Empire of Shadows

"Colleague?" Ms. Kailu walked into the living room in slippers, looking a little dazed. "What colleague?"

She had never considered the people at the Imperial Nightclub as her colleagues. What was there to see there?

Criminals, prostitutes, drunks, johns, but no normal people!

If it weren't for the money, she probably wouldn't even work there!

Perhaps a former colleague?

She didn't know. As she walked into the living room, she saw her son, and then Lance, who was looking at her with a half-smile.

A surge of anger rose from the soles of her feet. Just as she was about to do something with her sharp voice, she suddenly turned her head and saw her son looking at her with surprise, calling out, "Mommy!"

Immediately followed by a chill, a fear, that spread throughout her body!

Her son was holding a gun!

She felt a dizzy spell, a dry mouth, and even a little weak in the legs!

"Uncle Lance gave me something great. It's what I've always wanted!" The little boy didn't know that the weapon in his hand had become a "threat" in Kailu's eyes.

He even proudly pinched a golden bullet casing and held it up, "And this too!"

Ms. Kailu hurried to the sofa and, in the incomprehensible gazes of her husband and child, snatched away the toy gun and the bullet casing, throwing them harshly on the ground.

She picked up her son, held him in her arms, hugged him tightly, and looked at Lance with a vigilant, careful, and somewhat fearful gaze, "You are not welcome here. Get out!"

Her husband stood up, not understanding his wife, "Kailu…"

"Don't say anything!" Her voice drowned out her husband's. She knew what kind of person Lance was. He was a criminal, the head of a criminal organization!

His actions were not out of kindness!

Her body was trembling slightly, from fear and anger.

Lance shrugged, supporting himself with his legs as he stood up. The smile on his face gradually faded, "It seems Ms. Kailu doesn't welcome me."

"Yes!" Ms. Kailu said loudly, "So get out of my house… leave here!"

She originally wanted to say 'get out,' but she controlled herself. Some remaining reason prevented her from saying something irrational.

Lance glanced at her husband, who smiled awkwardly. He still didn't know what was happening!

He had enjoyed chatting with Lance. Lance's insights on some issues made him feel like he had met a kindred spirit, and some problems he had never been able to figure out were easily solved by Lance.

For example, whether the financial sector would overheat and whether financial overheating would bring unpredictable consequences.

Now, the people of the Federation are obsessed with finance. The streets are full of stock managers wearing suits and ties, holding various stocks in their hands.

Some scientists even joked that the switchboard being developed was due to financial overheating. The speed and capabilities of humans could no longer keep up with the scale of daily fission, and they had to use a large amount of research funding from the financial sector to solve these problems!

The entire Federation was undergoing some changes in the booming financial market, and everything was becoming so beautiful.

Lance raised some simple, cautionary issues, which made him feel enlightened.

But now, his terrible wife had ruined their conversation.

Lance sighed, "Alright, alright, it seems I'm not very welcome. I'll leave now…"

As he spoke, he walked towards the door. Ms. Kailu's husband called out her name, seemingly wanting to know if what she was doing was appropriate, but she silenced him with a "Shut up."

Just as Lance changed his shoes and was about to leave, he turned to look at Ms. Kailu, "When I came, I noticed there were a lot of cars in your community. I really like your boy. He's very lively."

"Be sure to watch him carefully. If he gets hit by a car, I'll be very sad."

Ms. Kailu's face turned pale for a moment. Her husband couldn't help but thank Lance for the reminder, "I also think there are too many cars in our community. What you said…"

"Thank you for the reminder," he finished the sentence early under his wife's murderous gaze.

Ms. Kailu stuffed her son into her husband's arms. She strode after him, and the two chased him out of the door.

"What exactly do you want to do?" Ms. Kailu closed the door, "The five hundred dollars was decided by Attorney Olsen and Mr. Eric. I'm just an accountant, it has nothing to do with me!"

She was still a little scared. After all, Lance was a bad person in her eyes. She wasn't afraid of Lance dealing with her at work or anything, but she was afraid of her family being hurt.

"We've been colleagues for over a month, and I've never visited you and your family. Today I had some business to do nearby, so I came to take a look. You're too sensitive."

Ms. Kailu glanced at the house. Their door was the common type with a small glass window, allowing her to see the inside of the room through the glass.

Her husband was standing by the door holding their child, which gave her a desire to protect her family that she had never had before.

"Lance, don't tell me that. I have a higher education. Tell me, what do you really want?"

Lance reached into his arms, and Ms. Kailu couldn't help but take two steps back, with a look of horror on her face. But then, she saw an ivory-white cigarette case being pulled out by Lance.

He really liked the cigarette case that Luigi gave him, mainly because the feel was so comfortable.

"Mind if I smoke?" Lance took out a cigarette, and Ms. Kailu shook her head.

He lit the cigarette and took a puff. The lights at the door made the smoke appear and disappear in the light and shadow, "I need you to do your job quietly and don't meddle in other people's business."

"If you can do that, we are good colleagues."

"If you can't, I will attend your and your family's funeral and speak as your colleague representative."

"You can take it as a threat, but you can also take it as a friendly reminder."

Ms. Kailu thought he was going to mess with the company's money and felt a little nervous, "Those accounts are all recorded, and Olsen and the others have more professional accountants. I can't help you steal money from the company!"

For some reason, when she thought Lance was going to "steal money" from the nightclub, she wasn't so nervous.

Lance shook his head, "I'm not planning to do that. The casino on the third floor is about to reopen, don't tell Olsen about it."

"Also, the casino's income will not go into the company's accounts."

"This money will go directly to Eric…"

Soon Lance left. When Ms. Kailu returned home from outside, her husband had already calmed down their son.

He had been frightened just now and started crying after Ms. Kailu chased after him.

The child's emotions came and went quickly, and he ran back to play with the toy Uncle Lance had given him.

Standing at the door, the couple had a conversation, "Why were you like that, like you were crazy?"

Kailu looked at her husband, "Do you know who he is?"

"Who is he?"

"Isn't he your colleague, Mr. White?"

Ms. Kailu rolled her eyes, "His name is Lance White, does that ring a bell?"

The man's expression changed slightly, "The one from the Imperial District?"

When his wife looked at him with a "You finally realized" expression, he showed some surprise, "My God…"

After a whole day of fermentation and preparation, Morris got a few dealers over, these people came from other places and had been working in underground casinos.

These dealers were relatively mobile, and thanks to Morris's gambling addict father who had almost run through the entire Imperial District's casinos, he was able to find these people.

The dealers were very clear about the fact that working for someone was just a job, and they were also willing to work in a place with more customers.

This meant that they could earn more income, after all, they got a commission for every penny earned at the gambling table.

The Imperial Nightclub, which should have started operating at night, already had people coming one after another by noon.

With Lance's instructions, the security guards didn't stop them, and they went straight to the third floor.

When they entered the room, saw the green tablecloths, the shiny chips, and the dealers standing behind the gambling tables wearing bow ties, every gambler became excited.

Before long, the whole room became very lively.

Lance also made a special phone call to Eric, "Our casino is open for business today, would you like to come and take a look?"

How could Eric sit still?

In less than forty minutes, he appeared in the casino.

"Eight gambling tables?" He stood in the shadows to the side, watching the various aspects of life around the gambling tables. The smoke rising from the cigarettes made his expression a little erratic.

"How much money can this make?"

Lance introduced him, "We provide free drinks here, but don't worry, they won't get drunk, because if they get drunk, they can't gamble."

"Each gambling table will provide us with about four to five hundred dollars in revenue, after deducting the dealer's commission, it's about four hundred and something."

"One is four hundred, two is eight hundred, three is…"

"Three thousand two."

Eric turned to look at Lance, "What?"

"Eight gambling tables can make three thousand two a day."

Eric gasped, "That much?"

Lance smiled knowingly, "Because we haven't paid taxes to the Koda family. If we did, it would only be a little over a thousand, and that's all dirty money."

"You want to launder it, but in the end, you'll only get seven or eight hundred in your hands."

Eric's teeth ached a little after hearing that. "The Koda family must have made a lot of money over the years, right?"

Lance agreed with this view, "It's always been tens of millions, maybe even more."

The Federation is not short of wealth myths. Decades ago, even forty or fifty years ago, the Federation had billionaires. This is a place that is good at giving birth to and creating miracles.

Lance could clearly hear Eric swallowing.

Eric's eyes quickly became fanatical. Three thousand a day, thirty thousand in ten days, more than one hundred thousand a month... …

With so much money, he didn't believe those sons of bitches could suppress him!

"Well done, Lance!" He turned around and said to Lance seriously, "I may have had a little misunderstanding about you, but I understand you now. Let the past be the past... …"

Lance held out his hand, "It's all for… service."

Eric stayed here for a while, then left with more than a thousand yuan in cash from the table. He didn't have much money left. Tonight there was Shayna's performance, the heroine of "The Prince's Revenge", she would play a farmer's daughter.

The prince was persecuted by his stepmother and fled the palace. He was injured and eventually fainted in the river. He drifted downstream and was discovered by the farmer's daughter who was cleaning by the river and rescued.

The two also fell in love with each other. After a period of recuperation and development, the prince began to actively prepare for revenge.

Finally, after a series of plots, he led the army, regained the palace and the throne, and killed his stepmother, and lived a happy life with the farmer's daughter.

As always, the "standard plot", the revenge story of a poor boy often ends in tragedy, only the revenge story of princes and nobles can have a perfect ending.

But in any case, this script is very popular. After all, at this time, those who can truly appreciate opera and feel the artistic beauty of opera are either rich people or prominent families from the upper class.

They have a strong sense of substitution for this kind of plot, after all... maybe the life of the prince is their life, just a little more advanced.

This is why the protagonists of movies during this period have always been from the lower class. These two art forms are completely separated.

As the heroine of this play, Shayna has a lot of performances. Opera cannot be sung in one performance. It takes many days, like a TV series.

Tonight's play is a small climax. The prince is about to recover from his injuries and embark on the road of revenge. It is a process of connecting the past and the future for a new chapter. He wants to give Shayna some special surprises.

Whether it's a surprise or romance, it means he's going to start spending again!

When the casino closed at night, it brought in a total of about two thousand seven hundred yuan in net income, leaving more than one thousand four hundred after Eric took his share.

Lance threw it directly into the vault, and then simply kept an account. In fact, he knew that Eric didn't care, and he didn't care either.

After returning home, everyone was chatting in the living room, seemingly discussing something fiercely.

Seeing Lance come back, everyone stood up.

Lance came to the middle of the living room and sat down, only to find that Lisa was also here.

Red Heels was no longer bothering her, and she went back to work at the bar, but today she said she had something to talk to Lance about, so the people from the bar sent her over.

"What they were just discussing is what you want to say?" Lance leaned on the sofa, crossed his legs, and Lisa looked a little nervous.

She nodded, looked at the others, and said softly, "Mr. Lance, I want to... continue to engage in the flesh trade."

Hearing this, Lance knew why the discussion was so fierce. He frowned, "Did a guest harass you, or did someone force you to do this?"

Lisa shook her head quickly after hearing this. She was a little afraid of Lance. Lance could not only rescue her, but now he was also running such a large force. She couldn't help but be afraid.

"It's too tiring to promote beer. I only earn one or two yuan a day, and I can only earn two or three yuan when I'm very lucky."

Her voice became smaller and smaller, and she could hardly be heard at the end.

The flesh trade does make money quickly. As long as there are many customers, it is still very easy to earn ten yuan a day.

There is a girl from Yalan who is said to receive more than fifty guests a day. She has a certain talent and her own special skills. No one can last too long.

According to two yuan per order, she, as a sales champion, gets 60% of the income, which is one yuan and two jiao.

Forty, that's forty-eight yuan, almost fifty yuan a day, and one thousand five a month.

In this era that is both terrible and very beautiful, if you abandon your moral bottom line, you will definitely make a lot of money.

Lance shook his head slightly, "We don't provide this service, but we can provide you with protection."

"I can't let anyone organize you to do this, but I also know that some of you want to earn more while you are young. I won't stop you, and I can't stop you."

Everyone nodded. If they were determined to do it, if Lance didn't let them do it here, they would take the initiative to run to other places to do it.

If you don't want a bottom line, can't you make money?

If it doesn't work, you can stand on the street.

"You can do it yourself. If you encounter trouble, I will provide you with shelter."

"For example, if a guest tries to beat, hurt you, or doesn't pay, I will arrange for someone to come forward."

"But I won't organize you myself, and I won't charge you money. If I charge you, there will be no difference from my organization."

"I still hope you can do some...decent work, although it may be a little tiring."

"But if you strongly request this, then...I won't object either."

It's normal for Lisa to have such an idea. Her current job is too tiring. She has to deal with those rough alcoholics every day, who often beat her ass swollen, but they don't spend much money.

In a month, her income is about seventy or eighty, eighty or ninety. This income is actually not low in Jincheng.

Although it can't compare with the income of the middle class, it's much better than those at the bottom who earn thirty yuan a month!

But...she always hopes to make more money easily. This situation is not uncommon, and Lance will not comment on it. This is her own choice.

Lance's statement made Lisa breathe a sigh of relief. In fact, she didn't come to ask for herself, but for herself and some other sisters.

They are all fed up with earning one or two yuan a day in the bar, and they are unwilling to go to the factory for ten hours a day and earn thirty yuan a month.

Thinking about it, it is still the easiest and easiest to make money by lying down.

Moreover, recently the Red Dog Gang's territory in the Empire District has been swept by Lance, and the market demand is greater than the supply. Some street prostitutes now cost two yuan, which is too tempting for them!