Empire of Shadows

Hearing Lance's words, telling him to eliminate those smugglers, the expression on his face changed slightly.

Then he lowered his head and glanced at the small card in his hand, saying, "I don't harm innocent people."

Although he engaged in black-eat-black activities, he never considered himself an evil person.

Those bootleggers deserved to go to hell, but the liquor was innocent. He also agreed with the majority of people's view that prohibition was a foolish decision.

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His selling liquor to Lance had no direct relationship to whether he was a good or bad person. He was still the people's guardian, the guarantor of coastal safety.

But if he attacked innocent ordinary people, then he truly wouldn't be a good person, and he didn't want to become a bad person.

That would make it impossible for him to face his family, to face his children.

In fact, everyone has a line of inexplicable insistence. Even a 'jiao lao' (someone who frequently masturbates) who can happily 'dajiao' (masturbate) with any source of information might have a bottom line: not to watch certain types of videos or target certain actresses.

To others, this bottom line, this reservation, is as stupid as shitting in one's pants, but some people will always have such insistence.

Lance had his principles, and McCook had his.

"Those aren't innocent people!" Lance explained. "They are all gunmen from Yalan coming here. Their arrival will only bring harm and disaster. Keeping them at sea forever is the most correct thing to do."

"These people will join gang wars after arriving in Goldport. They aren't locals, they have no love for this place, and no one can restrain them."

"They will bring pain to the people living here and disrupt social stability, so you don't need to have any psychological burden at all. Just kill them."

McCook was still hesitant. "Can I know who these people belong to?"

"Rick's people."

Upon hearing this name, an image of a person immediately appeared in McCook's mind. He looked at Lance, his eyes showing some shock. "You want to attack his people?"

"You're crazy, that's one of the Five Families!"

Lance wore a smile that wasn't quite a smile, and he gave McCook a cigarette. "Who says you can't attack the Five Families?"

He lit his own cigarette, took a puff, and exhaled smoke towards McCook.

This gesture wasn't very friendly. McCook frowned and leaned back in his chair. "If they find out we did it, we'll be sunk in Angel Lake too."

Lance shook his head slightly. "Before the Five Families became the Five Families, they were just ordinary gangs. Have you ever been so afraid of them?"

"Even if they are the Five Families, they are no different from us. If you shoot them, they will get hurt and die."

"Besides, the Cassia family is in trouble now. They are targeting him."

McCook looked at Lance, as if trying to dig something out from beneath his surface.

After two or three seconds, he put the cigarette in his mouth, lit it, and asked as he raised his head, "Including you?"

"Including me."

McCook considered for a while and then agreed. "If they are really gunmen, then I'll do it."

Lance took out a kraft paper bag and handed it to him. "There are five thousand inside. You and your friends can split it."

Lance didn't care how much of this money would be split. In fact, it would be better if he didn't share the money with his men.

Feeling the kraft paper bag, the heavy feeling gave McCook an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

He always felt that there might be something wrong with him.

He didn't spend much of that money. Most of what he spent now was his savings, which he had worked hard to earn.

He didn't dare to spend money casually before, but now that he dared to spend money casually, life had changed.

Even though he hadn't touched that money much, he didn't know why, but his attitude towards life, his family's attitude towards life, had all changed.

This also made him clearly realize one thing: money is really important!

He said "Thank you" and took the kraft paper bag in his hand. "Wait for my good news..."

At the same time, in the Corda family's manor, Rick and Bandi sat together, with Gory, Fleming, and Stone also present.

"I've talked to Fegal. He's willing to remain neutral, but his condition is that the Pasleto family's territory in the Starlight District be given to him."

The Starlight District isn't a territory that can be completely dominated by a single force, also because there's too much wealth here, so much that it's difficult for one family to swallow it all alone.

So the Five Families all have their own territories in the Starlight District. They take the best resources here, and then leave some ordinary, not-so-good ones for other nearby gangs to divide, jointly forming the underground order of the Starlight District.

Fegal has his eyes on the Pasleto family's territory: two blocks with an opera house, two cinemas, bars, dance halls, and nightclubs.

Taking these territories would allow him to merge them with his own territories, turning them into a larger territory, making it easier for him to manage and operate these places.

Rick's face was somewhat gloomy. "He's thinking nicely. Why should he eat half the benefits without doing anything?"

"If he doesn't contribute to this matter, I'd think giving him a bar is too much."

Bandi held a teacup, carefully savoring the high-quality black tea from the Lesser Antilles, with a little other spice added for flavoring.

The taste of the black tea was also good, and of course, the price would definitely not be cheap. A price of hundreds of dollars a pound was basically at the ceiling.

He pondered the aftertaste, put the teacup back on the saucer, and said meaningfully, "If the Pasleto and Tita families are both finished, there will only be three of the Five Families left."

He looked at Rick, and the two looked at each other, exchanging some glances, hinting.

Rick's gaze quickly began to change. He seemed to have figured out some of the meaning behind Bandi's words. "Fegal and the Bear Gang's battle was a lose-lose situation. Their strength has also been severely damaged."

Bandi nodded. "Yes, that's one of the reasons they're remaining neutral."

"Then if we..." He tentatively looked at Bandi, but Bandi turned his eyes away, revealing a meaningful smile.

This smile made him realize that what he was thinking was also what Bandi was thinking.

However, neither of them said it out loud.

Eliminate the Keane family, and then they would divide the entire Goldport City!

Rick wasn't a fool. A fool couldn't reach the position of leader of the Five Families. The Cassia family and the Corda family could coexist, or rather, the Corda family could coexist with any family, gang, or other organization.

Because their profit model was relatively simple, everything revolved around casinos.

They had been using various means of providing benefits to prevent the state government from continuing to approve new casino licenses, achieving a monopoly in this industry, and the resulting profits were naturally enormous.

So huge that they didn't even need to think about expanding their family business!

When your business brings in money far exceeding what other businesses can earn, you're less likely to want to risk doing other businesses.

What's left, naturally, is all his.

The two sides had already reached an agreement. Bandi exhaled a puff of smoke. "I heard that Lance has also joined their small alliance."

"Lance?" Rick was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then his face showed some contempt. "Have they fallen to the point of colluding with this kind of small gang?"

"That's really disappointing!"

At the same time, he was also very curious about the source of Bandi's news. "Who did you hear it from?"

Gory, who was on the side, said, "There's definitely no problem with the source of the news. Sarif himself revealed it."

"And don't underestimate Lance and his Lance family. They have firmly controlled two districts. According to some of the information I've collected, the number of core members of the Lance family has exceeded five hundred."

Hearing this number, Rick was also a little surprised. "So many people?"

His expression gradually became serious. "Then this is indeed a powerful opponent."

"Goldport City hasn't seen such a powerful gang in a long time. We can't let him continue to expand. This time, we'll deal with them together."

Each district in Goldport City actually has two or three large gangs, and then there are some small gangs and small groups below.

This actually seems unreasonable, but it's very reasonable, because the entire underground world of Goldport City is also pyramid-shaped.

They have squeezed multiple gangs into each administrative district, which has crowded out the space for development.

If a gang wants to continue to expand, they must launch wars against other gangs, and at this time, someone from the Five Families will stand up to mediate, always controlling the situation to prevent it from deviating from development and preventing a powerful gang from appearing in Goldport City again.

What the Five Families need is stability, not creating new challengers.

But it has been too chaotic during this period. The chaos in various aspects has prevented them from noticing the silent and rapid expansion of the Lance family. By the time they discovered it, it had already expanded to an incredible level.

If he continues to expand, he may threaten the rule of the Five Families.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Sarif took the initiative to reveal to the outside world that the Lance family would work with them to deal with the Cassia family.

It both reminded everyone that a new challenger had appeared and allowed the Lance family to attract some firepower for them.

Salifu's purpose was not simple.

"It's not surprising that he can do this!" Bandi also commented from the side. "If they win, with the Lance family's current strength, and his relationship with Alberto, they will definitely stick together."

"When that time comes, Salifu and the others will become the weakest party. So, dragging the Lance family into the water and putting them under the spotlight serves this purpose."

Rick nodded. "Then what do we do first?"

Bandi elegantly took a puff of his cigarette. "First, we solve Salifu. If the internal problems of the Pasreto family aren't resolved, Alberto won't be able to spare the time to deal with us. If he doesn't move, Lance is very likely not to move either. Besides, I will also have a chat with them."

"There is nothing in this world that cannot be solved. It just depends on whether they accept our offer, that's all!"

Rick did not reject this decision. "I will start making arrangements."

"When do you plan to make a move?"

He raised his wrist and glanced at his watch, which had a calendar. "At most a week. After the gunman arrives, he will need some time to familiarize himself. This time, we'll try to knock him down directly…"

Bandi also nodded and said, "That's good. I'll see if I can get Alberto and Lance to change their positions. If we can avoid a fight, we should, because stability is the most important thing for this city."

The chaotic city and runaway conflicts have caused the Coda family's revenue to plummet in the past two months, to the point where some of the old men are dissatisfied with the current situation.

After the conversation, Bandi had Fleming send Rick away. He stood behind the third-floor window, watching Rick's convoy leave the manor.

Gao Li, standing behind him, asked, "Are we really going to split Goldport City with him?"

There was some worry in his words. A faint smile appeared on Bandi's face. "With him?"

"Is he worthy?"

He chuckled. "A nouveau riche from Yalan, thinking of being on equal footing with us. Is he worthy?"

"After he deals with those people, send him on his way."

Given Rick's trust in them, being alone with them in the same room, it would be very easy for them to take care of Rick.

They wouldn't even need to make special arrangements. They could just find a reason to get him over, and then kill him.

Although the Coda family has cleaned up a lot in recent years, they are, after all, an organization with a mafia background. As long as there is a need, they will still kill people, and they can still kill without batting an eye.

"This chaos has also made me understand a truth: Goldport City doesn't need so many powerful families. Having us is enough!"

In Bandi's plan, the future Goldport City would be full of small gangs, with only them at the top of the pyramid.

No matter who is the mayor, no matter who wants to create some kind of miracle, they cannot avoid them.

They will grasp the real control of the city's underworld and use it to influence the world under the sun.

A smile appeared on his lips. The good days of "I am the only one who is supreme" are coming!

It has been raining in Goldport City for the past two days. It may be close to the changing of seasons, and the cold air has begun to form and move.

In this world without the greenhouse effect, winter comes very early in both poles.

The cold air constantly moves south and north, eventually forming storms that sweep across the coastal cities.

Continuous rainy days are the most uncomfortable weather. The air is humid, and people feel like they are wet too.

If it is not necessary, people are reluctant to leave their homes and go to the streets. Whether they are holding umbrellas or wearing rubber shoes, they will end up in a mess.

But at this time, outside the Jinda Bank, the large number of people queuing to withdraw money has not decreased, but has increased.

They stood in the slow-moving long line, inching forward.

Inside the bank, Mr. Chobaf's eyes were bloodshot, full of red veins. He hadn't slept much for two days.

Most of the time, he was so sleepy that he would doze off for a while and then start working again.

He despondently put down the phone in his hand. Another bank had rejected his loan. He painfully tugged at his hair. He was finished!

He had already tried his best. Perhaps he really should have listened to Lance's words earlier, transferred some of the money out, and filed for bankruptcy.

But how could he be willing?

After all, this was the career he had worked hard for his entire life!

While he was in pain, someone knocked on the door. He quickly tidied up his clothes and appearance to make himself look less broken.

"Come in."

The door opened, and the supervisor stood at the door with an anxious expression. "Mr. Chobaf, we don't have that much money left. If we can't replenish some more, we may not be able to make it to the end of the day."

In fact, the employees of Jinda Bank were also very clear that the bank really didn't have any money. Otherwise, Mr. Chobaf wouldn't have pieced together the money little by little to give to them.

Before, when the bank wasn't short of money, he only had to push a small cart to the vault once to bring out a lot of money.

But at that time, no one was rushing to withdraw their money. Everyone would deposit their money.

But now, it's different.

They guessed that the vault was already empty, and that there wasn't even anything else left, because some employees saw Mr. Chobaf struggling to push the cart to the back garage a few days ago.

Then they heard the sound of metal colliding. If there were no accidents, he should have taken away the last of the gold.

Then, not long after, he exchanged it for a batch of money, but this batch of money didn't last long, and now it's about to be gone again.

How much money can he still take out?

No one knows.

Considering that Mr. Chobaf had given them jobs for so long, they were still persevering and standing guard until the very end.

"I… I understand."

"Leave me alone for a while. I'll think of a way."

The supervisor sighed softly, closed the door, and left.

Mr. Chobaf sat blankly in the chair, his mind blank.

After an unknown amount of time, a clap of thunder woke him up from that state of not thinking about anything. The faint noise in his ears made him stand up and walk to the window.

The depositors downstairs were no longer queuing. The security guards were maintaining order, but more and more depositors began to rush into the bank. He realized that the money was gone.

Sure enough, the supervisor ran in with a panicked expression. "Mr. Chobaf, the money has been withdrawn. We can't take out any more money."

He stared at the supervisor for a long time before raising his hand to signal, "Tell everyone to protect their own safety."

He paused. "I'll go down later."

The supervisor returned to the outside. Perhaps Mr. Chobaf's appearance would quiet people down for a moment.

Seven or eight minutes later, amid the discussion, Mr. Chobaf appeared in front of the people.

He walked out of the door. The sky was getting darker and darker, and the rain was getting heavier and heavier!

His whole body was quickly soaked in the pattering rain.

"I… I'm sorry, everyone!"