Chapter 375

Sub-bureau Chief Bruce sat at his desk, feeling a bit awkward. Just a few seconds ago, the handwriting identification expert had refused his invitation.

“Looks like you weren’t successful,” Lance said, crossing his legs and lighting a cigarette.

His gaze made Sub-bureau Chief Bruce feel embarrassed, and also a little ashamed and annoyed.

A so-called police consultant was not a particularly impressive role; he was an external staff member.

If this external staff member were someone like Lance, Sub-bureau Chief Bruce wouldn’t dare to lose his temper. But that was just an ordinary external staff member, an ordinary person, a university teacher, nothing special.

He was silent for a moment. “I’ll have someone go and ‘invite’ him over.”

Lance could imagine what kind of “invitation” that would be. He raised his hand to signal him not to do that. “How is this university teacher’s income?”

Sub-bureau Chief Bruce shrugged. “I’m not too sure. It should be around a hundred dollars, if he’s a bit bolder.”

This professor was originally a linguistics research expert, studying the distribution of some languages in the world, because some experts and scholars believe that the whole world was once a single entity.

Later, under the action of tectonic plate movement, or possibly under the action of external forces, such as a meteorite impact or something, plate movement occurred.

It eventually split into several continents.

So a question arose: on which continent did humanity originate?

This question seemed a bit uninteresting. So what if you found out? Could it change the current world pattern?

But for a very special group of elites, the upper class, this was particularly important.

Because they believed that their race was superior to other races.

This kind of research was relatively unprofitable, so the income was not as high as other projects.

This handwriting professor studied ancient records and the like, so he had a lot of research on characters and handwriting. He had assisted in solving several cases and was specially hired as a consultant.

Lance thought for a moment. He might need this professor or his connections in the future, so he couldn’t make the relationship too stiff. He had to give the other party a little something sweet.

“Ask him if a thousand dollars is enough for him to work some temporary overtime.”

Imperial bureau Chief Bruce was taken aback, then smiled and picked up the phone, dialing that number again. This time, he pressed the speaker button.

After two rings, the phone was answered. “Don’t tell me it’s you again, Chief Bruce.”

There was some fatigue in the voice. He was tutoring a female student, which was quite physically demanding, and he was interrupted halfway through. He was a little disappointed.

He was already in his fifties this year, and it was rare for him to be in such high spirits. Being interrupted continuously, he seemed to be a little unable to take it.

So his tone carried a bit of helplessness and a little bit of anger.

“Professor, listen to me. There’s a one-thousand-dollar job here. I don’t know if you’re interested.”

“A thousand dollars?” The professor, who was about to end the call, was silent for a moment. “Are you at the Empire District Sub-bureau?”

“The city is a bit chaotic right now. Send someone to pick me up. You know my address, right?”

“Yes, I know. Someone will be over to pick you up soon.”

“Okay, see you later.”

Sub-bureau Chief Bruce hung up the phone and looked at Lance with a helpless smile. He shook his head. “I thought he could hold out a little longer!”

Lance said with a laugh, “This just goes to show that money is not easy to earn.”

He paused. “Has Charlie made any moves in the last two days?”

Chief Bruce was now completely tied to Lance. He, on the contrary, seemed more relaxed. “I have become a marginal figure now. At least Charlie and Hunter don’t trust me much.”

“I heard from others that Charlie said the state government might send an investigation team over to investigate the problem of police corruption.”

“Charlie is asking everyone to stick together as much as possible to resist the investigation. We all know that most police officers can’t stand up to scrutiny.”

“There’s a high probability that they will catch a few representative figures, so we must be more united and present a united front.”

Lance frowned. “Will the consequences be very serious?”

Chief Bruce looked relaxed, but Lance could still see a hint of gravity in his expression. “No one knows to what extent they will go.”

“It’s not just us who have these problems now, Lance. To be honest, the police all over the Federation are like this.”

“On the one hand, they can’t give us very high salaries, and on the other hand, they need us to do dangerous work.”

“The police in some areas only have a salary of thirty-seven or thirty-eight dollars, the same as those workers on the docks, but they have to face criminal groups with stronger weapons than them.” Chief Bruce also seemed to have a bellyful of complaints. “They always think others are fools, Lance!”

“It’s like if they asked us to go and arrest you with our service revolvers, I would throw my gun and badge in their faces right now and tell them I quit!”

“We also have to consider supporting our families, consider many problems, injuries, extra expenses due to work, and some unexpected expenses. If we don’t take a little extra…”

“Forget about maintaining public order, we ourselves can’t even survive!”

Listening to his complaints, Lance nodded continuously. “Yes, I’ve always felt that the more dangerous the work, the better the treatment should be. At least you can’t have people taking the biggest risks for the lowest wages.”

Chief Bruce chuckled twice. “The wages at the Bureau of Hazardous Materials are very high, and there are all kinds of bonuses.”

This was obvious dissatisfaction, but there was no way around it. One was a basic law enforcer, and the other was the “emperor’s long sword” used by Congress and the ruling class to maintain their authority. There was certainly no room for comparison between the two.

As Chief Bruce was talking, he mentioned what Lance had told him last time. “Last time you said about re-establishing some rules…”

Lance thought for a moment and nodded. “Yes, right now our management system for the city is too chaotic. Some people take more money, some take less, and some hide money. This creates risks and conflicts.”

“Everyone has the same job. Logically, it should be distributed evenly, but there is no standard.”

“How to divide it in the Empire District, how to divide it in the Port District, how to divide it in the Starlight District, there has never been a clear rule.”

“This has caused a certain degree of chaos. I want to change this.”

“But now is not the time. We still lack some key strength.”

Lance rubbed the ruby ring on his index finger with his thumb. “But I believe it will come soon.”

Before long, the professor arrived at the police station in a police car. He was taken aback when he saw Lance in the office, but then he realized that this was today’s client.

“My name is Peter, Peter Scott,” Professor Scott had no problems with social interaction. Before Sub-bureau Chief Bruce could introduce him, he took the initiative to introduce himself.

Lance shook his hand and said, “Lance White. You can call me Lance, or Mr. Lance, either is fine.”

This was actually a bit strange, because most of the time “Mr.” should be used to address a surname. However, since Lance had requested it, Peter would not refuse.

After all, how he was addressed was Lance’s own business.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lance.”

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

The atmosphere in academia was relatively simple. He vaguely seemed to have heard this name before, but he didn’t know if it was this Lance.

Casually making assumptions was a very unfavorable behavior, so he didn’t think too much about it for the time being.

Lance took out several notes and some of Lukar’s handwritten things and handed them to him. “I want to know if the handwriting on these notes and the handwriting on these papers are from the same person.”

“This is exactly what I’m best at, Mr. Lance. I will need about three days to a week.”

Lance frowned. “That long?”

Peter explained, “I need to ensure the accuracy of the results. If you are not so… strict about the accuracy, I can issue a report as soon as possible.”

He lowered his voice slightly. “If this handwriting identification is for judicial proceedings, my suggestion is to give me a little longer…”

He thought Lance wanted these for a lawsuit or something. Only then could it be “precise,” for the sake of a thousand dollars. Lance shook his head. “This has nothing to do with a lawsuit. I just want to know if they were written by the same person, but it also needs to be accurate and as soon as possible.”

“After this is over, there’s another job waiting for you.”

Professor Scott was very satisfied with this job. Earning a thousand dollars in a week without breaking the law, he wished he had such jobs waiting for him every day.

After seeing Professor Scott off, Lance also left.

Now he just needed to wait quietly for the follow-up news.

On the first day of August, the city seemed to have become much quieter and safer. When some people got up in the morning, they could already see many state police on the streets, and even see them arresting some criminals. The public security had instantly become very good.

Today was the day the congressional commissioners were arriving in Golden Port. The state police had already begun to actively maintain order and public security.

A little after ten o’clock, the train from the special district arrived at the Golden Port train station. As the steam dissipated, the train doors also opened.

Senators had come to Golden Port many times over the years, and each time the welcome was grand. This time was no exception.

If one had some knowledge of Likalai State, one could see the lieutenant governor here, standing at the very front.

As a pair of shiny leather shoes landed on the ground, the smiles on the faces of these people who had come to welcome them became vivid. At this moment, this Mr. Senator was the focus of these people, the core of this city.

(End of chapter)