Empire of Shadows

Vargas was the nominal owner of the Horseback Mountain Silver Mine. The property rights document bore his personal name; the entire mine was his.

Of course, everyone here was his employee.

It sounded incredible, and this kind of thing would definitely never happen in the Federation.

Regardless of who was behind him.

Those top financial groups standing in the clouds, or the congressional interest groups, they wouldn’t dare to do this.

Because they knew very well that as long as they did this, there would be the risk of losing it forever.

You can hang the ownership of a mine under a company’s name, but you shouldn’t hang it under an individual’s name.

It seems like ”individual holds shares in the company, the company holds the mine’s property rights” and ”individual holds the mine’s property rights” are no different, but in fact, the difference is huge.

The former has many measures to ensure that the individual, the equity, and the company are closely linked, while also being able to be separated into independent individuals at any time.

But an individual holding the property rights of a mine is an established fact that cannot be changed. There are no means to prevent or pre-process it.So this kind of thing couldn’t possibly happen in the Federation, but it could happen in Rapa, because the ruling group had absolute power here!

However, this also gave Lance some opportunities to operate these things.

The world is just this magical. The rulers try every means to put state-owned assets into their own pockets. You wouldn’t dare to write this in a novel, but in fact, it happens every day!

Vargas had his own office at the mine. Although he hardly ever came over, there was still such an office.

The houses and space here were not valuable. The construction cost, besides the cement and steel bars, was almost non-existent.

Finding some miners to build a house for free, even the labor was saved, so there was no shortage of his office.

It was just that his office was not in the best location, but on the north side, away from the sun. No matter how the sun moved, it was impossible to give it a single ray of sunlight.

The office didn’t get many visitors, but it was often cleaned. When Lance came in, there wasn’t much dust.

There were no books on the bookshelf, and no documents on the desk. Everything looked very clean, excessively clean, not at all like a ”boss’s” office.

When the manager and his group came over from another building, they saw those strangely shaped cars. Their gaze lingered on the cars, and the uniformly dressed people beside the cars, for a moment.

His eyes held some doubt. ”Are these people Vargas’s?”

He stopped his steps slightly, turned his head to look at the two confidants behind him. ”Why do I feel that something is not right?”

The discipline brought about by the uniform attire created a sense of pressure, which made him feel a heavy atmosphere, and some unease.

He looked at one of his two confidants. ”Go and tell the mine guard team to pay attention. If anything happens, I need them to be able to control the situation.”

He didn’t have the mine guard team act immediately. He wasn’t sure if these people might have been sent by the Great President Diego, because he had just contacted the Great President.

Or perhaps these people were from a certain minister?

He wasn’t sure.

After his confidant had run off, he led the other person towards Vargas’s office with a heavy heart. His originally brisk pace had become so heavy that he couldn’t lift his feet.

The closer he got to Vargas’s office, the more he instinctively resisted.

However, he also knew that resistance was useless. He needed to face it. What if it wasn’t as he had thought?

Maybe it was a big shot sent to protect the silver mine?

Saige City at the foot of the mountain was already in chaos. They must have known that there was a silver mine on the mountain, and also that a large amount of silver was being produced here every day.

Silver is wealth. What they were digging was not ore, but wealth, banknotes.

Maybe someone had set their sights on them, so they had arranged for some formidable characters to come over...

After convincing himself, the manager took a deep breath. The heaviness on his face was immediately filled with a smile. He pushed the door open with a loud laugh and entered. ”My old friend, why didn’t you notify me in advance...?”

After pushing the door open, his words had paused before he had finished, because he had seen a young man sitting behind Vargas’s desk.

And the owner of that chair was standing by the young man’s side, his waist slightly bent, with the appearance of a minor character.

The smile on his face froze for a moment. Countless thoughts, at this moment, had sparked, collided, and exploded in his mind.

Is he from a minister?

Or from the president?

He wasn’t sure. After a brief lapse, his face was once again piled high with smiles. ”This is?”

Vargas turned his head and glanced at the manager. This guy, on the surface, seemed to respect him very much, but in fact, he didn’t take him seriously at all.

In the past, he had no way, and he didn’t come to the mining area also because he didn’t want to be angered. But now, his thoughts were a little different.

A few more smiles appeared on his face. Compared to the manager’s hypocritical smile, his smile seemed much more sincere.

”This is Mr. Lance White, the mine’s future...” he suddenly choked, not knowing what word to use to indicate Lance’s identity, but soon he had thought of a word from a magazine he had read, from the Federation, and had said it, ”...Boss.”

”Yes, Mr. Lance will be the new Boss of the mine, the owner, the proprietor. Have I expressed myself clearly enough?”

A storm had been stirred up in the manager’s heart. How, without a sound, had the mine changed its boss?

Then what about him?

What about the people under him?

Don’t be fooled by the fact that the mine belongs to the president. But these people, they also rely on the silver mine to make a lot of money. Every one of them is rolling in it.

The management, the mine guard team, the logistics, every department that can get a hand in, can get money from the mine!

It’s impossible for Diego to know what the actual monthly output is. Isn’t it just whatever they report?

For Diego, as long as this number is not too low, he can accept it.

And how did they test this bottom line?

In fact, it’s very simple. Just directly report a relatively low number. If Diego doesn’t ask, then this has not yet touched Diego’s bottom line.

If Diego asks, they will find an excuse to brush it off. Then it means that this value has exceeded his bottom line, and the next time they will adjust it upwards.

A mine shaft collapse, the workers are rioting, there is a problem with the food, which has led to diarrhea, an infectious disease has broken out among the miners...

They always have a reason to pull down the output. In one after another of the seemingly inadvertent probings, in the end, they know what is the lowest value that Diego can accept.

And then on this basis, they would float it up by 20% to 30%, and the rest would be theirs.

Diego can earn 200,000 to 300,000 Federal Sols here every year, and they can earn 70,000 to 80,000, or 100,000.

Distributed to each person, the one who gets the most gets 10,000 or 20,000, and the one who gets the least also has 1,000 or 2,000.

If Diego had sold this mine to this young man in front of him, this would mean that they would all be about to lose this stable income, and at the same time, they would also be about to lose this small kingdom that belonged to them!

The smile on the manager’s face could no longer be seen. His facial muscles were twitching from time to time. It was just February, and the temperature here was only 11 or 12 degrees, but the sweat on the manager’s head, on his face, was all quickly squeezing out of his pores, and then flowing down.

”Damn it!”

He cursed in a low voice, and then he frowned again. Just two days ago, he had told the Great President Diego about the riot in Saige City. The great president had not shown any intention of having sold the silver mine to someone else.

How could it be so fast, in two days, that he had sold the silver mine?

Thinking of this, his face changed slightly. His gaze, as he looked at Vargas, was also filled with a hint of scrutiny and suspicion. ”How come I didn’t know that this mine has been sold?”

He meant that the great president had not notified him about this, so he felt that there was a problem.

Vargas didn’t beat around the bush with him either. ”I am the owner of this silver mine. I have sold it to Mr. Lance. What, do I need to notify you when I sell my own things?”

When he had said these words, a very happy emotion was surging. It was as if he had been suppressed for a long time, and could finally straighten his back and let out a sigh of relief!

It feels so good!

The manager laughed. He glanced at Lance again. ”This... Mr. White, you may have run into a con man.”

Lance glanced at him. ”Oh?”

The manager walked to the other side of the desk and pulled out a chair to sit down. He was very relaxed now. ”Although I don’t know how this guy by your side has the guts to do such a thing, I can tell you very responsibly that he has deceived you.”

”This silver mine belongs to the Ravila family, which is... His Excellency the President’s family, not this guy by your side.”

”No matter how much you have paid, I can only, with great regret, tell you that you have been deceived.”

”Now you’d better grab him and force him to spit out the money... Hahaha, this is really the best joke I’ve ever heard!”

He was laughing out loud there. The tense and uneasy emotions he had originally felt had, in an instant, been relieved. He was laughing so hard that tears were coming out.

So fucking funny!

He had to tell this to others!

But as he was laughing, he felt that something... was not right. The Mr. Lance White who was sitting opposite him was not annoyed, but was sitting with his legs crossed, his hands on his knees, calm, composed, and even a little indifferent as he looked at him.

His laughter had suddenly stopped, as if someone had pinched his neck, making him unable to laugh.

His smile gradually faded, and his astonished and uncertain gaze moved back and forth between Vargas and Lance.

He seemed to vaguely realize that the situation was not right.

”I...”

Before he could speak again, Lance spoke.

”As a merchant, I trust the government’s authorization documents more.”

The person by his side had opened a briefcase. Lance took out the mine registration document and the proof of ownership from inside.

”This document, signed by the Rapa government, proves that this mine belongs to Mr. Vargas, and that he has all the rights.”

”Including the act of selling, gifting, etc.”

”I have bought it with money,” he showed the purchase contract again. ”So whether it’s the laws of the Federation, or the laws of Rapa, this mine is now my personal asset.”

”I hear that you have always been in charge of the mine?”

The manager had already stood up. He didn’t even know what his face looked like, nor did he know what emotions he should be showing. In short, he was shocked, terrified, and angry.

He knew very well that Vargas, in league with this foreigner, had taken this mine!

His expression gradually became gloomy, and also with a hint of ruthlessness. His tone was filled with a threatening taste. ”Mr. White, you’d better know what you are doing.”

”This is the property of the Ravila family, and this, is Rapa.”

”Diego Ravila, is the president of this country...”

Lance raised his hand. ”A stupid, dark, short, and fat man. What did they say he looks like?”

Lance glanced at Vargas, who was next to him. The latter quickly bent his waist. ”Mr. Lance, they say he looks like a supremely stupid, dazed penguin!”

Lance raised his chin slightly. He used his attitude to tell the manager that the words he had said could not scare him.

”I now need you to help me to gather them, the heads of the various departments of this mine, the leaders, all of them.”

The manager held back the tingling unease of his scalp and the surging emotions in his heart. He pursed his lips. ”I’ll go and prepare...”

”No!” Lance interrupted him. ”You’re not going. Make a call, and call them over.”

The manager clenched his fists. He wanted to leave this place. Only by leaving here could this matter possibly have some room to turn around. And he was not sure if this White and Vargas would make a move on them.

”I... some of them are not in the office. I have to go and find them to get them to come over.”

Vargas immediately said, ”I have a microphone for the broadcast here. As long as I turn on the microphone, the whole mine can hear!”

As the nominal manager, there was indeed a microphone here. You didn’t have to leave here. If you spoke into the microphone, the whole mine could hear.

Not only here, but also in the manager’s office, and also in two other independent broadcast rooms.

Because the mining area was not small, and there were many people, and sometimes some were still underground.

Relying on a phone or something simply couldn’t find these people. You could only use a high-powered loudspeaker.

At this time, the manager’s emotions were a little out of control. He slammed his hands on the desk. ”You have no idea what you are doing!”

”You will pay the price for this. Every one of you will die!”

He was shouting hysterically, but the people in the room were just looking at him.

Lance pursed his lips. His right index finger, which was intertwined with his hands, wagged. The ruby ring was flashing with a brilliant luster. ”You should think about yourself first.”

”Will you die before us?”

”Before we die?”

Hiram walked to the manager’s side and suddenly gave him a punch, which had made the manager immediately hold his stomach and squat on the ground, unable to straighten his back.

But soon, the physical pain had been alleviated, because a cold thing was pressed against his head.

At this time, Vargas had already found the microphone. He had turned it on and had tried it, and had patted it. A ”peng peng” sound had appeared in the loudspeakers of the entire mine.

Then he had handed the microphone to Lance, and Lance had, after a glance, had turned off the switch, and had then returned it to Vargas. ”Send it to our manager.”

”You can shout, tell them what has happened, and then your head will be like a watermelon that has fallen from a high place, or what fruit you know.”

He raised his hand and made an exploding gesture. ”It will just explode like that. You can try.”

Vargas gave him the microphone. The manager, after a short silence and thought, had turned on the microphone. ”...Come to Vargas’s office.”

He had said some of the people’s names. Vargas nodded slightly, to show Lance that these were all the people of the mine’s management that he knew.

Hiram snatched the microphone from his hand and then turned it off.

A smile appeared on Lance’s face. He pointed at the chair on the side. ”You see, people are just cheap.”

”I asked you nicely, but you wouldn’t say. You had to be beaten, and to have a gun to your head before you would.”

”Tell me, are you cheap or not?”

The manager just responded with silence, but the next second, Hiram had grabbed the grip of his handgun and had smashed it hard on his head.

Under the grip of the handgun was the magazine, which was a metal structure. This one blow was no less than hitting him on the head with a small hammer.

”The Boss is asking you, are you cheap or not?”

The manager could only hold his head, and bend his waist, wishing he could tuck his head between his legs. ”I am...”

His trusted man was already standing by the wall, his body trembling, his mind a blank.

At this time, the only one the manager could count on was the captain of the mine guard team, who would discover the problem, and then find a chance to save them.

After the broadcast had been sent out, soon someone had begun to gather towards this side. Because the supplies had been temporarily cut off, the mine had completely stopped working.

Otherwise, if the grain couldn’t keep up, there would be trouble.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that these people usually don’t treat the miners as human. That’s because they know that these miners have something to worry about, and they also don’t want to die.

After all, they are all human. If you can live, who would want to die?

But if you really push these miners to the limit, and they really make a fuss, many people will die.

So since there was not enough food, they might as well just take a rest.

The management were all in other rooms. No one had gone down the shaft. They had come very quickly.

The captain of the mine guard team, on whom the manager had placed his only hope, did indeed feel that something was not quite right, but he had not thought that this not-right-ness could be so not right!

He had, with a dozen or so of his men, walked towards Vargas’s office. As he had passed by Lance’s convoy, he had taken a few more glances, and then had averted his gaze.

Although the cars were strange, and the people were strange, it was just that.

These people were clearly not carrying any weapons, unlike him. The members of the mine guard team behind him were all carrying rifles.

Vargas’s office was an independent house, and was not connected to other buildings.

When everyone had met in front of the small building, although in their hearts they were more or less a little strange or uneasy, but seeing the captain of the mine guard team, and the team members behind him, and also the weapons they were carrying, everyone’s suspended heart had been put down.

A few of them had gathered together and had pushed open the door of the office.