373: Chapter 373: The ‘Just’ Mayor (Double-Length Chapter Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets) 373: Chapter 373: The ‘Just’ Mayor (Double-Length Chapter Please Subscribe, Bookmark, and Vote for Monthly Tickets) Actually, Nell’s mory contained the mayor’s vague appearance, but it wasn’t clear, and He Ao had initially thought the video was of a recent event and that the mayor was a middle-aged man, so he hadn’t considered that possibility.
Moreover, the current mayor’s behavior and style were completely different from the supervisor in the video, one being gentle and the other fierce.
At first glance, they seed like two different people.
But He Ao had long used Super mory to swiftly record all the details in that video.
Therefore, he recognized at first glance that the mayor was indeed the Mining Consortium’s supervisor who had ordered the massacre of the miners.
The mayor had been a high-ranking executive in the Mining Consortium at least ten years ago, which also aligned with his current position as the person in power within the Consortium.
He Ao glanced at the Old Foreman.
Locke was the son of the Old Foreman.
From that video, it was evident that the mayor, during his ti as supervisor, had so discontent with Locke.
Given the thods he displayed, it was very likely that he had personally driven Locke to his death.
It was just unknown whether the Old Foreman was aware of this.
At this mont, He Ao also understood the significance of Vinc’s collection of the video.
The video was evidence of the mayor’s violent nature; while the mayor sought to use Vinc as a tool for murder, Vinc was also gathering incriminating evidence against the mayor.
Although the video couldn’t deliver a decisive blow to the mayor, it could severely damage his credibility at a critical ti.
Given the current situation, the mayor still had to temporarily maintain his image of ‘justice,’ otherwise he wouldn’t have given such a speech through a live broadcast.
Interestingly, though his live broadcast included applause, no audience was seen.
In contrast, Christos, despite frequently facing assassination attempts, always stood at the very heart of the crowds, alongside the people who supported him.
Being able to be elected mayor ant having a certain level of support among the populace, no matter what.
And yet, the Mayor of Rock City clearly did not trust his supporters.
From this point, He Ao figured out why Vinc could use the entire Consortium’s influence to suppress the video—because the video also touched on the mayor’s interests.
Vinc himself lacked the capability to get the communications consortium to suppress the stolen video and files; his first instinct must have been to capture and interrogate Yvo to find out the video’s whereabouts.
From what He Ao knew so far, Vinc had initially done just that—Yvo along with her elder brother and elder sister had all endured his interrogation.
However, Yvo misled Vinc with false information, directing him towards a group of ‘desperate outlaws.’
The ‘desperate outlaws’ Vinc referred to were likely the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association.
My hero, their nesis—as viewed from Vinc’s perspective, the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association indeed resembled a group of desperate outlaws.
Vinc’s attention was drawn by the Mutual Aid Association, buying Nell—whom Yvo had secured—the most critical ti.
Nell himself was unaware of the ti Yvo had bought with her life, but he still followed Yoen’s advice and approached the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In Yvo’s mind, she might have initially intended to guide her younger brother to the FBI, as it was most suited to handling the matter.
But neither sibling anticipated that the FBI in Rock City had also been infiltrated by the Mining Consortium.
Looking back from the present, the force infiltrating the FBI should be that of the mayor, not Vinc’s.
With Nell handing over the copy of the storage chip to the FBI as a turning point, the Consortium’s attitude towards Nell (He Ao) shifted from capture and interrogation to assassination.
It must have been the Federal Bureau of Investigation that sent the video to the Mayor, and the Mayor, in collaboration with Vinc, mobilized the full strength of the Mining Consortium to block the distribution of the video through broadcast channels, only then feeling confident enough to pursue the assassination of He Ao regardless of the storage chip in his possession.
Perhaps this incident also gave the Mayor an excuse to convince internal forces to remove Vinc, but Vinc should not have been so careless, lacking any caution whatsoever.
Yes, the two of them together succeeded in blocking the video’s dissemination, which may have given Vinc the illusion that for the ti being, they were temporary allies, and that any conflicts should wait until after the matter was resolved.
After all, if Vinc went for broke and released the video, the Mayor would face a huge scandal, and his authority would plumt.
When one holds a sharp knife, it is often the most dangerous mont.
The Mayor didn’t tolerate this threat, so he set a trap, using the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association’s attack as a pretext to kill two birds with one stone: eliminate Vinc’s main force and then have the City Defense Army lying in ambush take care of the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association.
At that ti, nine Blazing Angel cha arrived, and excluding He Ao, the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association had only one C-level Hell Apostle piloted by Brother Four.
Even if Brother Four were a genius pilot, he wouldn’t stand a chance against the nine Blazing Angel ch.
Not to ntion, there was also Ruolanke, a C-level ‘Hunter’ mixed in between them.
Though this guy couldn’t make a single move against He Ao and was notably weaker, he was undoubtedly C-level.
Even if Vinc had concealed his C-level strength, he would still have no chance of survival under such a barrage.
So last night’s ‘attack’ ant certain death for Vinc, even without He Ao’s involvent.
The Miners’ Mutual Aid Association ‘killing’ Vinc and the City Defense Army ‘extinguishing’ the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association was the preordained outco.
The Mayor probably had the eulogy for Vinc prepared well in advance, as the timing of his speech was too prompt and quick, barely ten hours since last night’s battle.
Perhaps by leveraging last night’s attack by the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association and ‘Vinc’s death,’ stirring up the perceived threat of the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association to justify a purge was also part of his plan.
Three birds with one stone.
Every move calculated, each action interlinked.
What he didn’t anticipate, though, was not only would Vinc die last night, but also the City Defense Army’s nine Blazing Angels and C-level Ruolanke would be destroyed.
He Ao’s appearance disrupted his plan, allowing the dood Miners’ Mutual Aid Association to survive.
Nonetheless, even so, his third step proceeded as usual, seizing upon Ruolanke’s death to aggressively mobilize the City Defense Army even more acutely.
Through these events, He Ao began to try and infer the Mayor’s character.
ticulous, indifferent, bloodthirsty, with an intense desire for control, adept at planning, not easily unsettled by sudden setbacks, and capable of turning disadvantages into advantages.
The most crucial aspect was that all his arrangents appear ‘noble and above board,’ seemingly genuinely made for the greater good.
Even in eliminating Vinc, he wanted to use the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association, having them take the bla.
He Ao recalled Nell’s mories; although Nell was not particularly interested in politics, the election for Mayor of Rock City was after all the city’s most significant event.
Nell had a vague impression of the current Mayor of Rock City, whose ‘reputation’ within the city was very favorable, supported predominantly by those who believed him to be a ‘righteous’ person, and elected him on that basis.
Of course, this image of being a ‘righteous person’ was not unrelated to the extensive advertising campaign launched by the Mining Consortium.
During the election, even the politically indifferent Brother Four would ntion this ‘righteous mayoral candidate’ offhand while buying tutoring books for Nell, not because he suddenly cared about the mayoral race, but because the candidate’s advertisents would pop up so often while he was scrolling through blonde, wavy hair videos on his wristband device that he couldn’t help but rember him.
Although the Mayor was elected by the people, it was the Consortium that decided which candidates the voters saw.
However, since this Mayor had established such a pristine and righteous public image, the video of him orchestrating the massacre of miners, once exposed, would have a correspondingly greater impact on him.
Speaking the truth, establishing a ‘righteous persona’ in such elections is not easy, as it can be easily destroyed once soone grabs a handle on your vulnerabilities.
Besides, setting up such a persona for the incumbent mayor, a person who has nothing to do with righteousness, He Ao felt that this guy could do anything except for just things.
From this action, He Ao saw confidence in the mayor, that kind of confidence that controls everything and fools everyone.
He Ao’s thoughts once again returned to the core question, could the mayor be the culprit behind the ‘frequent death cases in Rock City’ ntioned by the system?
The surrounding environnt fell into a brief silence, as He Ao contemplated, so did the Old Foreman.
Yvo…
Seeing everyone around him deep in thought, Yvo started to pretend to be contemplating as well.
“Excuse ,”
A sowhat gentle female voice ca through.
He Ao looked up to see a young woman with brown wavy hair that fell to her shoulders, a gentle smile, wearing a simple black and white maid’s dress and pure black suspender stockings.
Black stockings are known to be slimming, but on this maid, they outlined a different kind of fullness.
And the simple maid’s uniform couldn’t hide her shapely figure.
He Ao glanced at Foreman Yvo, only to see him trying hard to shift his gaze elsewhere, but it always quickly returned to the maid.
Especially to the long and plump thighs wrapped in the black suspender stockings.
Foreman Yvo has never had any resistance to black stockings.
“Miss Elijah has asked for your presence,” the maid said slowly and gently, seemingly unaware of Yvo’s gaze.
“Did she specify which people?” He Ao asked quietly.
‘You’ is a very broad term.
From Elijah’s interaction with He Ao last night, it seed she hadn’t mingled with any other mbers of the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association; she had only contacted the Old Foreman.
But now, Elijah’s invitation to ‘you’ was important; it signified that the wealthy patron behind the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association was apparently ready to et with other mbers of the organization.
“Miss Elijah only said that the Old Foreman would decide who should go,” said the maid, pointing towards the seats in the church.
“I’ll wait over there, and once the decision about who will go is made, I’ll take you to see Miss Elijah.”
Everyone watched the maid leave, and He Ao turned his gaze towards the Old Foreman.
This was an important eting and an opportunity.
In He Ao’s recent analysis, he hadn’t ntioned a key issue: how the mayor ‘knew’ about the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association’s plans.
If it isn’t because of poor confidentiality within the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association, then the only other possibility is that there’s a traitor among them.
And based on the interactions between He Ao and the Old Foreman, it didn’t seem that the Old Foreman was foolish.
Having maintained the organization under the mayor’s oppression and avoiding being targeted, the Old Foreman must have made many security arrangents.
Therefore, the most likely scenario is the presence of a high-level traitor within the association, soone privy to the core plans.
The current issue is, after surviving the ordeal, the attack squad ca back safely last night and deduced the possibility that the mayor had soone else do the dirty work.
The smarter ones must have already guessed the existence of a traitor, and the traitor surely knows that they’ve been exposed.
Therefore, any eting now would startle the snake in the grass, and Elijah’s request to et with the core mbers of the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association provides a perfect pretext to call everyone together.
Find out who the traitor is at the eting.
When He Ao looked towards the Old Foreman, the Old Foreman was also looking at him.
Clearly, the Old Foreman had thought of this as well.
However, there’s another possibility, that the traitor is smart enough to have run away during the night.
That was also why the Old Foreman didn’t call for a eting last night.
Firstly, so core mbers were in the squad, still receiving treatnt, and secondly, suddenly calling a eting last night would likely startle the snake in the grass, causing the traitor to panic and flee.
When He Ao arrived, he had already learned from the Pharmacist about the squad’s return last night.
The Old Foreman had kept it under wraps, waiting for the core mbers of the association to routinely gather at the church in the morning to resu the eting and then catch the traitor.
But it’s very possible that the traitor learned about last night’s battle situation from the City Defense Army and ran away directly.
However, this possibility is very low.
The deeper the traitor is hidden, the more complex the communication with the Mayor becos.
With last night’s chaos, it would be very difficult to relay information in ti.
During his walk, not only was He Ao looking for the Old Foreman, but he was also observing the surroundings of the church.
He then noticed that there were sentries everywhere around the church, allowing entry but no exit.
Obviously, these people were arranged by the Old Foreman.
If the traitor ca to the church for the eting, they would definitely be trapped inside, like a turtle in a jar.
The only way out was if the traitor was really smart and cautious, fleeing imdiately after completing their task without thinking about further infiltration.
But since they had already infiltrated the core of the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association, the Mayor must have promised a hefty reward to buy their loyalty, and such things aren’t easily abandoned.
Everyone knows that running away right now ans certain survival, but how can one simply give up gold and treasures?
Take a gamble.
If the Old Foreman hasn’t noticed the traitor, they can continue to make money.
He Ao could almost visualize the traitor’s thoughts, so he guessed that the traitor was probably still in the church.
However, catching the traitor wasn’t his job to get involved in; he wasn’t even considered part of the Miners’ Mutual Aid Association yet.
It was the Old Foreman’s responsibility to catch the traitor.
After exchanging a glance with He Ao, the Old Foreman went to gather people.
Among these individuals, there must be soone he suspected to be the traitor.
He Ao shook his head, not thinking about these things anymore, but instead turned his thoughts back to the Mayor, as completing the main task was the most crucial thing.
Although the Mayor exploited Ruolanke’s death to legitimize the great purge.
It’s undeniable, however, that the part of the City Defense Army controlled by the Mining Consortium had been greatly weakened.
With a Transcendent of C-level and nine Blazing Angel chs, He Ao even suspected that the mid to high-end combat power of Rock City’s City Defense Army had been directly crippled by him.
But considering the situation in Kaye City, it’s very likely that there’s a B-level present within Rock City’s City Defense Army.
Late, when he ets Elijah, he might be able to sidle up and ask about information on the City Defense Army.
He Ao felt that the City Defense Army could be an excellent breakthrough point.
While he was pondering, the Old Foreman had already brought several people over.
He Ao glanced at them; he only recognized the middle-aged man who had given him the flight machinery last night, saving him at a critical mont.
He didn’t know the other few people.
However, the skulking young man he saw earlier by the Old Foreman’s door was also present.
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