Empire of Shadows

Director Dale stood at the entrance of the Hazardous Materials Administration, welcoming his “heroes” home. When Lucar stepped out of the car, he generously gave him a hug!

“Well done! I heard about the situation on-site. You handled it very well, especially your mentioning of the reward at the end!”

In this era where everyone is poor but potentially wealthy, the profit from reporting a bar can drive people crazy!

Even those alcoholics would report bars for the money.

As long as bars exist, and they have a place to drink, they will always be able to buy alcohol.

But if, on the contrary, the entire city is full of bars, but they have no money, then they won't be able to buy alcohol.

With money, what can't you buy?

As the news ferments tomorrow, he believes more and more people will start reporting bars.

The group entered the lobby, and the agents on duty stood up and applauded. Another "major detection"—a bar case worth tens of thousands was particularly eye-catching at this time.

Perhaps it might not be so unimaginable in the future, but at this moment, it is absolutely shocking.

After listening to a more direct report, Director Dale told them all to go and rest. It was already late at night.

As for those bartenders who were arrested, if nothing unexpected happens, someone will come with bail money tomorrow to take them away.

The city's judicial system is completely rotten. Even though the judges know they shouldn't approve their bail, these judges who have taken bribes still violate their work principles. Therefore, Director Dale had nothing to say about this group of people.

In Director Dale's eyes, they were equivalent to… some cash!

However, Lucar didn't go to sleep. He still needed to have a good chat with the bartender.

As soon as the bartender sat down, two agents asked him to come out. “Lucar wants to see you.”

Some people around stood up again, and their movements directly alarmed the two agents outside the door. They immediately put their hands on their holsters and retreated nervously. “Squat down, all of you squat down, or I'll shoot!”

The atmosphere on the scene suddenly became tense, but what felt strange was that these two agents clearly knew that closing the iron door could prevent all of this, but they didn't close it.

The bartender raised his hands. “They'll at most beat me up. Don't mess around. Someone will stand up for us.”

These words made the other young people slowly squat back down. Some of them stared intently at the two agents outside the cell, as if they wanted to completely memorize their appearance.

He raised his hands to show that he was harmless and slowly walked out of the cell.

Lance had given them some brief training, telling them how to "cooperate" with law enforcement agencies during interrogations in police stations or other law enforcement agencies.

Including telling them what methods these law enforcement officers would use to "entrap" them, so no matter what, don't let these law enforcement officers find an excuse to pull the trigger on them.

If any of them crossed that iron door, even if the two agents shot and killed them all, the judge would not stand on their side.

So, the most correct approach is not to be fooled. After their detention status is lifted, they leave this place, they can do many things.

The bartender with his hands on his head was handcuffed and pushed into an interrogation room.

Lucar had just lit a cigarette. He pointed to the chair opposite him, signaling the bartender to sit there.

The bartender walked over and sat down, his face full of indifference.

“Who's your boss?” Lucar asked.

Although he knew that he most likely wouldn't get any results, he still wanted to try.

He didn't like Lance, didn't like Lance making fun of him, and didn't even like those words Lance said to him that day, which even made him question his sense of justice!

He wanted to bring Lance in and let him feel whether his justice was shining, sharp, and thoroughly implemented!

The bartender tilted his head and didn't speak.

Lucar chuckled. He stood up with a cigarette in his mouth, took off his coat, and hung it on the hanger.

A gray checkered vest and a white shirt—very fashionable and common attire.

He also took off his watch, put it in his pocket, and unbuttoned his cuffs.

“You know what?”

“Before I came here, I was with the Criminal Investigation Team of the Goldport City Police Department. Every day, I dealt with vicious criminals.”

“Most of them, in terms of the severity of the crimes they committed, the lowest was murder.”

“But they will eventually tell me what I want to know, and you…”

He walked up to the bartender, his hairy arms under his rolled-up sleeves. He looked down at the bartender. “Stand up.”

The bartender stood up. The moment he stood up, Lucar threw a hook punch into the bartender's stomach. The bartender crashed onto the table…

More than twenty minutes later, the bartender was dragged back to the cell like a dead dog. The young people gathered around.

Fortunately, his life didn't seem to be in any danger.

On the other side, Lucar was breathing slightly. He spat on the ground.

This hard bone made him feel uncomfortable. Recently, these people's bones have been much harder than those of previous criminals, or rather, Lance's subordinates are all like this—all hard bones. He didn't know what ideas Lance had instilled in them.

The agent in charge of detaining these people stood at the door and couldn't help but complain, “That's just a young man…” He glanced at the urine stain on the ground. The young man had been beaten until he was incontinent.

Lucar didn't seem to be interrogating; he was just venting his negative emotions in the name of interrogation.

Now that he had vented his emotions, his brain began to return to normal.

However, he wouldn't admit that he did this just to vent the embarrassment Lance had given him on his person. He emphasized, “Even if he just came of age, he's still a criminal!”

The agent in charge of this area raised his hands. “No offense.” Saying that, he shook his head and turned around.

Although Congress allows them to use weapons in the process of arresting moonshiners and allows them to cause casualties, but… he was just a bartender.

Lucar glanced at the yellow stain on the ground, cursed “Fuck,” then put on his coat and left.

Someone will come to deal with the situation here. As for the notebook he left behind?

There wasn't a single word written on it. He didn't need to take it with him.

Now, after experiencing a period of mental excitement and practicing boxing for a while, he was tired, and he needed to get some sleep.

The dormitory was behind the Hazardous Materials Administration, and even the director's office and the senior agent's office had rest areas.

The "specifications" of this department were very high. Congress allowed these middle and high-level offices to have rest areas.

Lying on the small bed, Lucar thought of the news tomorrow morning, and a smile appeared on his face.

Even in his dreams, he slept with a smile. He dreamed that he had become the nemesis of evil…

At four o'clock, several cars slowly stopped by the gate of the Hazardous Materials Administration, and then some people got out of the cars.

One of the young men skillfully pried open the card on the base of the streetlight, took out the switch, and turned off the streetlight.

The streetlight on one side of the door flickered twice and turned off. The agent on duty at the door just glanced over and then looked away, continuing to doze off in his chair.

After everything quieted down again, the young man quickly climbed onto the streetlight, and then the people below threw up a rope. He wrapped it around the lamp arm of the streetlight twice and then threw it down again.

Before long, something wobbly was hoisted up…

At five o'clock, almost all the newspapers in Goldport City and some well-known reporters were harassed by phone calls. The content of the harassment was that there was big news at the entrance of the Hazardous Materials Administration. If they were late, they wouldn't see it!

Regardless of whether those newspapers believed this or not, they arranged for reporters to rush over to interview. Those well-known reporters were more sensitive to news and immediately associated it with the Hazardous Materials Administration's sealing-up operation during this period.

This may be a "counterattack" by those gangs, locals, against the Hazardous Materials Administration.

At 5:10, Goldport City, which was approaching daylight saving time, had already turned off the streetlights, but the light was starting to become brighter.

Outside the gate of the Hazardous Materials Administration, a large number of reporters appeared. At first, the guard was indeed alarmed, but when he found out that they were reporters, he didn't pay too much attention.

Because Director Dale had told him last night that there would definitely be many reporters visiting today, after all, they were interested in last night's gains and whether they could cash in the two thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars.

Director Dale had also specifically instructed not to let these reporters enter the Hazardous Materials Administration and disrupt the work order here.

At six o'clock, the entire sky of Goldport City became bright under the light of the newborn sun. The guard, who had been dozing for a while, was awakened by the noisy discussion sounds in his ears. He opened his eyes alertly.

The reporters at the door hadn't left yet. He admired these reporters a little. They came before dawn, just for the headline.

He suddenly felt very grateful to the federal government for arranging such a job for him.

He wouldn't be exposed to the sun or frozen, he didn't need to run around, he just needed to sit here and not let some people sneak in…

He straightened his clothes and came to the door. He thought the reporters would swarm up, but he found that the reporters' target didn't seem to be here.

The towering courtyard wall blocked his view. He walked to the big iron gate and glanced at the place where the reporters were gathering, and in an instant, his legs were a little weak and he almost couldn't stand!

He stumbled back to the duty room and dialed Director Dale's office…

At this time, Director Dale was actually in a state of semi-sleep, semi-wakefulness.

The pillow in the office was very uncomfortable to sleep on, keeping him tossing and turning all night, waking up for a while, then sleeping for a while. He would avoid resting there if he could.

The ringing of the telephone woke him up at the first ring.

He patted his cheeks, slowly sat up, and only picked it up after it rang two more times.

“Director, this is the guard station, something happened…”

Seven or eight minutes later, a large number of agents walked out of the office building. By this time, the sky had completely brightened.

When the reporters saw Director Dale coming out, they turned around and began to swarm towards him. The surrounding agents helped clear the path ahead, allowing him to see the corpse hanging on the lamppost at the entrance.

The person who hung the corpse up seemed to have thoughtfully written the word "Informant" on the chest…

Seeing this scene, he finally couldn't help but utter a "Fuck." Many reporters were so excited that they couldn't control themselves, and their voices became even louder!

“Director Dale, is this a provocation by the gang against your previous law enforcement actions?”

“Director Dale, why is the informant hanging here? Did someone within your organization leak the informant's identity information?”

“Director Dale, how will you ensure the safety of other informants…”

Lucar also quickly arrived, draped in a coat. He looked at the hanging corpse, his face equally grim, and kicked the triangular sign placed beside his foot, sending it flying!

Just as Director Dale was planning to have someone take the corpse down, suddenly, several police cars arrived.

The police officers stopped their actions, which made the atmosphere at the scene somewhat tense, but the reporters were so excited that they were almost reaching a climax. They kept taking pictures, and the scene was lit up by the flashes as if it were daytime!

“This person may be our informant, and the fact that he is hanging here has had a great impact on our work. Let people take him down first,” Director Dale said, looking unkindly at the guy who stopped him.

This guy was the branch director of the downtown branch. Lucar had dealt with him before.

However, he didn't give Director Dale any face. "This is a crime scene, there may be a lot of evidence left on this… lamppost."

“Before we collect all the evidence, no one can destroy the scene. Now, please leave immediately.”

The branch director didn't show any mercy and emphasized, "Criminal cases that occur within Goldport City are all handled by our police department."

This was indeed not within Director Dale's purview. He couldn't interfere with the law enforcement work of another law enforcement department, and this work had nothing to do with the Dangerous Goods Administration.

Even if the person had the word "Informant" written on his chest, there was no evidence to show that he was one of the informants who had led to the closure of some bars before.

So, this case could only be handled by the police.

Watching the police officers begin to clear the ground around the lamppost and start looking for non-existent footprints and fingerprints, Director Dale's face became even more unsightly.

He knew that the Dangerous Goods Administration was going to become famous, and he was going to become famous too, but definitely not for good reasons!

But he couldn't do anything about it. He didn't let others interfere with their work, so naturally, others wouldn't let him interfere with their work.

“You better search carefully, don't miss any clues!” Director Dale said, his words seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth. He turned and walked towards the yard. “Let's go.”

The branch director showed a slight contemptuous smile. He actually knew who did it, but he wouldn't say it, nor would he act.

This was not a conflict between law enforcement and criminal groups, but a conflict between locals and outsiders. It had sublimated!

In the end, the police still figured out who the corpse was.

His name was Rob. He was killed for leaking secrets. His eyes and tongue were held in his left and right hands respectively, and the wounds were sealed with thread.

This was similar to a mythological story in the Empire. An informant leaked some information, leading to a disastrous defeat in a war that should have been won.

The heroes and gods deprived him of his ability to see and speak, plunging him forever into the dark and speechless hell…

However, their speed in collecting evidence and clues was too slow, so that almost everyone in the city knew about it.

More importantly, many newspapers, including the "Goldport Today" and even the "Tide News", changed their front-page headlines as early as 5 a.m.

The mayor got up and went to the restaurant. His family had already prepared breakfast. After he finished breakfast, he had thirty minutes of free time before going to work.

However, as soon as he sat down, his personal secretary brought him a newspaper. “You better take a look at this.”

The mayor glanced at the newspaper in his hand, swallowed the food in his mouth in two or three bites, then wiped his hands and unfolded it.

Almost half of the front page was occupied by a photo. The leftmost side of the lamppost, and the hanging corpse, occupied one-third of the photo. The rest was the gate of the Dangerous Goods Administration and the dozing guard.

They used bold fonts to give people an unsettling title—"Who Killed the Informant?"

This was a very sophisticated title. It left people with a lot of room for imagination. It seemed to be asking who the murderer was, but more of it was reminding people who caused all of this to happen!

It looked like they were just reporting the news, but the mayor could feel that this was a warning from the locals to some "traitors." They were using this incident to make a fuss.

The contest between smart political forces had traces to follow, but the traces would not be too heavy, especially when facing the public.

They couldn't stand up and shout, "Locals must stand on our side, we will kill anyone who does stupid things."

But they could use this method to make people understand that being an informant was not just about having a bad ending!

This news ruined the mayor's good mood. He only ate a small piece of bread, but now, he couldn't eat anything.

He went directly to the study, intending to call Director Dale, but put the receiver down again.

What was the point of calling?

The matter had already happened!

But he finally picked up the receiver.

“Who did it?”

Director Dale was also quite troubled at this time. He thought they would have a big fight this time, but he didn't expect everything to be ruined by a hanging corpse.

Those who tried to inform were going to start considering the cost. The cost of informing was too high. Being discovered meant death. Who would dare to inform casually?

Moreover, some reports even claimed that there might be problems within the Dangerous Goods Administration, leaking the informant's identity to the outside, which led to the informant being honorably killed.

From the obviously ritualistic characteristics of the death, it could be seen that this was the work of the gang!

So at this time, asking who the deceased was was meaningless.

Even if the dead person was a homeless man, people would think that the dead person was the leaker.

Director Dale stood by the window, watching a group of people walking out of the gate. “I think it is very likely that Lance did it.”

Because someone had already told him that Lance's car was parked on the road opposite the Dangerous Goods Administration, and he himself was there!