Chapter 578: The Curtain Falls on the Old Era

The Koda family had been served on the dining table. Previously, Bandi hadn't been so... clear and distinct about this concept.

But as the situation continued to develop, those people who should have been his "assistance" and "protective umbrella" all began to tell him they were powerless.

It wasn't that they were truly completely powerless, it was just that they discovered their good friend was emitting a wonderful fragrance.

The scent emitted by the plump, benefit-filled Koda family made them salivate crazily; they couldn't wait to write him onto the menu.

Especially those people who hadn't eaten good food before but could now choose seats and menus.

Although food was constantly increasing, the quantity was ultimately insufficient to fill everyone's appetite.

Hunger made them crazy; they no longer cared where the ingredients came from. What they wanted now was to fill their stomachs and possess the ability to deal with the next batch of diners.

If Bandi could accept these things after thinking them through, then Lan Si's appearance was something he couldn't quite accept.

A guy he had never put in his eyes before had transformed into a cook.

And he happened to be the cook cooking himself. He didn't understand what was so special about Lan Si that he could stand by the dining table in another way?

Sometimes, if a good "ingredient" lacks a qualified cook, people would rather wait a bit longer than hurriedly use up the precious ingredient.

Lan Si's appearance made these diners discover a cook capable of handling these "ingredients," so the Koda family, this precious ingredient, was written into the menu.

Once the order of the menu was determined, even if the cook was changed, the menu wouldn't be changed because of the cook's change; they were already starving.

Even if there were no Lan Si now, there would still be people like Hong Si or Huang Si to take over his work, cooking the Koda family fragrantly and sending it to the dining table, letting the diners by the table eat to their hearts' content.

Since they couldn't escape the fate of becoming ingredients, they must leave behind a little hope.

There was still some confusion, some lack of understanding, some disbelief in Fleming's eyes.

They had always been diners by the dining table; when were they served on the dining table?

"This might be the last lesson I teach you, Fleming."

Bandi looked at him, tidied up the hair on his head that wasn't very promising, and used his hand to slowly press his hair back and straighten it.

"We actually made a mistake all along."

Bandi glanced at him. "Pour me some wine."

Fleming immediately poured him a glass of wine. He took a small sip. "Our speed is still too slow."

"The speed of washing white is too slow."

"The organizer of this banquet that will never stop is those gentlemen in Congress."

"They will decide who is the diner, who is the ingredient, who should be by the table, and who should be on the table."

"We were lucky enough to become people by the dining table in the last list. Maybe that was just a small table, but it also allowed us to avoid the fate of becoming food."

"We greedily devoured everything; the Koda family's development far exceeded other families among the five great families."

"But our muscles grew too slowly; there has been almost no major change over these years."

"There is still no one among us who can be brought out and called a 'politician'."

He looked at Fleming. In fact, Fleming was the successor he had chosen. He would help Fleming become a politician through his own and the family's influence; he was already operating it.

But the speed was still a bit slow, and he had misunderstood the rules of this banquet. He thought changing the list was something for a long time later; who knew it would come so fast!

"We ate too fast, making us obese, and every inch of skin is filled with the taste of benefits."

"But we grew too slowly; we don't have tough skin, we don't have strong muscles, we don't have the power to make others fear the consequences!"

"In this banquet, as long as you can't bring out strength that makes people fear, diner or ingredient—sometimes it's not so clear."

"If back then..."

He shook his head. At this time, he could only use a sigh to regret his greed.

Yes, to some extent, it was his greed that ruined the entire family.

If, when he slightly understood their status and also thought through where the future path lay, he hadn't thought about letting his son achieve this point.

But instead chose one from his brothers and sisters—at that time they were just in their thirties, exactly the right time.

They were still sitting by the dining table and still had enough influence to raise their status.

But he was greedy; he hoped such huge benefits would eventually be digested within his own line, rather than his brothers working hard for a lifetime, only to have other cousins become the core of the family.

He waited and waited; once he waited, all the opportunities were missed, until the last moment when he suddenly understood.

The opportunity had been given to him, but he didn't grasp it.

This matter couldn't be blamed on others.

"After leaving, live low-key with your family and children. Don't be high-profile, don't be ostentatious, don't let others know how much money you have or how glorious you were in the past."

"You must become ordinary people, an ordinary family, and then try to take root in a new environment."

"With so much money and resources, in the future, you, we, might not necessarily have no chance to return to the dining table."

"Fleming, the responsibility on your shoulders is very heavy. Whether the family can revive depends on you."

Bandi drank another sip of wine. "I know this is very selfish. I shouldn't pin everything I can't do on you. I hope you can do it. This is unfair to you."

"But I hope you can try your best to do it. If you really can't do it..."

He smiled. "Then you can't do it."

"You've grown up. The future is your world. You decide how every fork in the road should be walked."

"I can no longer give you more advice, nor can I watch you make the next and all future decisions and remind you whether you should do so."

"Thinking more is the only thing I can leave you."

He stopped when he said this. "Alright, leave as soon as possible!"

"Lan Si is about to come!"

Gao Li's assassination of Lan Si didn't succeed, so Lan Si's revenge would come soon. He was very clear about this point.

This is like a cook standing by the sink processing ingredients. The ingredient almost hurt the cook, so the cook will definitely vent well without destroying the appearance and taste of the dish.

It was he who used that means first, so he couldn't blame Lan Si for retaliating.

Fleming also realized the seriousness of the matter. He pursed his lips and walked over to hug Bandi.

Bandi felt as if time had regressed to a certain day a long, long time ago. He hugged Fleming and gave him a warm, reliable embrace, making him full of confidence and confidence in this world full of danger and opportunity.

"Alright, you are already the head of the family. You should set an example." He patted Fleming's back and let him go. "Go, carry our hope."

Fleming didn't linger anymore. He nodded and turned to walk away with long strides. At the last moment when he pulled the door open and walked out, he looked back.

The father and son's eyes were severed by the slowly closing door. Immediately after, footsteps sounded in the corridor outside, getting further and further away.

Bandi leaned back in his chair, looking at the good weather outside the window. The tender green lawn seemed to be covered with a layer of emerald fluorescent light.

He thought of Gao Li, thought of Shi Dong, thought of everything—what a pity!

Later in the evening, a large number of police rushed into the manor. Chief Bulu appeared in front of him with an arrest warrant. "Mr. Bandi, you can call your lawyer."

Bandi nodded. He actually hadn't cheered up; he just made himself look not so... disappointing.

Disappointing to the people in the family—those clansmen didn't know what had happened yet; they still thought they were by the dining table, not on the dining table. The lawyer came very quickly. After reading the relevant legal documents, he nodded to Bandi with a slightly heavy face. "The documents are fine, Mr. Bandi. You need to go with them, but I will accompany you."

"Sorry to trouble you!" Bandi then stood up. The police demanded to put handcuffs on him. The lawyer argued, but didn't succeed.

Actually, sometimes it's possible not to wear handcuffs; the police during this period mainly looked at emotions when enforcing the law.

But if they insisted on saying it was "regulation," then wearing handcuffs was the regulation. Even if the lawyer appealed to the highest court, there wouldn't be the slightest possibility of victory.

Bandi was put in shiny silver handcuffs. They even refused to put a hood on Bandi. He walked out of his house just like this, wearing handcuffs.

Many Koda family members looked at this scene in disbelief. Some wanted to walk up and ask him what had happened, but they were all stopped by the police.

Soon, the news of Bandi's arrest began to ferment in the city, and more rumors introducing why he was arrested also began to spread rapidly.

Rumors about the Koda family's involvement in a large number of crimes once again became the focus of people's discussion. This time, people even linked the strange news of the annual rise in the water level of Angel Lake with the Koda family.

It was as if... the rise in the water level of Angel Lake was purely caused by them doing too many bad things!

Besides these messages, there were even more explosive messages coming out, for example, Shi Dong, the fourth core figure of the Koda family, had now turned into a tainted witness, willing to testify in court to accuse the Koda family of a series of criminal acts.

His cousin, another member of the Koda family, although not a core member, was also willing to turn into a tainted witness to accuse the Koda family of some criminal acts.

These included a series of horrifying crimes such as assault, kidnapping, extortion, blackmail, rape, injury, murder, desecration of corpses, and smuggling and selling alcohol.

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The entire Likalai State was shaken by this matter because the Koda family was very famous throughout the entire Likalai State.

Not to mention Jincheng; this was like a disturbing bomb suddenly exploding, catching many people in the Bay Area off guard!

Especially those who had transactions with the Koda family and had some behind-the-scenes interest exchanges—if those problems of the Koda family were dug out in detail, some gentlemen in the Bay Area would also suffer heavy losses!

Although the lawyer hired by Bandi and the lawyer team hired later tried every means, they still couldn't let Bandi be released on bail.

This time, besides the intervention of Attorney General Terry to maintain "judicial justice," there were also people in the Bay Area using some means to prevent Bandi from being released on bail.

The reason for not letting Bandi be released on bail was that they didn't want Bandi to come out, didn't want Bandi to run around, and they intended to take action against Bandi.

Erasing all factors that threatened the Bay Area was one of the reasons why the Bay Area had become more and more bloated over the years.

If Bandi fell at a banquet with the state as the table, then at this small banquet with Jincheng as the biggest table, the organizer of the banquet greedily put everything that could be put on the dining table onto the dining table.

They didn't even need a cook; whether raw or cooked, as long as it could make them gain benefits, they grabbed it with their hands and stuffed it into their mouths.

At the same time, they would also clear out factors that might affect their eating, for example, the arrested Bandi.

In the interrogation room of the city police station, Bandi's lawyer stood in front of him with an apologetic expression. "Sorry, Mr. Bandi, I have tried my best, but they refused to sign the document allowing you to be released on bail."

"So..."

Bandi shook his head. "This has nothing to do with you. We all know that someone doesn't want me running around now."

He said, laughing twice, which definitely included those who were once his good friends.

He took out a cigarette and lit it. There was a thick smell of smoke in the room, and there were quite a few cigarette butts on the ground.

The police station didn't forbid him from smoking; on the contrary, whatever he wanted, the police station provided it, which was very humane.

He didn't make any excessive demands, only requesting to be supplied with cigarettes.

He looked at the lawyer. "How is the family now?"

The lawyer was silent for a while. "Bulu and Du Ke have already started arresting your clansmen with a large number of police. They are locked separately in their own rooms in the manor, not allowed to communicate with others."

"The entire manor has become a huge interrogation room. Some of your... clansmen have already made confessions unfavorable to you and your family."

"We contacted some people, but they refused our proposal."

The lawyer told them not to say anything unfavorable to the family, but obviously, no one took his words as a matter.

Everyone could see that this giant ship of the Koda family was about to sink. Not speaking at this time would only sink with it into the deep seabed.

Even if some family members didn't have any serious crimes—after all, it was impossible for everyone to have committed crimes—a considerable part of them hadn't participated in criminal acts.

But even so, they would be afraid because this ship was too big.

The downward suction force generated when it sank would roll everyone into the seabed together.

Even those floating on the water surface were no exception.

So before it started to sink, these people had to save themselves.

No one knew better than them what bad things the family had done. Case after case was confessed, and news after news of horrifying events spread in society.

Even the governor was very concerned about this case and urged the mayor to investigate clearly, then collect all the evidence of crimes and send it to the state government.

For such a heinous case, he requested it to be tried in a state-level court, the reason being that he felt suspicious about whether the Jincheng court could treat these cases and parties fairly and justly.

Everyone knew clearly, deeply knew, that they were finished.

So the self-rescue behavior of these clansmen, in Bandi's view, was no problem.

He shook his head. "Let them be."

"If they think that by doing this, they can get out of this storm, then it can only be said that they imagined this disaster too simply."

He paused, using a tone he himself didn't realize, with some complexity, guilt, and careful demeanor. "How is... Shi Dong?"

"Shi Dong has now turned into a tainted witness. It is said that the Department of Justice is discussing whether to sign an immunity agreement for him."

"Once the Department of Justice passes this discussion, he will be exempt from prosecution."

A smile appeared on Bandi's face. "That is good news."

There was a look of bewilderment on the lawyer's face, as if asking him, shouldn't he hate Shi Dong?

From the moment Gao Li died, he had actually already "let go," forcing himself to let go.

He had tried his best, and Gao Li and Shi Dong had also sacrificed a lot. If failure was unavoidable, he had no regrets.

If Shi Dong could live, he would have an explanation to Gao Li.

So he was very happy that Shi Dong had a chance to be exempt from prosecution, if this was true.

"Can I talk to Shi Dong?" he asked.

He still had some things in his hands that only he and Gao Li knew. If he let Shi Dong expose these things, maybe he would have a chance to increase his weight and value in the eyes of those people in the Department of Justice who could decide their fate.

After considering for a while, the lawyer didn't give him an accurate answer. "I can try, but it might not work."

Bandi was very calm. "Then try it. Regardless of success or failure, at least we have tried."

He had many words he wanted to say to Shi Dong.

After the lawyer reported the recent progress of the case to him, he left. Not long after, a person he hadn't expected, but who was within reason, came—Lan Si.

The moment he saw Lan Si, he didn't stand up. If it were before, he would definitely have stood up, but now he was the biggest one.

Because he was about to die, he knew he absolutely wouldn't live until the day of the verdict, so what was the point of caring about these things?

"I just... you know, want to make some people nervous, so I have to make them have suspicions that can make them uneasy."

Lan Si walked to the table and sat down, saying casually.

Bandi smiled and nodded. "They will definitely be curious about what we talked about, whether it is harmful to them."

"In order to avoid more problems outside the plan, they will find a way to kill me."

"Right?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 579 =====