Empire of Shadows

After crying for a while, Jamie had vented most of his emotions. He suddenly felt a little embarrassed, but also worried, "Even if we don't want to settle it this way, what can we do?"

"You know, the Federation people are prejudiced against us."

It's not prejudice, it's discrimination.

Someone once tried to call the police after being robbed, but the illegal immigrant worker refused to say where he came from and didn't have money to buy a ticket home, so he was sent to an immigration prison.

And the dockworker who robbed him didn't even go to a quick court. The police station used 'Don't give us any more trouble' as a reprimand, ending the case.

Not only do the local workers discriminate and harm them, but even the police, who represent justice, discriminate and bully them.

This makes many illegal immigrants feel desperate, because here, even the police and the law are on the opposite side of them. They don't even have the most basic human rights.

Even legal immigrants who have obtained immigration status are treated differently when faced with many problems.

This country has never been as good as it claims to be.

The first person to refuse to compromise said a name, "Mr. Lance, let's talk to Mr. Lance."

Jamie was a little uncertain, "Will it work?"

"I mean, I'm not Ervin or the others, and I'm not that familiar with him. Will he stand up for me?"

The man's voice was firm, "We are Imperials, that's enough!"

Meeting that firm gaze, Jamie hesitated for a moment and agreed.

Before lunch, they returned to the outside of the office. At this time, the office was still very lively, and many people came to inquire about the work clothes.

Many people were dissatisfied that the office only accepted work applications from illegal immigrants. They said that they were also willing to work at the office. These were legal immigrants or local workers who had legal work status.

Lance had Sean appease everyone's emotions and began to think about this matter.

His original intention was to give these illegal immigrants a sense of collective honor through uniform work clothes, so that they could be more united around him.

But now it seems that just this kind of benefit has already attracted some legal immigrants and local workers, which made him have to expand his thinking. Perhaps he could open another office.

However, there are also some problems. It is not as easy to do labor dispatch work for legal workers as it is for illegal immigrants.

For illegal immigrants, they only need a stable income, and they don't care about an extra dollar or less.

But local workers and legal immigrants have requirements for wages. If they cannot meet their demands on wages, it will be difficult to get a commission from them.

This is a very simple matter. They find a dock job themselves, thirty-three dollars. Lance helps them find one, also thirty-three dollars, but taking away one dollar of their income, they will definitely not be happy!

But illegal immigrants are willing. Let alone one dollar, they are willing to give two, as long as they have a stable job and a stable environment.

Now there are job opportunities everywhere in Goldport City. Lance felt that even if he wanted to do it, it wasn't now, but he could build a good relationship with these people, and one day he could use them.

So he let Sean handle this matter, just telling everyone that he would consider it. As for when he would consider it, and whether he would do it at all, that was another matter.

"...You don't know how ridiculous their expressions were!" Gerard said to Lance with a smile, talking about the situation when he left Mr. Bolton's house.

Mr. Bolton's family treated him like a cash cow. It was okay at first, but from August, they started to find various reasons to get more money from him.

Gerard's salary was not very high in the first place, and he was still being exploited by them. In the end, he could only have ten dollars left in his hand each month.

Even so, Rob (Gerard's cousin) often asked him to borrow money, one or two dollars, and never returned it.

It can be said that the whole family was trying to suck his blood.

Fortunately, he finally left now, and Lance had already begun to gain a small reputation among Imperial immigrants. Mr. Bolton was a pragmatist, so he tried his best to keep him.

Since he really couldn't keep him, he let him leave, and didn't say anything unpleasant, just told him that if he couldn't survive outside, he could come back.

Rob still has a lot to learn from Mr. Bolton in terms of being a villain.

"...So, what should I do next?" Gerard yearned for a new life, and there was no exploitation from Mr. Bolton, no sarcasm from Rob, and no contempt from his cousin Nancy.

He felt unprecedentedly good, and everyone was a good friend.

Lance looked Gerard up and down, "First, tell me what you want to do?" In fact, he already had some ideas in his mind, but he still had to listen to Gerard first.

Gerard was a little confused, "I don't know either, maybe... you can just arrange a job for me?"

Lance talked about some of the current work content, and the two discussed it, but there was actually nothing that Gerard could do.

Or rather, there was nothing that he particularly liked. He came here hoping to work with everyone, not to really come here and then go somewhere else to be an ordinary worker.

The only jobs left for Gerard seemed to be those copywriting jobs, and he might not even be able to do them well.

As for being a thug?

Looking at his delicate appearance that made it difficult to distinguish between male and female, perhaps the person he hit would take the initiative to ask him to "hit harder."

This made Gerard a little frustrated. He thought he could do something for Lance.

Looking at his somewhat disappointed expression, Lance then put forward some of his own ideas, "I have a not-so-mature suggestion, maybe you can consider it."

Gerard looked at Lance, "You don't have to comfort me. I really can't do anything well. Why don't I just clean up for you? I'm good at that!"

At Mr. Bolton's place, he did all the cleaning, which was one of the costs of his lodging.

Lance shook his head, "Why don't you listen to me first?"

Gerard calmed down, and Lance gave him a path that he had never thought of.

"You should be a star, Gerard."

Gerard widened his eyes and couldn't believe his ears, "You mean a star?"

"Me?"

"Me, be a star?"

"God, I've never considered these!"

Lance felt that this idea was very feasible, "You are very handsome, handsome to the point of being beautiful. I know you may be a little sensitive on this issue."

"But, Gerard, you can't deliberately avoid the advantages God has given you. You should make the most of your strengths."

"You know, now the status of Imperials in the Federation is very low. Coupled with the damn emperor's mental illness, the entire Federation is unfriendly to us."

Gerard nodded, "What I understand is indeed the case. They always look at us with different eyes."

He had legal status, but he still faced the same problems, being humiliated by some colleagues in a "joking" way.

One of the most excessive even asked him if he would shout like a woman when having sex!

At that time, he was furious, but there was nothing he could do, because the other party followed up with a sentence like "I'm just kidding, you won't be angry, will you?"

He could understand the difficulties of Imperials in the Federation.

Getting Gerard's approval, Lance continued, "So we must not only become strong ourselves, but also find a window for the Federation people to understand us. Stars, as public figures, are a good breakthrough."

"They will be curious about your life, curious about your ethnic group, and these will become opportunities to change the current situation of Imperial immigrants."

"Of course, the prerequisite is that you don't object to this."

Listening to Lance's words, Gerard suddenly felt that this seemed like a good choice. He was also a victim of discrimination, and he empathized.

"Can I really do something for all of us and change our situation and environment?"

Lance was very sure that idols are a special kind of power, and more importantly, this is a more advantageous "home court spokesperson". Those Federation native fans will speak for him.

But Gerard also had his own worries, "But I can't act, I can't sing, I can't do anything."

When he said these words, it meant that he agreed, in fact.

"These are not problems, I will arrange for someone to teach you, you are still very young."

"And I will help you find opportunities to be on the big screen. No matter what the final result is, at least we have tried, right?"

Gerard took a deep breath, "Lance, I'll listen to you, I believe you won't harm me..."

Lance was about to talk to him about his subsequent arrangements and ideas when the office door was knocked on. Hiram poked his head in and looked at Lance, "Something happened, I arranged for the person to be in the yard."

The yard refers to the yard behind the house facing the street. Lance nodded and called Gerard to come to the yard together.

Jamie wasn't wearing clothes, still only wearing a pair of underpants. His friend told him that only in this way could Mr. Lance see how miserable he was.

Lance frowned when he saw Jamie's appearance after entering. Ervin wasn't there, and Hiram had become the number one lackey, but Lance didn't like him very much.

It wasn't that he didn't like him as a person, but that he didn't like him always wandering around him. Hiram's hair-tossing looked too stupid, which would affect his image.

But Hiram felt that his hair-tossing looked very handsome. According to him, there were even girls who screamed because of his hair-tossing.

Lance thought it was possible they were disgusted, and not because they thought the action was cool.

He brought Lance a chair. After he sat down, Hiram lit the match ahead of time. Although he looked stupid, he was okay sometimes.

Lance took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a puff. "What happened?"

Jamie's emotions had stabilized a lot by this time. All the grievances turned into hatred. He gritted his teeth and told the whole story. Lance listened quietly.

Gerald, who was on the side, couldn't take it anymore. "That's too bullying!"

After he finished speaking, he realized that Lance was in charge here now. He shouldn't have spoken. He took two steps back a little embarrassed.

He was only sixteen years old. Lance wouldn't argue with him. After giving him a look that everything was okay, he looked at Jamie, "A very infuriating thing. So, what do you want me to do?"

Jamie didn't know what to say, but his companion put his hand on his shoulder, pressing him to bend down, "Mr. Lance, please get justice for us!"

Lance nodded noncommittally, "Are you sure your description doesn't deviate from the truth? You know, this is not a simple matter if I am to get justice for you."

Jamie also realized that this was the only chance for him to straighten his spine again. He even knelt on the ground, "I guarantee that every word I say is the truth. Please get justice for me."

"Get up, I'm not one of Camilla's people. I'm no different from you. There's no need for this between us."

He thought for a while, "I'll arrange this. Come over tomorrow morning before you go to work."

He looked at Hiram, "Get Jamie a new set of work clothes and take him to the doctor to apply some medicine."

Lance flicked the ash of his cigarette, "He used violence to hurt our brother, so let us use violence to make him realize his mistake."

"You are all my brothers. I want you to know that even if we are far away from our hometown, I will still take care of you and not let others hurt you for no reason."

"We don't take the initiative to hurt others, but we can't be hurt by others either. Remember this!"

After the people left, Lance called Enio over, "This time, I need someone from your side to come forward."

Enio was completely convinced by Lance, without the slightest objection, "No problem, what to do?"

"Tomorrow I plan to take care of that idiot named Johnny at the pier. This matter will definitely alarm the port police station, so I need someone to take the blame at that time."

"But don't worry, I will take care of the police station, and I will make Johnny voluntarily drop the charges, so he will probably be detained for a few days."

"As compensation, whoever does it, I will give him ten dollars a day."

After Enio finished listening, he said, "I'll do it."

Lance glanced at his arm, "Aren't you afraid that your arm will be broken again and become disabled? Then you go."

Hearing this, Enio flinched. What he was most worried about now was that his arm would be deformed, "I will go back and tell them. I believe everyone is willing to do it."

"It's best to be like this. Choose someone stronger, not afraid of trouble, and bolder. Although there is a high probability that they will be detained in the police station, the situation inside will not be too good."

Lance's instructions were very solemn. Enio nodded and said, "I understand. I'll go do this now."

Enio's group had seven people in total. In addition to him and Morris, there were five other people, who were now working here for Lance.

He briefly explained, and a person named Baker took the initiative to get the job. Lance looked him up and down. He was about 1.8 meters tall, which was considered tall in this era.

Not burly, but definitely not thin, the kind with meat on him.

Lance patted his arm, "Are you afraid?"

He shook his head, "Everyone thinks it's an honor to work for you, Mr. Lance."

"Call me Lance!" Lance emphasized, threw him a cigar, "Tomorrow morning we will go to the pier, find the person who bullied us, and then I will break his arm. Then the police will arrive."

"You just plead guilty, and I will arrange everything else. They will probably detain you for three days to a week. I'll give you seventy dollars."

"That's too much, Lance," Baker felt that this extra income was a bit too much. "You've already taken good care of us."

Lance raised his hand to interrupt him, "If you don't take it, how will others take it if something like this happens again in the future?"

"You paid some price for us. If you don't take it, others will think it's my problem, not yours."

"This is not a good habit, Baker. You should take it, and if someone asks you, you can also tell them that this is what you deserve."

Baker scratched his head at this, not quite understanding why he had to do this, but he still agreed.

Lance directly gave him seventy dollars, regardless of whether he would be detained for that long, and then asked Hiram to prepare.

This stupid donkey face is annoying sometimes, but he's really insightful.

As for Lance, he directly called Officer Fellen and made an appointment to meet him at the nearby coffee shop.

"This is for you, Mr. Lance," As soon as Lance sat down, the boss sent over a cup of coffee and a plate of pastries. Lance was a little surprised and looked at him suspiciously.

The boss was a middle-aged man in his forties, who looked very amiable. "Thank you for running the office next door, which has made our business a lot better. I don't know what I can do for you, so... this cup is on me."

"Thank you," Lance raised his coffee, "Very good."

The boss didn't bother him too much and left quickly.

About ten minutes later, a police car stopped outside the coffee shop. The boss watched Officer Fellen get out of the car and was about to greet him and tell him that he had paid his money for this month, but Lance raised his hand in advance and said, "Don't worry, he's looking for me."

"Bring three more cups of coffee, one to drink here, two to take away, and a large bag of donuts. I have to do it myself this time."

The boss smiled and went to make coffee. He felt that Lance was a real decent man, and communicating with him would give him a special feeling.

It's like... being respected!

Even though the owner of the coffee shop was a Federal person, he still lacked respect.

"What's the matter?" Officer Fellen's partner was in the car and didn't get out.

He walked over holding his armed belt. Lance pointed to the chair next to him, and he sat down accordingly.

"I have something I want you to help me with tomorrow morning."

At this time, the boss came over with the coffee, and neither of them continued to speak. After he walked away, Officer Fellen asked, "What's the matter?"

Lance didn't answer what it was, but took out a stack of money and counted out forty dollars, "An idiot provoked my people. I plan to teach him a lesson, so as not to report the police and disrupt my plan. So you and your partner can just come over then."

"Everything will go according to normal procedures. The person will definitely be locked up in your branch. You arrange for someone to take care of him."

"I will make that idiot choose to drop the charges within a week and settle it privately."

After Officer Fellen listened, he smoothed his hair, "This may not be easy to operate..."

Lance put another ten dollars on the stack of money, now it was fifty.

Officer Fellen looked stunned for a moment, "I don't mean that."

Sixty.

"Lance..."

Seventy.

People's thoughts are sometimes so strange. He pursed his lips, "I..."

Eighty.

He still wanted to say something, to see if he could add more, when Lance put a pistol bullet on the banknotes, and then looked at him...