[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-shadow-empire":3,"chapter-the-shadow-empire-the-shadow-empire-chapter-34":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Shadow Empire",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2267654,4428,"Chapter 34: How Did You Do It?","the-shadow-empire-chapter-34",34,"\u003Cp>Families who lost their children?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Officer Braden frowned, “So you’re thinking…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Give them a child—healthy, handsome, well-mannered—and willing to take two hundred dollars!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course, they must keep their mouths shut about those two hundred dollars.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lans did not hide his thoughts, because he would still need Officer Braden’s help in the end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet his approach made Officer Braden’s eyes light up, “That’s a solid exclusive business—you shouldn’t have told me so easily.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lans leaned forward slightly, “This is my sincerity, Officer Braden. And I believe the profits from our future cooperation will far exceed this…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He smirked, looking uninterested.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Officer Braden was very interested, “I’ll keep an eye out for you. Over the years, countless children have gone missing in Jingang City.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There are plenty of suitable ages too. I have to say, you’ve opened a whole new market!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Braden slipped the envelope into his pocket, “Same time tomorrow, same place. I’ll give you an answer!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He downed his coffee in one gulp, whistling as he walked past the counter, “That kid pays!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He and his partner left the restaurant and returned to the car.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He told his partner what had just happened; his partner immediately became interested, “How much money can we make from this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Braden turned the key while watching the rearview mirror, “Unclear. Depends on how much he can negotiate with others. We can set a standard.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s the most common thing in Jingang City? Know what it is?” Braden’s voice trembled slightly—he had discovered a massive treasure, one that could grant him instant financial freedom!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before his partner could answer, he slammed the accelerator to the floor, shouting, “Illegal immigrants!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’ve hit the jackpot!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the police car speed away with astonishing speed, Lans smirked and continued savoring his coffee and waffle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The restaurant’s waffle was a bit of a mishmash—topped with maple syrup and jam, some chocolate chips, and finally a dusting of powdered sugar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, the classic Lianbang style: sweet enough to make you question life itself. But paired with unsweetened coffee, it was slightly more bearable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lans ate about a third of it before he simply couldn’t go on—each bite made his teeth scream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he paid, the price was so low he wondered if the bill had been miscalculated—the owner charged him only one dollar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two coffees totaled thirty-five cents; the waffle and burger cost sixty-five cents. Mr. Anderson really ought to come see these prices—he’s the one with the truly black heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew Officer Braden would take this seriously, because the business looked huge!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To prevent Lans from going to others and leaking this profitable opportunity, Braden would definitely help him—and try to bind him with “friendship” to keep him quiet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In reality, this business wasn’t easy at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How many illegal immigrants in Jingang City today could save a few hundred dollars?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like Elvin and his group, who worked at the docks—they could barely save three or five dollars a month, even after cutting every possible corner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if they saved five dollars every month, that’s only sixty dollars a year—it would take five years to save three hundred!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In truth, people who could save that much did exist, but they were extremely rare—perhaps one in a thousand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So this business looked promising on the surface, but in reality, it was like selling real estate to homeless people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they had money to buy a house, they wouldn’t be homeless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And since they were homeless, it meant they had no money at all!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saturday morning was when Lianbang citizens gathered outside Saint Naye Cathedral. This time, Lans arrived even earlier than before; after greeting some adults, he went to the side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young people immediately greeted him warmly when they saw him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Don’t underestimate the importance of five dollars to these youths at this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At Fat Boss’s place, a regular meal cost twenty cents; at Mr. Anderson’s restaurant, where meals cost a dollar or two, even thirty or more, those were rare exceptions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Five dollars was enough for these youths to enjoy themselves for a good while—especially since they’d experienced a fancy restaurant and gotten two dollars’ worth of free food. Every one of them now felt warmly toward Lans!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Geral was also delighted—people liking Lans was like people liking him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, not everyone was good or positive; someone asked Lans a question he found hard to answer—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lans, I’m curious—how much did you make from this deal?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Greed and envy—always the inescapable original sins. Someone had calculated that in one day, Lans had spent over a hundred dollars on them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He spent so much in a single day—didn’t that mean he was making even more from it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Plus, over the past two days, they’d all heard rumors about Mr. Anderson’s restaurant. What they were most curious about was how much Lans had profited from it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was a hard question to answer. Geral stepped forward immediately to rebuke it: “What’s it to you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man grinned, “I’m just curious—I don’t mean to offend Lans. After all, I made money too, so I’m just curious.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Others spoke up in Lans’s defense: “You don’t have to answer, Lans. We’re all grateful you thought of us back then.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Lans surprised them by answering: “All together, about a thousand dollars.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The surrounding youths all sucked in a breath. Even Geral stared at him, dumbfounded, blurting out, “That much?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The youth who’d asked first glared with jealous, bloodshot eyes: “A thousand dollars? My god—I’ve never seen that much money in my life!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lans, however, looked utterly unimpressed: “If you knew the person who gave me this job made at least two thousand from it, wouldn’t you be even more shocked?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sure enough, they all gasped again—they couldn’t imagine what it felt like to earn so much at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Lans, will there be more opportunities like this?” Enio couldn’t help asking the question everyone wanted to ask—if earning five dollars was this easy, who wouldn’t want it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All eyes turned to him. Enio looked embarrassed: “Uh, I mean—if you need help, I think I could do something for you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The youths quickly chimed in—even once a month would be a great extra income.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I can help too!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The youths’ voices grew louder. It proved that whenever money was involved, people unleashed unimaginable enthusiasm!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mr. Jobaf heard the noise from the front and turned curiously toward the youths—he saw nearly all of them clustered around Lans, which puzzled him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Remember, this was only Lans’s second time attending the Empire gathering—he probably didn’t even know everyone’s names—but he’d already won their admiration. It was strange!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d formed a good first impression of Lans. Most Empire youths who came to the Lianbang discovered the gap between them—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t as bad as some claimed, yet it clearly showed superior qualities compared to the Empire. This left these young Empire arrivals feeling inferior, paralyzed, unable to embrace their new life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d seen many new Empire youths—hesitant, timid, even afraid to greet others properly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Lans showed none of that. He seemed cheerful, outgoing, mature. Saying he was from the Empire felt less plausible than saying he was a native Lianbang citizen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mr. Jobaf sent an assistant to inquire. Soon the assistant returned, looking strangely disturbed: “You won’t believe what I found out, Mr. Jobaf.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You don’t have to tell me—just like I can dock your pay,” Mr. Jobaf disliked this obvious stalling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His assistant hurried to say, “He took the kids out and made over a hundred dollars—and he himself said he earned a thousand from the last job!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even the assistant looked stunned. Though he earned more than an average worker, a thousand dollars was still an enormous sum!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing this, Mr. Jobaf grew even more curious: “How did he do it?”\u003C\u002Fp>",1302,"2026-06-19T21:10:27.799Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","95868c3e21c3b1f04a743094c09cd3bdb16fdb83fcefedd97367077314ae2bd6","the-shadow-empire-chapter-35","the-shadow-empire-chapter-33",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-shadow-empire-cover.jpg"]