Empire of Shadows

A ham, tomato, and egg sandwich is much better than dry bread.

In the afternoon, a group of young people walked down the street, holding freshly made ham and egg sandwiches from the bakery, each face radiating a smile called "happiness."

They were poor, and even if the poor could afford a ham and egg sandwich, they wouldn't, because rather than spending fifteen cents and not even filling their stomachs, they would more likely choose to spend five cents to fill their bellies.

Life is not a romantic thing.

Especially when you are poor.

If someone tells you that even a poor life is romantic, then you should think about what you have that they might covet.

A path full of infinite possibilities and vitality, or a valley that can be developed for multiple purposes.

The tests you have to accept in life are not just the determination to keep going in a difficult life, but also thoughts, and even a bottom line.

These young people in their twenties, who had probably only ever eaten beef costing a dollar a pound, were eating ham for the first time. Although there were only a few thin slices, it was enough to fill them with new hope for the future.

"It's so delicious.", Ennio, whose cheeks were already bulging, couldn't help but exclaim, "I've never eaten food with this kind of flavor, it's much better than I imagined!"

He looked down at the sandwich, "I can't quite describe what the taste is, there's a bit of a smoky flavor, and a very special aroma that keeps coming out of my mouth."

"Even the air I breathe out now smells like ham!", he breathed out some air, smelled it, and almost felt nauseous.

The mixture of bad breath and the taste of ham made him lose his appetite for a moment.

Compared to Ennio's desire to show off, Maurice didn't say anything. He ate very carefully. Although his mother's ability to earn money was not bad, he had never eaten a ham sandwich either.

This taste made him… feel a sense of unreality, and some desires grew in his heart.

If he had more money, would he and his family be as happy as he was now?

The other young partners also echoed his sentiment. This breakfast cost them more than a dollar, but they didn't feel it was extravagant, because they now earned more than ten dollars a day.

Averaging out to about two dollars per person.

With a daily income of more than two dollars, enjoying a delicious meal for fifteen cents was not a big problem.

After eating the sandwiches, the young people stood at the entrance of the alley. Ennio took out cigarettes from his pocket and gave one to each person. Then everyone leaned together and began to smoke.

Arriving in this alley, which was destined to be full of "money-making opportunities", Ennio knocked on the wooden door. With a click, the small iron plate was pulled open, and a pair of eyes appeared behind the door.

"We're here to have some fun. We were here just yesterday, you should have seen us.", Ennio looked at his companions and chatted in a very familiar tone.

The doorman closed the peephole and opened the wooden door. It was someone they hadn't seen before.

He looked a little serious, scanning each of them impolitely before slowly moving half a step aside to give them space to enter.

Ennio's gaze lingered on him for a moment, then he led his companions into the casino.

The strong man didn't close the door immediately, but walked outside to look around before returning inside the wooden door and locking it.

As the group walked down the stairs, they didn't notice that it was unusually quiet here.

Yesterday, they could hear the noisy clamor from below when they were halfway down, but now, only the echo of footsteps remained.

When they arrived at the casino, Ennio looked at the empty casino in a daze. There wasn't a single gambler here.

Several thugs were sitting or standing by the gambling tables, and the dealers were clearing up the various gambling games.

In the very center of the casino, a guy was sitting leaning forward on a sofa, playing with a pistol in his hand.

Ennio already felt that something was wrong. He planned to retreat, but at this time, the strong man guarding the door had blocked the stairs, and they couldn't escape.

The casino boss sized up these young people. He recognized Maurice; he often saw him in the casino.

He might have seen some of the others somewhere else; they looked a little familiar, but not many.

He leaned back into the sofa, "Yesterday, you provided loan services to my customers in my casino."

This was a declarative statement in the affirmative form, full of an unquestionable tone, "You didn't follow the rules, you crossed the line."

The thugs all stood up. Some were holding baseball bats, and some even had daggers in their hands. These young people were terrified!

Ennio's body trembled slightly, although he had fought for his little friends in school before, which might have been the most violent thing he had ever done.

Perhaps in their eyes, that was a terrible thing, but when you really put it in front of these lawless people, it was just a child's play.

"I… I don't know what the rules are, this is my first time doing this.", Ennio tried to explain.

The casino boss took out a half-smoked cigar from his pocket, relit it, and raised his chin, "Give our little friends a lesson…"

… …

In the afternoon, Lance had just returned from the Commercial Service Bureau. He had registered a labor service agency, "Wanli Labor Service Agency", whose business scope was to recruit workers and rent out labor, although it wouldn't be written so directly on paper.

There were many such companies in Golden Port City, and some of the successful ones had already grown to a large scale.

Judging from the city's supporting services and the city's own development, it might be a little late to do this now. The biggest piece of cake had already been scooped into someone else's plate.

But for Lance, it wasn't too late, because he had his own resources.

As soon as he returned to the company, he saw Maurice squatting at the door, and Mello was comforting him.

"What's wrong?", Lance walked over, and the two immediately stood up, which made Lance notice that he was bruised and swollen. It looked like he had been beaten up badly?

"Who hit you?", he asked.

Maurice gritted his teeth, "The casino boss. He said we shouldn't be doing business in his casino. He beat us up and took away… all our money. The others have all been detained. He told me to come and find you, saying that you must come forward, otherwise they will kill Ennio and the others!"

As he said this, his body trembled slightly, possibly because he was recalling the terrible events, or possibly because of anger.

Lance frowned as he listened. Going to someone else's casino to do business… that was indeed a bit inappropriate, but if they were going to beat them up for it, take away all their money, and threaten to kill these young people, it didn't seem quite right. It should just be a kind of intimidation.

He handed the materials in his hand to Mello, "I'll go take a look."

Mello took the materials and was a little worried, "Will it be dangerous?"

Lance shook his head, "Don't worry."

He let Maurice get in the car, and then drove away.

Along the way, he had Maurice explain the events of the past two days in detail, including what happened after they were caught.

"…My father always loses when he gambles, and every time I go, I see a lot of people lose all their money and go around borrowing money from others, so I thought we could create some business there."

"…We were beaten up, they weren't willing to listen to our explanation, and then they asked us in detail which company we were from. We didn't say."

Mosley secretly glanced at Lance, "Ennio didn't say it at first, but later his arm was broken, and he couldn't help but say it."

Lance drove without expression. He listened and nodded. Before long, the car stopped outside Lezhu.

"Wait for me in the car for a few minutes, I'll be right back."

Regarding Ennio "betraying" himself, he didn't think it was excessive. In a sense, he and Ennio were only partners, and the other party had no obligation to sacrifice himself to protect him.

So when he heard that Ennio had his arm broken before he revealed himself, he was not only not angry, but felt that this young man was a bit stupid.

Anyway, it was something that was going to be said sooner or later, so why bother waiting until after suffering a lot of torture to say it?

But perhaps this was also some kind of belief, persistence, of the young man.

"Hi.", The beautiful woman at the front desk saw that it was Lance, raised her hand in a very perfunctory greeting, and then lowered her head to fill out the crossword puzzle in the newspaper.

Lance came to the lounge. Fordis was playing pinball. When he saw him coming, he immediately put down the game in his hand, quickly walked over and hugged him, "I didn't hear you were coming?"

"Those few young men of yours were a little rough on the last order, not as meticulous as you do, but fortunately, the matter was resolved perfectly."

Lance nodded twice. He wasn't here to talk about this, "Can I borrow a gun?"

Fordis's expression froze slightly, and then became serious, "Weapons are no problem, do you need my help?"

Lance shook his head, "A little trouble. A few friends went to do business and were detained by an underground casino. I plan to go take a look."

Hearing this, Fordis was a little surprised, "If that casino is not authorized by the Koda family, you can actually report it to them."

"They will give you a sum of money and then help you solve this trouble."

This was a good idea. Lance asked, "How long does this process take?"

"About two or three days. They sometimes act more like a government agency than an organization. They are not like a gang at all in terms of efficiency!"

"Time is of the essence, I can't wait that long. I'll get him out first, and then consider the rest."

"Oh, and it would be best if you could give me a dagger."

Fordis thought for a moment, "If you need our help, be sure to tell me. I believe even the boss would be happy to help you!"

As he spoke, he turned and walked towards the courtyard, "Come with me..."

They crossed the courtyard and arrived at the second floor he had never been to before. A burly, bearded, and portly man wearing overalls was working at a manual machine tool.

"Do you have a safe handgun?" Fordis asked.

The bearded man glanced at him, "For your use?"

Fordis tilted his head. He casually took a revolver from a nearby cabinet, walked to the "counter," and placed the gun on it.

He leaned on the counter with both hands, tilting his head slightly. "Magrey Police Defense Revolver. Cops are using this thing. A shot to a vital point can be fatal. No serial number. I've re-rifled the barrel to ensure no other cases will involve you."

"Of course, I hope that when you get caught, you don't involve us."

A stranger coming to get a gun definitely meant he was going to "work," so he had to make some things clear in advance.

Lance nodded, inspected the handgun, "Can I fire two shots?"

The bearded man pointed to a target hanging on the wall in the distance, "Of course."

After paying one hundred and fifty dollars, Lance left with the gun, a box of bullets, and a speed loader.

Fordis gave him a very ordinary dagger, though ordinary, it was very sharp.

Morris watched Lance come back with the handgun, and that sense of panic suddenly disappeared.

In his heart, a gun represented absolute power!