Empire of Shadows

Mr. White looked at Lance, unsure how to address him. Lance proactively resolved his dilemma, "Just call me Lance."

He walked into the yard, took out a cigarette, and asked, "Want one?"

Mr. White looked at the exquisite packaging and nodded, "Sure..."

He looked at Lance, somewhat cautiously, "Lance?"

Lance didn't feel particularly fond of or disgusted by Mr. White.

If his positive feelings could be quantified, he would get a passing grade.

Because Mr. White agreed to his manipulation in obtaining federal citizenship, not everyone could accept someone replacing their child's identity and living in this world.

For some particularly sentimental people, this is completely unacceptable, even if they are not wealthy!

Because once they do so, it means that their child, who may still be alive, is completely dead in their minds, which is difficult for people to accept.

Until they see their child's body, almost most parents will not, and are unwilling to admit that their child is dead.

They believe that their child is just living elsewhere, that they still live in the same world.

So Mr. White got at least a passing grade.

"Yes, that's good."

He walked to Mr. White's side, took out two cigarettes for himself, and gave him the rest, "Officer Braden said you were looking for me."

Mr. White took the cigarette and took one out, then put the rest in his pocket, "I don't have your contact information, so I can only contact you through Officer Braden."

Lance patted his head, "I forgot about that, do you have paper and pen here?"

"Yes."

Lance wrote a phone number for him, because they were about to move to a new house, so the previous phone was no longer needed.

At the same time, he also left the phone numbers of both companies for him.

"Sometimes you can't reach me, you can have them tell me, I will know."

"So...you..."

He looked at Mr. White, signaling him to talk about his purpose in looking for him.

Mr. White reacted after a while, "I'm a little embarrassed to say, I want to borrow some money, Lance."

"Borrow some money?"

Mr. White looked back at the dark window, "My wife is sick, I need to get her medical treatment."

Lance didn't ask if the previous two hundred dollars had been used up, but asked about Mrs. White's situation, "What's wrong with her?"

Mr. White looked very calm, "She tripped and fell when she went to the basement, causing multiple fractures and being on the verge of death."

"The money you gave me before is almost used up, and the doctor told me that if I can't pay the remaining money, they may stop the treatment."

Lance was puzzled after listening, "Don't you have insurance?"

Mr. White shook his head slightly, "She doesn't."

It is indeed a troublesome thing, "Is she in the hospital now?"

"How much do you need?"

Lance, smoking a cigarette, walked towards the back of the house.

This is the front facing the street.

Although the sun is not as strong as it was two months ago, it is still a bit hot and uncomfortable on the body.

There is a small forest behind the yard, as well as many low shrubs, and it is much cooler in the shade of the trees.

What made Lance feel a little strange was that the lawn and shrubs in the front yard were neatly trimmed, but the backyard seemed a bit messy.

There were many leaves on the ground, and some of the leaves had even started to rot, and no one cleaned here.

Fortunately, the lawn here is not lush, otherwise there would be no place to set foot.

The cool air from the shade of the trees made people feel comfortable, even though he hadn't walked over yet.

"Wait!"

Seeing Lance walking towards the backyard, Mr. White suddenly shouted.

Lance stopped and turned his head, looking at him strangely.

He was stunned for a moment, "I mean we can go inside and chat."

Lance also glanced at the dark house and frowned slightly.

He stood on the side, not leaving there, and there was a little shade here.

"No, I have something else to do later, tell me how much money you need."

"About three hundred dollars, I'm sorry, I will pay you back."

Lance took a deep breath of his cigarette, "Listen, Mr. White, I will have someone go to the hospital to see Mrs. White, this money is for Mrs. White's treatment."

"If you lie to me, you will be in trouble, I hate being defrauded or blackmailed, do you understand what I mean?"

Mr. White seemed a little scared and nodded, "Of course, I promise."

Lance stared into his eyes for a while, signed a check for three hundred and fifty dollars, and handed it over, "Use the rest to get something delicious for Mrs. White, fruits, beef, tell her to wait for me until things settle down on my end, I will go to see her."

Regardless of Mr. White's repeated thanks, Lance returned to the car.

He looked at Mr. White's back as he walked into the room, vaguely feeling a little strange.

A shadow flashed past by the window on the second floor.

When Lance looked again, there was nothing.

He rubbed his eyes, maybe the sun was too strong and he was seeing things.

He didn't take this matter to heart, and asked Morris to take a trip to see if Mr. White was lying.

If he lied and planned to blackmail him with the matter of his identity, then experts would continue to wonder why the water level of Angel Lake has been rising continuously this year.

He had a simple lunch at the company at noon, and he called Sean over and asked them to write an announcement at the company's entrance, roughly meaning that illegal immigrant workers registered in Wanli Labor Affairs Office must wear uniform clothing.

Of course, this uniform clothing is free, but only for the first set.

If they lose their clothes, then they must buy a new set themselves to work, and the price is one dollar per set.

This price is not expensive, but it is definitely not very cheap.

Compared with the clothes in the alleys at the entrance of the port area, which were stolen from somewhere and only cost twenty or thirty cents each, one dollar a set is indeed not cheap.

There, one dollar could buy at least three sets of clothes!

But considering that a set will be issued for free, some people who just saw this news are still very happy.

This measure will be implemented from mid-November.

Lance briefly told others his thoughts, and given their blind trust in Lance, they all thought there was no problem.

He ate lunch and slept for a while, and around two o'clock in the afternoon, Lance came to Mr. Chobaff's office.

This time when he saw the old man, he looked even more haggard.

Obviously, from the outside, he looks no different from the past, but you can feel that the twilight on his body has become heavier, and he has also become a little... decadent.

"Lance, please sit down."

Mr. Chobaff used the word "please".

He looked at the assistant, "Pour us some wine."

The assistant went to the bar, and Lance sat on the sofa, opposite Mr. Chobaff, "You don't look well, did something bad happen?"

Mr. Chobaff sighed heavily, "More than just bad?"

The assistant walked over with two glasses of wine, and both of them said "Thank you".

Mr. Chobaff picked up the glass and took a small sip, "I encountered a big trouble, for which I may lose a lot of money."

"Actually, money is a small matter, what really hit me hard was the attitude of the federal people."

"I don't know who to trust, and who can provide me with some help. I thought about it and finally thought of you."

He looked at Lance, Lance maintained a reserved smile, "If even a big shot like you can't solve it, then a nobody like me has even less of a way."

Mr. Chobaff didn't speak, took another small sip of wine, "Let me tell you about my trouble first."

"Please speak."

He roughly explained the ins and outs of the matter, "The rainstorm was too heavy, they just delayed on the road for a while, and the wine was taken away."

"Lance, only four people know about this matter, including you, I hope..."

Lance immediately assured, "No one else will know."

His eyes flickered with light, he didn't expect that batch of wine belonged to Arthur, and was mortgaged to Mr. Chobaff.

He suddenly wanted to laugh, but it was not good to laugh at this time, so he could only hold back, "So your current problem is that they want this batch of wine, but you can't get it out?"

Mr. Chobaff nodded vigorously, finished the wine in his glass in one gulp, and then looked at the assistant, "Give me another glass."

The assistant hesitated a little, "This is your fourth glass this afternoon."

"Go pour it for me."

He rarely increased his tone.

Imperial people especially like to pay attention to education, perhaps this is where he lost to the federal people - federal people are more shameless.

The assistant had no choice but to pour him a little more, but only a little, not much.

Lance leaned on the sofa, crossed his legs and thought, no one urged him, but obviously, as time went by, Mr. Chobaff began to gradually be disappointed.

But thinking about it, it is also true, how could a young man like Lance solve such a thing?

Just when he was about to say "Thank you for coming, although you didn't help, but thank you for talking with me for a while, it made me feel better", and end this conversation, Lance suddenly said, "Actually, from my point of view, this matter is very simple to solve."

"Since that batch of wine never existed from the beginning, then it's better to let it continue to disappear."

Mr. Chobaff suddenly came to some spirit, "Can you tell me in detail?"

He looked at the smile on Lance's face and subconsciously said, "I will pay you some price."

Originally, Lance planned to provide him with this idea for free, after all... he had already received 460,000, and logically speaking, Mr. Chobaff had already paid the money.

But now that he was offering it, Lance couldn't exactly refuse, could he?

That would be unreasonable.

However, he didn't ask how much it would be. More was always welcome, and less wouldn't be a problem either. Besides, Mr. Chobanov certainly wouldn't be stingy.

"Mr. Chobanov, thank you for your generosity."

"Since they irresponsibly transferred the empty warehouse to you, then you can also irresponsibly transfer the empty warehouse back to them."

Seeing the puzzled look in Mr. Chobanov's eyes, Lance lowered his voice slightly, "After transferring ownership, set a fire…"

"You know, alcohol is flammable. All you need to sacrifice are some empty bottles."

It took less than two seconds for the look in Mr. Chobanov's eyes to change from confusion to horror.

The assistant also looked at Lance in shock, as if saying, "You must be out of your damn mind…"