Shadow Empire

Chapter 538 Don't interrupt me

Sitting in Lance's office were the operators of private casinos from two districts. The room was very quiet at this moment, and they were all thinking carefully.

Thirty percent, this is a number that they don't know how to express.

If you were to say... it was too much, it was actually much less than the minimum 50 percent share proposed by the Kodak family.

But to say that they are very happy is not necessarily the case!

After all, anyone would feel uncomfortable giving real money to others.

This is a form of blackmail, a threat, and a form of extortion!
Someone looked at the people around him and couldn't help but whispered, "Mr. Lance, this... 30 percent, isn't it too much?"

Everyone else looked at him, giving him strong support through their eyes, and he looked at Lance, feeling a little nervous.

Lance just smiled and said, "If you think it's too much, you don't have to do it."

A smile suddenly appeared on that person's face, and at the same time, smiles also appeared on the faces of some other people.

Some people were a little confused by their appearance, but others reacted immediately.

Now that the Lance family and the Kodak family are at war, no matter whether they pay the 30% or not, it will be impossible for the Kodak family to infiltrate.

As long as the people from the Kodak family can't come in and they don't go to the Kodak family, they can open the casino without paying the money!

And it can open very large!
People always like to use cleverness to deal with the world.

It's such a simple truth, doesn't Lance understand?

No, he understood it better than anyone else.

Just when everyone in the office was considering rejecting Lance's "blackmail", Lance said slowly, "I am from Jingang, I love Jingang City, you should have some understanding of me."

"In the past two years, you have had enough time to see me, get to know me, and understand what kind of person I am."

"I don't actually like violent crime. I don't blackmail merchants, and I try not to extort small vendors by charging fees."

"I'm a law-abiding person."

There were some light laughs in the room, Lance said he was a law-abiding person, is there anything funnier than that?
Everyone was embarrassed to laugh too loudly. Lance was also laughing, "I have seen a lot of human tragedies in the past two years. I am sorry to use such a horrifying word, but this is what I have seen."

"I've seen a lot of people lose everything in the casinos, and then go to loan sharks and lose everything, everything."

"They force their wives to go out and entertain customers, and even force their daughters to go out and entertain customers."

"They make their parents or children go out to sell blood, and the purpose is to get some money and then send it to the gambling table."

"This is bad."

The laughter in the room gradually died down. The happier the smiles on the people's faces were just now, the more serious their expressions became.

"Gambling causes people to lose their families and loved ones. Gambling should be regulated, which is why it needs a 'license' to operate."

"I know that most of you are not well educated, and you may not understand some of the truths I tell you. Anyway, I don't like this business method of killing a hen for eggs and taking the eggs out of its stomach."

"The federal government must have also encountered these problems, so it has added many barriers to the gambling industry."

"Starting from the end of this month, no casino will be allowed to operate in my territory without my consent..."

Someone immediately interrupted Lance and said, "Mr. Lance, this is not fair!"

Lance looked at the person who interrupted him, "You should respect me and not interrupt me before I finish speaking."

The man was stunned for a moment, then quickly lowered his head, "I'm sorry, Mr. Lance, I shouldn't have interrupted you, I'm sorry."

Lance nodded slightly, "What do you want to say about me being unfair?"

The man pursed his lips and said, "We have been operating here for many years, and..."

Lance raised his hands, "What does this have to do with me?"

That person was somewhat stunned, and the eyes of the others also revealed some unhappiness, suppressed anger and other emotions.

"This has nothing to do with me."

"So don't tell me it's fair or unfair, I'm just informing you that this is my decision."

"Of course I know some people think I am... hurting you, or blackmailing you, but please don't ignore this."

"That means you don't have to operate in my territory."

"You can go to the city center, to Priscilla, to the Starlight District, or even to the Bay Area. I can't interfere with those places..."

The man who had interrupted Lance just now interrupted him again, "But there are Kodak families in those places, Mr. Lance."

Lance looked at him, "You interrupted me again."

The man was stunned for a moment, and then he forced a smile on his face. "Sorry, Mr. Lance, I am impatient. I didn't mean to do that. I'm sorry!"

Lance looked at him for two or three seconds, then opened the drawer, took out a pistol in front of everyone's astonished eyes, and pulled the trigger.

Bang!
The guy who interrupted him twice trembled violently, and the people sitting or standing behind him closed their eyes in fear.

The sound of gunfire was only one aspect. The main thing was that the skull was opened, causing the contents inside to fly out along with the blood, falling on the faces of these people like a rainstorm.

Everyone's heart began to beat faster. Many of them may have seen dead people or even killed people.

But at this moment, in this room, their heartbeats were still uncontrollably accelerating.

The guy's stunned expression was completely frozen on his face. There was a small black hole on his head, but no blood immediately flowed out.

He fell down slowly. Many people rushed in from outside the door. Lance put his weapon aside and said, "Deal with the body."

Lance took out his cigarette case and lit a cigarette, "I don't like people interrupting me all the time!"

He emphasized, "I hope you don't do the same thing."

Then he answered the question of the unfortunate man, although he was already dead, "He just said that there are Kodak families in those places, but not here, right?"

No one in the room dared to speak. Lance looked at them and said, "You can answer now." Everyone nodded, and someone whispered, "Yes, Mr. Lance, that's what he just said."

"Do you think so too?" Lance asked.

These people either remained silent or shook their heads and said no, but Lance could see that they were just being perfunctory.

He pointed at these people with his hand holding a cigarette, "No, you actually thought so too, but he said it and you didn't say it."

"In other words, you think you can't afford to offend the Kodak family, but you can afford to offend me, right?"

At this moment, someone suddenly realized that Lance fired not only because that idiot interrupted Lance many times, but because of this core!

When the Lance family and the Kodak family went to war, someone said, "We are afraid of the Kodak family but not of you." What the hell is the difference between this and seeking death?
A hint of embarrassment and fear appeared on everyone's face, because many of them really thought so.

The Kodak family will really arrange people to come and deal with them, but everyone knows that Mr. Lance and the Lance family are not cruel.

There is a very interesting little story.

It is said that there was a king who was told by the old king to be kind to his people, so he did not put on airs with his people.

He would often appear before his people, greet them, joke with them, and talk about some very ordinary topics that were closely related to people's lives.

At first, people would respectfully call him "Your Majesty the King", but soon people found that the king was an easy-going guy, and they began to call him by the king's surname, such as "Your Excellency".

They found that the king did not mind being addressed like this, and after a while they began to call the king by his first name.

People gradually lost their awe of the king, and they ignored the huge gap in their status.

It is not a good thing when people lose their respect for their rulers, because it often means chaos is about to come.

Having lost their reverence, they began to question some of the king's policies, began to deny the king's ability, and they even wanted to overthrow the king!
Just like everything in the office at this moment, they felt that Lance was an easy-to-talk person, so they dared to interrupt Lance casually, and they dared to have the idea of ​​"being afraid of the Kodak family but not afraid of the Lance family".

But it's okay, Lance will correct them.

Lance's gaze was as calm as before, but no one in the room dared to meet his gaze. Wherever his eyes went, people lowered their heads or looked elsewhere.

People said words like "dare not" and "can't", trying their best not to look like fools.

Lance smiled and said, "Whether you really haven't thought about it or you're just pretending not to have thought about it, it doesn't matter."

"Because no matter what you think, the rules are the rules."

"If any of you are willing to run a casino on my territory and accept my management."

"Then stay here. I will arrange for someone to intervene in the operation of your casino to prevent you from losing everything due to gambling."

"If you are unwilling to accept my management and supervision, then it is very simple. Take your things and leave my territory."

"If anyone finds out that you are not willing to accept my management, but are still operating a casino on my territory."

He did not say what these people would encounter, but just smiled and shook his head. However, this meaningful shake of the head made people feel more uneasy than if he had said anything.

"You guys go and think about it. There are still two weeks until the end of the month."

"You still have time to think about it."

He waited for a few seconds before someone stood up. "I'm willing to work with you, Mr. Lance."

Then came the second and third.

These people thought clearly that once they left the Empire District, they were not familiar with other areas. They had to deal with local gangs and avoid the patrols of the Kodak family.

And it is also impossible to run your casino very large, keep the same scale as now, with two or three gaming tables, and then double the risk.

It would be better for them to stay in Lance's territory. They can expand the scale of the casino. Even if they pay out 30%, they will still make a profit, and it is possible that they will make more than before.

Lance nodded slightly, "Very good..." He glanced at Erwin, who took out a notebook and said, "You can register with Erwin. We will take this registration as the final decision..."

Not everyone agreed immediately. Some of them still needed to think about it. It is also possible that some people might leave here. Who knows?
After letting these people leave, several young people came in and started cleaning the floor and sofa. Erwin suggested, "Next time, it's better not to make it so bloody in the office. It's troublesome to clean up, and it may be dangerous."

Lance nodded, but then smiled and said, "We will be moving to a new place soon. The renovation of the old bank is almost finished, and we will be able to move in soon."

The "old bank" he was talking about was Jinda Bank, which was Mr. Jobaf's bank.

Before he died, he mortgaged the bank along with his villa and manor to Lance in exchange for some funds to support the bank's partial bankruptcy.

But this amount of money is not enough for his bank to sustain. When the bank run is out of control, even the national bank is at risk of bankruptcy!
After all, it is impossible for any bank to keep all depositors’ money in the vault. They also need to use the money to make money. Otherwise, why would they give depositors such high profits?

As long as they don't keep all their money in the bank, they will be doomed if they face a bank run.

After taking over the bank, Lance had someone renovate it. Its previous decoration style was obviously not so compatible with Lance's "company", so he found a designer, redesigned it and started the decoration process.

Once that side is put into use, this side will be abandoned.

Erwin is also looking forward to it, "I hope you can give us a surprise!"

The two chatted for a while, and then the phone in front of Lance rang. He stopped talking to Erwin and said, "I hope it's good news."

Then when it rang for the third time, he picked up the phone.

The call was from Congressman Williams.

"I heard Charlie's missing?"

Lance laughed twice. "It seems so. I have asked someone to look for him. As long as he is still in Jingang City, we will definitely find him."

Congressman Williams said, "Hmm," and said, "Don't shut him up after you find him. Hide him. He may be useful for something."

When he said that, Lance understood.

It is almost the middle of the year and the mayoral election will begin soon, which also means that Councilman Williams will be "separated" from the Bay Area.

Then, holding a "time bomb" at this time would be more valuable and meaningful to him.

(End of this chapter)