Empire of Shadows

Outside the villa's main hall, the voices of officers conversing, sounds of things being moved, and the "creak, creak" of glass being wiped could still be heard.

There was a lot of ambient noise, but strangely, at this moment, in this place, the living room seemed to be enveloped in an unusual silence.

Shi Dong's cousin glanced at the gunman who was staring even in death, and slowly turned his head to look elsewhere.

"Perhaps you're braver than you think?" Lance said, crossing his legs casually, hands resting on his thigh.

The teasing and mockery on his face made Shi Dong's cousin look awful. He wanted to shout at Lance, "Try it and see," but he was afraid of the pain.

Yes, he told himself, he was afraid of pain, not afraid of death.

Everyone dies, whether from a gunshot, falling from a building, a fire, being stabbed twice by a stranger, or possibly being strangled by a lasso.

Everyone dies, and he wasn't afraid of the road he would inevitably walk; he was just afraid of the pain.

"Looks like you're not as brave as you thought," Lance gave him a very accurate assessment.

A smile appeared on Shi Dong's face, and whether it was that smile, which was not easily noticed, it stung his cousin's heart.

His cousin once again said something that made people want to laugh—

"I… I may not be sure if I'm really not afraid of death, but I can not say it, and no one can force me to say anything!"

Lance laughed twice, then sighed heavily, "Let him sober up."

Amidst Shi Dong's cousin's struggles, he was pinned to the ground by the people behind him and beaten severely.

At first, he held on, not even crying out in pain, just holding his breath and enduring the pain.

But that was only at first. After being beaten for a while, he finally couldn't help but shout, with a sob—

"Let go of my fingers, you're breaking them!"

Finally, he was helped up, and Lance asked, "Was it Bandi's order, or Gao Lei's order?"

This time, Shi Dong's cousin didn't try to be tough, "It was Bandi's order."

The mocking smile on Shi Dong's face grew stronger. He couldn't even handle this much?

He had died at least twice!

Looking at it this way, he had already done everything he could. Although he felt some guilt and felt sorry for his family, he only wanted to be true to himself now.

The little cousin noticed the mocking expression on Shi Dong's face, and he could only pretend not to see it.

Lance was very satisfied with his cured stubbornness, and said with a smile, "Are you willing to testify in court?"

The little cousin was stunned for a moment, his expression gradually turning to shock, and finally he looked at Shi Dong, whose smile had also disappeared.

One of the conditions for Lance to let him live was to have him testify against Bandi, Gao Lei, and Fleming in court.

He agreed.

Perhaps the little cousin realized this, his shocked expression gradually subsided, and finally he nodded, "I am willing."

Lance turned to look at Shi Dong, "You see, he's much smarter than you."

Besides a wry smile, Shi Dong had no other way to respond.

Actually, he didn't hate Lance that much now. Of course, if he had the chance, he would definitely still kill Lance.

But from a personal point of view, his disgust and hatred for Lance were not as strong as they were at the beginning.

When he began to understand this person from another perspective, he would discover something in him that he couldn't usually see, a kind of personal charm.

You may encounter many enemies, but there will definitely be one who is more like your friend than your friends, but he happens to be your enemy.

After Lance left, Shi Dong's cousin glared at him.

Shi Dong was a role model for many peers. In everyone's mind, he was a cold-blooded "family guardian," but now, look at what he's done.

Shi Dong sat where Lance had just been sitting. He picked up the cigarette case, took out one, and lit it for himself, "If you keep glaring at me, I'll gouge out your eyes."

The cousin obediently restrained his temper and looked elsewhere.

Shi Dong took a deep breath of the cigarette, then slowly exhaled, "After I was arrested, I was also unwilling to reveal anything."

"I was very scared at the time, but I was mentally prepared to give my life for the family, and I did it, twice."

His cousin looked over at him, with a puzzled expression, "Twice?"

"Is there a problem with my understanding, or is there a problem with what you said?"

Shi Dong shook his head, "There's no problem with either, because it really is twice."

"They strangled me to death," thinking of this, he smiled and raised his head, letting his little cousin see the still bright red strangulation mark on his neck.

"They strangled me with that kind of lasso, and then they brought me back to life."

"I felt incomparable fear. You haven't died, you won't understand that feeling. Fear is like a shape that has solidified in my body, freezing my soul!"

"Then they continued to press me for those things, and I still held on. I refused to answer, and then they strangled me a second time."

He flicked the cigarette ash, his expression appearing very calm and composed, as if he was talking about something very ordinary.

"But this time, they used ten minutes to bring me back to life."

"Ten minutes!" he nodded, emphasizing the words describing the span of time, "At first, it only took one or two minutes, then ten minutes, what about next time?"

"Twenty minutes, half an hour, or will I never wake up again?"

His eyes were slightly dazed when he said this, then he chuckled twice, "Having died twice, I've done enough for the family, and I don't deny that I'm really scared."

"If you want to laugh at me, then go ahead!"

"Honestly, I don't really care about your ridicule. I just feel… a little emotional."

"I did so many things for the family, and even faced the fear of death and endured the pain of dying twice and being brought back to life."

"They never considered how to negotiate with Lance and rescue me from this bastard's hands, but instead sent you, a piece of trash, to assassinate me!"

His little cousin immediately retorted, "I'm not trash."

Shi Dong looked at him, he was a little stubborn, but thinking of what Shi Dong had just said, he didn't dare to continue glaring at Shi Dong.

This made Shi Dong couldn't help but smile and say, "Maybe you weren't trash before, but you are now."

He paused, "In short, now that we've made a decision, you have to understand that we have no way back."

The little cousin was also silent. He wasn't as tough as Shi Dong, who could really keep his mouth shut even in death.

He felt that as long as he was about to die, he would say everything.

Since that's the case, why suffer once?

The news of Shi Dong's failed assassination quickly reached Bandi, which made him even more irritable and uneasy.

He was like a hyperactive patient, sitting for a while and feeling pins and needles under his butt, standing and walking a few steps and couldn't help but sit down again.

The chaotic emotions prevented him from getting a moment of peace, not even a moment!

When a person is about to die, there is a physiological feeling called near-death experience.

Sometimes people often say that after the elderly suddenly explain some important things, they will find a place to lie down and then slowly leave the world.

They know their death date, that is the near-death experience.

That feeling that makes you understand that your life has begun to count down is terrifying. He felt it, his life was also beginning to count down.

But not because there was something wrong with his physical functions, but because of Lance.

"Should we arrange for someone to solve Shi Dong again?"

Fleming sat across from him, asking the haggard Bandi.

Bandi shook his head, "He's on guard, sending people again won't make any sense, it will only continue to lose our manpower, don't send anyone."

"All the hope now is pinned on Gao Lei."

"If he succeeds, everything can still be saved."

"If he fails too…"

Bandi sighed, "Then it shows that fate is like this."

That's all he could say, that's all he could think, it was fate.

Just like the destruction of the three major families, now it's their turn.

Gao Lei didn't know that Shi Dong had escaped a disaster, he found a retired sniper from the army.

Attacking Lance is not very meaningful, more than one gang has tried it, but they all failed.

The bulletproof car and the subordinates around him are the strongest guarantee for him to overcome danger.

Then you can only try to snipe him from a distance.

He gave the sniper a large sum of money, solved some of the troubles that the sniper had because of lack of money, and he was willing to complete this task for Gao Lei in return.

These days the two of them have been observing the terrain together, an excellent sniper is definitely not a guy who shoots casually.

He needs to find a suitable sniping location, design an action plan, and ensure that he has time to escape the scene after shooting.

He is just helping to assassinate someone he doesn't know, he is not directly selling his life for the money Gao Lei gave him.

He is not that cheap, and Gao Lei's money is not that much.

These days they have been tracking Lance from a distance, and I have to say, Lance's defense is too perfect and too safe!

There are people on duty in the high-rise buildings around the bank and the place where he lives.

They hadn't noticed these when they were on the ground, but when they tried to find a place to shoot on the roof of the building opposite the bank, they found that there were actually people guarding the roof with guns.

Two people, standing on the edge chatting and staring at the door leading to the roof.

No matter how they try to approach him, they'll be discovered.

As for other locations, Lance's routes are unpredictable each time he goes out. Furthermore, they have no idea where Lance is going, making it impossible to prepare an ambush in advance and wait for him to walk right into it.

As long as he's in the city, the moment Lance gets out of the car, his men will appear on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.

In areas without tall buildings nearby, his men will immediately spread out, ensuring they can cover each other, preventing anyone from getting close to Lance.

Therefore, there are only two options now.

Either ambush Lance on the road again, which has a low chance of success.

Or find a high vantage point around the bank and seize that one or two-second opportunity to solve the problem once and for all…