Empire of Shadows

In the morning, Lance went to buy a new set of clothes, which cost him ten dollars.

Instead of having a tailor custom-make a set for himself, he bought ready-made clothes on the roadside. They didn't fit as snugly, but for him right now, these clothes were already excellent.

Afterward, he went to the Coda family's casino located in the Bay Area of ​​Goldport City. He still had some chips in his hand that needed to be exchanged for cash.

The Coda family's casino here wasn't the kind that was concealed and hidden in some inconspicuous place.

On the contrary, the Coda family's Bay Area casino was located on the cliffs behind Golden Beach!

A magnificent building stood on the edge of the cliff.

Every day, the bright sunshine would shine on its outer walls, which could reflect dazzling light. At any time, as long as there was sunlight, it was difficult for people on the beach not to notice this building that kept reflecting light like a mirror.

More than one person had complained to the City Hall about the impact of this building on tourists on the beach, but the Coda family would not pay a penny less of the fines they were due.

However, they would not change anything that was required to be rectified.

According to Goldport City and local laws, they had up to one hundred days to solve the appearance problem after paying the fine.

This also led to them only needing to pay fines three times a year to maintain the status quo.

Over time, everyone was eventually forced to get used to it.

When night fell, it would bloom with amazing light. This building had become one of the attractions of Golden Beach. Many young people would come here specifically to take a look, and even leave a photo to prove they had been there.

To get to this casino, you needed to go from the other side. This area on the cliff was the Coda family's private territory. Lance took out the chips and reported Fordis's name, and after being searched to ensure that he was not carrying weapons or cameras, he was allowed to enter.

The security force at the casino was very strict. Every ten or twenty meters, there were two or three armed security guards patrolling.

They were not static posts, but mobile posts, which also enhanced the security here.

When he arrived at the main building, he realized that it was much larger and more dazzling than when he saw it from the cliff. It was magnificent.

Upon entering the lobby, there was a long counter, which was where the chips were exchanged.

Before he could take two steps, a bunny girl wearing very revealing clothes took the initiative to come over, "Sir, are you here to play alone?"

The bunny girl looked no more than twenty years old, and had a good figure. When she trotted, you could see the aftershocks of her surging chest, and even those aftershocks were enough to make people's minds wander.

Lance smiled and explained, "Sorry, I'm just here to exchange chips."

The bunny girl was a little disappointed. As a member of the casino's playmate system, if Lance was here to gamble.

Then she only needed to take Lance to gamble, and when he left, whether he won or lost, the bunny girl could get a 1% commission from his settlement.

This was the source of income for all playmates.

When luck was good, you could earn hundreds of dollars in one night.

But when luck was bad, you could only earn a few dollars in one night.

Although the girl was a little disappointed, she still took the initiative to lead Lance to the counter and explained the situation.

The girl behind the counter placed a soft cushion covered with red velvet on the counter, "Please put the chips here, sir."

From the inside to the outside, the entire casino gave Lance a feeling that "this place is damn formal", regardless of the decoration, service, or attitude.

Although he hadn't been to the hall, he could imagine that the hall should also be a very formal and luxurious place.

"A total of one hundred and fifty dollars, sir. What denomination of cash do you want to exchange for?"

These chips had their own anti-counterfeiting marks, and in Goldport City, and even the entire eastern region of the Federation, no one dared to counterfeit them unscrupulously.

A small number of fake chips might not even be worth the cost of manufacturing, and once there were more, it would be difficult not to leave any clues.

Although the Coda family seemed to be just a force running a casino, a legally tax-paying family business, they actually had a certain reputation in the underground world of the entire Federation.

This reputation was certainly not obtained because they were relatively rich.

"Do you have five-dollar bills?" Lance asked.

"Yes, sir, please wait a moment." About two minutes later, the girl behind the counter counted the banknotes with a total value of one hundred and fifty dollars in five-dollar denominations three times, placed them on the red velvet plate, and pressed them with a chip that looked like gold, but should actually be brass or alloy, and then held the plate with both hands and placed it in front of Lance.

"Sir, this is your money, please check it."

High-quality service can always improve customers' satisfaction. Even though Lance didn't have the idea of gambling here, he now had a decision in his heart. If he had the opportunity, he would bring other people in to play.

Let them see the world and let them feel what it means to be "dazzled by luxury."

After coming out of the casino, he drove to pick up Elvin first, and then the two drove directly to Mr. Anderson's restaurant in the Bay Area.

It was noon, and the restaurant was very lively. Seventeen or eighteen tables were already full of customers.

Under the guidance of the manager, Lance and Elvin found a small table.

Then the waiter brought the menu.

The moment he opened the menu, Elvin gasped. He flipped through several pages, but it was difficult to make a decision.

Because it was too expensive!

"A serving of six-month-old Green veal ribs costs seven dollars and ninety-eight cents, and adding a dinner roll costs an extra dollar. If we add some other things, just the two of us will have to spend... thirty or forty dollars for this meal!"

"Damn it, with thirty or forty dollars I can eat until I'm full at the braised beef shop at the entrance of the port area!"

A lady at the next table couldn't help but chuckle, but then showed an apologetic expression and took the initiative to apologize.

There were many people doing hard labor in the port area, and their demand for meat was much greater than those who didn't do hard labor.

Therefore, near some heavy physical labor jobs in the port area, there were many small stalls or restaurants that specialized in doing business with these heavy physical laborers.

The restaurants couldn't really be called restaurants, they were more like fast food restaurants.

The main sales were stewed, rotten braised beef, boneless beef, all small pieces of minced beef, very minced.

This kind of beef was not valuable, and you could buy three pounds for a dollar.

After these operators bought it back, they added more sauce and a small amount of spices, and cooked a whole pot in a large iron pot, the aroma of the sauce was fragrant, and the aroma of the meat was overflowing.

No matter who came, sat down, and gave sixty cents, they could get a big bowl!

If you gave seventy cents, then you could keep eating bread until you were full.

Of course, don't expect the bread to be delicious, it was just edible!

Most manual laborers would eat a meal every two or three days to experience the pleasure of eating meat until they were full.

Especially the satisfaction of tearing those hard breads into small pieces, soaking them in the meat soup, and then swallowing them together with the meat, soup, and bread pieces made many people unforgettable!

The business of these small shops and stalls was extremely good, and they were crowded with people every noon.

Affordable price was the ultimate weapon.

Elvin couldn't help but be greedy and had gone to eat a few times. He felt that this might be the most delicious food in the world, bar none!

Of course, mentioning this at this time was also because he was distressed about the money.

Lance ordered two servings of open soup, then salad, steak with fried sausage and dinner rolls, and finally dessert.

He didn't order wine, he had to drive later, and they were both under twenty years old.

These things added up to nearly forty dollars, and Elvin's expression of distress was distorted.

Lance was very open-minded, "Someone will pay for us, so eat with peace of mind."

"If there's any worrying to be done, it's not up to you to worry."

Perhaps Lance's comfort had some effect, and Elvin was not so uncomfortable.

The restaurant's business was really good. Before half past twelve, it was already full, and some customers had to leave because there were no empty tables.

The entire restaurant exuded a vibrant vitality.

As long as they could make money, even if the money didn't belong to the waiters or cooks, they could still get a morale boost from it.

Feeling happy for the capitalists to make money was almost the common "empathy ability" of the bottom of society in all regions and ideologies around the world.

Although empathy didn't seem to make much sense.

It had to be said that the steak, which was worth nearly ten dollars, was indeed much better than those minced beef. The carefully prepared sauce made the entire steak taste like a feeling of happiness.

Elvin couldn't say that these steaks were not as good as minced beef at this time, they were too delicious.

Seeing that they were almost finished eating, Lance took out a cockroach from his pocket, a big cockroach, and handed it to Elvin, "Bite it in half."

Elvin was a little dumbfounded looking at the cockroach the size of his thumb in his hand, "What did you say?"

"I said bite it in half."

Looking at the struggling cockroach in his hand, Elvin suddenly felt that the beef was not so delicious, "So this is your plan?"

Lance nodded and repeated again, "I need your real feedback. Don't worry, I bought this from a roadside store that specializes in selling feed. It's very healthy, and it's very clean and hygienic."

Elvin spent a long time building himself up mentally, cursed "Fuck", then closed his eyes and stuffed half of the cockroach into his mouth and bit down hard.

The lady at the next table was stunned!

Next, Lance asked Elvin, who was gagging, to put half of it in his soup spoon, mixed with the thick soup faintly visible, and spit the other half on the table.

Afterward, he looked at Alvin, whose face was pale, and said, "Want to throw up?"

Alvin said very honestly, "Yes."

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"Ugh..."