Shadow Empire

Chapter 914: The corpse also has its value and the pie in the sky
It has been some time since Mr. Richard's wife had dinner with him.

Men are always like this.

When they gain power and wealth, they will lose their families; this is inevitable.

When you focus on one thing, it is difficult to take care of other things. Career and family both require a lot of time and are difficult to balance.

Someone like Mr. Richard, who manages a huge company in trouble, has to deal with a lot of things every day, as well as socializing, networking, and everything.

He could come back tonight and have dinner with me instead of going to some big shot's "New Year's Eve party" and coming back the next day smelling like women's perfume.

This was very touching for Mr. Richard's wife!
She prepared a lot of delicious food, and besides him, their daughter was also at home today.

"It's been a long time since we've spent a key holiday together as a family."

She leaned against the table, holding a knife in one hand and a fork in the other, with a smile on her face, as if at this moment, she became the happiest person!

Perhaps the fatigue in his body was melted away by his wife's heartwarming smile, and a smile appeared on Mr. Richard's face, and he made a promise against his will.

"We will spend important days together in the future!"

Maybe he himself knew that this promise would never come true, so he said it without hesitation.

He can't do it, but a short-term "white lie" can do it.

Have a great day first!
"Really?" His wife was so happy that she almost cried. She left her seat, walked to Mr. Richard's side, and hugged his shoulders. "I am so touched!"

Mr. Richard felt even more guilty, and even a little embarrassed. He looked at his girl and made a helpless expression. Then he put down his knife and fork and hugged his wife, murmuring, "Everything will be fine."

The action between the two lasted for about ten seconds before his wife let go of him and returned to her seat. The family began to enjoy the New Year's Eve dinner happily.

It was almost eight o'clock and they had almost finished eating. The atmosphere of the whole dinner was very good.

Mr. Richard brought out his humor and wisdom in the business world, making his wife and daughter always laugh out loud.

This is undoubtedly the best reward for a husband and a father!

Perhaps seeing that her father was in a good mood, Mr. Richard's daughter mustered up the courage to say, "I have a boyfriend."

Mr. Richard was stunned for a moment. He glanced at his wife, who seemed to have known about this for a long time. Then he moved his gaze back to his daughter, "Don't tell me I'm the last person to know about this!"

His daughter was a little nervous, but nodded. "You're always busy, and it's hard for us to meet or sit down and chat."

"There were times when I wanted to tell you, but you told me to tell Mom."

Mr. Richard vaguely remembered this incident. He slapped his forehead and said, "Oh my God, what did I miss?!"

He looked at his daughter, "Well, tell me about the boy first. I need to make sure he is worthy of you."

This sentence made the daughter feel relieved, and she began to say good things about her boyfriend.

Just at this moment, the doorbell suddenly rang. Mr. Richard looked at his watch and it was eight o'clock.

The smile on his face grew even bigger. He saw his wife was about to get up, so he took the initiative to stand up and said, "I'll go. Maybe it's to deliver some documents to me. You know, I'm very busy lately!"

He gave the mother and daughter an affirmative look, then hurried to the door.

He ordered a large bouquet of flowers, ninety-nine in total, and a necklace to be placed on the flowers.

He wanted to give his wife a romantic and sweet New Year's Eve, a New Year's Eve that she could recall what happened on in every New Year in the future.

The doorbell rang several times again. He strode over and said, "I'm coming, don't be so anxious, brother!"

He opened the door without any thought, and saw a guy wearing a thin cotton jacket standing outside.

He was wearing a baseball cap, and the light from the doorway shone down, but the extended brim of the hat blocked out the light, leaving only a dark, shadowy, and vague outline of Mr. Richard's face.

His eyes fell on the other person's hands. The man's hands hung naturally at his sides, wearing lambskin gloves.

As for why he knew they were lambskin gloves, it was because he also had gloves of similar style.

The lambskin is very thin, leaving a layer of fleece inside or nothing at all, which can fit the user's hand to the greatest extent, especially some highly skilled leather workers, who can make people feel that they are not wearing gloves.

Mr. Richard found a pistol in the other person's right hand.

He was stunned for a moment, and then a chill suddenly exploded in his body!

He even had trouble opening his mouth to speak!
The next second, the man at the door raised the pistol in his hand. At this moment, the desire to survive overcame the brain's control over the body. Mr. Richard lowered his body, turned around and was about to run.

But his speed is far inferior to the speed of a bullet.

The sound of the bullet is very small, because it is a small-caliber pistol with a silencer, so there is no sound at a few meters away.

Of course, this also limits the effective killing range of this gun to only fifteen meters.

Fifteen meters is definitely not enough for fighting in the wild, but in a room, fifteen meters is definitely enough.

All three bullets hit Mr Richard, two in the head and one in the back.

With a thud, he fell to the ground, but did not die immediately.

Although his brain was severely damaged, his remaining thinking ability and consciousness still existed. There was no change in his expression. He tried to open his mouth and shout, but couldn't.

The mother and daughter in the room heard the sound of something heavy falling in the corridor outside the door, and Mr. Richard's wife subconsciously asked, "Honey, what's wrong?"

"Need me to help you with something?"

She said as she stood up and walked towards the door.

Upon hearing the voice, Mr. Richard, who was already on his deathbed, had tears welling up in his eyes in a short time.

He has never cried again in his life since he grew up.

Sometimes he would think that even if his parents, his wife, or his children died in an accident, he would not cry.

He thinks he is a cold-hearted person by nature. He is good at acting and sometimes he portrays himself as a very emotional and warm person.

But he knew deep down that he was indifferent.

He had always believed so until this moment.

Maybe he was really crying, or maybe his brain was damaged and his tear glands contracted uncontrollably.

Anyway, his eyes were filled with tears.

He opened his mouth, the muscles on his face were completely twisted, and his consciousness became less stable and a little hazy. He watched the shadow getting closer and closer, and watched a pair of slippers appear in his sight.

Finished!

There was no scream, just a thud, and his wife fell in front of him. Then he saw a pair of black leather shoes entering the room from in front of him, and then several gunshots were heard.

About twenty seconds later, the gunman walked out of the restaurant and noticed Mr. Richard's still trembling eyes.

He walked over, stepped on Mr. Richard's neck, and then fired all the bullets into his head...

The blood on the floor slowly spread into the house, and eventually Sir Richard's blood mixed with his wife's blood.

The next morning, the company didn't see Mr. Richard coming to work. Because there were too many things going on recently, they could only call Mr. Richard.

Unfortunately, no one answered the phone. The company’s board of directors then felt that something was wrong and called the police.

Soon the police arrived at where Mr. Richard lived and found the bodies of him and his family in the room.

The case soon alarmed the entire city's upper class circles. After all, Mr. Richard was also a member of the upper class, and his death made some people sensitive and vigilant.

During the subsequent investigation, the police received a piece of information whose authenticity was unknown.

The company claimed that Mr. Richard had moved a batch of funds before he was murdered, but now that fund is nowhere to be found. Whether Mr. Richard had moved the funds or not is not important to the board members, they are just making use of the waste.

Who killed Mr. Richard?
The board of directors and major shareholders have some speculations in their minds, but there are only a few people who are most likely.

the insurance company, Lance White, and the workers who were injured in the factory fire and did not receive compensation.

Only these people have the greatest hatred against Mr. Richard and are most likely to come and kill him.

The small-caliber pistol used by the killer screened out ordinary workers. It was difficult for them to get a small-caliber pistol. It either required a lot of money or some opportunities and connections.

Of course, the board did not completely rule out the possibility that some of the workers who did not receive compensation had a military background.
However, they mainly focused on the two forces of the insurance company and the Lance family.

As for whether they wanted to avenge Mr. Richard, they actually had no such idea at all.

They are capitalists. The purpose of capitalists doing anything revolves around profit. If there is no profit in doing something, then they will not do it!
They participated in the investigation just to find out who did it.

Mr. Richard's death also completely stopped some of Gold Label's actions, including lawsuits against insurance companies.

Although the newly appointed president will continue to focus on this aspect, they are a little more relaxed at the moment and perhaps they will have some new ideas.

After all, it is the New Year, and the New Year should bring new things.

The people of the Federation spent the first day of the year in a joyous atmosphere, but in Lapa, people continued to fall down due to hunger.

It's not that they really starved to death, but they ate something inedible, or they were attacked by predators in the jungle and died.

Because people were so hungry, they had to go into the jungle to look for some food, which disturbed the predators, poisonous animals and plants in the jungle.

Someone ate a mushroom and soon closed his eyes and returned to the arms of God.

Someone touched a beautiful frog and soon collapsed in the jungle due to a heart attack.

A man accidentally stepped on a snake, and the snake gave him a little venom worth its weight in gold.

People die every day in the search for food, and people’s dissatisfaction with the Lapa government has reached its limit!

It was under these circumstances that Diego gave a public, radio speech, and the entire Lapa and surrounding areas could receive the entire process.

In order to let more people know what he was going to say and when he would say it, they notified him three days in advance.

At 2 p.m. on January 1, Diego appeared outside the presidential palace and the high-powered radio station began to work.

"Citizens of Lapa, I am your president, Diego..."

He followed it with a string of names, including two that Lance wasn't sure how to pronounce.

According to locals, this is the name of the local language and there is no accurate translation in the common language.

Diego gave his full name and pronounced it in the local dialect on such occasions, which was actually a declaration of his legitimacy and authority.

It’s like when the ancient emperor was not in his castle but outside, when he needed to negotiate, he would emphasize his surname - royal family!
This is what Diego did, he emphasized these things to get the people to at least not strongly oppose him.

After all, he and his family have ruled Lapa for a long time, so they still have a certain foundation for their rule.

Among the ruled people there are always some who are addicted to kneeling. They like being ruled, exploited and oppressed. If they don’t have a few mountains on their shoulders, they seem to not be able to live.

There will always be people who will take the initiative to find excuses for his brutal rule, so sometimes ruling is an art that requires the ruler to have political skills and a smart mind that surpasses ordinary people.

But it’s not always like this!

There are always people who can rule over a group of people who have no brains at all.

"I feel deeply saddened by the recent events in Zhuolan. What good people we have!!"

"It was because they were bewitched and deceived by some people that they ended up standing against us and the people, and paid a heavy price."

"I believe that most people are kind, and I believe we can resolve this difficult situation."

"We have recently completed the first round of consultations with the presidential cabinet of the Czech Republic on food issues."

"We will receive no less than 350,000 tons of food aid, which is enough to help us survive until the end of winter..."

In fact, it is 500,000 tons, but he did not exaggerate. It is not that he and his ministers want to embezzle 150,000 tons, but this part will not be announced to the public for the time being.

If there is really an environment or place that needs this food, they will take it out, which is equivalent to a final preparation.

As for how 350,000 tons of food can be enough for so many people to survive until the beginning of spring?
This is not a problem with Diego and the cabinet, but a problem with the people themselves.

If one person eats one pound of food a day, it really won't last until spring.

But what if a person only needs one pound of food a week?

More water can be added to wheat. Not necessarily the wheat that chokes people is food. The thin and mushy wheat is also food.

Adding some other things, such as crude fiber from plants and other things that are not so easy to digest, can also help to support you.

He also talked about the idea of ​​providing more jobs, telling the crowd that the Lapa government is negotiating with the federal government on cooperation in local resource development.

Once the negotiations are concluded, at least hundreds of thousands of new jobs will be created, and they will be high-paying jobs.

In addition, there are opportunities to work in the federal government.

Because a large number of young people were drafted into the army and sent to the front lines or were waiting for the call from the front lines in military bases, there was a large-scale lack of young labor force.

There are some jobs that are fine for old men to do, but some jobs, especially heavy physical labor, are better done by young people.

They need this kind of workers, and Lance can ensure that at least 50,000 to 100,000 people are recruited to work in the Federation.

Behind the 200,000 jobs, there may be 400,000 or 500,000 families, which can cover a population of at least 3 to 4 million people and bring about tremendous changes in their lives.

Diego's cabinet has also discussed this issue, saying that at least one-third of the Lapa people will move from "extreme poverty" to "poverty", and a small number will become richer than poverty.

This means that Lapa's regime has "coerced" these vested interests, and they will become staunch supporters of the Lapa government.

They are richer and more capable than others, so they will become the best protectors of power.

Lance listened to Diego describing a bright future on the radio. He was sure that Diego was reading from a script and that he did not write the script himself.

He doesn't have this level. If he had this level, Lapa wouldn't be in such a bad state today.

Lance's attention slowly withdrew from the radio. He glanced at Gomez standing in the corner. "Can you confirm the route and time of this train?"

Gomez bent over and lowered his head, "Of course, Mr. Lance!"

"Although Diego was a little suspicious of me, he couldn't find anyone else suitable, so he arranged for me to receive the first batch of food."

Lance smiled a little, "Good job, Gomez."

"I know you want to touch the power of this country, but it will not belong to you and it cannot belong to you, so don't even think about it."

"If you cooperate with the work I give you, I will give you the opportunity to go to the Federation as a Federation citizen."

"Isn't it better to be a rich man in the Federation than to be a punching bag president in Lapa?"

There was no displeasure on Gomez's face. "I thought so too, Mr. Lance."

"And the food on this train?"

Lance handed him a map and said, "Draw that railway and write down the time."

"You'd better think it over before you write, because you only have one chance!"

“Don’t waste it!”

(End of this chapter)