Shadow Empire

Chapter 980 Conversation and Conversation

Lance decided to talk to Francisco about dealing with Christopher.

After all, Alberto was like an "older brother" or "uncle" to Francisco, and also more like a father to him.

After all, in the time since Paolo's death, it was Alberto who protected Francisco, allowing him to successfully inherit everything Paolo had, even though it was a broken and incomplete family, at least he was not harmed by others.

Thinking of this, he walked to his desk, picked up the phone, and called Francisco.

The Pasreto family, which Francisco now controls, is still recovering, as the Christopher incident severely damaged the family's reputation.

It's not so easy for them to recruit new people from the island or from the Sumuli people living elsewhere.

Joining a gang is not considered wrong by the people of Sumuli, so if they are to join one, they will definitely join a better one, or at least one that is not so bad.

After all, joining the Pasreto family means going against the four major families of Sumuli Island. Moreover, the Pasreto family is no longer one of the "five major families of Golden Port City" as it used to be; they have fallen on hard times.

After the glory fades, only a minority will be willing to join them at this time.

So although Francisco has many ambitions he wants to achieve, in the end, he can only take it one step at a time.

He was somewhat pleased to receive Lance's call. As the head of the family, he couldn't interact with his uncles and aunts very often, and he also rarely interacted with his own brothers and sisters.

He doesn't even have many friends to talk to now, which makes him feel lonely.

The lonelier he was, the more he missed Alberto, who was like a father and a close friend.

Of course, Lance is also his friend, but Lance's current status is too high, and he has to consider whether taking the initiative to call him will affect Lance's work or something.

"How come you have time to call me?"

Is there anything I can do for you?

There was no hint of probing in his tone; it was pure joy and a genuine desire to help, if Lance needed it.

Lance smiled and explained why he hadn't contacted him for a while, then talked about Christopher.

“My people in South Yaan said they saw Christopher, but we haven’t heard anything about Christopher being active in the federal government. I’m worried they might be mistaken.”

"So I hope you can send a few people who are very familiar with Dover, preferably the kind of people who can recognize him from the side or even from the back, without seeing his face."

“If they see Dover, I will make him pay the price once I’m done with what I’m doing.”

Upon hearing Lance's words, Francisco was completely stunned. His eyes were unfocused, as if he could see someone far away in South Yaan State.

Several seconds passed before he came to his senses. "Mr. Lance, are you telling the truth?"

"Dover...is he currently in South Asia?"

Dover was a huge stain on him and the entire Pasreto family, a mark that had to be erased.

He didn't just kill Alberto; he also killed Paolo, which is the most unforgivable thing.

These two people were arguably the most important in Francisco's life.

His father, as well as Alberto, died at the hands of Dover.

How could he not hate that bastard?
Lance noticed a slight tremor and excitement in his voice, and he quickly reassured him, "Calm down, Cisco."

“I’ll do this after I finish what I have on hand, instead of you risking doing something stupid.”

"Neither Paulo nor Alberto wants to see you take any risks, do you understand what I mean?"

“If Dover is really in South Yaan State now, it means he is selling the wine to the four major families on Sumuli Island.”

“Behind him is not just himself or his small group, but also the four major families of Sumuli Island.”

"We must remain constantly cautious in dealing with these people."

“I don’t want to have to avenge not only Paul and Alberto, but also you after I finish my work. Do you understand what I mean?”

Perhaps Lance's persuasion had some effect, because Francisco quickly calmed down. He pursed his lips, his breathing a little rapid, "Yes, Mr. Lance, I understand."

Lance hummed in agreement and then started chatting about lighthearted things to ease his tension.

"I heard you have a girlfriend, is that right?"

Francisco was already twenty years old at this time, and he originally had the opportunity to go to university.

His academic performance was excellent. Paulo would always talk about Francisco's grades when chatting with others, and would proudly boast to others that the Pasreto family was about to produce a university student.

But all of this came to an end on the night he was murdered.

Francisco has dropped out of school and, now that he has inherited the Pasreto family business, he is also busy dealing with family matters.

University was already a distant dream for him.

Of course, there's also the school, and everything related to the school, including his girlfriend.

Lance's question made him a little embarrassed, but he decided to tell the truth anyway, "Yes, I met a girl, and we get along quite well."

His voice carried a sweetness that anyone could hear. Lance asked with a smile, "Have you looked into his family situation?"

"Does she know about your situation?"

"You are the current boss of the Pasreto family, and what the Pasreto family does."

"Yes, I've already talked to her about it, and she can accept it."

"And we are considering getting married."

In the federal government, you could have a child at sixteen, get married at eighteen, and drink alcohol at twenty—these were the laws before Prohibition.

Of course, now only drinking alcohol is prohibited, but having children and getting married haven't changed much.

"Then I must congratulate you!"

"Listen, if you're planning to get married, you should prioritize your safety even more, understand?"

"When I return to Golden Harbor City, we can meet up, and I'll give you some small gifts."

They hung up the phone quickly, and Lance turned to look at Irwin, "In a few days, Francisco will send a few people over. When that happens, you can place them among our people and have them go to South Yaan State to take a look."

"If necessary, we can have them pretend to be gangsters buying brandy; aren't they selling large quantities of brandy?"

Irwin nodded and said, "Yes, they mainly sell brandy, and also some whiskey, but not much."

“The competition in our local market isn’t very intense, and their whisky sales over there are also quite good.”

Lance continued, "Yes, that's it. Have someone pretend to be a buyer, talk to them about a big deal, and see if you can meet their boss."

"If it really is Dover, there's no need to alarm them. Just spend the money as it comes. We can deal with these drinks once they're in our hands."

"If spending a little money can determine whether it's Dover or not, I think it's acceptable."

As he spoke, he took out the document from his briefcase—the one Mayor Wade had given him—and handed it to Erwin. "These people are a threat to Wade's campaign. Take care of them."

Erwin glanced at the three men's files, then nodded in agreement, "I'll get them sorted out as quickly as possible."

Lance no longer needed to personally handle such a small matter, nor did he repeatedly remind Erwin. For Erwin, it was just a trivial matter.

After finishing both business and personal matters, Lance got up to take his leave. He needed to return to Golden Harbor City because Morris was getting married.

Of course, Erwin won't be back for another two days.

The woman who married Maurice was the nurse who had been taking care of him. Ennio had previously worried that this woman was only with Maurice for money.

As one of the "original shareholders," Morris now has a net worth of tens of millions, surpassing many capitalists in the Federation of this era.

That's the allure of crime—no business, apart from finance, can make money faster than crime.

For these people, every day is a process of expanding their wealth.

Perhaps at first they would care about how much wealth they had, but as this became a regular occurrence, they stopped paying so much attention to it.

They may not care, but their family members and close friends will still care a lot.

Morris probably knew about this too. Lance heard from Enio that he seemed to have talked to Morris about it, but Morris ignored him.

In Ennio's words, Maurice may have "fallen into the trap of love" and was unable to extricate himself.

From Lance's perspective, however, it doesn't matter whether the girl is after money or not, as long as Morris is happy, that's all that matters.

The most precious thing in this world is that money can't buy what I like. If she likes money and Maurice likes her, isn't that a perfect closed loop?
In the morning, at the station in Jin Gang City, a train slowly came to a stop on the platform, and passengers came out chatting and laughing, but soon the smiles on their faces froze.

They looked at the people on the platform with some unease, then quickened their pace and left quickly.

A large number of Lance family members gathered here, although they did nothing but stand in groups of three or five, smoking and chatting.

Even so, it still put a lot of psychological pressure on the passengers getting off the train. These people were all wearing the same uniform, which created a strong sense of oppression for them.

In particular, some passengers, knowing that these people were from the Lance family, quickly pulled their fellow passengers away.

As the second train pulled into the station, the people suddenly became more active and moved closer to it.

As the train opened the pressure relief valve, steam leaked out with a long "hiss," briefly covering the platform with thick steam, but it was quickly dispersed by the wind.

A shiny leather shoe stepped out of the car door, followed by crisp trousers and Lance.

Smiles immediately appeared on everyone's faces. Lance hugged Melo, who came to greet him, and then the others.

"Actually, there was no need to make it so grand; it makes me feel a little uncomfortable."

"too exaggerated."

Yes, that's an exaggeration. If someone didn't know better, they would think these people were welcoming the president.

Lance's words made everyone laugh, and Melo even laughed and said, "I don't think it's an exaggeration at all. To use those old-fashioned words, the king of Golden Harbor City has returned."

The others laughed good-naturedly. Lance greeted the combat captains, some of whom he didn't recognize, probably because of recent emergencies.

Because Erwin is still "working," some members will still meet the promotion criteria and become combat captains from ordinary members.

However, no new candidates were added to the cadre selection process, which required Lance's approval.

These newly promoted team captains all showed excited expressions when they faced Lance. To them, and even to the gang members in the city, Lance was a legend, the achiever of the "Federal Dream" that all the bottom of society dreamed of.

Regardless of what he does, he did his best, and that's the federal dream!

As the group boarded the train and left, the once bustling station suddenly became deserted.

Back in his office, Lance sat in the large chair, patted the fleshy armrests, and let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"It's still more comfortable at home."

Melo chuckled and said, "They should be back soon, right?"

Lance nodded and said, "Yes, by the first half of next year at the latest, some things will be almost done, and the rest is just a matter of time."

There is no possibility of any further changes on Diego's side. Although Lance has returned, he has had people keeping a close eye on Diego. If Diego dares to cause trouble, he does not recommend replacing Rapa with a new president.

Of course, Diego wouldn't do anything reckless, since he didn't want to die; he wanted to live.

This is the most terrifying place. It's like a pipe that can only go forward and not turn around or go backward. The moment people crawl in, they can't do anything but keep moving forward along the pipe's path.

Even if there is nothing chasing them, they will only keep moving forward in fear because they cannot see behind them.

Lance didn't go into too much detail about this, because what happened in Lapa was still quite far removed from what was happening here.

The group chatted about recent events in Golden Harbor City, and of course, they eventually talked about Morris.

Mosley scratched his head; he had never been one to seek the limelight and preferred to stand on the edge of the crowd.

Hearing Lance's call, he had no choice but to step out from the edge of the crowd and come to a spot not far from Lance.

"When will you be married?"

"This weekend."

Lance nodded. "That's a good thing, Morris. When are you planning to have a child?"

Morris said shyly, "We didn't use protection. If she gets pregnant, then we'll stay."

This made everyone start teasing, since none of the others, except for Lance, were married or had children.

For these young people, they were only twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, and the younger ones looked only around twenty.

If they were born into an ordinary family, they would probably be fathers of one or two children by now.

But they are not ordinary people; they are gang members, executives of the Lance family, and they have transcended the environment and class of ordinary people.

Late marriage and late childbirth are the most normal behaviors for these people.

It's not unusual for people to get married at thirty or even forty.

Wealth has a huge effect on them, making them almost unaware that they are getting older.

They don't need to worry about money, they don't need to work, they don't need to bask in the scorching sun or do hard physical labor.

They can spend more time in their rooms, enjoying their lives and having fun, doing whatever they want.

Therefore, their mental development is significantly slower than others. They may still think of themselves as just a young man, or even as a child, rather than as an adult who should get married, have children, and fulfill basic social responsibilities!

Seeing everyone cheering, Maurice couldn't help but laugh too. "I don't know why, I just feel that when it's time to get married, I should get married, that's all."

"Moreover, my current situation is quite special. I went to the hospital a while ago, and the doctor told me that my condition is recovering well, but he couldn't promise how long I could hold on."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pressed it against his chest, as if he were sensing his physical condition.

The attack left him severely injured, and he was able to survive thanks to his father's sacrifice.

Even so, the doctor made a simple assessment of Maurice, believing that he would most likely reach his limit in his forties.

His injuries were too severe. Although he seems to be recovering well now, that's because he's still young.

As he gets older, the problems caused by these injuries will come to light.

Morris clearly knew all this. "I want to leave something behind for this world before I leave it, at least to let God and this world know that I was here!"

These words were clearly tinged with pessimism, but no one dared to say anything. Ennio went over and put his arm around his shoulder, offering him some comfort.

After a few seconds, Lance said, "You don't need to be so pessimistic. Science is progressing, and so is medical science."

“In the past, the Black Death could plunge the world into despair, and a strange infectious disease could make people feel like it was the end of the world, but look at the world now.”

"Those diseases that were once considered incurable are now forgotten."

"Your problem is not a problem at all from the perspective of medical development."

"A person is like a machine, except that some things in you are broken."

"If a part in the machine breaks, we replace the part."

"And if your organs break down, we'll replace them."

(End of this chapter)