Chapter 3284: Bloodshed in the New City (44)

The Pale Knight felt something was wrong, especially when he saw the third identical vending machine at the door of his office.

First, he didn't drink soda at all. Second, he didn't have any coins. Finally, even teenagers who particularly like to beat up vending machines shouldn't need three identical machines to be sandbags.

But this was just the beginning.

Opposite the mayor's office was an entertainment room, which others couldn't enter on weekdays, mainly used by the mayor when entertaining guests.

A pool table was moved into this entertainment room on the first day, but for some reason, another one was moved in today.

The Pale Knight went in to take a look and found that there was only one pool table inside, and he didn't know where the previous one had gone.

What was most outrageous was that when he went to work on the third day, he saw people moving a pool table into it again, and the result was still only one pool table inside.

The three vending machines at the door also disappeared.

The Pale Knight almost thought he had seen a ghost.

These few days, he didn't even handle official documents, just squatted at the door of his office to see what they were moving into it every day.

At first, it was all fine, nothing more than some pool tables, dartboards, foosball games, etc. Later, it started to become vases, tea sets, statues, etc., in wooden boxes.

Although the Pale Knight is not a rich man, he is not ignorant, and those things look very expensive at a glance.

The key is that these things only go in and don't go out, and they disappear in the room in less than a day.

The Pale Knight almost thought there was a small black hole opposite his office.

He asked the assistant what was going on, and the assistant only told him it was normal procurement. He asked the assistant where the purchased things went, and the assistant said normal wear and tear. He asked again why it would wear out, and the assistant only said he should rest well.

This was simply inconsistent, making the Pale Knight feel more and more that something was wrong.

Finally, on the fourth day, he couldn't bear it anymore. He didn't leave after work, just stayed at the door of the office; he had to see where these things went.

As a result, it was really a ghost. After a thin mist, the things disappeared out of thin air.

The Pale Knight rubbed his eyes several times, but didn't see clearly what was going on, and went to adjust the monitoring, only to find that nothing was captured in the monitoring.

But at this time, the Pale Knight suddenly associated it with a piece of gossip circulating in Cat Getan recently, that is, Arkham Asylum is haunted.

The legend is that the previous warden Toke died too miserably, and his ghost has been trapped in Arkham Asylum, constantly entangling those who want to enter the asylum. I heard that it has driven several people crazy.

The Pale Knight guessed almost immediately that it should be Schiller playing tricks.

He called, originally thinking he would argue with Schiller for a few rounds, but Schiller actually admitted it directly: "I took those things, and they are currently all placed in the warden's office of Arkham Asylum."

The Pale Knight was shocked by his righteousness. He held the phone and said, "Why did you take those things?"

"Because you don't want them."

"How could I..."

"Oh, so you want them, then I'll give them back to you."

"Don't!" the Pale Knight said hurriedly. He had a big coffee machine in his office, which was already crowded enough; if four big pool tables, three vending machines, two foosball games, and a dozen vases came again, where would he stand? Hang on the balcony?

"I don't want them," the Pale Knight emphasized again, saying, "I just want to know why you did this."

"Why do you care why I did this?"

"How can I not care? I..."

"Did it spend your money?"

Schiller's one question choked the Pale Knight. It really didn't spend his money, because he didn't have any money at all.

"But you can't use municipal funds to buy these, right?"

"Why can't I?"

"This money should be used for..."

"Can you decide who it is used on?"

The Pale Knight was speechless again, because he really couldn't decide. These donated funds were controlled by elite individuals.

"Okay, then since you can persuade them to buy these for you, then can't you buy something more useful?"

"First of all, they didn't buy them for me, but for you."

"Huh?"

"Weren't these things sent to the mayor's office?"

"But I didn't accept them."

"You accepted them, but you didn't want them, so I took them away."

"I didn't accept them!"

"But you didn't refuse either."

"This can't be counted as me accepting them, because these things will eventually stay in the municipal building for the next mayor..."

Speaking of this, the Pale Knight couldn't go on, because these things were not in the municipal building now either. Let alone the next mayor, he couldn't even touch them now.

"How exactly did you persuade them to buy these for you?"

"I'll say it again, they didn't buy them for me, but for you. They would naturally be willing to buy these for you, because this way you can go play instead of working diligently. They want to use money to corrupt you."

The Pale Knight opened his mouth and said, "But no matter how I play, I won't use four pool tables in two days, right? Don't they find it outrageous?"

"It's very simple, you are a mental patient; once you get sick, you can't control yourself, and you love smashing things. It's normal for the wear and tear to be a bit big."

"But my illness is already cured! It's not you..."

"Don't talk nonsense, don't talk nonsense! Who told you that you are cured? I am a professional psychologist; I say you are not cured, then you are not cured. I have already issued the most professional diagnosis certificate for you; even if they sue you in court, you don't have to pay."

"I..." The Pale Knight held back for a long time and couldn't speak. Then he put his hands on his hips, held the phone, turned around, and said, "Then the people in the finance department and the administration department are also willing to increase their workload? This is too troublesome, right?"

"This is not increasing the workload. They are very willing to serve the mayor; in order to meet your requirements, they have been working overtime these few days, staying up late, vomiting blood, and doing their best..."

The Pale Knight didn't believe in evil, took the phone downstairs and took a look. Guess what? The hands of the finance department's finance people knocking on the keyboard were all showing afterimages. The people coordinating transportation and installation in the administrative department simply lived in the municipal building. Even the installation workers found a room to live in.

By this point, the Pale Knight also understood a little.

This group of people in the city government are literally worms. As long as there is money in the municipal funds, they will find ways to eat it empty.

However, how much of the money eaten is given to their masters, and how much is left in their own pockets, is also particular.

For example, their master formulated a project specifically to hollow out municipal funds, so they followed to drink some soup.

But it's not like they have to hand over all the small money they greedily took by reporting a false price for changing a toilet in the building. Even the most loyal dog doesn't have to give it to the master when it picks up a piece of shit outside.

If municipal funds could originally be used to improve the lives of citizens, then they are big pests. But if municipal funds couldn't be used on ordinary people at all, then being taken away by them is better than being taken away by elite individuals.

If municipal funds were originally provided by elite individuals, then being eaten empty belongs to hiding wealth among the people.

Following this line of thinking, the Pale Knight discovered that although the city government only has 8,000 employees on the surface, in fact, positions like coffee machine maintenance workers add up to about 30,000.

The Pale Knight originally thought these positions were fictional to eat empty pay, but later found it was really not. Many of the positions that could be done or not done were relatives of small leaders, or their children.

You want to say how difficult their families are, it's not. It's definitely not the bottom-level people to have relatives in the city government with stable positions.

But this group of people can't be considered the poorest poor, nor are they rich people, and their lives are relatively stable, but there is room for improvement.

Don't say that the United States is not a society of human feelings. Anyone who has a little power will definitely favor their own relatives, friends, and acquaintances first. It is impossible to find strangers on the street.

Just like this, one brings ten, ten brings one hundred, always bringing some poor ones. Among these 30,000 temporary positions, one-third of the people are that kind of poor relatives.

Even among the cleaning staff of this exaggerated coffee machine in the Pale Knight's office, there is an elderly woman in her 60s whose house was auctioned off and who has lived in a shelter for a long time.

And this also let the Pale Knight understand the reason for Ms. Weiss's dissatisfaction. Because this lady is a friend of Ms. Weiss when she was young, she hasn't done anything bad, but she has experienced many setbacks, and she can be considered a pitiful person.

Although this job is not enough to let her live a very good life, at least it can let her rent a house. Even if it is the most remote and broken house, it is better than living in a shelter.

Now the Pale Knight understands what Ms. Weiss meant by the wisdom of small citizens. They are selfish, shrewd, not good enough, nor bad enough, but will try their best to defend their own interests. Their united power cannot be underestimated.

Saying this is because the Pale Knight discovered that no matter how good the plan is, it must be executed by someone, and the execution end of any policy must be this group of small citizens.

The elite class is powerful, right? Rich people have great ability, right? But can they come to the city government to manage finance themselves? Can they come to manage changing toilets and pool tables? Of course it is impossible.

Rich people are only responsible for formulating plans and paying money, and then they feel that this group of people will run according to the procedures they set, and the harvest will fill their pockets endlessly.

But in fact, it is not like this at all. This group of people at the execution end can be bought by rich people with money, which proves that they love money.

They have to work after receiving the commission from the rich, but greed doesn't need to pay a price.

This is the so-called you map his interest, he maps your principal.

Schiller also used this loophole.

Things like needing a coffee machine, the pool table is broken, adding a vending machine, etc., all belong to normal office wear and tear. Rich people will not use this kind of thing to return funds; this is slow and troublesome.

Then how to report it is all up to the employees.

It is the same coffee machine, buying a 6,000 one and a 600,000 one, the money greedily taken is different. Buying a 6 million one, besides money, you can also add 20 more job positions for maintenance. If you buy a 60 million one, besides money and job positions, you can also report the bad debts of the previous quarter by the way.

A 60 million coffee machine is very outrageous, but if everyone can take a hand in this process, it is a golden mouth, pointing to a deer as a horse, which is particularly reasonable.

What's more, isn't there someone to take the blame?

Our Mayor is an authentic Cat Getan black flag, drinking an authentic Cat Getan taste. I don't drink it unless it's brewed with Cat Getan's aged rainwater. Then it's not too much for me to organize a group of people to collect rainwater for the Mayor, right?

After all, the requirement of rich people is to use money to corrupt the Mayor, so they must let him see the power of money.

Don't say he wants to drink coffee, even if he wants to eat lunar soil, you have to launch a rocket to get it for him.

After all, why does he want to eat lunar soil? Isn't it because he is a mental patient?

It's useless for him to say he is cured; now the warden of Arkham Asylum is Schiller. As the most professional psychologist in all of Cat Getan, whoever he says is crazy is crazy, and no one can argue with him, including the patient himself.

Bad, Schiller has no invalid operations.

The Pale Knight slumped in the chair of the mayor's office, closed his eyes helplessly.

But just at this time, the door of the office was knocked. Before he could walk over to open the door, a group of people in uniforms walked in with a clatter. The man in the lead flashed his ID: "Hello, I am Chandler Antonik, the team leader of the anti-corruption investigation team of the New Jersey FBI. We investigated that a large amount of municipal funds in Cat Getan has gone to unknown sources, so we were ordered to investigate."

"Mayor Napier, do you have any clues?" ===== CHAPTER 3285 =====

But just at this moment, the office door was knocked. Before he could walk over to open the door, a group of people in uniforms walked in with a clatter. The man in the lead flashed his credentials: "Hello, I am Chandler Antonik, team leader of the New Jersey Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit of the FBI. We have investigated that a large amount of municipal funds in Cat Getan have recently flowed to unknown sources, so we have been ordered to investigate."

"Mr. Mayor Napier, do you have any clues?"