1331: Chapter 1317: Walking Alone 1331: Chapter 1317: Walking Alone “This is my budget proposal.
With just a little expenditure from the municipal governnt, we can install 24-hour caras on main streets, high cri rate areas, and official facilities….”
When the budget request, coming from Special Service Team Three to the Bureau of Anomaly Managent, and then from the Bureau to the municipal governnt, the places it passed through went crazy.
“Has this guy gone mad?
Installing caras throughout the entire city?
Does he have any idea how much budget that would require…..huh, it’s not that expensive.
Is it because cara technology has improved, and because they can be produced dostically?
No, this isn’t about the money at all, it’s not about the money!!”
The developnt of the era turned many impossibilities into possibilities.
In another tiline, they also began using caras on a small scale dostically around the year 2000, and by around 2004, they started to beco widespread.
In the Ancient City of the present day, sitting at the starting point of a new era in 2001, it’s not just the dividends brought about by various dostic and international technological innovations.
All sorts of once-unimaginable “advanced electronics” began to be cheap, downsized, and democratized.
Furthermore, the inclusion of a large amount of alien technology brought forth all kinds of trans-era products.
When even spaceships had been successfully deciphered, Earth’s technology found itself at a rather delicate intersection…..where dieval carriages and personal rockets capable of reaching the skies coexisted, available to anyone with money and connections.
And because “Craftsn,” these defy-the-heavens beings, existed, it was normal for various magic-modified, handmade products to outclass industrial ones.
It wasn’t too surprising to see anything.
Lu Ping’an did not follow the official procedural process to submit his proposal formally.
Because he knew that once the decision-making process began, internal proposals would need to be reviewed layer by layer until they reached so decision-maker’s desk, requiring their “courageous” decision.
Then, even if others granted his face and didn’t reject it outright, finding various reasons to delay for five, six, seven, eight years was all too easy.
But now…
“How dare he, just carelessly submit this and straight up pull out a budget, bypassing the council and governnt decision-making?”
Actually, such a level of transformation, and even a clear “violation” of citizen rights, supposedly calls for a public announcent and referendum to gather opinions, or at the very least, a council vote.
But in reality, the only one Lu Ping’an truly tried to persuade was solitary.
“…..Captain Xia, don’t hesitate.
Which is more important, procedural justice or justice of results?
I’ve shown you the estimates, and it can cut the cri rate to one-tenth within a year.
What’s there to hesitate about?”
The only one who could possibly stop Lu Ping’an was probably Xia Qin.
“…But, this equates to constant surveillance of citizens in public spaces, how will everyone accept this…”
“You speak as if without caras, nobody knows what you’re doing.
Cough, this is a asure of last resort for .
Following normal procedures, whether I submit a proposal to the governnt or a motion to the city council, there definitely won’t be a result within ten years, and after ten years…..most likely still no result.”
Lu Ping’an knew very well what needed to be done to swiftly improve “public safety,” having experienced two different tilines.
In another tiline, after a certain point in ti, dostic public safety significantly improved.
Beyond the increase in public wealth, a more direct reason was that the “case-solving rate” had also greatly increased…..When nearly every cri led to an arrest and consequent consequences, potential criminals naturally beca more hesitant.
In Lu Ping’an’s view, the best deterrent against criminals reducing the cri rate was never “reasoning” or “persuasive education,” but the intimidating effects of “cri must be pursued” and “severe punishnt including the death penalty.”
“…But, but….this seems a bit too much…..”
At that mont, Xia Qin also felt sowhat helpless.
In her view, Lu Ping’an was being a bit too radical….She trusted Lu Ping’an, but she found it hard to believe the “data” he presented as categorical.
Having been a police officer for so many years, she had never seen a city with such a low cri rate.
She felt Lu Ping’an was drawing her a pie in the sky, yet she had no evidence.
“….I’m willing to take the bla for this, but I doubt I can handle the fallout.”
Lu Ping’an’s plan was actually quite simple and crude, just “I won’t say, I’ll just do.”
He simply submitted a budget proposal, and it wasn’t really because he needed the money, but to give a “heads-up” about the action he was about to take.
The “All-City Vision” plan didn’t discuss “whether it was necessary” or “how much value it could bring,” but was more like “Ah, I’ve already finished it, now look at the results.”
Clearly, this was Lu Ping’an’s “solo act.” By now, the council and municipal governnt must be in an uproar, with countless people cursing him in private as a tyrant, an autocrat.
But to stop him?
Those who have watched his action videos and understand him would not have the courage to do so.
“Fang Wen, can you control it?” And the premise of this plan was always that Lu Ping’an had such a “technical support.”
“…Unless there is a chanic Spiritualist stronger than , but if he dares to co…”
“Then we’ll kill him.” Lu Ping’an’s tone was resolute, addressing the problem by eliminating the person causing the problem.
For a considerable length of ti previously, the deploynt of caras and other “advanced technology” had been dared not proceed, mainly because of the existence of chanic Spiritualists.
If the entire city was full of such “convenient devices,” it would essentially hand the city over to them…
but if the strongest local chanic Spiritualist was on their side, then there would be no problem.
Lu Ping’an’s actions were no longer just a matter of acting first and reporting later, but of “arbitrarily filing cases, arresting people, killing them,” and then saying “I did a good job.”
Does it sound like rebellion?
In fact, in so people’s eyes, it already was rebellion.
This clear stance of “I’m going to do it, your opposition is ineffective” made calling him a tyrant wholly accurate…
“If I do well, everything can be discussed, but if not…
who can pursue a Rule-level responsibility.”
Lu Ping’an shrugged his shoulders; he could understand the hesitation and unease of others, because for many, it truly was a “brand new state of living.”
But once you really get used to it…
If you’re not planning to commit cris, why worry about those caras in public places?
As long as they could ultimately reduce the cri rate to an extrely low level, all would naturally be well, and other cities might even follow suit.
“Let’s see in six months’ ti, if there’s no problem…
no, if the results are outstanding, then continue; if the results are diocre, we can remove everything.”
This was undoubtedly a solo venture, but curiously, this “budget proposal” made the rounds and wasn’t rejected; in fact, the funds were promptly provided.
But Lu Ping’an himself knew that certain departnts had been frantically holding etings and working overti these days, likely recalculating countless tis over this “budget proposal” and what exactly he was aiming to do.
“…What’s being spread outside now is that I, the newly appointed Deputy Director of the Bureau of Anomaly Managent, am igniting a fire on all sides upon taking office…”
Xia Qin showed a bitter smile; it wasn’t that she was unwilling to take the bla—she was already accustod to it.
She was truly worried that pushing this so rapidly might lead to adverse social impacts…
“What’s the problem?
Nearly a dozen Rule-levels are here, capable of addressing any issue.”
Lu Ping’an was quite calm and direct about it.
He knew he was being excessive, but if he really wanted to make the city a bit more comfortable, to curb the rising cris among the increasing refugees and supernatural incidents, then this might be the most cost-effective approach.
If this were any other tiline, such a low-level governntal solo act would have almost been impossible to succeed…
but this world had its own advantages, with each state and city actually possessing a significant degree of “governance rights.”
“As long as the outco is good, everything is OK.”
Lu Ping’an was that straightforward; having as much responsibility as ability, since he already had the capacity to shoulder the bla, why pretend to be blind and powerless?
Thus, under Lu Ping’an’s strong-arming, this plan, internally called a “personal tyrant’s obedience test on the ancient city’s governnt,” was indeed implented.
On the first day, the cri rate…
rose by over 30%.
Yes, it rose instead of falling, as many believed that upheaval was imminent, taking the opportunity before anything was set in stone to destroy caras, loot amidst chaos, and incite public unrest and riots.
Consequently, starting the afternoon of the first day, Rule-level and Decree-level began working overti through the night, and by the second day, the prisons were overcrowded, with Lu Ping’an beginning to execute from the “death-penalty” cases to make space.
On the third day, the cri rate dropped by 50%, and Lu Ping’an continued to kill.
By the fourth day, it had dropped to one-fifth of its original rate; so were still being executed, and by the fifth and sixth day, by the seventh day…
“…The cri rate was at 3.4% of the original, and the expected death-penalty cases were less than 1% of the original.
Look, how simple the matter is.”
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