Chapter 807

"I hope you're at least somewhat useful!"

Elvin put away his weapon, "Take him away."

Afterward, the group left. When they stepped over the short officer's body, no one looked down at him except for the tall officer.

He was like a dead mouse, cockroach, or some other insignificant little thing in the corner; even if their corpses were right there, people would still not see them.

As for whether this corpse would be discovered?

Who cares about that?

After returning to the rented villa, Elvin thought for a while and called Lanse; he had to explain the situation here.

Lanse couldn't help but laugh out loud when he heard what Elvin said, "So the cargo we thought was a case of gangsters preying on gangsters was actually eaten by a group of police?"

"And when we thought it was done by the city police, we found out these police are State Police?"

"Which means the situation has become more complicated now."

He was silent for a while, "I didn't want to go over there, but it seems I have to now."

Elvin wanted to say he didn't have to come, but he didn't speak in the end because this matter was already set. The disappearance of the tall officer and the short officer would soon alert those State Police.

Dealing with them would become more troublesome then. If they couldn't handle the authorities there, directly armed-attacking a State Police district station Sheriff was definitely a major case that could alarm the entire Federation.

Even if Lanse had someone above him to cover for him, it would be hard to leave no aftereffects, and it might become a huge landmine.

So in the end, Lanse decided to go there personally.

"You guys get some good rest these few days, and while you're at it, figure out the organizational structure of the New Birmingham gangsters. Didn't you say if they don't cooperate, you'd purge the local gangsters?"

"That can be done!"

"Stay safe, wait for me to arrive."

After hanging up the phone, Lanse leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples.

If these people were New Birmingham police, then under the mayoral system, the mayor could handle them.

But they were State Police now. To dismiss these people, the State Police Commissioner would have to step in, and the appointment of this Commissioner would be handled by the state government; the Governor might even inquire about it.

The difficulty level had increased significantly.

However, he soon felt relieved. That's just how life is; either you fight them, or they fight you. There will always be people leaving your life, and there will always be people cutting in line to enter your life.

Who leaves and who stays depends not only on fate but also on one's fists.

The only pity is that Lanse might not see the baby's birth. It was already early November, and Patricia had started entering the pre-delivery state; she might suddenly go into labor at any time.

And this trip to Indeno State meant he couldn't return for a while. Even if the matter was resolved quickly, just the round trip on the road would take two weeks.

The trouble level of this matter was terrifyingly high. Lanse himself didn't have the confidence to handle it in a short time, so he could only take it one step at a time.

Currently, there were no decisions needed here in New Jincheng, and even if there were, the phone was very convenient, plus there was Meiluo watching over things.

This guy was becoming more and more steady, and Lanse still trusted him quite a bit.

The next morning, he went to see Mayor Williams. Originally, this plan was to wait another two days, but he couldn't wait anymore.

Although Mayor Williams was a bit surprised by Lanse's sudden visit, he still pushed aside part of his schedule to chat with him.

After he welcomed Lanse in from outside, they sat on opposite sides of the desk. After letting his secretary bring coffee and snacks, he asked, "Do you have some urgent business?"

Lanse nodded, "I'm going to Indeno State soon; we've encountered some trouble over there."

Mayor Williams could infer these things, and he could also inquire with Mayor Wei De.

Now both councilors had become mayors. Although there had been a competitive relationship, now that there was no direct conflict of interest between the two sides, they would naturally become good friends again.

He could ask Mayor Wei De about this news, and he also believed Mayor Wei De wouldn't refuse to answer his questions; this wasn't something that particularly needed to be kept secret anyway.

So Lanse didn't consider hiding anything at all. He was a straightforward person, very sincere, and rarely lied or didn't lie.

Mayor Williams raised an eyebrow, "Do you need my help?"

Lanse shook his head, "Unless you know the Governor of Indeno State and have a pretty good relationship with him, otherwise your intervention would be worse than not intervening."

The more people who intervene, the faster the impression spreads in this matter, and some things become increasingly uncontrollable.

Lanse refused his kindness, and Mayor Williams wasn't annoyed; he just smiled.

"Alright, as long as you have a plan in mind."

"Are you here to talk to me about job opportunities this time?", Mayor Williams lit a cigarette. He had a heavy smoking habit after becoming mayor, and the ashtray on the table was almost full.

He would smoke when there were no visitors, and he would smoke when there were visitors; smoking allowed him to think more smoothly.

Although he had been coughing recently, his private doctor also suggested he shouldn't smoke so much.

But to him, these problems were never problems; he just didn't listen.

Lanse proposed an idea, "We can give those local workers some quotas, but these people must join the labor company and withdraw from the union."

Mayor Williams' eyes grew wider and wider, and finally, he stared at Lanse, "Wang Defa?"

"You want to make the workers voluntarily withdraw from the union?"

His face was slightly flushed; clearly, he had a burst of emotion he didn't know how to vent, and he was stifled.

Federal people are sometimes pitiful because when they need to vent their emotions, they go back and forth with just those few words, which doesn't vent their emotions at all, but instead makes them feel even more stifled.

In this regard, it's not as good as the language of another world—concise and powerful.

Deep in the dantian, deafening, one "idiot" shocks the world!

After several seconds, he exhaled, seeming to feel a bit better, "Do you know that you are challenging the bottom line of the union and the labor federation?"

"They will definitely retaliate against you like crazy!"

Mayor Williams could already imagine the scene at that time. Once Lanse could really do this, it would mean that the twenty million working-class brothers were not as unbreakable as the labor federation claimed.

It wouldn't even take any high-level tactics or huge sacrifices; just a little scheme could turn twenty million good brothers into twenty million good jokes!

So by then, the order of the entire city might experience some turmoil, and he was very worried.

"We just want to maintain the employment rate, not let the entire city fall into chaos!", the mayor reminded Lanse, "Your approach is too dangerous!"

Lanse, however, shook his head with a different view, "The union itself is voluntary to join or withdraw from; no one can force workers to be union members or non-union members."

"In the laws related to labor and workers, is it mentioned that one must hire union workers to organize production and sell goods?"

Lanse's question made Williams shake his head, "There is definitely no such law or regulation, but their influence and binding power are too great."

"Sometimes it doesn't necessarily have to be the law that judges you; morality and established conventions work too!"

"If there are many people who oppose you, sometimes even if you are correct, you will eventually be classified as the wrong part!"

Mayor Williams was still quite wary of that group in the union, which was also a normal thing.

After all, he had experienced more and larger-scale social movements, and he was afraid that once these forces united, they would form an uncontrollable general strike.

Whether it's capitalists or politicians, everyone is very afraid of general strikes.

This represents the complete stagnation of production projects in a certain industry in the entire society due to the lack of workers, and the entire society will be affected!

Seeing Mayor Williams seem to recall something that happened in the past and reveal an uneasy expression, he continued to soothe him, "It's not as terrifying as you imagine."

"In New Jincheng, if they want a general strike, then let them strike."

"Did you forget how we handled it last time?"

"There is no shortage of people willing to work here—men, women, the elderly, children; as long as you are willing to give them the opportunity to work, they are willing to work all day."

"As long as the production tasks of the factories in the new industrial zone are not affected, what does it matter to us what happens to those groups that were not in our plans to begin with?"

"By that time, it won't be a general strike, but a grand parade!"

The impact of a strike and a parade on society is definitely completely different.

A strike is definitely a top-tier social activity in terms of influence, mainly due to the destruction of production, but for a parade, the destruction is much smaller.

Mayor Williams looked at Lanse with some astonishment; he hadn't thought that things could be analyzed and solved this way.

He pondered for a while, "It sounds like there's no problem, but what do you plan to do about the union and the labor federation?"

"They might target you constantly!"

Lanse looked indifferent, "Target me if they want. Although I need workers to work for me, the workers under me don't listen to them; they are my own workers."

"Their conventional methods are of no use to me at all. If they want to make me look bad through game-like gatherings and demonstrations, you know, I'm a gang leader."

"It wouldn't be the first time I've suppressed rioting worker groups; I will make them understand what pain is!"

Last time the dock workers kept rioting, they were directly suppressed by Lanse.

Thinking of the scene of blood all over the ground and workers using brushes to clean up the bloodstains afterward, Mayor Williams couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Why do you think they provoke you?"

He paused, "How many job positions can you provide?"

Lanse considered it seriously for a while, "The number of immigrant groups is becoming larger, and they charge less, are willing to endure hardship, and will even work overtime for free."

"Honestly, local workers don't have any advantage compared to them at all, at most there are some special technical jobs where we still lack some people."

"If you want a fifty-fifty split, I think it might be a little difficult; let's say thirty-five percent."

"Out of ten thousand job positions, three thousand five hundred will hire locals, and these are just ordinary workers."

"If you add technical jobs, it might reach close to forty percent, which is not a small amount anymore."

After Mayor Williams considered it for a while, from a relatively rational perspective, Lanse's idea had no problems at all.

As long as he wasn't threatened by the union and had counter-measures, he wouldn't fear the union, "Alright, do as you say."

Lanse nodded slightly, "By the way, here's a little inside scoop for you."

"What?", Mayor Williams asked curiously. He tapped the ash off his cigarette and took another breath.

"The labor federation and the industry general union plan to establish a Workers' Party, and they also plan to run for president..."

Mayor Williams even forgot to exhale the cigarette smoke; he just stared blankly at Lanse, and only after a while was he awakened by a cough!

He coughed for a good while, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

As someone who always demanded himself to be a gentleman, using profanity at this moment was indeed a "breakthrough" in his emotions; he still didn't believe this was true!

The three political parties in the Federation were already annoying enough; if another one came along...

And it was a political party that controlled so many working-class people; he suddenly felt a wave of fear!

If they really controlled twenty million votes, it would mean they controlled more than half of the Federation!

Thinking of this, he asked uncertainly, "Congress... shouldn't let them succeed, right?"

Lanse didn't say anything, just smiled, "So you don't need to worry about the whole thing; just follow what we agreed upon."

Mayor Williams no longer had any questions and agreed.

After resolving the small trouble with Mayor Williams, he spoke a few words with the manager of the labor company, and then took his people on the train to Indeno State.

He couldn't stand a train ride of at least five or six days; that would drive him crazy!

Actually, even if it's taking a train, even if you can walk around and do many things, staying in a narrow space for so long can also make people break down!

During the time Lanse was heading to New Birmingham, other distributors in the city gradually discovered problems.

Because previously, they collected payments every day or every other day; this was their rule.

For one thing, it prevented these distributors from running away with too much money. Even if they ran, they would at most take a few hundred or a thousand dollars, which wouldn't have any impact on the overall sales.

On the other hand, it was also for timely and unified restocking; this wasn't just for selling liquor this time, it was the same when selling other things before.

But for three or four consecutive days, the two police officers hadn't appeared, and they felt something was wrong.

One of the distributors spread the word, and soon other State Police living in New Birmingham discovered that the two had gone missing.

In the morning, several police officers agreed to come together to the place where the two police officers lived. Their girlfriends didn't seem to realize that the two had gone missing yet.

They had situations before where they would go to work for a long time before coming back, and for these two women, what they cared about was the quality of life and enjoyment, not what the person who had nothing better to do than ride them was doing.

Several police officers searched the room, but because there were too many traces of life there, they couldn't find any evidence.

After questioning the two women, they also concluded that they hadn't returned at all.

"They might have had an accident on the way back; it's already been several days."

Several police officers gathered together to discuss, and one of them said, "Should we tell the Sheriff about this?"

The other two looked at him, and he explained, "Maybe those people came."

He didn't explain in detail who "those people" were, but everyone here knew what he meant by these words.

Those people referred to the original owners of this liquor.

Actually, these people weren't very supportive of moving against such a large shipment of goods at first; millions in goods were enough to make their owners have them killed a hundred times over!

But it was precisely because the value of this shipment was so high that they eventually lost to greed.

Now the revenge of greed had come, and their minds were somewhat uneasy.

Soon they drove to the district station and met the Sheriff in the Sheriff's office.

The Sheriff looked at the three who came together, and he looked down at the calendar, "Today is not the day for collecting payments!"

One of the three said with an ugly expression, "Dai Wei and his partner are missing."

The Sheriff originally had quite a few smiles on his face; the magic of liquor turning into money made him feel great. This time, as long as everything was sold, he could make at least five hundred thousand!

Five hundred thousand—he hadn't had that much money in all his years of working; he could completely retire directly after getting this money!

So he had been happy recently, and even some shadows and unease in his heart were gradually covered up by the increasing money.

Now that two police officers were suddenly missing, that unease suppressed in his heart began to float up again.

"Did you go to the place where they live?"

"What about the surrounding hospitals?"

"And the city police station, has anyone reported finding a corpse or something?"

He asked several questions in a row, but these subordinates only went to the place of Dai Wei's superior and truthfully reported the situation there.

The Sheriff actually already knew that these two people were probably captured by someone, but he still held onto a glimmer of hope, letting them check the hospitals in the city to see if these two idiots had an accident and were admitted to the hospital.

At the same time, he himself called the city police station to ask if there were any reports related to State Police recently, and at the same time asked them to coordinate and check the car they were driving.

Because they were "brother units," the city police station quickly assigned tasks. For cases involving missing police officers, the city police were also very cooperative and dispatched a large number of police forces.

In just two hours, there were mounted police and patrol cars everywhere on the streets.

A little later, they found the target vehicle in a parking lot next to a restaurant in a slightly remote part of the city.

The vehicle was parked there intact, only the window glass was smashed, and it looked like someone had ransacked it.

At the same time, the police officers found some dried bloodstains on the edge of the parking lot against the wall...

(End of chapter)