[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-shadow-empire":3,"chapter-the-shadow-empire-the-shadow-empire-chapter-927":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},2268547,4428,"Chapter 927: In the Depths of Hell","the-shadow-empire-chapter-927",927,"\u003Cp>Some say loan sharks are devils, but those who borrow from them are devils too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One is just stronger, the other weaker—they are fundamentally no different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>People feel pity for borrowers only because they end up in a weak position.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These people always claim they didn’t understand the loan terms, or some other excuse, to convince the public they had no choice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The public is easily deceived; no matter what these weaklings say, they believe every word.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But they don’t know that before borrowing, these people understood perfectly well what they were doing, what they intended to do, and what awaited them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just like now: this gentleman before you runs a business that devours men, yet from his polished appearance and kind demeanor, you cannot link him to “devil.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aug sat in his wheelchair, staring fixedly at the property documents, thinking of his wife, his daughter, and the doctor’s threat to sue him for the hospital debt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After about ten seconds, he nodded. “Fine.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two quickly moved to the lounge sofas provided for guests and sat down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The casino had many such resting spots, allowing guests to also get work done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The lender soon produced a standard contract, filled in a series of details, and placed it before Aug. “Sign it, and the money is yours.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside the contract lay six hundred dollars—all twenty-dollar bills, thirty bills total.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had he not checked with the bank and learned they’d only lend him five hundred, he might never have signed this agreement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He picked up the pen, ready to sign, but paused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The loan shark didn’t rush him. He leaned back on the sofa, legs crossed, smoking, utterly calm—even offering advice—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You could take more time to think. This isn’t buying a pack of cigarettes. It concerns your home.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you’re unhappy with the price, you can ask other financial companies, or some real estate agents might help you out.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mayor Williams is expanding the city to accommodate more people and businesses, so naturally, he built not only new industrial zones but also new residential areas.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jin Gang City will have more housing, and with years of economic depression, the real estate market has remained sluggish—prices always stay at “slow sale” levels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aug’s apartment could be listed at twelve hundred dollars with a real estate agent, then sit for months, attracting at least a dozen viewings, before possibly selling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then the buyer would haggle, and after the agent’s commission, he’d walk away with barely a thousand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Loan sharks exist to make money, not to do charity. Neither banks nor financial firms lend based on actual property value—that’s stupid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Loan sharks seek greater profit and faster returns, so they offer higher prices to attract borrowers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could be certain his offer was among the highest in the industry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sure, the interest was a bit higher, but this was a casino!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those who need loans to survive should go to outside financial firms. In a casino, everyone plays for “speed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some borrow a thousand dollars and repay it within an hour, walking out with thousands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Others borrow two or three thousand, leave pale-faced after ten minutes, and never return.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more you see, the harder your heart becomes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After less than a minute of hesitation, Aug signed his name and pressed his fingerprint onto the document.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The loan shark glanced at the papers, confirmed everything was in order, tucked them away with the property proofs, then pushed the six hundred dollars forward. “It’s yours now. Have a pleasant day, Mr. Aug.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stood up—he still had work to do, and needed to arrange for someone to freeze the property registration under these documents to prevent further transactions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aug’s breathing grew heavy as he held the six hundred dollars—more cash than he’d ever seen in his life, not counting newspapers, magazines, or movies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the bills were light, in his hands they felt so heavy he could barely lift them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The young reporter couldn’t help saying, “You can still pay him back now—no interest within a week.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aug wavered for an instant, then shook his head. “Push me to exchange chips.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reporter wanted to say more, but Aug suddenly snapped, “Hurry!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice was loud; nearby attendants turned to look. He knew himself—if the reporter pressed further, he might truly give up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t give up. This was his last hope.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reporter finally pushed him to the counter, where he exchanged six hundred dollars for six hundred-dollar chips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the reporter moved to wheel him into the main hall, Aug told him to take him to the elevator.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maximum bet on a single table on the first floor was one hundred dollars—he wouldn’t have time here!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reporter said nothing and took him straight to the second floor, where the limits were higher—six hundred here was like five or ten on the first floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The game was tense until two hours later, when he stared blankly as the croupier cleared his last two hundred-dollar chips. A dead, hopeless aura clung to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reporter’s emotions surged and fell with every hand—he swore this was the most intense gambling he’d ever witnessed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To the powerful, perhaps it was just a small game over six hundred dollars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But for Aug, it was a battle of despair versus hope, life versus death!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d once won eleven hundred!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a miracle!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His chips were just one hundred short of doubling!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the time, the reporter had urged him: he’d won five hundred, still needed four hundred fifty—borrow a bit more, pool it together, and he might still make it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Aug’s eyes were red—he felt invincible—and lost the next hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d once been one step from the end, his last hundred dollars—yet that very hundred saved him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d endured several heart-stopping moments, each time hope within a centimeter of his grasp!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But whether it was a centimeter, a millimeter, or a kilometer—if you don’t have it, you don’t have it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, with his final two hundred taken by the croupier, the game was over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He fell silent, slumped in his wheelchair, as if his soul had been stripped away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reporter sighed and wheeled him back downstairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gentleman who lent him money saw Aug’s despair and approached again. “Looks like your luck’s bad, friend. Maybe you need another loan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aug slowly raised his head, glancing at the man with eyes full of despair and fury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The loan shark took two steps back, raising his hand in a warding gesture. “Alright, I shouldn’t have disturbed you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He chuckled twice, shook his head, and turned away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fight in the casino?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No one could do that. Look at the guards patrolling constantly—they’d draw their pistols and kill anyone threatening the casino’s interests on the spot!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was Lans’s casino. Here, even the President must follow the rules!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, that’s an exaggeration—the President has never come, so no one knows if he’d obey, but it still sounds cool to say it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Take me home.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reporter silently wheeled him to the casino entrance, then helped Aug out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lying in bed, Aug didn’t know how to tell his wife the house no longer belonged to them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guilt filled his chest; he felt despair, suffocation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps, at this moment, death was the only escape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He lay on his side, staring out the window at the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sky was small—only as big as the window. The rest was blocked by walls, and by his fellow patients.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mind was chaotic, yet strangely calm. He lay there until he fell asleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That evening, his wife brought dinner, still complaining about the missing passbook and bills arriving at home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They’d mail bills in envelopes; if the apartment had a mailbox, they’d put them inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If no mailbox, they’d slip them under the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They lived in an old apartment. Originally, mailboxes were installed, but later deemed obstructive and removed by the manager.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a while after removal, the manager sorted mail by apartment number, but eventually grew lazy—mail carriers began sliding bills directly under doors by number.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first and last few days of each month were the most terrifying for Lianbang citizens!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because they never knew what bills they’d receive, or how much they’d owe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Often, Lianbang citizens didn’t know how much something cost until weeks later, when the bill arrived.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes, a simple act cost far more than expected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This caused many lower-middle-class Lianbang families to collapse mentally each billing day upon seeing envelopes filled with bills.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aug’s wife complained about billing day too. Their situation was already dire, yet these people still sent bill after bill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We need at least eight dollars to pay all the overdue bills. Some can be delayed, but not too long.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I have less than five dollars in my pocket. Think hard—do you remember where we put the passbook?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She asked, sorting items on the bedside table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She’d asked once before; he’d said he didn’t know. So this time, she didn’t expect an answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Men sometimes forgot things the moment they turned away. She was used to it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sorry.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She heard her husband speak, and looked up, startled. “What did you just say?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sorry?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aug set down the food box. His condition was terrible—only now did his wife notice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sorry. I lost the money.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His wife froze. “You mean… you gambled?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aug rubbed his face hard with both hands, as if trying to tear off his own skin!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I… I wanted to win enough to save our home, but I lost.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His wife fell silent for a moment, her heart bitter and desolate, yet she still tried to comfort her husband: “Never mind, it’s just over a hundred dollars. Once you’re well again, earning it back won’t be hard.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Although I don’t want to say it, and you certainly don’t want to hear it, don’t do this again next time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No matter what you do, notify me first.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m sorry!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His wife hugged Ogr’s shoulder. “Everything will get better.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I lost our house too…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ogr’s wife didn’t remember how she got home. Her consciousness still lingered in the hospital, frozen at the moment her husband uttered those shocking, terrifying words!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had actually lost their house too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he did it all just to keep this house!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She couldn’t understand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps she was a housewife, unfamiliar with some things in society, but she simply couldn’t fathom why this fool had done such a stupid thing!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now they owed the hospital over nine hundred dollars, and they’d lost their house too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She sat motionless in the living room, her mind utterly blank.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The good news was they could still live in the house for six more months; the bad news was they still had to find money to pay the hospital.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in a way, this was another effective solution: the house no longer fully belonged to them. Even if the hospital went through the motions, the court couldn’t seize or sell it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But… in the end, they had lost everything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ogr returned home from the hospital—he had completely stopped treatment, because he hadn’t paid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, he occupied a bed. The hospital wasn’t short on beds; as long as he didn’t receive treatment, no fees were incurred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll find a job,” he said, sitting across from his wife and holding her hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m a skilled worker. Even though my leg is broken, my arms are fine—I can still do those jobs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“They offered me seventy dollars a month before. I’ll lower my expectations to sixty-five. There must be factories that need me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Even though… we lost the house, we still have hope.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His wife just stared at him blankly. They locked eyes for a long while. He let go of her hand and said again, “I’m sorry.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, the sound of a key turning in the lock came from the door. The woman wiped away her tears and forced a smile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their daughter had come home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl, backpack on her back, saw her father had returned—her face lit up with joyful surprise!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re better!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Oh God, I missed you so much!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ogr forced a grim smile. “I’m… yes, I’m better. I can work now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl didn’t see through his lie. The family sat together again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wife got up to prepare dinner. As her husband said, if he could find a job soon, things might still turn around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl sensed something was off, but didn’t realize what had happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next day, Ogr went out to look for work. The reporter followed behind him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For days, news in Jincheng still revolved around the clashes from the protests. They said the trial would begin soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ogr no longer cared about any of that. He only wanted a job.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, he visited several garment factories. When they learned his leg had been broken during a protest, they all rejected his application.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the words of these factory owners, they’d rather hire a novice than a skilled worker with union or labor federation ties—they had been bought!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Day after day, it was always the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Today’s Jincheng” had begun reporting on the problems workers who joined the protests now faced in their lives and jobs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Newspapers like “The Lianbang Post” and “The Lianbang Daily,” along with “The Observer,” a respected magazine studying social phenomena, placed images of the protests on their front pages.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The workers marched down the middle of the street, banners raised high, sleeves rolled up, arms waving, faces grim as if ready to devour anyone!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the content revealed their now-terrible living conditions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not finding work was merely the simplest and most common problem—they also faced medical bills, debts, and countless other issues.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ogr had encountered most of these problems. He was just like them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The report posed a question: What were the people who stopped them doing now?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was an old but still effective tactic: sowing discord, opposition, even conflict within the enemy’s ranks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, the hospital sued Ogr, accusing him of refusing to pay his medical bills and demanding the court freeze his assets to extract the owed money.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These cases had been routine. Some hospitals had delayed proceedings, but the court found the claims clear and evidence solid—no case took more than half an hour to rule on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this time they hit a snag: when the hospital’s lawyers went to the government’s asset registration office to freeze Ogr’s assets, they discovered his house was already frozen—and currently in the process of transfer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This meant the hospital could not seize or sell Ogr’s house to recover their losses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, they weren’t without options. Soon, they came knocking…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",2453,"2026-06-19T21:10:31.886Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","b9f5b82a302f3515cb4e945bb5a5f25f3ad79ec1630be59a833ba84c4a4de0ef","the-shadow-empire-chapter-928","the-shadow-empire-chapter-926",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-shadow-empire-cover.jpg"]