I can return to the age of mysterious

Chapter 29: 029 Black Spade A_1 Chapter 29: 029 Black Spade A_1 Phil was stunned.

In the nearby darkness, a woman was also frozen.

“There’s an expert…” she held her breath, cautiously retreating several steps along the corner of the wall, gradually disappearing into the shadows.

“It’s an assassin, specifically here to assassinate you.” Casio glanced at Phil, who appeared as pale as a ghost in the distance, and slowly spoke.

“What exactly does your family do for a living?”

Under the night sky, yellow light from the street lamps mixed and blended with the shadows.

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“This is your family’s place?” Casio looked over from afar.

In front of him was an immense gray manor, surrounded by tall walls and an iron gate. He could barely make out the crowns of the trees, and even further away, the dimly visible towering spire of a house. Glancing to the sides, it seemed to be located in a villa district.

Most of the rich people of Baichuan City had a property here.

“Yes, but I usually don’t live here. I normally stay on Rendong Street, which is closer to school. This is where my elder brother usually lives, and my mother occasionally comes to stay here too.”

Phil spoke word after word, clearly displaying a sluggish mentality, likely still scared from earlier.

“Let’s go.”

Casio picked at his fingernail, which had a layer of dried blood underneath.

Half an hour later, they were in a brightly lit and cozy hall. Phil, seated on a brown leather sofa, held a white porcelain cup, sipping the hot coffee inside.

His earlier terror seemed to be significantly abated.

The hall was decorated with an understated luxury, the high ceiling adorned with a brightly luminous crystal lamp. Gold thorn patterns were scattered across the walls, seemingly impressed upon the wallpaper. Above these patterns, vibrant and vague oil paintings of landscapes hung.

Wooden tables and chairs, velvet cushions, a glass coffee table, and beautiful housemaids attending to them periodically, serving tea and water.

It was apparent that Phil was not from an ordinary family. According to him, both his father and brother owned several multi-city corporations.

Casio sat beside Phil, in front of him a transparent coffee table decorated with gold along its edges. On it sat three saucer-like milk-white coffee dishes. Sitting directly across from him on a similar sofa was a handsome young man with a refined and elegant demeanor.

Matthew, Phil’s older brother, was twenty-six years old.

He had a dignified face, deep-set and 3D. His brown hair was combed back, revealing a broad forehead. A pair of crescent-shaped gold-rimmed glasses rested on his nose, and his skin was a healthy bronze color, not pale. Matthew was wearing a white shirt, with what seemed to be the silver chain of a pocket watch dangling from the pocket over his chest.

“I’ve already sent someone to deal with the corpses. We are really fortunate to have Mr. Li Wei’s presence this time. Otherwise, I fear Phil would’ve been in grave danger,” Matthew gently set down the cup of coffee in his hand.

“It’s no problem, it was the least I could do.”

Casio took a sip of his coffee and slowly swallowed.

“Brother, why would someone want to assassinate me? It’s really too scary! When I saw that dagger, my mind went blank from fear. Thank goodness…” Phil glanced at Casio sitting next to him, his eyes filled with gratitude.

“Since you asked, I won’t hide it from you anymore,” Matthew looked at Casio and said, “Mr. Li Wei does not need to leave.”

The following words from Matthew held a wealth of information.

In short, the business Phil’s family ran was not an ordinary company, but a gray one, transitioning between legality and illegality. And the main business of the company was simple, one word: alcohol.

You should know, the Hong Li Federation had explicitly implemented prohibition from February in the 130th year of the Federation calendar to June in the 151st year, and even enshrined the prohibition into the federation’s constitution. This piece of legislation was known as the Trent Prohibition Act, which had been implemented on February 18th of the 130th year.

According to this law, it was illegal to manufacture, sell, or even transport beverages with an alcohol content exceeding 0.6 percent. Drinking alcohol at home was not illegal, but sharing drinks with friends or holding a drinking party was illegal and offenders would be fined.

The maximum penalty was a fine of 3,500 Federal coins and half a year of imprisonment. Only people over the age of 20 were allowed to buy alcohol and they needed to provide proof of age and could only purchase it at designated places.

This law was for advocating prohibition and to reduce societal crime problems. However, prohibition lead to widespread bootlegging and many people became rich by selling alcohol illegally. Prohibition also allowed certain underworld organizations to flourish, and they amassed enormous profits during this time.

In June of the 151st year, the federal government repealed this law, removing the constraints on private alcohol operations.

Theoretically, anyone could start a company and sell alcohol after obtaining the right to do so. But in reality, certain organizations had consolidated their dominance in the alcohol industry over the span of twenty years.

Their influence reached into every dark corner.

So, in reality, if an alcohol company wanted to sell liquor in a county or city, it had to deal with those organizations and agree on profit-sharing arrangements. Moreover, when conducting other types of business, there was no avoiding interaction with them.

The Kanon Corporation, started by Phil’s father, had the backing of one of the major underworld organizations in North Flow Country: Black Spade A. This was one of the largest organizations in North Flow Country, with an extremely broad range of activities. Their outwardly legitimate industries included selling alcohol, tobacco, and transportation.

Under the table, they sold prohibited goods such as firearms, untraceable antiques, medicine, etc. Of course, at times, Black Spade A also provided protection or assassination services, which were priced extravagantly.

Typically, no one in North Flow County would dare to provoke an influential organization like Black Spade A. However, in recent months, a group called Sand Dust appeared within the jurisdiction of North Flow County. The Sand Dust organization behaved very dominantly with a highly aggressive group of people.

All the other large organizations in North Flow County had suffered losses at the hands of the Sand Dust team, and this time, they’ve set their sights on Black Spade A.

As a result, even companies like Kanon that have business relations with Black Spade A became victims in this feud. The targets they selected were very precise, choosing the easiest target in Phil.

“I see,” said Casio after sipping his coffee.

The stunned Phil sitting next to him was even more shocked. All along, he thought that his family ran transportation and beverages companies. But he had never expected that the main business was alcohol and that it was associated with certain organizations.

After ten minutes, Phil made his way to his room in the villa and found the purple wooden staff in the corner.

Phil was not particularly interested in antiques, so he had never really examined this staff that Matthew had given him.

But Coach Li Wei had saved his life. And being an antique enthusiast, giving him this staff seemed like an apt gesture.

Thump, thump, thump…

Phil came downstairs with the purple staff, which was as long as his arm. Without any hesitation, he handed it directly to Casio.

Casio let out an exclamation while reverently receiving the staff.

The moment his fingers made contact with the staff, a bitter taste, even more bitter than black coffee filled Casio’s mouth.

“Finally, it’s in my hands…”