Empire of Shadows

Mello was handling some of the work that Lance was originally supposed to handle.

If Elvin was the number two person in the Lance Family, then Mello was the number three.

He was not as dazzling as the other high-level cadres. In fact, many people would at first ignore this guy. He did not like to stand in front of people, but just quietly stood in a corner.

But he was a reliable person, calm, reserved, and meticulous. So Lance often smiled and called him the “great steward of the family.”

His ability was much stronger than people imagined. He was also one of the older members of the family, and his experience was also very rich.

So when both Lance and Elvin were not present, it was Mello who was in charge of the family’s operations.

His voice was very gentle, unhurried, without the kind of arrogance that could be heard in the voices of young people.

“Let’s follow Lance’s wishes for this matter for now. If it doesn’t work…” the phone on the desk suddenly rang. He paused for a moment, and then handed the document to the person in front of him. “If it doesn’t work out, tell me again. I will contact Lance.”

The person opposite the desk nodded and took the document, and tactfully left the room. After the door was closed, Mello finally picked up the phone. “This is Wanli Company.”

To the outside world, they were all since “Wanli Company” or “Wanli Group.” The voice of the chief of the state police from the neighboring state came from the receiver. “Hello, I’d like to speak with Mr. Lance.”“Mr. Lance is busy with something and is temporarily unable to take your call. You can leave your name, number, and why you are calling. After Mr. Lance returns, I will pass it on to him.”

The chief was silent for a moment. He gave his name and number. “I have some rather private matters that I can only tell Mr. Lance, so… I’m sorry, I can’t tell you.”

Mello, who was recording the number, looked at this strange, and not from this state, number. He seemed to have understood something. “This is a number from Indeno State.”

The chief thought that perhaps the person who was answering the phone had some friendship with Lance. He added, “There might be some misunderstanding between us. I hope to be able to communicate with Lance to resolve this misunderstanding, so please.”

Mello did not refuse. “I will tell Mr. Lance, but I can’t guarantee what he will do.”

“Besides this, is there anything else?”

The chief shook his head. “No, sir, there isn’t.”

Mello said with a smile, “Good luck, sir.”

“You too.”

He put down the phone, smiled, and then dialed the number that Elvin’s side had left.

Elvin was already waiting for Lance. Lance’s train would arrive in the middle of the night today. With enough money, the speed of the train had been raised to the maximum, and there were only a few of their carriages.

The people of the railway company were very fond of serving Lance. Lance gave a lot, and there was also a lot of business, and he was not overbearing and unreasonable.

This was unlike some fools who, thinking that they had a little money, were like this and that, always trying to find fault with them.

Lance was a gentleman to the point of being unlike a gangster!

They were also willing to run a little faster.

So at this time, Lance had not yet arrived. The one who answered the phone was still Elvin. “Has Lance arrived?”

“No, not yet. It will take a few more hours. What’s wrong?” Elvin glanced at the time on his wrist. They had agreed to be between eight and nine in the evening.

Mello replied, “It’s nothing!”

“Someone wants to talk to Lance. He left his phone number and name. It should be from your side.”

“Have you already made a move?”

Hearing this, Elvin roughly knew something. “Yes, we have already made a move and have caught the mastermind. But now it’s a bit troublesome what to do.”

Mello was his own man, and also a core character. Elvin did not hide anything and briefly explained it.

Mello could not provide any more suggestions for this matter. At the same time, he did not think that this problem could trouble Lance, so his focus was still on Lance’s safety.

“I’m at home. I will handle everything. you don’t have to worry.”

“You have to focus your energy on Lance’s safety. Anyone can have an accident, but he can’t!”

The deeper meaning of this sentence was that even Elvin could have an accident, but only Lance, absolutely could not have an accident.

The entire family, not to say that it completely relied on Lance, but as long as Lance fell, the Lance Family would collapse.

The reason was very simple. It wasn’t that they couldn’t find someone who was brave enough to fight, nor was it that they couldn’t find someone who was smart enough. It was that the person they found couldn’t be both brave enough to fight and very smart.

And they couldn’t find a person who could have absolute control over the development of some matters, and also couldn’t find a person who could establish a relationship with Congress.

So Lance couldn’t have an accident.

Elvin said “hmm.” “Don’t worry. I guarantee he won’t have an accident.”

He hung up the phone and returned to the window. The sky outside was beginning to get dark. There were still a few hours before Lance arrived here.

These few hours were also a torment.

The chief of the state police sat in his office and stared at the silent phone in a daze. He was thinking about how much black material Police Captain Matthew had that was related to him.

Police Captain Matthew, to be honest, was a “clever person.” He would also send a portion of his illegal gains to the chief’s side.

The entire state, dozens of branches. Even if each of these branches could only send two hundred dollars over a month, his monthly income would be several thousand or ten thousand.

A year would be seventy or eighty thousand, a hundred thousand.

Are there any incorruptible police officers in this era?

There are!

There will always be some people with a mental cleanliness. They are not willing to go with the flow, not willing to take black money, not willing to, after taking black money, to do things for others, to frame good people, to release bad people.

But these people, in this era, will absolutely not be able to reach the level of a police chief, a branch chief, or a police captain.

The reason is very simple. The time since the founding of the Federation, the time for the Federation to go from barbarism to civilization, is still too short!

How many years has it been since the slave emancipation movement ended?

For the young people, there may not be much of a feeling, but for the older people, in their past lives, they represented lawlessness!

And these people, it just so happens that now is the age or the stage where they are in power. The habits of their whole life will not change just because society has progressed.

Like the current serious problem of factionalism in the Federation. These states are controlled by some families, and there is always a possibility of them breaking away from the federal government.

Do you expect that within these states, the laws of the Federation, or rather, secular morality, can play a role in regulating the behavior of officials?

Obviously impossible!

A person cannot be selfless. The ruling class also has things they like and dislike. No ruling class can be absolutely fair. Even God has children he likes and children he dislikes, let alone a human.

So a group of people who are about the same as them, and are liked by them, have become the ruling class. Then the people below are naturally also such people.

Perhaps in the forest police department, you can find those just police officers.

But in the city, no one can do that.

The chief was thinking, if the scandal was exposed, he would also be implicated. He looked at the phone. The only thought he had now was that this Mr. Lance could be better communicated with, to avoid this terrible situation from occurring.

In the section branch, Police Captain Matthew was also sitting in his chair. He was also looking at the phone. He hoped and was afraid that it would ring.

He hoped that he could hear the chief tell him that everything was solved.

He was afraid of hearing the chief tell him that he was finished.

Just by sitting, he was constantly sweating. He suddenly thought of some of the suspects they had arrested. They would sit in the interrogation room. Even if you didn’t ask him, didn’t interrogate him, and did nothing, they would just sit there, sweating all over and being restless, just like him at this very moment.

As for the core of all things, Lance.

He was sitting on a train, reading the latest newspaper, the Federal Post. The newspaper stated that the two neighbors to the north of the Federation had also become a little restless recently.

Lance’s expression was a little serious.

The Federation was not the only country on this land. There were also four countries in the north. All the countries had divided this land.

It was just that all along, the federal people and these neighbors had maintained a very good relationship. The developed Federation always gave them aid, which also led to the fact that many of these neighbors had run to the Federation to live.

Logically, the war in another “world” would not affect the situation here, but recently, some problems had indeed appeared in the north.

The two countries that bordered the Federation had begun to increase their crackdown on illegal border crossings. Before, the federal government had actually also mentioned to them that too many illegal immigrants from their side were crossing the border through various means to come to the Federation to work.

Considering that the overall society was still developing upwards and needed cheap labor, the federal government had also turned a blind eye.

As for the governments of the two countries, although they had said on the surface that they would manage it, they had never really managed it.

After all, to let their citizens smuggle to a more developed country to work and earn money, and then to come back and spend, was a good thing. They would not stop it.

But now they had begun to strengthen the management of the border. This was actually not a good thing.

If it were in a non-war period, this would be a good thing, but now it was wartime.

Since the Federal Post had published this report, it showed that they also felt that something was not right, and even the gentlemen of Congress had felt that something was not right.

It was just that how wrong this was, people were not yet clear.

A terrible world!

This was Lance’s evaluation. He put down the newspaper. The dining car had already prepared dinner.

No matter how terrible this world was, as long as he had money in his hands, had power, had people, had guns, it would definitely not be too terrible!

After finishing dinner, Lance lay on his bed and rested for a while. By the time he woke up again, he had already arrived at the station in New Birmingham.

The train slowly entered the station. With a “hiss,” the entire station was shrouded in steam, like a fairyland.

After a while, the steam was all blown away by the whistling wind, and only then did the people in the carriage come out. They first cleared the platform, and then Lance came out of the carriage.

Elvin was also on the platform. He walked over and hugged Lance. The next were the others, but most of them just shook hands.

The group of people, carrying large and small suitcases, walked towards the outside. As they walked, Elvin said, “Mello called in the evening. Someone wants to contact you. The other party left a phone number and a name.”

He gave the small card with these things recorded on it to Lance. Lance glanced at it. He didn’t recognize it.

“Who is this?”

“The chief of the state police,” Elvin replied.

Meeting Lance’s puzzled gaze, he explained, “I asked Clara…” he looked at Lance’s eyebrows, which were all raised, as if he had no impression of this name, so he explained, “that’s Bolton’s wife, the young girl.”

Lance showed a look of sudden realization. “I actually know this name, but I always can’t remember it. You remind me, and I remember.”

A minor character, so much so that it could not even be called a minor character’s name, he had not taken it to heart at all. He just remembered “something-la.” Anyway, when he needed to know, someone would remind him.

“Does she know?”

“Not her, but her cousin’s family. They are not clear whose name this is.”

“Then I asked the state police officer we caught. He told me that this is his chief’s name, probably.”

Lance emphasized a key word. “Probably!”

Elvin shrugged. “That’s what he said. I have no way to verify it here…”

He had actually also asked the leader of the local Empire immigrant gang, and they also didn’t know.

This was actually not strange. This was like someone suddenly asking you who a certain department head of the provincial government was.

Unless you are a person who is very concerned about these people, these matters, otherwise who would care about the name of a person who has no interest relationship with you at all, and will not have any connection?

Lance nodded. “It seems they are a little anxious.”

The group of people left the station. The train had arrived in New Birmingham a little earlier than expected.

If they were leaving the station in Golden Port City now, it would definitely still be a little lively, but this place seemed very deserted. However, there were also some people who were lingering here.

When they saw such a large group of uniformly dressed people come out, they subconsciously avoided their gaze, not wanting to cause trouble.

But in the dark of the night, under the streetlights, that touch of bright red was also deeply imprinted in their minds.

Elvin had gotten some large buses. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to fit so many people. Now they had no aversion to large buses.

The atmosphere of the Lance Family was good in this aspect. Under Lance’s leadership, they would never feel that they were superior and had to take a small car.

A small car could be done, a large bus could also be done. Even if they were asked to run, they had no problem.

Elvin had already rented the few vacant villas around the villa. The development of New Birmingham was very slow, and there were many vacant houses in the villa area.

These houses were all affiliated with a real estate company. When they heard that someone was willing to rent, the real estate company didn’t care at all what these houses would be used for. To be able to get money was the real benefit.

Elvin had specially prepared a villa for Lance. Because he had slept before, Lance was not sleepy, nor was he tired.

He simply washed up, sat in the living room, picked up the phone, and dialed this number.

So late, it was unknown if there was anyone on the other end of the line, but Lance believed that there must be someone on the other side.

The facts were indeed as he had guessed. After the phone had rung for a while, it was picked up.

“Mr. Lance?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

Lance had really called. The chief, for a moment, did not know what to say. He was silent for a dozen or so seconds, as if he were thinking about how to open his mouth.

Before he could open his mouth, Lance had first heard a sound of an inhale. “I’m sorry we have to communicate under such circumstances. It was only today that I learned that my subordinates had accidentally intercepted your goods transport.”

“Accidentally?” Lance emphasized this word with some of his tone. “We have about twenty good hands on our side, plus the driver. This cannot be explained by ‘accidentally’.”

“If we only had one car, one driver, and you had stopped them, if you explain it this way, I can accept it.”

“But you killed more than twenty people and then hid the goods worth two million. This is not an accident, but intentional, Mr. Chief.”

The chief was clearly trying to resolve this matter peacefully. “Mr. Lance, we are willing to compensate. You name the conditions.”

“How about it, let this matter end here.”

Lance was a little surprised by this state police chief’s initiative to lower his stance, but if he could solve all the trouble without having to make a move, he was also supportive.

This way, he could also sell the other party a favor, and there could be a series of cooperations in the future.

The chief of the Likalai State police had cooperated with him quite well, and it had a very obvious effect on monopolizing the road smuggling in the state.

Lance thought for a moment. “First, this batch of goods, however much it is, spit out the money to me, or spit out the goods to me.”

“Then, the people who planned and participated in this matter, hand them all over to me to deal with, including that Police Captain Matthew and his men.”

If the chief could still agree to Lance’s previous request, he roughly knew how much of a family fortune Police Captain Matthew had, and at the same time, he also knew that this batch of wine itself could be sold for a lot of money.

Now that the other party had come to his door, there was no need to be secretive. He could just directly connect with those bars, and he himself would not have to pay much money.

But the second request, he could not agree to.

Once Matthew was handed over, or even if he just had this thought, and Matthew found out, it was very likely to cause a series of problems.

At the same time, his own authority was also challenged. Just because of a conflict, he had handed over his own subordinate. How would others see him?

You know, he had dozens of branches, dozens of police captains under him. The reason why he could sit firmly in today’s position, besides having someone above, was also that there were people below who supported him.

What is the most feared thing in this kind of administrative work?

It is to be made a figurehead!

He thought for a moment. “Mr. Lance, this request is a little… I can’t agree to it for him. Can we change it?”

“For example, I help you to vent your anger, to break an arm, or a leg of his?”

Lance said in a very calm tone, “I’ve lost dozens of brothers!”

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, blood for blood. This is the iron rule of the Lance Family. There’s no room for discussion on this!”

(End of a Chapter)