Chapter 362

The strike in Golden Port had begun to attract the attention of some higher-level figures.

In fact, it’s hard to accurately describe the changes this strike brought to the country, because it was complex, functional, and produced many subsequent developments.

If one had to find a metaphor that could roughly describe this strike, then it would be like constipation.

Yes, the kind of constipation where you can’t take a shit.

At first, when you can’t shit, people don’t get too nervous. It’s just that you can’t shit; it’s not like you’ve never not been able to.

But as the time of not being able to shit continues to extend, to lengthen…

Finally, the shit stuck in your asshole begins to affect the intestines. The intestines start to speed up their peristalsis, but they don’t know that if you speed up peristalsis without finding the cause of the constipation, it will only bring worse consequences—

Faster peristalsis will also cause the intestinal mucosa to absorb the moisture from the stool more quickly. It will become drier, harder, and… bigger.

At this moment, the governor’s phone call was like the body’s natural response. He was uncomfortable and was about to do something.

“Sidney, when can you resume work?”

“I’m not trying to rush you back to your post, but the chaos in Golden Port has already spread within the Social-Democratic Party. A senator called me not long ago to ask some questions about Golden Port.”

“It is very important to the entire Federation. We must ensure that it is under our control!”

The Mayor wasn’t too concerned with the meaning behind the governor’s words. “It’s already out of control, Your Excellency.”

“We all know that the city’s order is on a dangerous edge, but we can’t just pretend not to see these things because there are things you are unwilling to do, and I am unwilling to do.”

“It’s not that I’ve done nothing. You see, I declared war on them, but what was the result?”

“The doctor said if the bullet had deviated by a few centimeters, it would have sent me to see God. This is the result I got. If you all always stand on higher ground, unwilling to get your boots dirty, then let it slide into the abyss!”

Behind the seemingly ordinary conversation between the two were hidden demands. The governor frowned. “The state police will be there soon to assist you.”

The Mayor took a deep breath. “What I need is not the state police. You understand what I mean.”

“If you want to solve the chaos in Golden Port as soon as possible, the state police are not enough!”

“There were several explosions yesterday. The gangs have already started using explosives. If you send a group of state police, they will only let the gangs brag about how many police they’ve killed.”

“Your Excellency, in this matter, the effort and the reward are directly proportional.”

The governor had a bit of a headache. He knew what the Mayor meant. “But doing so will have a very bad impact. No one knows how people will judge us.”

If the governor gave the order, then the Social-Democratic Party, including all sectors of society, would have a lower opinion of him.

A politician who resorts to using armed forces to solve problems is definitely not a qualified politician. The Federation’s people and its political environment were very strange.

They had always maintained a very twisted and strange social mechanism, artificially setting up many obstacles, just like with procedural justice.

Sometimes you clearly know a person is a criminal, or everyone knows he is a criminal, and even he himself doesn’t deny it, but you just can’t get the evidence to charge him, allowing him to escape legal punishment.

There are many such people. After committing a few crimes, they stop, and people are helpless against this type of criminal.

They insist on making things difficult for themselves over problems that could be solved very simply.

The Mayor did not speak. Not speaking was the most powerful language. The governor thought for a long time. “I will communicate with that side. Also, you need to keep an eye on the strike issue.”

“I don’t want to solve one problem only to have another one appear.”

Between hemorrhoids and constipation, the governor at this moment chose to solve the hemorrhoids first, not the constipation.

The governor hung up the phone. In fact, until now, neither he nor the Mayor thought the strike was a problem. It was nothing more than some compromises.

Once he had taken care of this city, the dock management company and the Bay Area would either choose to stand with him or be directly crushed by his war machine.

The Mayor reached out and pressed a button, hanging up the phone. He looked at the secretary. “Soon, this city will welcome peace!”

Mobilizing the militia was not a simple matter either; it still required confirmation from the state assembly.

In fact, the governor and the state assembly were like a scaled-down version of the presidential palace and Congress. Although the president had the highest military power, he had to bear a lot of responsibility, and any long-term military action had to be approved by a vote in Congress before it could be implemented.

For example, sending troops abroad, whether to help others or harm others, as long as it exceeded one month, had to be approved by Congress.

Otherwise, Congress had the right to interrupt these military actions.

The governor was the same. If he wanted to mobilize the militia into the city, he had to get the support of the assembly.

And the assembly was not just filled with Social-Democrats; there were also Liberal Party and Federalist Party members.

Persuading the Social-Democratic assemblymen was simple; a phone call would do. But persuading the Liberal and Federalist assemblymen might be a bit more troublesome.

However, these were the governor’s problems and had nothing to do with the Mayor.

In this phone call, the secretary felt that the Mayor, even in front of the governor, had grasped the initiative in this matter, just because of that one bullet.

But it was difficult for him to make such a decision. He did not have that kind of courage to face that shot.

Perhaps this was the gap between him and the Mayor.

In the evening, the board of directors of the dock management company announced the temporary dismissal of the dock management company’s manager, pending further action, but there was no follow-up.

They just kept calling for everyone to remain calm and prepare for negotiations with the company.

It looked like they were actively promoting it, but in reality, they had not made any substantive changes.

Perhaps the manager himself had figured out a little something. He ran to the board of directors and wanted to see the chairman, but it was said that he was beaten up and then thrown out.

For several days, the city maintained a state of both chaos and stability. “Chaos” referred to its current terrible situation.

The citizens of the city had witnessed assassinations on the street more than once, and had heard explosions more than once.

During this period, there was some good news: Morris had truly woken up.

He had woken up before, but that kind of awakening was not a real awakening, but a somewhat muddled feeling, and the period of consciousness was very short, maybe a few minutes, before he would fall back into a coma.

The doctor said this was a natural mechanism of the human body. They didn’t know the reason, but they knew it was a good thing.

Because only by showing these characteristics could it be said that he was recovering.

Now, he had truly woken up.

The room was full of people. Lance and his crew were in the innermost part. Others whose status was not high enough were in the corridor outside, and in the hospital courtyard.

“How do you feel?” Lance asked.

Morris licked his lips. He was forbidden from eating any food. The hospital had now prepared a nutrient solution for him, which was injected directly into his bloodstream, not through ingestion.

Part of his stomach, two sections of his intestine, his liver, and one kidney had been removed. Eating now would cause a huge physiological burden on him. Only after his body had “recovered” could he gradually resume some of his previous lifestyle habits.

“Thirsty, and hungry.”

“The doctor said you would feel thirsty and hungry, but these are just your body deceiving you. You don’t need these now.”

“When you recover, we’ll treat you to a big meal.”

Morris tilted his head to look at Ennio by the bed. “What about him?”

“Him” referred to his father.

Ennio touched his forehead. “I’m sorry, they couldn’t save him.”

Morris did not show that kind of intense pain. He seemed to have accepted this matter very calmly.

He even let out a sneer, but then a painful expression appeared on his face.

The sneer had triggered many muscle groups and also caused a change in abdominal pressure. In an instant, his eyes widened. It was too painful.

Lance did not let the hospital use those special painkillers, but chose some with low dependency.

If saving him turned him into someone who needed to rely on painkillers to live a normal life… no, when he started to rely on painkillers, his life was no longer normal.

So although it was very painful, it was good for his future.

Those non-special, rapid painkillers could not reduce people’s pain to the greatest extent. Perhaps this was the price of artificially interfering in natural affairs.

If you want more comfort, you need to pay more tangible and intangible things.

“That guy… always acts like he doesn’t care about people.”

“Ennio knows.”

Ennio nodded. “Yes, uncle, he… was very free-spirited.”

Morris glanced at him. “You don’t need to pick nice things to say. He’s gone.”

“I’ve thought about many things. Between him and me, sometimes I would have some fantasies.”

“Some good, some bad, many.”

“But I never thought that he would throw himself on me to save me.”

His eyes were very red. It was hard to say if it was because of his physical condition, or because of these words and his emotions.

“I should feel happy, because he suddenly became like a normal person.”

“But I can’t be happy, because the price is too heavy.”

He closed his eyes and lay for a while. “Did we win?”

Lance walked to the bedside and squeezed his hand. “We’re about to win.”

“Do you need me to leave them for you?”

Morris shook his head. “Just send them on their way.”

Lance released his hand. “You need to pull yourself together. We still need you.”

Actually, Morris also knew his current situation, and his mind was a bit of a mess. “I don’t know, but I will get better first…”

He was not suitable to be in this state for too long. The doctor soon asked Lance and the others to leave. They would then continue to let Morris sleep.

When he was asleep, the impact of the pain on him would be reduced, and sleep could also better promote his body’s self-repair.

Walking out of the hospital, Lance gave a few instructions to the people left here to take care of Morris, including keeping an eye on him and not letting him be alone for a long time.

After suffering such a big blow, if he couldn’t get over it, he might do something extreme.

Getting into the car, Lance asked, “When will Gallio arrive?”

Ennio, while closing the car door and turning the key, started the car with a hum. “Tonight!”

Lance began to look forward to it, looking forward to the day he would meet the Professor.

Gallio was also looking forward to it now. This was his first time in Golden Port. If it weren’t for the fact that he had brought a few more people, he could have actually arrived during the day, or even earlier.

Before even entering the city, he could vaguely see the silhouette of the city in the darkness. It was indeed much larger than Fides.

“The air here smells so good, not at all like the air in Fides, which is all the smell of engine oil!”

Gallio took a deep breath and almost said, “The air here is so sweet.” But in terms of air quality, the air quality here was indeed much better than in Fides.

As a heavy industrial city, Fides had three things floating in its air—

Engine oil, metal dust, and the dust after coal combustion.

But here, the air was much better.

The wind blew from the sea, and no foul air could stay here for too long, especially now that it was summer.

After every rain, the whole world would become brand new. This was the life of the people by the sea.

He had not seen the sea many times and was full of longing and curiosity for everything here.

The minibuses with the people he had kidnapped did not enter the city but stopped in the suburbs. Their three cars entered the city, found a public phone booth, and made a call to Lance.

Before long, Ennio came to pick them up in his car. Forty minutes later, they met Lance.

“You are Mr. Lance!” Gallio looked at Lance in disbelief.

Although he had heard before that Lance was very young, he thought it was just Ennio’s description. In his mind, Lance might be around thirty.

At thirty, to be able to become the leader of a powerful family could indeed be said to be young and capable.

But after seeing Lance in person, he realized that Ennio’s description was not an exaggeration, because Lance was really young.

Lance shook his hand and then led him into the office.

“I’m sorry I can’t hold a grand welcome party for you right now. You should have heard.”

Gallio did not lie. “I got a big shock when I entered the city. To be honest, it’s even more chaotic here than in Fides. I thought Golden Port would be very orderly.”

Lance invited him to sit down. “Some things have happened recently, but it will be over soon.”

He paused and looked at Gallio. “Mr. Gallio, you’ve done me a great favor, and I am very grateful to you.”

“And I’ve also troubled you to come in person this time. I feel a bit bad about it.”

Gallio laughed and waved his hands repeatedly. “Actually, I took the initiative to come. I’ve always wanted to visit you, Mr. Lance.”

“For an Empire immigrant to become a big shot in this field is a great thing for all of us Empire immigrants.”

“Let me tell you something that really happened. Before I came, a councilman in the city was still extorting me.”

“But when he heard that I was coming to Golden Port to see you, his attitude softened a lot.”

Although these statements were clearly exaggerated, they were not too far-fetched.

A big shot from a big city has a natural suppression over a big shot from a small city. Not to mention, the mayor of this city was Sidney, a man who had also left his own “myth” in Fides.

It was hard for people not to compare the “big shot” Gallio mentioned with Sidney.

So it was conceivable that Councilman Philip would change his strategy. So his decision was indeed because of Lance.

It was hard for Lance to have any ill feelings towards someone who was constantly praising him.

“We all come from the same place. Unity is very important.”

“Only when we stick together can we not be bullied by others.”

“Whether it’s a family or something else, this is what I’ve always thought and done.”

“Gallio, we are equals and friends, so there’s no need to use honorifics. It makes me a bit uncomfortable.”

Gallio smiled. Actually, he wasn’t used to it either, but for Lance to be able to gain a firm foothold here, he was definitely not an ordinary person. Being polite was always right.

He knew it was time to talk about what Lance was interested in. “I’ve brought all of the Professor’s family, and the families of several senior cadres. I left them outside the city.”

“I don’t know the situation inside. I can have my men take you there.”

Lance glanced at Ennio, signaling him to go and get the people, then looked at Gallio. “I don’t know how to thank you, Gallio.”

He pondered for a moment. “Do you have a large demand for liquor?”

Gallio’s heart beat a little fast. Although his side was not as prosperous as Golden Port, the income of the people was not necessarily much lower. Some factory workers even earned more than the people here.

The welfare benefits for workers in heavy industry have always been slightly better, otherwise, they really couldn’t find people to do the work.

The growing freedom and laxity of the Federation people made them very resistant to low-wage but more heavy manual labor.

People often only notice the higher average wages in these industries and ignore what needs to be paid to get these wages.

The more tired one is, whether mentally or physically, the more one needs a way to eliminate fatigue.

Alcohol is a very good choice.

The liquor business had made Gallio a lot of money. “Indeed, Mr. Lance.”

“Besides visiting you this time, I also hope that we can make our trade in alcoholic beverages more stable.”

Lance nodded. “No problem. We will have a large batch of low-alcohol liquor coming out soon. These liquors are not expensive and are very suitable for the low- to mid-end consumer group.”

He was talking about the liquor produced in the distillery, which was in the teens of proof.

It was precisely because of the low alcohol content that people often drank too much.

Gallio had no reason to refuse Lance’s proposal. Then Lance asked about the situation in Fides and about the Empire immigrant workers.

Perhaps because the work pressure was too great, in Gallio’s mouth, the conflict between the local workers and the immigrant workers in Fides was not prominent.

The two sides got along very harmoniously. It was just that the capitalists were obviously a bit discriminatory towards the Empire immigrant workers, and the wages they gave were generally two or three dollars lower.

After chatting for a while, Lance had someone arrange for Gallio and his group to rest. It was too late. The rest could wait until morning.

(End of chapter)

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