Chapter 237: Choices and the Imperial Situation

"Still no news?"

Bulinton sat behind the office desk smoking. The cigarette butts in the ashtray on the desk had already piled up.

It had been almost two hours. Regardless of whether they succeeded or not, they should have fed back some news.

But until now, no sound had come back.

"No, the phone hasn't rung. There's one more thing, Boss. There seem to be some people around the nightclub."

Bulinton was stunned when he heard this sentence, but immediately, a kind of biological innate perception made him nervous. He stood up immediately, walked to the window, and looked outside.

The lights of the nightclub illuminated some places at a close distance, but the streets in the distance were still shrouded in darkness.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but he seemed to see some figures flashing by in some alley entrances!

They were being monitored!

Damn it!

He started to become nervous, and there was some sweat in his palms. He also realized that the batch of people who went out might have had problems.

He walked to the table in big strides and picked up the phone, but didn't know who to call.

If the batch of people who went to make the encirclement really had problems, then now, they might also be in danger.

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva. His subordinates were still watching him. He sat back in the chair, pretending he was very calm. "I'll consider it. You go out first."

The subordinate nodded and left.

Afterward, he dialed the mayor's secretary's number, and the phone was quickly connected.

The secretary lived in the mayor's house, which sounded a bit strange, but that was just how it was.

Calls would often be connected to the secretary's room first. The secretary thought this call needed to wake the mayor, and the mayor would answer the phone; otherwise, it was all handled by the secretary.

The secretary wasn't young, less than thirty years old, but everyone could see that he was very valued by the mayor. There was gossip saying he might be the political successor cultivated by the mayor.

But now these had nothing to do with Bulinton. He just wanted to know what exactly happened!

"What matter is it that you have to call in the middle of the night?"

"It's like this. We had a plan before..." He told his idea of how they mobilized Lanse's group and then ambushed them in a suitable place.

The secretary listened quietly the whole time and didn't feel there was anything inappropriate about their plan.

From the perspective of strategy, it was actually very suitable. Attacking a building, if you don't use heavy weapons, the price to pay would be very tragic, and it might not necessarily be done very well.

"... It's already been an hour and a half now, and no news has come back. I'm worried that something might have already happened."

"Just now I discovered some people watching around the nightclub. They are very likely Lanse's people."

After the mayor's secretary finished listening, he asked a critical question. "How did you know where Lanse's bar was?"

Bulinton told the way they obtained this bar information. The mayor's secretary, who had always maintained emotional stability, couldn't help but laugh out loud after hearing it.

"Don't you know that there are many of Lanse's people in the Imperial District?"

Bulinton coughed. "I know. We have already been very careful, and if we didn't use this method, it would be very difficult for us to find their location."

The mayor's secretary laughed and sighed again. "So this is the reason why you have always been mixing in gangs and haven't made a name for yourselves. Wait for my news."

He said this and hung up the phone, then dialed the duty phone of the Imperial District branch.

"I am the secretary of the mayor's office at City Hall. I want to know if there is a gang firefight in the Imperial District tonight?" He reported his family name. The operator on the opposite side didn't expect such a big figure to call in the middle of the night and appeared a bit nervous.

"No... sir, no." There was the sound of flipping through books in the receiver. "I checked the police dispatch records for the night. Someone reported that they were bitten by the toilet and couldn't stand up, there were couples quarreling, and there were prostitutes and girls arguing over prostitution fees."

"But there were no reports of firefight incidents, sir."

"Were there any reports of shooting incidents?"

"Uh... sir, I checked once, and there weren't any either. It's very safe tonight, sir."

The mayor's secretary was silent for a while. "I know. Thank you."

He even thanked the other party politely, and then hung up the phone, then dialed Bulinton's number. "Your people have very likely been finished."

"You very likely fell into Lanse's trap. I really doubt if it was a correct decision for the mayor to hand over the Imperial District to you."

"If you can't handle them, there are still many people in Fides who want to replace your position. Think clearly first."

This kind of gang firefight failure, in the eyes of the mayor's secretary, didn't have the slightest influence on him or the mayor.

Anyway, they were all social scum. Even if more died, it wouldn't make him feel heartache. On the contrary, them not being able to complete the mayor's plan was the most headache-inducing thing.

As for why he was very sure that something had happened?

Because in the plan Bulinton told him just now, there was the plan to attack the bar first. In other words, if they didn't have problems, they must have opened fire.

Only opening fire could attract Lanse's family people to go to rescue. If they just used fists to attack each other, the situation would be under control, and Lanse's family people wouldn't go to that side.

So as long as they didn't have problems, they must have used weapons, but the police station didn't have anyone reporting it, so there weren't many possibilities.

If they didn't act according to the plan at all, then what made them not act according to the plan?

Clearly, the plan was interrupted!

Either they acted, and even attracted Lanse's family people, but they didn't call back.

The police branch is helping to cover it up. These sons of bitches, sooner or later I will replace them all!

Bulinton still wanted to say something, but the mayor's secretary hung up the phone directly with the excuse of needing to rest.

It could be seen that he didn't have much patience for trash.

Bulinton gritted his teeth and dialed another number, the number for Fides.

"Boss, we have been finished by Lanse's family people for more than forty. The mayor is very dissatisfied with us, saying that if we can't solve Lanse's family people, they will hand over the Imperial District to others to manage."

The leader of the Viper Gang is called Snake. He has an ordinary figure, but he has a very special head, making his head shape look pointed, just like the shape of a poisonous snake.

This person is very ruthless. He is the first-generation Boss of the Viper Gang and also a person with some ability, but only some.

For those gangs in underdeveloped cities, being ruthless enough and obedient enough, they will definitely be able to succeed.

The federal government's management of all social strata is actually not in place. They very much need these gangs to assist them in managing the entire city. After all, some things are very difficult to do from the perspective of the federal government.

But if it is changed to the gang side, it will become very easy.

It is a scandal for federal law enforcement personnel to beat citizens, but it is quite normal for gang members to beat citizens.

The beaten citizens will not only not make a scene, but they might not even report it to the police!

But if a politician does this, even if the person being beaten is beaten until their head is broken and bleeding, they will make a scene to the end!

And gangs doing this kind of thing is not a political scandal; it is just a small problem in the average security rate!

Snake listened to Bulinton say those reasons and was also a bit annoyed, but he quickly calmed down.

"Do you think the income of New Jincheng is really more than ours?"

Bulinton nodded repeatedly. Although Snake couldn't see it, "The protection fees here are basically ten or twenty dollars per family. There are two or three thousand operators in the Imperial District. Every month, protection fees can be collected to two or three thousand dollars or even more."

"And the alcohol here... is simply damn profiteering!"

"I heard... that the profit of a glass of alcohol on his side is four times or more!"

The plan he mentioned is another gang leader from Fides who is developing in the Port District and has already initially gained a foothold.

Although the local street families and the Honggou Gang have had friction with them, their bars have already opened and have already started to make a profit.

Snake's breathing was clearly heavy. "In other words, if we can occupy the Imperial District, it can bring us tens of thousands or even more than one hundred thousand in income every month?"

"I'm afraid it's like this. I heard gossip saying that Lanse family's alcohol price is very cheap, but the daily income can still be more than ten thousand..."

Snake's eyes were a bit unfocused!

"Thirty... thousand..."

Suddenly, both of them were silent.

In Fides, although they could also make money, the city size and consumption capacity were placed there. Their income every month was about fifty to seventy thousand dollars.

After these money were divided, they actually couldn't get much left. Gangs in this kind of relatively backward area are all like this. Without the situation of profiteering businesses, it is very difficult to accumulate wealth quickly.

"New Jincheng is an opportunity." Snake sighed. "I will immediately mobilize manpower to go over, including myself."

Hearing this, Bulinton was a bit surprised. "Then Fides..."

"Don't want it."

Snake was very decisive. "If New Jincheng can provide us with half a year's income in one month, we have absolutely no reason to stay here, Bulinton."

"You protect yourself and the remaining people first, wait for me to arrive there..."

After hanging up the phone, Bulinton told people not to run around before dawn. He didn't sleep all night.

There were a few times when he was just about to close his eyes, the faces of those former brothers and members appeared in his half-asleep and half-awake dream, making him wake up from his half-asleep and half-awake state!

Until dawn, the not-so-much light seemed to soothe the fear in his heart, making him wake up from his dream.

He rubbed his face, walked out of the office, stood on the stairs, and patted the stair railing hard. The old-fashioned stair railing made a "bang-bang" sound.

"Have they returned?"

A head poked out from downstairs. "No, Boss. No one has returned, and there is no phone call."

Bulinton returned to the office, walked to the window, looked at the reviving city, and suddenly felt a burst of fear!

This city, this area, and them, were not as "easy" as he had imagined before.

He thought the mayor was on his side, and the Hazardous Materials Bureau was also on his side, so he had no worries.

Now it seems, it was too optimistic.

After it was completely bright, Lanse got up, washed his face, and sat in the restaurant eating the freshly made dinner. Everyone else was here.

They made the middle house into a place similar to a public area. Every morning everyone would make breakfast here and eat together. Sometimes they would gather here after returning at night, chat, and then return to their respective residences.

"Did they come out last night?" Lanse asked while eating a sandwich.

If this toast thing doesn't have those vegetables, eggs, ham, etc., it actually doesn't need to be toasted.

But if it needs to hold something soft, it's best to toast it, so the taste will be better, and the flavor layers will be richer.

Mo Lisi shook his head. "They never came out. They might have already noticed."

Hailamu sat beside him, his face a bit hot. "My problem, I should have left two living mouths."

He shot and killed all those who didn't die, leading to no one moving for help. If someone moved for help, perhaps Bulinton and the others would have come out of the Imperial Night.

Lanse knew the structure of the Imperial Night very well. Once they decided to defend to the death, for people who wanted to rush in, it would be a nightmare, and that place would also become a one-sided meat grinder.

Because the moment you rush in from the front door, you can't determine where your enemy is waiting for you with a gun. By the time you discover the other party, the bullet might have already shot into your body.

The Imperial Night had too many rooms and the location was too empty, but there weren't many doors and windows. It wasn't a good building to attack.

Lanse's original intention was to find a way to lure Bulinton out, and then kill them at the door of the Imperial Night.

As a result, Bulinton didn't come out all night, as if they knew something.

Hailamu felt this was his fault. If he left two living mouths to make a phone call to deceive, maybe he could have deceived Bulinton out.

Lanse raised his hand, stopping him. "This is God thinking he shouldn't have died last night, but it doesn't matter, we still have opportunities, many opportunities!"

Deruixi (the young man who joined with Hailamu) said on the side, "The bar on West Street might have encountered people from the Hazardous Materials Bureau last night."

Lanse looked at him.

Deruixi wasn't as... lively as Hailamu, nor did he take the initiative to do various things like Lao En, so he looked a bit more passive, so now his job was to follow Meiluo and be responsible for logistics work.

The bar needed alcohol, Meiluo mobilized some from the warehouse and arranged for him to transport it over.

So he was very familiar with all the bars and managers under Lanse.

"Tell me." Lanse wanted another sandwich. Twenty years old, it was the time to grow the body.

"They encountered a guy who was just like what you said, never seen before, but as soon as he appeared, he showed a look of being very familiar with the bar and a bit impatient."

"He said he was introduced by a friend, but the doorman didn't know the name he said. They didn't let him in, just told him there was no bar here."

After Lanse finished listening, he stroked his eyebrows with his fingers. "The bar on West Street has to change locations. They can find it, and it's very likely they will have actions."

"The current Hazardous Materials Bureau is not the same as other law enforcement departments. They don't need any conclusive evidence, and the Judicial Bureau will give them legal documents."

"They can open them for themselves. If it really is their people, they might have actions today."

"Meiluo, you arrange it."

Meiluo, who sat not far from Lanse but didn't take the initiative to make a sound most of the time, nodded. "I know."

Erwen sat on Lanse's left hand, Mo Lisi on the right hand. They both sat close to Lanse, which also represented their position in this small collective, and even the Lanse family.

Although everyone hoped to be able to sit by Lanse's side, most people here also understood that they didn't possess that kind of ability.

They weren't high-achieving students who graduated from famous universities. Some of them might not even have graduated from high school. Letting them do things wasn't a big problem.

But letting them decide how to do it, who to do it, they might not be able to take responsibility.

There were also some other things, for example, quite a few Imperial people had come to the Federation through various channels recently.

The interior of the Empire had changed from the Uprising Army besieging the royal family to partition and chaotic fighting. The Emperor not only escaped the danger but was even almost back to the Imperial Capital!

If it weren't for the Uprising Army that occupied the Imperial Capital resisting tenaciously, maybe the Emperor would be sitting on his throne issuing orders now.

This also made the stance of some nobles change. They thought the "rule" of the royal family hadn't ended, and the Uprising Army performing like dog shit also made them disappointed. Some nobles and capitalists started to change their stance and stood on the side of the royal family.

The royal family that obtained the support of these nobles and capitalists started to plan to transfer to the south of the Empire. The tyrant dictator Emperor, who was seen by the Federation people as both stupid and irritable, even shouted the slogan of "reform" to cater to the new forces in the south!

The Imperial situation that had already been clear became confusing again. Many people, especially Federation people, were actually waiting for the moment the Emperor was sent to the guillotine by the Uprising Army.

However, it was a pity that they would very likely not see it. Some people thought that the Empire would maintain a state of chaotic fighting for a very long time next.

Many people couldn't see the hope of peace and could only move their whole families to other countries constantly, and as the royal family lost control of the central and northern regions, plus the new forces in the south weren't actually that loyal to the royal family.

Now the number of people fleeing the Empire had become more.

The Federation was one of their main choices. After all, people had been blowing that there was gold everywhere in the valleys of the western Federation these years, just like there was money everywhere on the financial street of the capital!

People couldn't distinguish the truth or falsehood of these words, but they only knew that everyone was saying so, and there was no one to refute it, so these must be true.

Of course, Xiang Yalan was also a main choice. Xiang Yalan's population base wasn't that high, and there were more primeval forests. Some areas didn't even have human smoke, which had great attraction for Imperial people.

What could be foreseen was that the number of illegal immigrants in the Federation would appear to have an explosive growth! ===== CHAPTER 238 =====