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“Still no news?”
Brinton sat behind his desk smoking. The cigarette butts in the ashtray on the desk had already piled up.
It had been almost two hours. Whether they had succeeded or not, they should have sent some news back.
But until now, not a sound had been heard.
“No, the phone hasn’t rung at all. And one more thing, Boss, there seem to be some people around the nightclub.”
Brinton was stunned for a moment when he heard this, but then a kind of innate biological perception made him nervous. He immediately stood up and walked to the window to look outside.
The lights of the nightclub illuminated some of the nearby street, but the distant street was still shrouded in darkness.
He didn’t know if it was an illusion, but he seemed to see some fleeting figures at the mouths of some alleys!
They were being watched!
Damn it!
He started to get nervous, his palms sweating. He also realized that the group that went out might have run into trouble.
He strode to the desk and picked up the phone, but then didn’t know who to call.
If the group that went to set up the encirclement had really run into trouble, then now, they might also be in danger.
He swallowed. His subordinate was still looking at him. He sat back down in his chair, pretending to be very calm, “I’ll think about it. You can go out first.”
The subordinate nodded and left.
Then he dialed the number for the mayor’s secretary. The call was answered quickly.
The secretary lived at the mayor’s house. This sounded a bit strange, but that’s how he was.
Calls would usually be connected to the secretary’s room first. Only if the secretary thought the call needed to wake the mayor would the mayor answer the phone. Otherwise, the secretary would handle it.
The secretary was not old, not yet thirty, but everyone could see that he was highly valued by the mayor. There was a rumor that he might be the political successor the mayor was grooming.
But right now, none of this had anything to do with Brinton. He just wanted to know what the hell had happened!
“Is there something that requires you to call at night?”
“It’s like this, we had a plan before…” He explained their idea of luring Lance’s group out and ambushing them in a suitable place.
The secretary listened quietly the whole time and didn’t think there was anything wrong with their plan.
From a strategic point of view, this was actually very appropriate. To assault a building, if you don’t use heavy weapons, the price you have to pay will be very heavy, and you may not be able to do it very well.
“…It’s been an hour and a half now, and there’s still no news. I’m worried that something might have already happened.”
“Just now I found some people staking out the area around the nightclub. They are very likely Lance’s men.”
After listening, the mayor’s secretary asked a key question, “How did you find out the location of Lance’s bar?”
Brinton explained how he had obtained the information about the bar. The mayor’s secretary, who had been maintaining a calm demeanor, couldn’t help but laugh out loud after hearing it.
“Don’t you know that there are many of Lance’s people in the Empire District?”
Brinton coughed, “I know, we were already very careful. And if we don’t use this method, it’s very difficult for us to find their location.”
The mayor’s secretary laughed and then sighed again, “So this is why you guys have been messing around in gangs and still haven’t made a name for yourselves. Wait for my news.”
He hung up as he spoke, then dialed the duty phone of the Empire District precinct.
“This is the secretary of the mayor’s office at City Hall. I’d like to know if there were any gang firefights in the Empire District tonight?” He announced his identity. The operator on the other end didn’t expect such a big shot to call in the middle of the night and seemed a bit nervous.
“No… sir, no.” The sound of pages being flipped could be heard through the receiver. “I’ve checked the police dispatch records for the night. Someone reported being bitten by a toilet and couldn’t stand up, there were couples fighting, and also a john arguing with a girl over payment who called the police.”
“But there were no reports of a firefight, sir.”
“Any reports of a shooting?”
“Uh… sir, I’ve checked again, none. It was a very safe night tonight, sir.”
The mayor’s secretary was silent for a moment, “I see, thank you.”
He even politely thanked the other party before hanging up. Then he dialed Brinton’s number, “Your men are most likely gone.”
“You probably fell into Lance’s trap. I very much doubt whether it was a correct decision for the mayor to hand over the Empire District to you.”
“If you can’t handle them, there are still many people in Fides who want to replace you. Think it over first.”
In the eyes of the mayor’s secretary, the failure of this gang firefight had no effect on him or the mayor.
Anyway, the ones who died were just social dregs. No matter how many died, it wouldn’t make his heart ache. On the contrary, their inability to complete the mayor’s plan was the most troublesome thing.
As for why he was so sure something had happened?
Because in the plan Brinton had just told him, there was a plan to attack the bar first. In other words, if they hadn’t run into trouble, they would have definitely opened fire.
Only by opening fire could they attract the Lance Family to come to the rescue. If it was just an ordinary fistfight, the situation would be under control, and the Lance Family would not go there.
So as long as they hadn’t run into trouble, they must have used weapons. But no one had reported it to the police department, so there weren’t many possibilities left.
If they didn’t act according to the plan at all, then what made them not act according to the plan?
Obviously, the plan was interrupted!
Or maybe they did make a move, and even lured out the Lance Family, but they didn’t call back.
The police precinct is helping to cover it up. These sons of b—tches, sooner or later, they’ll all be replaced!
Brinton still wanted to say something, but the mayor’s secretary used the excuse of needing to rest and hung up the phone directly.
It was clear that he had no patience for failures.
Brinton gritted his teeth and dialed another number, a Fides number.
“Boss, we had over forty of our men taken out by the Lance Family. The mayor’s side is very unhappy with us, saying if we can’t solve the Lance Family, they’ll hand over the Empire District to someone else to manage.”
The leader of the Viper Gang was named Snake. He had an ordinary build. He had a very special hairstyle that made his head look pointed, like the shape of a viper.
This person was very ruthless. He was the first-generation boss of the Viper Gang, and also a person with some ability, but only some.
For gangs in non-developed cities, as long as they were ruthless enough and obedient enough, they could definitely succeed.
The Federation government’s management of various social classes was actually not in place. They very much needed these gangs to assist them in managing the entire city. After all, some things were difficult to do from the perspective of the Federation government.
But when it came to the gangs, it became very easy.
It was a scandal for law enforcement officers of the Federation government to beat citizens, but it was quite normal for gang members to beat citizens.
The beaten citizens would not only not make a fuss, but they might not even call the police!
But if a politician did this, even if the person beaten was bleeding from the head, they would fight to the end!
And it wasn’t a political scandal when a gang did this kind of thing, it was just a small problem in the average crime rate!
Snake was also a little angry after listening to Brinton’s reasons, but he quickly calmed down.
“Do you think the income in Golden Port is really more than what we have here?”
Brinton nodded repeatedly, although Snake couldn’t see, “The protection fees here are basically ten or twenty dollars per business. There are two or three thousand businesses in the Empire District. The protection fees alone can bring in tens of thousands of dollars or even more each month.”
“And the liquor here… is simply f—king exorbitant profit!”
“I heard… that the profit on a single glass of liquor over there is more than four times!”
The one he mentioned in his “plan” was the leader of another gang from Fides. They were developing in the Port District and had already initially established a foothold.
Although the local neighborhood families and the Red Dog Gang had already had friction with them, their bar had already opened and had already started to make a profit.
Snake’s breathing became noticeably heavier, “That is to say, if we can occupy the Empire District, it can bring us tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands in income every month?”
“I’m afraid so. I heard a rumor that the liquor prices of the Lance Family are very cheap, but their daily income can still be over ten thousand…”
Snake’s eyes were even a little out of focus!
“Thirty… thousand…”
Suddenly, both of them fell silent.
In Fides, although they could also make money, the city’s size and consumption capacity were there. Their monthly income was only about fifty to seventy thousand dollars.
After this money was divided, they actually didn’t get much left. This was the case for gangs in relatively backward areas. In the absence of high-profit businesses, it was difficult to accumulate wealth quickly.
“Golden Port is an opportunity,” Snake sighed. “I will immediately mobilize manpower to go over, including myself.”
Hearing this, Brinton was a little surprised, “Then what about Fides…”
“We don’t need it anymore.”
Snake was very decisive, “If Golden Port can provide us with half a year’s income in one month, there is absolutely no reason for us to stay here, Brinton.”
“You protect yourself and the remaining people first. When I get there…”
After hanging up the phone, Brinton told his men not to f—king run around before dawn. He didn’t sleep at all that night.
There were a few times when he was just about to close his eyes, the faces of his former brothers and members appeared in his hazy dreams, startling him from his half-asleep state!
It wasn’t until the sky was dimly lit that the not-so-much light seemed to soothe the fear in his heart, waking him from his sleep.
He rubbed his face, walked out of the office, and stood on the stairs, slapping the handrail hard. The old-fashioned handrail made a “bang bang” sound.
“Are they back?”
A head poked out from downstairs, “No, Boss, no one came back, and no phone calls.”
Brinton returned to the office, walked to the window, and looked at the reviving city, suddenly feeling a wave of fear!
This city, this district, and them, were not as “easy” as he had previously imagined.
He thought that with the mayor on his side, and the Bureau of Hazardous Materials also on his side, he had no worries.
Now it seemed he had been too optimistic.
After the sky was completely bright, Lance washed his face after getting up and sat in the dining room eating the dinner that had just been made. Everyone else was here.
They had turned the house in the very middle into a kind of common area. Every morning, everyone would make breakfast here and eat together. Sometimes after coming back at night, they would also gather here, chat for a while, and then go back to their respective residences.
“Did they come out last night?” Lance asked while eating a sandwich.
Toast, if you don’t put those vegetables, eggs, ham, and other things in it, you actually don’t need to toast it.
But if it needs to sandwich something soft, it’s best to toast it. This way, the texture will be a little better and the layers of flavor will be richer.
Morris shook his head, “They never came out. They probably already noticed.”
Hiram sat next to him, his face a little hot, “My problem. I should have left two alive.”
He had shot all the ones who weren’t dead, which led to no one calling for reinforcements. If someone had called for reinforcements, maybe Brinton and his men would have come out of the Empire of the Night.
Lance was very familiar with the structure of the Empire of the Night. Once they decided to defend it to the death, it would be a nightmare for those who wanted to rush in. That place would also become a one-sided meat grinder.
Because the moment you rush in through the main entrance, you can’t be sure where your enemy is waiting for you with a gun. By the time you find the other party, the bullet may have already entered your body.
The Empire of the Night had too many rooms, the space was too empty, but there were not many doors and windows. It was not a good building to attack.
Lance’s original intention was to find a way to lure Brinton out and then kill them at the entrance of the Empire of the Night.
But Brinton didn’t come out all night, as if they knew something.
Hiram felt it was his fault. If he had left two alive to make a call and trick them, maybe he could have lured Brinton out.
Lance raised his hand and stopped him, “This was God deciding he shouldn’t die last night, but it’s okay, we still have a chance, many chances!”
Dracy (a young man who joined with Hiram) said from the side, “Last night, the bar on West Street might have run into people from the Bureau of Hazardous Materials.”
Lance looked at him.
Dracy was not as… lively as Hiram, nor as proactive in doing various things as Lawn. He seemed a bit more passive, so now his job was to be in charge of logistics with Mello.
When the bar needed liquor, Mello would transfer some from the warehouse and arrange for him to transport it over.
So he was very familiar with all the bars and managers under Lance.
“Tell me,” Lance asked for another sandwich. At twenty, he was still growing.
“They met a guy just like you described, never seen before, but as soon as he showed up, he had an expression of being very familiar with the bar and a bit impatient.”
“He said he was introduced by a friend, but the doorman didn’t know the name he said. They didn’t let him in, just told him there was no bar here.”
After listening, Lance stroked his eyebrows with his fingers, “The bar on West Street has to move. If they can find it, it’s very likely they will take action.”
“The current Bureau of Hazardous Materials is different from other law enforcement agencies. They don’t need any conclusive evidence for the judiciary to issue them legal documents.”
“They can issue them themselves. If it’s really their people, they might take action today.”
“Mello, you arrange it.”
Mello, who was sitting not far from Lance but mostly didn’t speak up, nodded, “I know.”
Elvin sat on Lance’s left, and Morris on his right. The two of them were sitting right next to Lance, which also represented their position in this small group, and even in the Lance Family.
Although everyone really wanted to be able to sit next to Lance, most of the people here also understood that they did not have that kind of ability.
They were not top students who had graduated from some prestigious university. Some of them might not have even graduated from high school. It was not a big problem for them to do things.
But if you asked them to decide what to do and who to do it, they might not be able to take responsibility.
There were some other matters, for example, recently many people from the Empire had come to the Federation through various channels.
The inside of the Empire had already changed from the rebel army besieging and killing the royal family to a situation of separatism and chaotic warfare. The emperor not only escaped from a dangerous situation but even almost returned to the imperial capital!
If it weren’t for the stubborn resistance of the rebel army occupying the imperial capital, perhaps His Majesty the Emperor would have already been sitting on his throne again, issuing orders.
This also caused the stance of a portion of the nobles to change. They believed that the “rule” of the royal family was not over yet, and the rebel army’s performance was like dog sh—t, which also disappointed them to the extreme. Some nobles and capitalists began to change their stance again and stood on the side of the royal family.
The royal family, having received the support of these nobles and capitalists, began to systematically move towards the south of the Empire. That tyrant dictator emperor, who was seen as both foolish and irascible by the people of the Federation, even shouted the slogan of “reform” to cater to the new forces in the south!
The originally clear situation in the Empire once again became confusing. Many people, especially the people of the Federation, were actually waiting for the moment the emperor was sent to the guillotine by the rebel army.
But unfortunately, it was highly unlikely they would see it. Some people believed that the Empire would remain in a state of war for a long time to come.
Many people could see no hope of peace and could only move their entire families to other countries. And as the royal family lost control over the central and northern regions, plus the new forces in the south were actually not so loyal to the royal family.
Now more and more people were fleeing the Empire.
The Federation was one of their main choices. After all, in recent years, people had always been hyping that the valleys in the west of the Federation were full of gold, just like the financial street in the capital was full of banknotes!
People couldn’t tell if these words were true or false, but they only knew that everyone was saying so, and no one refuted it, so these must be true.
Of course, Yalan was also a major choice. Yalan’s population base was not so high, and there were more primeval forests. Some areas were even uninhabited, which was very attractive to the people of the Empire.
It can be foreseen that the number of illegal immigrants in the Federation will experience an explosive growth!