Chapter 1218: Detaining Goods

For several days, Lansi didn't seem to make any moves, but Christopher became more suspicious.

He knew what kind of person Lansi was, and he was also very clear about what kind of means Lansi was used to dealing with his enemies.

He hadn't met Lansi in these years, but he had been observing Lansi's every move, because Lansi was the biggest enemy he had in the Federation now.

People always say that the person who knows you best is always your enemy, because your enemy wants to kill you, so they must study you in detail, find your flaws, and finally give you a fatal blow.

Christopher had also been observing Lansi. Unfortunately, he didn't find anything he could use from the observation.

Just like now, he couldn't see anything, but instead was more worried.

This feeling was very bad. He didn't know what Lansi was doing, what he was going to do, and the unknown fear made Christopher unable to sleep well recently.

Every night he needed to drink a few glasses before he could fall asleep in a drunken state.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the sunlight shot into the bedroom through the curtains that were not closed. Christopher squeezed his eyes and slowly woke up from his dream.

He broke out in some sweat. After he opened his eyes, he almost subconsciously reached out to touch the weapon under his pillow.

The cold touch made him feel some sense of security. He sat up, rubbing his hair while cursing.

He had a dream. In the dream, Lansi sent many people to hunt him down. Under Lansi's influence, everyone betrayed him.

Everyone could be the next person to shoot at him, or the person standing behind him to stab him.

He didn't dare to believe anyone, he could only run away!

The feeling of being surrounded by enemies and being the only one escaping alone was too terrible!

He was almost going crazy!

After running for an unknown amount of time, the Pasiletu Manor appeared in front of him. His footsteps were somewhat hesitant, but more footsteps sounded in the darkness behind him, forcing him to run into the manor he was unwilling to recall.

There was no one in the manor, but everything was brand new and intact, just like... everyone disappeared the moment he came in!

That feeling of fear lingered around him. He panted heavily and ran toward his villa.

Not knowing why, the moment he entered the manor, the whole world seemed to be shrouded in darkness. The darkness outside the manor shrouded everything, and the footsteps hidden in the darkness seemed to have stopped.

But even so, he still felt deep fear. The manor was empty, the traces left by people's lives, and that fear of "nothingness" from the deepest part of his soul made him even more panicked than just now!

The feeling of panic in his heart made his heart almost jump out of his chest. He ran, and the sound of him running on the brick road was like an invisible person chasing behind him. He ran wildly like a madman and ran to the outside of his villa at the fastest speed.

That familiar house, which he couldn't forget even after a long time, appeared in front of him like this. The familiarity and yearning in his heart gave him a trace of security.

He rushed into the room, and the footsteps that followed closely behind him stopped abruptly. He breathed a sigh of relief, closed the door tightly, and leaned against the door.

But not knowing why, he suddenly had a scalp-numbing feeling. With a look of horror, doubt, and uncertainty on his face, he slowly walked into the living room.

He saw Alberto standing by the TV smiling and saying something. His mouth opened and closed, but there was no sound coming out.

He continued to walk forward a few steps and saw Paul sitting on the sofa. He was still wearing the clothes they wore when they last met.

A palpitation from the deepest part of his soul made him want to leave this place, and at this moment, including Alberto, they turned their heads to look at him.

Clearly he should have been a short distance from the gate, but his body was so disobedient and no longer under his own control.

"Welcome home, Duoer," Paul said to him with a smile on his face.

Clearly it should have been warm words, but it gave him goosebumps!

The next second, the dazzling light seemed to tear the whole dream apart. Paul and Alberto were torn to pieces in this light.

On Paul's shattered face, he seemed to read that last silent sentence—

"I'm waiting for you in hell!"

"Fuck!" He hammered the table hard, his emotions somewhat out of control.

"You are a dead ghost, don't think about taking me away, no one can take me away!"

"You, Alberto, or Lansi, none of you can!"

He clenched his fists tightly and hammered twice more. His soul seemed to have gradually returned.

A cold sweat made him very uncomfortable. When he was taking a shower in the bathroom, someone knocked on the bedroom door outside.

"Duoer?"

"What the fuck is it?" He poked his head out of the bathroom and roared at the outside. His mood was terrible now.

Anyone who dreamed of a dead ghost he killed himself, saying he wanted to wait for himself to go on the road together, wouldn't have a good mood.

The person outside didn't seem to expect that he would just knock on the door and be roared at, but soon he came back to his senses. "Our goods have been detained."

Christopher was stunned for a moment, and then quickly let himself calm down. "I'm taking a shower, give me five minutes."

"No problem, I'll wait for you downstairs."

Christopher had a dark face, simply rinsed, changed into a new set of clothes, and quickly came downstairs.

Many people had already gathered downstairs, and everyone's expression was not good. When people saw him, they finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

Everyone stood up. This respectful attitude made Christopher's mood a little better.

"What happened?"

"Why were our goods detained?"

The liquor from Sumuli Island had always been declared under the name of "timber." In these two years, Christopher had completely opened up the relationship with the customs side.

No need to use any too complicated methods, bullets plus banknotes, there will always be people who compromise.

Some people are unwilling to accept bribes, then their families, their children, will be threatened with death.

Simple, direct, no one can withstand such threats.

Some people did not accept the coercion, they called the police, and the police also found the sender.

Unless it is sentenced to the top, threatening others by mailing bullets in the Federation is not a heavy crime, and the maximum is ten years.

These people who were caught, after the lawyer's defense, would probably be out of prison in two or three years, and if they operated it, they could come out of prison in a year or so.

But the people who called the police suffered terrible consequences, and the whole family had an accident.

After such a thing happened, the murderer surrendered himself. In court, he claimed that the deceased made things difficult for him and asked for bribes. He was angry, so he made such a decision.

Finally, this guy was sentenced to more than two hundred years in prison, but soon he died in prison. Of course, whether he really died, no one knows.

In short, Christopher used money and death as means to open the way, and achieved very intuitive results.

As long as it was the containers and goods they sent from Sumuli Island, they would be handled without inspection.

Of course, this is the actual operation. From the documents and work processes, the customs officers still conducted random inspections on their goods, but the result was qualified.

Since getting the customs done, he had never worried about his goods being detained, until this moment.

His brother-in-law pulled his mouth down. "I called and asked. They said they found undeclared contraband from our goods."

"Now let us go to the customs to explain the situation."

Christopher pursed his lips tightly. He reached out and smoothed his hair. "How much goods did we want this time?"

His brother-in-law first observed his face, and then lowered his voice and said, "One thousand barrels."

"One thousand barrels?" Christopher's voice jumped up quite a bit. "Did you fucking say one thousand barrels?"

His brother-in-law could only lower his head and admit this point.

This made Christopher's emotions lose control again. He kicked the coffee table, and the things on the coffee table fell to the ground. Everyone around didn't dare to speak.

They knew that when Christopher's emotions were out of control, it was best to shut their mouths and let him recover slowly.

Someone tried to comfort him before, but ended up being beaten half to death. But then again, this loss was indeed very miserable!

Because sea transportation is not considered "stable," and there are still some problems with the current glass production process, if all are packed in glass bottles and sent over, the loss on the road might reach 20% or 30%.

And the liquor flowing out of these broken wine bottles will produce a strong smell, and it can be smelled even from far away.

Losses and additional risks made these liquor dealers use standard large wooden barrels of more than two hundred liters as tools for holding liquor during cross-border long-distance transportation.

One container is 120 barrels, a full eight containers, 960 barrels, with a total value of about 10 million.

The relationship between Christopher and Leonardo is not as good as people imagine. He has already paid the "cost" of this batch of liquor to Leonardo. In other words, regardless of whether this batch of liquor has any loss, Leonardo has no loss at all, and has earned enough money.

The only person who really has a loss is him!

He has indeed earned a lot of money in these years, but his spending is also very large. It is considered the initial stage of entrepreneurship, spending money to pave the way, and the next is the truly profitable period.

Now he has about 70 or 80 million in his hands. Not long ago, he lost more than 10 million in liquor, and now another batch has been detained. He also feels heartache!

He kept cursing over there, and others couldn't say anything, just waiting quietly for him to vent his anger.

A few minutes later, he sat back on the sofa, panting, and smoothed his messy hair with his hand. "Who detained our goods?"

"I want this person's name!"

His brother-in-law gave him a name. After he got the name, he walked directly toward the study. Halfway through, he turned his head to look at the cadres in the living room. "Watch your own people and territory, this might be Lansi's means!"

"Don't give them a chance!"

After speaking, he entered the study and closed the door. Besides him, there was his brother-in-law, the person he trusted most here was his brother-in-law.

He sat behind the desk and didn't call immediately. His brother-in-law sat opposite him. "Their actions are very abnormal. I am very worried, worried that this is not their only means."

Christopher looked up at him, knowing what he meant.

Since the customs can give up cooperation with them, it means that other government departments that have been opened up will also re-investigate them.

Christopher sighed. This is the most annoying place. Lansi has increasing influence in the Federation's political arena.

And smuggling, operating liquor, these businesses all need law enforcement departments to turn a blind eye, otherwise the business will definitely not be done well.

Even if they don't find his trouble, they go to find the trouble of those who buy liquor, go to find the trouble of those who drink in bars, and they can also make their business worse.

People who are used to putting millions, or even millions, into their pockets every month, now let him do those businesses that can only earn tens of thousands a month, he can't have the patience at all.

He nodded, and then mentioned the phone, dialing a friend's phone number at the customs.

The phone was quickly connected. "It's me, Camilo (alias)."

His voice sounded very brisk, not frustrated or angry at all. The person on the other side of the receiver was stunned for a moment and didn't speak immediately.

Christopher didn't continue to speak either. He just listened quietly. After about ten seconds, a sigh came from the receiver.

"This matter... Camilo, it's not that I don't want to help you, we recently changed a boss, and this time he led the team to check at the pier, we find it very hard to intervene in this matter."

After Christopher finished listening, he asked, "Is this matter aimed at me?"

There was no sound on the other side again, which also made Christopher realize that this matter was definitely aimed at him.

"Fuck, you should have given me news earlier!" His tone became somewhat impatient.

The customs official on the other end of the phone also couldn't help but complain. "I don't fucking know he was aimed at you!"

"You should understand one thing, the new president takes office, adjusting the personnel of various departments is almost a default convention. Now that a customs chief has been changed, how the fuck do I know if this is a routine adjustment or someone wants to find trouble with you?"

"I'm sorry your things were detained, but this matter has nothing to do with me!"

"Also, if you think you are my Boss, then you must have misunderstood the relationship between us, understand?"

"Fuck, Camilo!"

With a bang, the customs official on the other end of the phone directly slammed the phone, which made Christopher couldn't help but slam the phone on the base, and then cursed a few times.

He cursed for a while and then picked up the phone again. This time he dialed another number.

"I, Camilo, want to know if there is a way to get our goods out, whether it's to me, or returned along the original road, both are fine."

On the other side of the phone was another customs official. The other party was silent for a moment and said, "This matter is very hard to handle, because what you declared is timber, but it is actually barrels of liquor."

"And the case value is very large. They have already reported it to the Prohibition Committee. I heard, just heard, they might plan to set up a typical case."

"You should have heard too, the new customs chief takes office, always has to make some achievements. I can't help you."

Christopher's chest rose and fell violently. He knew what "typical" meant. This batch of liquor would be poured into the sea by them!

Fuck!

"Help me contact your customs chief, I want to chat with him."

The official on the other side was silent for a while. "I find it very hard to do this, after all, you..."

"One hundred thousand!"

"This is not a money problem!"

"Two hundred thousand!"

"Camilo..."

"I fucking give you five hundred thousand, I want to see him!"

Facts proved that this was indeed a money problem.

Five hundred thousand, even if he is fired, this money is enough for him to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

After ten seconds of thinking, the official gave him an accurate answer. "I will help you contact the customs chief, but regardless of whether he is willing to see you, you must give me half first."

"After the money arrives, I will contact him. You know the account!"

Christopher hung up the phone. He rubbed his face with both hands, and then looked up at his brother-in-law. "Transfer fifteen thousand to... that account. Fuck, this greedy vulture, sooner or later I will make him vomit all the money he swallowed!"

His brother-in-law immediately got up to do this. Thirty thousand, to buy a face-to-face opportunity, is indeed not cheap.

The official on the other end of the phone also put down the phone. He waited for half an hour, then dialed the bank's phone number to inquire about the specific situation of an anonymous account of his.

The bank's feedback was very timely. Fifteen thousand was transferred into this account.

After hearing this answer, the official had

Recently, the Customs Service has also undergone some adjustments. Customs is a vertically managed department; the state government can request the cooperation of Customs, but it cannot interfere with its personnel arrangements.

The new Customs Director is very young, not even forty years old. So far, no one has been able to find out who is backing him, but it certainly won't be anyone insignificant.

The Federation is not a place that emphasizes seniority, but it is a place that emphasizes connections.

Having ability and seniority doesn't necessarily mean you can get ahead, but if you have connections, you will definitely get ahead!

It is very clear that the new Customs Director and these old customs officials are not on the same path; otherwise, he wouldn't have suddenly decided to inspect those goods.

He is considering that if the new Customs Director decides to carry out a purge of the local Customs, then he must consider his exit strategy early.

Over these years, he hasn't just taken money from this group of liquor smugglers; he has also taken money from others.

If the other side wants to bring in their own people, then rather than being sent in after the mask is torn off, it is better to make a haul early and get away quickly.

He tidied up his attire and knocked on the door of the Director's office. A response came from inside—

"Come in!"