Empire of Shadows

After Lance temporarily settled down in Aldera, he would call Elvin every day.

Elvin reported some situations on his end to him, such as the renovation of the Empire District's Nightclub, and the operation of the five bars.

Bars don't actually need too much preparation. As long as there's alcohol to sell, those old drunks can smell it and find their way over. Besides, the police department has already returned the alcohol confiscated from the bars.

It's worth noting that this isn't an "illegal" act, but a legal one, and there's even a series of procedures for returning seized items.

Because according to the Federal Judicial Interpretation, any behavior not explicitly identified as "illegal" is considered legal, and the item of "storing alcoholic beverages" has not been written into the constitutional amendment.

In other words, storing alcohol is legal.

So, storing a large quantity of finished alcohol in a house that one owns, as long as no one can prove that this alcohol is the same as the alcohol sold in the bar, then it cannot be proven that the existence of this alcohol is illegal.

It's possible that the congressmen forgot that storage could also be used for illegal activities when compiling and submitting this proposal, but it's also possible that they thought of the mountains of alcohol in their own villas' wine cabinets and cellars, so they subconsciously didn't write this in.

But regardless, the alcohol is back, and the bars have started operating again. Customer traffic is recovering, and because everyone knows that these bars are currently being run by the Lance family, they don't dare to mess around.

Drunks like to drink, but they don't like chaotic bars. It's much better here now, and it won't be long before every bar is packed.

The entire Empire District has become one of the top-ranked areas for public security in Goldport City in a very short period of time, which is simply unbelievable.

During this time, the Lance family has gained considerable prestige in the Empire District. In addition, the internal situation of the Empire District tends to be stable. Only two or three vicious cases occur in a day—

There will always be some people who take risks, and some who come from other districts to commit crimes. Even if Lance asks Burton to find dozens of people to wander the streets all day, it's impossible to discover every robbery or the like.

But as long as it happens, and they tell the people in black windbreakers and red armbands on the roadside about it, the power of the Lance family will begin to intervene.

This gives the people an unprecedented sense of security. Being protected and not being protected are completely different experiences!

The Empire District Branch has also gained a lot of attention in Goldport City for solving several robbery cases in a short week thanks to its cooperation with the Lance family.

In the evening, after finishing a day's work, Elvin was just about to leave the office when the girl at the front desk knocked on the door and poked her head in, "There are a few girls looking for you, Elvin."

This front desk girl was one of the first two girls. Perhaps others would call him "Mr. Elvin" or "Manager Elvin," but for her, and all the "family," everyone is a relative without blood ties, so the address is not that important.

Elvin sat back down, "Is it a troublesome matter?"

He frowned. He was very worried that someone had gotten someone pregnant, and now these girls had come looking for him.

He was already starting to lean towards Lance's way of thinking on problems, becoming more mature.

Fortunately, the front desk girl gave him a reassuring look, "It's not what you're thinking. It's something else. I think you still need to see them."

Elvin didn't refuse, "Let them in."

Now that Lance is away, he has to handle everything, big and small, himself. Actually, he's very flustered. He's never done anything like this before, but Lance trusts him and lets him do it, so he must take on his responsibilities.

Everyone always has many firsts. Whether to face them bravely or be a coward, he has already made his choice.

Several girls walked in one after another. They were gathered together, and their figures were relatively thin, looking a little haggard.

"Send a few coffees over, sit wherever you like."

Elvin looked at them, "Let me ask first, are you Imperials or Federals?"

The girls looked at each other. One of them lowered her voice a little, "We are all Imperials."

Elvin nodded, "Illegal immigrants?"

They didn't know how to answer this question. A girl who looked a little younger said, "We were trafficked here."

"They said there was a job in the Federation that paid sixty dollars a month, working one day and resting one day, working ten hours a day, so I came."

Another girl continued, "Although what they told me wasn't exactly the same, it was pretty close."

Before disembarking, every girl was dreaming of the Federation, until the moment the smuggling ship's cabin door opened.

Without asking, it must have been done by those people from Camila's gang. This also made Elvin a little curious, "No offense, but after you came here…"

The girls were silent and didn't speak, but this was also a kind of response. Elvin had heard that among the properties Camila's gang had been broken up, there were places that ran similar flesh trade businesses.

These girls certainly didn't want to recall those painful pasts. He said "I'm sorry" and stopped asking about these stinging memories.

Elvin scratched his head, "So, the purpose of you coming here is to want to go home?"

"If you don't have money, I can give you some money so you can afford a ticket home.", he ignored how these girls appeared here. If it were Lance, he wouldn't have ignored it.

But this also appropriately shows that he is only a young man who is not yet twenty years old… no, he is already twenty years old, having just passed his birthday.

He doesn't have Lance's kind of "maturity." He needs room to grow and pay some price to become mature.

Lance had told him that if someone came to ask for help, for example, if someone wanted a little money, the reason being that they were hungry, while some people just wanted something to eat, then give the former food and the latter some money.

People who ask for material things are often really in trouble, while people who ask for money are not necessarily really in trouble.

The girls shook their heads one after another, "We don't really want to go back. We want to stay here. Everyone says that you are the most trustworthy people here. We want a job to support ourselves."

This sentence gave Elvin a sense of honor. He pursed his lips and thought for a while, then picked up the phone, "Is the bar still short of people?"

"Yes, we are short of some promotional girls, but Elvin, if you want to send girls over, you better make sure they can do it, otherwise Lance will skin you alive when he comes back!"

Lance has set a lot of rules, such as not allowing women to be forced to do things they don't want to do, and not allowing children to be forced to do things they don't want to do.

Promotional girls in bars may sometimes face situations where they are taken advantage of, but this is also a sales weapon.

For those middle-aged lower-class men who can't take out more than two dollars from their pockets, and whose lives have been restricted by rules and regulations, and who have almost no light in their lives.

If they can spend twenty or thirty cents to touch a young girl's butt or shoulder, and flirt with them, even if it's just a perfunctory joke or scolding them as idiots.

This is also something that can excite them for a long time, and they will enjoy being scolded.

There are many promotional girls in the bars. They know how to use their advantages to make money. The alcohol sales in bars with these girls are obviously much better than those without them, but Lance forbids anyone from forcing them to do these things.

This world is difficult. Everyone has their own way of survival. As long as they don't violate their will and force them, this is Lance's bottom line.

For some avant-garde girls who are open-minded, anyway, they don't know who they will benefit in the future, so it's better to make more money while they are young, and it's just touching, they don't need to lose anything, personality, dignity, or chastity, they don't need to, so they don't resent it.

But for some girls who don't like these jobs, letting them do this is worse than killing them!

Elvin pressed the phone's input, looked at the girls, "I have two choices for you now."

"First, go to the bar as a promotional girl. You get at least one cent for every glass of wine, and up to five cents commission."

"If you do well, you can earn two or three dollars a day, but customers may take advantage of you, you have to be mentally prepared, and be able to accept this."

"Our bar is very safe. If someone tries to go further, or makes you feel uncomfortable, we will help you deal with them."

"The second option, we have a garment factory, you can go there as a sewing worker. The monthly income is about thirty-two dollars, plus meal allowance, which is about thirty-seven dollars in total."

"The work is very hard. We provide food and accommodation. If you don't have extra expenses, you can save more than twenty dollars every month."

"No one will bully you, and you can also learn some skills, such as sewing, tailoring, etc."

He thought the girls would choose to go to the garment factory, but in fact, except for one girl, the others chose to go to the bar.

This made Elvin a little incomprehensible, but not completely incomprehensible.

The decadent and extravagant Federal city, and this is one of the most prosperous cities in the Federation, how many pure souls are lost here?

So, it doesn't seem surprising that there are a few more young souls from the Empire among them.

He arranged for two cars to send the girls to the bar and also helped them arrange a place to live.

There are still many unsold houses in the "New Bay Area." The developers have entrusted these houses to a real estate agency for rent, and they also list these houses for sale, but the prices are very high, and no one buys them.

The New Bay Area was ultimately just a gimmick hyped up by developers. When it could no longer deceive people, the illusion naturally shattered, but this also made it a decent place to live.

The brokerage firms don't care whether one person or a hundred people live in a house; they only care about how much money you can pay them.

After arranging these matters, Elvin had another phone call with Lanston, explaining the situation here. After thinking for a while, Lanston told him that he could try to actively help these girls.

If they wanted to leave, let them go back.

If they wanted to stay, help them settle down. He would return as soon as possible.

Elvin paid attention to this matter. He spent a little money to inquire from the patrol officers of the Imperial District Branch that approximately seventy Federal girls had been arrested, but then released.

Because they were "invisible people." If it were just one or two, perhaps they would use them to fulfill quotas and send them back, but there were too many. Whether it was the city hall, the immigration bureau, or the police station, no one wanted to deal with it.

This is also the reason why there are more and more illegal immigrants from the Federation. The Federal government is no longer willing to continue spending money to fill this bottomless pit!

They had just sent people back, and before long, they would probably be back again!

Assuming the cost of repatriating each person is sixty dollars, and there are two hundred thousand illegal immigrants in Gold Harbour City alone, the cost of sending them all back would be twelve million. Who would pay this money?

It's better to let them continue to shine and contribute here, and incidentally solve the problem of local girls' prices being too high...

Based on Lanston's excellent reputation and credibility, he quickly recruited a group of girls. Less than five wanted to return to the Empire, and the rest hoped to live in the Federation.

Elvin helped them solve some work-related problems. Some who wanted to go to bars went to bars, some who wanted to go to factories went to factories. Lanston even told him that the Wharf Club also needed people, so some were reserved.

Originally, no one took this matter to heart. Perhaps the media would even highly praise the Lanston family for contributing to purifying the social atmosphere...

Night fell, and a girl named Lisa put on the special attire of a promotional girl—it would maximize her figure, making her look more attractive.

This would also allow her to earn more commission. Actually, after working as a promotional girl for two days, she had some...indescribable emotions or thoughts.

Although the money she earned at Red High Heels didn't ultimately end up in her hands, she knew she could earn at least twenty or thirty dollars a day.

If a wealthy patron came and took a fancy to her, she could potentially earn fifty or sixty dollars a day.

But here...

She put on her clothes and looked at the simple environment. The peculiar smell unique to the bar outside squeezed in through the cracks in the door, and she suddenly felt a little bored.

Although lying down to earn money might make people feel... but the money really came quickly.

In the past, she didn't care because the money wouldn't end up in her hands anyway, but now that Liam was gone, the money she earned was all hers. She suddenly felt that it was actually not impossible.

She walked out of the dressing room, quickly putting on the kind of false smile to cope with work. Just a few steps away, someone slapped her on the butt with a 'smack' sound, "Lisa, two bomb shots!"

A middle-aged man in his forties and his friend were standing at a small round table. He rolled up his sleeves.

The bar was a bit stuffy, and the alcohol would accelerate blood circulation, making people not feel cold. Under his high rolled-up sleeves were hairy arms and a rough palm.

He put his palm in front of his nose and sniffed it, then laughed with his companion, took out sixty cents from his pocket, and put it on the tray.

"Fifty cents for the drinks, ten cents is a tip for your butt. You have to take good care of it!"

"It's the motivation for me to look forward to a new day. When I make money, I'll give it all to you!" This was a dirty joke, because everyone knew that "all" didn't just refer to money, but also other things.

Lisa rolled her eyes, ignoring the teasing of the two old drunks, and cursed, "Fuck you," but not only did it not make the two angry, but they laughed even more lewdly!

But, that was all. A "security guard" standing at a high place looked over at them, and the two immediately restrained themselves a little.

The Lanston family had already established a preliminary deterrent force in the Imperial District, and they dared not offend them casually.

Lisa stuffed the ten-cent coin into her bra, then took the fifty-cent coin to the bar. The bartender poured her two bomb shots and gave her two small orange cards.

In the end, they would calculate commissions based on these cards. Although this method was a bit stupid, it was convenient and practical.

The bar was very lively. This damn weather made people even more in need of alcohol to numb themselves, and for nearly half a month before, many people hadn't had a sip of alcohol.

The feeling of itching all over made them feel pain. Perhaps hell was nothing more than this!

The crowded bar, the rising alcohol, heat, and desires intertwined, and time seemed to be accelerated at this moment.

Lisa had completed an unknown amount of work, and her bra was now heavy, making her shoulders ache.

Her butt might have been slapped red. These damn workers had such great strength. She decided to pad something tomorrow, at least to protect it from getting so injured.

Suddenly, the corner of her eye seemed to notice something, something that made her feel a shiver, a familiar figure.

But...wasn't he in jail?

Lisa looked in the direction of the fleeting glimpse just now, but there was nothing. The crowded crowd made every head seem like it, and yet not like it. She didn't know.

After looking for a long time without finding anything, she suspiciously returned to the employee work room.

Some unpleasant memories from the past seemed to start attacking. She was a little scared.

She didn't even have time to count how many coins and small cards were in her bra, so she hurriedly ran to the back office and found the person on duty, "I have something urgent and want to leave temporarily."

The person on duty saw the panic on her face, put his legs down from the table, and his expression became a little serious, "Did someone bully you?"

Lisa rubbed her face with both hands, "I don't know, I just seemed to see the previous manager, the manager of Red High Heels."

The person on duty was stunned for a moment, "Didn't they go to jail?", saying that, he asked Lisa to wait a moment and went outside.

There were too many people, and these people were not standing in one place without moving, they would also move and talk, which made it difficult to see the appearance of each of them clearly.

He returned to the office, "There are many people outside. My suggestion is that you stay, and we will leave together after get off work at night."

Lisa seemed to be determined to leave first. She didn't know if the manager had seen her, and she wasn't sure if it was the manager. She just wanted to get away from here now.

If she went to act in a horror movie, she probably wouldn't survive ten minutes.

"I want to leave here now, this place makes me feel very uncomfortable..."

Still that question, have you seen it?

No.

Then do you think it's good?

Good.