Chapter 646

The explosion at the old industrial district’s substation made the news in the Golden Port Today. In the morning, while having his meal, Mayor Williams mentioned it with James.

“What do you think he’ll do next?” he asked, folding the newspaper and placing it by his side.

James also had a newspaper in his hand. The father and son each had their own separate set of papers.

Sometimes they might not have breakfast together. If they only subscribed to one paper, then who would get to read it first, and who second?

So, to avoid trouble from the start, everyone had their own newspaper, including Arthur, who also had one.

However, he never read it. The newspaper was in the same condition when the maid took it away as when it was delivered to him.

James shook his head. “I don’t know. Lance’s methods are always a bit unpredictable.”

“I thought he would use gangster methods to threaten those people, to make them compromise or something.”

He also put down the newspaper, speaking his original thoughts while eating breakfast.

“But now it seems his methods are a bit more clever than direct threats.”

Regarding this assessment, Mayor Williams did not refute it. “He has always been the smart one!”

In fact, using gangster methods would not have caused too much of a negative impact on Lance. A gangster boss using the usual gangster methods—people would only think, “Oh, that’s what he should do!”

No one would think it was wrong for a butcher to slaughter livestock with a butcher’s knife.

But Mayor Williams would have received some negative evaluations because of it.

After all, he was the mayor. In the city, if investors and businessmen were to encounter threats from gangsters on a large scale, people would not blame Lance but would think that his ability was problematic.

Either he was unable to stop the gangsters’ wanton behavior, or he was unable to deal with those capitalists. Either view would be extremely unfavorable to him.

He had not discussed with Lance how to do it before, only saying not to make it too ugly. He had even prepared himself for his own face not to look so good.

But he hadn’t expected Lance’s first punch to be so beautiful: a power outage!

Although the method he used to create the power outage might have been a bit over the top, apart from that, no other problems could be found.

James knew that his father had a very high opinion of Lance, and had even said things like, “If only Arthur were a girl”—

If Arthur were really a girl, he would most likely have snatched the son-in-law from the Lawrence family, married Arthur directly to Lance, and achieved a union of power.

But it was a pity that he had no daughter and could only watch with envy as the not-so-famous Lawrence family took advantage.

The three old uncles must have been so happy they couldn’t close their mouths!

James immediately followed up with a question, “What do you think he will do?”

Mayor Williams shook his head. “Before he does it, no one knows what he will do!”

“But I’m looking forward to his next performance.”

“Let’s wait and see.”

At the same time, the man who had chosen a completely different direction from his good brother was now taking his goods to the docks.

He was actually a little regretful now. His good friend had chosen to sign that agreement, got the replacement subsidy, and had already gone to choose his land.

And he was facing the fact that he might suffer a huge claim. Now his mind was in a mess, and he was a little confused about the future.

The big shots in the Bay Area were all saying to hold on. As long as you hold on, you will surely see victory.

Before, he had believed it, because the Bay Area had defeated one opponent after another. But this time, his confidence was not as strong as before.

The reason why many people blindly trusted the wealthy of the Bay Area was that they had defeated many opponents before.

Whether it was the federal government or the state government, they were all wary of factionalism—if the faction was the state government, that would be another matter.

Likalai State was clearly not that kind of situation. According to the order in which the various states of the Federation were born, Likalai State was relatively late. This was not the hotbed of stubborn factionalism, and it could not breed the kind of political force that could fight against the federal government.

In order to break the control and blockade of the Golden Port City interest group here, they had sent many mayors to try to do something, but they had all failed.

The repeated success of the Bay Area had established an almost instinctive view in people’s minds, which was that the Bay Area was invincible, so they would blindly trust that the Bay Area could still win.

Even if this opponent was once one of them.

But now, the situation seemed not so good.

The regretful merchant was sitting in his car, taking several trucks of goods to the docks.

He had temporarily rented a dozen high-power generators to barely keep the assembly line running, quickly finished the final order, and then sent them here to customs.

The goods were waiting to be exported to the Tanfit continent. The customer over there had been urging them, but fortunately, it was finally done today.

All he had to do was get it on the ship, and then wait for the other party to settle the payment.

Originally, this was a very easy matter. Pull the goods to the docks, then a simple spot check, then load them into a container, watch it being sent to the freighter, and then make a phone call and wait for the money to arrive.

But today’s process seemed to have a little problem.

Under normal circumstances, he didn’t need to go through customs himself. His manager would take care of everything. He was sitting in the car, thinking about the next few orders.

Using a diesel generator could indeed drive the assembly line, but the price was also very high.

The small, civilian ones could also generate electricity, but to get the whole factory running, let alone one, a hundred might not be enough.

They were using the large, industrial generators. They were larger, had higher power generation efficiency, and of course, wasted more diesel.

Besides the diesel, which cost money, renting these generators themselves also cost money, and the price was not low.

As for buying… the price was too high, not in his consideration.

While he was thinking about the power and order issues, his manager was running over from a distance.

Every breath he took would create a puff of white mist in front of him. It could be seen that his body was heating up, and the hot air he exhaled would last for a while before disappearing.

The unlucky merchant’s attention shifted from the annoying things in his head to his manager. “What’s wrong?”

The manager was panting. He swallowed, took two deep breaths to calm his somewhat chaotic breathing. “Customs says our goods can’t be cleared.”

The unlucky merchant was stunned for a moment. “Why?”

The manager’s expression was a little strange. “They say it might be sensitive military supplies, so it’s not allowed to be cleared for the time being.”

The unlucky merchant couldn’t sit still anymore. He directly pushed open the car door and walked towards the customs office. On the way, he asked for some details, but did not get any useful clues.

Soon he arrived at the corresponding office, a fawning smile on his face.

There was only one customs official in the office. He had the manager stand outside the door and entered the office himself.

“What is it?” the official glanced at him sideways and then lowered his head to deal with the documents in his hand.

He quickly said, “I am… the… owner of that batch of goods. My manager just said that customs has determined that those things might be military supplies. I swear to God, they are all civilian goods!”

The official put down his fountain pen and rubbed his wrist. “That’s not for you to decide, nor is it for me to decide. It’s for the federal government to decide!”

“Your goods may be related to the goods on the embargo list. I’m saying ‘may’.”

“It may be, or it may not be. We need to investigate this point clearly.”

“If it is not, we will release it.”

“But if it is, then I’m sorry. You either have to ship it back, or we will help you destroy it.”

The unlucky merchant’s head was about to explode. He took out an envelope from his pocket and placed it on the table. “So, is it, or is it not?”

He had a fawning smile on his face, but behind this fawning smile, there seemed to be a hidden trace of dissatisfied disgust, disgust for the greed of these people!

He thought that customs was making things difficult for him just to get a few bucks. It had happened before.

Customs would inexplicably demand that he take out all the goods that had already been loaded into the container and inspect them one by one, saying that someone had reported that he was illegally smuggling something.

Then someone would hint that he should give a little, and the matter would be over.

Fearing trouble, he had given a little, and as a result, it was really fine. They didn’t even need to inspect it and directly released it.

He thought it was the same this time, so when he came, he had put about a thousand dollars in an envelope.

He had thought that this official would take the money and then make a phone call to let him leave, but the official just glanced at him with contempt. “Are you bribing me?”

What this sentence expressed had a lot to do with its context and environment.

Now, it was obviously not a good kind of performance.

The unlucky merchant immediately explained, “There are some materials inside…”

The official shook his head. “Take your money back. I said, if they are not in violation, we will release them.”

“If they are in violation, even if you give more, we will not agree.”

He reluctantly took back the envelope, and then asked, “Then… about when will the inspection be finished?”

The official opened another document in front of him, and after flipping through several pages, he said, “The week after next.”

At this moment, the unlucky merchant’s eyes widened as if he hadn’t heard what the official had just said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you clearly. Did you say… this week?”

The corner of the official’s mouth curled up slightly. “I said the week after next,” he repeated, with a hint of teasing in his eyes.

He knew very well that this batch of goods would not be able to last until the week after next and would be in breach of contract. Even if it could last until the week after next, he had ways to continue to drag it out until after the New Year.

Customs, you know, they can close whenever they want.

Isn’t it easy to find a fault?

The box is not up to standard, the declaration is not qualified, the materials are not qualified.

You can also say it’s “suspicious.” Anyway, as long as it’s suspicious, it’s not allowed to be cleared. It has to be investigated, to be inspected. There are ways to drag it out.

Like some goods that have been held up at customs for a year or two, it’s not like it hasn’t happened. Some things, after being held up for a long time, the owner just gives up!

The unlucky merchant’s eyes widened even more. “I can’t wait that long, and the buyer can’t wait that long either!”

The official still had that business-like look. “What does that have to do with me?”

He didn’t give the merchant a chance to continue the conversation. “Alright, I have to work now. Get out, and close the door on your way out.”

The merchant still wanted to argue, but after the official said “get out” again with a heavier tone, he had to leave the office.

Standing at the office door, facing the expectant gaze of his manager, he cursed, “Fuck.”

“They are making things difficult for us, deliberately not letting our things pass!” He kicked the wall on the side of the corridor and stood with his hands on his hips, fuming.

The manager followed beside him. After a moment of hesitation, he said, “Could it be related to the fact that we didn’t sign the replacement agreement?”

This was the only thing he could think of.

Yesterday’s power outage, and today’s refusal to clear customs, were clearly telling people that they had offended someone, had gotten into trouble, and now the retribution had come.

The merchant turned his head sharply and looked at his manager, his eyes a little hurt and fierce.

He actually knew that what the manager said was right, at least there was a high probability that it was right. But at this point, it was very difficult for him to turn back.

Now the replacement subsidy was no longer available. If he wanted to move to the new industrial district, he would have to apply for the land use himself and pay a large sum of land use fee, as well as the cost of building the factory.

Moving the factory here also required money. Before, it was City Hall that supported the relocation.

Not only did he not get a single penny of benefit, but he also lost a large sum of money and time!

The manager was a little uncomfortable being stared at by his eyes. He slowly looked away and lowered his head.

Only then did the merchant start walking forward again. “Go to the Bay Area, find Mr. Charles, find those big shots, and ask them for help!”

This was the only feasible solution he could think of now.

As it happened, at this time, Mr. Charles, and some other core members of the Bay Area, were also discussing some of the possible situations that might arise next.

“I had someone go and check those equipment. They were destroyed by explosives at close range.”

“That guy Williams couldn’t have done this, so it must have been Lance.”

Hearing the name Lance, some people obviously became silent, but some were not so afraid.

For example, Mr. Hoff.

As a regional opinion leader, Mr. Hoff still had influence in the political arena of Likalai State. He was a clear politician.

A politician is protected by the rules. Before anyone breaks the rules, it is unlikely that he will get into trouble.

And even if he failed here, he could still go and live in another place.

Creek Valley City had been developing well recently. He could go and live in Creek Valley City.

Or he could go directly to Manteno. He also had many friends there, and Lance’s influence there was not great.

“Is there any way to get rid of Lance?” Mr. Hoff directly stated his thoughts.

“This guy Lance is tied up with Williams, and with Williams’s current control of the city, and Lance’s control of the police force, we don’t have any bargaining chips to fight back.”

At this point, someone couldn’t help but curse, “Damn Charlie. This guy is just like a good-for-nothing, losing our most important weapon!”

If it weren’t for Charlie losing the police force, they wouldn’t be so passive now.

Facing a gangster boss like Lance, who was obviously full of problems, they actually had no good way to deal with him!

The others also cursed Charlie a few times, and some also cursed Hunter. Anyway, in their eyes, both of them were good-for-nothings who had made them lose the initiative.

Mr. Charles frowned. “It’s very difficult to find a gunman to do this in Golden Port City. They don’t have the guts to go against Lance.”

When he spoke, he was looking at Mr. Hoff. Since the other party had proposed this possibility, it meant that Mr. Hoff might have a solution.

A regional opinion leader represents a group of social activists with a certain reputation in a region. In other words, he represents the upper-middle class of a region.

In the Federation, what class can be called the upper-middle class?

The workers on the docks?

The workers in the factories?

The fishermen who live by fishing by the sea?

Those police officers in the city police department?

No, most of these people are of no value in the eyes of politicians, because many of them may not even have a vote.

According to the Federal Amendment, you must have a legitimate job and your own independent property to have a vote.

The ones who really meet this standard are the large landowner class and the urban middle class. They are the backbone.

Mr. Hoff had more contact with the farmers. If he wanted to gain more influence and have his own value in the political arena, he had to do better.

He had also been in contact with the extreme conservative and radical farmers in the western part of Likalai State, including recently.

So he knew that Lance was not without enemies.

Not only did he have enemies, but this enemy was also “coming on strong”!

Seeing that the gazes of the others were all focused on him, Mr. Hoff showed some smiles. “Do you know the Holy Bell Party?”

This name was indeed notorious. They had done many bad things, and their nature was very vile.

However, for these gentlemen in suits who were like gentlemen, their bad reputation was not that scary.

Mr. Charles nodded. “I know them. What was their leader’s name again?”

He thought for a moment. “Joshua?”

Mr. Hoff was a little surprised. “I didn’t expect you to know him!”

“Yes, that’s him.”

“They have some ideas about Lance.”

“Letting them deal with Lance is a good idea. We won’t touch the interest transfer from the casino. Let it be as it is. We can even use this channel to have more contact with the higher-ups.”

“They just want the liquor market in Golden Port City.”

Mr. Charles began to think, and the others were also thinking.

Soon someone nodded. “I think it’s possible.”

“The Holy Bell Party has a great reputation. Since they are not afraid of Lance, then let them give it a try.”

“If it succeeds, it will be a joyful event for us.”

“If it fails, it will just be a firefight between two gangs.”

More and more people supported it. In the end, Mr. Charles also nodded. “It’s indeed worth a try…”

(End of a Chapter)