Shadow Empire

Chapter 157: Catch, Rumors, and Branch Office
When Hiram kicked him in the abdomen, the young man felt as if every muscle in his body was pulled up at once.

He curled up into a ball! Hiram shook his hair, raised his foot and kicked him hard, "Why don't you find a job and rob a store?"

"Still shooting?"

Originally, some people on the roadside looked reluctant, but after Hiram said these words, they were all stunned, and then they realized that this group of young people were the ones who robbed the small shop yesterday.

Not only did they steal money and goods, they also shot and injured the store owner. If it weren't for the doctor's successful rescue, the person might have died.

But even so, without considering the high cost of rescue, just hearing that half of his liver was removed makes people feel terrified and angry!
No one wants this to happen to themselves, and anyone can encounter this situation even if they have not provoked anyone.

The news of the small shop owner's experience spread throughout the Imperial District in a short time. People were very angry and they had already found out who one of the people was.

Some people spontaneously went to the police station to provide clues, but the police said "we are investigating" and asked the public "not to interfere with the judicial process", telling them it would be better for them to do nothing.

They also said that once they knew who robbed the store, if they publicized it loudly, it would likely cause the robbers to flee early, putting them on the defensive.

But the police themselves did nothing. Only two policemen listened to these things, recorded them, and then returned to the police station.

This feeling of dissatisfaction has been accumulating, which has also made some people confused.

They want to do something to make this country, this society, at least not deviate so much from their perception of this place, but they can do nothing.

At this moment, when someone did something about this matter, they suddenly felt an indescribable sense of comfort.

Some people who knew about this incident had a faint smile on their faces. The sin was judged, but evil could not defeat justice in the end.

Although this justice is a bit strange, at least it is not in cahoots with evil and it even judges the other side, right?
Suddenly, there was a gunshot from the other side. Hiram's neck shrank, and then Morris's shouting and cursing were heard. Hiram pulled out a pistol from his arms and ran over.

Lawn looked at the two rookies and pointed at the young man on the ground, "Keep beating him, but don't kill him."

He also drew his pistol and followed Hiram across the street.

Across the street, Morris was hiding behind a corner, and in the car, there were two other young men hiding behind the car.

Hiram ran up to him, "Did you get shot?"

Morris shook his head, gasping for breath, and lifted up his windbreaker, which had a hole in it.

Hiram quickly felt around his body and indeed felt no wounds, so he heaved a sigh of relief.

"This son of a bitch!" He quickly stretched his head to take a look and saw that the guy had already run out.

The people watching around had already screamed and hid.

He simply opened the passenger door of the car that Morris was riding in, and Lawen squeezed in.

Morris signaled the driver to get out, and he sat in the driver's seat himself, released the brakes hard, and stepped on the accelerator to the limit.

The tires were smoking and skidding, the whole car shook twice in place, and then rushed out suddenly.

After all, people can never outrun cars.

Hiram and Lawn were sitting in the passenger seat and the seat behind the passenger seat, one after the other. When they approached the young man who was running wildly, they both stretched out their pistols from the car windows at the same time.

After several shots, the young man holding the revolver suddenly staggered a few steps and almost fell. He held on to the window on the wall to steady his balance and continued to run forward.

But the speed has obviously dropped.

After running about ten steps, he fell to the ground headfirst, and he could no longer hold the gun in his hand, so it fell to the ground.

Morris steered, braked, and the car screeched onto the sidewalk.

When Hiram and Lawn got out of the car, the young man had begun to cry.

"Have mercy on me...Mom!"

This was the closest Morris had ever been to death, except for the street fight that day. He drew his gun and rushed to the young man.

Hiram had kicked the revolver aside, and Morris emptied the magazine, cursing.

According to the fine tradition of the Lance family, Hiram and Laun also shot all their bullets.

The young man lay on the ground, moved to tears because of the great love that continued to flow into his body.

The tense muscles and frightened expression gradually relaxed and became calm.

When the clicking sound of empty chamber was heard, Hiram pulled out the magazine and replaced it with a new one.

Some people hid in the alleys and watched them, some hid in the shops, and the streets were dead quiet.

He glanced at the scene where he and Lawn had just fired shots in the car, smashing the windows of two roadside shops, and walked straight over.

Countless eyes followed his footsteps, and their hearts surged with him.

He went to a shop first. There were three customers and the owner in the shop. They were all standing in the corner, with their heads down, looking very scared.

Hiram still has a strong murderous aura, and although he looks stupid now, no one dares to underestimate him.

"I accidentally broke your glass..." He raised his thumb and gestured to the cracked window behind him, then took out five dollars and put it on the counter, "This is to compensate you for the glass."

"If you don't have enough money, you can come to me at the Lance family and I will give you the money."

The boss was so scared that he didn't know what to say. Seeing him trembling, Hiram couldn't help but smile and walked over to pat him on the shoulder, "I don't eat people, brother!"

After saying that, he turned and left and went to another store, which was a bakery. There was some fresh bread in the window.

Looking at the bread under the broken glass, Hiram rolled his eyes, took out two five-dollar bills and put them on the counter, "I'll compensate you for the glass and bread. I don't know if it's enough."

The owners were a young couple, and there were a few customers in the bakery standing stupidly by the tables.

The couple nodded quickly, bowing slightly, "That's enough, sir, that's enough, it doesn't cost that much money..."

As they talked, they wanted to return the money to Hiram, but Hiram refused, "If you have extra, give me... a bag of donuts. They all love to eat this."

The young couple saw something incredible in each other's eyes, but soon they prepared a large bag of donuts and handed it over, and they were no longer as scared and uneasy as they were at the beginning.

"I hope I didn't scare you. Believe me, this street will be quiet again soon. Good day!"

He left the bakery carrying the bag of donuts, leaving people looking at each other in bewilderment.

"They look... different from the other gangs."

The young couple whispered that the ten dollars was indeed far more than their losses.

The glass cost about three bucks, and the bread underneath was only worth two or three bucks, so ten bucks was really too much, even if they filled a whole bag of donuts.

But this is not a question of how much money, but the fact that these people will actually make up for their losses!

Several customers who were eating bread also walked to the window and looked outside.

An older man couldn't help but say, "Yesterday... a store a few blocks over there was robbed by five young men. They also shot and injured the owner. These people should be the ones."

"Oh my god, what happened to the injured boss?"

The older man seemed to be very talkative and well-informed. "His liver and spleen were removed. Because the injury was very serious, I heard that he now even needs to defecate through the opening in his stomach..."

"How terrible!" the other guests exclaimed.

These exclamations made the old man realize the significance and value of what he said. "So I don't think their actions are extreme at all. You should think about it. If no one manages these lawless people, maybe we will be the next victims."

"If someone has to hold a gun, I hope it's them. At least they know to compensate you after they broke your window and your bread." Several people were silent, savoring the words of the old man carefully, but they didn't know that soon the injured old man who had only cut off half of his liver would become a vegetable in the rumors...

Of course, this doesn’t really have much to do with them, or it has to do with everyone. If the store owner is “rumored to be dead”, then everyone involved in spreading the rumor is a murderer and participant!
Outside the door, Lawn had taken out a waterproof sheet from the trunk of the car and covered the entire trunk with it. The two of them lifted the body and threw it in.

Lawen drove away directly because he had to go back and deal with the body.

Perhaps this guy was shot dead in the street, and the guy who just came out of the antique shop gave up on escaping.

After being severely beaten, the four men were taken into a car and quickly disappeared from the street.

About ten minutes later, two more cars arrived, and several young men in work clothes started brushing the bloodstains on the ground. They seemed to have used some chemical agents...

The police arrived here twenty minutes later, but they didn't get any intelligence. Almost no one could remember what the shooters looked like, what color their car was, or who was killed or taken away.

Collective amnesia!

Nick, who was in the hospital at this time, was looking at his dying father on the hospital bed. The anger and hatred in his eyes seemed to be about to spark and ignite the air!

Of course, dying is just his current condition. He is extremely weak, but it doesn’t mean that he is really going to die.

For the sake of money, the doctors snatched his life back from the hands of death. He is now awake, but too weak.

"I will make them pay the price!" Nick's voice came out from between his teeth, and everyone could hear the hatred in his words.

The old man shook his head slightly and closed his eyes, seeming to be a little tired. He opened them after a while and said, "After calling the police, forget it. They are all desperate criminals. You don't need to take risks for me. It's not worth it."

Nick said nothing. The old man knew that his youngest son had the most stubborn temper. "I will be fine. Let's forget about this matter. This is the Federation, not the Empire."

As they were talking, Nick's oldest nephew suddenly rushed in, looking surprised, "They've been caught!"

The other relatives in the room all stood up, showing the same surprise. Nick also stood up and looked at him, "If you don't want to get yourself into trouble, you'd better finish what you want to say in one breath."

Nick's brother also asked, "Did the police catch them?"

"Are they being held in the branch or the city police station now?"

Criminal cases are basically handled by the city police station, but some injury cases that do not cause serious consequences are also handled by the branch station.

There was also a little more light in the old man's eyes.

The kid shook his head and laughed loudly. “It wasn’t the police who caught them. The police didn’t even do anything. It was the Lance family!”

"They went to Eleventh Street to sell the stolen goods this morning, and were seen by someone. Then the Lance family came over."

"Several of them tried to escape, and someone fired a gun. Then they shot the gunman to death on the street!"

"The others have been taken away, and now everyone is discussing this matter..."

As he spoke, his expression looked a little strange.

Nick was so surprised that he was speechless!
"What else?"

His nephew took a look at his grandfather lying on the bed and said hesitantly, "They said that all the organs in grandpa's stomach have been removed and he has become a vegetable."

Although this rumor would make people very unhappy, everyone in the room laughed at this time. Nick was also laughing. He turned around and sat back beside the bed. "Did you hear it?"

"They all said you were going to die, you had to get better soon and surprise them!"

The old man also laughed twice, but his expression turned serious immediately afterwards. “How do you know anyone from the Lance family?”

"What did you promise them in exchange for their help?"

Nick knew that what his father hated most were gangs. When the old man came here, the Camilla Gang was at its most active.

Every day there are either gunfights or kidnappings and extortion. In order to prevent the victims from reporting them to the police and causing trouble for themselves, they will kill the victims in the end regardless of whether they can get the ransom or not.

This made the people of the Empire very scared, scared of the Camilla Gang and scared of all gangs.

Nick recounted what happened and the outcome, and he spoke loudly so that the other relatives could hear, "I didn't pay anything, Dad."

"I met Mr. Lance. He was very young, but I saw in him the bearing of some great men."

"I told him what we had been through and begged him to help us, and then... you saw that they had done what the police couldn't do!"

The old man was silent for a long time after listening to this. "Go to the warehouse to get some gifts and bring my family to thank Mr. Lance and others. He helped us, and we should also be grateful."

Nick nodded, "I will."

The old man nodded and said, "Let's go now."

After leaving the hospital, he went straight back to the warehouse behind the store. He didn't know what to take, so he finally took out two bottles of his own wine from a very secret place, wrapped them in paper, and took them with him.

As soon as I came out of the store, some old neighbors gathered around me. They had just seen Nick enter the store.

"We are all very concerned about your father's condition. I heard that he has become a vegetable. I heard that there is a psychic in Xilin District..."

Nick smiled and raised his hand, "Stop, stop, my father is in good condition and will be discharged from the hospital in a while."

"I don't know who told you this, but it's obvious that these are all rumors!"

The old neighbors were stunned for a moment, and then began to congratulate him. After all, this was indeed a good thing.

Then someone who was well-informed asked, "I heard that you asked the Lance family for help?"

Nick did not deny it. "Mr. Lance is very young, but also very reasonable. He understood my difficulties and sympathized with my experience, so he helped me."

"So the rumors are true?" someone exclaimed, "I heard they were just caught and shot in the street!"

People around who were using outdated versions also exclaimed, "Oh my god, this is too scary!"

But other people don't care about this. They just record these rumors. In order to prove their authenticity in the process of dissemination and add their own sense of participation, they often continue to polish them and then use "I saw it with my own eyes" to increase the sense of authenticity.

Nick looked at their heated discussion, said goodbye to them, and then went to Wanli Office with his family.

But unfortunately Lance was not there now. Erwin received them, accepted the gifts they brought, and said that he would convey their gratitude to Mr. Lance.

At this time, Lance had been called over by the director of the Imperial District Bureau and was in his office.

"…The rumors on the street right now are very bad, saying all sorts of things, and these rumors will put me in a passive position."

"They will think that I am an incompetent branch chief, even worse than the head of a family."

Chief Blue of the Imperial District Bureau is a bearded man with very white skin and a thick, black beard. He must be a mixed-race of multiple bloodlines.

But because he mixed well, or mixed early, he had become a "pure-blooded" federal citizen.

He looked at Lance with an unhappy expression. This was his usual technique. "We asked you to solve the chaotic street problems, not to solve them in this way."

Lance looked at the trophies, ribbons and the like on the wall behind him. It was a small wall of honor.

Seeing Lance's absent-minded look, he knocked on the table hard, "Watch your attitude, Lance."

"I don't know how you convinced those big shots, but this is the Imperial District Bureau. Here, I have the final say."

"You have to learn, and you have to respect me!"

Lance's gaze returned from the wall of honor to Blue's face. "Within a week, those vicious cases in the Empire District will completely disappear. Even petty thefts will be less common. This will become one of the administrative districts with the highest public security rate in Jingang City..."

(End of this chapter)