Empire of Shadows

Lance didn't want the young men to make things difficult for these girls. The manager in charge looked at her, and after a moment of eye contact, he spread his hands, "Alright, go change your clothes and leave through the side door."

"Do you need me to arrange someone to escort you part of the way?"

Lisa originally wanted to refuse, but considering she was the only girl, she nodded and kissed the manager on the cheek, "Thank you, I'll be grateful."

It sounded like a normal conversation, but the meaning she expressed wasn't that simple. For her, 'grateful' and 'grateful' were two different things.

The manager took a step back, opened his hands, and kept a distance, "Thank you, but I don't need it."

He walked back to his desk and pressed a button, "Come to my office."

Soon a young man came, in his early twenties, with some sweat on his hairline. He was having a great time inside; this job was fantastic!

This was the life a person his age should have, unlike doing hard labor on the docks, which was not what he wanted.

Luxury, more money, higher social status, cooler – it was all great!

The manager glared at him, then tilted his head, "Send Lisa back; she's not feeling well."

The young man glanced at Lisa standing beside him, then raised his eyebrows and nodded, "No problem, now?"

"Now."

There was more than one promotional girl in the bar, but Lisa was definitely one of the more outstanding ones. She had a great figure, and you could see a shimmering glow when she walked. People liked her, including some of the young men in the company.

Some genuinely liked her, but some were just plain jealous.

While Lisa went to change, the manager instructed the young man, "She said she saw people from Camila's gang earlier, the previous manager of Red Heels. Take a weapon with you."

"If you encounter anyone who wants to kidnap or take her away…"

He placed a pistol on the table. The young man glanced at the pistol twice and grabbed it in his hand, "No problem, manager. If anyone tries to take Lisa from me, I'll send them to meet God first!"

The manager patted him on the arm, "Be careful, take her to her place and come back. Don't delay on the way."

The bar didn't have its own cars. On the one hand, Alberto didn't have enough low-end repossessed cars; the rest were mid- to high-end ones, worth three to five thousand, or even ten to twenty thousand.

Even if they wanted to, they couldn't equip everyone, and the combat team definitely needed them more, so they were prioritized for use by the combat members.

On the other hand, if they wanted to buy cars through official channels, whether new or used, they had to use clean money.

Lance didn't actually have much clean money on hand. He only had an income of about ten to twenty thousand a month, and he was planning to buy a large quantity of brewing raw materials soon, so the clean money had to be saved and not touched.

He got a few buses that would pick everyone up together after the bar closed, which saved a lot of money and could take everyone away.

But driving a bus to send people home… obviously wasn't very suitable.

Soon Lisa changed her clothes and came back. Then she and the young man arranged by the manager left the bar through the side door.

A few people standing in the corner of the bar saw this scene and also turned to leave.

Their purpose in coming here this time was to take Lisa away.

The big shots in the Bay Area didn't care about the intensity of the gang fights at the bottom or who won or lost—

It's worth mentioning that Heller's hiding in his office had become a joke in high society recently, and it was said that it originated with Mr. Pasreto.

This also shows that these bottom-level news, whether good or bad, were entertainment for them and had no practical significance.

They only cared about whether the things they wanted could be delivered to their table within the specified time.

Sam was redecorating Red Heels while also reconnecting with Liam's previous clients.

These clients were very important; the mayor's requirement was that they must be maintained well.

Sam vaguely revealed that he would be the new person in charge of Red Heels and would continue to provide services to these big shots, coupled with the former manager and the looming figure of the mayor.

Soon, these outwardly glamorous and respectable people accepted the fact that Sam was the new boss.

After the business was suspended for almost a month, someone called to place an order.

This was a successful man in his fifties, 100% upper class. He would appear in the newspapers from time to time and was an important opinion leader within the Goldenport City Socialist Party.

Although he didn't have a position in the federal government, he still had some weight within the party. At least at the state party congress, he would sit in a more forward position as a representative of the Goldenport City Socialist Party's opinion leaders.

The mayor had a good relationship with him. After all, the mayor was still so young and had the possibility of further advancement, so this opinion leader couldn't have any grudges or unpleasantness with him. So, he quickly supported him and ordered a takeaway, specifically requesting Lisa.

Lisa had served him several times. He wasn't a particularly perverted type, but he had done a lot of things like beating, humiliating, and trampling on her personality. Otherwise, how could he vent the dark side of his heart?

Only after these dark things were vented on Lisa could he let the sunny side bloom and serve the people of Goldenport City!

So, in order to better serve the public, it seemed normal to occasionally vent some animalistic desires and have more patience to listen to the voices from the bottom.

This was a very important order. Many eyes were on them. This was also the first business of the restarted Red Heels, which was crucial.

Although the mayor didn't ask or care, someone told Sam that if he did this business well and ushered in a good start for the new Red Heels,

then what Sam could get wouldn't just be wealth!

So, Sam immediately asked the former manager, Booker, to bring Lisa over, clean her up, and send her to the Bay Area.

If he couldn't do it, then he would die painfully in prison. The people in prison knew what he did and would definitely make his butt bloom!

Let him also experience the ultimate pain and that insignificant joy!

After getting a few people from Sam, he began to inquire everywhere based on some previous information. He quickly found out where this group of people had gone. Most of them had joined Lance.

It's just that Lance wasn't in Goldenport City now, and Sam's idea of communicating with the leader of the Lance family couldn't be realized. He didn't know Lance's phone number, and this matter was urgent, so he let Booker go directly to the door to arrest people.

As for Lance's side?

After Lance returned from abroad, he would come to explain. After all, they were both serving the mayor and were in the same trench. He didn't believe Lance wouldn't give him this face.

Even if the scene wasn't pleasant, he had ways to let Lance's anger subside.

People live in this world, nothing more than for those few things, a few things.

Here, Lisa and the young man who left the bar through the side door left the alley and walked along the street towards the New Bay Area.

This name sounded intimidating, but… fortunately, it wasn't too far, about a twenty-minute walk.

Walking alone would seem very boring, and time would pass very slowly, but with two people, it would obviously be much faster.

The weather in mid-January was very cold, but the radio said that the coldest time would have to wait for a while, and people had already put on thick clothes.

Two young people walked on the sidewalk, and each breath would leave a cloud of heat that gradually dissipated in place.

The young boy wanted to say something. He was full of desire to express himself, and it was such a beautiful girl, "Lisa, where are you from?"

Lisa turned her head and glanced at the somewhat silly young man. She continued to stare at the road under her feet, "Doling."

The young man scratched his head, "I'm from Koalat…"

The two states were not connected in the empire, and there were two states in between. Lisa didn't speak, which made the boy a little embarrassed.

He found a few more topics, but none of them aroused Lisa's discussion, which made him realize that it wasn't that the topics he found were not good, but that this girl was not interested in him.

He was a little dissatisfied in his heart. He knew Lisa's situation. He felt that he had been so enthusiastic, and Lisa was still so indifferent. It was indeed a bit…

He didn't know what to say, he felt a little pretentious?

There is no such word and related explanation in the dictionary.

On the next section of the road, there were no street lights, and the boy found that Lisa suddenly leaned closer to him. Some of the dissatisfaction in his heart was thrown out of his mind. After all, she had suffered so much harm here, wasn't it normal to be defensive?

He felt that as a man, he should say something at this time, "If you are afraid, lean on me."

"Yeah.", This was Lisa's first more positive response, "I know."

Just one sentence made the boy a little happy. Young people's emotions are always like this, low because of some neglect, and high because of more response.

Just as he was talking to himself about some recent changes, suddenly two dazzling headlights appeared in front of him.

In fact, the headlights were not very bright, but after walking on the dark street for a long time, it was a little uncomfortable to suddenly light up.

The cars stopped beside them one after the other. The boy protected Lisa behind him, and at the same time, one hand was still in his pocket, "Who are you?"

"If you want to cause trouble, I can only say, you have found the wrong person!", he looked at these people, "I am from the Lance family, don't cause trouble for yourself!"

In the dim light, four people got out of two cars. There seemed to be someone still inside one of the cars, but they didn't get out.

The intermittently glowing cigarette butt inside the car told him that someone was watching everything unfold.

A person hidden in the shadows behind the car lights said, "Hand over the girl beside you, then go back, have a drink, get a good night's sleep, and everything will be fine."

"I'll return those words to you. Don't make trouble for yourself!"

As he spoke, the other two walked towards him. As they passed the front of the car, the headlights illuminated their brown wool overcoats.

The backlight made it impossible to see their faces clearly, but it was obvious that the two overcoats were not cheap.

Lisa was holding him tightly, as if only that could make her feel somewhat safe, and her trembling body gave the big boy even more courage and a sense of responsibility.

He drew his pistol directly, but before he could say anything, he heard someone shout, "He's got a gun..."

Immediately afterward, gunshots rang out. He fired a few shots, not knowing if he had hit anyone, and then he lost control of his body and fell to the ground.

His head pressed against the cold ground, he saw a guy in front of the headlights clutching his abdomen, cursing.

He also saw Lisa being dragged by her hair and forced into the car.

In the moment before he lost consciousness, he saw the person in the back seat of one of the cars flick the finished cigarette butt out of the window.

It tumbled in the cold wind and fell to the ground, scattering sparks before extinguishing, just like his precarious life, about to be extinguished...

When he woke up again, he was lying in a hospital bed. Many people had come, including Elvin and Morris, high-ranking officials who were very famous in their eyes.

His manager was also there, standing against the wall like a student who had done something wrong.

Seeing him wake up, Elvin walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. "You're lucky. Someone heard the gunshots and called the police. The police arrived quickly, and you were saved."

Of course, the police arrived quickly. Before, they didn't dispatch because the risk was high, and there weren't necessarily any benefits.

Who the hell would risk their life for that little bit of money?

It's not like they're rushing to be reborn. They would definitely call for backup first, and when enough backup arrived, two or three police cars would dispatch together.

But now, with the Lance family's great purge of the Imperial District, the public security of the entire Imperial District has improved by leaps and bounds.

Moreover, sometimes their speed of action is even faster than dispatching the police. By the time the police arrive at the scene, they have already dealt with it!

Now they aren't rushing to be reborn, they are rushing for performance and promotion!

And this did indeed save the young man's life.

Also, his armband helped the police confirm his identity, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to arrive at the hospital so quickly. The police dragged him into the car and brought him here.

The young man didn't know what to say. Elvin asked about the events of the evening.

"...The car lights were very dazzling. I couldn't see clearly. They were all standing behind or in front of the lights. I didn't see any of their faces."

"But I know I shot one of them, in the abdomen. He even cursed at me," the young man suddenly grinned, but the pain quickly made him unable to smile.

Elvin patted him on the shoulder. "Rest well."

The group left the ward together, and Elvin went to the doctor's office to make a call to Lance. It was also late at night on Lance's side, but the call was quickly connected.

"Something happened to one of our people..." He repeated the general situation. The sound of a match striking came from the receiver.

After a moment, accompanied by a sigh, Lance's voice slowly sounded, "Get moving, find this person, don't let him die. I want to know who is moving against our people."

"You said he was injured? Search the hospitals. As long as he doesn't want to die, he will definitely go to a hospital. Find him. I'll be returning tomorrow morning."

Elvin's face flushed slightly. In fact, Lance's travel plan wasn't just such a short trip. He was going to continue south, according to the plan.

Because there were many important "businesses" to be done further south. Lance had mentioned to him in a private chat that many places in Yalan had poor sanitation, and people often died from dysentery and inflammation.

Although the Federation wasn't much better, they had effective medicines here.

Without discussing the side effects or even the sequelae of those effective medicines, at least they could save lives.

Smuggling these drugs to Yalan could not only make money but also help the locals solve some problems where they had to die in pain because they didn't have effective medicines. This was a win-win situation!

As for the locals not being able to afford the effective medicines?

Perhaps Elvin would have this doubt, but Lance wouldn't, because the human resource itself contains endless wealth, as long as you know how to mine it!

But now he had to change his itinerary, which made Elvin feel that he still had many shortcomings.

But now, he was indeed needed here, so he could only tell him to be careful on the road.

After hanging up the phone, Elvin also felt a fire in his heart. When he came out of the hospital, more than a hundred people had already gathered at the entrance of the hospital.

When they saw Elvin, they ended their conversations, dropped the cigarettes in their hands, and gathered around.

The cold weather couldn't extinguish the anger in his heart. He looked at these people and said, "I've spoken to Lance. He wants us to turn every hospital upside down, find the person with the gunshot wound, and then wait for him to return."

"Move out!"

With an order, everyone turned around and ran towards the vehicles they had come in. No one spoke, and no one loudly shouted "Yes, sir!" or anything like that to boost morale.

Instead, this silent but powerful action gave people an indescribable feeling, as if their scalps were tingling, goosebumps were rising all over their bodies, and an unspeakable emotion was brewing and churning in their hearts!

In the distance, in three police cars, the police officers held hot coffees, ate some cold donuts, and watched a large group of people orderly board buses or cars and leave. That momentum made them feel scared.

One of the patrolmen glanced at the hot coffee in his hand and sighed, "It might be chaotic again."

His partner seemed indifferent. "Anyway, it has nothing to do with us. The more trouble they cause, the better our resumes will look."

"And I have to say, Mr. Lance and his friends are much more generous than those people before. I'm more willing to cooperate with them."

His companion glanced at the hot coffee in his hand again, which had been sent over by someone at the request of that short young man named Morris.

He nodded in agreement. "Who says otherwise?"

After this group of people had dispersed, a police officer picked up the radio equipment. "No criminal activity found, repeat, no criminal activity found at the scene, situation resolved, end communication."

"Crackling... Received, stay safe, end communication."

The three police cars quickly started up and left in different directions. No crime, no evil, everything was as usual!