Empire of Shadows

The Cassia family also has a lot of influence in Yalan.

Anyone with money can gather a large group of people in Yalan to work for them, whether it's doing legitimate business, mining, or something else.

Or doing illegitimate business, selling girls abroad, or hiring a large number of gunmen to acquire wealth through illegal means.

As long as you have money, there will always be people who will work with you.

Most of the time, federal people cannot understand that kind of desperate poverty!

The kind of poverty that makes life suffocating at a glance!

For the current federal people, the so-called "extreme poverty" is nothing more than begging on the street, which is the limit of poverty they can recognize.

Most of the time, they are either stealing or begging, often lying in the sun by the roadside to pass the time.

Or at night, a group of street friends huddled around a bucket filled with flammable materials for warmth, or barbecuing.

They don't need to work. The government provides relief from time to time. Except for the possibility of getting sick, their lives don't require them to worry about anything.

Why does it sound a bit desirable?

But in Yalan, poverty is a kind of despair.

The government has no subsidies, and begging will not get you any money. Everyone is having a hard time, who would tighten their belts to give you some change?

All good virtues come from the satisfaction of material wealth. Only when people have money will their kindness be stimulated.

Without money, there is nothing, and you may be caught and sent to a mine, or to a rubber plantation or similar place to be exploited and oppressed, and eventually die in a stinking ditch.

Girls are willing to pay any price to leave this country or get a stable job.

Boys are the same.

So as long as you have money, in these countries in Yalan, you can play the role of God.

Just like Rick at this time, with just one phone call, more than a hundred gunmen gathered at the pier.

Some of them are local gang members, and some are ordinary people who have come to make up the numbers. Surprisingly, there are even police and soldiers among them.

They also want to leave this terrible area and go to the Federation to enjoy the good life there. Who can not yearn for developed countries?

The crowded cabin was full of the smell of sweat, foot odor, and the smell of rancidity. It would take them a whole day to reach the Federation, but this was already very fast.

The cabin was quiet. Everyone was praying and looking forward to a new life that was about to unfold before them.

They had all heard some rumors, such as some selected gunmen "disappearing" during missions after arriving in the Federation, and the Cassia family would not go to great lengths to find them.

Most of the time, when people disappear, they assume they are dead and don't care anymore. This is a way for them to escape the Cassia family and embrace a new life.

However, they may not think so after they become a little familiar with life in the Federation. Although the Federation cannot make a person desperately poor.

But the inconvenience caused by not having money is even more troublesome than in Yalan.

In Yalan, you can catch some small animals if you are hungry, but in a big city, you can't find any small animals you can catch except for mice.

The bumpy waves are like a cradle in memory, and the undulating waves make the people in the cabin drowsy.

As they got closer and closer to the Federation, the atmosphere on the ship became a little tense.

They certainly didn't want to encounter the coastal patrol team.

The smuggling ship turned off all lighting equipment and slowed down a little, so that the ship could sail "silently" on the sea.

In the dark night, it is difficult for people to find these unlit ships with the naked eye. They will blend in with the dark sky and the sea.

In the darkness, pairs of eyes burst out with the brilliance of a better future!

A half-asleep gunman in the cabin suddenly opened his eyes. He seemed to hear some other sounds.

He wasn't sure if it was his hallucination, but he just had that feeling. At this moment, the whole ship suddenly became quiet.

Some other more sensitive people also noticed something was wrong. While they were still curious about what had happened, the hatch of the cabin was lifted open, and a dark head poked in, "Don't make any noise. Whoever makes a noise, I will kill him."

He didn't say why, just ordered that. The cabin was still very quiet.

In fact, the coastal patrol team appeared.

Two armed ships were moving together at a distance from the distant coast. They didn't look like a routine patrol.

The captain of the smuggling ship immediately turned off the engine. Although the sound of the engine was very likely to be covered by the sound of the waves at sea, maybe they had someone with talent over there.

Two searchlights were constantly scanning the sea. Suddenly, a color slightly different from the sea attracted the observer's attention. Soon the light beam focused on the smuggling ship.

The captain of the smuggling ship cursed a few times, restarted the engine, and turned the horsepower to the maximum.

Organizing smuggling is subject to fines and imprisonment. The captain didn't want to go to jail. He just wanted to make money.

"The ship in front, stop immediately... Repeat, the ship in front, stop immediately for inspection."

"We are the Licalle State Coast Patrol Team of the Federation. You have entered the federal waters. Please stop the ship immediately for inspection..."

Hearing the shout, the captain of the smuggling ship directly put all the engines into full operation, which also made the ship more bumpy. The people in the cabin screamed in the dark!

In this dark environment, facing unknown dangers from the outside world, it gives people a very fearful feeling!

Obviously, many of these people were prepared to kill or be killed, but at this moment, they were like those girls, uneasy and nervous to the point of wanting to shit and pee!

McCawke picked up the walkie-talkie, "Open fire, repeat, you can open fire."

The sound of the machine guns rang out. The tracer bullets not only guided the direction of the bullets, but also left beautiful lines of light on the sea.

Fleeting.

Smuggling ships are all converted from large fishing boats, and they cannot withstand the shooting of machine guns at all. The painful wailing and desperate screams of the people in the cabin, like a piece of music woven by demons, made the captain frantically want to escape into the distance.

But the gap between the two sides was too great. Its speed became slower and slower, and finally stopped on the sea.

The two armed ships quickly caught up. The machine gun bullets were fired at the ship without mercy, and soon it was broken in half.

Whether it was the smuggled gunmen in the cabin or the sailors hiding on the deck, they all began to struggle to survive at this time.

The huge searchlights illuminated this sea area. McCawke, with a cigarette in his mouth, came to the edge of the deck with a rifle.

He pulled the bolt and aimed at the struggling people in the sea and pulled the trigger.

The bullet shot the unlucky guy with a xiu sound. He screamed, splashed some bigger splashes, and began to sink into the water.

The smell of blood attracted predators from the surrounding waters. Tonight is destined to be a sleepless feast!

It was not until there were no more living people to be seen on the surrounding sea that the two ships began to return.

If there is a sense of guilt, there must be some, but for the sake of those money, and for the sake of everyone's cooperation, they are still willing to help with this little favor.

Some people may be a little uneasy at this time. The killing just now caused some other negative emotions in their hearts.

But there are also people who are excitedly talking non-stop. This killing makes them feel a kind of pleasure of dominating other people's fate and deciding other people's lives!

At five o'clock in the morning, the five buses arranged by Rick had already parked at the location on the street. This was some distance from the port, but it was a relatively easy place to land.

Those places that are easy to land are the key areas that the coastal patrol team focuses on patrolling. On the contrary, those places that are not easy to land are not so strictly checked.

Gunmen are not cargo, they will float away with the waves if they are thrown into the water.

They will launch a few ropes connected to the fishing boat through the launcher, and then those gunmen will grab the ropes and wade over, come to the bottom of the cliff, and then climb up along the ropes.

There are no patrols here, it is relatively safe. They have picked up several batches of people here.

The wind by the sea was very strong. The person who was supposed to meet them was originally sitting in the car smoking a cigarette and chatting with the people around him, but as time went on, something became more and more wrong. The sky around him became brighter and brighter, and he couldn't sit still anymore and got out of the car.

The sea was still the same sea, without any shadow of a fishing boat. His expression also became particularly serious.

Until seven o'clock, he still couldn't see any shadow of a ship. He knew that something must have happened.

He drove a car away first. He had to tell Rick the news. Rick had made relevant plans and preparations before. If something happened to this group of gunmen, then many plans would have to be rearranged.

Rick called the people in Yalan immediately. His tone was very unkind, "Why didn't the people I wanted appear in front of me?"

The person on the other side of the receiver considered many possibilities that Rick might call him, but he had never thought of this. After two or three seconds, he reacted, "How would I know?"

"They set off yesterday before dawn. According to the time, they should have arrived long ago. Did something happen on the road?"

Rick was annoyed when he heard this, "I'm going to use these people to do something big, and you're telling me that something happened on the road?"

"Do you have any idea that because of your little accident, I have to redo my entire plan?"

"Fuck!"

The person on the other end was also a bit annoyed, "I told you, I arranged people for you. Why would I deceive you in something like this?"

"Didn't the previous batches of people all arrive at your place on schedule?"

"You must know how complex the situation at sea is. Maybe they encountered a storm at night, or were hit by a whale or something. Anything is possible."

"I'll arrange another batch of people to go over immediately. Calm down, a few days' delay won't be a problem."

Rick was silent for a moment, "I hope this is the last time!"

The person on the other end immediately guaranteed, "No problem, I guarantee it, this is the last time..."

Seeing that Rick was no longer cursing, he breathed a sigh of relief, re-agreed on a time, hung up the phone, and walked directly out of the office.

Several people who were chatting and drinking coffee at the table next to him immediately stood up and walked to his side.

He had a displeased look on his face, "That damn fishmonger didn't deliver on time. I don't know if he dumped our goods into the sea halfway, but he's made me very unhappy right now!"

"Throw his family into the sea. I want people to know what the price is for disobedience!"

"Then find a new fishmonger and recruit another one hundred thirty to fifty gunmen to send to our old friends!"

After he finished instructing, he went back to his office cursing, and his subordinates began to work.

In less than an hour, a family of a dozen people, old and young, were tied to large stones and thrown into the bay.

Many people on the shore saw this scene, but no one reported it to the police. These things are common here.

Sometimes the police can't solve these troubles, and it becomes even more troublesome.

Moreover, many people in the police station are members of these gangs, or have been bought by them. If you don't want to cause trouble for yourself and your family, it's best not to do anything.

This is Ya Lan, under the hot tropical sun, yet with unfathomable icy coldness.

Not far away, people were already signing up to venture into the Federation and looking forward to a new life.

At 7:15, Lance made a phone call to Alberto, and then Alberto contacted Sarif. Now they all knew that Rick's gunmen were at the bottom of the sea.

From the gleeful tone in Sarif's voice, Lance could sense that he was going to make trouble for Rick.

Rick's gunmen not being able to come over meant that he would have difficulty launching an effective counterattack against Sarif and their new alliance in the short term. In a confrontation, if there is no ability to counterattack, even if it is only temporary, the situation will be very passive.

At this time, he still didn't know, or rather, he couldn't even imagine, that this wasn't an accident, but a premeditated "beginning"!

In September, the Federal Professional Baseball Super League had entered a crucial moment, with media claiming that over seventy percent of people were paying attention to the games.

Apart from those gambling addicts who were using the matches for betting, most people were still very enthusiastic about these sports.

Everywhere on the streets, you could see young people wearing the Sailors team baseball caps. This year, the Sailors team had a good chance of entering the playoffs. Everyone was performing well, especially David!

This year, the Sailors team's owner spent a lot of money to bring in last year's league's best pitcher, with a transfer fee as high as 1.75 million, and his salary was even as high as 900,000 a year.

His performance in the games was also very outstanding, leading the team to lead the entire Eastern Division.

According to the current situation, if they can continue to win and defeat the second-ranked team, they can enter the playoffs as the regular season champions.

The value and role of the ace pitcher were very obvious, and this also made the people of Goldport City even more expectant of the Sailors team's performance.

As one of the wealthiest cities on the East Coast, Goldport City has multiple baseball stadiums. The Sailors team will face the Aliens team, ranked fourth in the Eastern Division, at home.

Three days before the game, there were already many more fans on the streets, and some Aliens team fans from Vanport Moore also appeared in groups on the roads.

During these few days, there were also some minor frictions between fans.

Most fans are of good quality, but there are always some young people who easily erupt into conflicts over a few words.

Compared to the citizens or team fans' eagerness for the game, the police system hopes that all of this can end as soon as possible.

Fortunately, after today's game, everything will return to normal.

"Don't run around these days," Rick said very solemnly to his son. "It's not safe outside right now."

However, it was clear that his son didn't listen to his words, especially since he had been confined at home for so long recently, and he couldn't stand it anymore!

He was also a loyal fan of the Sailors team, and he had a room dedicated to displaying some baseball-related exhibits.

Inside, there were many collectibles related to the Sailors team, signed jerseys, hats, gloves, and bats of those Hall of Fame players, as well as the Eastern Division championship trophy—

It was said that the trophy in the Sailors team's club was fake, and his was the real one.

Among these prizes, there was only one important thing missing, and that was the playoff championship trophy!

The Sailors team manager's purpose in bringing in the ace pitcher was not only to win the playoff championship, but also to satisfy the demands of the wealthy people in Goldport City.

They had watched so many years of games, and although they often made it to the playoffs, they had never won a championship trophy, which was too disrespectful to their support for the Sailors team.

So, under heavy pressure, the owner spent a lot of money to get an ace pitcher.

If the Sailors team can win the playoff championship this year, then he guarantees that the trophy will definitely be placed in his display room!

Everyone thinks they have a good chance of winning the championship, so he naturally wants to watch it live, rather than staying by the radio listening to the announcer's rapid-fire reporting, which is not exciting at all!

Seeing that his son didn't seem to be listening, Rick could only tell him to get out, and then tell his deputy to have someone keep an eye on him.

He had several sons, but all the others besides this one were illegitimate.

As the leader of the family, having a few mistresses and a few illegitimate children was simply the most normal thing.

However, compared to those illegitimate children, this legitimate son clearly had a higher status in his mind.

Moreover, those illegitimate children could not inherit the Cassia family. If an illegitimate child became the heir, the family would definitely have big problems!

Returning to his room, he picked up the phone and whispered with the others he had arranged to meet. The baseball game was starting at 3:30 this afternoon, and they had already agreed to watch the game in his VIP box.

He had a box that he rented out all year round. Most wealthy people actually have this habit of watching games in boxes. They don't want to squeeze together with those mud-legged dogs.

Today, they would bring girls and fine wine to celebrate the upcoming victory.

He also promised his friends that he would call David and the new ace pitcher to the room to have fun with them.