Chapter 253

Belief is a very magical thing.

The magical part is that, for the sake of belief, people can do many things that others might find unimaginable or incomprehensible.

Just like Ennio’s father, who would rather suffer himself, suffer his family, be separated from his wife and children, just to find the “Federation Dream” in the books.

Although he has recently begun to awaken a little.

Or some immigrants, for whom their immigrant status has become the final obstacle to embracing a new life. They are eager to shake off the hat of being an immigrant, even willing to pay a high price for it!

Becoming a Federation citizen, having a job that can rid oneself of the immigrant hat, has become an obsession for many immigrants. To achieve this, they can give up many things.

And this concept is being passed on to the younger immigrants. Perhaps it’s because they discuss it a lot in their families, making it impossible for them not to notice these things, which then affects their thinking.

Maz was a typical descendant of immigrants. He longed for the recognition of the mainstream social group, longed to integrate into the mainstream group.

Every time he participated in various social events, when they were chatting happily, someone would ask if he was a local, and what his parents did, which would become a social disaster.

It’s not that everyone excluded immigrants, it’s just that the negative effects of the political movements in recent years were still continuing. They actually not only excluded immigrants but also those little cotton-picking experts, and expressed it more obviously and directly.

The native people of the Federation, under the indoctrination of their old Federation families, would be very unfriendly to the group of little cotton-picking experts and immigrant descendants.

The society also often reported it this way: “They are invading our homeland” and “They are taking our jobs” have become the most feared things for the people of the Federation, even though they actually know very well that not having a job is not because the jobs were taken away, but purely because they are lazy.

Maz needed a job to make himself an immigrant who could be accepted by society, and even to make people forget his identity as an immigrant descendant.

And the best choice was to be a civil servant.

But it was not so easy to get into the Federation’s civil service. Maybe you think you are applying for a job in the Federation government, but there is a high probability that you will be transferred to some company and not be recognized as a civil servant.

Until someone contacted him, promising that if he completed a mission, he could join the Bureau of Hazardous Materials and become one of them.

This temptation was too great. Even though he knew there were great risks, he still agreed.

In a daze, Maz thought of the things his contact had told him: don’t make casual phone calls, don’t casually expose yourself, don’t casually do things that would attract others’ attention, be sociable, be low-key.

“Hey, Maz, come here for a second,” someone called out his name.

He came back to his senses, pushed through the crowd, and walked towards the bar. This was a bar, a bar of the Lance Family. He was arranged to work here, said to be in preparation for the opening of other bars.

This batch of them had all been given different important tasks. Now the Lance Family seemed to be very short of people.

“Coming, brother, what do you need me to do?”

The bartender pointed to the door behind him with his thumb, “We’re running low on liquor. Dracy’s people are here with a delivery. Go and get it.”

Maz’s heart beat a little faster. He nodded, saying “okay” while walking towards the back door.

Just as he had taken a few steps, he was suddenly grabbed by the arm. At that moment, he instinctively had an urge to “run away”!

His heart was also telling him that he had been discovered!

But he forcefully suppressed this instinct and impulse, turning his head with what he thought was his best acting, looking at the bartender with confusion, “What’s wrong?”

The two looked at each other for a moment, a few seconds. The bartender showed a faint smile, “Run, we’re all waiting for your liquor.”

Maz nodded vigorously twice. The bartender let go of his hand, and he also breathed a sigh of relief.

The bar now did not adopt the method of storing a large amount of liquor. The liquor before the bar opened every day was actually not much. When the liquor was down to thirty percent, Dracy would arrange for people to deliver more.

To ensure that there was enough liquor for two hours, but not too much.

This way, even if the bar was discovered and sealed, the family’s losses would not be too great.

And Dracy came here not just to deliver the liquor, but also to take the money away.

When Maz came from another door into the alley, there were already several people here. They seemed to be chatting.

About a dozen cases of various liquors were scattered on the ground. He didn’t know Dracy, but he saw the manager hand a tin box to the other party.

He knew that inside was all money.

“Maz, come here and move these in…”

The manager instructed. Maz began to move things. His eyes were always fixed on the license plate of the van.

His contact had told him to remember all valuable information. This information would eventually become powerful evidence to incriminate the criminal group.

In Maz’s eyes, Lance and the Lance Family were the tumor of the Empire District, a gang. He had no good feelings for these people. He didn’t even feel that he was one with this place. He didn’t feel that he was an immigrant descendant.

After Maz had moved the liquor into the bar, the manager continued to chat with Dracy, but as long as Maz was present, they would stop talking, as if they were discussing something very important.

Maz had vaguely heard some keywords they said a few times. Some might be place names, some might be times. He felt these clues were very important.

He had been firmly…

Ten cases of liquor were quickly moved by a young man. After the last case was moved in, he found an excuse to go to the toilet.

In the toilet, he took out a pen from his pocket and wrote down the words he had just recorded on a piece of paper torn from somewhere.

This was a single stall. He had locked the door from the inside, not worried that someone would suddenly push the door open, and… no one would know what he was actually recording.

It’s just that he didn’t notice that at this moment, above his head, there was a mirror. Someone was observing his every move through the mirror.

The bar replenished its liquor several times in one night. He had only moved it once. The other young people who came with him had all moved it. In the bartender’s words, they had to try everything.

For three or four consecutive days, Elvin had roughly figured out the situation of these people. His expression was very ugly. There were four of them in total.

These people would record what they saw and heard every day, as well as some of the words Dracy and the manager said.

None of them had made a phone call. They should have received some brief training and knew that making phone calls could easily expose them.

They might be waiting for an opportunity to pass on the information, but it was currently unknown how they planned to pass on the intelligence.

“This is my problem. I didn’t do a good job in personnel screening.” Elvin took the initiative to take responsibility. Although this batch of people was not personally recruited by him, he had to take on his responsibility for auditing.

There were other people in the room. Lance glanced at him, “I’ll dock your bonus for three months. Any problem?”

Elvin shook his head, “No problem.”

According to the rules Lance had set at the beginning, thirty percent of the monthly income would be distributed to them in proportion. Elvin’s current job was very important, and he was Lance’s trusted confidant. He could get about two percent of the bonus every month.

Based on the family’s current profitability, the monthly income was about $200,000. Two percent of $200,000 was about three or four thousand. For three months, it was over $10,000.

This amount of money was enough to make him feel the pain!

Ethan and Elvin had the best relationship. He couldn’t help but say, “I’ll go and slaughter these sons of b—tches!”

Lance raised his hand to stop him, “Don’t touch them for now.”

“We haven’t fully determined who they are working for, and whether they are really passing intelligence to the outside. Besides, it’s about time for Ponda to do something.”

“We can use the intelligence he gives us to verify whether he is sincerely cooperating with us.”

In Lance’s safe, there was not only the loan contract signed by Ponda himself, but also his handprint and even a photo with Lance.

Although this money eventually returned to his own hands, Lance felt that since he had taken so much of his money, he should also work hard.

Ethan sat back down, sullenly, “After this is over, let me deal with them!”

Lance nodded, “No problem.”

As he spoke, he began to arrange new work, “Don’t worry about Eric’s bars for now. Continue to look for other suitable places to open bars.”

“Also, find more houses that can be used to store liquor. The situation behind will become more and more severe. We can’t put all our eggs in one basket.”

Lawn leaned against the wall and asked Lance a question, “Since we are not operating those bars, why do we have to clean them all up?”

Lance had directly pried the locks of Eric’s bars and arranged for people to clean them up, making them look like they were about to be operated.

Many drunkards had already asked, wondering if it was time to taste strong fine wine in those places.

“The purpose of taking over the bars is not really to operate in those places. Now many people know about these bars, and I believe the people from the Bureau of Hazardous Materials also know where these bars are.”

“As long as we dare to open, they will dare to arrest. I’m not a fool!”

“The purpose of fixing them up but not operating them is to tell everyone that in the Empire District, I call the shots.”

“Even if he is the mayor’s illegitimate son, what he has eaten of mine, he has to spit it out!”

“Spit it out with interest!”

Lawn had no more objections and nodded to show he understood.

The mayor was also very annoyed now. Even if he knew, he wouldn’t make a big scene with Lance, or rather, he couldn’t spare the hands to deal with Lance now.

Lance had just made a fool of him. The Viper Gang, whom he was optimistic about to replace Lance, had become a thing of the past. Now, even if he wanted to deal with Lance, he had to consider what means he could use to do it.

There was only one law enforcement department he could mobilize, the Bureau of Hazardous Materials, but the Bureau of Hazardous Materials could not arrest for ordinary criminal acts.

Maybe some people would say… framing is possible, but that’s a method for ordinary people.

If you randomly stop a person on the street, stuff a bottle of liquor into his arms, and accuse him of transporting smuggled liquor, that’s fine.

But to deal with Lance and the Lance Family like this, they will fight back, and the effect is not as good as dealing with ordinary people!

Plus, with the Viper Gang wiped out by Lance, the mayor, without sufficient strength and unable to guarantee their annihilation in one go, would not do something like a retaliatory act that would have no substantial harm, like some immature young people.

Other regions were also beginning to counter-attack the outsiders. He had to focus his attention on those big guys.

If he could win in the end, Lance and the Lance Family would be something he could easily deal with.

But if he couldn’t win in the end, even if he won now, he would still have to lose it back in the end.

So the Empire District had now entered a very special kind of tranquility. A place that could not bring him benefits but would instead bring him trouble, he had no mind to manage it now.

And the “direct responsible person” was not him, but Eric.

The one who lost more face was Eric, not him.

He even had reason not to deal with these matters because Eric was just his “illegitimate son.”

After arranging the tasks, Lance picked up the phone, thought for two seconds, and dialed Ponda’s number.

Ponda was analyzing some documents. There were some scattered clues in the files. They were trying to find some key clues to catch a big fish again!

Chief Dale’s pressure had also been great recently. The Bureau of Hazardous Materials across the country had all started to get into gear. Today, they caught a case worth tens of thousands here, and tomorrow they would catch a case worth tens of thousands there.

Although he had hit the jackpot once, in the continuous stream of major cases from all over, it gradually began to become less conspicuous.

For politicians, unless they had a very deep connection with each other, as long as they didn’t appear in front of them for a long time, they would be marginalized by this circle and eventually forgotten.

But before being marginalized and forgotten, even if just a name appeared, it could make them remember who the hell this was.

The conflict between the mayor and the locals was still escalating. Chief Dale now felt that his previous decision was still a bit hasty. The local forces were too powerful, not so easy to deal with!

The only thing that made him happy now was that Congress was planning to continue to strengthen the power of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials. Congress had also felt the resistance to the Prohibition from the local areas.

Even the local governments were resisting the Prohibition!

Now it was actually not entirely for the social experiment to promote the strict implementation of the Prohibition, but more of a political game between Congress and the local areas.

The purpose of the vertical management of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials was here. They were trying to dismantle parochialism through some means. As for the result, it was hard to say.

If it’s done well, everyone is happy.

If it’s not done well, anyway, only the Bureau of Hazardous Materials will be unlucky. The masters will still be high and mighty.

In this level of political game, the implementers are often cannon fodder. Chief Dale didn’t want to be cannon fodder, so he had to make some eye-catching achievements as soon as possible to make up for his previous loss of points.

Catching big cases, and even “making” big cases, had become his obsession.

Whoever could help him could become an important character in the Bureau of Hazardous Materials!

The sudden ringing of the phone on the desk almost startled Ponda. He steadied his mind before picking up the phone, “This is the Bureau of Hazardous Materials, I’m Agent Ponda.”

“Ponda, I thought you would call me immediately after you went back, but it seems you just wanted to leave with my money?”

Hearing Lance’s voice, he suddenly felt his bladder tighten, and almost peed!

“Are you crazy?” He turned his back to the others, lowered his voice a little, but could still hear the disbelief in his tone.

This was the f—king Bureau of Hazardous Materials, and Lance actually called directly!

“Rest assured, no one will be listening to our call. If there is, you give me his name, and I guarantee there will be no next time.”

He paused, “You took $10,000 of my money, but until now, there’s been no sound. You’ve made me feel disappointed.”

Ponda was actually still struggling a little inside, “Those lists are not easy to check.” He glanced at the paper pressed at the very bottom of a pile of files, on which several names were recorded.

He had actually gotten it, but he didn’t really want to give it to Lance. He also had his own bottom line.

Lance’s disdainful laughter came from the receiver, “Actually, I already know who the dogs are, but I just want to see if you really want to cooperate with me, Ponda.”

“I heard your girlfriend’s name is what again?”

“Lisa?”

Ponda stood up at once. Many pairs of eyes looked at him. He covered the mouthpiece, “It’s my girlfriend’s call.”

As he spoke, he pulled out the paper with some names recorded on it, put it in his pocket, and then said to Lance, “I’ll call you later,” and hung up the phone.

The others all showed well-intentioned smiles. The love of young people, although full of a rotten smell, was ultimately a beautiful thing.

He strode out of the Bureau of Hazardous Materials, found a phone booth, and went in, “Don’t you f—king touch her!”

As soon as the call was connected, he roared.

Lance’s tone was still unhurried, “If you speak loudly to me again, I guarantee we will meet again very soon tomorrow, at her funeral!”

This sentence was like a basin of cold water poured down. Ponda’s whole person calmed down at once, as if his whole person had shrunk by a circle.

His breathing was heavy, “I apologize for my irrationality, but don’t you disturb her!”

Lance said with a chuckle, “That depends on whether you treat me as your friend, Ponda.”

“Now, give me a list, let me see if you’re lying.”

After waiting for more than ten seconds, he still had a trace of hesitation, still making a final struggle.

Lance reminded him again, “Although doing this is indeed despicable, but Ponda, think about Lisa.”

“F—k!” Ponda punched the public phone booth hard. The whole booth shook with a clang, causing some passers-by to look over.

He quickly reported three names, “Are you satisfied now?”

Lance’s tone was still the same, “I already knew who they were. I said it before, I just want to see if you really know what you are doing.”

This sentence was filled with something that could not be questioned, which made Ponda suddenly feel his scalp itch and his heart skip a beat.

His speed of speech slowed down a little, “Now, do they match up?”