The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 119: Bank Money on Wheels
The decline of the real economy most directly affected truck drivers. Once a company went bankrupt, there was no longer any demand for logistics. Without logistics demand, truck drivers lost their jobs.
The more companies went bankrupt, the more truck drivers became unemployed. And that kind of unemployment was different from ordinary workers losing their jobs.
After ordinary workers lost their jobs, they could still look for other work. If they were lucky, they might still find something that kept them fed. Truck drivers were different. Without new logistics demand, the number of jobs would only shrink, not grow.
That meant once truck drivers lost their jobs, it became very difficult for them to find suitable work, even if they lowered their wage requirements.
Truck drivers were a very special group. They could be classified within the working class, but clearly, workers were unwilling to accept truck drivers, who earned higher wages, had better benefits, and did work that looked much easier than theirs.
Truck drivers, likewise, were unwilling to mix with workers who stank of sweat from head to toe. After all, they had their own “exclusive rides.”
This also meant that labor unions did not pay much attention to the unemployment problem among truck drivers. If there was an opportunity to make noise, they would make noise. If there was no opportunity, they would pretend not to see it.
In truth, the work of truck drivers was not only hard, but dangerous.
Even today, there were still plenty of highway bandits active on interstate highways. Hundreds or thousands of miles of empty road with no sign of habitation was, for every truck driver, like moving through hell. Every trip was a dance on the line between life and death.
One careless moment, and a man might die somewhere along the road without anyone knowing when. His truck would be driven away, leaving behind only a pile of bones that would soon become part of nature.
That was why truck drivers usually traveled in convoys, especially on interstate routes. Even two or three trucks running together was very dangerous. More often, they moved in groups of five or more.
If something happened on the road, they would not stop. They would simply ram through it. So on an interstate highway, do not think about flagging down a truck, and do not even think about forcing those trucks to stop.
But were all big truck drivers good men?
Obviously not. In the FBI’s past case files on highway homicides, it could be said that most murders related to highways had more or less some connection to big truck drivers.
The most famous case was the “Highway Serial Murders.” A big truck driver who liked running solo, who enjoyed helping people, and who also enjoyed killing people after helping them. After his arrest, the driver confessed to dozens of murders on the highway, some of which the police had not even discovered.
In short, this was an extremely special group. Away from the highway, they were ordinary people, not much different from anyone else. They might look a little fierce, but overall, they were still ordinary men.
But once they entered their “territory,” something inside them changed from the inside out. A fundamental change.
William brought them to the outdoor parking lot. Truck cabs, tractors, and trailers were not one piece. What they had come to inspect were the cabs of big trucks.
More than forty truck cabs were parked across the open lot. Cooke suddenly grew excited. He ran to the front of one cab, his lips trembling slightly.
He gently stroked the headlight, his expression both apologetic and pained. Cooke’s friend James stood beside William and explained, “That was Cooke’s truck before our company went under.”
“Understandable...” Master William was a very tolerant and merciful man. He did not ruin the warm reunion between Cooke and his beloved truck.
After a while, Cooke finally came back to himself. He scratched his head in embarrassment. This man, who looked like a monster, actually appeared somewhat shy and bashful.
This was also a clear feature of truck drivers’ lack of social interaction. Their circle was too narrow.
There was longing in his eyes, but he was too embarrassed to say it. William, however, was very considerate. He crooked a finger at the staff. “Bring me the key to that truck. Let my friend take a look.”
The moment William said that, the eyes of all the truck drivers changed somewhat. First, they began to respect William, because through his actions William had shown that he did not look down on Cooke or regard him with any other kind of humiliation. Instead, he had someone bring Cooke the key to satisfy Cooke’s small wish.
Second, William had not called them subordinates, employees, or simply truck drivers. He had used the word “friend.”
Perhaps because horrifying stories from the highways always kept spreading, not everyone in this civilized society was willing to become friends with truck drivers from the highway.
Add to that their narrow social circles, the certain degree of social difficulty each of them had, and their irritable tempers, and the only people who could accept them were themselves.
But William, this big boss, this businessman, called them friends. It moved them, and made them feel a certain warm force.