This was the most comfortable sleep Figal had had in a while. There were no burdens, worries, or anxieties. Lying on the soft bed, resting on a soft pillow, and covered with a soft blanket, it was as if he had returned to the womb.
He curled up his body just as he had before he came into this world. The surrounding darkness did not bring him fear, only a sense of security.
Until—
He felt someone calling him from behind. He didn’t know what was there. He just wanted to walk forward, but the calls from behind became clearer and clearer, and even a face appeared in his dream.
“Fuck!” Suddenly, he sat up abruptly, slamming his hands hard on the quilt, and looked angrily at the person standing at the bedroom door. “You ruined my good dream!”
“Now, you have one minute to tell me why you did this.”
“If your reason doesn’t impress me, I will let people know what the price of doing this is!”
The person standing at the door was not much moved by his bad temper, but said very calmly, “Our warehouse in the West District was burned.”
The next second, Figal, who had just looked like he was about to eat someone, froze.
He calmed down, in an instant. “So, our things…”
He stared at the person at the door. The person continued in that steady voice, “Nothing is left.”
Awake.
Completely awake!
He turned on the bedside lamp. Even though his eyes hurt so much he couldn’t open them, this was a sign of not having rested well.
His body, and even his organs, seemed to be protesting against him. He had to get up.
“What the hell happened? Did Lance’s men attack?”
He walked towards the outside, came to the study, asked for a strong cup of coffee, and then lit a cigarette. “This son of a bitch is everywhere. What did he do?”
“Someone heard a fierce exchange of fire over at the warehouse, and then it started burning. By the time our men arrived, it was too late. They could only watch it burn down.”
“They hid the men in the trucks.”
“It wasn’t liquor inside, it was their men.”
Figal held the cigarette and had forgotten to smoke. He just looked at the guy in front of him with his mouth slightly open. If this guy wasn’t his cousin, if there was no blood relationship between them, he would now open the second drawer on his right, pull out the loaded handgun inside, and kill this guy!
Listen to what the fuck he was saying?
Are we acting in a movie here?
But he knew that no one would lie about such a thing.
“What’s the evidence?”
“There was nothing in their trucks.”
Figal leaned back in his chair. He looked a bit dejected. “How much was in the warehouse?”
“Several hundred thousand worth of goods,” the person opposite him finished. Figal couldn’t help but laugh.
“Several hundred thousand?”
He didn’t look angry. There was even a smile on his face, and his tone was even light.
But the guy opposite him knew that this was a sign of his anger. He deliberately moved back a few steps. “Yes, about seven or eight hundred thousand worth of goods.”
“Fuck!”
He violently pushed everything he could reach on the desk to the floor, including his strong coffee.
He stood up and shouted. His temper wasn’t actually this bad at first.
But after the war with the Bear Gang broke out, it got worse and worse.
He also knew why Figal was so angry, because the family’s finances were actually in some trouble.
The war with the Bear Gang had caused a huge deficit in the family’s finances. Pensions, disability, these were all money. If you wanted your subordinates to be willing to die for you, then you had to show them the sincerity and means that would make them willing to die for you.
Six thousand for one person. As for disability and the like, it was actually more troublesome.
The bombed bars, the re-purchase of property, the purchase of a large number of cars, the payment of salaries, these were all huge expenses.
After more than half a year of operation, the family’s financial situation had only slightly improved, but it could not be said to be healthy.
If it weren’t for the huge profits from liquor, it might have taken him longer to recover.
But now, the finances were in trouble again.
People were constantly dying.
One death was eight thousand, the price had gone up.
Even eight thousand was not enough anymore. Some cadres were even asking for a high price of ten thousand or even twelve thousand, and they had legitimate reasons.
If he didn’t agree, their subordinates might not be willing to risk their lives.
In fact, a living life was only worth eight thousand, which was indeed a bit little.
Ten people were eighty thousand, a hundred people were eight hundred thousand. Plus those who were seriously injured and needed surgery. You can’t expect them to risk their lives for the family and then have to pay for their own surgery, can you?
Sometimes the surgery fee might not be less than the pension, and there were also various special medicines and other problems.
And the destroyed bars and the liquor inside…
He had a headache now just thinking about these things. In just two weeks, he and his family’s wealth had shrunk dramatically and visibly. Now another warehouse had been burned. He was so angry he laughed out loud!
But soon, he sat down again. He took a deep drag on his cigarette, then slowly exhaled, bit by bit. The smoke slowly dissipated from his mouth and nostrils.
As the leader of the Five Families, he would have moments of emotional breakdown, but he would manage his breakdown time.
Now, he was starting to calm down.
“Forget it, it’s not important. If our plan below works, these losses can be recovered from Lance.”
“If this plan fails, then for us, whether we can recover these losses is not so important.”
He took another drag on his cigarette, this time exhaling it all in one breath. “Let’s arrange it normally.”
In the middle of the night, a cadre was called to Figal’s manor. It was said that someone had heard the sound of an argument coming from Figal’s study.
Figal said it was because the cadre hadn’t gone himself and had left everything to his subordinates, which was what had led to all of this.
And the cadre believed that this kind of work, which was obviously a suicide mission, the fact that he could arrange for people to do it was already the limit of what he could do.
It was impossible for him to go and die foolishly himself. If Figal was going to do this again, he would leave the family!
What happened last night eventually became known to everyone in the family. They were all discussing these things. In their view, Figal’s irrationality had caused the family to lose another large sum of money.
The already not-so-well-off situation had become worse, and some people began to spread the idea of splitting from the family or leaving the family, which also attracted some people. For a time, everyone in the family was in a state of flux.
This news spread out again, and this time the content that spread out was more detailed. Some even had what each of them said, and what they were thinking.
True and false, it was hard to tell.
By the time Lance heard this news, another day had passed. The news of the Keane family’s split had already begun to be spread more openly outside.
This made Lance feel very strange. Why had they suddenly fallen into internal strife?
In the evening, everyone who came was there. They had also heard about this matter. Someone asked, “Should we do something?”
Lance looked at him. “For example?”
“They are now on the verge of internal strife. We can try to give them a push. Maybe we don’t need to do it ourselves, and they will split up or even fight among themselves.”
Lance nodded after listening. “It’s a good idea, but I feel that this matter is not right.”
“If we burn one of their warehouses and they are about to split, then they would have already split when we took down their bars.”
“And the Kodak Family is still around. They are very rich. With Bandy’s and Gorry’s brains, they wouldn’t just sit and watch Figal and the Keane family fall into internal strife because of money.”
Lance’s hands were clasped together, his index and thumb fingers touching each other. He was thinking.
This matter exuded a very strange atmosphere, and he was a little unsure.
“Let’s wait and see for now. We’ll talk about it when they really have an internal strife.”
Elvin caught the key word in his words. “You mean, this is fake?”
Lance shook his head. “I don’t think it’s real.”
The others also frowned one after another. After thinking about it carefully, it was indeed a bit strange.
For the next few days, Lance’s side didn’t make any big moves. In any case, there was some friction between the two sides around the places of handover, and firefights became less frequent than before.
The news within the Keane family was also constantly being updated, as if someone was deliberately leaking this news to the outside.
This, on the contrary, made Lance more suspicious.
If he had a conflict with these people, whether it was Elvin or anyone else, he would not make it known to the whole world.
Even if someone accidentally overheard this news and leaked it, he would, the first moment he knew about it, settle it as soon as possible.
Whether it was to deal with the person who was spreading the rumors, or to deal with the conflict, he could not let the problem continue to spread.
But Figal didn’t seem to have done so. Instead, he was纠结于 the internal problems of the family, and continued to argue without compromise or concession.
At the end of April, a piece of news came out that a portion of the high-level cadres of the Keane family had directly announced that they would no longer follow Figal’s leadership and command.
As soon as this news came out, the whole city seemed to fall into shock!
After the super big news of the Five Families becoming the Four Families, another big news appeared.
Figal immediately consolidated his forces and transferred most of his men to his manor, seeming to be powerless over the city center now.
“…I hear at least two-thirds have left, which may be an exaggeration, but definitely more than half.”
Morris couldn’t help but cough twice. “They are indeed gone. The low-level gang members don’t know who to listen to or what to do now. It’s indeed a bit chaotic.”
Lance nodded and then asked, “How is the Kodak Family doing?”
Morris shook his head. “They are still in that state of being on standby at any time. Apart from that, there is no other movement.”
Lance frowned. “They have been on high alert, but have done nothing. Now Figal’s side is in a lot of trouble. Perhaps this is their bait.”
Someone had already talked to Lance about this. Since the Keane family had split due to internal strife, and those who had left said that even if Figal was killed, they would not come back.
Then now was the best time. The strength of the Keane family had dropped to a historical low. They seemed to know this as well, so they had all consolidated into the manor.
This gave people the feeling that with just a little effort, they could completely take them down.
Even when Lance knew that something was wrong, he still had a trace of an impulse.
Because as long as he killed Figal and dismantled this group of people, then the Kodak Family would have to face them directly.
In that situation, Lance would have Alberto and Francisco persuade the Tita family not to make a move. After all, they had all suffered heavy losses in the war against the Cassia family.
The head of the Tita family had been killed. They might not be willing to get involved.
If Lance then promised to distribute some benefits to them, there was a high probability that they would side with Lance.
At that time, the Kodak Family would be unavoidable.
A crucial step, he thought so.
But it was precisely because it was too crucial that it made him feel that something was not right.
As he was thinking about his next countermeasures, a flash of inspiration suddenly appeared in his mind.
His original plan was to use the Keane family to force the Kodak Family to come out. Now that they were actively showing weakness, wasn’t this a good opportunity?
Give it a try!
He beckoned to the others. “Come over here. I have a new idea…”
While Lance was laying out his new plan of action, Figal was also on the phone with Bandy.
“Is he really going to make a move on us?” Figal was still a little worried. After all, this was a big issue that concerned whether they could still survive in Golden Port City in the future. He couldn’t help but be concerned.
“Sometimes when I think about it, I feel that this world is really interesting, Bandy.”
“Look, now we are actually being pushed to this point by a young man. Sometimes I still feel that all of this is just a dream.”
“A bad dream. I look forward to this dream waking up sooner than ever before, but I also know that it is not a dream!”
“This feeling, I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s really terrible!”
Lance’s rise was too fast, or rather, the Five Families had ruled for too long, so long that they thought that the order of Golden Port City would no longer change in the slightest.
Arrogance is often the first step towards destruction.
And they had already taken more than one step on this road.
His words also made Bandy silent. Who could have imagined that things would develop like this?
Before, the Camille Gang had almost finished off Lance and his people. This kind of inconspicuous roadside minor character actually managed to climb up. By the time they started to take this matter seriously, it was already too late.
The mud-legged dog had caught up with the respectable gentleman with a hatchet. The winner and loser were actually already clear.
Now, what he had to do was to appease Figal’s emotions and prevent him from having any problems.
“You have to believe me, Figal. My men have been keeping an eye on Lance. As soon as his men move, my side will go and support you.”
“You just need to simply hold the manor for a little while, and our men will attack them from behind.”
“Whether Lance is there or not, this time it will definitely cause his strength to plummet. At that time, whether we sit down and negotiate, or directly wipe him out of Golden Port City, the decision will be on our side.”
Figal was still a little worried. “What if… he doesn’t come and attack me?”
Bandy shook his head and immediately said, “Impossible.”
“If it were someone else, Alberto, or someone else, I believe there is this possibility, but not Lance.”
“His ambition is very big, so big that he wants to swallow the whole of Golden Port City. He will not miss such an opportunity, because if he misses this opportunity, he will not have a next one!”
“He will definitely make a move, believe me!”
Although he hadn’t had much actual contact with Lance, he could feel Lance’s ambition, that almost palpable ambition that didn’t need to be said or expressed!
Figal was silent for a long while, and finally he accepted Bandy’s statement. “If he really comes, you guys have to be fast!”
In fact, the internal strife was also fake. Those people were now outside the city. There was no other way. Lance had too many men. If they stayed in the city, it would only make Lance suspicious.
So these people all went outside the city. The speed at which they could get back was definitely not as fast as Bandy and their speed.
If Lance really came, he might not be able to hold on for long.
“Don’t worry, I will definitely be there at the first moment.”
After putting down the phone, whether it was Figal or Bandy, they both had a feeling that this day would not make them wait for too long.
These few days, Lance had been looking at the map. Many red lines were drawn on the map, and without the others knowing, he had also had someone drive a car to see how long it would take from the Kodak Family’s security company to Figal’s manor.
Not just one road, but several roads had been run through. Now what he needed to do was to choose one of these roads to set up an ambush.
Bandy’s side actually didn’t have many men now. As long as he took down these men he sent out, he would basically be completely crippled!
So finding the route he chose was very important for the subsequent plan.
But Lance didn’t dare to guess which route Bandy would choose. What if his brain was not the same as a normal person’s brain?
There were precedents for this.
What normal person would fucking cut off most of their gang business in order to whitewash themselves?
In this era, who the fuck would think about whitewashing themselves for no reason?
The federal government had not even submitted or passed any bills or proposals similar to the “Anti-Organized Crime Act,” let alone any laws.
In this era when the federal government and the gangs jointly managed society, it was not a good time to whitewash.
Just as everyone was not daring to guess which road they would choose, a young man suddenly asked, “Why don’t we help them choose?”
Everyone’s eyes focused on the young man. Being stared at by so many high-level cadres including Lance, the young man’s face quickly turned red and hot.
Introverted people can’t mix in a gang, at least it’s hard to get along in a gang.
A violent organization needs more outward expression, otherwise it will cause misunderstandings. His flushed face was not because of introversion, but purely out of excitement.
He knew, this was an opportunity!
An opportunity that could make him a high-level cadre in the future!
(End of a Chapter)