Shadow Empire

Chapter 517: Even God Has to Take Two Punches and Combination Punches

Most bars in the Upper Town (Starlight District) play trendy or relaxing music, and many bars have live singers.

After going through untold hardships, the young cotton pickers finally gained complete freedom, but freedom made them confused and at a loss.

In the past, farmers and plantation owners would sometimes whip them to keep them working.

But at least the plantation owners would give them enough food to eat, even if the food was not tasty.

Even the plantation owners would find wives for them. They could get a female slave and start their own family without considering any other external conditions.

They only need to do simple labor and don't need to think about anything else, and their family can have enough food to eat and clothes to wear.

The same is true for their children, who have jobs and a future from the moment they are born.

Although I feel tired every day, isn’t that what life is like?
But now?

They will no longer be whipped, forced to pick cotton, or asked to do this or that, but what do they get?
free?

No, they got something more terrible - the shackles of life!

When these people need to pay money to fill their stomachs, some of them feel angry towards their ancestors who launched the abolition of slavery under the slogan "We need freedom". Shame!
They only sought their own short-term happiness and relaxation, but they lost their life of stable income.

They had to develop new professional skills in addition to picking cotton and planting crops to make a living.

Singing is their new discovered talent.

Perhaps those young talents who are huddled in the dark under the bridge, starving but not knowing where they will be tomorrow, will miss the great era that their elders described with hatred and that they longed for!

Everyone has a job and food to eat!

The guys in the bars in the upper town sway their bodies gently, and use their deep and textured voices to smooth out the wrinkles in people's souls. Having another drink at this time will make you feel relaxed.

But in downtown, the harbor, or the Empire State, the bars play the trendy music that is looked down upon by the upper classes.

It’s simple, easy to understand, and comes with some spine-tingling lyrics, just like at this moment.

A middle-aged man in his forties stood on the stage holding a guitar and singing a very popular song recently -

I can't pee, oh, because I have an STD.

I love that girl, but she passed that terrible disease on to me. If this is love, it must be poisonous love...

When Lance heard this kind of song was called a "pop song" for the first time, his mind went blank.

What made him feel even more incredible was that the guys around him could actually hum a few lines along.

It was Alvin who explained to him that this was a song about young people reflecting on promiscuity and love. It was very avant-garde and the original singer himself might not have thought that this song would become so fucking popular!
In fact, besides this song, there are other songs similar to those about the relationships between gays.

This era is an important period when passion and immune system diseases come out from underground to the surface. Because of this new super virus, coupled with the propaganda and misleading of some people, the whole society believes that it is the wrong choices of gays that have angered God, so God has brought down punishment and will take away all pagans who have violated the Bible!

They frantically suppressed and criticized this group of people who had a tendency to make choices that violated the norm. The pressure on this group became very great, and the conflict between the two sides continued to escalate.

They created some cultural works, such as pop songs, in which the lovers are no longer of the opposite sex. Surprisingly, the songs also received support and love from many people.

Love is pure. In God's eyes, we only have the black and white of the soul, not the left and right of the body.

Young people think it's cool, so they sing it, just like this song in bars now that links sex, STDs and love together.

The grotesque culture begins to emerge along with the economic depression, which is something that can be seen in almost every round of depression.

Society will become absurd, people will become absurd, and so will culture.

Men and women in the bar were humming with alcohol, and the bartender was wiping the wine glasses while observing the situation in the bar.

Most of the people in the Hong Kong area are from the lower classes of society. Not only do they have to bear the weight of their own lives, they also have to bear the weight of the upper and middle classes of society. These weights are almost overwhelming.

Alcohol can make them relax, but it can also cause them to lose control of their emotions and become crazy.

Controlling them before they cause more damage is what bartenders and security guards need to look for and do.

There were a lot of people tonight as usual, people were drinking, chatting, singing loudly along with those damn lyrics, some girls even exposed their breasts and laughed loudly.

All the pain, whether physical or mental, seemed to become less heavy at this moment under the influence of alcohol.

No wonder people like to drink. The more miserable the life is, the more they like it. Not only do they like it, they will also get themselves drunk.

Because only in this state can their short lives feel free from pain and weight.

During this period, because of the "war" with the Kodak family, everyone was very careful and vigilant.

After looking for a while and finding nothing wrong, the bartender put away the glass, which had been wiped as clean as possible, and picked up another one.

On the rooftop outside the bar, two guys with weapons in their hands huddled together smoking.

Although the temperature has risen now, it is still a bit chilly at night. In addition, the wind is strong at the port and it blows violently. If you stand still for a while, you can feel the bone-chilling cold.

The two chatted about some very ordinary things. There are also many interesting things in the gang, such as who is likely to be promoted to captain, who can get the operating rights of a certain bar, and who has done this and that.

For these young people, gangs and families are almost everything to them!
Here they can get everything they need in their life, wealth, status, and the love of girls.

Gangsters are more likely to be courted by young women with low education levels, and this has become one of their topics, women, and sex.

As the two were talking, they suddenly heard the sound of a car. They bent down, put down their cigarettes and stomped them out, then stared at the cars at both ends of the alley.

"They don't look like one of us," one of them said.

After waiting for another ten seconds and watching those people get out of the car with weapons in hand, another person ran to the door of the rooftop entrance and slammed a red button.

The music in the bar suddenly stopped, the bartender frowned, there was some commotion in the bar, and the manager came out of the office with a weapon.

Someone said through the microphone, "We are in a bit of trouble. A fight is about to break out. Please leave through the door on the right. Thank you for your cooperation!"

Some people didn't drink too much and quickly calmed down. They finished the wine in their glasses in one gulp and left through the door on the right with their friends.

But there were also some people who obviously didn’t believe what they said, or they felt that… at this moment even if God came, he would have to take a few punches from them before he could leave!

These people were clamoring to make the troublemakers suffer. In response to their stupid ideas, the bartender asked the security guard to drive them away with sticks.

In the end, there were a few who refused to leave even when they were beaten with sticks.

If this happens, the bartender will not stop them.

A person’s life is a big exam, one multiple-choice question after another.

You can get points even if you answer almost 99% of the questions incorrectly, but occasionally there are a few questions where you will be eliminated directly if you answer incorrectly.

As the door of the bar was broken open, the bartenders started firing wildly at the entrance with submachine guns.

In an instant, the flying bullets, wood chips, and broken glass finally sobered up the drunkards.

They lay shivering on the floor, unable to tell whether what wet their pants was the wine they accidentally spilled or their urine, and they no longer had the heroic spirit they had just now to give God two punches!

In a gunfight in this kind of environment, the defending side will definitely have more advantages than the attacking side.

Those people outside who rushed in through the bar's door had to face shooting from multiple directions, and it was difficult for them to organize an effective attack.

On the contrary, the people in the bar had already chosen advantageous positions, behind the bar, behind the table, on the attic on the second floor... Their original plan was not like this. They thought there were still many people in the bar, and when they rushed in, it would be difficult for the bar to organize an effective counterattack.

They just need to shoot randomly, and they can achieve the desired effect no matter whether they kill the guests in the bar or the members of the Lance family.

But they didn't expect that the people in the bar would be evacuated so quickly!

The exchange of fire did not last long, about five minutes. The Kodak family members saw that they could not rush in and finally gave up.

They threw two grenades in and then ran away. The two people on the roof shot and knocked down two or three people. The rest of them dragged some of the wounded to the alley and finally drove away.

When the manager and the bartender heard that the people had left and just breathed a sigh of relief, they heard the sound of a police car. The two looked at each other, dealt with the weapons in their hands as best as possible, and then escaped through the side door, leaving behind a group of drunkards who didn't even have the strength to stand up.

There was no doubt that they joined forces, which was also what Lance expected.

Otherwise, the police would not have arrived so promptly. They might have arrived a long time ago, but had been waiting. After the other party left, they suddenly sounded the alarm and rushed over.

If the people in the bar resisted, they would be charged with engaging in a firefight with the police.

If they didn't fight back, running a bar and possible "murder" would be enough to send them to jail for life.

However, this time the police's arrangements were very rigorous. They blocked almost all exits. Soon, some people who ran slower were pinned down in the alley by the police.

This time they did not resist or struggle, but calmly accepted the fact of being arrested.

The bartender's face was pressed against the wet and cold ground. Looking at the manager who was also facing the ground, both of them showed helpless expressions.

At the same time, Lance put down the phone in his hand and put his fingers together on his chin, "Another bar encountered the same thing."

He looked at the familiar faces in the office. "The bar was attacked, then the police swooped in immediately, and now the Hazardous Materials Administration has also started to get involved."

He shook his head and said, "It seems like they are all united."

There is no need to seem like it, because this is the fact.

The police don’t respond that quickly. For the current federal government, as long as the police car arrives at the scene within 30 minutes, it is not considered too long!

Many patrol officers will not take the initiative to respond to calls, especially cases like this where a gunfight has occurred.

When the radio station broadcasts these cases to police cars on the street, it also uses the code "firefight" to protect the safety of police officers.

Many police officers pretend not to hear the two key codes "gang" and "firefight".

They also do not encourage ordinary patrol officers to get involved in these cases to avoid unnecessary casualties.

Normally the police station would dispatch special heavily-armed police officers to handle the case, so it would take longer.

In a situation like this, where the Kodak family had just evacuated and the alarm suddenly went off and surrounded the bar, it can only be said that they had teamed up.

Everyone in the room had an unhappy expression, but no one expressed any opinion. They just looked at Lance.

Lance untied his hands and leaned back on the armrests of the chair. "To be honest, when they were shameless, it did cause us a lot of trouble and trouble."

The problems between individual gangs are just like the result of the bar fight just now. Either they beat up Lance's men, or they beat up each other.

Then do what you should do, run your business as needed, and go back to the hospital for hospitalization as needed.

But after joining the police and even the Hazmat Bureau, things got bad.

Not only will Lance lose his own people, but his bar will also be closed down and he will lose a lot of money.

Because they had completely broken through their lower limit and united together, but it could also be seen that Lance had really pushed them into a corner.

"Let other bars suspend business first."

Come to think of it, it seems that this is the only way.

Moreover, we still don’t know what the situation is like in the bars that were attacked. If some “innocent citizens” die, the problem may become bigger and more troublesome.

There is another question: will those who were caught betray him and their family?

This is also something he cannot guarantee. Never underestimate people's loyalty, but never overestimate it.

If those people were all in this room, and their interests were highly tied to Lance and the Lance family, Lance would not worry, because if they betrayed the family, they would be laying in their own grave.

But those minor characters, some of whom may be hanging around among heavy and tainted witnesses, have trouble making decisions.

Hiram asked, picking his nose, "Are we just going to avoid their edge like this?"

He stuck his booger under the table as he spoke. Lance rolled his eyes, "You better clean your booger off with some toilet paper, or I'll dig your nose out with a knife sooner or later!"

Hiram shook his head, took out some toilet paper, wiped the place where the booger was stuck, and threw it into the trash can.

Lance glared at him again, and Erwin laughed and said, "He is just like that..., what should we do next?"

He brought the topic back to the point, and Lance lit a cigarette. "If they team up, we are definitely no match for them. If the referee and the contestants beat us together, even God would get hit twice!"

"First, find a way to separate them."

"Have someone keep an eye on the Kodak family and Hunter."

"Are you going to take action against Hunter?" Erwin asked.

Lance did not deny it. "Well, since he is determined to go against us, let's replace him!"

"As for the rest, don't worry about it for now. We have enough money to last for a long time, and the short-term closure of the bar will not affect our financial problems."

"The shipments from the valley and farms will not be affected, so our main task right now is to deal with this small group of 'rebels'."

"Of course, the most important thing now is to let Lawyer Robben provide them with assistance so that those brothers don't have to worry. Even if they have to be locked up, I will let them out as soon as possible."

The purpose of notifying the Hazardous Materials Administration this time is actually to make the sentences for these people heavier and longer.

In order to ban alcohol, the Prohibition Committee allowed local courts to impose extremely heavy sentences.

What’s funny is that first-degree murder does not necessarily carry the death penalty, but if you transport and sell smuggled liquor, there’s a good chance that your sentencing will exceed that of first-degree murder, and there’s even a certain chance that you’ll be sentenced to death!
All night long, the Empire District and the Port District were filled with the sound of sirens and red and blue flashes, and everyone was guessing what was happening.

But no matter how they guess, there is only one "protagonist" of the story, that is Lance and the Lance family.

There is only one gang in the Empire District and the Port District now, the Lance family. The operation with so many police cars must be targeting them.

For a while, many people were wondering if the Lance family was finished...

It was past eleven o'clock in the evening. Chief Blue - there was only one Forest Police Station in Jingang City, so he was now the full chief.

But this director is no better off being a branch director in Jingang City.

He drove to Lance's company. The lights were on and there were quite a few people still there, some even coming in and out.

In Lance's office, Director Blue sat opposite Lance.

He already knew what had happened and was very worried, fearing that Lance would really lose in this round.

So as soon as Lance called him, he came immediately.

(End of this chapter)