Empire of Shadows

“… … I understand.” Then the receiver was placed back on the telephone base.

A foreman took a drag of his cigarette, looking at the empty warehouse. Hiram and the others had already been dismissed, without a single penny, of course.

The company had always been like this, which saved them a lot of money. Anyway, it wasn't them who ultimately suffered, and they wouldn't complain about anything.

Then, Foreman A glanced at his companion, "Someone will come to replace us later. When they arrive, hand over the keys and we can leave."

The other person didn't say anything, but his joyful expression made it clear that he was very happy.

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In fact, both of them were very happy. Although the job was easy, they couldn't go anywhere while stuck here all day long. They couldn't stand it after a while.

If it weren't for Arthur's unusual status and position, and the fact that the salary was sufficient, they would have left long ago.

Now that they could finally leave, the two men discussed in low voices where to go to relax and enjoy themselves that night. They felt like they were growing lice after being stuck here for so long!

Suddenly, a torrential rain came, just as the radio had predicted.

The entire city was covered in a layer of water, making the world seem dreamlike and bizarre in the misty rain.

The rain was so heavy that it sounded like pebbles hitting the tin roof. Except for the few people who needed to travel, everyone else was hiding under the eaves. Even the number of cars on the road had decreased significantly.

Nowadays, even luxury cars don't have perfect seals, and it's no joke if water gets into the engine.

Many cars stopped on the side of the road. Those cheap cars with tarpaulin roofs suffered the most. It was raining heavily outside, and the inside started leaking, even drizzling.

Arthur cursed and parked the car in the garage. He was slightly late, and the car was already full of water.

Fortunately, he was experienced and had the servants take care of it as soon as possible.

Then he put these things out of his mind, thinking about who else he could get money from.

After all, there was only a little over a week left before leaving Twenty-Fifth.

The torrential rain washed the entire world. In the misty surroundings, several people in thick raincoats arrived outside the warehouse.

"They've seen me before. I'll sneak in first, trick them into opening the door, and then give you the signal."

Erwin instructed them, then knocked hard on the door. The others stood some distance away from the door, waiting for Erwin's signal.

To ensure everything went smoothly, they brought weapons.

The loud knocking sound was ultimately not drowned out by the sound of the rain, not even by the pattering raindrops from the roof.

The two foremen exchanged joyful glances and immediately went to the door and opened it. "You're finally here. Are you alone?"

Foreman A was very enthusiastic. Although Erwin's raincoat had a hood, the heavy rain still made his hair messily cover part of his face.

He paused for a moment and reacted quickly, "There are a few other people standing at the door. I saw that you had locked the door."

"The rain is too heavy!" Foreman B explained, "Here are the keys. Call your boss later and tell him that we've handed over. Now this place is your responsibility."

"Hopefully your boss has discussed this with you."

Erwin didn't know what was happening, but he knew it couldn't be a bad thing. "Of course, the boss told me to call him after getting the keys."

He pointed to the door, "I'll call my other colleagues in."

The two foremen had no objections to this. "They can come in if they don't want to get wet."

As they spoke, they began to put on their raincoats. Even on a rainy day like this, they wanted to go to the red-light district near the port to take a look. There would be more girls to choose from when it rained heavily, and they were eager and impatient.

Lance came in and saw the two foremen changing clothes. He looked at Erwin with some confusion. Erwin gestured to the keys in his hand. Although Lance didn't know what was going on, he still cooperated and walked towards the wine, "I'll check it."

Foreman A looked at Lance, who had put down his hood. He couldn't see his face, but his expression was a little unhappy.

He looked at Erwin, "Your friend is a bit unlikeable. There can't be any problems here!"

Erwin smiled, "Sorry, he's a little sensitive."

The two foremen looked at Lance a few more times. They had already changed their clothes. They had a good impression of Erwin, "You look familiar... Maybe we've met somewhere?"

Erwin was quick-witted, "Have you been to the Red Romantic Nightclub at the entrance?"

The two foremen exchanged glances and smiled lewdly, "If you guys didn't have to guard this place today, I would definitely drag you along. We can arrange a time together next time if we have the chance."

As he spoke, he extended his hand. Erwin also extended his hand and shook it, "Definitely next time."

Then it was the other person's turn.

The two put on their hoods, said goodbye, and rushed into the rain, quickly disappearing into the mist.

As soon as they left, Lance suddenly turned around, "Quick, get the Howard brothers over here as soon as possible. We have to get the stuff out of here immediately!"

The situation had changed, obviously.

Maurice was small, but he ran fast. He took off towards the door. Lance pulled Hiram and pointed to the gate, saying, "Go open the warehouse door. The others prepare to move the goods."

Two minutes later, two general-purpose trucks, each with a cargo bed about 3.5 meters long and 2.2 meters wide, drove in one after the other. The high side panels allowed them to carry at least fifteen cubic meters of cargo!

The workers had been standing in the truck bed in the rain. At this time, they quickly jumped off the truck and began to quickly move the goods, using forklifts or tools.

The Howard brothers stood at the front of the truck, looking at the wine and swallowing. "How much do you think is here?"

Little Howard lit a cigarette, "At least 200,000 worth of goods."

The two exchanged glances, filled with greed, shock, and a slight fear. Anyway, they had all sorts of emotions, but not much. More of it was surprise at Lance's big move. This was a big deal!

Hiram and the others were skilled workers and quickly filled the two trucks. At this time, there was no time to do any waterproofing, so they were told to drive the trucks out directly.

The warehouse Lance rented was also here. These daily rental warehouses were very common in the docks. Unloading was also quick, and everything was unloaded in a little over ten minutes.

Everyone followed the trucks back to the warehouse in the rain.

The torrential rain began to subside. Often, these super heavy rains only lasted for ten or twenty minutes at their peak.

At this time, Lance had already guessed the general situation. They were changing shifts, and the heavy rain had prevented the people coming to take over from arriving, and then the foremen mistook them for the people coming to take over.

So, in reality, there was another group of people preparing to come over, but they didn't know exactly when.

This kind of clarity, every minute and every second, was truly agonizing!

When the second trip was completed, there weren't many goods left in the warehouse. This might be good news.

The torrential rain began to turn into heavy rain, but the oppressive feeling that the dark clouds brought to the city didn't diminish much. It seemed like it could fall down at any time and crush the entire city.

Maurice stood in the rain, holding a lamp, observing the road.

There were five roads leading in from the dock gate, and he was only staring at the one that led to the warehouse.

Suddenly, four headlights appeared at the end of the road. Two sedans were approaching. Subconsciously, Maurice became nervous.

Fortunately, the two cars weren't fast. The roads in the dock weren't very good. Large trucks ran back and forth here every day, and the ground was uneven. Now the visibility was low, and the vehicles didn't dare to drive too fast.

Seeing them heading towards the road to the warehouse, Maurice quickly opened the lampshade of the lantern he was holding and repeatedly opened and closed it.

Just as they were pulling the last batch of goods, a light suddenly lit up in the mist that Lance had been staring at, flashing continuously. This meant that someone was coming this way.

He looked at the progress of the loading and saw that there were about two thousand bottles left to be loaded, so he directly called for a stop.

"Someone's coming. Put down what you're doing. We're leaving now."

Lance had absolute authority here. No one objected to him. The workers immediately climbed into the truck beds, and the two trucks rushed directly into the mist.

But they didn't go far. There was only one road out of here, so the two trucks stopped by the side of the road not far away and turned off the engines and headlights.

About three minutes later, two sedans slowly drove over. The people in the cars were holding their breath.

When they were a little further away, Lance had the Howard brothers restart the cars.

At this time, the two cars had arrived at the warehouse. Under the dim yellow light bulbs, the warehouse number was particularly conspicuous.

The driver was in a pretty good mood at this time, "They actually opened the door to welcome us..."

The assistant's nephew, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was stunned for a moment, and his expression suddenly became a little uneasy, "Drive in and take a look. Something seems wrong."

With such heavy rain, if the rainwater gets in and wets or breaks the outer packaging of the wine, the price of the wine will be reduced!

However, when they entered the warehouse, facing only the two thousand or so bottles of wine left in the corner that hadn't been moved in time, a piercing explosion rang out!

Mr. Chobaf, who was already preparing to rest, was startled by the phone call. The dark clouds outside the window made the sky seem particularly dark at this time!