Chapter 170: Denying the Mole and Arriving at the Port

After the *ring-ring* telephone bell rang twice, it was answered. Sam took a deep breath, trying his best not to be so... angry.

"Erwin?" He had already inquired; the core of the Lanse family was Lanse himself, and then below him were the three higher cores: Erwin, Mo Lisi, and Hai Lahan.

And below that?

A bunch of senior cadres, but he wasn't interested in that. He only wanted to find Lisa now and have her please Mr. Hou to resolve a series of problems.

Erwin's voice sounded very young, which made Sam feel envious, even jealous.

His youth was almost worthless—this wasn't a literary rhetorical device; he dropped out of high school and followed his mother to find food in a small city next to Paradise City.

Although Paradise City was beautiful, it wasn't easy to live in. Higher rent, higher prices, higher everything—all were restricting people living there from finding happiness.

But even living around Paradise City wasn't an easy thing. His mother wasn't the kind of female worker with skilled techniques, except for the act of lying down.

So, in his most youthful time, he played a role he shouldn't have played, until his early twenties.

His mother found a... guest who seemed like a kindred spirit; the two hit it off, left him behind, and ran away.

Sam, filled with confusion about the future, finally bought a ticket to Paradise City.

People all said Paradise City was full of joy and happiness, like a paradise fallen to the human world. If his life deserved happiness, then this happiness should be hidden under the starry sky dyed red by neon lights in the middle of the night!

He had held many jobs in Paradise City, and later met a person who had a deep influence on him. He thought they were each other's spiritual salvation; he felt they were each other's heroes, and one day everything would get better.

But... all the short-lived happiness of the underclass would always be broken by a rapidly approaching piece of bad news. He cheated; it wasn't Sam, and the two had a big fight.

It turned out that everything he thought was beautiful was just a game for the other party. His things were thrown onto the street by the other party, along with his self-esteem and his last bit of longing for beauty.

After he realized the fact that "people without status don't deserve happiness," the Sam who was full of ideals and still held hope for life died, leaving only a Sam who could give up everything to get ahead.

In the blink of an eye, he was already middle-aged. The slightly balding appearance in the vanity mirror made him feel heartache for himself. Why wasn't it someone else, but him?

Just like the darkest time in his life when he often asked himself, why was it me again, and not someone else?

He envied and was jealous of the youth, firmness, and confidence that came through Erwin's voice. This was what he had once possessed, but had lost.

It was in this moment of distraction that his tone softened slightly. "I am Sam; you should have heard of me, the new manager of Red High Heels."

Erwin didn't use harsh words. "Yes, I've heard of you, some big shot from Paradise City."

"Aha, what big shot?"

"We are all people who provide services for others."

Erwin's willingness to talk made him think this matter had a good start. He began to cut to the chase. "I apologize to you for my subordinate accidentally shooting and wounding your person. How much money did it take to cure him?"

"Three thousand, or five thousand?"

Without figuring out what the other party was trying to do, and with an attitude and tone that were very gentle, Erwin wouldn't take the initiative to create conflict either.

"No need, we have money."

Sam's tone became even more relaxed. As long as they could communicate, perhaps everything was just a misunderstanding?

"No, I must compensate you. I will let you see my sincerity."

As he spoke, he *swish-swish-swish* wrote a check, deliberately on the wooden table, using a fountain pen. The sound of that writing would be transmitted through the receiver with extra clarity.

And he didn't hide it at all, calling over a subordinate and handing the check to him. "Send it to the Night of the Empire nightclub, and give it to the people of the Lanse family."

He glanced at the receiver, a faint smile appearing on his face. Watching his subordinate turn and leave, he then picked up the phone. "I've already had someone send the check over, and I apologize again for the stupid thing our idiot did."

Erwin was silent for a while. "I will tell Lanse."

What did this mean?

Could he not feel my sincerity?

Of course, it was also possible it was a way of expression for locals. Sam cared about the recovery situation of the young man who was shot, and then the topic quickly shifted to Lisa.

"Erwin, we lack effective communication. Look, if we can maintain effective communication, many problems won't happen."

"We can become good friends. You work for him, and I also work for him. We are naturally standing together."

Erwin didn't make a sound, which made Sam somewhat dissatisfied, but this dissatisfaction hadn't yet manifested anything uncomfortable amidst the "tolerance" gained from the previous groundwork.

He paused for a few seconds and said, "How is Lisa now?"

Erwin firmly denied it. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on, don't think your little tricks can fool me. Lisa must be in your hands. Is she okay?" Sam felt a bit uncomfortable now. I've said so much, were all my feelings and expressions wasted?

But he still held some hope, viewing this as the other party's vigilance and caution.

Erwin firmly denied the fact that Lisa was with him. Lanse had told him, even if beaten to death, don't admit it. "I really don't know what you're talking about."

Sam's complexion finally didn't look like it did just now, still carrying a faint, elusive smile. He became serious, and even his sitting posture changed from leaning on the chair with his legs crossed to putting his legs down and sitting up straight.

"Erwin, my patience is limited. Don't play word games with me."

"I don't care if you admit to this matter or not; you had better send Lisa back to me before noon tomorrow."

"A big shot has ordered her service; we've already missed it once. If we miss it again, you won't want to know the consequences!"

After waiting for about three or four seconds, Erwin asked, "Are you done?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. If you're done, I'm going to hang up. I have things to do."

Sam's complexion finally became exceptionally ugly. "When is Lanse coming back?"

"In these two days..." After he finished speaking, he hung up the phone. Looking at the receiver with the busy signal, Sam threw it onto the ground with a flick of his hand.

The receiver was sturdy, adopting a metal and wood structure, and didn't shatter, but it made a violent sound.

He took two breaths, suddenly as if thinking of something, and ran to the door. "Someone, go quickly and stop... let him bring my check back to me!"

Since the other party didn't know what was good for them, he didn't want to give those five thousand dollars either.

He couldn't make it clear with such a small character; he planned to talk to Lanse personally. He heard Lanse was a person who could communicate.

While selecting new girls, he waited for Lanse.

At this time, Lanse was already at sea. He directly requested a speedboat to head toward the Federation coastline.

The cruise ship traveled slower because it wasn't in a hurry to rush, and it also had to take into account some scenery along the way, for example, heading to some nearby island reefs and archipelagos, letting people appreciate the beauty of some tropical islands.

If heading directly toward the Federation, then the speed would be very fast.

Taking a speedboat from the southernmost part of the Federation to the northernmost part of Xiang Yalan only took a few hours. The Republic of Aldera was located slightly southwest of Xiang Yalan. Departing at seven in the morning, arriving around five to six in the evening, one could return to New Jincheng.

From his return, in fact, it wasn't as long as Erwin had said.

The situation of Lisa being kidnapped made many girls working in the bar feel frightened, mainly because most of these girls had worked at Red High Heels before.

Although Erwin didn't want to scare them, they were still scared.

Among young boys and girls, many messages would be used as "peacock feathers" to show off or attract the opposite sex.

Young big boys would always use "Have you heard?" as the opening of a chat, trying to approach the girls they liked, and the girls therefore knew some news they actually didn't really want to know.

A room full of women; seeing this, Erwin's head hurt a little.

If it were just one or two, perhaps he could handle it, but there were too many of these girls, and the strong smell of inferior perfume on them was also a headache.

Everyone seemed to be saying their own words, which made it completely impossible for Erwin to communicate with them.

He slapped the table a few times with force, shaking his own hand until it hurt, but fortunately, the girls in the room finally quieted down a bit.

"You send two representatives to talk to me. Like this, I can't communicate with you!"

As he spoke, he turned and went to the side hall. This wasn't an office or a bar or anything; this was the place where the girls lived. They called Erwin over by phone.

Lanse rented quite a few houses to provide them with accommodation, right in the New Bay District, all terraced single-family houses, different from villas, but obviously much higher-class than ordinary houses.

Soon, two girls came before Erwin. After they looked at each other, they sat down.

From their faces and the kind of temperament they exuded, Erwin vaguely realized that before these two girls were deceived or trafficked to the Federation, they were at least middle-class in the Empire.

The confidence shown by educated people and uneducated people is completely different.

Educated people will obviously be more confident, and people who have received higher education, that's even more different.

But regardless, their luck didn't seem very good. The education they received didn't teach them how to distinguish between bad people and lies.

He took out a pack of cigarettes. "Is it okay?"

Both girls nodded. He pulled one out, lit it himself. "There have been many things these past few days; I don't have that much time to listen to everyone's demands, so you tell me, what do they want?"

One of the two girls, who looked fairer in skin, said, "Actually, they are all good people, but everyone is really scared. We want to know Lisa's specific situation now; we are very worried about her."

Erwin shook his head. "I don't know her situation now, but it should be okay. The people at Red High Heels are also looking for her, which shows she hasn't been sent to her client, or had any accidents."

He still didn't tell the truth. He had discovered a very interesting thing in his previous work at the pier.

Some Imperial-descendant foremen would be stricter and more cruel to them, these temporary workers, than local Federation foremen!

They would whip them at every turn, just because they stood in place for a while after finishing the work in their hands; the whip would come over, or they would curse and drive them to do other things.

In order to have a better living environment in the Federation, or rather, in order to better integrate into the local Federation group, these people had already completely stood on the opposite side of the Imperial people.

They pleased the Federation people by doing things that Federation people were unwilling to do, thereby obtaining recognition, approval, and possible opportunities.

Whether there were such people among these girls, Erwin couldn't guarantee.

Perhaps there were girls who had already "surrendered" lurking here. In order to survive, or for something else, they chose to defect to Red High Heels.

Otherwise, why would Lisa be discovered by Bu Ke?

You must know, the working hours of the bar were all at night. Lisa would sleep at home during the day. By the time she woke up and finished eating, it was already evening.

The New Bay District was still a distance from Red High Heels, and she didn't wander around everywhere. She couldn't have been discovered by Bu Ke because she walked out the door; someone must have contacted Bu Ke.

Who this person was, he wasn't sure yet, but he had already had people keep an eye on the phones of the houses where the girls lived, to see if any accidents happened.

The fair-skinned girl had a face full of worry. "Will we be in any danger?"

"That person Bu Ke is a lunatic. If he catches us..."

She hugged her arms, her body trembling slightly. Erwin might not have had any great feelings, but the girl beside her had enough empathy.

When in a safe and affluent environment, beauty is the greatest capital, the sprout of happiness.

But if in an unsafe environment, unable to help oneself, then the more beautiful, the more suffering.

Among this group of girls, those girls who looked ordinary were actually... quite indifferent.

They hadn't suffered so many terrible tortures at Red High Heels, at most, at the beginning, they were unwilling to perform or receive ordinary guests and were taught a harsh lesson.

But as they began to change, willing to perform, willing to receive ordinary guests, except for having no money, Red High Heels wouldn't abuse them either, because there was no need.

They were all the lowest-end money-making tools; no one cared what shape they were.

But those high-end resources were different; they had to be molded into different shapes according to the client's requirements, which was also the biggest pain point of being beautiful.

Erwin looked at the two girls and said softly, "I will arrange for people to come and protect you. Don't leave here for the time being these few days."

"After the storm of this matter passes, you will be safe."

The two girls didn't hear the implication in his last words. They were frightened now; where would they have the heart to do reading comprehension?

Erwin added some more, for example, that he would have people send food, clothing, and daily necessities regularly. At the same time, he also reminded the two girls to pay attention to the situation of others.

"You suspect... my God, why would there be such people!"

Both girls heard this sentence. "Could it be that Lisa was because..."

Erwin shook his head. "I'm not sure, but the possibility is very high. I heard someone ordered her service, and then she was kidnapped and taken away, missing until now."

"Bu Ke couldn't be so omnipotent as to guess she worked in our bar; someone must have revealed her whereabouts. You all must be careful."

"Lock the door at night. If you encounter problems, call for help immediately. Our people are nearby..."

Walking out of the house rented by the girls, Erwin finally breathed a sigh of relief. He took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his hairline and hair. Too troublesome, these women!

After putting his hat back on, he looked around, opened the car door, and sat in.

These few days, the new Wanli Financial Services Company had re-selected its location, right in the Imperial District. Since they had their own territory, it certainly had to be placed on their own territory.

Of course, there would still be a branch in the Triangle District, but the scale wouldn't be as large as this side.

This time, Erwin found a three-story street-facing storefront, ensuring it was "accessible from all directions." He never wanted to be blocked in an alley and left to fate again.

The new shop was still being renovated, and quite a few people had already come to borrow money. For Federation people, money was never enough to spend. Clearly, they knew borrowing money wasn't good, but no one could refuse the temptation of borrowing money.

Besides this, he also had to help Nick get the winery up and running.

They bought quite a lot of winemaking things, as well as two tons of grapes. Nick had already started preliminary brewing.

However, hearing him say these grapes weren't grapes specifically for winemaking, just grapes for eating, so the wine brewed wouldn't be as bright red as red wine.

It might be even lighter than what he brought last time, but there would definitely be no problem with the alcohol content; these grapes were very sweet!

Many things were pressing on him, which also made him realize how much work Lanse had to do every day.

Seeing the sky gradually start to darken, winter nights came earlier than summer. It was only a little past five, and the sky had already started to darken.

And at this time, a speedboat had already docked at the pier outside New Jincheng.

Although the Federation had a Coast Guard during this period, they couldn't patrol every minute and every second. Moreover, Lanse was indeed a Federation person, and the pier was full of people who knew him.

Five-thirty, Erwin rubbed his temples, intending to go downstairs to eat. The neon lights of the Night of the Empire nightclub also lit up. Next was the nightlife moment.

Ordinary people could already rest, but their work was still continuing.

At this time, the phone on the desk suddenly rang *ring-ring-ring*. He was already standing by the door, looked back, emptied his thoughts for a few seconds, turned around, and walked back, picking up the phone.

"Come to the pier to pick me up..."

A bit sleepy, squinted for a while. ===== CHAPTER 171 =====