Empire of Shadows

Walking into the separate room, Senator Cleveland sat on the sofa. He rubbed his temples, then glanced at the receiver resting under the green-shaded table lamp on the small square table next to the sofa.

The cord of the receiver connected to the phone next to it. This room was set up for private calls, or for a few individuals to hold quiet conversations.

A lounge, a VIP room. There were many names and ways of calling it, and they weren’t necessarily the same in different regions or countries.

He picked up the phone and put it to his ear. ”What is it?”

His chief aide told him it was a call from Lance. He hadn’t wanted to answer at first, but then he thought that for Lance to be able to call this number at this time, it meant that Tom had given him the number.

Tom had now become the number two figure in his aide team, and he also trusted Tom very much.

Since Tom felt it was necessary to make this call, he still chose to answer it.

”Something happened these past few days. If you’ve heard anything, you should know that I beat up Paige Perez, a minor member of the Perez family.”

Senator Cleveland nodded. ”Yes, I heard. What about it?”

”They attacked my bar, the one at the embassy. Then I sent them all to the police station, and I also attacked the Perez family members who were going to the police station to coordinate their stories.”Senator Cleveland frowned. ”Don’t tell me you fired a gun in the city.”

The place he was at now was a little distance from the city. New Golden City, after several expansions and developments, the price of houses and land in the city had become more and more outrageous.

This also created a common belief among the federal people—old New Golden City residents were never short of money, because their houses were in the city.

In Golden Port City, a single-family house in an ordinary community had a starting price of 3,000 to 5,000, due to the economic recovery and other reasons in the past few years. Of course, this was referring to an ordinary community.

For a mid-class community like Pricilia, a single-family house could start at 5,000, 7,000 or 8,000, or even over 10,000.

The villas in the Bay Area were even more expensive.

The price of houses and land in the entire Golden Port City was considered among the highest in the Federation, but compared to New Golden City, it was still quite a bit lower.

A single-family house in an ordinary community in New Golden City, over 200 square meters, which might also have a few square meters of lawn in front of the door, could sell for 7,000 or 8,000, or 8,000 or 9,000, which was twice that of Golden Port City.

Many old New Golden City residents lived in the city. These people basically owned at least one house, so they were actually very rich, as long as they were willing to sell the house they lived in or the vacant ones.

The ”city” that people refer to now is mainly based on the second re-expansion and planning map of New Golden City, which is in the old city.

Some government departments are concentrated here. If a gun is fired in the city, it will cause unnecessary trouble.

He was worried that Lance had fired a gun.

”I’m not that stupid, Your Excellency Senator.”

”They just had a car accident.”

”I just wanted to tell you about this, to avoid, when others pass the news to you, you feeling that you are the last to know.”

Senator Cleveland immediately understood Lance’s meaning. His meaning, to put it plainly, was to ”leave a record,” and to also tell him what Lance had done these past few days, and what consequences it might bring.

Thinking of this, the senator chuckled twice. ”Very good. A car accident is very good...”

He paused as he spoke. In his mind, the images of the parade of people holding placards high and shouting ”Abandon the war and embrace peace” in the street, and also the sons of bitches behind these people, immediately appeared.

Including those guys in Congress. Even though they clearly knew that the war only had benefits and no drawbacks, for their own self-interest, they wanted to stop the war.

These people really deserve to die. They really should be sent to the electric chair.

Whether it was the politicians who, for their own interests, clearly knew they shouldn’t do it but still did, or the people who were seemingly innocent in their parades and demonstrations, they all deserved to die!

”How did you do it?” A lot of images flashed in his mind. Then he suddenly asked this question.

Lance didn’t react at first, and replied, ”What?” Then he quickly realized that Senator Cleveland was probably asking ”how he created this car accident.”

So Lance also didn’t hide anything and recounted the whole process. A person who was terminally ill and didn’t have many days left to live.

Now, medical technology has no way at all to deal with cancer. Moreover, once cancer has obvious symptoms, it is basically in the mid-to-late stage, and the speed of development is also very fast.

It can be said that as long as you are diagnosed with cancer, the remaining lifespan is probably only three months to half a year.

Some people are lucky and can hold on for a little longer, but only a little. It is impossible for them to recover to the level of a normal person. They will only die painfully in a very short time.

Now some ”strong painkillers” are specially developed for cancer patients, because in the final stages, some cancer patients will feel unbearable pain.

They need these special painkillers, to let them, at least when they are near death, to be more calm and composed.

However, these special painkillers require money, and also connections. At the same time, many cancer patients also hope to leave something for their families.

Lance hired these people. They all had a salary of about seventy or eighty dollars a month. When needed, he would arrange for them to do these things. It could be said to be synonymous with being inexpensive and good quality!

Listening to Lance’s words, Senator Cleveland showed a thoughtful expression. After a while, he said, ”Come to my office tomorrow. I have some things I want to talk to you about.”

”You don’t have to worry about this car accident tonight. It’s just a car accident.”

”The attack on the embassy is a very bad thing. I will have someone take this matter seriously.”

He knew the purpose of Lance’s call, and he was also willing to help him solve some small troubles that were within his power.

Perhaps the Perez family, for many people, including some government officials, and even the Police Chief, was a ”character” that was not easy to mess with.

But at the level of the president, and the senator, the Perez family was just a gang.

This country, in the end, was still ruled by the Presidential Palace and Congress. It could even be said more arrogantly that it was ruled by Congress.

After Lance’s goal was achieved, he exchanged a few pleasantries and then hung up. Then Senator Cleveland dialed Tom’s number, asking him to express his own stance.

Sometimes Tom’s stance represented the Senator’s stance.

As for the Perez family’s retaliatory actions, Senator Cleveland’s thoughts were actually the same as some others. The Perez family was not Lance’s match before, and they are not now, and it is even less likely they will be in the future.

Their demise is only a matter of time, so he didn’t take it to heart.

He put down the phone and didn’t immediately return to the main hall outside. Instead, he leaned back on the sofa and used his palm to rub his hair back over his scalp.

And in this action, there was also a pressing motion on his scalp, which made him feel some comfort and ease. Because Lance would help him vent his anger tomorrow, his mood quickly stabilized.

It wasn’t until he had sat here for seven or eight minutes that he had reopened the door and returned to the main hall, rejoining the discussion.

He didn’t know, and didn’t want to know, that Tom had already, at the first opportunity, called the Police Chief, explaining the situation here—the Senator was very concerned about this matter, and was receiving constant progress updates.

When the Police Chief heard this, he silently sighed. He knew that the Perez family’s days were probably not going to be easy.

After all, a big shot had already spoken. If they couldn’t produce enough sincerity to have their interest representative in Congress speak up for them, then their gray and black industries in New Golden City might suffer a heavy blow.

He sat there, thinking for a long time, then shook his head, and had the officer on duty outside his office call the chief in charge of the interrogation.

Different departments had different managers. The chief in charge of the interrogation soon entered the office. ”You called me?”

The Police Chief nodded and didn’t ask him to sit down. ”Make a surprise inspection of those young people we just arrested...” he looked at this chief in charge of the interrogation, walked over, and pressed his finger on the badge on his chest. ”Make absolutely sure they tell the truth!”

The chief in charge of the interrogation nodded. ”I know what to do.”

They were all old partners. He knew what the chief wanted to express. He would do as told.

”Very good. Then go ahead...”

After he had arranged all the necessary matters, he finally returned to his own lounge. He changed into his pajamas. He could finally sleep.

He was dead tired. These past few days, dealing with Lance and these people had made him somewhat neurasthenic. If he didn’t sleep soon, he would lose his life!

He hugged his pillow and lay prone on the soft bed, quickly falling into a dream. It seemed that only in his dreams could his depression be dispelled.

...

At the same time, Fran had already arrived at the hospital. He had gone to see Boni at the first opportunity.

”Mr. Boni’s condition is not very good.” The doctor who was in charge of treating his fracture-related surgery was talking simply with Fran, who had come to visit Boni.

”His brain has suffered a severe impact. We don’t know when he will wake up.”

”It could be three or five days, or it could be three or five years, or even a lifetime!”

”As for whether he can completely regain consciousness and his personality, honestly, we have no certainty at the moment. We can only ensure that his vital signs do not disappear. Maybe in the future, with new advances in science and technology, it will be possible to wake him up.”

”It’s also possible that he’s lucky and will open his eyes and regain consciousness soon.”

Boni’s parents and siblings were all crying in the ward. Fran glanced inside. He also really liked this young man, Boni.

Sociable, cheerful, outgoing, and with some sense of humor.

The most important thing was that he was very useful.

He knew what to do and what not to do.

People who can do this are actually very few in this society.

And Boni was also considered a direct family member. Paige hadn’t been discharged yet, and now Boni was hospitalized too. What would people think of him and the Perez family?

He had lost face again.

”Did you hear what I said?” The doctor, seeing Fran seemed distracted, actively asked.

Fran reacted. ”Yes, I’m listening.”

The doctor’s observation was still very meticulous. He could see that this person hadn’t paid attention to what he had said at all.

”In short, the patient’s condition is like this now.”

”Either you arrange for people to do some things that are within your means for him, and then pray that he can recover soon.”

”During the time he is in a coma, he needs a lot of help with rehabilitation, to ensure that if, by any chance, the development of science and technology really leaps forward one day, and solves these diseases, it will not be impossible.”

”Or, you can change to another hospital and have a look. Maybe other expert doctors have different opinions from mine, and there might be a better chance and treatment method...”

Fran returned to the ward from outside. People’s gazes were all focused on him, especially Boni’s parents and family.

His mother’s eyes were red from crying. His siblings were also quietly sobbing. Only Boni’s father was relatively normal, but only relatively.

”Boss!” Fran’s father was also a little choked up. ”I heard this wasn’t a normal car accident.”

He stared intensely into Fran’s eyes as he spoke. Fran felt a little uncomfortable under his gaze, and averted his eyes. He walked to the side of the hospital bed, and reached out to stroke Boni’s cheek. ”There is a high probability that the Lance Family did this. I will make them give you an explanation!”

Only people with a certain status in the family could enter the ward. Many others were in the corridor outside the ward, or even outside the hospital.

The people in the ward, and some people in the corridor, were all looking at him at this moment. He knew that he couldn’t back down. He had to make Lance pay the price!

Boni’s father nodded. ”We all believe you can do it, Fran.”

”Please avenge Boni!”

Fran nodded. Then he left in big strides. He had to find a way to show Lance some color.

Along with him was his cousin, the family’s first university student, who was now also serving as a relatively important think tank.

The two didn’t speak in the car before and after. After the car had started for a while, he finally asked, ”What do you think we should do?”

”Maybe we should directly deal with Lance. If we kill him, the Lance Family will be completely finished.”

Fran was the one who had said this. He now truly hated this person, Lance White. If he could, he wanted to kill Lance directly.

As long as Lance was killed, everything would be solved!

His cousin, after a short silence, said, ”If you succeed in assassinating Lance, that’s fine. But what if you don’t? Have you considered the consequences?”