Empire of Shadows

At first, when he heard Lance say, ”I want to acquire your Horseback Mountain Silver Mine,” Vargas still had a ”you’re so fucking humorous” smile on his face, and he looked at Gomez.

His meaning was to ask Gomez, is this friend of yours always so... funny?

Who doesn’t know that the Horseback Mountain Silver Mine is Diego’s industry? Acquiring the Horseback Mountain Silver Mine?

Isn’t this fucking tantamount to reaching into Diego’s pocket and taking money for yourself?

What is this?

This is courting death!

But he didn’t see the expression he wanted to see on Gomez’s face. On the contrary, Gomez looked very serious, very earnest.

This made the smile on Vargas’s face gradually fade, and then he frowned, looking at Lance. ”Mr. White, you’re not joking with me, are you?”

Lance spread his hands. ”Do you think there is a single cell in my body that looks like I’m joking with you?”

He didn’t understand the joke, but he knew what Lance was trying to express.This made him become even more uncertain. He looked at Gomez again. He was now a little unclear, did Gomez know, or not?

He must have known, but why was he doing this?

To rip off a federal person?

In a daze, he suddenly thought of this possibility. The words that were originally on the tip of his tongue were taken back. His brows relaxed, and the expression on his face also completely receded.

He glanced at Gomez again. In his mind, he quickly went over the things that had happened recently.

He was a little puzzled. All he could do now was to first figure out the situation.

”Mr. White, can I talk to Gomez alone?”

Lance did not refuse, and made a ”please” gesture. He gave Gomez a look, then took the initiative to stand up and walk to the door.

Gomez glanced at Lance, and also stood up, and walked towards the door.

The two left the room and stood outside the door. The moment the door closed, Vargas couldn’t help but ask, ”What the fuck are you playing at?”

He even deliberately glanced at the closed door, as if he were sensing if there was anyone behind the door.

He took a few more steps to the side as he spoke, and continued to lower his voice, ”We all know the mine is the president’s. Have you considered what consequences this will bring to you and me?”

The property rights documents were in the company’s office. As the company’s manager, that was his office, and he also knew the password to the safe.

Just as... he had said to Lance just now, in Rapa, no one would make a fake property rights document, because it was meaningless.

Similarly, no one would care if the property rights document was lost, because it was also meaningless.

Anyway, as long as it was a resource development that was worth some money, if it wasn’t the ruling group’s, then it was related to the ruling group.

An ordinary person wants to open a mine?

Let alone in the next life, even in the life after that, and the life after that, there is no hope!

Here, everything is decided by the ruling group, so whether there is a property rights document or not, has no direct relationship with whether you can mine, and the ownership of the mine.

Gomez smiled and appeased his emotions. ”Mr. Lance is a big shot from the Federation. He plans to invest in a large number of industries here. You should have read the newspapers.”

Vargas nodded. ”I know. He has already opened several factories, but I hear they haven’t started production yet.”

The factory construction was almost done. The rest was training. The people here had not come into contact with the Federation’s advanced equipment.

They simply couldn’t go on the assembly line without training.

In fact, Lance had also, after investing in several factories, discovered a problem that he had not considered before, or rather, a problem that most people had not considered.

Although the labor force in Rapa was cheap, this labor force was all a very typical low-end labor force, a low-value labor force.

If you take the value produced by a person’s work and classify it, it is clear that the value of some people will be relatively high.

For example, a technical worker.

They occupy an important, and irreplaceable, position in the production process.

And then there is the low-value labor force, which will only engage in the simplest, repetitive labor.

These people in Rapa, they were the low value among the low-value labor force. They simply had no experience in working on an assembly line. So much so that when the assembly line started to move, soon some people would start to stare at each other, at a loss of what to do.

Now several factories were all conducting training.

To say it was training, in fact, it was just low-speed production. In the situation where the salary was reduced, the efficiency of the production could not reach the production standard of an assembly line. On the contrary, it was equivalent to Lance having given them more wages, but only getting a small amount of products, which was not what they had expected.

Gomez clearly knew some of the inside story. In a short period of time, in two or three months, there was no hope of normal production.

He could only hope that in the second half of the year, the machines could all be turned on smoothly.

He looked at Vargas. ”It’s good that you know these things. Mr. Lance is a big shot. He wants to buy the Horseback Mountain Silver Mine, so you should just sell it to him.”

Vargas frowned again. ”I thought you were planning to cheat him out of some money.”

Gomez shook his head. ”You and I are just small characters. Let’s not worry about the big shots. I know what you are worried about. This will have nothing to do with you.”

”You sell the thing to him, and then you take the money and leave this place to live a free life in the Federation.”

”Whether Mr. Lance can successfully take over the silver mine, whether he can mine it normally, and how the president’s side will deal with it, it has nothing to do with you, you understand?”

Gomez took out a cigarette and handed one to him. ”He has a profit of hundreds of thousands a year, but he only gives you 60,000 Paras a year.”

”According to the current exchange rate, that’s only 800 Federal Sols.”

”Even if you work for fifty years, it’s only 40,000.”

He took out a lighter. The two of them lit their cigarettes at the door. ”Mr. Lance told me that he is willing to pay you 100,000, Federal Sols, and also to help you to get a federal identity, so that your whole family can go and live in the Federation.”

”Even if the president gets angry, he can’t do anything to you.”

”In Rapa, he is the president.”

”On the Federation’s side, he is just an ordinary person, or even worse than an ordinary person!”

Gomez knew these people very well. He himself was a part of these people. He knew how to persuade them.

Vargas was clearly moved. Just as Gomez had said, in his whole life, he would only earn that much money.

Now this gentleman from the Federation could give him two lifetimes’ income in one go, and it was a one-time payment, and he would also help his whole family to immigrate to the Federation. This was indeed somewhat tempting.

However, he did not immediately agree. He still needed to think about it seriously for a while. Gomez did not rush him either.

In the process of thinking, Vargas kept looking up at Gomez, and Gomez also kept responding with a smile.

After a while, he suddenly asked, ”Why?”

Gomez was stunned for a moment. ”What do you mean, why?”

”Why are you betraying the president?”

”Betraying Rapa?”

Two questions, but they were the same question. This had made Gomez silent for a few seconds. ”I am not betraying anyone. I just want to live a better life.”

”Although he is the president, he is not qualified to decide my future!”

”No one is!”

Gomez suddenly became a little agitated. He walked back and forth two steps. ”That guy Diego is completely unpredictable!”

”One day he might be hugging your shoulder and calling you brother, and the next day, he might have your head to see him!”

”Just because I have been to the Federation a few more times, he is already suspicious of me.”

”And do you think, in this situation, how long can he last?”

”The federal people have already come. Who will be the next to come?”

”The officials of the Federation, or the army of the Federation?”

”He can’t hold on, and the Yalan League can’t hold on either!”

Listening to these heartfelt words, Vargas’s attitude also softened a lot. ”So you have taken refuge with the federal people?”

Gomez pinched the cigarette butt with his index finger and thumb, took a final drag, and then slammed it on the ground.

The moment the cigarette butt had touched the ground, the red light of the butt had brightened due to the vibration, and sparks had flown, but soon it had been extinguished, and had gone silent.

He exhaled the smoke that had been in his lungs. ”I haven’t taken refuge with the federal people. I have just chosen a path that is the best for me.”

”If there were other, better choices, then I would also have chosen them!”

”You should think about it carefully. Think about the recent turmoil. I have always treated you as a friend!”

”After this turmoil, Diego’s control over the areas outside of Zhuolan will gradually decline...”

Vargas hesitated for a moment. He asked a question that he was very concerned about. ”You, you all, are you not afraid that I will tell the president about this?”

This might seem like a stupid and meaningless question, but as it happened, it was the key factor in making the whole deal happen.

It’s like the bad boys on the street. When you pass by them, some might take the initiative to extort you.

They will ask you to give them some money, or to do something else.

What really makes you submit is not that you can’t beat them, but that you know that they have plenty of ways to deal with you!

They can find trouble with you, find trouble with your family, go to your work, to your school to find trouble with you, and make your life a mess!

This is the core threat, not them standing there and telling you that if you don’t give them two dollars, they will beat you up.

Vargas wanted to know, if he didn’t obey, what means did they have to deal with him?

This was very crucial.

A disdainful smile appeared on Gomez’s face. ”You have been a person of Rapa for too long, and you have forgotten that Mr. Lance is a person of the Federation, and a big shot in the Federation.”

”Even if you call Diego now and tell him what is happening here,”`

”Diego will only pretend that nothing has happened. But what you will face next, are you clear yourself?”

”Think about it. A person who dares to deal with Diego in Rapa, can he be a pure merchant?”

This was indeed a question worth pondering. Vargas’s eyes, at this moment, had undergone some changes.

A few minutes later, the two walked in from outside. Vargas, this time, still had a smile on his face, but it was much more natural than before.

”Mr. White, can I hear how much you are willing to pay to buy the Horseback Mountain Silver Mine?”

Lance looked him up and down and said with a laugh, ”100,000, Federal Sols. This is a sky-high price for you!”

It was indeed a sky-high price. According to the current exchange rate, that was 8 million Paras. He couldn’t earn so much money in his whole life!

However, Vargas said, ”It’s not enough, Mr. White.”

”After I have sold the Horseback Mountain Silver Mine to you, it will be very difficult for me to gain a foothold in Rapa. I need to leave here, and go to the Federation.”

”I hear that the consumption level over there is very high. A single meal can cost dozens of dollars. 100,000, and I still have to buy a house, will be gone very quickly.”

He stared at Lance, not hiding his greed. ”I still have an iron mine in my hands. Add them together, 300,000, and they’re all yours!”

An iron mine is not very valuable. The Federation itself is not short of iron ore. But just as the team leader had said, when the number of mines he holds has reached a certain level, the value of the mine itself, and its social value, are two different things.

”I am a person who doesn’t really like to bargain. It’s meaningless.”

”200,000. I’ll help you to get a federal identity. If you run into any trouble, I can also help you to solve it.”

Vargas did not hesitate for too long and agreed.

He had thought it through very clearly. Gomez, who could be considered to be a relatively close subordinate of Diego in the past, had now taken refuge with the Federation. What did this show?

This showed that they had already sensed that the Diego government might not be reliable.

Vargas was a distant relative of Diego’s, a very distant one, but there was still a little connection.

He had no loyalty to Diego, to Rapa. He just wanted to live a good life.

After they had agreed that at their next meeting, Vargas would hand over the property rights certificate to Lance, he had taken the initiative to leave.

To have come for a visit, and as a result, to have to ”flee,” he had to, before the whole matter was exposed, to make all the preparations.

To have his family get ready. As long as he got the money, he would leave immediately!

After having Gomez see Vargas off, the team leader asked with some curiosity, ”Mr. Lance, there are still two gold mines that are currently being mined in Rapa...”

He had not finished his sentence, but he was asking why Lance didn’t make a move on the gold mines first, or it was a kind of a reminder.

Lance shook his head. ”A gold mine is too sensitive. Diego has definitely arranged his own trusted men there.”

”The current situation is not enough to move these people. We still have to wait.”

The team leader was a little puzzled. ”Mr. Lance, there are some things I don’t understand.”

Lance motioned for him to continue. He then said, ”Mr. Gomez has mentioned that these property rights have no value. Why are you still spending so much money to buy them?”

In the team leader’s view, since these things were actually all Diego’s private property, and Diego was also the ruler of this country, then even if Lance had bought these property rights certificates, the Diego government could still, at any time, take back these assets as state-owned, or deny the legality of these property rights certificates.

After all, here, he was the one who had the final say.

Lance smiled and shook his head. ”When you are in a dominant position and are trying to reason with a person who is stronger than you, and it will harm the other party’s interests, he will only talk to you with his fists.”

”But when you have a power that is stronger than the other party, and you don’t want people to think that you are a barbarian, when you hit him, you need a reason.”

”That property rights certificate is the reason!”

The team leader seemed to have understood a little, but he had not completely understood. He just subconsciously nodded, and then slowly began to think.

The industry that Lance wanted to buy was not just a silver mine, but also some other mines.

At the same time, he had too much money that needed to be laundered. These mines were also a good channel for money laundering, and it was simple, clean, and pure.

From the ore to the smelted finished product, and finally to the sale, how much there was in total, was entirely up to the company.

Once this money had been taxed, it was a legal income.

The profit of hundreds of thousands generated every day could all be laundered through these methods. And its value was not just here, but there were also more ways to play, and more benefits!

When Gomez returned, Lance had waved at him, and then had pointed at the sofa next to him, letting him sit down.

”There is something I need you to do.”

Gomez, without the slightest hesitation, had immediately nodded and had agreed. ”You speak.”

”I want you to go and report some people...” he handed a list to Gomez. ”The people on this, are suspected of plundering the grain that the Jede Republic had aided to Rapa. Diego is looking for them, but he doesn’t know who they are.”

”You don’t have to go and report it yourself. you find a way to let Diego know that it was these people who did it. Do you understand what I mean?”

Gomez’s brain was already a little insufficient. He had even, at this time, just found out that the grain aided by the Jede Republic had been hijacked!

However, he quickly reacted. ”No problem. I will arrange for a reliable person to go and report these people.”

Lance nodded slightly. ”Do a good job. On the ship that is heading to the next era, there will definitely be a place for you!”

Gomez’s actions were very fast. That same afternoon, someone had reported these people, saying that they had seen them carrying grain and walking in the jungle, and also, some had said that they had found some of them selling grain in private. At a glance, you could tell that the source was not right.

Diego’s men were also in the process of collecting intelligence on this. Originally, these people had found nothing.

Rapa has a population of tens of millions. Who the fuck knows which people have hijacked this grain?

But now someone had reported it, which meant that their work had made ”progress.” Whether it was what they had investigated themselves, or what others had said, at least there was a target.

Diego soon saw the files of these people. After reading them, he became even more angry!

If, to say, the people who had hijacked his grain were some of the privileged class, or even other people in the ruling group, for example, a certain minister, he could have accepted it.

This was equivalent to a person on the same level, who had given him a punch, an equal match.

”But who the fuck are these people?”

”These are all pariahs!”

”They actually dared to hijack my grain?”

”It seems that people have already forgotten who this country belongs to!”

He was so angry that his chest was heaving. It was too humiliating!

He could feel the mockery hidden behind the expressions of those ministers!

These mud-legged dogs had jumped up and had slapped him. This slap had not hurt him, but it had left a mud handprint on his face.

This mud handprint, had made him even angrier than being hit!

”Have the army move out, find these people, and bring them all to Zhuolan. I want to personally watch them die in front of me!”

His eyeballs were red as he said this!