Chapter 197: Candidate

Behind an iron-black street lamp pole twenty meters away from Mr. Eve, Lu Mian leaned sideways there, using the cover of the passing crowd, held down his flat cap, and watched the target pick up the gold coin and put it into his pocket.

Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, put one hand in his pocket, and walked toward 126 Market Avenue, no longer paying attention to the suspected fake Mr. Eve.

This was because "Luck Transfer Art" had been officially triggered and could not be interrupted.

But this required a process to manifest the effect. After half a day at the earliest, or a day at the latest, the fake Mr. Eve would be plagued by bad luck, and situations would occur one after another. By then, Lu Mian would do a little more, and he would highly likely expose his own abnormality to the official Beyonders.

After walking for a while, considering that 126 Market Avenue was "Black Scorpion" Luo Jie's residence, the de facto headquarters of the Sting Gang, Lu Mian didn't dare to get too close, fearing being discovered, and only asked for a booth by the window in a cafe ten meters away across the street, ordering a Felmer coffee and a cream ring cake.

While waiting for the food to be delivered, he looked around, both examining the pedestrians coming and going on Market Avenue outside and looking at the propaganda posters pasted on the walls around the cafe.

The latter was mainly about the parliamentary election that would officially start this Sunday.

There were a total of three candidates: Mathieu Boulanger of the National Party, Hugues Artois of the Liberal Party, and Jacques Sanson of the Reform Party.

Lu Mian, while paying attention to everyone trying to approach 126 Market Avenue, read the platforms of different candidates with great interest:

Mathieu Boulanger was the current member of parliament for the Honest Market District. His slogan was "Make Intis Glorious Again." He believed that the defeat in the war with the Loen Kingdom a few years ago was the root cause of many current problems. It was necessary to reorganize the Intis army, emphasize Intis first, take back the interests lost in the Southern Continent, and thereby feed back into the country, boost the economy, and change the face of the Market District.

He believed that in the process of "Making Intis Glorious Again," people in the Market District would get more jobs and more opportunities, including but not limited to making a fortune in the Southern Continent, joining the army, benefiting from foreign trade, etc.

Hugues Artois was a very popular candidate recently. His slogan was "More Jobs, A Fairer Society." He claimed to vigorously develop the economy, build more factories in the south of the Market District, and abolish the many restrictions tied to factory owners, bankers, financiers, and trade merchants. But relatively, he planned to shake the privileges of the church and the wealthy class and levy more taxes on them.

Jacques Sanson of the Reform Party had some similar claims to Hugues Artois, both believing that the current society should not have privileges. Regardless of whether it was an industry belonging to the church or income from finance, they must pay the same taxes as everyone else.

He also radically claimed that the current tariff policy hindered the development of Intis, especially the city wall surrounding Trier and the 54 checkpoints, which should be torn down. As long as goods circulated and the market became free, there would be more factories, tax revenue would increase significantly, and coupled with the taxation on the privileged class, the national treasury would quickly become full after a short period of embarrassment.

By then, he would explore establishing an annuity security system once envisioned by Emperor Roselle, allowing laborers in the Market District to receive the most basic protection.

Therefore, his slogan was "Tear Down Those Damn Walls!"

Lu Mian finished reading roughly and felt that if he were to choose, he would vote for Jacques Sanson.

Regardless of whether this person had the ability to realize his claims, for the people in the Market District, cheaper wine and goods, and more protection, were benefits they could tangibly feel and experience.

As for taxing the privileged class, they didn't care too much; they just hoped not to have another copper taken away from them.

But Jacques Sanson was obviously treated differently; his propaganda posters were pasted in the most cornered and least visible places, which was also related to the Reform Party always being a minority in parliament.

Because the Sting Gang supported Hugues Artois of the Liberal Party, Lu Mian paid the most attention to this candidate, not only reading his campaign platform but also carefully examining his color photo.

This was a man in his thirties, with fluffy and dense black hair, but his temples were already a bit gray, his nose bridge was high and straight, his nose tip was large, his blue eyes were deep, he was relatively tall, wore a formal suit, and had an elegant temperament.

"Can't let this guy get elected... unless before he gets elected, the Sting Gang is completely beaten, but behind the Sting Gang is that mysterious 'Lady Moon', and if one 'Black Scorpion' dies, another 'Red Scorpion' can be born... Hmm, the election will officially start this Sunday. Police Headquarters, Gendarmerie, and official Beyonders should all move, closely monitoring every constituency. It's not so easy to cause trouble... Let those coolies, porters, and waiters of the Sawa Party play a role?" Lu Mian thought about how to make Mathieu Boulanger and Jacques Sanson get that parliamentary seat.

According to Intis law, anyone who had lived in a constituency for more than half a year and had a job or was studying at a university had the right to register and vote in that constituency, and Lu Mian hadn't been in Trier for a full month yet.

While thinking, he didn't forget to observe outside, looking for Louis Lund's figure.

After a long time, seeing the golden sun had risen to the center of the sky, Lu Mian felt that waiting like this was not a way:

This was because his own identity had a problem, belonging to the object closely watched by the Sting Gang, and he couldn't stake out directly opposite the house of "Black Scorpion" Luo Jie, hiding in a building there. In this way, the perspective would be limited, and it would be easy to have omissions.

The second was that as a leader of the Sawa Party, he had many things to do himself, and he also had to rest, so it was unlikely to stake out twenty-four hours a day for two consecutive days.

As his thoughts turned, Lu Mian had an idea:

"I have so many subordinates, and I also spent money to hire Anthony Reid, why do I have to come myself?"

He stood up abruptly, left the cafe, and walked toward the Breeze Dance Hall.

When walking to the middle of Market Avenue, Lu Mian saw many people surrounded by the side of the road. The outermost circle was a circle of police wearing black uniforms, and beside them were two rows of mounted police watching the passing pedestrians.

Surrounded by two or three hundred people was a temporarily built wooden platform, on which stood a man wearing a black formal suit but without a tie.

On the outer wall of the house behind him hung a giant poster with his photo, and his loud voice echoed on the street:

"We need jobs, we need more income...

"I will build more factories in the Saint-Gilles Street area...

"I promise tax incentives for factories..."

Yo, isn't this Mr. Hugues Artois? Lu Mian, relying on his height being significantly higher than the Intis average, saw the appearance of the speaker on the wooden platform clearly.

That was the elegant, dashing, black-haired and blue-eyed Hugues Artois, the candidate supported by the Sting Gang!

Lu Mian stopped to listen for several tens of seconds, his gaze instinctively examining the high floors of the buildings behind and opposite Hugues Artois, examining the windows and roofs there.

He found the presence of police or people who clearly didn't look like homeowners in those places without surprise.

Protected quite tightly... Can't use a rifle to give Hugues Artois's head and chest a few shots from those positions... Lu Mian retracted his gaze with some regret.

There was another way to make Hugues Artois fail the election, and that was to make him unable to participate in the election.

And dead people automatically lose their eligibility to run for office!

Lu Mian had seriously considered the feasibility of this method when he was in the cafe, but thought it would cause too much trouble, and the gangs in the entire Market District would probably be pulled out as scapegoats, and he himself was in this category. By that time, his identity would highly likely be exposed, and he would be forced to flee the Market District, or even Trier, losing the opportunity to track down Lady Pualis and the Priest.

And from the current point of view, the difficulty of assassinating a candidate was quite high, and even if he succeeded luckily, he probably wouldn't be able to escape.

Lu Mian also cast his gaze toward several people standing behind the side of the wooden platform. They should all be members of Hugues Artois's campaign team, three men and two women.

Among them was a woman with the legendary noble red hair, with heroic features, and facial lines that were not soft enough, but overall, she was a slightly neutral beauty.

She was tall, wearing a white and brown hunting suit, surrounded by the other four people.

Lu Mian, who was afraid of missing Louis Lund, didn't listen to Hugues Artois's speech anymore, withdrew from the crowd, and walked back to the Breeze Dance Hall.

At noon, there were no guests here, and the waiters and bartenders were resting or doing some tidying up.

Lu Mian said to Louis and Sakota who greeted him:

"Draw four people for me to guard around 126 Market Avenue."

"126..." Louis first repeated it, then blurted out in astonishment, "Isn't that the home of 'Black Scorpion' Luo Jie?"

The Boss wants to mess with the Sting Gang again?

Lu Mian nodded frankly:

"Yes, don't get close, don't be discovered, just guard in different directions and observe if he is among the passersby."

Lu Mian raised his hand and pointed to the wanted posters pasted on the wall by the police, pointing to Louis Lund on the edge.

—The wanted poster belonging to him had been quietly changed in position after he joined the Sawa Party, moved to a less conspicuous place.

Louis and Sakota turned to look, carefully examining the wanted poster, and saw words like "Cordu Village."

They vaguely understood something and immediately agreed:

"Yes, Boss."

After four gang thugs left the Breeze Dance Hall with a wanted poster, Lu Mian said to Louis and Sakota:

"You guys just help maintain order in the dance hall on the first floor these few days."

After giving instructions, he said as if casually:

"I just listened to Hugues Artois's speech, it was not bad, hmm... who does our Sawa Party support for the parliamentary election in the Market District?"

Louis looked left and right and suppressed his voice:

"The Baron said before, vote for Mr. Artois."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 198 =====