81: Chapter 81: The Consortium is Watching Us (Please Favorite, Follow, and Vote for the Monthly Ticket) 81: Chapter 81: The Consortium is Watching Us (Please Favorite, Follow, and Vote for the Monthly Ticket) “Elderly gentleman, why didn’t you…” Yi Jiali glanced at the driver, pressed the button in the backseat, and a transparent soundproof barrier rose, separating the front and back seats.
This was a feature equipped in these taxis to prevent the driver from hearing the passengers’ conversations.
Then she continued to ask, “Why didn’t you just show that video to the journalists?”
“What do you think,” He Ao glanced at her, “why didn’t Allen just send the video directly to you?”
“Ah?”
Yi Jiali was stunned.
He Ao’s question was incisive.
Nowadays, everyone has a smart bracelet, and sending audio or video files can be done directly via wireless networks.
The storage chip was from a video cara, and current caras all support networked one-click saving.
Even if it wasn’t saved, Allen could have easily bought a card reader on his way to the library and extracted the video from the chip.
Allen could have directly sent the video to her through his bracelet or tablet via the internet, so why go through the trouble of hiding the storage chip in a book at the library?
If not for He Ao, she probably would have taken quite so ti to discover the chip hidden in the cover of the book.
Why didn’t they use the much more convenient network?
Unless it was completely unusable!
Providing communication and chat software services for Dawn City is the Federation’s strongest communication company, Trison Communications Group, and its ‘Birdie’ is the most used social ssaging app in Dawn City.
Yi Jiali and Allen also used ‘Birdie’ to communicate.
As a lawyer who had dealt with various cases, Yi Jiali was well aware of the issues with Birdie.
The ssages sent by Birdie were not actually delivered one-to-one in real-ti.
These ssages would go through servers set up by Trison Communications Group locally, where powerful data AIs would filter the content of the ssages.
In this process, Trison Group would block so information that it didn’t want people to ‘send’ out.
Of course, on the sender’s page, these ssages still appeared to be sent successfully.
It’s just that the recipients couldn’t see these ssages.
However, the Trison Group didn’t often use this thod, as it could have done grave damage to its reputation.
Allen must have tried to send the video to Yi Jiali at first but eventually discovered he couldn’t send it, which is why he had to use the storage chip thod.
Placing the storage chip in the library was probably a compromise.
At that ti, Allen may have already exposed his whereabouts, and in the process of fleeing, he finally decided to place the storage chip in the book ‘Dauntless Dawn’ in the library for Yi Jiali to find herself.
If direct transmission of the information was possible, nobody would choose to use a complicated puzzle-solving thod.
There was even a possibility that Allen’s whereabouts were exposed due to his use of so software belonging to the corporations.
In his eight years as mayor, Mayor Wente implented many policies favorable to the corporations, being a loyal ally to them.
And those journalists, after all, were part of the dia groups, which in turn were part of the corporations.
Yi Jiali looked up at He Ao, only to find that He Ao’s gaze was fixed ahead.
Following his line of sight, she saw a dark mini cara mounted on the driver’s seat of the taxi.
That was a cara installed by the taxi company in the na of safety.
While ensuring safety, the taxi company also kept watch over all the people who were or had been in their taxis.
“The corporations are watching us.”
An old and cold voice suddenly rang in her ear.
Yi Jiali shuddered, snapping back to her senses, and suddenly felt a great fear.
As if there were eyes everywhere, watching her at all tis.
“A saying from the underworld,”
He Ao calmly explained his earlier statent, then waved at the driver and pressed down the soundproof barrier, “Driver, please pull over.”
“There’s a temporary taxi parking spot up ahead, I’ll stop there for you,” the driver replied.
“Elderly gentleman?”
Yi Jiali was sowhat bewildered.
“Later, you’re going to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” He Ao took out the card reader with the translucent chip inserted,
“Take this with you.
If a politician contacts you, give this to them.
I’ve just announced in front of the reporters that we are heading to the Federal Bureau of Investigation; you’ll be safe until you get there since Mayor Wente won’t lay a hand on you.”
In fact, He Ao’s decision to not imdiately reveal the video was not only ant to prevent the conglorates from blocking the news, but also to create a certain dia environnt.
All of his statents were tentative; he ntioned that Allen had entrusted them to investigate his father’s death, that Allen had found clues, that Allen was unreachable, and that Mayor Wente could manipulate Allen.
Each sentence was an objective statent, but when connected together, they easily led to a conclusion:
The mayor was involved in Allen’s father’s death.
And those with quick minds probably connected the dots at the mont they heard the speech: Mayor Wente was the mastermind behind the exotic beast incident years ago.
From beginning to end, He Ao never ntioned any direct link between the mayor and the exotic beast, but everyone would inevitably make that association.
The conglorate was not a monolith, and such nebulous speculations were not strictly managed; there was no restriction on the dissemination of this information.
The reporters and onlookers would quickly fernt these speculations across the internet.
Conspiracy theories have always been a favorite topic of discussion, and soon, the entirety of Dawn City would be inundated with the subject of ‘Mayor Wente manipulating the exotic beast’.
Under such dia pressure, the mayor couldn’t possibly let the two people, who had announced their intention to seek Federation assistance, co to harm on their way to the Federal Bureau of Investigation; he might even need to protect them.
Because if anything were to happen to them, everyone would assu Mayor Wente was silencing them, so even if he truly wanted to silence them, he wouldn’t choose such a self-destructive thod.
And while ultimately the online speculations were unfounded, they laid a foundation in everyone’s mind for the ‘Mayor Wente manipulating the exotic beast’ plot; when the decisive evidence was finally presented, everything would smoothly fall into place, and everyone would readily accept the outco.
Of course, the decisive evidence shouldn’t co from He Ao, but rather from soone who could use it to its greatest effect.
That was no longer He Ao’s concern.
The taxi quickly pulled over to the curb.
He Ao pushed the door open, but Yi Jiali grabbed hold of him.
“Elderly sir, just in case…”
Yi Jiali hesitated as she looked at He Ao.
The reason He Ao ntioned seeking Federation help was to express distrust of the Dawn City police departnt, which in turn ant distrust towards the Mayor.
But would the Federation really help them?
Not necessarily.
Each Fortress City had its own military and law enforcent departnts with a high degree of autonomy, with the Mayor essentially serving as the King of the city.
The Federation had limited intervention capabilities within the city’s affairs, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation generally only dealt with wilderness issues and cases extending across cities.
When the case involved the Mayor, it wasn’t certain that the Federal Bureau of Investigation would get involved.
Yi Jiali was worried that the Federal Bureau of Investigation would not take the case.
In truth, Mayor Wente probably also believed they wouldn’t take the case, which is why he let them leave with ease.
He Ao extended his cane outside the door and gently pulled Yi Jiali’s hand away, then stood up, leaning on the cane, before turning back to look at Yi Jiali inside the taxi, “Ande, Ande Stickwich, is also a Federal Investigator,”
He slowly closed the door, turned, and walked toward the depths of the street, “Even though the night is cold, there will always be those who ignite torches.”
Now he had his own matters to attend to.
Yi Jiali stared blankly at the elderly man’s receding figure for a mont, then looked at the card reader in her hand, took a deep breath, and turned to the driver, “To the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
He Ao turned to glance at the departing taxi in the distance, slowly took out a card reader with a translucent chip, and pressed it against his wristband.
Just in case, he hadn’t handed over the original.
A cunning rabbit has three burrows.
The one Yi Jiali was to give to the politicians was a copy.
And what he now pressed against his wristband,
was also a copy.
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