Empire of Shadows

The poker chips looked almost new, rounded and with denominations of at least twenty, with some fifties and hundreds among them.

Lance wasn't quite sure if these really counted as money.

He left Ethan in the room to watch over Mr. White and went downstairs himself, carrying two poker chips to a telephone booth, where he dialed the number Fodis had given him.

Soon after, the voice of the pretty receptionist came through, "This is Lezhu Financial Company, how may I assist you?"

Her voice was pleasant to hear, but Lance could imagine that she was probably distracted with something else while speaking those words in a way that emphasized a contrast.

"It's me, Lance, I need to speak with Mr. Kodi or Mr. Fodis will do as well."

Recognizing Lance's voice, the girl's sweet tone instantly changed, "Fodis, you have a call!"

Heavy footsteps approached from a distance, and soon Fodis's voice came from the receiver,

"Have you run into some trouble?" he asked.

This was the only reason he could think of for Lance to call him—perhaps Mr. White wasn't at home, or he outright refused to pay.

He had not only seen such novices before but had personally coached a couple.

One was a guy who had borrowed eight hundred dollars from the company and bragged, "I'll only pay you if a judge says I have to."

Those two young men had no idea how to resolve the situation and even asked him if they should refer the matter to the legal department if the company had one.

So he assumed that Lance might be facing the same issue.

But he soon realized he was wrong.

"Mr. White is willing to repay, but he only wants to pay with poker chips, and I'm not sure whether these chips are worth the money."

He described the appearance of the chips and the small print on the back, "It says here that these chips come from the Kodak family."

Mentioning this, Lance almost wanted to laugh because he thought of the advertising slogan—"Capture the moments."

After hearing the explanation, Fodis offered a suggestion, "There's no problem at all, chips from the Kodak family can be cashed at their counters without any proof of purchase."

He couldn't help but ask, "How did you manage to get him to hand over the money?"

The company had already sent people to press for the debt, and clearly, they had not been successful.

If they had been, Lance wouldn't have had to get involved.

Of course, the methods employed by the first round of debt collection were not very aggressive; Lance was the second attempt.

"I reasoned with him, and Mr. White is a reasonable man, so he agreed to settle the debt."

"Do I need to write some sort of receipt for him?"

"Or give him the contract?"

"There's no need for that, Lance, just bring back the chips and the contract, and others at the company will take care of the rest. You've completed your job; don't take someone else's work now."

"I'll share the good news with the boss; your efficiency is impressive, you might just give us all a surprise!"

After hanging up, Lance returned upstairs and, in front of Mr. White, counted out thirty-five hundred in chips from a brown paper bag.

"This is what you owe the company, and I'm taking it."

"The rest are yours; I'll only take what I should. I also detest those who spread rumors; you should understand what I'm implying."

He looked at Mr. White sitting on the couch, who, after a brief outburst, had completely lost his nerve. Mr. White nodded, avoiding eye contact, "Yes, I understand, I won't say anything out of turn."

"Good!" Lance gave the brown paper bag containing thirty-five hundred in chips to Ethan, "So I apologize for taking some of your time, and I wish you a pleasant day, Mr. White."

Mr. White didn't seem pleased at all, and his day was bound to continue that way.

The three of them left the apartment and drove towards the company.

On the way, Elvin asked about everything that happened after he went upstairs. Friends A and B were extremely excited, and Ethan was non-stop with his stories—

"...I just glared at them, and they quickly tucked in their necks like turtles retracting their heads into their shells!"

"I thought someone would call the cops or step in to stop us, but in reality, nothing happened!"

As he was driving, Lance followed up on Ethan's sentiment, "This shows that the Federation people aren't as powerful as we imagined."

"When you are weak and you give in to their difficulties and tests, they will push you back step by step."

"But when you show that you can hurt them and aren't afraid of their threats, they are not much stronger than the weak ones we know of!"

"So you don't have to be afraid of the Federation people at all, they're just like us, just like the weaklings we know. You're strong, so they're weak!"

"If you find that your opponents don't back down, it's not because they aren't afraid, but because you aren't ferocious enough, that's all!"

These words were heard by the four young men and became their golden principle—a principle that was verified and true.

The car soon arrived outside the company, and Lance took the four men inside and told them to sit in the lounge.

However, looking at those guys in the lounge that seemed tough to deal with, they finally decided to stand in the hallway instead.

In the office, Lance placed the kraft paper bag on Alberto's desk; he took out the money and quickly counted it.

He was serious and clear about his work ethic.

He could give Lance a hundred dollars, but Lance couldn't just give him three thousand four hundred; that wouldn't be right!

"Three thousand four hundred and fifty, three thousand five hundred, exact right!" The last fifty-dollar chip fell out of his hand onto the pile.

He looked at Lance and nodded slightly, "I understand Mr. White is not someone reasonable. Can you tell me how you managed to convince him?"

Lance sat opposite him, appearing very relaxed, "I first chatted with him about the Golden Port City sailing team, he's also very interested in baseball, and then we talked about cooking."

"We found common interests, which made communication easier. When I asked him 'where's the money,' he told me 'in the flower pot.' Just like that."

Alberto couldn't stop smiling, "I can imagine he's the last person he wants to see now is you!"

He paused, then took out three fifty-dollar chips from the pile and pushed them forward, "This is what you're owed."

Alberto was well aware of Mr. White's financial situation, as he had his own salespeople in the Kodak family's casinos.

When people came to the company voluntarily to discuss loan business, they'd go over and over about the interest, repayment methods, and how the company could recoup losses if the money couldn't be paid back.

They would fight for any advantage for themselves and would never make impossible compromises.

But at the casinos, those gamblers, red-eyed from betting, didn't care what price they'd have to pay later for the five hundred dollars they took from you!

All they cared about was whether they could get enough chips to sit back down at the table before the next game started!

Mr. White winning a big sum in the casino was something the salespeople dug into; he won over four thousand dollars, roughly the equivalent of what an ordinary worker might earn in a hundred months. Many in the casino were talking about it.

The first time the company sent people to settle the debt, it was discovered that Mr. White did not have the ability to liquidate his debts, so it had been dragging on until now.

Alberto was convinced that with the right means, one could definitely get back the money that did not belong to him.

But he didn't expect things to go so smoothly; in just half a day, the money had been recovered.

"I'm looking forward to your next job, Lance.", he said thoughtfully. "We give everyone else a five percent reward, that's the rule, and you should get this too."

"But the next job may not be as easy as Mr. White's."

Alberto started to talk about the second "order".

"Mr. Anderson runs a restaurant in the Bay Area. Last year, he ran into some financial trouble, so he came to me."

"But now, he refuses to acknowledge that he signed any contracts, and he refuses to pay interest or return the principal, and he even sued us."

"If we show up around him and harm him, he'll sue us, and the lawyer says we have a good chance of losing."

"So this order is different from Mr. White's, you can't be that violent, you get what I mean?"

"You can't harm him, not even intimidate him, think of something."

"If you can handle this order, I can give you double the reward."

"Whatever money you get back from him, I'll give you ten percent!", to express his strong emotions inside, Alberto spread out both hands and gestured a bit.