Chapter 828: Small City

When people encounter some sudden situations, they often can't react, but their bodies have more direct coping measures than their thinking, which is: whatever others are doing, they are doing.

Carl shouted "Run" while pulling his wife and children, and his wife could only follow him and run.

As for the two children, they didn't treat this as a terrifying thing to deal with; instead, they giggled, as if this were a game between their parents and them.

The two children let go of their mother's hand and ran toward the front faster. Seeing this scene, Carl breathed a sigh of relief.

But then a situation occurred. The handbag in his wife's hand fell to the ground. When she turned around to pick it up, she was dragged forward by Carl and lost her center of gravity, stumbling a few steps before falling to the ground.

Her face was full of an expression of fear mixed with confusion. She looked at her husband, "What the hell are you going crazy for?!"

Carl still wanted to pull his wife up, but he turned back and saw those guys wearing trench coats getting closer and closer to him. He could only give his wife an expression of "you're on your own," then turned around, waving his small arms and legs, and continued running toward the front.

His wife, who fell on the sidewalk, looked at her husband's back as he ran out. She sat there, running her hands through her hair, "What the fuck?"

Saying this, she heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind, and a trace of unease and fear slowly climbed into her heart. She slowly turned around and saw pairs of shiny leather shoes reflecting the streetlight in the dark night.

Then she looked up along the pant legs on these leather shoes. Trench coats with red armbands, and faces hidden in the shadows one by one.

She couldn't see these people's appearances clearly, only a rough outline, and a pair of eyes that were very bright even in the dark night!

"I..."

She wanted to say something, but these people didn't give her a chance at all. One of them took out a pistol from his pocket and pulled the trigger at her forehead.

This time they used small-caliber bullets, the kind of bullets that didn't have a strong gunshot sound even if they didn't do any processing.

Mayor Wei De and the Mayor of New Birmingham had reached some cooperation agreements, allowing Lanse and them to operate in New Birmingham, but there was one condition: they couldn't create large-scale riots.

New Birmingham was just a small city with only 200,000 people. Once a huge riot occurred, it was easy to make the already few citizens run away even more.

So small-caliber pistol bullets were used in this operation, just like the weapons used by agents in movies. The gunshots were all "piupiupiu," and not particularly loud.

Hearing the gunshot sound behind him, Carl ran faster, but he was too fat!

He only ran out a distance of 100 meters from the restaurant entrance to here, and he was already breathing heavily.

Every time he breathed, he could feel the air rushing through his lung lobes as if it were on fire. His entire body was issuing a strong protest, telling his brain that he couldn't run anymore!

Never before had he disliked himself for being too fat like this!

I should lose weight!

Regret spread uncontrollably at this moment. Sweat beads on his forehead kept sliding down with his running movements, and he didn't know if it was tears or just simple sweat.

He ran forward while cursing, and as he ran, he couldn't run anymore.

The two children also stopped in place, looking confused at their mother who fell to the ground and was stepped over by those people.

They didn't even have time to ask anything before Carl shouted loudly with all his strength, "Run, keep running, don't stop!"

The two children were startled. They finally realized that something was not quite right and began to run faster.

But Carl couldn't run anymore.

He didn't know how far he had run, but he couldn't run anymore!

Right!

The pistol in his hand!

He leaned against the storefront window that was already closed on the side of the road, hurriedly took out the gun his subordinate gave him. He tried to shoot at those people, but he found he couldn't pull the trigger!

Fuck!

He was sweating profusely and looked at those people again. What went wrong?

He didn't know!

His brain was very messy now, and he completely forgot how to deal with these things. He hadn't fired a gun for several years!

He tried to pull the slide, but still couldn't pull the trigger. The hammer was also pulled back by him, but it was still useless.

Fuck!

He cursed again, violently smashed the pistol against the storefront window twice, and then looked at those people who were getting closer and closer, and could only throw the pistol at them and continue running.

Only this time, he really couldn't run anymore. His running speed wasn't even as fast as an ordinary person's walking speed.

And they had just finished eating, and Carl had eaten a lot.

His wife ordered a lot of dishes, but to keep her figure, she wouldn't eat her fill of every dish. She just ate a little, maybe just a bite.

If she encountered something she liked very much, she might eat two bites, and the rest were all stuffed into Carl's stomach. It was conceivable how much food he had stuffed into his stomach!

Half of the food for three or four adults' meals was in his stomach!

After running a few steps, he suddenly bent over and vomited. The food that hadn't been digested yet, some table wine, and some soup and sauce all vomited out of his mouth.

He walked forward slowly while vomiting, until the sound of footsteps behind him stopped.

He held his stomach, stopped, and slowly turned around, looking at those people who were looking at him calmly, and the weapons they raised.

"Holy crab..."

The piupiu gunshot sound suddenly became intense, and the small-caliber bullets were still full of lethality at close range.

Many small holes immediately appeared on his body, and he began to bleed outward. Even on his face and head, he was hit by many bullets.

The corpse weighing more than 200 pounds fell to the ground with a bang a few seconds later, as if the ground had shaken twice.

The two children cried and continued to run forward. Just when they were about to run out of this street, from the street corner, several guys wearing the same trench coats appeared again.

They looked coldly and ruthlessly at the two running little things...

The Mayor of New Birmingham withdrew his gaze from the street outside. He seemed to hear gunshots, but wasn't sure because the sound was too small, and... it sounded different from the gunshots he knew.

"Mr. Mayor?"

The sound from behind made him stunned for a moment. He came back to his senses, looked at the half-burned cigarette in his hand, and flicked the ash.

The ash rolled away and disappeared into the dark night along with the wind blowing from the window. He took another puff of the cigarette, then turned around and looked at Lanse, who was sitting in the guest seat in the bright room.

"I wandered off, sorry."

He returned to the table and sat down, "Your proposal... I think it's acceptable."

"But, Mr. Lanse, you know, I have never done these things, and I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing."

Sitting opposite the Mayor was Lanse.

Mayor Wei De had already talked to the Mayor of New Birmingham, talking about the idea of everyone getting rich together.

New Birmingham was just a small city. To be honest, there weren't many benefits here, and the eyes of capitalists wouldn't fall here.

Many people would actually have some roughly similar confusion or questions: why was the gap between federal cities so big!

Some cities looked very prosperous, with a very strong commercial atmosphere, and one could feel the pulse of a modern city everywhere.

But there were also some cities that appeared particularly primitive. One couldn't even see a few high-rise buildings in the entire city.

The tallest building in New Birmingham was only eight stories high, and the others were very low-rise buildings.

There were no major pillar industries here, couldn't drive any local economic development, and ordinary people didn't have much money in their pockets.

Without money, except for taxes and necessary expenses, the disposable income was very small. The capital market was very small. Investing in anything here basically couldn't recover the cost.

People here couldn't afford goods worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, nor could they afford a watch worth thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

So it didn't appear prosperous enough.

Not prosperous enough meant that the Mayor of New Birmingham couldn't get too many benefits from this city.

After all, whether a city's ruler could fill his appetite didn't depend on how many underclass workers the city had, but on how many capitalists willing to spend money the city had.

Mayor Wei De talked to him about this matter. Lanse could cooperate with them and make money for them.

And Mayor Wei De also mentioned that his cooperation with Lanse wouldn't have any sequelae. All legal problems would be borne by Lanse and his people.

Mayor Wei De and the Mayor of New Birmingham only needed to check whether the funds in several accounts had arrived on time.

The only thing they needed to do was to open a green light for the Lanse family during the early expansion stage, for example, in terms of police, for example, in terms of policy, anyway, it was all within their power.

This was his first formal cooperation with a gang, so he was a bit unaccustomed to it.

Lanse smiled and continued to persuade and appease him, "Mr. Mayor, actually, you can take a look at Jincheng now, this base of the Lanse family."

"Before we took over Jincheng, Jincheng was a very chaotic place."

"There were the Five Families..."

The Mayor nodded, "I've heard of this."

Lanse didn't care about the rhythm of him interrupting his speech, but smiled and nodded, then continued, "And about seventy to eighty gangs, and some scattered community families, community gangs."

"During the day, those big shots ruled the city, and at night, it became the world of gangs."

"Various vicious crimes appeared constantly, and people's panic and despair about public security permeated the entire city."

"Without exaggeration, it was these people who caused the water level of Angel Lake to rise so much."

The Mayor couldn't help but reveal a smile at the corner of his mouth. Clearly, he had also heard this joke, which showed how bad the public security in Jincheng was.

"But!" Lanse's tone suddenly rose, "Mr. Mayor, since we solved the problem of the Five Families and completely took over Jincheng, you can go and see it yourself, or arrange for someone to go and see it."

"I dare not say that the public security of the entire Jincheng is the first in the Federation, but it is definitely in the first echelon."

"No gunfights, no kidnappings, no vicious crimes. The gang groups have started to care more about social stability than the police. You can't see what's happening here in other places at all!"

"We are different from others!"

"We never suck the blood of ordinary people, and we don't profit by harming others. Jincheng has completely canceled various fees and protection fees. The shops on the street almost have no extra expenses at all!"

"So you don't need to worry at all that our entry will make this place more chaotic."

"On the contrary, by next year, you will be able to see a brand-new New Birmingham."

"No gunfights between gangs, no protection fees, no harassment of ordinary people. Almost every industry can't feel the existence of gangs!"

"You want stability, and we want it too!"

The Mayor kept nodding while listening to his long speech, "You said it very well, Lanse. I have also learned about you and those people of yours through some of my own ways, so we have the opportunity to sit down and talk."

"I have one more question..."

Lanse made an invitation gesture, "Please speak."

"I have completely handed over the gang aspect to you. I believe in you and Mayor Wei De, but what about the Contraband Administration?"

"If you sell alcohol here just like you do in Jincheng, almost semi-publicly, will the Hazardous Materials Administration find trouble for you?"

Lanse revealed a smile, "This is my business!"

"Don't worry, no matter whether we can handle these people or not, the things we discuss in the end won't change."

"Ten percent of the profits generated in New Birmingham will be yours, not a cent less. You can arrange for an accountant to come over, or arrange for someone you trust."

"Of course, I also want to remind you that it's best if this person can be obedient. Don't let him feel that he can make decisions on these matters. I don't want any unnecessary misunderstandings between us!"

After the Mayor heard this, he laughed twice. He knew Lanse's thoughts and also understood his worries.

If it were some people who weren't smart enough, feeling that they relied on the Mayor to occupy a leading position in this trade, and acted recklessly, it would indeed cause trouble.

Mr. Mayor was a very easy-to-talk-to person, or rather, he was actually very sincere, "I won't send anyone to supervise your work, Lanse. I believe in you, just like I said just now, this is not a one-time deal."

"If you deceive me or damage my interests, we still have a long time ahead!"

Lanse also nodded in agreement with his view, "Then have we reached a consensus on the opinions?"

The Mayor nodded and said, "At present, there is indeed no disagreement."

Then Lanse and he both stood up, and their two hands were tightly held together, "Happy cooperation, Mr. Mayor!"

"Happy cooperation, Mr. Lanse!"

Some faint gunshots sounded outside the window again. If one didn't listen carefully, one couldn't hear it clearly.

The next day, the local newspaper in New Birmingham reported a piece of news—

"Wanli Labor Service Company Settles in New Birmingham"

The report stated that Wanli Labor Service Company was the largest labor service company in Likai State. It mainly provided labor matching services for people looking for work and enterprises needing to hire workers.

Workers could register at Wanli Labor Service Company. If enterprises needing workers continued to increase the number of workers, they could directly cooperate with Wanli Labor Service Company, providing perfect services for both sides as a brand-new platform.

At the same time, Wanli Labor Service Company was also very special. Unlike unions, they didn't charge various extra fees. Local workers could register for free, and illegal workers needed to pay to register, only one dollar a month.

Besides that, Wanli Labor Service Company also provided some services similar to commercial insurance. Only one dollar, and they would contract all the work-related injury expenses of the workers, which was something unions couldn't do.

The report introduced in detail the business situation of Wanli Labor Service Company in Likai State, and didn't hide the exclusion of unions by the labor service company, which triggered intense discussion.

In this era when unions were rampant, daring to openly say that they didn't welcome union participation was indeed a thing that required great courage.

But it couldn't be denied that some people liked this, especially capitalists.

They were tortured by various worker benefits, work-related injury reimbursement, and unions. The company had just opened, and many people came to register, including those enterprises that used labor. They also came to inquire about how to match with the labor service company.

This was just something on the surface. Under the surface, a large number of Lanse family members began to enter the city. Lanse gave everyone a requirement: before January 15th, sweep clean those people in this city who didn't listen!

There was a small hillside in the south of New Birmingham. One could overlook the city under the hillside from the hillside, so this piece of land was developed into a rich area from the beginning.

In a villa on the hillside, five guys who looked very... temperamental sat together.

Some appeared indifferent, some were cursing, and some were furious.

"They are too bullying!"

"Carl and... are already dead. This is their style!"

"For us, it has reached the point of life and death. We must put down the previous contradictions and prejudices and unite!"

One of the guys slapped the table and said loudly, "If we don't unite today, soon we will be eaten by them!"

"These people of the Lanse family are more terrifying, more evil, and more ruthless than any gangs we have seen before trying to take root here!"

Others looked at him, and his face began to turn red gradually, "Are you guys not talking?!"

"Don't let me talk alone. You guys say something yourselves!"

"Is it to go to war with them, or are we going to leave here now, sneaking away from this city!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 829 =====

"Are we going to war with them, or are we leaving this place right now, slinking out of this city with our tails between our legs!"

(End of chapter)