Empire of Shadows

In fact, Lance didn't know how much money Mr. Cerre owed him. He didn't care about that. The extra was a punishment for him.

If an apology and compensation for losses were useful, what would the Federation need so many courts and prosecutors for?

This is a kind of punishment, to prevent him from doing it again next time. Of course, there is a high probability that he won't have a next time.

"I heard that there was a movie with several million in box office revenue before?"

The director immediately echoed, "Yes, but that's just the box office revenue generated. We're not sure how much of it is real and how much is fake."

"The production company only made a little over four hundred thousand."

"So little?" Lance found it a bit unbelievable. Several million in box office revenue, even if it was exaggerated, and the production company only made less than ten percent? This was obviously unreasonable.

The director explained with a smile, "Because everyone has always used the buyout playback method before, statistics on box office revenue is just a marketing strategy, Mr. Lance."

"People who hear about those movies that have created box office history are definitely more willing to buy tickets to watch them, even if the price isn't cheap."

"But in reality, the buyout fee for that movie is about seven hundred and fifty dollars, and there are some areas with piracy."

Seven hundred and fifty dollars for a copy, one hundred copies is only seventy-five thousand dollars, six hundred copies is only over four hundred thousand dollars. If there's also piracy, their luck is indeed not very good.

This is also the most important problem that all film companies are facing now. Making movies definitely makes money, but most of it is earned by the movie theaters.

"If we can ensure the feasibility of a box office split model and are willing to help them distribute movies and provide guarantees for the screening of movies…"

"Do you think they would be willing to join our system?"

Lance stated his consideration. The director was stunned for a moment, his eyes gradually widening. He understood Lance's meaning too well!

"This is… God!"

"You will become the God of all film companies, Mr. Lance!"

"Everyone will be crazy about you!"

He suddenly became enthusiastic because he realized that if this really worked, then his position in the film industry would be even higher!

Any film production company that wants to make money must give them the movie to distribute and screen.

When that time comes, how to screen it and whose to screen will be up to him!

He was so excited that his body was trembling slightly. As a Federal citizen of this era, he understood the value of the word "monopoly"!

If only Lance can do this, then this is a monopoly.

And a monopoly will bring immeasurable benefits, wealth, status, everything!

"Recently, you can talk about this matter intentionally or unintentionally with everyone, find a few reporters, publicize it, and then sit down and chat with everyone to see how to price it."

"I prefer that we also share a percentage of the box office with them."

"In addition, there may be people coming to make trouble for you recently. I have arranged people near the company. You should also pay attention yourselves."

After the director left, Lance walked to the window and smoked, looking at the beautiful scenery outside and enjoying the peace brought by the cigarette.

But not long after, this peace was interrupted by a phone call.

He walked back to the table with a cigarette in his mouth and answered the phone, "It's me."

"Mr. Lance, I am… I encountered a problem and don't know how to tell you."

The call was from the casino. Lance frowned, "Speak in your simplest language."

This guy was from the Koda family. In order to establish a flag of "I'm not a tyrant," they were still working in the casino and still possessed everything they had before.

After people gradually began to accept all of this, Lance would find a way to slowly replace them and eventually clear them out.

He didn't trust these people, never did.

If he could still trust Bolton after killing Bolton's son Robb, it was because of Bolton's desire for power and the fact that they still had Gerald as a bridge of trust, and Bolton's current family was under his control.

Then the hatred between him and these remnants of the Koda family might not be so blatant, but it would definitely not be less.

There was no bridge of trust or guarantee between them. Perhaps now, and in the future, they would maintain their loyalty to Lance, but as long as there was an opportunity, they would definitely betray Lance.

Lance was unwilling to gamble that these people all had excellent character and could dedicate all their loyalty to their enemy, so when their value disappeared, it would be the moment they disappeared.

Now the casino really needed them. Lance's people had never run a casino before. Morris was very familiar with casinos, but he was also exploring how to run a casino well.

These people could provide some valuable experience to help Lance's people grow quickly.

Hearing Lance say this, he immediately organized his words, "There's a player who keeps winning. We suspect he's cheating, but we can't find any signs of him cheating."

This kind of thing happened often, in stories or rumors, "So is he cheating?"

The voice from the receiver sounded a little flustered, "He's definitely cheating, otherwise no one can keep winning, Mr. Lance!"

Lance took a puff of his cigarette, "Did you use any tricks?"

He knew that some dealers in the casino had some tricks up their sleeves. Each dealer had their own special skill, and the more skilled the dealer, the higher the income, so they liked doing this.

"We did, but we still lost."

"You used tricks and still lost, so he must be cheating."

Lance laughed twice at first, but quickly restrained his smile, "Did Morris handle it?"

"The manager has already gone to handle it, but the other party… is asking for a very high price."

In fact, many casinos have encountered this kind of situation. Some people are highly skilled and come to gamble and keep winning.

The best way is to send them to their deaths, but often you can't do that.

So you can only choose to give them a sum of money, let them get lost, and then put this person on the blacklist at the same time.

The next time they come, they won't provide chip exchange services, or even let them in.

Morris went to handle it, which meant that Morris went to give him money, but this person's purpose was not to make a quick buck.

Lance said, "I understand," then hung up the phone and went straight out of the office.

When he came downstairs, many people in the hall who were chatting or playing game machines or playing billiards stopped what they were doing when they saw Lance and stood there watching him.

Lance's eyes swept over a few people. Hiram was not there, he went to the director's side. Lawen was in New Gold City and didn't come back.

His eyes swept around, and after sweeping over some eager young people, he stopped on Devon.

He was very impressed with Devon. This was a ruthless person, very good at torturing people.

"Devon, take your people and come with me."

Devon immediately waved his fist, "No problem, Boss!"

The people around him also showed smiles and immediately put down what they were doing and surrounded Lance.

The moment the door was pushed open, the pedestrians passing by the door subconsciously quickened their pace or stopped outside the door. The car door slowly parked by the roadside was pulled open by the gang members at the door.

Lance quickly walked out and got into the car. The whole process took only four or five seconds.

"Where are we going?" Devon turned around and asked.

"Go to Golden Port Casino."

The motorcade started slowly, and many people paid attention to the motorcade.

More than ten minutes later, the motorcade arrived at Golden Port Casino. Someone was already waiting for him at the door.

Looking at the white fatty who was constantly wiping sweat, Lance matched him with the person on the phone just now.

"Mr. Lance, please come with me."

Lance nodded. A group of people quickly entered the hall. They were not in the gambling hall on the second floor.

The upper limit of the lobby on the first floor is one hundred dollars, that is to say, no matter what game you play at any gambling table, the highest bet you can place is one hundred dollars.

The dealer will push back the excess, and the maximum win or loss is one hundred dollars.

They say it nicely, saying it is to avoid gambling addicts from getting carried away, but in reality, it is to screen out the poor and the rich.

The first floor only provides free iced lemonade and some cheap food. They used to provide some cheap wine, but now they can't do that.

The second floor provides even more things, juice, coffee, black tea, and all kinds of food.

Even if someone says they need a massage, the casino will provide it, but it will cost money.

On the third floor, the real VIPs, everything is provided here for free, including alcohol.

If a guest says they are hungry and want to eat lamb chops, then a chef will come over with a cooking cart and cook two lamb chops in front of the guests for them to eat.

As for the fourth floor, although it is run by the casino, it is already a bet between the guests and the guests. The casino is only responsible for providing the venue, the gambling games, and the role of the dealer.

Sometimes the dealer doesn't even need to be provided, they can handle it themselves.

The minimum bet on the second floor is twenty dollars, and the upper limit is two thousand. Although this base bet is not small, there are still many people here.

As soon as he went up to the second floor, Lance saw that a gambling table in the hall was already full of people. Accompanied by the constant shouts of people, there was a thunderous applause and laughter.

Without a doubt, the Lighthouse was slaughtering his believers.

When he saw Lance, Morris breathed a sigh of relief. He took the initiative to leave the gambling table and came to Lance, "I can't figure it out."

As he spoke, he walked towards the gambling table with Lance. "I've been watching him. He doesn't seem to be cheating, but you know, no one can win all the time at the gambling table."

Lance nodded. "How much have we lost?"

"We've lost seventeen times in a row. People are going crazy now. Every time we deal, we lose about forty or fifty thousand."

"The good news is that not everyone dares to bet, but the bad news is that he doesn't seem to want to stop at all."

Lance nodded. "I heard he's asking for a high price?"

Morris sighed. "He wants two million."

This was indeed an exorbitant figure. If word got out, soon those who considered themselves cheating experts would gather here and make outrageous demands.

Lance turned and whispered something in Morris's ear, then walked to the gambling table.

The casino staff cleared a seat for Lance.

As soon as Lance sat down, the gambling dogs who had been shouting, "Deal quickly!" suddenly perked up!

Except for a very few, most of the gambling dogs withdrew their chips and moved away from the gambling table.

They recognized Lance.

Perhaps the media would use beautifying methods to conceal the bloody nature of the power transition in the casino, but how could these gambling dogs who hung around the casino every day not have heard of it?

The Coda family had lost more than half of its members, its assets had been squeezed dry, and a bunch of core figures had died, leaving Fleming nowhere to be found.

The prosecutor's application for clemency for Stone was rejected, but they gave Stone a "discount" on sentencing: fifteen years.

If he could work hard and reduce his sentence, he would be just over forty when he came out.

How could Lance, who did so much to get the casino, be a "civilized man" who defeated the Coda family through some business means?

They didn't dare to mess around anymore. Their hot blood began to cool down, and they became more rational.

But there were also some newcomers who didn't know the situation here and were still betting with that person.

And that person looked at Lance with calm eyes, as if he didn't know him.

But Lance believed that this person knew him.

The dealer glanced at Lance and asked if he wanted to continue dealing. Lance nodded.

The person suspected of cheating won again.

In fact, at this point, even the stupidest people knew that this person was cheating.

The dealer pushed the chips in front of him, and he casually picked up a two-thousand-dollar chip and threw it back into the betting area.

Lance turned to look at Morris, who came over and bent down. Lance said a few words in his ear, and then Morris replaced the dealer and took out a new deck of cards to deal.

"I heard you want two million?"

The gambler nodded. "Yes, two million. I'll leave now."

Lance didn't refuse. "If you can win these next three rounds, I agree to give you that amount."

Lance nodded to Morris, and Morris began to deal.

Without a doubt, the cheater won again, and won three times in a row.

When he was about to reach out and pick up the cards in front of him to throw them back, Lance reached out and pressed on his arm.

Morris took back the cards in front of him, and the cheater sitting at the table had a slight change in his eyes.

Lance said, "They said you cheated. To be honest, I didn't see how you did it, but I trust my people."

"Do you mind going to the next room to let us check your belongings?"

"If you didn't cheat, I'll give you two million and make sure you leave King's Gold City safely."

"If you cheated, then I can only say I'm sorry."

The man was not afraid. After a brief silence, he laughed and said, "What?"

"Is winning money cheating?"

"As long as someone wins money, you're going to search them?"

He didn't look at Lance, but at the others, as if he was sending them this signal.

This casino can only lose money, not win money.

This is a big taboo for casinos, which is why many casinos will pay money to settle things when they encounter this situation.

If the news that "casinos don't allow players to win money" spreads, the casino's business will soon become visibly deserted.

Although the vast majority of people lose money in casinos, what if?

They think, what if they win?

Lance looked at Morris. "Count the cards."

The guy who was still a little arrogant suddenly stopped talking.

He made a lot of small movements with his hands, sometimes clenching his fists, sometimes gesturing with one or two fingers. Lance kept staring at him.

Soon the cards were counted, fifty-two cards, but five of them were the same.

Lance stood up and glanced at Devon. "It's up to you."

The others also realized what had happened. They looked at the man with a mixture of course and surprise. The man sat there, his face changing.

He suddenly stood up. "This is a frame-up, sir!"

"That card was put in by this gentleman, it has nothing to do with me."

Lance shook his head and went straight to the general manager's office. Morris quickly followed him back.

"How did you know he was cheating like that?" Morris asked.

He watched for a long time but couldn't figure it out. Lance came for a short while and figured it out. He found it a bit incredible.

Lance didn't hide his thoughts. "Although our playing cards are printed separately, it's not difficult for someone to get them if they want to."

"They can also spend the same amount of money to find a printing factory to print similar playing cards for them, so we can't tell which ones are ours and which ones they brought."

"As long as he cheats, he must have changed the cards in front of him."

"The fifty-two cards will not change. If he replaces any one of them, there will definitely be one more or one less."

"The reason you didn't notice it before was because he always had an action of picking up his hand and throwing it to the dealer."

"He may have taken back the exchanged cards at that time, so you couldn't find any problems."

Morris nodded repeatedly after listening. "What you said makes a lot of sense, but is it worth it for him to take such a big risk?"

Lance shook his head. "This may have to wait. I believe Devon can come up with something that interests me."

In less than fifteen minutes, Devon came to the room with a shirt.

"It seems he was cheating with this shirt?" Lance asked.

Devon showed them. The cuffs of this shirt were a little wider than the cuffs of ordinary shirts. There were several playing cards hidden inside, which could be taken out or inserted through a flower-like opening.

It was a very interesting little mechanism. When you insert a playing card from one pattern, another playing card will pop out in the same place.

Even if someone asks him to take off his clothes for inspection, they may not be able to find the secrets in his cuffs.

For people who are proficient in gambling, they don't need to hide a whole deck of cards, they only need to hide three or five to maintain the maximum winning rate.

"So what is his purpose?"

Devon grinned and said, "He's Bandi's friend and wants to vent his anger for Bandi."

Lance continued, "And by the way, squeeze some money out of me."

Devon shrugged. "That's what it means."

Lance played with the interesting little mechanism a few times, and then said, "Get a display case and put it at the entrance of the casino so that everyone can see it."

"And then that person, get rid of him. I need everyone to know why he died, understand what I mean?"

"Yes, Boss!"