Shadow Empire

Chapter 854 In Hell
Some people say that loan sharks are devils, but in fact, loan sharks are also devils.

It's just that one devil is stronger and the other is weaker, there is no essential difference between them.

People sympathize with loan sharks only because they are in a weak position in the end.

These people always use the reason that they don't understand usury or some other reason to tell the public that they have to do so.

The people are also easily deceived. No matter what these weak people say, they believe that what they say is true.

But they don't know that before these people borrowed money, he actually knew better than those bystanders what he was doing, what he was going to do, and what they would encounter in the end.

Just like at this moment, it is obvious that the gentleman in front of you is doing a cannibalistic business, but from his bright appearance and his kind attitude, you cannot associate him with the "devil".

Oger sat in a wheelchair, his eyes fixed on the property certificates. He thought of his wife, his daughter, and the doctor's threat to sue him to get back the money he owed the hospital.

After about ten seconds, he nodded and said, "Okay."

The two of them quickly came to the sofa provided for rest in the hall and sat down.

There are many such places in the casino for guests to rest and complete some work.

The lender quickly took out a standard contract, filled in a series of information on it, and placed it in front of Oger. "Sign it, and the money is yours."

Next to the contract were six hundred yuan bills, all in denominations of twenty yuan, a total of thirty.

If he had not gone to the bank to inquire and the bank could only give him five hundred, he might not have been likely to sign the agreement.

He picked up the pen and prepared to sign, but paused for a moment.

The loan shark didn't rush him. He sat on the sofa, crossed his legs, and smoked a cigarette. He was not in a hurry at all. He even persuaded him.

"You can actually think about it more. After all, this is not a small matter like buying a pack of cigarettes. It concerns your house."

"If you are not satisfied with the price, you can also ask other financial companies, or some real estate agents are willing to help you with this."

Mayor Williams wanted to expand the city to accommodate more people and businesses, so naturally, he not only built new industrial areas, but also new residential areas.

There will be more houses in Jingang City, and coupled with the recession in recent years, the real estate market has not been very prosperous, and the market price is always a "slow-sale" price.

Oger's apartment can be listed for 1,200 yuan at some real estate agencies, and then it will be put on the market for a few months. It can only be sold after it has received at least a dozen waves of house viewings.

Then the person buying the house has to bargain for the price, plus the agency fee charged by the local real estate agent, he actually only gets about one thousand yuan.

The purpose of usury is to make money, not for charity, so whether it is a bank or a financial company, they will not lend money according to the actual price of the house. This is stupid.

Loan sharks seek more profits and faster returns, so they offer higher prices than banks to attract borrowers.

He was sure that the price he offered was definitely higher among his peers.

Although the interest is a little higher, this is a casino!

If you want to borrow money to live, you can go to an outside financial company. In a casino, everyone plays fast.

Someone borrowed a thousand dollars here and paid it back in less than an hour, leaving with several thousand dollars.

Some people borrowed two or three thousand yuan, and left with a pale face after more than ten minutes, and never came back here again.

If you see it too much, even the softest-hearted person will become hardened.

After hesitating for less than a minute, Oger signed his name on the document and put his fingerprint on it.

The loan shark took the document and looked at it. After confirming that there was no problem, he collected the document and the proof of assets, then pushed forward the six hundred dollars, "Now it's yours. Have a nice day, Mr. Ogg."

He stood up and said this. He still had to go to work. At the same time, he had to arrange for someone to go to the registry office to freeze the property under this asset document to prevent it from being traded again.

Oger's breathing became heavier as he held the six hundred dollars. This was the most cash he had ever seen in his life, not counting the money in newspapers, magazines and movies.

The six hundred yuan seemed light, but in his hands, it was so heavy that he could hardly lift it.

The young reporter couldn't help but say, "Actually, you still have time to pay him back now. No interest will be charged within a week."

Oger was shaken for a moment, but quickly shook his head and said, "Push me to exchange chips."

The reporter wanted to say something, but Oger suddenly urged, "Hurry up!"

His voice was so loud that some of the waiters around him looked over here. Maybe he knew it himself, and if the reporter persuaded him again, he might really give up.

He can't give up, this is his last hope.

The reporter finally pushed him to the counter, and he exchanged six chips worth one hundred yuan each.

When the reporter was about to push him to the lobby, he asked the reporter to take him to the elevator.

The maximum bet for a single person at a single table in the first floor hall is one hundred yuan. On the first floor, he may not make it in time!

The reporter didn't say anything and sent him directly to the second floor. The upper limit on the second floor was higher. Six hundred yuan here was equivalent to... five or ten yuan downstairs.

The battle was very tense. Two hours later, he stared blankly at his last two hundred dollars in chips being cleared away by the dealer. His whole body exuded an air of despair and death.

The reporter next to him was also feeling emotional. He swore that this was the most exciting gambling he had ever seen in his life.

Maybe in the eyes of those big shots...it's just a small game involving six hundred dollars.

But for Oger, this is a battle between despair and hope, survival and death!
He once won 1,100 yuan!

This is simply a miracle!
He only needs a hundred dollars to double his chips!

At that time, the reporter persuaded him that after winning 500 yuan, he was still short of 450 yuan. He could borrow some from others and gather the money together. There was still hope that he could get the whole amount.

But Oger's eyes were already red, he felt that he was terribly strong, and then lost the next game.

He was once only one step away from the "end", the last hundred dollars, but it was with this last hundred dollars that he successfully turned things around.

He had experienced several thrilling moments, and he was once only one centimeter away from hope!
But no matter whether it is one centimeter, one millimeter, or one kilometer, nothing means nothing!
At this point, the last two hundred dollars was taken away by the dealer and the game was over.

He was completely silent, slumped in his wheelchair, and seemed to have lost his soul.

The reporter sighed and pushed him back to the first floor.

The gentleman who lent him the money saw Oger's despair, so he came over again and said, "It seems that you are not very lucky, my friend. Maybe you need some more money."

Oger slowly raised his head and glanced at the gentleman, his eyes filled with despair and violence.

This made the loan shark take two steps back. He raised his hand and made a gesture of resistance, "Well, I shouldn't bother you."

After saying that, he laughed twice, shook his head and turned away.

Fight in a casino?

No, no one can do this. Look at the security guards patrolling around. They will draw their pistols at any time and kill those who try to endanger the interests of the casino!

This is Lans' casino. Here, even if the President comes, he has to follow the rules!
Of course this is an exaggeration, because the President has never been here and people don’t know if he will behave himself, but that doesn’t stop them from saying it, because it’s cool to say that!

"Send me back."

The reporter silently pushed the wheelchair to the entrance of the casino, then carried Oger away.

Lying on the bed, Og didn't know how to tell his wife that this house no longer belonged to them.

Guilt filled his heart, he felt desperate and couldn't breathe!
Perhaps at this moment, death is the best destination.

He lay there on his side, looking at the sky outside the window.

The sky is very small, only as big as the window, and the surrounding space is occupied by walls and the patients.

He was now very panicked, but strangely calm, and he just lay there until he fell asleep.

In the evening, his wife came to bring dinner, still complaining that she couldn't find her passbook and that various bills had been mailed to her home.

Those people would put the bills in an envelope and have the mailman deliver it to their door, either in the mailbox if the apartment had one or through the crack under the door if the apartment didn’t have one.

They lived in a very old apartment. A mailbox was originally designed for them, but later it became a bit of a nuisance and was removed by the administrator.

In the early days, the administrator would manage the mail according to the house numbers, but later he was too lazy to continue to manage it, so the postman would just stuff the mail in through the crack of the door according to the house numbers.

The first and last few days of each month are the most terrifying days for the federal people!
Because they themselves are not sure what bills they will receive and how much they will have to pay.

Many times, federal workers don't know how much they have to pay for doing something. They will only know how much they have to pay after receiving the bill in the mail after a period of time.

Sometimes it may be a small thing that people think is simple, but it costs a lot of money.

This has also led to many middle and lower class families in the federation having mental breakdowns every time they see the envelopes containing bills on billing day!

Oger's wife was also complaining about billing day. Their current situation was bad enough, but those people still didn't intend to let them go and sent various bills.

"We need at least eight dollars so that we can pay all the upcoming bills. Some bills can be postponed, but not too long."

"I only have less than five dollars in my pocket now. Think carefully, can you still remember where we put our passbook?"

His wife asked casually as she sorted out some things on the bedside.

She had asked him once before and he said he didn't know, so she didn't expect her husband to remember it this time.

Sometimes men would forget something as soon as they turned their heads, and she had gotten used to it.

"sorry."

She heard her husband say something, and she looked up at him in surprise, "Did you say anything just now?"

"sorry?"

Oger put down the lunch box. He was in a very bad state, and his wife only noticed it at that time.

"I'm sorry, I lost the money."

His wife was stunned for a moment, "You mean, you went to gamble?"

Oger rubbed his cheeks fiercely with his hands in pain, as if he wanted to rub off this layer of skin!
"I..., I wanted to win some money to save our house, but I lost."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that!"

His wife was silent for a while, feeling miserable and sad, but she still tried to comfort her husband, "Forget it, it's just over a hundred yuan. It won't be difficult to earn it back when you get better."

"Although I don't want to say it, and you certainly don't want to hear it, but don't do this next time."

"Whatever you do, let me know first."

"sorry!"

His wife put her arm around Oger's shoulders. "Everything will be alright."

"I also lost our house..."

Oger's wife didn't know how she got back home. Her consciousness seemed to still remain in the hospital, stuck on the moment her husband said those words that shocked and frightened her!
He actually lost their house.

The purpose of his doing this was just to keep the house!
She couldn't understand.

Maybe she is a housewife and she doesn't understand some things in society, but she just can't understand why this idiot would do such a stupid thing!

Now, they still owe the hospital more than 900 yuan, and they have lost their house.

She just sat in the living room, her mind blank.

The good news is that they can live in this house for another six months, but the bad news is that they still have to find money to pay back the hospital.

But to some extent, this is actually another effective solution. Now the house no longer completely belongs to them. Even if the hospital goes through the procedures, the court cannot seal the house, and there is no way to sell it.

But... in the end they still lost everything.

Oger returned home from the hospital, but he has now completely stopped treatment because he didn't pay.

However, he still occupies a bed, and there is no shortage of beds in the hospital. As long as he does not receive treatment, there will be no charges.

"I'll go find a job," he said, sitting opposite his wife and holding her hand.

"I am a skilled worker. Although my leg is broken, my arm is intact and I can still do the work."

"They offered me 70 yuan a month before. If I lower my salary to 65 yuan, there will definitely be a factory that wants me."

"Although... the house is gone, we still have hope."

His wife just looked at him stupidly. They stared at each other for a long time. He let go of her hand and said "I'm sorry" again.

Soon there was the sound of a key turning at the door. The woman wiped away her tears and forced a smile.

Their daughter is back.

The girl was carrying her schoolbag. When she saw her father had returned, a smile of surprise appeared on her face!

"You're ready!"

"God, I missed you so much!"

Og forced an ugly smile, "I just...yeah, I'm fine and can go to work."

The girl didn't see through his lie, and the family sat together again.

The wife got up to make dinner, just as her husband said, if he could find a job soon, everything might be able to turn around.

Although the girl felt that something was wrong in the atmosphere, she did not realize what was happening.

The next day, Oger went out to look for a job, and the reporter followed him.

These days, the news in Jingang City still revolves around conflicts during demonstrations, and they say the trial will begin soon.

Oger doesn't care about these anymore, he just wants to find a job.

Unfortunately, he approached several garment factories, but when they learned that his leg was broken while participating in a demonstration, they all rejected his application for employment.

In the words of these factory owners, they would rather hire a novice than a skilled worker with a union or AFL background, and they bought it!
One day, two days, it's always like this.

"Jingang Today" has begun reporting on the problems that some workers who participated in the march are now facing in their lives and work.

Newspapers such as the Federal Post and the Federal Daily News reprinted the news, including Observer magazine, an authoritative magazine that studies social phenomena, which also put images of the demonstrations on the front page.

Those workers held up banners and walked in the middle of the road arrogantly. They rolled up their sleeves, raised them high and waved them, with serious expressions on their faces!

But the content is the participants' current miserable living conditions.

Not being able to find a job is just the simplest and most common problem they face, and then there are the issues of medical expenses, bills, and all kinds of problems.

Oger encountered most of these problems, he was just like them.

The report raises a question: what are the people who stopped them from doing this doing now?
This is a very old but always effective method to create contradictions, oppositions, and even conflicts within the enemy.

It was at this time that the hospital took Og to court because he was in arrears with medical bills and was unwilling to pay. The hospital hoped that the court would freeze Og's assets and squeeze out the overdue funds!
These cases have been the focus of this period of time, and some hospitals have already postponed their trials. The court believed that the facts of the hospital's claims were clear and the evidence was conclusive, so the verdict was announced in less than half an hour.

But this time they encountered some trouble. When the hospital's lawyers took the court documents to the government asset registration office to freeze the assets, they found that Oger's house had been frozen and was in the process of being transferred.

This means that the hospital cannot take Oger's house away, let alone auction it to make up for the losses.

But they were not completely helpless, and soon they came to the door...

(End of this chapter)