Chapter 826: Termination and Cooperation

Ma Xiu's heart was pounding wildly.

This was caused by the secretion of adrenaline.

In a crisis, people always trigger some small switches in their bodies, allowing them to use their fragile bodies to confront disasters that ordinary human power cannot resist!

He knew these people were from the Lanse family!

Actually, he had thought about such a day for a long time, but he didn't expect these people... to be so impatient.

He had thought they might encounter trouble in prison, and he even fantasized that if the Lanse family wanted to take action against them in prison, perhaps they would still have a chance to survive.

But now he understood: from the beginning, there was no such possibility.

The surrounding cars all stopped. People holding weapons got out of the cars, surrounding this transport vehicle.

The driver of the transport vehicle and the bailiffs responsible for safety on the road had long since run off to who knows where, leaving only an empty driver's cab.

Some others woke up. Influenced by the sound of car doors opening and closing outside, they woke up from their drowsy sleep, looking around in some bewilderment.

With a click, the door of the transport vehicle opened.

This door separated freedom from imprisonment. Clearly, as long as they left here, they could gain freedom, but at this moment, no one moved recklessly.

They were all sitting far away or standing there.

A more luxurious car slowly drove from afar, stopping not far from the transport vehicle. The car window slowly rolled down, revealing Lanse's upper body.

Through the steel-interwoven car window, he saw Ma Xiu inside, and Ma Xiu also saw him.

After the two looked at each other for a moment, Ma Xiu slowly walked out of the transport vehicle. His steps were staggering, and the shackles still added a lot of trouble to him during his movement, making him look very disheveled.

He held onto the handrail and jumped down from the car, his feet firmly stepping on the ground, his slightly sunken and bent body straightening up again.

He looked at Lanse inside the car window and asked, "Where is my eldest son?"

Lanse looked at him, revealing a very regretful expression, "He resisted too fiercely. You know, we had no choice."

This sentence seemed to say nothing, but it also seemed to say everything.

In fact, Ma Xiu, who already had psychological preparation, still couldn't bear it when he truly heard this answer.

He had the best relationship with his eldest son. At that time, although his position wasn't high and he was poor, he had a lot of time to accompany this child as he grew up.

They played baseball together in front of their house, went to watch baseball games together, and sang the team song together for the victory of the team they supported.

They did many things together: sports, fishing, reading...

He used his own actions to compensate for what he lacked in his own childhood on his eldest son. That wasn't just his child; it was a form of compensation for his own childhood self!

He had placed too much emotion on this child, but now, he was dead.

Ma Xiu was so sad that his eye sockets turned red. He didn't want to show his fragile side at first, but soon he couldn't help but cover his face and sob.

"Was he... in pain?" He looked at Lanse with hope. Even if his child was dead, he hoped he had died cleanly and quickly, rather than suffering torture.

He actually no longer had many fantasies about living, so he hoped to know these things before he died, which would make him less confused on the road to hell.

Lanse nodded, "Yes, clean and quick. You know, my young lads are experts at this."

He slightly raised his chin and touched his own neck, "Several knives here, and then a few stabs in the heart. He didn't even have time to feel pain."

Ma Xiu slumped on the ground, leaning against the transport vehicle. He was almost crying with his head in his hands.

The atmosphere at the scene was truly very bad. Those people on the transport vehicle didn't get off; they hadn't given up their fantasies yet.

After Ma Xiu cried for a while, he wiped his tears, revealing his red and swollen eyes, "My wife and the other two children..."

Lanse looked at him for a while and said, "They will live."

Ma Xiu let out a heavy sigh of relief, "You are a person who keeps his word."

Lanse smiled, "This is a transaction. You paid with your life, and I paid for the safety of your family."

"As long as they don't think about dealing with me, they can live safely forever."

He paused, "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

Ma Xiu thought for a while, "Can you give me a cigarette?"

Lanse nodded. A young man next to him handed his weapon to a companion, then took a cigarette and a lighter and came to Ma Xiu's side.

He gave Ma Xiu a cigarette. Ma Xiu took a deep breath after lighting it. This was the last cigarette of his life!

He said thank you, then drunkenly enjoyed the satisfaction brought by the cigarette.

When the cigarette was almost finished, he held onto the car door and stood up, "Can... I don't mean I'm great, everything happened because of me, can I take full responsibility?"

His eyes carried some hope. If only he died, it could be considered that he had given his subordinates an explanation.

But Lanse shook his head, and in his disappointed eyes, said, "Time is up."

The car window was rolled up, and the car slowly turned around and left. When Lanse's car was about twenty meters away, intense gunfire resounded across the entire wilderness.

Ma Xiu lay on the ground at the first moment. He looked at the cigarette butt right in front of him; there was still one last puff left.

He had been hit by at least twenty or thirty bullets, perhaps.

He didn't think about saving himself or anything, but used all his strength to pick up the cigarette, put it in his mouth, narrowed his eyes slightly, and took another puff.

And then there were no more tomorrows.

The gunfire hadn't ended. Those young men held their guns and carried out a crazy sweep of the people in the carriage. Bullets hit this transport vehicle like a rainstorm.

Twenty seconds later, the gunfire stopped.

The car body was full of holes, and no one in the car could stand.

Two young men changed their magazines, got on the car, and performed follow-up shots on the corpses lying on the ground.

Then the group took the car and left quickly, leaving only Ma Xiu outside, the corpses inside, and a car that could be sent to the scrapyard.

Ma Xiu's death didn't alarm any ordinary people, but those at a slightly higher level knew about this matter.

For the Deputy Governor, this was a humiliation!

No matter what background Lanse had, in Indeno State, he had compromised with a gang leader. Even if he had a thousand reasons, people would look down on him.

The State Police Chief was also quickly "implicated." The judge approved the arrest of the Chief, and then he was prosecuted for dereliction of duty. Actually, this was a very light crime. The judge sentenced him to twelve months, which was one year.

At the same time, he only needed to serve six months before he could apply for parole. In reality, the time he served wasn't very long.

Did this matter seem to end here?

No, in reality, every participant knew that the game had just begun!

Lanse visited Mayor Wei De. This was also Mayor Wei De's first close contact with Lanse.

For Lanse's handsomeness and youth, he sighed from the bottom of his heart.

"Has anyone ever told you that you could totally be a movie star!"

Right from the start, they wouldn't talk about such deep topics. Lanse sat in Mayor Wei De's office, sitting opposite him.

He crossed his legs, his hands naturally placed on the armrests, and nodded slightly, "Before, when I was filming 'The Raid on Jincheng', I was often in Creek City. Many talent scouts contacted me, wanting me to go film movies."

"This matter gave me a great sense of security."

Mayor Wei De felt his thinking couldn't keep up with Lanse's words. What direct relationship did being handsome have with a sense of security?

However, the topic was started by him, so he could only reveal a curious expression looking at Lanse, as if asking "What the hell do you mean."

Lanse smiled and explained, "If one day I can't run my business anymore, at least I can go film movies and be a movie star."

Mayor Wei De was stunned for a while after hearing this and laughed twice, "But filming movies doesn't make as much money as your business now."

Lanse just responded with a smile and didn't respond to this question.

The two chatted for a while longer about the things Lanse did after Mayor Wei De left, including the destruction of the Five Families. For Mayor Wei De, who was born and raised in Jincheng, this was still quite impactful.

The mutual opposition and mutual support of the Five Families weren't actually easy to collapse.

If they could collapse so easily, then when Mayor Wei De was still there, the Five Families couldn't have existed.

However, he didn't think the destruction of the Five Families was entirely Lanse's credit. There were many coincidences involved, more like a masterpiece of heaven.

If Christopher hadn't killed Paul, if the Casia family hadn't been turned, if the Koda family hadn't thought about staying out of it, if...

If they could put greed aside and think more about bad developments, perhaps it wouldn't be like this.

Lanse played a role in pushing the waves.

After chatting about some hometown news, the atmosphere became much hotter. Mayor Wei De opened the cigarette case and pushed it toward Lanse.

Lanse took one casually, and the two began to puff away.

"What are your plans next?" Mayor Wei De took the initiative to ask this question.

Lanse didn't hide anything, "Continue doing business."

"Mayor Wei De, actually, in some respects, I'm more like a businessman."

"I will continue to smuggle alcohol here. The consumption capacity of Indeno State is not worse than that of Likai State overall. There is a very deep market here. I believe my alcohol will also become a best-selling product here."

Facing a mayor, a government official, Lanse spoke bluntly about the illegal business of smuggling alcohol.

Mayor Wei De didn't show any dissatisfaction or disgust. When a person's status reaches a certain level, the boundary between crime and non-crime has long been blurred by power and influence; it's indistinguishable!

Just like the State Police Chief, just like Captain Ma Xiu, if the things they did were done by ordinary people, it would be enough to electrocute them into charcoal in an electric chair.

But they were a privileged class, possessing some authority granted by the masters, so the laws, common sense, and rules that could be applied to ordinary people didn't apply to them.

The reason they ended up in their current state wasn't because they broke the law, but simply because they lost in the previous bad struggle, that's all!

The law cannot judge power.

Mayor Wei De knew this well, so he didn't feel any discomfort at all; instead, he was very willing to talk to Lanse about these things.

He nodded, "This is a good idea, but it also means you will frequently have conflicts with local gangs."

Lanse had an indifferent expression, "This is normal, isn't it?"

"There is commercial competition in business, and I've also heard a saying—"

"The marketplace is like a battlefield!"

"Smuggling business is also business. Some friction, or even 'going to war,' is within my expectations."

Mayor Wei De nodded, "We can continue to strengthen cooperation in this regard."

"This time the Deputy Governor was severely slapped in the face. He will definitely hate you very much. The Governor doesn't have a very good impression of you either, so you will encounter quite a few troubles in sales."

"Some troubles, I will help you solve, and I hope some of my troubles, you can help me solve!"

Lanse didn't agree immediately, "What trouble do you have that needs me to solve?"

Mayor Wei De said very bluntly, "I lack money."

"Lack money?" Lanse didn't quite believe it, "Everyone says the Wei De family has accumulated a large amount of wealth for generations. I never thought you would lack money. This sounds like a cold joke."

Mayor Wei De shook his head, his expression very serious, "If I don't consider running for Governor, my money is enough for me and my family to use."

"Although what you said is a bit exaggerated, this is also a fact."

"But I want to choose to run for Governor, and my funds have a large gap. I am an outsider, Lanse!"

"I want to gain a foothold here. It's not just that I need to be better than others; I also need to bring out more actual benefits. Only in this way can I convince them to stand on my side."

"Spending money here is like flowing water. Sometimes I feel like I'm a... self-service ATM!"

"They can all come to me to take money. Spending money is too fast!"

On this point, Mayor Wei De had deep feelings.

He had never thought that money wouldn't be enough to spend.

But conversely, this also let him see the greatness of money. Now the number of people supporting him is not much less than those supporting the Deputy Governor. As long as he continues to increase investment in funds, bribery, from voters to party representatives, will all become his close friends.

"We can partner to do this business, the alcohol business!"

"In the cities on my side, I can guarantee that in the cities I can influence, the police will absolutely not make things difficult for you."

"I can also guarantee that when you have a gunfight with those gangs, the police will always be the last to appear!"

A very sincere cooperation plan. Lanse thought for a while and agreed, "I have no reason to refuse."

He stood up, reached out his hand, and shook hands with Mayor Wei De, "Happy cooperation."

"Happy cooperation!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 827 =====