Empire of Shadows

Chief Blue of the precinct looked at Lance, unable to sense any respect from him, which annoyed him.

Everyone wants to be respected, and he was no different, but he couldn't feel it.

"Lance, I'm not talking about when it will end, but about the way and attitude you guys are doing things."

"Do you know what people outside are saying?"

"You're more useful than the police; what the police can't solve, you solve in just one day!"

"And you even shot that young man without trial, on the street, possibly under the gaze of dozens, hundreds of people!"

"You're putting me in a very passive position, Lance. This is my territory, not yours. You, and your people, are not following the rules here!"

The more recognition the residents of the Imperial District gave Lance, the more embarrassed he felt.

Think about it, how would Chief Charlie, the councilors, and the mayor view him?

People actually think that going to the Lance family is more useful than calling the police when problems arise. This is the greatest irony and mockery to him!

He would become a warm-up joke during people's conversations, and they would use a shocking opening sentence like "Do you know what?" to describe his stupidity and incompetence!

As the largest super port in the Northern Hemisphere, he would not only become the laughingstock of this city but also, with the spread of sailors, the laughingstock of the Federation and even the world.

By then, people all over the world would know that in Goldport City, there is an Imperial District.

Residents of the Imperial District don't go to the police when something happens, but instead seek help from a gangster, someone from the Lance family. As for why?

Isn't it because of corruption and incompetence!

This has too much impact on him!

Lance lit a cigarette, "So what do you want me to do?"

"The mayor asked me to end the small-scale chaos here as soon as possible, but you're telling me I shouldn't do that," he said, holding the cigarette in his mouth, picking up the phone on the desk, and pretending to dial, "Maybe I should call the mayor now and tell him you have objections to his work arrangement."

Chief Blue's face was about to turn green. He pressed down on the phone with one hand, glaring at Lance, "I didn't say that!"

Lance took the opportunity to put the receiver back, "But that's what you're implying."

"Listen, Blue, I respect you and all the police officers here, but we all have our own jobs to do now. We can be very good partners."

"I know what you want. What you want is dignity. No problem, I can give it to you."

Blue's expression softened a little. He repositioned the phone, placing it a little further away from Lance, and then lit a cigarette himself, "What are you planning to do?"

Lance talked about his plan, "I will send the captured criminals to you, and then you can hold a press conference or write a report to the higher-ups or something."

"We all know what's going on, but what you want is this dignity, isn't it?"

"Under your leadership, the crime-solving rate in this district has been constantly improving, the crime rate has decreased, the security rate has increased, and everyone says you are a capable precinct chief. Maybe when Charlie retires, you will be able to take over."

When Chief Blue heard this, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch. Then, suppressing the impulse that shouldn't have arisen in his heart, he said in a tone that wasn't complaining but pretending to complain, "I never thought about these things."

Lance didn't expose him, "Yes, you didn't think about it. You only think about seeking benefits for the people."

"How about I have someone make a letter of gratitude with at least a thousand people's signatures for you?"

Blue was stunned for a moment, not reacting for a while, "I don't understand what you mean?"

"It's just that everyone thanks you for everything you've done for the Imperial District. You have protected the stability here, protected people's lives and property, you are the executor of the constitution and justice, and they sincerely and spontaneously thank you."

Blue pondered for a while, a little hesitant, "Wouldn't that be not so good? Actually, I haven't done anything."

You damn well haven't done anything!

Lance crossed his legs. Although he was sitting in the "visitor's" chair, at this moment, he had the feeling that he was the owner of the room.

His right hand held a cigarette, and he sat sideways, tapping the table twice with his left hand, "There's nothing more dignified than this."

Then he saw a hint of shyness on Chief Blue's face, "For now... let's not."

The precinct chief's tone had softened a lot, and he began to seriously consider the ideas Lance mentioned.

The reason he was so angry now was that people said he and his Imperial District precinct were useless trash!

This kind of discussion and reputation would leave him with little room for advancement in the future, although it wasn't much to begin with, at most the chief of the city police department, but ultimately it could be improved.

He knew that Lance had big shots behind him, otherwise, he should have become a thing of the past along with the Camilla Gang. Now, bringing him here was just to knock him into shape.

To make him understand that even if big shots take care of him, in the Imperial District, in his territory, he is the one who has the final say.

But now, after Lance's combination punches, he found himself a little persuaded.

Just as Lance said, everyone knows what the so-called security in Goldport City, and even the Federation, is all about.

The federal government has so many law enforcement departments, but why can't they deal with the large and small gangs and families within the Federation?

Even the tentacles of the five major families of the Federation have reached into Congress!

The factors of the times are one part, and the other part is that everyone has not yet entered into a fierce "confrontation" process.

In this era of rapid development where everything is still primitive and barbaric, whether it is politicians, capitalists, or these gang families, their goals are very simple: to unite and obtain more wealth and greater social influence.

What's wrong with cooperating with gangs and families?

Some big shots in Congress even do business with people from the five major families of the Federation, and even some bills are promoted by gangsters!

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that they have assassinated more than one president for the big shots. In the Federation during this period, it was you in me, and me in you.

So what Lance said, arresting criminals and sending them to him, letting him grandly take credit, is not a joke, it has a very large foundation.

The big shots don't care whether you did it yourself or not, they only care whether you have completed their instructions.

Because they need your work results to deal with the higher-level big shots, and the higher-level big shots don't give a damn whether the security of a certain block is maintained by the police or a certain family.

There is room for operation!

The most crucial thing is that the cooperation idea provided by Lance is very good.

In the past, whether it was the Camilla Gang or the Red Dog Gang, they didn't want the police to enter their controlled territory and were unwilling for the police to interfere in their affairs.

Including some vendettas in society and the opposition between gangs, they didn't want the police to participate.

But Lance's current attitude clearly shows that he can cooperate more openly. This attitude leaves Chief Blue with nothing to criticize, not to mention that he wants to prepare a letter of gratitude with a thousand people's sincere signatures for himself.

The original dissatisfaction had diminished a lot. From the perspective of his own interests, he found that there was no need to continue to oppose Lance, which did not conform to his interests.

Just as he was about to soften his tone and have a good chat with Lance, Lance suddenly pointed to a photo and a certificate on the wall and asked, "Chief Blue, do you like the dart game very much?"

The dart game is most popular in the Midwest, and almost every bar has dart game equipment. It is a very popular small game.

There are some small competitions about it within the Federation, and people who are obsessed with it like it very much.

Lance immediately scratched Chief Blue's itch.

He is a precinct chief, not to mention whether he has money in his pocket or not, if he wants to play some sports, there are actually not many good choices.

Basketball or football are too intense, and he is not young anymore, it is not something he can participate in.

Things like golf and polo are too high-end. It's not that he can't afford to play, but that people will feel it's inappropriate for him to do so after playing.

You are a precinct chief whose name may not even be known to them, and you are actually playing on the same field as them. Are you worthy?

So there are not many games that these small and medium-sized characters can enjoy, and there are even fewer that they can play anytime, anywhere.

Darts is one of them.

He looked back at the photo and certificate, and said with a smile, "This is a dart competition in Goldport City. I was lucky a few years ago and got second place once."

"Second place?" Lance emphasized, but in Chief Blue's ears, this sentence seemed to be saying... why only second place?

Now he thinks Lance is good, so his tone is not so strong, "Second place is not bad. You have to know that at least a few thousand people participate in each session. I was just very lucky to get this ranking that time."

"Later, until now, I can basically not even enter the top thirty-two."

He shook his head, trying to tell Lance that this was not a simple matter.

Lance nodded slightly, "Are there many police officers in the police station who like darts?"

Chief Blue didn't understand what this meant, "There are some, about a dozen people. After all, we don't have much time to do other things."

"But when playing darts, even a minute is enough for us to throw once."

Lance thought for a while, "I plan to donate a thousand dollars each month to hold a monthly dart competition in the Imperial District Precinct, limited to internal police officers."

“First place, one thousand dollars; second place to…,” Lance paused, “…tenth place, the prize for each person is fifty dollars.”

Bureau Chief Blue was stunned for a moment. He didn't react at first. If you were to talk about darts skills in the entire police station, then he was definitely the best.

Even if there were some people whose level was similar to his, they wouldn't be stupid enough to insist on defeating him.

Moreover, which competition actually gives a prize to tenth place? Some competitions only have a champion and runner-up, and third place is something that only came about later.

Immediately afterwards, he realized that Lance was giving him money, one thousand dollars every month.

Moreover, this money was more discreet than the money others gave him!

At the same time, it also solved another problem for him. He also had extra black money income. The police officers also collected protection fees, and then everyone divided it up by level.

But this part of the money was actually also black money, and it wasn't easy to spend.

But now there was no problem. He could legally and legitimately pay taxes with Lance's one thousand dollars, and then when he made large purchases, he could say it was his competition prize money.

As for how many times this prize money had already been spent, that was another question. If you wanted to say that the money I spent wasn't competition prize money, then you would have to present evidence to the court that the money was illegal, but how could you prove that?

For some reason, Bureau Chief Blue suddenly found Lance more and more pleasing to the eye, and there was more smile on his face.

He seemed to have completely forgotten that he had asked Lance to come over to make trouble for him. "I thank you for your generosity on behalf of the police officers of the branch, Lance. They will definitely be very happy when they find out."

There were still nine people, each receiving fifty dollars a month. It might not be as much as they could find outside, but who would turn away money that was delivered to their door for free?

As for Lance bribing the police officers, he didn't think so. This was Lance's expression of respect for the spirit of sports!

Lance nodded slightly, "As for the case that just happened, I will urge them to send the person over as soon as possible. As for the one who died…"

Bureau Chief Blue directly said, "They had a shootout with some people whose clues we haven't grasped. Death in a shootout is the most common consequence for these…people. As for whether they can be caught, I cannot guarantee it to society."

Lance put down his crossed legs, threw the cigarette on the ground, then stood up, straightened his clothes, and extended his hand, "Thank you for your understanding, Bureau Chief Blue."

Bureau Chief Blue also quickly stood up and shook Lance's hand tightly, "The Presidential Palace and the State Government have always been advocating for police-civilian cooperation. I think this is a manifestation of our cooperation…"

“By the way, that matter…,” he felt that the conversation was about to end here, and somewhat embarrassedly reminded Lance.

In fact, Lance knew what it was, but he deliberately pretended to be stupid, "What matter?"

Sometimes, the effect is different when you take the initiative to say it and when the other party takes the initiative to bring it up.

If Lance took the initiative to say it, then it would mean that he was the passive party, but if Bureau Chief Blue said it, then Lance would not only be able to take the initiative, but also be more assertive.

Bureau Chief Blue took a deep breath, "Letter of appreciation…"

Lance shook the hands of the two people holding together forcefully, "I guarantee there won't be any problems…"

After coming out of the police station, several people at the entrance of the police station immediately greeted him. They were all people brought by Lance. One of them leaned close to him and said, "They have already taken the person back to the company."

Lance nodded as he entered the car, "Return to the company, find someone to call Nick over, and let him decide the fate of these people."

When Lance returned to the company, they had just poured the cement into the oil drums.

Now the weather was already a bit cold, and the time for the cement in the oil drums to dry and harden would be a little longer, so they were directly placed in the yard.

The four young men were constantly shivering. They had personally witnessed these people draw the blood of their companions, then wash them clean and throw them into the oil drums, filling them with cement.

They finally remembered the little story that only locals knew, the little story about the mystery of the waters of Angel Lake.

Morris briefly interrogated them. These people did not belong to any gang. They only saw that the Camilla Gang had collapsed rapidly, leaving a large area of territory.

They felt that they could also become a behemoth like the Camilla Gang. The young man who fired the gun stole his father's revolver, and then they formed a small family and started their "criminal career."

Their plan was to first find a way to rob a large sum of money, and then recruit manpower to open a bar or something.

After having a stable income, they would use this bar as the core and constantly expand outwards, eventually becoming the sixth largest family in Jin Gang City.

The idea was beautiful, but it died too quickly, so much so that they didn't even buy the second pistol in their plan. The "Imperial Hegemony" collapsed before it even started.

The four people dared not hide anything and confessed everything. After all, watching the entire process of disposing of the corpse with their own eyes really scared them!

When Lance came back, these people had long lost their backbone.

After Morris briefly explained the news he had interrogated, Lance didn't care much.

About half an hour later, Nick came again.

"Mr. Lance, I…I'm a little excited.", His eyes were slightly red. Although he had been excited once already, he still seemed very excited when he saw Lance!

Because he had already confirmed that the young man who shot and injured his father was indeed dead.

He just didn't know that the person was now in an oil drum not far from him.

If the police caught that person, because it didn't cause terrible consequences, he would be released after serving at most ten years, which he couldn't accept.

His father almost died because of this. Even if he survived, he was severely injured, and the murderer would only be in his thirties or forties in ten years, which he couldn't accept.

But now, that guy was really dead. In an instant, he felt that his whole person was clear, and his respect and gratitude for Lance became even stronger.

Lance nodded slightly, and then led him to the yard, letting him see the four young men who were starting to tremble again, "There are still four people here. You can choose to forgive them, or you can beat them up."

“Of course, if you don’t feel relieved, you can kill them, and I will have someone help you handle everything…”

Where could the four young men withstand this? They immediately knelt down and begged Nick not to kill them.

On the way here, Nick thought of a lot of things, and even thought about letting them taste the feeling of being hit by a bullet.

But at this time, his excited emotions had begun to fade after reaching their peak, and the thoughts of an ordinary person began to take over.

He hesitated for a while, then shook his head, "Someone has already paid a sufficient price, and they seem to have received the corresponding punishment. Let's end this matter here."

The four young men were so moved that they cried and began to apologize for the wrong things they had done.

Lance patted Nick on the shoulder, "You are a forgiving person. They will go to jail, which is what they deserve."

Nick breathed a sigh of relief, "That's the best.", He paused, "I brought two bottles of wine when I came just now. You must try it."

“This is brewed by ourselves, it may not be as good as the wine you usually drink, but it has a special flavor…”

Lance's footsteps stopped, "Brewed yourself?"