Chapter 335

336. Chapter 332: Two Things

People are hypocritical.

And also very realistic.

A person won't praise another person for no reason.

Because while you are praising another person as very excellent and very outstanding, it will make you appear dull and lusterless, and you can't say things like "Actually, I'm better than him."

If you say that, all your previous praise will turn into irony, and it will also make you offend people.

So, most of the time, people won't praise anyone for no reason, without cause.

Unless, this person is a dead person.

You will praise a dead person because he is already dead, and people should respect the deceased and beautify the deceased; this is almost a common human trait!

Especially when this person's death was for the benefit of the family, even if he was just a jerk, when people talk about him, they will still say he was a hero and did what a hero should do!

When people face his widow and children, they will also say "Your husband was a hero" or "Your father was a hero," and they will even force onto them some deeds that didn't actually happen to these people!

Some things that were originally of no consequence, whether big or small, good or bad, will also be brought out by them and talked about a few times.

This is a very normal... family atmosphere; after all, they are all their own people, so they can't say their own people are bad, right?

And Dover's father did indeed die to protect Paolo, so people had even more reason to describe someone whom many people might not have truly understood as a very excellent person!

Only in this way could he become a role model to encourage the next generation to grow up sturdily, just as they hoped Dover could also become the next version of his father, offering loyalty to the family!

When necessary, even offering his life!

But many times, the beautification of you saying a sentence and me saying a sentence unknowingly caused the traces of some people's existence to become distorted.

Dover's father was indeed a figure in the family, but he couldn't shake Paolo's status as the head of the family; otherwise, it wouldn't have been him taking the bullet for Paolo, but Paolo taking a bullet for him.

So fundamentally, excluding the results of artificial beautification, that was what his father should have done!

And his father didn't have the qualifications to threaten Paolo's status either.

But in the excessive beautification, Dover's understanding of that father of his, of whom he had almost no memory, underwent a transformation that people couldn't imagine!

At this moment, he even felt that if it weren't for his father protecting Paolo and taking a bullet for Paolo back then.

Perhaps the Pasleto family would have been inherited by his father later on, so he shouldn't be some insignificant small character like "the head of the family's nephew" now; he should be a key character like "the next family heir"!

The huge gap in status and the surrounding environment made it hard for him not to harbor hatred in his heart more than once!

He was always asking, why, why was it his father who died instead of Paolo, or someone else?

If his father were still alive, would his life from childhood to adulthood have had even greater changes?

Becoming freer, more confident, and possessing more power!

Paolo was always encroaching on his father's status and rights, giving him orders, and not letting him do this or that, and would even punish him for it!

A thief who stole his father's life and status stood in the position of the head of the family to restrain him; this was his greatest dissatisfaction with the family!

Under the influence of alcohol, when emotions reached a subtle level, the more people praised his father, the more they sympathized with his current situation, to the point that he said such a sentence at the wine table!

"If it weren't for my father taking a bullet for him back then, it would be hard to say who would be the boss of the Pasleto family now!"

When he said this, the people around the booth all went quiet!

Some people revealed looks of disbelief: Brother, we're just fucking around, you're taking it seriously!

But some people also revealed joy!

Those who had status and prospects in the family had long gone to hang out with Paolo's children, and those of them who followed Dover didn't really have much identification with Dover, nor did their parents have much respect or worship for Dover's father.

It was just because they couldn't get into the core circle of the Pasleto family!

Then, surrounding a quasi-marginal figure became one of their few choices.

If Dover could pull himself together, become excellent, and truly enter the core circle, that would also mean they could also ride Dover's speedboat and enter the core circle of the Pasleto family.

Although there were many relatives in the Pasleto family, even relatives had degrees of closeness; not everyone could possess their own industry, holding countless money every month, living like a high-society master.

There were also people wearing cheap clothes working for the family on the street, doing the most tiring and dirtiest work, yet getting the least amount of life-risking money.

Everyone wanted to climb up; there was no problem with that.

Dover seemed not to care before, having no drive, but now, it seemed he was becoming a little driven!

"Dover, you should pull yourself together and let those people in the Pasleto family see that you also have a day when you make a great contribution to the family!"

"As long as you can make a contribution to the family that others cannot ignore, the next head of the family might not necessarily not be you!"

These people started to flatter him again, just as they did every day before, coaxing Dover into being happy so that Dover would always take them with him.

Having money, having leisure.

With a glass of wine down their stomachs, the excitement brought by alcohol made people forget their worries; they frequently raised their glasses to drink heavily, saying impractical things they might forget in a while, wasting time and squandering their youth in laughter and joy.

But they felt that this was life.

In the middle of the night, a group of people were already drunk beyond recognition, walking crookedly toward the outside, unable to even walk properly.

Dover scratched his crotch. "I'm going to take a piss."

He giggled and pushed away the people who wanted to help him, said a few sentences like "I don't need you to help me," and then stumbled into the restroom alone. He found a convenient spot with great difficulty and then unzipped his zipper.

Just as he shivered twice and prepared to leave, someone stopped him.

"Get lost, don't fucking block my way!" His hand reached toward his bosom, but he forgot that his gun was left in the car.

"Do you believe that if I... shout once, you'll end up in Angel Lake?" He said, unable to help but laugh triumphantly.

Perhaps only when depriving his own kind of life could he feel his own greatness and extraordinariness.

That person just looked at him calmly. "I want to be friends with you."

"No need... friends like you."

"You can't help me with anything."

His words were already a bit unclear; the depression and jealousy made him drink too much alcohol unknowingly that night. He had to thank the fact that the alcohol he drank wasn't high in proof, otherwise he would have been gone by now.

"I can make you the next head of the Pasleto family. Do you still think I can't help you with anything now?"

"I know you've been coveting that position for a long time, but you have no resources, no manpower, and no guts."

"What you lack, I can help you with. This is what I can bring you, Dover."

He put a business card into the pocket on his chest. "If you are interested in my proposal, or if you don't forget that your father's death only brought you depression and you want to do something."

"Then when you sober up and think it through, contact me!" He patted the pocket on Dover's chest, seemingly reminding him that the business card was right there!

"There is only one opportunity, Dover. If you miss this opportunity, this will be it for you for the rest of your life."

"Rolling in alcohol like a rotting maggot, eventually becoming a piece of trash in people's mouths."

"On one side is a bright future, on the other is rotting sinking; you know how to make a choice!"

That person said this, nodded, pushed Dover away, and left the restroom.

After he left, several people suddenly entered the restroom, cursing.

Someone had just blocked the restroom and wouldn't allow them to enter; if it weren't for the fact that the other party didn't seem easy to mess with, they would have already taken action.

No one noticed Dover. Dover looked at himself in the mirror; the drunkenness didn't seem so obvious anymore.

He turned on the faucet, scooped up a handful of cold water, and splashed it on his face.

That feeling of drowning, being submerged by water, woke him up in an instant. He gasped for air violently, even shaking his head with a trace of a whistling sound, looking at himself gasping for air in the mirror, and suddenly punched himself in the mirror!

"Fuck, this person is sick!"

Someone was startled by his action of hitting the mirror and the sound, and hurriedly walked away while pulling up their pants.

The stinging pain in his fist made his breathing a bit difficult. He looked at his shattered self in the mirror; it seemed that something was changing!

He returned to the outside of the bar; the injury on his hand immediately attracted people's attention. They clamored to make the person who hurt Dover feel despair.

However, Dover indicated that he did it himself.

Some people started to boast about his bravery again. For some reason, Dover, who was originally very happy, suddenly felt a bit... dull!

The sea breeze blew; he looked at the pitch-black sea surface. He suddenly realized that the current him was no longer the him from just now.

Far away in the direction he was looking, Maike (the captain of the Coast Patrol) was sitting on the edge of the bed smoking.

Lans contacted him again, giving him a time and a rough location. Maike didn't even consider it and agreed.

He had gotten ninety thousand in his hands from the previous cooperation.

He, his father, his grandfather—the three generations combined had never earned so much money!

But he only... mobilized once, and he obtained this sum of money, including those confidants of his; everyone obtained huge wealth!

Their lives had already become different, because their choices allowed them to walk on a positive and upward path!

Money is indeed the most magical thing in this world; it can solve almost all the troubles people can think of!

The children got more pocket money; he became a good father.

The wife got extra household subsidies; he became a good husband.

It is worth mentioning that he enjoyed treatment in the evening that he couldn't usually enjoy!

The parents got some money; he became a good son again.

He also bought some things for himself. He actually tried his best to restrain his desire to spend money, but this desire really couldn't be restrained.

He bought a forty-nine-dollar lighter, started smoking cigarettes that cost forty-nine cents a pack, wore thirty-nine-dollar leather shoes; the seemingly inconspicuous clothes on his body added up to a hundred dollars!

Low-key, luxurious—this was his positioning for himself. He actually always wanted to buy a gold watch, but could never bring himself to do it.

Now that he had money, he didn't quite dare to buy it, because this thing was too eye-catching.

Logically speaking, the money Lans gave him was already enough, but for some reason, when Lans told him these people were going to receive goods again, he couldn't help it.

Not only could he not help it, but everyone on this ship couldn't help it either.

This time, three more people were added, who usually had a very good relationship with him. He would have these three people kill the people on the ship so they wouldn't betray themselves.

The armed ship drifted on the sea for a day; everyone was conserving their energy, just for the work in the evening.

Maike called the three newly joined people into the captain's cabin. He gave them cigarettes and let them use their own lighters to light them.

A beautiful and high-end silver-cased lighter—although silver wasn't particularly valuable, when it was made into a commodity, its price wasn't just the price of the silver itself.

"The lighter is really handy; how much does this cost?"

Maike picked it back up casually and lit a cigarette himself. "Forty-nine."

The expressions of the three people were different, but basically, there was some shock inside.

"Did you earn a huge sum of money recently? You're willing to buy such an expensive lighter?"

This kind of talk is actually the most ordinary state of ordinary people. When they know that a small thing a rich person carries around is worth their own month's, several months', or even years' wages.

The first thing they think of is whether these people are crazy?

Someone would actually buy such an obviously overpriced thing?

Immediately after, they would think, I'm not unable to afford it; I can afford it too, but I won't buy it, because I'm not a fool.

This kind of self-comfort is actually quite useful; it can really soothe people's emotions, especially when they feel that their "affordability" and a rich person's "affordability" are the same thing, their mood clearly gets much better.

Maike smiled mysteriously. "Don't you want to know where I got the money?"

The three of them leaned closer. "From where?"

He didn't answer immediately, but asked as if teasing, yet with three parts seriousness, "Before answering your question, I have to ask you: do you have the guts to kill?"

Someone answered very quickly. "Dare, why wouldn't I dare?"

Someone also answered very slowly. "Kill who?"

Maike took a deep breath of smoke. "Smugglers; they are very dangerous, destroying the law, destroying public order."

"Finish them off, and then the things on their ship will be ours!"

"You don't know, now most of these smuggling ships are alcohol; one ship is over a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand..."

The breathing of the three people became a bit rougher and heavier, but someone also hesitated. "What if someone finds out..."

Maike sneered. "You don't say, I don't say, who could know?"

Actually, when this sentence was said, one of the three already sensed something was wrong, but now they were already on the ship, so saying anything was useless, and they immediately indicated they wanted to join.

The other two also joined without hesitation. Regardless of whether they were sincere or not, Maike didn't care.

Once they killed people and divided the money, even if they weren't sincere, so what?

Money would make them shut up, and Lans would make them shut up!

Soon they arrived near the location provided by Lans. After patrolling for a while, they indeed discovered a cargo ship drifting on the sea.

Just like last time, they rushed over directly, shooting crazily at the people on the deck from a high position.

The bullets couldn't be heard at all amidst the sound of the surging waves; the slaughter was completed in a very short time.

They found a few people who had been shot in the cabin; one of them stared at them, hatred shining in his eyes. "Luigi will avenge us."

Maike walked over, took his gun, and stuffed it into the other party's mouth. He stared into that person's eyes. "Even if he comes, he has to die!"

The scene was cleaned up quickly; the corpses were thrown into the water by them, and then Maike had people drive the ship to the location he and Lans had agreed upon.

This transaction was clearly more composed, and there was more trust between each other.

Lans didn't give him money on the spot, and he didn't ask for it either; this made it convenient for him to take more from it.

Lans gave him a price of one hundred thousand for this batch of goods, but in reality, if this alcohol were broken up and sold in bars, it could sell for at least over two hundred thousand.

He wasn't a philanthropist; he also needed to make money. For this price, Maike could also accept it.

The group completed the night's patrol with some trepidation. The next day, when they returned to the Coast Patrol to report, Maike gathered them together in the parking lot.

In front of these people, he opened his car; in the trunk, two large travel bags were placed inside.

He opened one of them casually, and everyone went silent.

It was money, countless money, folded, held by rubber bands, piled together casually—two big bags of money!

He took the people to a remote place and started dividing the money according to his rules. No one had any objections to this; some even took the initiative to ask when the next time would be.

Maike lit a cigarette with his forty-nine-dollar lighter, facing the sea breeze, looking back at these friends who were stuffing money into their pockets, and revealed a smile.

"As long as it's a valuable commodity, he wants it all!"

This time, not only was a batch of goods gone, but the person receiving the goods on the federal side was furious again. Gao Li even called Luigi personally to tell him that they wouldn't cooperate anymore!

This made Luigi smash everything in the office in anger; bloodshot eyes covered the whites of his eyes. The one thing he wanted to figure out most now was one thing.

Who was it that snatched his goods and killed his people!