Chapter 950: Chapter 950

"Good evening, everyone, welcome to Yilan City’s hottest TV show ’Tonight’s Crazy Talk,’ I’m your crazy host, Karbin," a voice boomed from the floating advertisement screen on the street, accompanied by frantic music and loud shouting. "We are lucky to have with us today the Executive Director of Kopes Mining, the CEO of the Kopes Yilan branch, Mister Nokewe!!!"

With a burst of noisy applause and a screen filled with petal effects, a tall man in a black silk suit emerged from off-camera and stood at the center stage.

"Is this Mister Nokewe’s first time on a TV show ?"

The host, holding a crystal microphone that reflected shimmering light, smiled at the tall suited man.

"This is my first time in Yilan,"

The tall man glanced at the host and laughed, "I was a little nervous at first, but seeing so many enthusiastic viewers here, I immediately relaxed."

"Hahaha, Mister Nokewe sure is a person with a great sense of humor,"

The host laughed heartily, then quickly picked up the question card in his hand and said,

"Well then, let’s get straight to today’s questions. Mister Nokewe, did you watch Mayor Lin En’s speech this morning? It’s said that right after the speech ended, there was an attempted assassination at the White Jasmine Palace.

"As the largest mining employer in Yilan City, owning 80% of the mines or mining rights, Kopes Mining seems to fit the ’Consortium’ attribute mentioned in Mister Mayor’s speech?

"Mister Mayor claims that the recent assassination attempts he’s faced were orchestrated by the ’Consortium.’ What’s your take on the matter?"

"That’s a very sharp question. I too was startled when I watched the speech today,"

The tall man said, smiling,

"But to be honest, we don’t know why Mister Mayor would think that?

"We at Kopes Mining have always been diligently operating under the laws of the Federation and Yilan City. Personally, I take pride in obeying the law,

"We employ tens of thousands of workers in Yilan City, providing them with high incomes and substantial life insurance, with tens of thousands of families revolving around us.

"We have also established the Kopes Yilan Charity Foundation specifically to improve the living conditions of our employees in need and their families."

He raised his voice slightly,

"From the beginning to the end, we have been staunch supporters of the law and order of Yilan City. It’s absolutely impossible for us to be involved in assassinating Mister Mayor."

Sena, with his hand on the steering wheel, glanced at the red light ahead and then at the advertisement screen beside him, muttering under his breath.

"But Mister Mayor seems to be quite certain it’s the work of the Consortium."

The host chuckled to the side.

"The Consortia in Yilan City aren’t limited to just ours. If Mister Mayor has concrete evidence of us committing a crime, he could present it and have us arrested,"

The tall man shrugged, "Of course, we also understand that Mister Mayor is getting on in years, having lost so many mayoral campaigns before. He finally won this time, and with all the rises and falls, he might be particularly susceptible..."

He chuckled and pointed to his head, "...to some issues, a bit of senility or mental instability and such ailments are quite normal. We shouldn’t mock our Elderly Mayor who has succeeded late in life. After all, everyone ages,

"Of course, if Mister Mayor doesn’t have the money for treatment, Kopes Mining would be willing to allocate a portion of money from the charity foundation to treat Mister Mayor."

Sena, who had been holding the steering wheel as if enjoying the spectacle, suddenly changed his expression upon hearing those words and looked up at the outdoor advertising screen, "How dare this guy!!!"

He wanted to curse at the son of a bitch on the screen, but as he raised his head, he saw through the rearview mirror an Elderly man sitting in the back, clutching a brass cane and seemingly resting with closed eyes. In the end, Sena suppressed the turmoil in his chest.

The green light came on, he stepped on the gas pedal, and passed the intersection.

The road ahead began to grow bumpy as they had left the northeastern part of Nevus District, close to Wick District and Saint Ilan District, and entered the central region of Nevus District.

The heavy off-road vehicle’s wheels undulated up and down on the neglected road like flowing water.

Sitting in the back seat, He Ao opened his eyes and looked toward the street beside him.

The flickering neon lights were gradually becoming dim and fragmented, and the old buildings and rundown storefronts swept by outside the window.

He lowered his head to look at his wristband, where a series of documents popped up.

Those were the general information about the southern area of Nevus District that Eve had sorted out and collected from the internet.

Yilan Morning News Building

The brand new silver elevator descended to the first floor.

A man dressed in a neat black silk suit stepped out from behind the elevator, followed by a fashionable man in a modified long white suit, laughing as he trailed behind.

Together, they crossed the spacious hall paved with tea-colored crystal tiles and walked up to the aesthetically designed geometric glass doors.

"Mr. Nokewe, thank you for accepting our invitation today. Your presence has graced our program," the man in the white suit said enthusiastically at the door.

"Not bad," the tall man stood at the door, reaching out his hand, as an equally well-dressed security guard with sunglasses handed him a black cigar between his index and middle fingers,

"I’ll convince the board, and we will increase our investment in you this year,"

He brought the cigar to his lips, and the man in the white suit immediately took out an electronic cigar lighter to ignite it for him.

"Keep up the good work."

The tall man exhaled a puff of smoke, patting the shoulder of the man in the white suit, "The board is very satisfied with the way you’ve been running this newspaper."

"Thank you, Mr. Nokewe!" The man in the white suit immediately bowed.

At this moment, the tall man, with the cigar between his lips, descended the stairs adorned with flowerbeds, and made his way to a black sedan parked in front.

The security personnel opened the car door, and Nokewe, still biting the cigar, looked up at the city’s dazzling neon lights ahead and exhaled a puff of smoke.

In the hazy smoke that blurred the flowing lights, Nokewe slowly lowered his head.

But before he could get into the car, accompanied by a screech of brakes, a grey sedan with a warning light on top burst out from the road behind, leaving dark skid marks as it elegantly skidded in front of the black sedan, blocking his path.

Immediately after, several more vehicles with warning lights rushed out, completely surrounding the black sedan.

Numerous figures wearing City Police Station uniforms charged out from the cars, weapons in hand, encircling the tall man.

Then, the leading grey sedan door pushed open, and a man also in uniform emerged from the car, walked up to the tall man, lifted his wristband, and displayed an electronic projection ID,

"I’m Tucker, Chief of the Yilan City Police Station. You are Mr. Nokewe, right?"

He slightly raised his hand, and the ID on his wristband turned into a document with an electronic stamp, "You are implicated in several cases related to governmental bribery and hiring assassins,"

He reached out and plucked the somewhat stunned Nokewe’s cigar from his mouth, extinguishing it on the edge of the staircase flowerbed, "Please come with us."

Sena looked at the road ahead, which was getting more and more dilapidated, then turned his head to glance at He Ao sitting in the back seat, "We’ve arrived in the southern part of Nevus District, where exactly are we going next?"

He Ao diverted his gaze from the document on his wristband, stretched out his hand to turn off the wristband’s screen, and looked up at the surrounding streets, "Let’s get off here and walk around nearby."

Sena nodded gently, parked the vehicle into a nearby parking spot, and then got out of the car with He Ao.

As soon as they alighted from the car, a breeze carrying the scent of rust and a tinge of decay hit them in the face.

"This place seems different from what I imagined."

Sena raised his head to look around.

Rusty iron railings, street-side shops with yellowing walls, neon signs above the shops missing several lit letters, and vehicles patched with rust moving along the streets comprised his entire field of view.

He Ao, holding a brass cane, gently reached out to close the car door.

"Well, when I was in the central region of Nevus District before, I often saw news about various murder cases there,"

Sena raised his head again to take another look around; a shop on the side of the street was blaring loud dance music, "I always thought that this place was chaotic, that there would be firefights with gang members everywhere, the messy sound of gunfire, and corpses carelessly tossed in corners, but this place..."

He paused, his gaze landing on the bustling but run-down street, "But today, having come here, although it does seem a bit run-down, it seems quite normal..."

"Maybe the things you’re thinking of do often happen here,"

He Ao spoke slowly, his gaze also sweeping the surrounding streets, "but that’s only a minority in this area. Nearly two million people live in this expansive district, and the vast majority of them are not gang members or criminals; they are just ordinary people living their lives peacefully here."

Sena nodded lightly, reflective.

At this moment, He Ao’s attention had already shifted to a shop at the corner of the street, where a man in a dusty, deep-red T-shirt and black jeans was hurrying out of the shop.

"If you can work, then work; if you can’t work, then scram. The street is full of people, there are many who want to work,"

The harsh scolding came from inside the shop, "You come to work late and leave early every day. You get loans when you are short on money. Go ask around, which boss is as good as me? I give you such good treatment, and you still think about slacking off?"

"I really am in pain today, can’t exert any strength,"

The man stooped over, speaking quickly with his head lowered towards the dark shop, "I will work extra tomorrow; definitely work extra."

There was no response from the shop again.

The man waited for a while, eventually lowered his head, patted the dust off his clothes, lightly punched his waist, covered his mouth to cough, then turned around and walked along the street.

Then he suddenly bumped into a figure with a ’bang—’

He lifted his head to look at the figure standing in front of him.

It was an elderly man with a brass cane, wearing a gray suit, and with a gentle expression on his face.

He rubbed his shoulder, this elderly man seemed very soft and kind, and posed no threat, but when he had bumped into him just now, it was like hitting a solid stone wall, unable to move the other even slightly.

He Ao looked up at the sign in front of the shop, ’Rust Street Renovation Company’, "Do you work with the renovation company?"

The man somewhat straightened up, taking in the elderly man from head to toe with a slight cough, "If you need renovations, you can directly talk to our boss; he is inside the shop."

"Have you always lived here?"

He Ao bent his head down to look at the man in front of him.

The man looked at the elderly figure before him with some confusion, shifting slightly to keep a bit of distance, "I grew up here, been living here for decades."

Then his tone paused slightly, glancing at He Ao and then at Sena behind him, "You don’t look like you’re from around here?"

"Mhm, I just came over from Saint Ilan; I have some questions, may I talk with you?"

He Ao watched the man in front of him and asked slowly.

The man stepped back slightly, coughing lightly, seeming to prepare to walk past He Ao and Sena, "We don’t have much to talk about; I’m a bit pressed for time..."

But before he could finish his sentence, he saw the elderly man take out two twenty federal coin bills from his pocket and extend them towards him.

The man hesitated at the sight of the crisp bills but reached out to take them, whispering, "What would you like to ask? I might be a bit busy, can’t stay here too long."

"Shall we talk while walking?"

He Ao looked at the man and asked quietly.

The man looked up at He Ao’s cheek, feeling vaguely familiar with that face, and eventually nodded slightly, "Then I’m going to buy something first."

He Ao nodded, stepping aside to clear a path.

The man quickly passed by He Ao and Sena and entered a nearby bakery.

He Ao then stood at the entrance of the bakery.

"Give me three big loaves of bread, one pack of toast,"

The man crouched slightly, looking in at the bakery’s somewhat old glass display case with its pastries, glancing at the two twenty federal coin bills in his hand and after a moment’s hesitation, pointed at two paper cup cakes adorned with red jelly in the display case, "And two of these."

"Made some money today?"

The cashier behind the counter reached out, packing the requested bread and cakes swiftly into a paper bag, asking with a smile.

The man shook his head, replying with a smile, "As you know, it’s good enough I don’t get yelled at by the boss, let alone making money."

"Buying something nice once in a while is good too,"

The cashier smiled, placing the paper bag on the counter, "The big bread is two federal coins each, toast is three federal coins a pack, strawberry jelly paper cup cakes are one federal coin each. With tax, that’s 11.9 federal coins in total."

The man nodded, glancing at the bills in his hand. After a brief pause, he still lifted his wristband and scanned it over the cash register to pay, then folded the bills neatly and pocketed them into his pants. He finally picked up the paper bag filled with bread and cakes and approached the door.

He eyed He Ao at the entrance, covering his mouth to cough, and asked, "What would you like to know?"

"Which gang manages the nearby districts?"

He Ao turned to walk beside him, asked calmly.

"It’s the Prisoners’ Gang,"

The man replied in a low voice, "They’re the biggest gang in the Southern District now."