Empire of Shadows

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Standing in the alley beside the restaurant, Mr. Anderson handed four hundred dollars to Lance, his expression cold and somewhat disgusted.

At this moment, he was certain that these two people had been sent to cause trouble.

He actually had quite a few "enemies" in Goldport City. Alberto, that greedy mongrel, was one, and his former partner was another.

His partner had recently seen that the restaurant's business had become very popular and contacted him two weeks ago, hoping to buy back the shares he had sold him at the original price.

Of course, he couldn't agree to that. So, he couldn't rule out that petty person, who had extorted him and sold him the shares when facing business difficulties, would do such a thing.

Of course, there were also some competing restaurants nearby. No one would complain about their business being too good.

They would rather have customers wait outside the restaurant for an hour before being seated than have them go to other restaurants to fill their stomachs for less money.

The better his business was, the more likely his competitors were to use dirty tricks.

He had to figure out who was behind this.

"Here's the money. This matter ends here…"

Lance finished counting the last twenty-dollar bill, stacked them up, and stuffed them into his pocket. The smile on his face reflected the sunlight, making it so dazzling. "Of course, Mr. Anderson, we are men of integrity."

Mr. Anderson felt that there was an underlying meaning in his words, but he couldn't quite grasp it. He hesitated for a moment, and finally asked, "Who sent you here?"

He thought that Lance would quibble and talk nonsense. He had thought of many possibilities, but he never expected…

"Two hundred, Mr. Anderson."

"For just two hundred dollars, I'll tell you the truth."

"No bargaining."

Mr. Anderson almost couldn't catch his breath. "I've never seen such a shameless person like you in my life!"

Lance took a step back, slightly bowed, "I'll take that as a compliment."

"I have other things to do this afternoon. If there's nothing else, we have to leave."

"My poor brother still needs to go to the doctor to check his body. I don't even know if four hundred dollars will be enough!"

Mr. Anderson's temples throbbed. He lowered his voice, filled with anger. He felt that Lance was insatiable and wanted to continue extorting him.

"I'm telling you, you son of a bitch, if you dare to come to my restaurant again, I'll call the police. I know some big shots who can make you regret coming into this world!"

After he finished speaking, he turned to leave, but after taking a few steps, he came back and used his trembling hands to count out two hundred dollars, throwing it hard on Lance's chest. "Now, immediately, tell me that bastard's name!"

Lance quickly counted the money, his smile so wide that his mouth couldn't close. "Alberto Corti, sir. I currently work for him…"

"F*ck!"

Mr. Anderson cursed loudly as he left. Elvin pulled on Lance's sleeve with some doubt. "Will Mr. Corti be angry because we betrayed him?"

"Betrayal?" Lance shook his finger, took out sixty dollars from it, and handed it to Elvin. "This is not betrayal. If Mr. Corti wants this money back, he must give Mr. Anderson enough pressure."

"If we don't say who it is, Mr. Anderson won't know where the pressure is coming from. In the end, he might mistakenly think that the mastermind is someone else."

"So, we need to let him know who is making him uncomfortable and who to go to to solve this matter."

Lance put the rest of the money in his pocket and then pulled Elvin back to the car.

The scorching sun hung in the sky, baking everything on the earth.

The moment the car door was opened, a damn heatwave instantly surged out, reminding Lance of the bakery oven.

He frowned and waited for a while before sitting down.

The scorching black leather seats made him feel so uncomfortable for the first time. He opened the car window, trying to let more wind come in.

"Next… where are we going?" Elvin was obviously also hot enough.

Lance started the car and looked in the rearview mirror, saying, "To find some people who are willing to make money…"

Soon the car returned to the side of the culvert. Lance brought some food over. The house had not been rented yet, and they were still living here temporarily.

I have to say that the culvert at this time was really damn cool. The wind of ten degrees Celsius blew out from the deep, bottomless culvert, and some thin people even had to wear two more clothes.

No wonder people lived in this kind of culvert in the summer.

Seeing Lance driving over, the partners immediately surrounded him.

"We made some money today. Melo, when it's a little cooler at night, take everyone to buy some clothes." He took out eighty dollars and gave it to Melo.

There were almost twenty people here, with an average of at least four dollars per person.

"That's too much. There's a second-hand market over at the port. You can buy a set for one dollar!"

There are many similar trading markets in the port area, because there are the most poor people here. Most of the clothes sold are recycled from other areas, or even stolen!

There are specialized thieves who steal clothes drying in other people's homes, or even steal clothes in laundromats.

Of course, some are also picked up from the garbage dumps of middle and high-end communities.

Those clothes that look more beautiful are often more expensive and are not consumer items in the port area. The port area mainly sells clothes for one dollar a set or sixty cents a piece.

Lance shook his head, "No, buy a set of decent clothes like mine. We will be entering more high-end occasions in the future. We can't dress too shabbily."

Melo had nothing to say now. Although some people asked how much money Lance had made this time, Lance just smiled and didn't say.

Elvin didn't say either.

"Do you know anyone who is from the Empire and has obtained immigration status?"

"There are things to do tomorrow, and it's a bit dangerous. People without status may encounter trouble."

"I need about twenty locals or people with legal immigration status."

The partners immediately started talking at once.

In fact, many Imperials have settled in the Federation and have also obtained legal immigration status. During the economic start-up of the Federation, these people did contribute a lot.

"Little Red Riding Hood's uncle and brother seem to be legal immigrants. I heard him say it."

The term "Little Red Riding Hood" is actually not a good word in the Federation. Don't look at some animated fables, even cartoons and movies, that revolve around it, but in reality, it is not a good word.

Some people who are always biased towards younger ages will call their prey "Little Red Riding Hood" and call themselves "Big Bad Wolf."

And this "Little Red Riding Hood" is called Little Red Riding Hood because he looks too much like a girl.

A sixteen-year-old boy, fair-skinned, thin, and even a little beautiful, was wearing a red baseball cap on the boat.

So everyone gave him a nickname.

Unlike Lance and the illegal immigrants who smuggled over to settle down, he came to join his uncle.

As for why he came on a smuggling ship, it was purely because His Majesty the Emperor had forbidden men to leave the country at will.

Without smuggling, he couldn't get out at all.

In addition to Little Red Riding Hood, several other partners provided some clues.

The problems within the Empire had actually existed for a long time, and a group of people had left the Empire and came to the Federation long ago. Some of them lived here.

Lance asked them to write down the address or phone number, and he would contact them.

Now the anti-illegal immigration trend in Goldport City has not passed. Although it has not intensified, the improvement is limited.

Many people think that this is the inaction of the city hall or the state government. In fact, this is just because the political struggle around Goldport City at the top level has not ended.

When the political struggle at the top level ends, Goldport City can return to stability in less than three days.

This time, Lance didn't bring anyone to visit Little Red Riding Hood. He went alone. It wasn't work, so he didn't need so many people.

Little Red Riding Hood's uncle's house is not far from the port area and also belongs to the place where the bottom people live, living in an apartment.

Some people couldn't help but stop and look a few more times when they saw Lance getting out of the car. There were not many people who drove to this kind of lower-level neighborhood and got out of the car.

It wasn't until they saw Lance enter the apartment building that they stopped watching and started discussing.

The address left by Little Red Riding Hood was on the seventh floor. There was a pool of urine stains in the corner of the old elevator that smelled of urine.

The sputum and toilet paper on the ground were not cleaned by anyone and remained there.

During the elevator's ascent and descent, it was possible to be kicked out and then fall into the elevator shaft.

No wonder as soon as you came in, there was a musty smell and a faint stench.

When he arrived in front of that door, he tidied up his clothes and knocked on the door.

The one who opened the door was a middle-aged man who looked thirty-seven or eight years old, with brown hair and a clean face, which was not in line with the Federal trend of liking to grow beards.

His eyes were full of vigilance and distrust. "Who are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for Geral."

"Who are you?"

"I'm from the Empire. You can call me Lance. We met on the boat."

The middle-aged man inside looked at Lance again. When he found that the clothes he was wearing added up to at least ten dollars, some of the vigilance disappeared.

He hesitated for a moment, then opened the door. "Gerard's gone to work and won't be back until evening. Come in and sit down."

Lance entered the room and looked around; the space wasn't very large.

Lance placed the fruit in a conspicuous spot on the table. He knew how to deal with these lower-class people.

"You can call me Bolton. I'll call you Lance, okay?"

"What would you like to drink?"

He walked over to the cupboard and looked inside. "I'm sorry, there's only water right now."

Bolton filled a glass with tap water and placed it on the table. "You're probably new to the Federation, so you might not know that you can drink the tap water directly here."

"And if you taste it carefully, you should be able to sense that it's actually slightly sweet."

"The people of the Federation have spent decades focusing on protecting the water quality, and they've put a lot of effort into filtration, even adding minerals to the water."

"I'm not saying the Empire is bad, but compared to the Federation, we still have a long way to go."

Looking at the glass of tap water that definitely exceeded the lead standard, Lance already knew what kind of person this Mr. Bolton was, and he knew how to communicate with him.