Chapter 817: Pressure

The overnight control of the interstate highway caused rumors to begin circulating throughout the entire society.

Rumors are things that have never had logic or reason.

Because if they had logic and reason, then damn it, they wouldn't be rumors!

What rumors need is to be able to shock people's eyes, make people feel incredible, and yet be deeply immersed in them!

All kinds of rumors flew everywhere, just overnight.

A little past eight in the morning, the phone in front of Lan Si rang with a jingle, and he picked it up casually, "It's me."

Er Wen's voice came through the receiver, "We might not be able to go back in the short term; we have to stay here for a while."

"Just now I had two young men go take a look; there are roadblocks in both directions of the lanes now, and they already have the faxed photos in their hands. I don't dare to take the risk."

In fact, the photos of Ma Xiu's family had been sent by fax to the various branch stations along the route in the middle of the night yesterday, but it was too late at night, and it was difficult for the police to distinguish whether those people were the ones from the fax.

Er Wen had to be thankful that most police stations were still using relatively old fax machines at this time; the dot matrix density was lower, and they would look a bit distorted.

Coupled with the late hour, they stopped after forcibly passing two roadblocks and decided to find a place to hide for a while first.

This kind of high-intensity roadblock setup could not last too long; once the intensity dropped, they would go back.

He told Lan Si about his thoughts, and Lan Si was also quite supportive, while also curiously asking, "You were exposed?"

After hearing this, Er Wen sighed, "Ma Xiu's eldest son didn't come back from university. Ai Lun said he was going to take care of him; perhaps there was some accident on his end."

He also made some explanations for Ai Lun's actions, "At the time, our thought was that if this eldest son was still alive and safe, Ma Xiu would still have a way out."

"Only by kidnapping or killing this person would Ma Xiu have no way out."

Having a way out and not having a way out are absolutely two different things.

This is like those ultimate gamblers in a casino, facing the same gamble that has staked everything.

Once gamblers with no way out lose, their only end is to jump off the roof of the casino.

Every year, many similar things happen in the Jincheng Casino, so much so that Lan Si even had people close the passage to the top floor and set up slogans like "Please don't jump off the building here," but he still couldn't control these people from jumping down.

Because as long as they leave the casino, it means they have no future, so they might as well take the leap!

But gamblers with a way out are different; if they lose, they lose. Even if they lose everything, they still have a way out.

They can still leave calmly, and life can continue.

Lan Si understood what they meant. As long as there was still one child by Sheriff Ma Xiu's side, he would weigh "abandoning these kidnapped family members" as a choice, and then turn the result into hatred, because he still had one child.

Only when he had no children left would abandonment not become a choice.

After hearing this, Lan Si also felt a bit of a headache, "There was no need to kidnap that college student; just secretly killing him would have been enough."

Er Wen gave a bitter laugh, "It's my problem; the handling wasn't decisive enough."

Lan Si did not comfort him, "You thought about things too simply, and yet too complexly. If you want to create an opportunity where he cannot give up, just kill those choices you think are redundant, and he won't have the opportunity to choose."

"How is the situation now?"

"What about Ai Lun?"

Er Wen lit a cigarette, "Not very clear, but I haven't heard any news about the kidnappers being arrested; he might still be on the run."

Lan Si did not pay too much attention to the news about Ai Lun. He understood Ai Lun; this guy often looked like he was laughing and easy to get along with, and could be good friends with anyone, but his character was actually very strong.

The possibility of capturing him alive was not high.

His brain was very flexible; perhaps he had also hidden, just temporarily without the opportunity to contact.

After considering for a while, Lan Si instructed, "I will settle this matter as soon as possible. Take a rest for a day or two."

"By then, although the roadblocks will be removed, they will definitely still be chasing you. Pay attention to safety."

"Call me before you leave, and keep the communication open."

Lan Si hung up the phone as he spoke. After thinking for a while, he called Director Du Ke (Secretary of State of Laizhou).

The work of the Secretary of State is more "commercialized" and "capitalized," and the Secretary of State manages the commercial aspect.

Whether it is Lan Si's casino or his winery, they are all major taxpayers in Laizhou, and coupled with the fact that Lan Si has the support of people in Congress behind him, the relationship between Lan Si and Du Ke can be said to be okay!

Du Ke did not show his thoughts on the position of Governor, so the relationship with Attorney General Te Li was not tense.

Not everyone wants to be Governor, because sometimes, taking a step back as the person most likely to become Governor yields political capital and profits far higher than taking a step forward!

As for whether he will take a step forward or a step back, that depends on the political situation in Laizhou after the war ends.

However, at the moment, they are still a very harmonious government management team.

Upon receiving Lan Si's call, Mr. Du Ke appeared very enthusiastic. No one could be indifferent to a major taxpayer like Lan Si, not to mention that Lan Si knew how to conduct himself and had people supporting him behind him.

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Lan Si!"

"By the way, call me Bu Lan De; my friends all call me that."

Bu Lan De Du Ke is the name of the Secretary of State. Lan Si did not refuse; this is actually a kind of probing for mutual contact and alignment.

"Bu Lan De, the highway from Denuozhou back to Laizhou has been blocked by their highway police, and now many vehicles are paralyzed on the highway."

"I and some of my clients have a large amount of supplies that need to be transported back, but it is quite difficult for us to communicate with them. I think perhaps you can help with some things."

After hearing these words, Mr. Bu Lan De did not express his position immediately, "Can I understand the situation first?"

Of course, Lan Si would not refuse, "Please feel free, I will call you again in five minutes."

Soon, the Secretary of State learned about the specific situation through his own channels; all three interstate highways were blocked.

Originally, the road section where Sheriff Ma Xiu was located did not participate in the work of setting up roadblocks to check passing vehicles, but because there were no discoveries all night, someone suggested that these people might have taken a detour from other places back to Laizhou, so all three interstate highways were blocked.

The throughput of the interstate highway seems to be not much, but in fact, this illusion is in a state where the vehicle speed is very fast.

Once the vehicle speed drops, the interstate highway will suddenly appear congested; after all, the federal interstate highways are basically single lanes in both directions.

Moreover, there are always quite a few people transporting contraband on the interstate highways. Now that vehicles are being checked so strictly, some vehicles unrelated to this case will also cause some chaos.

From last night until now, it has become increasingly congested.

The Secretary of State only learned this part of the content; he did not care why the Denuozhou highway police wanted to set up roadblocks.

Five minutes later, the two were back on the phone, "I learned about it; they have indeed caused the interstate highway to fall into paralysis. What do you want me to do?"

Lan Si said very decisively, "Apply pressure to the Denuozhou state government. You can protest to their governor. Their behavior has seriously damaged the friendship between our two states and has also caused some of our factories' production to enter a stagnant state."

"Just apply pressure?", Mr. Bu Lan De was a bit surprised, but soon reacted. Not letting him go further to express too much about this matter, or take certain response measures, should be because Lan Si has other means.

He then smiled and agreed, "No problem, Lan Si, this is just a very simple matter."

"Should I call him now, or wait a while?"

Lan Si glanced at his watch, "Nine forty-five, that is, fifteen minutes later."

"Okay, no problem."

"Is there anything else?"

"No, thank you!"

"You're welcome!"

Mr. Bu Lan De's cooperation made Lan Si more confident that he would settle this matter soon. Afterwards, he called Mayor Wei De. External pressure alone is not enough; internal pressure is also needed.

Mayor Wei De had also been paying attention to this matter. This matter was not small, and many places knew some related things.

But rumors were also flying everywhere. Some said they discovered spies, and some said there were traitors on the run.

These rumors could more or less fit some current situations; after all, during the war, it was indeed possible for spies or traitors to appear.

But some were even more outrageous. Those alien fanatics said they discovered living aliens, and the police and the military were hunting down aliens. They called for not doing so, as this could trigger an interstellar war!

This kind of rumor could be known to be false as soon as it was heard. People couldn't even break through the atmosphere; how could it trigger an interstellar war?

It could only be a one-sided beating.

All kinds of rumors were countless, and it was unknown how the public was spreading this matter. Would someone deliberately spread this matter? Otherwise, it was clearly just a matter of a few regions; how could the entire Denuozhou know about it overnight?

Receiving Lan Si's call, he didn't feel surprised; instead, he thought this call might bring some changes to the current situation.

"It's me."

After hearing Lan Si's voice, Mayor Wei De paused his work. He let the secretary leave first, and only after the office door was completely closed did he speak, "What do you need me to do?"

Since the two had already reached a cooperative relationship, naturally, in the first cooperation, they had to play the role of helping each other.

Lan Si's tone sounded very relaxed, which made Mayor Wei De suspect whether those people had already escaped, "If I send Sheriff Ma Xiu to your hands, can you solve my problem?"

Lan Si's problem?

What was his problem?

Mayor Wei De soon thought of the problem Lan Si wanted to solve: to have the State Police Chief remove the duties of a batch of police officers in that branch station, including Sheriff Ma Xiu.

Lan Si was not afraid of bearing the charge of killing a police officer, but he also didn't want to challenge bearing the charge of massacring police officers; these were completely on two levels.

Everything he did was just for this purpose. As for whether it could help Mayor Wei De, that would depend on whether Mayor Wei De himself also had enough ability.

"Absolutely no problem, you can trust me," he expressed his position in time.

Lan Si's feedback was very direct, "Wait for my news."

After hanging up the phone, Mayor Wei De looked at the receiver in his hand, and a trace of a smile appeared on his face.

If Sheriff Ma Xiu fell into his hands and could fully cooperate with some of his work, he could definitely make the Deputy Governor take a hard fall!

Hitting the morale of the Deputy Governor was definitely good news for him and the people in his camp.

Struggle is like this; you are a bit stronger, and others are a bit weaker, simple and direct.

At nine forty-five, the Secretary of State called the Governor of Denuozhou to express his protest against blocking the interstate highway.

In fact, the Governor also knew about this matter. Just as Mayor Wei De said, for a big shot like him, setting up roadblocks on the interstate highway was just a small matter; if it was blocked, it was blocked.

Now that the Secretary of State of the neighboring state called, he began to feel unhappy about this matter, because he lost face because of this matter.

What Secretary of State Bu Lan De said was a bit harsh, and the wording was also very tough. If the production of enterprises in Laizhou was affected because of some of their things, they would hold Denuozhou accountable.

It was not the first time that conflicts arose between the two states and then they went to Congress to file a lawsuit. He could only comfort Secretary of State Bu Lan De a few words, and then hung up the phone.

Laizhou's development in recent years has been very good, with outstanding performance in both economy and politics. Compared with Denuozhou, their development momentum is obviously stronger, and their status in Congress is also higher.

The Federation is such a realistic place, even Congress.

So the Governor couldn't take this matter too lightly. He casually called the Deputy Governor, and his tone was not very polite, demanding that the other party settle this matter as soon as possible and restore road traffic.

As for the kidnapping case or whatever, he actually didn't take it to heart.

Are there few cases that cannot be solved in the Federation every year?

Compared with his face, compared with the friendship with the "brother state" of Laizhou, this little thing is not a thing at all.

He sat behind the desk and thought for a while before returning to work, soon throwing this matter behind his head.

The Deputy Governor was inexplicably scolded, and he could only frown and call the State Police Chief, "You blocked the interstate highway?"

The State Police Chief didn't know why the Deputy Governor wanted to ask about this, and he could only answer truthfully, "Yes, this relates to..."

"I don't care what it relates to. Now Laizhou has protested to the Governor about your behavior, which has caused some important production on their side to be unable to proceed, and production may have to stop."

"The Governor pushed this matter to me. I don't want to hear how you explain it; you just need to tell me when traffic can be restored."

The State Police Chief felt a bit numb in his scalp. After seven or eight seconds of silence, he said, "I will remove the roadblocks immediately."

After hearing this, the Deputy Governor used a "humph" to express that he knew, as well as his own emotions.

At the same time, Sheriff Ma Xiu sat on the chair, looking at the sky outside the window with straight eyes.

The sky in November is still very cool. After winter, the humidity in the air will begin to drop, and the clouds will become much less than in summer.

Looking at it, the blue sky is endless, just like a whole blue crystal dome embedded in the sky, which makes people like it.

His thoughts are like those thin clouds, unable to form any shape, and are drifting away.

It has been a night, and no good news has come.

They found some abandoned police cars, which means that the group of criminal suspects has changed vehicles, but too much time has passed, already more than ten hours. Where these people have gone, no one knows.

Although he is very rich and can go find some young girls to have children for himself, he can no longer invest more emotion and time in his family and children as he did in the past.

It is difficult for him to find the feeling of "love" and "family" from those young women and the children they give birth to.

He understands this point very well. From the moment he lost his family, he was the only one left in this world!

Thinking of this, thick sadness filled his body. He closed his eyes in sadness; he had never been so fragile!

In fact, men have fantasized about life after divorce, and he has also fantasized about it, but when it is really possible for this situation to appear, he feels a burst of panic and discomfort.

Life and existence are being torn apart. This pain is not born in the flesh, but it is more unbearable than the pain of the flesh!

He slowly opened his eyes, his stiff eyeballs looked at the phone on the table. Just as he was considering whether to pick up the phone, the phone rang first.

It startled him, and his hands trembled. He watched the phone ring three or four times before reaching out to answer it, "This is... the Sheriff's office of the branch station, I am Ma Xiu."

"Sheriff Ma Xiu."

A voice he hadn't heard before, a very steady voice, with no extra emotion in the voice, made Sheriff Ma Xiu's scalp feel slightly numb.

This feeling is very wonderful and magical. He subconsciously straightened his body, "I am Ma Xiu, who are you?"

"Lan Si, Lan Si White, perhaps the person you are looking for."

All the muscles in Sheriff Ma Xiu's body tightened, and he gripped the receiver of the phone tightly, "Are my wife and children with you?"

Lan Si did not deny it, but he did not continue on this topic, "I want to talk to you about a deal, about your family."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 818 =====