“Lance…”, Precinct Chief Bruce was in plain clothes. After shedding that outer layer, he suddenly felt… he was a little scared.
Truly scared.
It was said that many people had died again tonight. He didn’t even know how to explain it to his superiors!
A smile appeared on Lance’s face. He walked to Precinct Chief Bruce’s side, put his arm around his shoulder, and they went to sit on the sofa together.
“Everyone is staring at the bombing case. No one will care about a gang shootout. So you don’t need to worry at all.”
“And you see, we resolved it very quickly this time. There won’t be any after-effects.”
Precinct Chief Bruce instinctively wanted to refute, to re-establish his authority through refutation. But when he turned his head to look at Lance and met his gaze, he suddenly felt that what Lance said made sense.
Just as Lance was about to say something more, the phone on the desk suddenly rang. He walked to the desk, picked up the phone, and immediately pulled the receiver far away.
“Lance, you’re playing with fire!” Bill’s angry roar came from the receiver. “You have broken the peace between us. You are starting a war.”
Lance seemed unaffected by his words and asked in his usual voice, “So, are you going to war with us?”
A single sentence silenced Bill.
Perhaps to save some face, Bill lowered his voice slightly. “If that’s what you want, we can go to war!”
Lance was not threatened. “Are you sure?”
Bill fell silent again. Before he could say anything, Lance said directly, “It’s just the loss of a few bars, Bill. I didn’t touch your warehouse, nor did I touch your girls.”
“As long as you have these things, you can soon have ten bars, a hundred bars, a thousand bars!”
“As for the men you lost?”
“I know your control over the Red Dog Gang isn’t that strong. I’ve also heard that some cadres will directly refute your opinions in meetings.”
“They don’t respect you, Bill. You are the Boss, not them!”
“Look, isn’t the situation a little better now? Have those people who like to refute you become a thing of the past? Has your authority been enhanced?”
“Turning ‘your (plural) Red Dog Gang’ into ‘your (singular) Red Dog Gang,’ you’ve actually gained, Bill!”
Bill almost laughed out of anger listening to this. “So should I fucking say thank you to you?”
“No need to be so polite, but if you really want to thank me, you can say it.”
“You’re so fucking shameless!” Bill was a bit at a loss as to what to do.
But he had to admit, there was some truth to what Lance said.
Because he often showed that kind of indecisiveness, sometimes his senior cadres would help him, the Boss, make some decisions.
Just like what happened tonight. His original intention was to solve things with Lance in a friendly and peaceful way, but some people thought they should be tougher, to let Lance know they were not to be messed with.
Under the demands and unity of these people, he, the Boss, could only choose their decision in the end.
He wouldn’t have thought much of it before, but now that Lance put it this way, he felt… he was indeed not wrong.
With liquor and girls, the lost things could be quickly recovered in the Port District.
Moreover, the income in the Port District was higher than in the Empire District, and it was also more prosperous. He hadn’t dared to expand before because the Brotherhood was not easy to mess with, but now that they were in big trouble, the Red Dog Gang had some opportunities.
Just as Bill was thinking about these things, Lance continued, “I will unify the Empire District sooner or later. Even if not now, it will be someday in the future. We will have to face this situation sooner or later.”
“A little later, a little earlier, I don’t think there’s much difference.”
“If you think we must go to war to prove your courage, you can give it a try.”
“But my suggestion is, think about how you will take over the territory left by the Brotherhood if they are uprooted, and whether someone will come to snatch the territory they leave behind…”
“Alright, I’ve said enough. That’s it.”
“If you want war, come. If not, think about yourselves!”
He hung up the phone and turned to look at Precinct Chief Bruce. “A coward!”
Precinct Chief Bruce suddenly didn’t know if this sentence was about Bill or about him, but fortunately, Lance quickly gave him the correct answer. “Don’t overthink it, I was talking about Bill.”
He walked back and sat down next to Precinct Chief Bruce. “After we unify the Empire District, the security here will only get better. you should be happy.”
Precinct Chief Bruce couldn’t smile at all. He looked a bit worried. “I don’t know what people will say about this tomorrow.”
Lance, however, seemed very indifferent. “No corpse, no complainant, what trouble can there be?”
“Compared to these, what I want to know more is, what is your decision?”
Precinct Chief Bruce didn’t react at first. “What decision?” But he quickly remembered. “You mean the get-together thing?”
Lance nodded. “Sometimes I even suspect that this bombing case was orchestrated by themselves.”
Precinct Chief Bruce’s expression was a bit strange. “How could someone bomb themselves?”
Lance handed him a cigarette. “Think about it. Now the Bureau of Dangerous Goods has become the victim. The state government and Congress will pay more attention to the situation here. In order to protect Congress’s authority on the issue of Prohibition, they will definitely get more policy support and resource allocation.”
“Tobacco, alcohol, dangerous goods—these things are related to almost all crimes. At that time, they can intervene in everything, and they will be stronger and faster than the police system.”
“At that time, your situation will be very awkward.”
“They have a judicial office internally that can issue legal documents for them. What about you?”
“It might even take you several days to apply for a search warrant. How will the citizens see you then? How will the rich people in the Bay Area see you?”
“You all have to unite!”
“I don’t mean that the police should oppose or confront them, but we must at least express a message: this is our own Golden Port, not theirs!”
Lance patted his back and stood up. “I have some local specialties sent from the countryside here. Take a box with you when you leave.”
He took a paper bag from the drawer and placed it on the coffee table. “I still have some things to do, I’ll go out for a bit…” He changed his clothes and put on his hat. “You can leave anytime.”
With that, Lance left, leaving him alone.
Precinct Chief Bruce opened the paper bag with some curiosity. Inside was a very exquisite-looking wooden box. Curiosity made him start to guess what was inside.
Money, or something else?
When he opened it, a small gold bar lay quietly on the soft red velvet cloth. He immediately closed the box.
One hundred grams.
Gold.
The next day, the news was still mainly about the bombing at the Bureau of Dangerous Goods. There were no detailed reports on the fierce gang shootout that occurred in the Empire District at night.
Only in the corner of the last page of the current affairs section was there a small report saying that a brief riot had occurred but had quickly returned to calm.
The reporter questioned whether the security in the Empire District was as good as people said, and whether there were some unclear and unseen situations.
But that was it; there was no further investigation.
At the press conference at the Bureau of Dangerous Goods in the morning, Director Dale stated that they would definitely investigate the culprit strictly, find the person who planted the bomb and the mastermind behind it, even if it meant paying a heavier price.
At the press conference, a reporter raised a question: “Do you think this bombing is directly related to your public destruction of three hundred thousand worth of smuggled liquor at the docks?”
In front of all the media, Director Dale admitted that he did not rule out such a possibility and would treat it as the main direction of investigation.
This response, to a large extent, made the media and the public believe that this was done by the Brotherhood.
Because logically, the only major case the Bureau of Dangerous Goods had cracked since its establishment was the Brotherhood’s smuggled liquor. They had sufficient reason for revenge, and it made sense logically.
For the Federation’s judicial system, motive was a very important link.
However, Lance believed that this matter was definitely not that simple. Big Polly had very likely been framed.
In the next few days, the Bureau of Dangerous Goods began to frantically raid the Brotherhood’s territories and bars. They didn’t know where they got the precise intelligence from, but one after another, well-hidden bars were dug out.
Perhaps with anger in their hearts, this time they were ruthless when they raided these bars. Almost every time, they would shoot and kill the personnel involved in crime in the bars.
Bartenders, thugs—as long as they didn’t surrender at the first moment, they would open fire.
According to grapevine news, they even killed an innocent citizen, but it’s not certain if it’s true because there has been no further news so far.
And Lance had been observing all along.
Until this afternoon.
The door of the Empire of Night office was pushed open with a bang. Eric walked in from outside. This time, Lawyer Orson was not with him, only a few lackeys.
When Lance saw him, a smile flashed across his face and quickly receded, well hidden.
“Kailu told me there’s not much money in the account. What’s going on?” he asked rudely as soon as he entered.
He had found the convertible he wanted, but the problem now was, he needed money!
Lance sat behind the desk and answered unhurriedly, “Are you talking about the nightclub’s revenue?”
“What else?” Eric’s voice was a bit loud, but the lackeys beside him were very well-behaved.
These people had wide social contacts; they knew that Lance had just taken over the entire Empire District.
Perhaps he would not make things difficult for Eric out of respect for the mayor, but he might not spare them, so they all remained silent.
In this day and age, being a good lackey was not an easy thing.
Lance clasped his hands together, his thumbs touching, and rested them on the desk. “I don’t see the nightclub’s business operations. Only Ms. Kailu can check the daily accounts.”
“But if you’re saying our profitability has declined, I don’t find it strange.”
“Because our gambling tables were removed, and about half of the revenue here came from those gambling tables…”