929: Chapter 929: Loyal and Faithful Cabinet (Big Chapter for Monthly Tickets) 929: Chapter 929: Loyal and Faithful Cabinet (Big Chapter for Monthly Tickets) The air in the night had solidified like an impenetrable concrete wall; the man sandwiched between two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arched his body as if he were a fish pulling itself from the water, muscles tensing.
He placed his hands on his chest, trying to tear away the invisible pressure, but all he felt was his rapidly beating heart.
Accompanied by the pitter-patter of rain, it seed as if a switch had been lightly flipped, or as if a sovereign from high above had rcifully averted his gaze.
The terrifying pressure, akin to death itself, slowly dissipated.
“Ha—huff—”
Levis’s tense muscles suddenly relaxed, he lifted his head like a drowning man being pulled from the water, gasping for air as sweat the size of beans leaked from his cheeks like raindrops, soaking his clothes.
He looked around bewilderingly, his face naturally filling with a blank joy of having survived after the ordeal.
“Now, can we talk?”
A gentle and kind voice sounded by his ear, making his body shiver subconsciously.
He bowed his head, facing the upright and gentle elderly man in front of him.
The familiar visage seed no different from those he had seen before; the feeling he gave was still as always, like a highly respected old doctor—gentle and kind.
Everything seed so ordinary, as if what had just happened, hadn’t happened at all.
He lifted his head again, glancing at the two agents wearing exoskeleton armor.
The agents looked back steadily and naturally, seemingly unaffected by the terrifying death-like pressure, only looking at him with so curiosity, as if they found his current state a bit odd.
Was everything just an illusion?
Levis raised his head, touched his cheek—his wet fingers soaked with sweat.
He stared at the kind and gentle elder in front of him, his mouth slightly agape.
He wanted to loudly question the elderly in front of him, challenge what extraordinary power or strange object he used in trying to intimidate him.
He wanted to loudly express his dissatisfaction, to show his courage that he truly feared no terrifying ‘oppression’.
But as the words approached the tip of his tongue, watching the elder’s gentle gaze and those deep gray-brown pupils, that terrifyingly tangible pressure seed to reappear beside him, halting his heart this very mont.
His spirit, his intuition, his instincts were telling him.
He would die, truly die.
It was the instinct of a frail and humble life facing an insurmountable terror.
Like a human falling from a great height, a blend of deadly palpitations and terror echoed in his mind.
He choked up, lowered his head, his gaze drooping as he murmured to himself, “I don’t know…
I know nothing…”
He Ao glanced at him, looked towards the two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, and softly said, “I might need to speak with Mr.
Levis alone.”
“Mr.
Mayor,”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation agent on the left subconsciously said, “This prisoner is very dangerous, it might be risky for you…”
“It’s fine,”
He Ao shook his head, looking at Levis, “I’ve known Mr.
Levis for a long ti.
He’s always been a law-abiding man; he won’t hurt us.
Thank you for your hard work.”
“Not at all, not at all.”
This Federal Bureau of Investigation agent was pleasantly surprised and half-rose to wave his hand.
Then he glanced at Levis, who was hunched over and bowing his head, hesitated for a mont, and handed over a walkie-talkie with a red button to He Ao.
“If you have any problems, press this button, and we will co in imdiately.”
“Alright,”
He Ao took the walkie-talkie, and smiled, “Thank you.”
“You’re welco.”
This Federal Bureau of Investigation agent nodded.
He glanced at Levis beside him and coldly said, “Don’t cause trouble.”
Then he and the other agent slowly got up, stepping out of the car and closing the car door.
“Did sothing happen to Levis?”
As the car door slowly closed, Sena, standing outside, looked towards his deputy commander Tucker.
He had been watching Levis’s situation in the car all along, witnessing the drastic changes in Levis’s facial expressions, feeling sowhat puzzled.
“Nothing much,”
Tucker shook his head, shifting his gaze from the closed car door, “Just got scared.”
During the process, only he, relying on his past wilderness survival experiences and instincts, subtly sensed sothing odd.
“Got scared?”
Sena’s expression grew increasingly puzzled.
Tucker shook his head again, not directly answering the question, but gently patted Sena’s shoulder, looking up into the dark rainy sky.
“Mr.
Lin En’s wisdom and strength, as well as the actual experiences, probably far surpass what we knew of him before.
Maybe he wanted to make so changes using gentler ans before, but last night’s assassination probably made him change his mind.”
“Then, is this a good thing?”
Sena was a bit confused; he didn’t quite grasp Tucker’s words.
“This is a good thing,”
Tucker stared at the deep dark sky, “For this city, it is a great thing.”
The wind carried the rainstorm, weaving through the buildings in the city, at the far end of the sky, a faint glimr of dawn seed to gradually erge.
······
The light inside the car was dimly lit, the faces of the two n sitting on opposite couches.
The car’s sound insulation was well done; in this enclosed space, everything around seed to fall into complete silence.
“You need not ask, I know nothing, I am just a simple tax issue, no matter how you ask, I don’t know anything else.”
Levis looked up at He Ao, then quickly bowed his head again.
He shifted his body backward until his back pressed tightly against the sofa cushion, unable to move further.
He Ao glanced at Levis and activated “Super mory,” placing a marker on him.
Sotis, interrogations don’t require a direct answer from the interrogated.
The mont he placed the marker, a jumble of thoughts stream into his mind through it.
Part of these thoughts were fear, and the others were ssy mories and recollections, summarizing that Levis had signed so kind of “Transcendent Agreent” with special effectiveness with those he had “dealt” with.
The content of the agreent was simple: without the consent of the other party, neither party could disclose the content agreed upon in the agreent or the other party’s na to a third party.
This agreent seed to have so coercive force, and even if Levis wanted to betray those “collaborators,” he could not speak.
However, He Ao didn’t need Levis to verbally provide the answers now; he slowly spoke up and directly asked, “From the seven main departnts of the Cabinet, with whom are you collaborating?”
“What are you talking about?”
Levis shook his head and looked up at He Ao, “What are you asking?
I have no collaboration with the Cabinet.
Wasn’t it your order not to let the Cabinet collaborate with ?”
Justice, Internal Affairs, Comrce, and Enterprise.
As he spoke, the three terms naturally surfaced in He Ao’s mind.
These were the three ministers who had confird collaborations, all of whom were loyal party mbers of Linen.
Out of the seven main departnts in the Cabinet, two were given to allies, one minister of city defense was served by the Commander of North City, Scott, and Linen had arranged for “his own” people in only four departnts.
These four ministers, three of whom had collaborated with Levis, only the Minister of Finance strictly refused Levis’s “invitation to collaborate.”
Of course, those collaborating with Levis weren’t limited to these three ministers, for the ministers of Industry and Mining, Housing and Urban Developnt, managed by Linen’s allies, had long been in contact with Levis and were ready to switch sides should problems arise with Linen.
Out of the seven main departnt heads, only the Minister of Finance was truly loyal to Linen.
While He Ao was organizing the information in his mind, so invisible contaminants also spread along with this “information” from his mind, attempting to influence his thoughts.
“Even ‘Mind Reading’ obtaining information from the agreent can be contaminated.”
He Ao gathered his thoughts.
Although these contaminants appeared high-level, they were minimal and effectively had no impact on him.
He lowered his head and continued to inquire, “What is the content of your collaboration?”
“We haven’t collaborated,”
replied Levis, shaking his head.
The Minister of Justice was not deeply involved and only willing to provide so inconspicuous, consortium-biased “judicial assistance.”
The Minister of Comrce and Enterprise expressed the possibility to turn a blind eye to so of the consortium’s “violations” and to passively undermine so policies issued by Linen.
The Minister of Internal Affairs went the furthest in collaboration.
Yilan City’s Internal Affairs Departnt’s main responsibility is to manage governnt-constructed public facilities and public properties owned by the city governnt.
He was willing to commit fraud in assessnts and, at the right ti, sell so properties at “fitting” prices to the consortium, or rent out so assets at low prices for consortium operations.
Even under Linen’s tight watch, he had already leased the limited mining rights of a mine owned by the city governnt to Kopace Mining at a low price.
As a reward, with the help of Kopace Mining and Levis, he obtained a nearly interest-free, very low-interest loan from a bank under the Yiwis Space System to purchase a villa near Eighth Avenue in Dawn City.
One month ago, this villa was bought by a senior executive of the Nord Financial Consortium for 1.5 tis its purchase price.
Moreover, the Minister of Internal Affairs and several other cabinet ministers who collaborated with Levis often inford the major consortia in advance about the decrees Mr.
Lin En was about to issue, so they could prepare accordingly.
Then, with Levis’s help, their relatives obtained nurous interest-free loans from banks under consortia such as the Nord Financial Consortium and short-sold the stocks of consortia targeted by those decrees to profit from them.
Of course, on the surface, they remained loyal to Mr.
Lin En and his reform ideals; even the Minister of Internal Affairs was giving speeches everywhere, displaying his fervor and loyalty towards the entire party.
Then, after becoming aware of the potential coup by Corvey and the assassination of Mr.
Lin En from the information provided by Levis, this guy quickly ran away.
Feeling the information flowing from Levis’s mind, He Ao slightly clenched his fist, the veins on his even forearms bulging slightly.
Seeing him like this, Levis’s body trembled, and he quickly said, “Don’t ask anymore, I really don’t know anything.”
Eventually, He Ao took a deep breath, looked at Levis, and continued to ask, “Besides those seven main departnts, which other departnts in the cabinet have you collaborated with?”
“I haven’t collaborated with any official in the cabinet, don’t ask anymore,” Levis replied, taking a deep breath and looking up at He Ao.
As ti passed, he seed to recover so ‘courage’ from the terrifying oppression he had felt initially, although his voice remained low, not daring to raise it.
He Ao directly ignored his answer, searching the thoughts emanating from his mind.
The cabinet consists of 21 departnts, besides the seven main ones, it also includes 14 others such as the Secretary’s office of the Mayor’s Mansion.
Of these 14 departnts, Mr.
Lin En assigned five to his allies.
Among these five, only the Minister of Energy had no contact with Levis and had explicitly refused him, earnestly focusing on his own duties—and this Minister of Energy was Deputy Mayor Lante’s man.
Of the remaining nine departnts managed by people from Mr.
Lin En’s own political party, five had connections with Levis, and the remaining four did not explicitly and decisively refuse Levis but were, in principle, in a state of neutral swaying attitude.
Thus, of the whole cabinet’s 21 ministers, only the Minister of Finance was truly loyal to Mr.
Lin En.
He Ao opened his mouth, unsure whether to laugh or sigh.
He looked up at Levis and said calmly, “Besides the cabinet, at the city council, with which mbers have you had deeper cooperation?”
“I have visited every mber of the city council, which one are you specifically referring to?” Levis asked, taking a deep breath and looking up at He Ao.
At this mont, He Ao did not reply to him but was ntally noting down nas that ca forth from Levis’s mind.
There were quite a few council mbers who had deeply collaborated with Levis, with He Ao roughly morizing seven or eight of the deepest collaborators, forming a list in his mind.
Following this, He Ao continued to inquire about the city governnt and various district governnts, with Levis mostly beating around the bush, claiming ignorance while frantically listing nas in his mind.
There were certainly more lobbyists than just Levis in the consortium, and Levis certainly did not know everything; undoubtedly, many pieces of information were missing.
However, talking to Levis, combined with mories from Mr.
Lin En, He Ao had gained a fairly clear and three-dinsional understanding of Yilan City’s social structure and the situation within the Yilan City Governnt.
Indeed, many of the situations described by Levis were not in Mr.
Lin En’s mory—for instance, Mr.
Lin En believed until his assassination that his Minister of Internal Affairs was imnsely loyal, albeit perhaps overly fanatical.
After indirectly probing with a few more questions, He Ao looked at Levis and said calmly, “You’re unwilling to say anything; have you made so kind of Transcendent Agreent with those collaborators?”
Initially sowhat relaxed, Levis looked up at He Ao, his pupils suddenly constricting.
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