten to death. In fact, he had just fallen on the foaming liquid he had just pissed out.

He and these people looked at each other, his scalp tingling, and goosebumps all over his body. He was a little at a loss. He raised his thumb and pointed behind him. “My friend is calling me…”

After saying that, he even smiled, as if it were real!

Then the next second, he turned and ran, but just as he turned his head, he saw that there were already a few people standing behind him. They were wearing gloves and holding guns.

Then the people in the alley rushed out of the alley and gave him a good beating.

“If you dare to shout, I’ll kill you.”

The taller police officer, who had originally planned to shout for help, could only hold his head and take a good beating. During this period, some passersby had seen this scene, and not only had they not called the police, but they had also quickly left.

No one wanted to cause trouble at night, and these people looked very different. They actually dared to beat the police.

Alan was tired of hitting. He casually threw the baseball bat to a subordinate by his side, and then lit another cigarette and took a drag. “Take them away.”

Soon the two were pushed into a car and driven out of the city.

The decision to make a move was made by Lance. Mayor Wade’s side could handle the mayor of New Birmingham, so Lance didn’t have to wait anymore.

Several cars rushed out of the city circle at a very fast speed. They found an abandoned warehouse in the suburbs.

In fact, it couldn’t be said to be abandoned. The development of a city always has its ups and downs. In the past, New Birmingham had also had a chance to develop, but the city’s management had not seized it, which had led to the “land enclosure” investment of some speculators to go bust.

The huge development of a city would definitely be accompanied by the expansion of the city’s main body. These speculators who were well-versed in the laws of urban development, the moment they saw a slight possibility, had bought a large amount of land in the suburbs, and then had built the lowest-cost warehouses.

They were all steel-structured warehouses, some prefabricated parts, which, when put together and welded, would become a huge, low-cost workshop.

When the city developed, this land would become valuable, and then whether it was sold to the government or to new investors, it would be a very good business.

Among these people, there were many professional speculators. Although this speculation had failed, the land was still theirs.

They had hired some staff who did not need to work here at a very low price, to maintain their ownership of the land, and then they had begun to wait.

What if one day, New Birmingham welcomed a new development opportunity? Their speculation would only make more money!

Elvin and his group had found such a lifeless warehouse area. This place had a scene of desolation and apocalypse, but it was indeed the best place to hide a crime.

The car stopped outside a warehouse. The shorter police officer had already woken up. The two of them were dragged out of the car by their hair.

In fact, they could have been allowed to get out on their own, but at this time, they had to be made to feel pain, fear, and terror. Only in this way would the subsequent interrogation be easy to carry out.

If you were to say, “Sir, please get out of the car and cooperate with our work,” maybe later they would dare to curse you a few times.

The two were “led” into the dim yellow warehouse, and then were thrown hard on the ground. They looked up and saw the guy with the flat cap. Their fearful eyes were instantly filled with hatred.

But before they had time to strengthen this hatred, someone had kicked the taller one.

The painful scream made the two of them instantly return to their senses. Elvin sat in a chair. “Get the two gentlemen a chair.”

Two rusty chairs were dragged over from the side. The sound of the chair legs rubbing against the ground was very harsh, and also very terrifying.

The two of them helped each other up, looked at each other, and then obediently sat down in the chairs.

There were people all around, holding handguns in their hands, and some even had submachine gun straps on their backs. These people were wearing uniform attire. At a glance, they were not fucking easy to provoke!

The taller police officer’s mind was a little more active. He had instantly locked onto the identity of these people—

That batch of wine!

Elvin and his group actually didn’t know the identity of these people yet. They only knew that they were the police. From a purely ordinary appearance, their clothes were no different from the local police.

Only by looking at their police badges could this be confirmed.

As he was thinking this, two ordinary gang members began to search their bodies, taking out their wallets, lighters, cigarettes, keys, and all kinds of miscellaneous things, and putting them in a box on the side, including their police badges.

The contents of the box were sent to Elvin’s side. Elvin casually picked up a police badge. His attention was actually not on the police badge itself at first.

In addition, the light here was a little dim. He had first noticed the other party’s name, “David…” When he subconsciously looked down, what he saw was not “New Birmingham City Police Department,” but the words “Indeno State Police Department,” and he was stunned for a moment.

He picked up another police badge, identified it for a while. It was also a police badge issued by the state police department. At this time, his mind was a little unable to keep up. Weren’t they from the city police department?

Could it be that the police in New Birmingham all had this kind of police badge?

But… he couldn’t convince himself like a fool. He realized that these two were actually police officers from the state police department, and possibly also highway patrol.

But the people had already been arrested. They couldn’t just, because they were state police, let them go again, could they?

Elvin threw the police badge back. “Officer David, your friend told me that you took our wine.”

As he spoke, he picked up a wine bottle from his feet. The taller police officer knew at a glance that it was the one they had had the flat-cap man sell in the city. He cursed, “Fuck!”

Then he took two deep breaths. He finally understood where the police captain’s pressure was coming from.

These people were so fucking fierce, not at all like the local gangs!

“Are you from Likalai State?” he asked.

Elvin shook his head. “Wrong answer.”

The taller police officer hadn’t reacted yet when someone from behind suddenly tightened a chokehold around his neck, and someone else held down his shoulders. Then a young man with a stick directly slammed it hard on his shin!

Just this one blow, and he felt that even if his shin was not broken, it had cracked!

This place was very empty. Even if a passerby heard a scream, not only would they not stop, but they would also run faster. Who knows if the one screaming was a person or an evil spirit?

This was the Federation, a place where people believe in God, and also believe in demons!

“My leg is broken!” The taller man had almost squeezed these words out from between his teeth. Elvin raised his hand, and the others let him go.

“You see, it’s just a broken leg. For your life, it’s just a little bit of pain. You will have things you fear more than a ‘broken leg,’ right?”

“Answer my question, Officer David. Where is our wine?”

“The men who were escorting our wine, where are they?”

“Who planned these things?”

The shorter police officer turned his head and looked at the taller one. The taller one pursed his lips, blinked, and took a deep breath. “It was the police captain!”

He knew what the shorter police officer meant. It was for him not to say it. After all, that was the police captain, their immediate superior. If these gangs couldn’t handle the police captain, they would be dead for sure!

With the taller man saying the key figure, the police captain, the shorter police officer let out a heavy sigh. He knew that they no longer had a choice.

“Before, our men were checking a car on the highway and found your transport vehicle. There might have been a broken wine bottle inside. When the cargo hold was opened, it was all the smell of wine. Then the police captain found out, and he planned to make a move on your cars.”

“I swear, I didn’t participate. At that time, my partner and I…” he paused for a moment, and then looked at the shorter police officer, “…this fool, we were still selling toasters in the city.”

“If you don’t believe me, you can ask the person next to you!”

In any case, first get yourself out of it. As for whether it was true or not, he didn’t care. He believed that these people also didn’t care. What they wanted was the mastermind, and the wine that was worth over a million.

Elvin lit a cigarette. “Tell me in detail.”

So he recounted what had happened to Elvin. After Elvin had finished listening, his face was very grim.

All the family members were their brothers and sisters. Now those young men had died here. Some of them might have been only eighteen or nineteen, and some were in their early twenties.

Their lives had just begun.

Although everyone knew very well that joining the Lance Family would always face all kinds of risks, but this price was still a bit too heavy.

Elvin was silent for a moment. “Actually, if you wanted money, you could have told Mr. Lance. Mr. Lance is very generous and would have filled your greedy ditch, instead of killing our men and robbing our things!”

He looked at the taller police officer. “I like people who talk…” and then at the shorter police officer, “I noticed that you just used your eyes to persuade this Officer David not to tell us the truth.”

“I don’t like people like you.”

He extended his hand to the side. A handgun was drawn from Alan’s holster and placed in Elvin’s hand.

The shorter police officer was stunned for a moment, and then he began to shout, “I didn’t do that. You must have seen it wrong!”

He turned his head and looked at his brother. “Fuck, you quickly tell them I didn’t do it!”

Elvin fired a shot at him, but the trigger was not pulled. Alan couldn’t help but smile. “The safety, brother.”

Elvin glanced at him sideways and released the safety. At this time, the taller police officer had already reacted. “He didn’t do that, sir. He didn’t do that!”

Seeing that Elvin was not listening to his explanation at all, the shorter police officer was not willing to sit and wait for death. He directly stood up and ran.

But how could a person’s running speed be faster than a bullet?

Kua, kuakua…

The sound of a gunshot in a warehouse was different from the sound of a gunshot in an open space outside. It was a little muffled.

The shorter police officer fell directly to the ground. He tried to get up, but after running two steps, he fell to the ground again, and then struggled to turn over. He looked at the bloodstains that were constantly spreading on his chest and gasped for breath.

Elvin walked in front of him. In just a dozen or so seconds, he had already begun to use the Cheyne-Stokes breathing method. His chest and abdomen were also heaving a lot because of his breathing.

One shot had grazed his pulmonary artery, and in a dozen or so seconds, it had almost filled his chest cavity!

At a time like this, shooting was not harming him, but helping him to quickly get rid of his pain.

Elvin stood at a distance of four or five meters from him, holding his handgun low, and began to mechanically pull the trigger without blinking.

The “kuakua” sound of the gunshots continued until the empty slide clicked. Only then did he glance at the handgun in his hand and then threw it to Alan.

The shorter police officer was already motionless. The bullets were all concentrated on his head. The other two people in the warehouse were so scared that they could hardly control their emotions.

The taller police officer was a little better. The one with the flat cap had pissed himself!

Although he was a gangster, the local gangs were not so wild!

He knelt on the ground, leaning against a pillar, and looked at Elvin with a pleading look in his eyes, shaking his head slightly, as if he were begging for something.

Elvin walked in front of the flat-cap man. He was almost curled up, his forehead against the ground, constantly muttering “please.” He just wanted to live.

He simply didn’t know that this batch of goods was so hot!

If he had known, he would not have sold it at all, not even touched it!

Even if he had to flee to another place, he would not have touched this batch of goods!

Elvin looked at his back for a few seconds. “You’re a lucky guy.”

He did not have the habit of killing indiscriminately. Although in the eyes of some, this flat-cap man should also have been killed, because they were a gang.

However, Elvin had his own ideas. “Tell those people that this is our Lance Family’s goods. Have them bring the goods and ask for our forgiveness. Otherwise, after these people’s matter is over, we will clean up the gangs of New Birmingham!”

“You can go now, Mr. Hat.”

The flat-cap man raised his head. His face was covered in tears and snot. He simply couldn’t believe that he had been saved?!

He looked at Elvin with a look of pleasant surprise, and knelt and walked towards him. The others drew their handguns and aimed at him, but Elvin raised his hand and stopped them.

He kissed Elvin’s leather shoes. “God bless you, merciful sir!”

As he spoke, he took two steps back before he got up. He maintained a stooped posture and ran out.

As he passed by the shorter police officer, his gaze was a little complicated.

This bastard would also bully him sometimes, but now, he was lying less than a meter away from him.

He was still alive, but he was dead.

After Elvin had watched Mr. Hat leave, he turned to look at the taller police officer. “Do you have any other value?”

“If you can’t find a value to live, I can only send you and your good brother to meet in hell.”

He drew his own handgun and looked at him.

At this moment, Officer David only wished that his parents had given him a few more heads, so that he could think of something to save himself faster.

Seeing that Elvin had once again taken the handgun with the reloaded bullets, he suddenly shouted, “I know what they look like, and I also know where they live!”

(End of a Chapter)