Empire of Shadows

The Five Families meeting…

No, to be precise, it was a Four Families meeting. This time, the people around the table didn't dare to underestimate that high school student, Francisco, anymore.

The deaths of Vittorio and Zaccaro did indeed cause some turmoil within the Pasreto family, but these disturbances were quickly suppressed.

When Alberto discussed these matters internally, he spoke very simply and directly.

The position of family leader originally belonged to Francisco. He was Paulo's son, the rightful heir.

All those who coveted this position, who coveted power, were the 'thieves' who should be targeted. They shouldn't be hostile to Francisco.

He didn't do anything wrong. He was just defending his rights and eliminating those who tried to usurp his position.

No one could blame him for this. If anyone thought Vittorio and Zaccaro shouldn't have died, then that person could only be said to be in league with them.

People were taking a serious look for the first time at this young man who didn't seem to leave a deep impression, and they tacitly accepted the deaths of Vittorio and Zaccaro.

They died for nothing.

If one side is very strong and the other is very weak, then reason doesn't matter, because strength is the core principle.

But if both sides are on a similar level, with comparable strength, then reason becomes very meaningful again.

Just like now, people started to talk about reason, then the deaths of Vittorio and Zaccaro were their own fault.

People blamed their deaths on the mistakes they made. Suddenly, this result became less difficult to accept, and instead gave people the idea that 'it was their fault, they deserved to die'!

Perhaps there might still be some people who weren't convinced, such as those who had a good relationship with Vittorio, or those who had a good relationship with Zaccaro. They might still have some complaints.

But as Francisco's prestige grew higher and higher, their complaints would eventually be hidden in their stomachs and no longer expressed to others.

So even Bandi couldn't help but take a few more glances at Francisco at this time.

"I heard you're planning to drop out of school this semester?" he asked casually.

Francisco nodded. "That's right. School is a relatively complicated place. I'm not sure if anyone will ambush me in such a setting."

No one is immune to death. Paulo would die, and so would he, if someone shot him.

"And… Mr. Bandi, do you think there's still a need for me to go to school?"

Bandi smiled. "Yes, you have no need to go to school anymore!"

He paused, then looked at Salif's brother. "I was very shocked when I heard about their father and son's matter. Please be sure to notify me about the funeral!"

The person currently in charge of the Tita family was Salif's cousin. His face looked very unpleasant. Two core family members, two family heads, had died at once.

The Tita family's prestige in the underworld had suffered serious damage. Some people would even make jokes about them now, which would have been absolutely impossible in the past.

Figal sat on the other side without saying a word, just sitting quietly.

At this time, besides the four of them in the room, there were some other people, all of whom were from their families.

Bandi coughed. "Now that everyone's here, I'll speak."

"I've always felt that the Five Families should always stand together, united closely. Only in this way can we cope with various problems."

"But obviously some people didn't do that, which led to so many things happening."

Alberto and Salif's cousin looked at Bandi with eyes that didn't seem so ordinary. Bandi could also be considered a traitor.

The biggest difference between him and Rick was that Rick pointed his gun at his former friends, while he, did nothing at important moments, and ignored the troubles encountered by others.

Actually, he was the least qualified to say these words, but now the Koda family was the most powerful. They didn't agree in their hearts, but they wouldn't say it out loud.

Bandi also knew that these people must be a little dissatisfied with what he had done. Besides scolding the mayor, that useless piece of trash, in his heart, he could only pretend not to be embarrassed.

"I tried to mediate the conflicts between us. After all, over the years, although we've had conflicts, most of the time we've been maintaining a kind of stability, an order."

"I thought we could accept this result, but now it seems that I've thought about this matter too simply."

"I want to apologize to you for my previous wrong judgment, so the reason I called you here this time is to discuss how to deal with this matter."

He paused, having said so much, he was a little thirsty.

He picked up his coffee and took a small sip to moisten his throat.

No one would take big gulps of water in a conference room, because drinking too much water might make you need to pee.

Humans are social animals. When a person is alone, or two people are face to face, the problem is still relatively simple.

Once the number of people exceeds two, reaching three, the problem will gradually become troublesome.

There's a little joke that says the Angel Lake Forest Police were short of a director, so the directors of the eleven sub-bureaus of Goldport City held a meeting to discuss who should go to the Forest Police Bureau to serve as the director.

The Forest Police Bureau was located further northwest, opposite Angel Lake, where it was connected to the forests outside Creek Valley City.

Going there was basically the end of your life. There was no water, no electricity, and the phone often had problems.

Most importantly, the Forest Police Bureau had no perks. No perks meant there was no way to make money to transfer yourself back, so no one wanted to go.

The city police chief didn't want to offend anyone, so he asked everyone to promote the spirit of democracy, either by applying voluntarily or by electing someone.

Nominating yourself was stupid, nominating someone else was offensive, so everyone was silent, changing the subject.

Until one guy drank too much water, couldn't hold it in, and had to go to the bathroom.

The moment he left the conference room, someone suddenly said, "He (the person who left) is pretty good…", and then listed many reasons, and everyone raised their hands to vote, passing it unanimously.

By the time this sub-bureau chief returned from the bathroom, the matter had already been decided.

So most of the time, in important meetings, people don't really take big gulps of water, even if they are really thirsty, they just take small sips to moisten their throats.

Bandi's eyes swept over the faces of the people, guessing the emotional changes in their hearts.

He put down his cup, pressed his five fingers on the rim of the cup, and stared at the cup. "Since everyone has such strong opinions about them, for the sake of the city's stability, let's work together to get rid of them."

Figal spoke up from the side, "It should have been done long ago. You've finally made a correct decision, Bandi."

These words were like saying that the decisions he had made before were foolish, but Alberto and Salif's cousin both looked at Figal a few more times.

These two bastards are putting on an act!

But this decision was not bad for them, and neither of them objected.

Seeing that the two of them didn't speak, Bandi knew that they wouldn't object, so he continued, "Goldport City has been in chaos for a long time. It's time to stop everything."

"After Rick's death, the Cassia family became out of control. They broke the rules!"

"We must quickly resolve these issues, so we must all contribute."

"Those industries left by the Cassia family…" His eyes turned to the people. "We don't want them. You can divide them up."

"These things have caused you heavy losses during this period, and they were also caused by them. This is what you deserve."

Naturally, everyone had no other opinions. Next was to negotiate how to resolve the Cassia family's people as soon as possible.

This time, Bandi didn't just think about letting others contribute. He was taking advantage of the situation. He would let Gory take some people with them to attack the Cassia family's personnel.

They divided up the few remaining core members, with each person getting two or three, and after discussing the unified time, they ended the meeting.

Will the structure of the Five Families be completely changed, leaving only four families?

On the way back, Francisco asked curiously, "Didn't we say before we came that we would propose Lance to become the new Five Families?"

They had discussed it before they came. If Bandi chose to lean towards them and completely wipe out the Cassia family, then it would be the same as having one more spot.

At that time, Francisco would propose that the Lance family take the top spot, so that they would be natural allies among the Five Families. If they could also win over the Tita family, they would form an advantageous alliance.

Alberto shook his head. "When Bandi said he was going to divide up those assets, there was no need to bring up this idea."

"He doesn't intend to maintain the 'Five Families', and he has already divided up this spot. If we propose that Lance become one of the new Five Families…"

"He might not have really done this thing yet, and there are already a few people who are hostile to him, and those assets are impossible to give to him again."

"He might be one of the most miserable Five Families in history, and Bandi wouldn't allow this either, so we simply won't mention it."

If Bandi wanted to ask them to nominate, or even not actively discuss these things, Francisco's proposal would be no problem.

Bandi's decision on how to deal with the Cassia family was actually strangling the possibility of anyone joining them.

Francisco rubbed his head. "If there's anything more difficult than math problems, it's scheming with these adults!"

He looked out at the street scene. “How should we tell Lance about this?”

“Tell him the truth!”

Alberto went directly to Lance and told him his thoughts and the outcome.

Listening to Alberto's words, Lance expressed his gratitude and understanding of the result.

“Now is not the time to confront the Coda family head-on. We still have time.”

“It is meaningful for the city to stabilize. We all need to develop.”

Francisco asked from the side, “Uncle Lance, while we are developing, aren’t the Coda family and others also developing?”

Lance nodded and said, “Yes, everyone is developing, but development is not all the same.”

“If our strength develops from one to one hundred, that is a hundredfold increase. But in the same amount of time, the Coda family might only develop from one thousand to one thousand and one, which is only a thousandth of an improvement!”

“No one knows what will happen in the future. Maybe they are strong today, but before long, they will fall, perhaps without me even doing anything.”

“There is an invisible force in this world that drives us all forward!”

In the following days, the five major families made big moves. The remnants of the Cassia family did not expect the other four families to unite against them.

Although they were still resisting, and resisting fiercely, everyone could see that their demise was not far off.

After entering October, the order of Goldport City seemed to have recovered a lot. Shootouts and gunshots also disappeared.

Some media newspapers also reported that Goldport City's public security had achieved great success, and Hunter frequently appeared in newspapers.

Many people believed that these changes were due to Hunter's formal appointment as the chief of police. Although many people had not met Chief Hunter, they already highly recognized him.

Xiu!

Lance swung his club forcefully, and a few bits of grass flew up. The golf ball had already flown out, heading straight towards the green.

Councilman Charlie, wearing a golf hat, watched the golf ball land on the green. He didn't hide his surprise. “A very good shot. Have you played before?”

He thought that Lance had never played before. In the Empire, golf was far less famous than polo. People preferred to wear knightly attire and ride elegant steeds, swinging their clubs with flair.

If you were to ask what the true aristocratic sport was, then without a doubt, polo was the aristocratic sport.

He had never heard of Lance playing golf. The reason he invited him to the golf course to talk business this time was perhaps with the intention of seeing him make a fool of himself.

Lance was young, and he had ways to provoke him, then watch him play poorly, and then, as an "experienced person," teach him how to play.

At the same time, he could also use this method to subtly talk about other issues while teaching.

But he really didn't expect that Lance could actually play golf, and play it quite well!

How would he know that a fool once owed Lance a large sum of money and eventually mortgaged his golf course to Lance.

Lance also withdrew his gaze from the ball. “I haven’t played much. Isn’t this a very simple sport?”

He looked at Councilman Charlie with a smile that was not quite a smile. Yes, Charlie, and then Councilman. He had successfully been elected as a Bay Area councilman and had already begun to enter the working state.

Recently, Lance had even heard people say that he was thinking about running for mayor after Councilman Williams, of course.

Looking at his stunned expression, Lance swung his club again. “Aim the ball at that hole and swing hard. Is that difficult?”

Charlie smiled. “Yes, there’s nothing wrong with saying that. The ultimate goal of any ball sport is roughly the same.”

He walked to the hitting point. The caddie had already placed the new ball. He looked at the green and said, “It’s either to make the opponent unable to catch your ball, or…”

His posture was standard, obviously after long-term training and practice.

The little white ball disappeared with a “dong” sound. When it could be seen again, it bounced and landed on the green.

Councilman Charlie turned his head and smiled at Lance. This was also a good shot. “…to put it in the hole!”

The two handed their clubs to the caddie, who carried the heavy golf bag and other equipment and ran towards the green.

It was about a few dozen meters away. Although it was already October, the weather was still a bit hot.

But the two gentlemen were leisurely strolling on the tender green lawn. Each square meter of turf here was worth more than a dollar.

The price of the turf on the green was even higher because it had higher requirements.

This world is so unfair. Some people work hard for a month, but they are not as valuable as a few pieces of turf.

However, this also reflects a truth from the side.

Renewable resources are never valuable, whether it is a natural mineral that can be recycled in nature, or people themselves.

“I heard that you implemented some kind of profit-sharing model in the Empire District and the Port District. What were you thinking?”

Lance looked at the birds in the distant sky, rising and falling among the trees, carefree. His whole person was very relaxed.

After a while, he replied, “It’s too hard to live.”

“Capitalists want to exploit them, the federal government wants to exploit them, the gangs want to exploit them, and even the police who protect their safety want to exploit them.”

“Unions, various committees, everyone is exploiting them. It’s too hard to live.”

“I just want to do what I can to make their lives a little less difficult.”

Councilman Charlie looked incredulous, as if saying, “Do you think I believe that?”

Lance laughed twice. “Okay, part of the reason is that doing so can encourage people to find their own way to survive.”

“Now there are more and more small vendors in the Empire District and the Port District. The more prosperous it is here, the more benefits I can get from it.”

“That’s all.”

Councilman Charlie couldn't tell if he was telling the truth or lying, so he could only carefully say, “But this makes things a little difficult in other places.”

“Many of the small vendors who go to your place come from other districts, and how much extra money the police officers can get is our internal matter.”

“Our internal?” Lance stopped and looked at him. “You are no longer the chief of police, Councilman Charlie.”

Councilman Charlie stopped after taking two steps. He looked directly at Lance. “I always demand myself to be a policeman.”

“That’s the second funniest joke I’ve heard this year.”

He said as he continued to walk forward. Councilman Charlie followed him again.

“If you want to do this, okay, no problem. I can let Hunter discuss it with them and do it throughout Goldport City.”

“But this money shouldn’t come from you and go into the pockets of the police officers.”

“We’ll arrange it.”

Lance chuckled. “I’ll spend money to let you be the good guys?”

“You know why I’m doing this, and I also know why you want to do this.”

“Councilman Charlie, you can also try to find a way to do it according to my method. As long as you can persevere, I don’t think there’s any problem.”

After he finished speaking, he strode to the edge of the green, took the putter from the caddie's hand, stood by the ball, simply aimed at the direction of the hole, and gently pushed.

The ball rolled towards the hole and steadily went in!

Lance waved his fist and threw the club to the caddie. “Boring game. I have something to do this afternoon. I’m leaving first.”

Councilman Charlie stood there and watched Lance's receding figure for a while before he came back to his senses. He also went to change a putter, came to his ball, aimed at the position of the hole, and pushed it lightly.

As soon as he swung, he knew that he had pushed too lightly.

The ball eventually stopped at the edge of the hole, without falling in.