Shadow Empire

Chapter 637 Exchange, New Job, and Running Away

Standing at the door of the company and looking back at the building that was not particularly tall but had a solemn atmosphere, the sunlight emerged from behind the clouds and shone on him.

At this moment, Carl felt as if he had been reborn.

The whole world seemed to become colorful at this moment. The gray and boring world became colorful. He looked at the people on the street.

Obviously, there was not much difference from when he came here, but for some reason, those things made him feel uncomfortable.

It was as if everyone who had been staring at him with a stern face and talkative eyes suddenly started to smile, just like the summer breeze, stirring his mood!

He didn't know that his life had entered another stage. He no longer looked at the world as a "victim of life", but looked down from the perspective of a "successful person in life".

So everyone is a good person, the world is beautiful, and even the air is sweet.

He hummed a little tune, looked at the street, found the direction of home, and set off again briskly.

An hour, thirty or forty minutes later, he returned to the New Port area and to his "office".

Bonnie was talking to other people. He was "fired" and he was very sad, but he obeyed Lance's decision. At the same time, he also planned to go to Hope's side to see him.

Seeing Carl coming in from outside, both of them paused for a moment. Bonnie didn't know how to tell this good friend that they had some minor unpleasantness when they left Lance.

He knew it wasn't Carl's problem, he wanted to be okay, he was just a little impatient.

Boni felt that he shouldn't have left Karl alone at that time. He took the initiative to walk over and wanted to explain something, but he saw Karl's strange eyes.

He stopped moving and stood there, feeling somewhat panicked, as if… something that he had been familiar with since childhood was becoming unfamiliar.

People will feel uneasy because of these changes, and they don’t know what to say or do.

Karl walked past him, entered the room, stood in front of the office that originally belonged to Boni, and then turned around.

He pulled the cigar from his pocket, removed it from the metal tube, and lit it.

Everyone looked at him, including Boni.

Some people's expressions became strange and subtle, while others' expressions became slightly dissatisfied.

He took a puff of the cigar, allowing the smoke to fully combine with the oral mucosa, and then exhaled slowly.

The cigar smoke was thicker. He raised his chin and exhaled the smoke like a sharp arrow, which sprayed out for a distance before starting to dissipate.

"starting today."

He lowered his chin and scanned the faces of his friends and partners in the room, "I have the final say here!"

Some people showed surprise on their faces, while others' unhappiness turned into anger.

Bonny is a good person. He has ideals, persistence, bottom line, and some of the noble qualities that Lance mentioned.

But this wasn't a chaotic area, he shouldn't be here, he should be in the ruins of Slade's front line.

By standing up to the atrocities of the Dantra Republic Army as an ordinary person, he will become a hero, a role model, and a source of strength for people to fight against the invaders!

Everything he has will inspire people to follow him, but this is the Federation.

A stable society, mature commercial operations, everything is about money.

In a society where black and white can no longer be distinguished, his excellence makes him eye-catching and independent.

This also means that he doesn't fit in, at least not in the mainstream group.

At work, he would stop someone from doing something he thought was bad, and he would also encourage people to do something he thought was good.

His non-conformity gives him his own personal charm, and those angry people are his followers.

But it also made him have people who didn't like him, the ones who smiled.

"You betrayed Bonny!" A kid next to Bonny shouted, as if he had been wronged, or as if something sharp had stabbed his testicles, and he was about to jump up!

Carl shook his head. “I didn’t betray anyone. Bonnie didn’t want to work for Mr. Lance, but I did. This is not betrayal.”

"Besides..." He took another drag on his cigar and blew out the smoke at the man, "This is a matter between Boni and me. You want to express your opinion, sorry, you have no right to speak here!"

The boy wanted to say something, but Bonnie stopped him, "I thought you would leave with me."

Carl shook his head. “After you left, I talked to Mr. Lance for a while. He is a very wise and virtuous man.”

“He made me understand a truth.”

"You have your ideals, and I have mine."

"You were like the sun in the past, making me, and even some of us, mistakenly believe that your ideals were our ideals."

"It suddenly dawned on me now that it was different."

"Boni, we have been poor and miserable all our lives, but no one has ever bent down to offer us a hand and asked us to help us."

"Now that I have an opportunity, I will not give it up!"

His expression became somewhat determined?

This word is not very easy to use, but you can see that he is indeed serious, determined, and even a little excited.

He stood in front of them, holding a cigar in one hand, and said, "I swear, I will stand out and become an outstanding person. This is my ideal!"

There was some disappointment in Bonnie's eyes, "Even if... you want to hurt others?"

Carl took a deep breath, and with the hand holding the cigar, he pointed the cigar at Boney and nodded, “Even if I want to hurt others!”

"Kang Mang, Bonnie, we have suffered so much and been hurt by so many people, but has anyone ever pitied us?"

"We don't owe the world anything, it owes us!"

His eyes were a little grim. He always thought that Boni was stupid. It was obvious that they could make more money, they could have a higher status, and they could accomplish many things.

But because of his ideas and his bottom line, they have always been passive!
That was Boney's ideal, not his, not anyone else's.

He also realized that his past self was shrouded in Bonnie's personal charm, which was why he could not see the future, because that was not his future, nor his ideal.

After getting rid of Boni, a brighter sun dispelled the influence of Boni and freed him from Boni's personal charm.

He then realized that he was actually quite stupid in the past.

But now, he is different.

"Okay, I don't want to argue with you, we are brothers."

"You go and pursue your dreams, and I will become the person I want to be. I wish you can achieve your wish, brother!"

Boni looked at him, their gazes intertwined. After a long while, Boni nodded, "Okay, I also wish you can become a superior person."

After he finished speaking, he turned and left. Several of his friends glared at Carl with dissatisfaction or anger, and then followed Boni away.

But more people stayed here.

Carl took another puff of his cigar. He looked at the people who stayed around him and suddenly couldn't help laughing. He laughed so hard that tears were about to come out.

It turns out that we have been wrong all along...

After Bonny and his men left, Carl returned to the office and sat in the seat that Bonny used to sit in.

Suddenly he realized that this was the best place in the room, because sitting here he could see everything in the room.

When a new "boss" comes to power, others who are reluctant to leave will naturally follow in.

The good news is that everyone knows Carl, so there is no need to start over.

The bad news is that Carl is now more difficult to deal with than Bonny before.

Carl sat on the chair, and he didn't even notice that he was subconsciously imitating Lance's sitting posture, with his legs crossed, one hand on his thigh, and the other hand holding a cigar, placed on the edge of the table.

"Boni and I are brothers and have known each other since childhood. Although he had his own ideals and left us to pursue them, I don't want anyone to say bad things about him behind his back."

The others smiled and nodded, indicating that they were not that kind of people.

Then Carl smiled with satisfaction. He liked this feeling.

"I am different from Bonny. I want to be a better person. I want to have more wealth and power."

"I want to move to a villa in the Bay Area, I want to fall asleep with a beautiful fair-skinned girl in my arms every day, and I want my room to be filled with cash."

“I believe this is your dream too.”

"so!"

He emphasized his tone, and his eyes lingered on everyone's face again, then moved away, "Whoever prevents us from realizing this dream is our enemy!"

"I'm different from Bonny. I'm not as easy to talk to as him. Right is right and wrong is wrong."

"I am your boss when I am working. I am your friend only when I am not working."

"I don't want anyone to fall into my hands because they can't put themselves in the right position!"

He paused for a moment, then looked at one of them and said, "Continue to keep an eye on Hope. You don't need to get too close. Just know his daily schedule and where he lives every day."

He pulled out a wad of money from his pocket, took out a few five-dollar bills, and placed them on the table. "Here are your funds."

The man's face was full of surprise. There were at least thirty yuan here, which was not a small amount of money!
His hand touched the banknote and he said "Thank you for..."

Before he could even utter the word “generous”, his hand was held down by Karl, “I gave you the money and the trust, so don’t mess this up for me!”

He grabbed the guy's hand tightly. The guy felt a little pain, but nodded alertly, "I know... Boss!"

Carl released his hand and looked at the others, "This time Mr. Lance gave us a new job, because the naval base next door will soon be full of those soldiers."

"They have a need for release, so we need to recruit a group of people to help them solve these problems."

"There are some requirements that I'll tell you first. First of all, they must be willing."

"If I find out that any of you force others to do this, I promise you will regret coming into this world!"

"Secondly, we will not deduct their money and ensure that everyone gets at least one dollar!"

"Finally, Mr. Lance promised that no one would be hurt and that if anyone was hurt, he would step in."

Carl twisted his neck when he said this, "This is my first official job since I started working for Mr. Lance. I hope you don't mess it up."

No one in the room had any objection to these things. If it were Bonnie, he would definitely not do this for Lance.

This is the difference between Carl and Bonnie. We cannot say that Carl is always wrong and Bonnie is always right.

Not allowing people to actively call on women who need help may seem to respect them, but this is no different from letting them starve to death for meaningless dignity. This is also an atrocity, but it is not obvious.

Instead, it was Carl who helped them find a stable way to survive, which undoubtedly gave those women who were willing to do these jobs a chance to survive.

Not only are they willing to do it, many girls in the Federation are also willing to do this. As long as it is voluntary, there is no problem at all!

Carl is very proactive. He has strong desires and clear goals, as well as a willingness to be flexible anytime and anywhere to overcome difficulties, so he works very smoothly.

In two days, more than 600 people were recruited, and many people were still inquiring and wanted to join.

After all, it was a business involving 100,000 people. Although they were not sure whether Lance could obtain the "exclusive operating" rights, but... in short, it was right to trust Mr. Lance.

There are 100,000 people. Even if each person only does it three times a month and they can get one dollar each time, that is a business of 300,000 dollars. Everyone can get a few hundred dollars. Is there any job more comfortable than this?

Stable, high income, and no danger.

When Carl told Lance about this, Lance was more or less surprised. He thought it would take a few days, but he didn't expect it to heal so quickly.

He selected a few girls from the previous Red High Heels and asked them to teach the new employees how to cope with their new jobs.

Lans also introduced some more convenient systems, for example, in addition to their names, they also had a number.

This is to help guests remember them.

Those young guys might not be able to remember the name of every person who had received him, and they might get them mixed up, but they would never make a mistake with the number.

In short, Lance is looking forward to their performance.

Other than that, the new sales rules are going pretty smoothly.

Because all bars must obtain drinks from Lans, even if they themselves are unwilling to disclose the specific operating conditions of the bar, Lans has a clear statistics.

He was even able to analyze which bar secretly obtained liquor from other channels based on the specific data of each bar purchasing from him.

Data itself will not cheat, only people can cheat.

Judging from the overall sales, the effect is much better than Lance expected.

A large number of small, private bars were cleared out and the customer base began to become unified.

The people who run these bars suddenly discovered that since they began to apply the new sales rules, not only were their profits higher than they had imagined, but the prices for the drinks they received were also the same as before, and some were even a little cheaper.

Because the price of Lans' wine remains unchanged, other wines will lose their competitiveness once the price increases.

The situation may be better in the Bay Area and Starlight, as there are wealthy customers there. Even if the prices of drinks go up, they will still spend money and can afford it.

But in bars outside these two areas, sales of all the drinks that had increased in price were very poor.

The poorer the place, the more so.

With alcohol prices so high, drunkards will choose other alcohol even if the price difference is only three cents a glass.

Because it is easy to get the goods and the Hazardous Materials Administration became deaf and blind overnight, there is not much backlog of goods in bars now.

This also makes it convenient for them to adjust their business strategies, so the sales situation of alcoholic beverages is very intuitive, and it is clear at a glance what sells well and what doesn't.

Lans allows suppliers to adjust selling prices at any time to respond to market changes, but each price adjustment must be subject to a 48-hour cooling-off period.

After only three or four cooling cycles, the prices of all the wines returned to their previous prices, and some were even lower, to gain greater market competitiveness.

This is also what Lance wants to see. He monopolizes the entire wine sales market in Jingang City, but he does not want any monopoly behavior to appear among brands. Such competition will only benefit those drunkards in the end.

Alcoholics who used to get a drink for 25 cents now get two for 40 cents.

It seems like they made a profit, but in fact, the people who really made a profit were the bar, Lans, and the suppliers.

It was at this time that Peter (a reserve cadre of the Angel of Death) and his men arrived at Jingang City.

He had the same problem as the dead Jordan. He thought the air here was too humid and too bad.

Since entering the city, he has been shaking his clothes to cool down his body. The temperature in the north has started to drop at this time, but the south is still at its hottest.

He did not cause trouble for Lance directly, but began to carefully inquire about the Lance family in the city.

Although his actions were noticed by some people, he soon discovered that the Lance family was quite different from the rumors.

"The police chief is Lance's man..."

"The mayor and Lance are good friends..."

"The Lance family is the most powerful gang in Jingang City, bar none..."

"Now they control the sale of alcohol throughout the city and run all the casinos..."

News came in one after another, and when the company people were preparing to follow them the next day, they actually ran away overnight!

Anyone who can reach the level of a reserve cadre in a big gang is not a fool. Peter knows that he cannot defeat the Lance family, so he will not stay here.

His caution and prudence saved his life, but he planned to report the news to the gang.

(End of this chapter)