Empire of Shadows

"I seem to have no choice," Lance neatly arranged the two contracts, "but this is the best option."

He paused, "So when do I start working?"

Alberto didn't immediately send him to work, instead he asked about his current job, "What are you planning to do about your bakery job?"

"Twenty dollars, I'll handle it."

Alberto pulled open a drawer, took out a roll of money, and handed twenty bills to Lance, "Here's forty dollars, your expenses for the next few days, I hope this forty dollars makes me feel it's well spent!"

Lance took the money, "I assure you, you will find this money well worth it."

"Go see Fodis, he will set you up with some tools you can use when collecting debts."

"Get to work, I'm looking forward to hearing good news from you!"

Lance stood up, straightened his clothes, and then turned and left.

Alberto had already explained everything to Fodis, actually.

So, when he arrived in the hall, Fodis was already waiting for him.

He led Lance to a small house next to the parking lot in the backyard, "What weapon are you comfortable using?"

"Baseball bat, dagger, or hunting knife?"

"However, I wouldn't recommend you start with lethal weapons. If you accidentally kill our esteemed client, the boss will skin you alive."

"Unless you can compensate for the loss!" Fodis said as he pushed open the room door, which looked unremarkable from the outside.

But once inside, it became clear that there were piles of weapons hanging everywhere.

Baseball bats, daggers, hunting knives, steel pipes, steel picks, almost everywhere.

"Got any guns?"

Fodis's expression which seemed to say "Prepare to be amazed, bumpkin!" hadn't fully formed before it turned somewhat embarrassed.

"Firearms are with Stone, you'll meet him eventually, but not now."

"Without the boss's permission, you temporarily cannot obtain firearms from the company, although purchasing them yourself is your own affair."

"So choose a weapon for now, I recommend this one!"

He picked up a baseball bat decorated with red, blue, and white stripes, swung it a few times, and handed it to Lance, "The official baseball bat of the Golden Port City Sailing Team, I love their games, they're definitely going to win the championship this season!"

It was clear he was a baseball fan, he then handed the bat to Lance, "First learn how to strike, then consider more threatening weapons."

"Our job is to help people who need money to get through tough times, and then, after they get through those times, to get them to pay back what they owe us. We never harm anyone proactively, do you understand what I mean?"

Fodis reiterated sternly, then he and Lance left the "weapon room," and said, "Go pick a car, we can't have you and your friends running around working for us..."

Lance's eyes lit up, no one dislikes driving, he immediately looked towards those luxury cars gleaming in the sunlight.

Unfortunately for him, Fodis twisted his body towards the other direction, pointing at a few old and dirty looking cars parked in the back alley, "That's what you should be choosing."

He scratched his head, feeling an odd heat on his scalp, "For God's sake, can these cars even run?"

"Why not?" Fodis approached one car, grabbed the door handle and gently pulled it—a click, and the whole door came off.

He quickly held the nearly falling door, shouting loudly, "Jamie, why did the door of this car just fall off?"

A man who looked like a warehouse worker, dressed in denim overalls and covered in stains, came out.

He had a cigarette in his mouth, sounding impatient, "That car just arrived; the others next to it are all fine, you just had to pick a broken one!"

"Is this our new partner?"

Fodis clapped his hands, letting go of the door, "Not entirely, but I believe we will be working together for a while."

He introduced Jamie to Lance, "This is Jamie, if you follow racing, then you definitely know the Supersonic Team, he's their number two mechanic."

"But some unpleasant things happened, so now he is working for the boss."

Jamie shrugged, "I owe him a favor, so I'm working it off." He paused, then picked a key from a row hanging on the wall and threw it to Lance, "Try out your new car, that brown one, I specifically tuned it."

Many people who owe debts really can't pay back, they truly have no money, the company retrieves their cars to minimize losses.

Luxury cars can be leased or resold, other cars that can be handed over to used car dealers are all sold.

"If it can't be sold, just leave it here; there will always be a time when it's useful."

Lance wasn't very skilled at starting the fire, making him feel somewhat uncomfortable because this car had a hand throttle.

An old car, God knows how many years it had been around, the throttle was on the right side of the steering wheel, controlled by pulling back to increase or decrease the throttle.

It had a gauge, allowing the pulled-out throttle rod to hang on the gauge and ensure it always supplied fuel—just call it a throttle rod, Lance didn't know what else this thing should be called.

But one thing had to be admitted—this might be one of the earliest cars with cruise control capability.

After trying it out simply for a while, he became proficient, although it was a hand throttle, once used to it, it actually wasn't too inconvenient.

Lance put the baseball bat in the trunk and then said goodbye to Fodis and Jamie, driving away from there.

The two talked briefly and then went about their tasks.

After driving on the road for a while and feeling nervous for some time, Lance finally got used to the traffic of this era.

As long as he didn't exceed thirty yards, the car drove relatively smoothly.

He drove the car directly to the bridge not far from the docks, where Elvin and others now lived.

While passing a store, he even stopped the car and spent two dollars to buy ten packs of cigarettes and a box of matches.

By the time he arrived under the bridge, forty minutes had passed.

The honking of the horn prompted several heads to peek out from the under the bridge caverns, and Elvin looked at Lance, who stood by the car, with some disbelief.

He had a cigarette in his mouth, slightly bent over, his right hand beside the steering wheel inside the cabin.

"My God, where did you get this car?" His buddies quickly ran out.

They smeared a rather unique smell—summer, long periods without bathing and changing clothes, but they couldn't be blamed for it.

There weren't exactly stellar facilities for washing up here, even though the river was nearby.

In Golden Port City, domestic wastewater and treated industrial wastewater were all discharged into the sea, hence the river water here turned black and emitted a foul smell.

In winter, the smell wasn't too sharp, and in summer, the smell of the sea could cover some of it. Although some people repeatedly reported these issues to the City Hall, the old masters only focused on economic growth over whether the river stank or not.

Not bathing and changing clothes for a few days, and the young men who sweated easily almost stank to death!

They stood by the car caressing this truly classical car, Lance handed them some cigarettes.

"Mr. Kodi, the gentleman we borrowed money from, has given us a new job."

"If we can help him recover two debts that belong to him, then the debt we owe him will be crossed off, and we will benefit as well."

He patted the car, "This is the transportation he provided us first; this time, I need four people with me, who's first?"

Elvin immediately stood by Lance's side, "I'm going."

Ethan also patted his chest, "I'm going too, I owe you."

Melo was about to speak, but Lance stopped him, "You stay back, you're older, and you can stay calmer than others in an emergency."

"Anyway, if something goes wrong, try to stall for time; we'll be back soon."

He casually picked two more people from the crowd, then got them into the car.

Ethan sat in the passenger seat; when he got inside, he could clearly feel the car sink downwards.

Lance curiously asked, "How much do you weigh?"

He was somewhat embarrassed, "180 pounds, but I've lost some weight."

Elvin couldn't help but laugh from the back seat, "Don't listen to him; that scale only goes to 180 pounds!"

Ethan became annoyed and embarrassed, "Damn it, nobody would think you're mute if you didn't speak!"

Once the car started moving, their playful talks slowly decreased, and they all rolled down the car windows, trying to enjoy the rather uncomfortable hot wind blowing in.

The first guy who owed Alberto money was named Candela, an employee at an insurance company. He had borrowed a thousand dollars from Alberto, and it was time to repay it.

He had been delaying and, it was rumored, was planning to run away.

"Are we going to beat him?"

As they got closer to their destination, Ethan couldn't help but ask.

While driving, Lance responded without turning his head, "That depends on whether he cooperates with us…"