Chapter 970: The Standard Answer

Fernandez was handling the work in his hands. After working for a while, he suddenly stopped and rubbed his wrists.

Writing is a task that is very difficult to get used to; it requires too much coordination between the wrists and fingers.

An organization once conducted a survey, and the reason why a portion of students are unwilling to study hard lies in their unwillingness to write for long periods.

They are weary of writing, so they would rather not study hard to cope with this weariness.

Sometimes they are not very smart; they do not understand what they are giving up.

Sometimes they are very smart, because they know how to end all of this.

Fernandez has been writing for many years, but even now, he still feels uncomfortable due to long periods of writing.

He sat there, frowning. For no reason, he suddenly became unable to concentrate on his work. He looked at the documents and notebooks placed on the desk, and a brief blankness appeared in his mind.

He seemed to be thinking, but there was nothing in his mind; it was just that his work had suddenly stopped so naturally.

He did not know why, but he always felt that something had happened, yet he did not know what exactly had occurred. He was very confused and also felt a trace of heart palpitations.

After rubbing his wrists and taking a few deep breaths, he forced himself to throw himself back into his work.

There are many problems in the Lapa government that need to be handled, and he selected some relatively important ones to deal with.

This time, after discussing with the President, he believed that they needed to help Diego stabilize his regime; only in this way would it be most beneficial to the Asian Alliance and to Jiede.

Just as he had just returned to his work and started to immerse himself again, the phone on the desk suddenly rang with a "ding-a-ling-a-ling"!

The sudden ringing made his whole body tremble, and accidentally, the tip of his pen drew a very heavy mark on the document—

If one presses the fountain pen nib downward with force, the nib will separate under the force, and the ink will flow out in greater quantities.

"Shit!" He hurriedly lifted the fountain pen. Looking at the ink mark about two centimeters long on the document that looked like an earthworm, he hurriedly picked up the absorbent paper and carefully absorbed the ink on it.

After he finished dealing with this, he looked at the phone that was still ringing incessantly.

Shaking his head, he picked up the phone, "This is the Presidential Office."

"Mr. Fernandez?" The voice coming from the receiver was very unfamiliar. Fernandez recalled it carefully; he had indeed never heard this voice before.

This made him feel a bit curious. Someone who could call here and call out his name in one breath was definitely not an ordinary person.

What did this person want to do?

"It is me. I don't know who you are."

"We should actually be very familiar people, because if there are no accidents, a considerable part of your recent work has been revolving around me, Mr. Fernandez."

This sentence coming from the receiver made Fernandez's expression become somewhat solemn. He already knew who the person on the other side of the receiver was.

"Mr. Lansi?"

"Yes, it's me."

This simple admission made Fernandez lean back in his chair. He looked at the receiver in his hand with some suspicion, and then placed it back to his ear, "Do you have anything you want to talk to me about?"

His tone was very steady, not adding his emotional changes into his tone.

Lansi laughed heartily twice, "Do you have time?"

"I want to chat with you, chat face-to-face."

Fernandez frowned, "I'm very sorry, Mr. Lansi. I am very busy during this period and may not be able to spare the time to meet with you."

"If you have anything you want to say to me, we might as well chat on the phone."

Fernandez knew very well that he was a "dangerous person" in Lapa right now, in every sense.

He was a dangerous person to those anti-government armed forces, and at the same time, he was also a dangerous person to himself, a person prone to danger.

Someone wanted to kill him; there was no doubt about this, those anti-government armed forces, and also this group of people from the Federation.

He did not know why Lansi wanted to make an appointment with him. Through some intelligence analysis, he concluded that Lansi was very likely the mastermind manipulating the direction of the entire Lapa situation.

He did not know whether those gentlemen in the Federal government and Congress were bold, or if Lansi indeed had some abilities of his own, to let such a person control a plan that would affect the future direction of eleven countries.

Of course, he would not blindly think that Lansi definitely couldn't do it; he definitely still had abilities.

The more capable a person is, the more they can understand how important his guidance is to what is happening here right now, so he would not go out casually.

Once he died, the situation in Lapa would deteriorate very quickly. Under Diego's control, this place simply wouldn't last long.

He politely declined Lansi, also not wanting Lansi, this guy, to do some extreme things.

As long as they maintained the most basic decency and did not use some excessive, reckless means, Fernandez believed that he could completely continue to maneuver with Lansi and the Federal government.

His hand gripped the receiver tightly until Lansi's voice came from inside, "Is that so?"

"What a pity!"

"Mr. Fernandez, the things I want to talk about are not very convenient to talk about on the phone. You know, sometimes our eyes, body movements, and even some other auxiliary communication things can play a big role in communication."

"Losing these, it is very difficult to achieve the outcome we both want to obtain."

"But it doesn't matter, I believe there will be opportunities in the future, and you will also have time."

He said this and laughed twice. Fernandez, hearing Lansi's laughter, felt it was not good. He did not know why he had such a thought.

"How about this, when you have time and can meet me to chat, call me again."

"You should note down my phone number..."

Lansi then gave his phone number to Fernandez, "Awaiting your arrival, Mr. Fernandez."

Saying this, Lansi hung up the phone. Fernandez's family had already been controlled by them.

It must be said that when the Federal government, the military, and the Ministry of Defense also started doing these base things, they were definitely more professional than Lansi's subordinates and less likely to be discovered by others.

They directly handled the pipeline company. It can be said that as long as they didn't see the crime scene of these people with their own eyes, no matter how they investigated, they couldn't find any problems.

Every plumber's identity was "real" and registered on the company's staff list; whoever called, they would give a real answer.

So when they dragged away the "waste gas boiler" containing three people with a truck, the guards in the villa area checked the truck and didn't find any problems, so they directly let it pass.

As for the four maids?

Sorry, their luck was not very good, and at the same time, they were also "props" used to warn Fernandez's wife and children.

There is nothing more terrifying and shocking than having someone close to you suddenly die in front of you for some reason!

The fragility of life was vividly displayed at this moment.

They all became obedient.

After these people were smuggled out and sent to other places, it became much easier. The Federation was also infiltrating the Republic of Jiede, and many people here had already established contact with the Federation.

Especially some gangs.

Not everyone felt that they could lead the Asian Alliance to successfully resist the Federation and become heroes. They had already seen the power of the Federation, so they were even more certain that going to the end with those high-level officials in Jiede was meaningless.

The people had already been sent to the Federation. As for what to do next, it depended on Lansi's decision.

Lansi did not continue to disturb him; he also had a lot of work to do at hand.

As some construction sites started to first hire people who had registered their identity information, now many people had started to take the initiative to register their personal information.

The small card obtained after registering this thing could make it easier for them to get jobs at the construction sites or factories of the Federal people.

Here, one has to mention a little guy named "Juan." His luck was not bad; his registration number was "10." Lansi had even asked about this matter in the past few days.

It wasn't that he was specifically asking about this Juan, but that he intended to continue to push for setting up some role models.

With role models, people would know where to go.

This is just like if there is a lighthouse in the pitch-black night, then people will not lose their direction.

Juan got a better and easier job, and his income also became higher. The most critical point was that he, who had registered his identity information, could exchange for more things through something called "work points."

Even ship tickets to the Federation, or opportunities to study and further his education in the Federation! This indeed triggered some craze in the slums of Lapa, and at the same time, a new round of "great demolition" also started.

Lansi intended to flatten a part of the slums and rebuild some buildings. The land utilization rate of these slums was too low, and it was not a smart choice for the Lapa government to let them build houses at will.

The correct choice should be to give them better living conditions, let them bear loans, and at the same time, give them a job that is exploited and oppressed to the extreme.

People have to breathe to live.

They can also work desperately to live.

The cheaper the labor, the fuller the capitalist's pockets!

There were too many things that needed his attention and final decision. As for whether the anti-government armed forces that others were worried about would reach Zhuolan and destroy these newly built buildings, he didn't care much.

If they were really destroyed, it would mean that he would reap compensation several times or even dozens of times the production cost.

After about three or four days, Fernandez's parents wanted to see the children and took the initiative to call Fernandez's wife.

They did not live together because Fernandez's work and rest schedule was very irregular, and it was easy to disturb the old people's rest, so they did not live in the same villa.

When they wanted to see the children, they would call Fernandez's wife and talk about it, and then bring some things the children liked.

Homemade pastries, candies, or toys shipped from the Federation.

From an adult's perspective, these toys were actually very childish—some prefabricated model kits using wood or other materials similar to steel structure buildings, allowing children to build a building, and then have roads, allowing toy cars to run down.

These things could keep children focused on them for an hour or two, which is also why the toy consumption power of the Federal people is the world's number one.

There is nothing more practical than a toy that can make that damn brat shut up for an hour or two!

When they called for the first time, no one answered. Although the old couple felt a bit strange, they didn't think too much about it.

Who could have thought that a perfectly fine family would suddenly disappear?

They thought Fernandez's wife had taken the children out to play, because Fernandez was not in Jiede, so she might have taken the maids with her.

In this way, the maids could take care of the children, and at the same time, they could help her carry things or take good care of her.

Then, when it was evening, around six o'clock, the old couple called the villa again. This time, there was still no answer.

Then they felt something was wrong and urgently notified the community service company of the villa area, and entrusted them to go and check.

The people from the community service company went to check once. The doors and windows of the house were intact. Some guards looked inside through the windows and didn't see anything abnormal. Everything was very neat. The only thing wrong here was that there was no one.

Then the old couple called Fernandez's wife's parents again. They suspected whether she had taken the children back to her parents' home, but the news they got was also unsettling; they hadn't seen Fernandez's wife and children either.

The matter started to expand. They contacted more relatives, and in the end, they didn't find the lady and her two children.

Finally, they chose to call the police.

Because this matter involved the "President's close friend," the Presidential Office also intervened. They went directly to Fernandez's villa. After a detailed inspection, they finally found the bodies of the four maids in the compost bin in the greenhouse.

They had already become part of the flower fertilizer!

This matter soon alarmed the President and made the President feel tricky.

He sat in the chair, leaning his body, his right elbow supporting the armrest of the chair, while his palm supported his forehead. This sitting posture was very unsightly. His butler reminded him twice to pay attention to his image, but he didn't move at all.

Very bad, very troublesome.

"I don't know how to tell him." The President rubbed his cheeks, "For this country and for us, he is fighting against a fool and the Federal people over in Lapa."

"But I, however, lost his family."

"Have those two cars been investigated clearly?" He asked.

The community service company provided some intelligence, mentioning the two cars and their license plates.

The butler nodded slightly, "Someone has already reported it. They found that company, and the boss doesn't know anything."

"His company recently obtained some investment, and then some people were added during the expansion process."

The President sighed slightly, "I guess those investors can't be found either."

"I'm afraid that's the case, Mr. President." The butler bowed slightly, "Those investors left fake information. The investors requested the company to expand and hire some more people."

"These people they hired later very likely participated in this kidnapping case."

There were many kinds of speculations and rehearsals in the President's mind, but in the end, they all pointed to the Federal people.

It was very likely done by the Federal people. These Federal people really have no bottom line!

He had never thought that in such a powerful country, the politicians they elected could actually do such things. He even felt it was incredible!

But this had indeed happened, and it definitely had something to do with the Federal people.

It's just that they had no evidence.

Without evidence, they couldn't prove their speculation, and the Federal people would absolutely not admit it.

He let the butler leave first. When only he was left in the room, he picked up the phone with a bitter face and dialed Fernandez's number.

The phone was quickly connected. Fernandez was now almost living in the Presidential Office.

Diego found him a three-entry room, the middle was his office, and the back was his lounge. He was now working and resting in the Presidential Office all day.

So as soon as the phone rang, he could answer it immediately.

"This is the Presidential Office, I am Fernandez."

The President's voice quickly came from the receiver, "Fern, there is something I don't know how to tell you."

Fernandez was stunned for a moment. At first, he thought the President intended to joke with him, so he followed along, not feeling that anything would happen, "I hope it's not something terrible!"

This sentence made the words the President wanted to say almost unable to be spoken. During the time he was silent, Fernandez keenly sensed that the "atmosphere" was abnormal.

"What happened?" His tone became somewhat anxious, "Did my parents have an accident, or my wife, or my children?"

He was already very nervous now.

This is the bad thing about smart people; it's too easy to guess the truth!

Although he had already guessed it, he still didn't believe it was true. He hoped this was just a joke the President was playing on him.

"I'm sorry, Fern."

"Your father called your wife, wanting to see the children, but no one answered."

"We searched for two days, and finally saw the four maids in your house in your greenhouse. They had already become fertilizer."

"Your wife and children are nowhere to be found. We analyzed that it is very likely they are still alive."

"I suspect their purpose in doing this is you!"

Fernandez sat there, his eyes becoming somewhat hollow.

He then closed his eyes, cursed a few "fucks," and asked, "Are there any other clues?"

"When did this happen?"

The President, based on what the security guard in the villa area said, deduced the time this matter might have happened.

"We are looking for other clues. I have already summoned several 'super detectives' to cooperate with the investigation."

"The time should be a few days ago..."

When he heard the date it happened, the memory of Lansi calling him that day, wanting to chat with him, suddenly appeared in his mind.

"The people are in Lansi's hands!" He said very affirmatively!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 971 =====