Empire of Shadows

Kent was also a bit hungry. He had worked until midnight yesterday, and since waking up this morning, he was so hungry he could eat a whole cow!

He excitedly wiped the hand he had been using to rub his toes on his pants, then rubbed his hands together, waiting for the meal to begin.

The rapid secretion of saliva in his mouth made his desire to eat something even more impatient. He swallowed the excess saliva in his mouth, and then said with some impatience, "What are you two idiots standing there for?"

Kent looked at the two people who had already gone out the door but were standing by the door without moving, and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. "Bring the stuff over here, and don't tell me you went out for a walk and didn't buy anything to eat!"

As the boss of an underground casino and the younger brother of a senior gang member, ever since he personally beat to death the neighbor who had been bullying him and his brother with a baseball bat, he would get angry if anyone didn't satisfy him, except for his brother!

However, the moment the third person walked out from behind the door, he didn't even move his butt from the chair, and had already turned around and wanted to run towards the room behind him.

The chair had armrests, which caught on his pants, distorting his sprinting action and causing him to fall to the ground, kneeling on one knee with the other leg pushing off the ground, in a posture of almost getting up.

At this moment, deep in his heart, he cursed the entire families of his trusted henchmen and doormen three times over.

And he came up with the idea that after this matter was over, he would definitely give them a piece of his mind.

However, before he could run into the room, the gunshot rang out.

In fact, the firing sound of a small-caliber revolver like the Maglite Defender pistol wasn't very loud, but this was in a closed room, and everyone was startled.

Kent, who was about to stand up, fell back to the ground. He supported himself with one hand, and after regaining his balance, slowly raised both hands.

"No need, Lance brothers, it's just fifteen hundred bucks!"

Yesterday he was still telling these thugs that Lance and his friends were idiots, but now, it seemed that the truly foolish person was him.

He had his back to Lance and didn't know who had been shot, but he didn't dare to gamble on whether the next bullet would hit him.

Lance walked to the chair opposite his original chair and sat down, placing the food on the table.

Enio and the others had also come in, all holding guns.

Elvin drove the thugs together and had one of Enio's friends guard the door. The room was now completely controlled by Lance.

"I heard you shouting that you were hungry before I even came in. Come and eat something.", he sat down with a smile on his face, seemingly not here for revenge at all.

Kent was very nervous. He slowly turned around and looked at Lance, "I'm done for, Lance, the fifteen hundred bucks is in the room, I'll return it to you now."

Lance raised his hand and pressed down, signaling him to sit down first, "I heard you've been busy all night and haven't eaten anything, you must be starving. Come, have something to eat first, I haven't eaten either."

He put away the gun, then tore open the food bag, and the aroma of the braised pork hock immediately wafted out!

This was from a very experienced delicatessen. They first boiled these pork hocks with spices until they were slightly soft, then took them out to drain, and immediately put them into a pot of hot oil to fry until the surface was crispy.

This way, these pork hocks all had a crispy skin and a bouncy fat layer. Now they were cut into pieces, and the aroma made everyone even hungrier.

"Great, I love pork hock!", he picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. It was indeed very delicious, both in texture and taste, just a little salty.

He looked at Kent, who still didn't dare to move, and made an inviting gesture, "You try it too, it's really delicious. I'd say your friend is very smart, choosing the most suitable food!"

Kent still didn't move, just looked at Lance, "You don't have to do this, Lance, I'll give you the money, and then apologize to you…"

Lance suddenly stood up and punched him in the face, sending Kent's head flying back, and he was completely stunned!

After hitting this idiot, he rubbed his wrist and sat back down.

This kind of swing punch has a lot of impact on the wrist, it's a bit uncomfortable.

"I told you to eat something, if you say another word, I'll pull out your tongue!", the smile disappeared from his face, leaving only seriousness.

Kent was silent for a while, and his cheek visibly swelled up. After more than ten seconds of thought, his expression suddenly relaxed, and even his left eyebrow twitched, "I'll listen to you, you're in charge now."

This sentence sounded like he had already surrendered, but Lance, as well as himself, knew that this sentence did not mean surrender, because it had another meaning—

You're in charge now, but next time, it won't necessarily be!

Kent had very rich and vast gang resources behind him. He didn't believe that Camille couldn't deal with Lance and these young people, so he would get back the loss he was suffering now.

The superficial surrender was just to avoid being beaten, he wasn't like some stupid gang members who insisted on some bottom line, his bottom line was very flexible.

He was slightly bent over, but with his head raised, staring at Lance, grabbing two large pieces of chopped pork hock with his right hand and stuffing them into his mouth, looking like a starving ghost.

His eyes gave Lance a feeling of being watched by a poisonous snake. He knew that Kent's mouth had surrendered, his actions had surrendered, but his heart had not surrendered.

A smile appeared on Lance's face again, but this smile made all of Kent's thugs around him feel cold from the bottom of their hearts!

"See, my friend, it's not that difficult, we're friends, right?"

Lance also picked up a piece of meat and ate it in small bites. Kent nodded, but didn't speak.

"Then you must know what I do."

Kent hesitated for a moment. Lance made a gesture for him to continue eating, so he said while eating, "You're from a financial company."

Lance pointed at him, "I knew it, we're good friends, you definitely know what I do."

"Then when can you return the fifteen thousand dollars you took from me yesterday?"

"Although we are friends, the accounts should still be settled clearly."

Kent was about to stop, but Lance pointed at the meat, telling him to continue eating. He had no choice but to continue eating, "I don't have that much."

Blatant extortion, but even if he knew it was extortion, he couldn't refuse, because he was the one who extorted first yesterday, only he didn't expect Lance's appetite to be so big.

And he was already starting to feel uncomfortable, even a little dizzy!

At first, when he ate these meats, he didn't feel uncomfortable, but because of the hunger of most of the day, he ate very quickly.

Especially those outer skins that were already in a semi-detached state from the fat, the outer skin and fat were a perfect match, the crispy and smooth perfectly integrated together, the taste was good, the taste was fragrant, and every bite sizzled with oil!

But now, after eating several pieces in a row, those bouncy fatty meats also became greasy and disgusting, making him not want to eat them anymore.

Kent wasn't a fat man, even a fat man would have a hard time eating so much fatty meat at once. He subconsciously grabbed his collar and started putting things into his mouth again.

"Yesterday I chose to take out the money so that both of us could be decent, Kent, I hope you can be like me today, and let both of us be decent."

As soon as Kent stopped, Lance told him to continue eating, "You can think while you eat."

At this time, Kent cursed the entire family of his trusted henchman nine times over. What the hell did that son of a bitch buy so much for?

He mechanically stuffed meat into his mouth, while vaguely saying, "I really don't have that much, give me a few days, I can definitely raise it."

Lance stopped talking and looked at Ethan, "My friend doesn't have a good appetite, help him eat faster."

Elvin said something in Ethan's ear, and Ethan walked over with a grin. In Kent's horrified eyes, he grabbed large handfuls of meat and stuffed them into his mouth.

He was almost unable to breathe!

Although Ethan was only twenty years old, he was a big guy of over 1.8 meters tall, coupled with the strength that matched his strong body, Kent had no room to fight back at all, and watched Ethan stuff meat in large handfuls, stuffing Kent struggling endlessly, but he could not struggle away.

He slapped Ethan's arm hard, even the table, and Lance then made Ethan stop temporarily.

Large pieces of meat were spit out of his mouth, and he took a deep breath. He was almost choked to death by the meat!

But at the same time, he also realized that if he didn't take out the money, he was dead.

"It's in the safe."

Lance glanced at Elvin, and Elvin led two people to carry the safe out.

Kent squatted next to the safe. He glanced at Lance again, as if to engrave Lance's appearance deeply into his mind.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, then he turned his head, turned the combination lock, and opened the safe.

Then he stood up and took a step back.

Ethan stood beside Lance, holding the safe. This thing was made of steel plate on the outside and concrete on the inside, weighing at least a hundred pounds, but Ethan didn't seem to be struggling at all when he held it!

What a monster!

His attention quickly focused on the safe. There were probably more than 30,000 dollars, some gold jewelry, which may have been used directly by gamblers who had lost their minds and took out their wives' jewelry.

There were also some Kodak family chips, it seemed that Kent also liked to play a few hands. What surprised him was that there was also a handgun inside.

A semi-automatic pistol, also produced by Maglite Weapons Company, the magazine can be filled with nine bullets, and if there is a separate one pressed into the chamber, the whole gun can be fired ten times.

This pistol has been on the market for some time and is very popular because of its convenience.

Unlike revolvers, reloading is very troublesome.

Lance held the pistol in his hand and examined it. He ejected the magazine; it was full of bullets. Then he looked at Kent. "Actually, you could have tried to resist just now."

Kent didn't say anything. He could indeed resist, but at most, he could only kill one person before being riddled with bullets himself.

He hadn't considered that he might die here. He had a bright future waiting for him.

It was just a loss of money. He had ways to get it back many times over, and he vowed that he would make Lance pay a heavy price!

Lance glanced at Elvin, who immediately approached. "Take it aside and pack the money."

At this moment, Kent breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at Lance, "I've already given you the money. You can leave now!" He even spoke with some anger, as if... this "scene" was over.

He no longer felt threatened!

Lance gestured for him to sit down again across from him. Facing the weapon in Lance's hand, Kent could only comply, and he made several more vows, all of them about taking revenge on Lance.

"Your memory is very good. Do you remember what I said yesterday?"

Kent shook his head. "I don't know which sentence you're talking about."

"Several thousand dollars is enough to make us illegal immigrants risk our lives."

"Kent, there are tens of thousands of dollars here. I'm very scared!"