Chapter 542: Don't Interrupt Me When I'm Talking

In Lans's office sat the private casino operators from two districts. The room was very quiet at this time, and they were all pondering carefully.

Thirty percent, this was a number that made them a bit unsure how to express.

If one wanted to say... it was too much, in reality, it was much less than the fifty percent split at minimum proposed by the Koda family.

But if one wanted to say they were very happy, that actually wasn't necessarily the case!

After all, having to hand over real money to others, anyone would feel uncomfortable.

This was a form of extortion, a form of coercion, a form of blackmail!

Someone looked at the people around and couldn't help but say softly, "Mr. Lans, this... thirty percent, isn't it too much?"

Everyone else looked at him, giving him powerful support through their eyes. He looked at Lans, a bit uneasy.

Lans just smiled and said, "If you think it's too much, you can choose not to do it."

Smiles immediately appeared on that person's face, and at the same time, smiles also appeared on the faces of some others.

Some people were a bit confused by their appearance, but others reacted immediately.

Now the Lans family and the Koda family were at war. Regardless of whether they paid this thirty percent or not, the Koda family people couldn't possibly infiltrate.

As long as the Koda family people couldn't get in, and they didn't go to the Koda family side, then they could completely open the casinos without paying this money!

And they could open them very large!

People always like to use little cleverness to treat this world.

But was it possible that Lans didn't understand such a shallow truth?

No, he understood very well, better than anyone else.

Just when everyone in the office was considering refusing Lans's "blackmail," Lans said slowly, "I am a New Jincheng person, I love New Jincheng City, you all should have already had some understanding of me."

"In these two years, you have had enough time to see me, understand me, and understand what kind of person I am."

"I actually don't like violent crime, I don't blackmail or extort merchants, and I try my best not to blackmail small peddlers in the form of collecting fees."

"I am a law-abiding person."

Some slight laughter came from the room. Lans said he was law-abiding; was there anything more ridiculous than this?

Everyone was embarrassed to laugh too loudly. Lans was also laughing, "In these two years, I have seen many human tragedies. I am very sorry I used such a shocking word, but this is what I have seen."

"I have seen many people lose everything, everything, after losing everything in the casino, then borrowing usury."

"They force their wives to go out and serve guests, and even force their daughters to go out and serve guests."

"They let their parents or children go out to sell blood, and the purpose is to get some money, and then send it to the gambling table."

"This is very bad."

The laughter in the room gradually disappeared. The smiles on the faces of those who had just laughed were as happy as they were, and now the serious expressions on their faces were as solemn.

"Gambling makes people lose their families, lose their relatives. Gambling should be regulated; this is why it needs a 'license' to operate."

"I know the education level of most of you isn't high, and if I tell you some big principles, you might not understand. In short, I don't like this kind of business method of killing a hen to get an egg just for an egg."

"The federal government must have also encountered these, so it added many thresholds to the gambling industry."

"From the end of this month, no casino without my consent is allowed to operate in my territory..."

Someone immediately spoke up to interrupt Lans's words, "Mr. Lans, this isn't fair!"

Lans looked at the person who interrupted his words, "You should respect me. When I haven't finished speaking, you shouldn't interrupt me."

That person was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly lowered his head, "I am very sorry, Mr. Lans, I shouldn't have interrupted your words, I'm sorry."

Lans nodded slightly, "What place do you think is unfair?"

That person pursed his lips, "We have been operating here for many years, and..."

Lans raised his hand, "Does this have anything to do with me?"

That person was a bit stunned, and the eyes of others also showed some unhappiness, suppressed anger, and other emotions.

"This has nothing to do with me."

"So don't talk to me about fairness or unfairness. I'm just notifying you; this is my decision."

"Of course, I know some people think I am... hurting you, or blackmailing you, but please don't ignore one point."

"That is, you can choose not to operate in my territory."

"You can go to the city center, you can go to Prisia, you can go to the Starlight District, or even the Bay Area. I can't reach those places yet..."

The person who interrupted Lans's words again interrupted his words, "But those places have the Koda family, Mr. Lans."

Lans looked at him, "You interrupted my words again."

That person was stunned for a moment, a smile squeezed onto his face, "Sorry, Mr. Lans, my temper is very urgent, I didn't mean to do this, I'm sorry!"

Lans looked at him for two or three seconds, then pulled open a drawer, and in the astonished eyes of the people, took out a handgun and directly pulled the trigger.

Bang!

That guy who interrupted Lans's words multiple times trembled violently, and those who were sitting or standing behind him all closed their eyes in fright.

The gunshot was just one aspect; the main thing was the lifted skull, letting the things inside fly out with blood, like a rainstorm, falling on the faces of these people.

Everyone started to have their hearts race. Many of them might have seen dead people, or even killed people.

But at this moment, in this room, their heartbeats still couldn't be controlled and were racing wildly.

That guy's expression of astonishment was completely frozen on his face, with a small black hole on his head, but blood didn't overflow immediately.

He slowly fell down. Many people rushed in from outside the door. Lans placed the weapon by his side, "Handle the corpse."

Lans took out a cigarette case and lit a cigarette, "I don't like people always interrupting my words!"

He emphasized, "I hope you don't do the same thing."

Then he answered the question of that unlucky guy, although the person was already dead, "Just now he said that those places have the Koda family, and here doesn't, right?"

No one in the room dared to talk nonsense. Lans looked at them, "You can answer now." Everyone nodded one after another, and some people said in a low voice, "Yes, Mr. Lans, he... just said that."

"Do you all think so too?", Lans asked.

These people either remained silent or shook their heads and said no, but Lans could see that they were all perfunctory.

He pointed at these people with his finger holding the cigarette, "No, you all actually think so too, it's just that he said it, and you didn't."

"In other words, you feel that you can't afford to offend the Koda family, but you can afford to offend me, right?"

At this moment, someone suddenly understood that Lans firing wasn't just because that idiot interrupted Lans's words multiple times, but because of this core!

When the Lans family and the Koda family were at war, someone expressed "We are afraid of the Koda family but not afraid of you." What difference did this have from directly looking for death?

A faint embarrassment and terror flowed on everyone's faces, because quite a few of them really thought so.

The Koda family would really arrange for people to come to the door to deal with them, but everyone knew that Mr. Lans and the Lans family weren't cruel.

There was a very interesting little story.

It was said there was a king. The old king told him to treat his subjects well, so he didn't have much airs toward his subjects.

Please... you.... collect_(!)

He would often appear before his subjects, greeting them, joking, and talking about some very ordinary topics related to people's lives.

At first, people would still respectfully call him "Your Majesty the King," but soon people discovered that the king was a guy who was easy to get along with. They started using the king's surname to call him, such as "Your Excellency So-and-So."

They discovered that the king didn't mind such a title, and then after a period of time, they started calling the king by his name directly.

People gradually lost their awe of the king. They ignored the huge gap in each other's status.

People losing their awe of the ruler wasn't a good thing, because this often meant that chaos was about to come.

Losing awe, they started questioning some of the king's policies, started denying the king's ability, and they even wanted to overthrow the king!

Just like everything in the office at this very moment, they felt that Lans was a guy who was easy to talk to, so they dared to interrupt Lans's words at will. They dared to have the idea of "afraid of the Koda family but not afraid of the Lans family."

But it didn't matter, Lans would correct them.

Lans's gaze was as calm as before, but everyone in the room didn't dare to meet his gaze. Wherever his gaze reached, they were all people lowering their heads or looking elsewhere.

People said words like "don't dare," "won't," trying their best to make themselves not look like an idiot.

Lans smiled, "Whether you really didn't think so, or falsely didn't think so, it doesn't matter."

"Because no matter how you think, the rules are the rules."

"If any of you are willing to operate a casino in my territory and accept my management."

"Then stay. I will arrange for people to intervene in your casino's management work to prevent the kind of thing where people lose everything because of gambling."

"If you are unwilling to accept my management and supervision, then it's very simple: take your things and leave my territory."

"If anyone lets me discover that you are neither willing to accept my management nor operating a casino in my territory."

He didn't say what these people would encounter, just smiled and shook his head, but this meaningful shake was more unsettling than saying something.

"You go and consider it. There are still two weeks until the end of the month."

"You still have time to consider."

After he finished speaking and waited for a few seconds, someone stood up, "I am willing to cooperate with you, Mr. Lans."

Immediately followed by the second, the third.

These people thought very clearly. Leaving the Imperial District, they weren't very familiar with other areas. They had to deal with local gangs and had to hide from the Koda family's inspections.

And it was impossible to operate their casinos very large. Maintaining the current scale, two or three gambling tables, and then the risk doubled.

That was better than staying in Lans's territory. They could expand the scale of the casino. Even if they handed over thirty percent, they would still earn, and it was possible they would earn even more than before.

Lans nodded slightly, "Very good...", he glanced at Ervin, who took out a notebook, "You guys register with Ervin, and in the end, we will take this registration as the standard..."

Not everyone agreed immediately. Some still needed to consider, and it wasn't excluded that someone might leave here. Who knew?

After letting these people leave, a few young people came in and started cleaning the floor and sofa. Ervin suggested, "It's best not to make it so bloody in the office next time. It's very troublesome to clean up, and there's a possibility of danger."

Lans nodded, but then smiled and said, "We will change places soon. The renovation at the old bank side is almost coming to an end, and we will be able to move in soon."

The "old bank" he spoke of was the Jin Da Bank, which was Mr. Chobaf's bank.

Before he died, he mortgaged the bank along with his villa and manor to Lans to exchange for some funds to support the bank's explosion.

It's just that this little money couldn't support it at all for his bank. When the run on the bank was already uncontrollable, even a national bank had the risk of bankruptcy!

After all, it was impossible for any bank to honestly put all the depositors' money in the vault. They also needed to use this money to earn money; otherwise, why would they give depositors such high profits?

As long as they couldn't put all the money in the bank, once facing a run, they would also be finished.

After Lans got the bank, he let people renovate it. Its previous renovation style was obviously not so compatible with Lans's "company," so he found a designer, redesigned it, and entered the renovation state.

Once that side started to be used, this side would be abandoned.

Ervin was also looking forward to it, "I hope it can give us a surprise!"

The two chatted for a while, and the phone ring in front of Lans rang. He stopped his conversation with Ervin, "I hope it's good news."

Subsequently, when it rang for the third time, he picked up the phone.

The call was from Councilor Williams.

"I heard Chali is missing?"

Lans laughed twice, "Seems like it. I let people go find him. As long as he is still in New Jincheng, he can definitely be found."

Councilor Williams said "Hmm," "After finding him, don't let him shut up first. Hide him. Some things might be able to use him."

As soon as he said this, Lans understood.

Seeing that it was almost mid-year, the mayoral election would soon begin, which also meant that Councilor Williams was going to "sever" from the Bay Area.

Then, mastering a "time bomb" at this time had more value and significance for him.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 543 =====