Chapter 618: Everyone is essentially the same

Senior Agent Deruixi slowly raised his hands. Shortly after, he felt a hand frisking him, and it quickly found his service pistol, as well as the dagger at his waist.

Once these items had been cleared away, a voice came from behind him: "You can put your hands down now."

The person behind him gave him a push, and he appeared outside the living room. He looked at his wife sitting on the sofa and the young man chatting with her, and the information of one person immediately surfaced in his mind.

Lans White.

Lans turned his head and saw him; his wife also turned and saw him. He did not see much panic on his wife's face; in fact, she was even wearing a smile.

The two of them stood up at the same time. She walked over to Deruixi of her own accord and said with a smile, "You never told me you had such an interesting colleague!"

Deruixi was stunned for a moment, then looked at Lans, who was facing him, realizing that he had used a special identity to enter the room.

What made him feel fortunate was that Lans had not done anything to his wife.

He squeezed out a smile. "Yes, I don't really like to talk about work matters."

His wife did not pay much attention to it either; she had never been interested in things inside the Hazardous Materials Bureau. What had her beaming with smiles right now was not anything related to his work.

It was the handsome young man and the things he had been saying to her.

Who could refuse a handsome and well-spoken young man?

"I'll go get some snacks; you two sit and chat."

It was already past dinner time when Lans arrived. Deruixi often returned only after dinner, and he would eat out.

It wasn't that he didn't like the food at home, but seven or eight o'clock was exactly when bars began to open and were at their liveliest. If they had any arrest operations or needed to investigate clues, they were often scheduled for this time.

No one would be stupid enough to look for street-corner bars at eight in the morning; there wouldn't be a ghost of a shadow in the bars at that time, and it would be impossible to find anything.

Only at this time, when they began to "inhale and exhale" the flow of people, could they discover some clues.

Therefore, these agents often returned after dinner time, and their families were already used to them not being at the table during dinner.

"Let's talk," Lans said. "Go to your study."

Deruixi could not refuse. He greeted his wife and then went to the study.

Houses in this middle-class neighborhood were designed with a home office space left for the male head of the household.

You could call it a study, or you could call it a "home office"—call it whatever you like; in any case, this was the male owner's secret space.

There were two other people with Lans, and Deruixi entered the study. The two men walked to the corner and stood there, while Lans sat in the guest's seat.

He gestured for Deruixi to sit down, and the latter had no choice but to comply.

"Someone said you intend to find trouble for me." Lans shook his collar and opened his coat, ensuring he looked presentable.

He looked more like a gentleman than a bad guy.

People are visual creatures. If it had been someone else, Lans might not have even been able to enter the room, but when he stood at the door and displayed his police badge—

The radiance of justice emitted by the badge shone on his handsome face, and the hostess opened the door without any suspicion.

As for those who looked more like bodyguards, they were explained away by him as his "subordinates."

The woman did not understand the system and hierarchy within the Hazardous Materials Bureau, and she was not interested in them. As long as she did not think Lans was a bad person, any explanation Lans gave was reasonable.

She accepted this viewpoint, even now.

After hearing Lans's words, Deruixi felt a sense of horror throughout his entire body!

He had only spoken to Director Dai Er about this matter this morning, and now Lans had arrived at his home. This made it impossible for him not to let his imagination run wild.

He licked his lips. "I..." He had wanted to say he hadn't thought that way.

But immediately after, he realized that since Lans had already come, he must have evidence, or rather, he had full confidence in the existence of this matter.

Lying, quibbling, or denying it was meaningless.

He had studied Lans, just like many of Lans's enemies or partners, only he hadn't studied him as deeply as they had, but he knew one thing.

That was that evidence, for this person, was actually not as important as one might imagine.

He was like a gentleman at times, but at other times, he was more of a bastard than a bastard.

Thoughts in his mind spun wildly like lightning, thinking; brain cells were activated by bursts of bioelectricity, beginning to exchange information and engage in thought.

The human brain is a magical organ; it processes all information in ways that people cannot understand.

Deruixi revealed a bitter smile; he didn't even know who had betrayed him!

"Sorry..." In the end, he said this sentence.

Lans laughed. "No need to be sorry. At that moment, you were the good guy, and I was the bad guy in your eyes. You arrested me; I don't think that was wrong."

"You were just fulfilling your duty!"

Unexpectedly, Lans was actually so reasonable. Deruixi's emotions also became much more relaxed. He pursed his lips. "Thank you."

Saying thank you to a criminal organization leader whom he had originally regarded as a target was indeed not an easy thing to do.

Lans nodded. "How do you view your work?"

This question was very abrupt, so abrupt that Deruixi didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Lans was very patient, waiting for him the whole time. It took him several minutes before he said, "My work... is to eliminate..." He looked up at Lans, feeling a bit nervous inside. "... evil."

In the end, he still spoke his true thoughts. What surprised him again was that Lans actually nodded in agreement with his viewpoint. "Yes, eliminate evil, eliminate crime, eliminate criminals."

"You are able to fulfill your work very well; you are a conscientious person."

"But, Deruixi, may I call you that?"

Deruixi nodded repeatedly. "Of course, no problem."

"Deruixi, what is evil, and what is not evil—how do you understand it?"

Lans's question had some depth, which made him think, but thinking could not immediately yield an answer, and Lans was still waiting for him.

After hesitating for a while, he said, "The law is the yardstick for defining evil."

Lans did not agree with his viewpoint this time. "This presents a problem, Deruixi."

"Is drinking alcohol a crime?"

Deruixi subconsciously wanted to answer "Yes," but before he could answer, Lans continued, "Before the Prohibition Act was promulgated, federal people had a two-hundred-year history of drinking. Even before the first generation of immigrants came to this continent, the local indigenous people also had a tradition of brewing alcohol."

"Alcoholic beverages brought courage to people and gave people the strength to conquer nature. It is not evil; at the very least, drinking alcohol should not be a sin."

"But why do we now think that drinking alcohol is a crime? You have to know that just a few years ago, people could still drink alcohol publicly, but now they can't. Why?"

Lans's fingers tapped on the desktop twice. "Because of legislation."

"Congress legislated to prohibit alcohol, believing that drinking alcohol would delay production. I don't know how they reached this conclusion, but everything related to alcohol, from legal to illegal, is because of legislation."

"Is the law implemented through legislation necessarily correct?"

Deruixi fell into thought. Lans shook his head. "Some local laws tell you that you are not allowed to stand and urinate after eight o'clock at night. Do you think this law is correct?"

"Do you think that people who stand and urinate after eight o'clock at night are necessarily evil criminals?"

"Also, some local laws stipulate that you are not allowed to sing while taking a bath. So, are people who sing while taking a bath criminals?"

"Who did they hurt, or whose property did they steal?"

"No, they did not."

"The law is a yardstick used by Congress and capitalists to constrain the behavior of the masses. It cannot explain what is justice and what is evil."

"If one day, the Prohibition Act is canceled, and someone even admits that the Prohibition Act was a wrong decree, then how should you view what you did during the Prohibition Act?"

"Making alcohol factories go bankrupt and close down, making workers lose their reliance for living, making those who just wanted to have a drink be locked in prison..."

Lans shook his head. "Now, you tell me, selling alcohol, drinking alcohol—what wrong did it actually commit?"

The door was knocked on. Lans said "Come in," and Deruixi's wife walked in carrying a tray.

"I... heated up some cookies, and there's freshly brewed coffee."

Lans smiled and picked up a piece, taking a bite. It was rich in milky fragrance and very delicious.

"Too delicious. You are truly ingenious, Madam."

"Can I take some with me when I leave?"

"My family should like them."

Deruixi's wife smiled so wide her mouth couldn't close. "Of course, of course. It's great that you like them. I'll go bake some more for you right now; you two can chat for a while longer!"

She said this and left happily. The door was closed again. Lans gestured for Deruixi to try some as well.

As the two ate, Lans waited for his answer.

Eating cookies and thinking about Lans's question, his thinking was currently stuck, because he really couldn't answer this question.

After waiting for two or three minutes, Lans had eaten two cookies, and he still hadn't been able to answer. Only then did he clap his hands and say, "You can't answer this question not because you don't know the answer, but because once you answer it, you will question whether everything you have done is correct."

"This is actually not that difficult."

"None of us committed a crime; we just didn't want to follow the ideas of some people in Congress. They are manipulating our lives, and to prevent us from resisting, they even turned it into law."

"That is the crime, Deruixi. We are not criminals; they are!"

When Lans said these words, he did so very easily, but to him, it was like a heavy punch hitting his cheek, making him dizzy and disoriented.

Lans picked up the coffee and poured some for himself. "You don't know, a while ago I went to Jinzhou. Some people know; in fact, I also have people in Congress. You can view them as my superiors."

"I attended quite a few gatherings, those gatherings of big shots. They also drink alcohol, gathering to drink."

"The people who promulgated this law trample on the law themselves, so it has never been a law that explains right and wrong; it is just a whip used to lash those ordinary people who are unwilling to obey."

"And you are the person holding the whip, using that whip to lash those who are unwilling to be manipulated."

"Deruixi, people already have a hard enough time living. It's rare to have some things that can make them reduce their pain a little, yet you want to consider this a crime and deprive them of the opportunity."

"To the people, you are the criminal; your behavior is the crime."

Lans's non-intense, non-aggressive, chat-like process made Deruixi start to become confused, because he suddenly felt that what Lans said seemed to have some truth to it.

He shook his head, wanting to shake the confusion out of his head.

But thoughts are things that, the more you think about them, the harder they are to forget. "I don't know."

His expression told Lans that this person was currently struggling and conflicted inside. He had started to question things; this was a good thing.

Lans took out a cigarette. "Want one?"

He nodded in hesitation. The two lit the cigarettes in their hands. Lans crossed his legs, looking at him. "From a more bottom-level perspective, you are the executioner who destroys their happiness."

"Prohibition not only failed to solve the drinking problem, but instead aggravated the drinking problem."

"I don't want to elaborate on the question of who is correct between the people and the minority; that is too complicated. I just want to tell you that after discarding these factors, between us—you, me—there is actually no distinction of right or wrong."

"We are all doing things that are beneficial to ourselves, so don't deceive yourself about how noble you are, and how despicable we are."

"I'm telling you so much because I feel you have a happy family, a wife who loves you, and I don't want to destroy all of this."

"I can tell you that it was Dai Er who called to tell me you had some ideas..."

Deruixi's eyes widened in an instant. He looked at Lans in disbelief, as if he were looking at a monster!

Lans, on the other hand, appeared very relaxed. "Think it's impossible?"

He shook his head. "Nothing is impossible. Like I said, everything we do is for our own interests."

"When my interests and his interests have the same goal, we are 'our own people,' and you are not among them."

Deruixi's expression became complicated. "You told me these things—does that mean I no longer have a choice?"

He knew that upon knowing this heaven-shaking secret, he either had to defect to Lans or be finished off by Lans. He suddenly felt a bit of regret. Knowing this matter wasn't easy to handle, why did he have to crash into it head-first?

He thought about it seriously; this matter was Pang Da's fault.

Pang Da had been provoking Lans the whole time but hadn't received any "punishment," making him feel that this matter wasn't a big deal.

At the same time, he also extended another line of thought. "Pang Da... is he also your person?"

Lans nodded. "Yes."

Deruixi suddenly laughed, as if it were a sudden, uncontrollable laugh. He laughed helplessly and awkwardly, his body trembling with the laughter.

He couldn't figure out how the Director of the Hazardous Materials Bureau and the "Anti-Lans Vanguard" were both actually Lans's people. Was there anything more exaggerated than this?

Even if Lans said the entire Hazardous Materials Bureau was his people now, Deruixi wouldn't feel it was exaggerated.

After laughing for a while, his laughter stopped.

Lans looked at him and, after he had completely calmed down, said, "The entire police force is my person. If nothing goes wrong, Councilor Williams will become the new mayor."

"The gangs in the city are all under my control. I also control the docks, the casinos. This city can leave anyone."

"But it cannot leave me."

"Deruixi..." Lans raised his left palm, his palm slightly upward. "Work for me..." Then he raised his right palm. "Or become an accident."

"You have to make a choice."

Ten-plus minutes later, Lans and his people came out of Deruixi's study. His wife happened to be taking some cookies out of the oven.

The rich fragrance was all over the room!

Lans saw the meal kits in the trash can; the lives of federal people were very convenient.

Supermarkets had pre-mixed "cookie ingredients," which were doughs with butter, cream, sugar, and various seasonings added.

Depending on the purpose of these doughs, the prices were also different.

After buying them back, you only needed to put them on a countertop, flatten them with a rolling pin, and then use your favorite mold to press out the shape of the cookies.

Repeat this step until all the dough was used up, then put these pressed-out cookies into a baking tray and bake them for fifteen to twenty-five minutes according to the instructions in the manual, and the cookies were done.

It didn't require the housewife to have any technical operations; the uniform taste and basically completely consistent results were the choice of every federal housewife.

They never felt this was unhealthy, only thanking those companies for helping them solve many troubles, allowing their cooking skills to always perform stably.

"Are you two done talking?" The woman placed these cookies on a hollowed-out rack specifically for cooling, then took off her heat-insulating gloves and went to get paper bags.

"They can be packed in a moment; wait a little while."

Lans said "No rush" and walked to the side with Deruixi to chat for a while longer.

Not long after, the woman came with two paper bags in her hands. "I hope you and your family like them."

Lans ended the conversation with Deruixi and nodded with a smile. "Thank you for your gift; they will definitely like them very much."

"Deruixi and I have finished talking about our business. I have to go back. Thank you for your hospitality, Madam."

The woman nodded with a smile. The couple sent Lans to the door, and only after watching him leave did they return home.