Empire of Shadows

The midday sun was shining right into the entire alley. The people walking on the sidewalks on both sides were heading towards the intersection. On the road, a convoy was slowly moving forward.

The young police officer looked at this scene, which was devoid of any sound, and subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

He looked at his partner with a somewhat horrified look in his eyes. A look of fear and unease also appeared on the face of this old police officer. This was the first time he had discovered this in this partner, who could be considered both a teacher and a friend.

This old partner had been working in New Birmingham for more than twenty years, and he was about to retire.

In the past, even if there was a gang firefight, he would very easily, with a cup of coffee in one hand and a donut in the other, wait for them to finish their firefight, and only then would he very easily walk over to clean up the mess.

Before, the young police officer had asked him why he wasn’t afraid.

The old police officer had told him with a smile that these people were just pretending to be scary. They weren’t really scary.

If you are afraid of them, their evil will be magnified.

If you are not afraid of them, their evil will shrink, and on the contrary, they will be afraid of you.

He had always felt that his partner would never be afraid, until this moment.A large group of people in iron-gray trench coats, wearing soft felt hats of the same color, were walking on both sides of the street.

The red silk hatband, the red tie, the red pocket square, had added some magical chemical reaction to this dull, iron-gray tone.

They were not walking fast, but of course, not slow either, as if they were escorting the convoy in the very middle of the road.

For some reason, at this very moment, in the young police officer’s mind, a passage from a textbook that he could remember a part of from his high school years had appeared—the emperor’s knights were protecting the emperor!

He felt a chill run down his spine, and then goosebumps all over his body. Seeing the other party approach, he even slowed his breathing a lot.

No one had said to stop them, and no one had said to arrest them, even if some of them still had some bloodstains on their legs, on their bodies.

The police officer in charge of guarding here suddenly shouted loudly, ”Quickly, move the roadblock!”

The police officers around him had almost subconsciously begun to obey. They lowered their heads and ran to the side of the roadblock, picked up the roadblock, and placed it on the side of the road, not at all out of place.

The onlookers in the distance, who had been chattering before, were now all silent. Some were so scared that they had even turned and gone to find a toilet!

The Lance Family, these ”men in gray,” had brought them too much shock, in just these short thirty minutes.

The police officer, with some nervousness, took the initiative to go up. It was one of them who had handed over to him before. He had a smile on his face, not at all the solemnity and sense of justice that a police officer should have when meeting a gangster. There was only a ”don’t mind me” kind of thing that made people feel both comical and silent.

”Mr. Ennio, when are we going over?”

Ennio glanced at the watch on his hand. ”Our brothers will be finished soon. Give them ten minutes!”

”After their trucks come out, you go over. This way we can try to avoid some of the scenes that would make us both very embarrassed.”

”At that time, you go and be in charge of the registration. See how many citizens have suffered losses.”

”The windows that were shattered by bullets, and the walls that might have been shot into, the damaged ceilings and furniture, some of the things in that restaurant, and the damage to the vehicles parked on the side of the road.”

”Tally it up, and then hand it over to me, or to any of the Lance Family. We will complete the compensation as soon as possible, within three days.”

Ennio smiled and patted the police officer’s arm. ”Don’t be nervous. We are not enemies!”

The head car of the convoy passed by here. The police officer subconsciously held his breath and looked at the head car.

There was no Lance in the head car, only Hiram. He was picking his nose.

The police officer closed his eyes. He felt that all of this was an illusion. When the second car came over, while exhaling, he took another deep breath and held it in his chest.

He saw Mr. Lance sitting in the back seat. It seemed that Lance had also noticed him. The gazes of the two met in the air. The police officer, while lamenting Lance’s youth, had lowered his head and had avoided Lance’s gaze.

All of this was seen by the young police officers around. In the face of the scrutinizing or questioning gazes of these gang members, the killing intent that had not yet dissipated on their bodies made everyone feel a chill from the bottom of their hearts!

The young police officer had also, at the first opportunity, moved his gaze away, because he couldn’t stand it anymore.

Those people were clearly about the same age as him, but the things in their eyes made him feel fear, a kind of disregard for life, a kind of authority that could take his life at any time!

He felt uneasy, afraid, and wanted to leave.

His partner’s situation was about the same as his. He had long since lowered his head and was looking at his toes, as if he were completely immersed in his own world!

Ennio patted the police officer’s arm again and then left with the main group.

After this group of people had gone far away, the police finally all breathed a sigh of relief.

The young police officer couldn’t help but ask, ”Are the gangs from these big cities all... so oppressive?”

Before, he had felt that there was not much of a gap between a big city and a small city, but at this moment, he had realized that in the end, it was different.

His partner was holding a cigarette in his mouth. Now he was in urgent need of the comfort of nicotine. After several attempts to light it had failed, the young police officer had handed him a pack of matches, and only then had he successfully lit his cigarette.

He took a deep drag with a ”hiss.” His whole person seemed to have relaxed in an instant.

He squinted his eyes slightly. It seemed that he could still see the traces left by the group of people as they walked.

”I don’t know what the situation is on the Likalai State side, but the big gangs on the Red Rock City side don’t have this kind of an aura.”

The police officer had also come back to his senses from that emotion at this time. He shouted loudly, ”What are you all standing around for?”

”Now, according to what I told you before, get ready to register the losses of the public. The Lance Family will make compensation within a few days!”

The police let out a listless ”oh.” To be honest, they were very discouraged.

They were clearly the guardians of this city’s public security, but at this very moment, in front of the Lance Family, they felt a bit like clowns.

More than ten minutes later, five trucks left here at a not-so-fast speed. The truck beds were dripping with water, and there was also a strong fishy smell. The people all took the initiative to avoid a great distance.

Then the police and the public had curiously come to the middle of the street and had seen the ground that had been professionally cleaned.

Besides the fishy smell of internal organs mixed with blood, which had not yet dissipated in the air, there was almost no fresh blood or body fragments to be seen.

If it weren’t for the dense, white-dotted bullet marks on the ground, which were like hailstones had hit the ground, they would all have believed that no gunfight had taken place here.

The police quickly began to work. They needed to register the losses of these citizens.

A little later that day, the Lance Family had issued a statement.

From midnight tonight, New Birmingham would be under the management of the Lance Family. All gangs, street families, and community gangs had to go to the designated place of the Lance Family to register.

A portion of the gangs needed to be disbanded on the spot. Some could be left, but they had to obey the rules of the Lance Family.

They had also promulgated many new ”laws and regulations,” for example, that the entire city was prohibited from having any serious cases for any reason.

Robbery, home invasion, kidnapping, these all counted.

No matter who it was, as long as this one was triggered, they would be hunted down by the Lance Family.

Secondly, the gangs in New Birmingham were no longer allowed to collect protection fees, and at the same time, they were not allowed to have gangs force girls to walk the streets.

Of course, the girls who voluntarily went to walk the streets had to go to the designated place of the Lance Family to register. The Lance Family would issue them a work permit, and would also arrange for them to have regular physical examinations!

They had promulgated many new rules, which gave people a somewhat absurd and comical feeling.

Clearly, every single thing they had said was almost all related to crime, but the public did not hate it, let alone hate it. On the contrary, they felt that this gang was more useful than the federal government, than the police!

And it also said on it that if someone was threatened, beaten, or harmed by a gang, or was forced to walk the streets, they could come to the Lance Family’s side to complain. The Lance Family would accept these cases and, in their own way, help the people to get justice.

This was so popular!

At a time like this, to expect the police to be able to solve your troubles was less useful than to expect God to send down a thunderbolt!

The things that had happened at noon today had made them realize that they now had a new choice.

Besides choosing to call the police, to pray, there was also the choice to complain.

Clearly, this should have been a tragic invasion by an outside gang, but for some reason, it had ended in this way.

In the afternoon, after the young police officer and his old partner had finished their work and had handed over the notebook in their hands to the branch director, just as they were about to leave, the director had asked them to stay for a while.

”After work today, don’t go back first. I have something to announce.”

The young police officer just nodded. He still didn’t know what was happening, but the old police officer was a little curious. ”What happened?”

A smile appeared on the branch director’s face, but it quickly faded. ”Don’t worry. It’s a good thing!”

The old police officer asked for a while more. The branch director was stubbornly unwilling to say it now, saying that he was afraid it would affect the work of the police officers in the afternoon.

After all, the city was still a little bit chaotic. A large number of gangs were disbanding or fleeing. They were no match for the Lance Family. Either they would disband, or they would get out.

So there was a little bit of a small riot in the city, but it was not very big.

Lance was very good at dealing with these problems.

To be honest, New Birmingham only had a population of 200,000, not even as many as the Empire District, so he didn’t need many people to be able to manage this place properly.

At 6:30, the police station began to hand over their work. At seven o’clock, it was officially the end of the shift, and the start of the night shift.

At around 6:40 or 6:50, the branch director walked into the office hall. He clapped his hands, and had everyone stop their work and look at him.

”I have two things to announce... to be precise, three things.”

”The first thing, we have reached a cooperative relationship with the Wanli Labor Service Company. The entire police department of New Birmingham has formed a cooperative relationship with them.”

”According to the standard of twenty-five dollars for each of us, they will sponsor us with fifteen dollars in cash every month, and ten dollars in food stamps.”

”The food stamps can be used in their designated supermarkets!”

All the police officers looked at him in disbelief. Someone couldn’t help but shout, ”This fucking sounds like a story. You’re not kidding, are you?!”

A small place, the interpersonal relationships are not as stiff as in a big city. The branch director had also come out of them.

He said with his hands on his hips and a curse, ”Would I fucking joke with you? Do you think I have nothing to do like you?!”

This made all the police officers excited. An extra twenty-five in income a month. This was something they had never dared to think of in the past!

And of this twenty-five, fifteen was in cash, and ten was in food stamps, all of which they could use in their daily lives!

In fact, they were not clear that the Likalai State side had given all cash, but soon their side would also start to be replaced.

The Lawrence Farm was still expanding. Some things were not suitable for brewing, so these things would be sold to the outside through the ”Lawrence Supermarket.”

Originally, they had not considered this matter, but Lance had thought that this was actually a good opportunity. To export agricultural products was equivalent to giving them money to buy their own goods.

This was much better than just giving them money, and them using it in other places.

Because the food sold to them itself had a profit, this portion of the profit Lance would certainly not want, but it was also not wasted.

This profit had eventually flowed to the Lawrence Farm, which was equivalent to the meat rotting in the pot, and at the same time, it had also expanded the fame of the Lawrence Farm.

No one would think that this practice of his was a clever one, because everyone had to eat to live, to drink water or beverages. These were all necessary for their life, so food stamps in the Federation could also be considered an alternative hard currency.

Looking at the cheers and applause of the police officers, after they had been lively for a while, the branch director raised his hand. ”The second thing, still the Wanli Labor Service Company, they plan to build a batch of apartment buildings, to be rented out for free to our police officers who do not have their own houses.”

”If anyone needs to apply, you can go to Wendy’s side to get an application form later. After you’ve filled it out, hand it over to me.”

The old police officer pushed the young police officer. ”Aren’t you still renting a house?”

The young police officer came back to his senses. His expression was a little complicated. ”But I heard... that the parent company of this Wanli Labor Service Company, the Wanli Group, is the industry of the Lance Family.”

The old police officer gestured for him to look around. ”Do you think it’s meaningful for you to resist alone?”

”And to be honest, from some of their measures, I don’t think they are at all like a traditional gang. Maybe... we can observe them without prejudice.”

”To see if they are really, as they say, different.”

The young police officer, after thinking seriously for a moment, nodded. His expression was still as complicated as ever. ”I will.”

After the police officers had cheered for a while more, the branch director said, ”The third thing, we will also form a police officer’s club. They have built a very large club in the eastern suburbs, and there are even some children’s amusement facilities inside. At that time, you can take your children there to play.”

”I hear they even have a nursery. If it’s not convenient for you to take care of your children, you can hand the children over there.”

The police officers began to cheer again!

New Birmingham actually had no entertainment activities, and it was a small place in itself. After the police officers got off work, they would go home.

In the past, they might still have gone to a bar for a sit-down, but now, they could only go home.

Now they had a new place to go, whether it was after work, or on holidays.

In fact, everyone knew that this was Lance’s way of buying them over, but who could refuse?

The Wanli Labor Service Company, and its parent company, the Wanli Group, were not criminal groups. These were all legal, tax-paying enterprises.

For an enterprise to be willing to donate to the local police system was the enterprise’s own business. It was fine if you yourself didn’t want it, but others were willing to accept the gift. You can’t change everyone’s mind.

And this was fucking not a small amount!

Twenty-five dollars a month, and a free apartment. Who the fuck could refuse this?

The young police officer looked at his colleagues around him running to get the forms, asking how to get the 15+10 subsidy. He suddenly felt that he could no longer distinguish what was justice and what was evil.

He silently stood in line and began to get the application form.

New Birmingham only had three branch offices, and the three branch offices were not very large, with a total of only about 1,300 people.

For each person, Lance would subsidize them with forty dollars a month, which was only a little over 50,000.

Many did not even need forty dollars.

This little bit of money had bought all the police officers, and had made them form a tight interest group.

If anyone were to oppose him, then before they became his enemy, they would first become the enemy of his colleagues.

Because what this person was going to do was to smash everyone’s rice bowl, not to deal with Lance!

The mayor was also paying close attention to some of the trends today. When he learned that Lance had easily wiped out the leaders of several gangs, and had also killed all their remnants, not being killed, but running away, he was at a loss for words for a moment.

Not only was the young police officer’s three views challenged by this matter, but the mayor’s three views were also challenged!

He had thought of cleaning up these gangs before, but he had never been able to do it.

Whether it was because someone had tipped them off and they had always been able to run away at the last moment, or because the damn judicial process had always allowed them to escape the punishment of the law, in short, these evil forces were like stubborn tartar, which could not be removed no matter what!

He had thought that these gangs would accompany New Birmingham until a very, very long time in the future, but today, they had become a thing of the past.

He began to doubt whether the system of the federal government was appropriate. If the system of the federal government was appropriate, why was it that a problem that everyone could clearly see could not be solved within the system?

For a moment, the mayor also fell into deep thought.