New Gods of North America.

Chapter 377 Announcement
In the middle of the morning, David Mills came with a few people to handle the report, and took the criminals who were already in sacks back.

As for the two surviving prisoners, they are still locked in the cellar. Liam interrogated them for a long time but failed to get any new information out of them, so he is still trying.

The detective agency has been attacked several times in succession, and the local church does not seem to be willing to intervene. David Mills may have guessed whether the cathedral has some secret arrangements.
However, as a person from the special services team, he appeared to be more "professional" in this regard. He never asked about the matter of not receiving any notification and just followed the normal procedures.

Wayne was more gossipy and curiously asked about the suspected murder of Roy Stampler in the monastery.
David Mills's words were rather brief, but Wayne felt that Pastor Bazzini and the people from the Exorcist Association had been making some serious moves recently...

However, the outside world seemed to have no idea about what was happening within the church.

David Mills also showed Wayne the lottery ticket he bought.
There are three cards in total, and the pre-printed prize numbers on them represent "The challenger will accept the challenge this time", "Wayne can win the first game", and "Wayne can win more than 7 games in total".

It is said that people in the local exorcism department basically buy it this way, and the disagreement mainly arises on "how many games Wayne can win in total" - some people think that there may not be so many challengers over there, and they will accept the challenge every time.

That's right, there are still people who think highly of me.

As soon as David Mills left, a pigeon flew back into the yard.
Connor saw today's new newspaper in Richmond, saying that Baker from Cohen Pharmaceuticals had issued a public statement saying that he would accept Wayne's challenge and the time was set for the first day of next week, which is Sunday.

According to the custom of the Holy Spirit faith, believers should "rest" on Sundays in principle. The starting point is to take time out to go to church to listen to sermons.

Although the situation of civil servants and church personnel is special, some factories and some occupations may not completely stop working, but most workshops or shops will still be closed.

After reading the note, Wayne felt that the guy was a bit of a "dog".
He openly accepted the challenge and chose a day when people were relatively free, showing a confident attitude.
Two attacks were secretly arranged in advance. No matter whether Wayne was dead or injured, the blame for "the challenge could not proceed normally" would probably be put on Wayne.

It’s a pity that the other party’s ideals can’t keep up with reality.

More than 60% of the sales of the first batch of lottery tickets were contributed by this content.

Now that the results are out, the detective agency quickly started to count the results.

The most people bought the item "Will the other party accept the challenge?", with a total amount of $1358 and 60 cents. The maximum bonus would be 951% of the sales, which is $.

The remaining part, after deducting the "issuance cost", is considered as "raised public welfare funds".

Although everyone thinks that buying this is the safest,

However, the reality is that almost everyone has overwhelmingly bought the idea that "the other party will accept the challenge", with the proportion exceeding 90%, so there is actually no winner...

In total, after spending "10 cents" and winning the prize, each bet can only be redeemed for "7 cents", which is equivalent to directly donating 3 cents.

Of course those who didn’t win the lottery lost even more, as they lost all their ten cents.

If it were the other way around, things would look better.
If the other party does not accept the challenge, then it will become a "minority wins" and the prize money for each bet will become closer to "70 cents".
Leaving aside the costs, the profit can reach six times the amount of the bet, which is a profit.

Wayne looked at the preliminary statistical bulletin that Seth had written.

Citizens who feel like they lost money after winning the lottery will probably curse at that time...

But think on the bright side.
At least those who are optimistic about their chances of winning should be able to make a little money in the end.

……

In an apartment in Richmond,

Malcolm Baker was in the cigar room, sipping whisky and reading today's newspaper.

He was quite satisfied with the method proposed by Mr. Weisman. As long as he could eliminate that "Wayne Constantine" in advance, the so-called "challenge" would naturally become a joke.

Although this public challenge seemed to have caused rumors to spread among the public that were unfavorable to the company's products,

But as long as the other party can be eliminated, the wealthy and politicians in Richmond should be able to see the power of their own skills.

If the rich and politicians keep silent, the opinions of ordinary people will be totally unimportant. People can be indignant about the news in the newspaper today, and be elated about other things tomorrow, but it won't last long.

What they think depends entirely on what the politicians and wealthy make them "see" and "hear".

Just a mob.

The valet knocked on the door of the cigar room at this time, "Sir, your lawyer, Mr. Weissman, calls."

"Bring him here."

"Yes, sir."

Mr. Weissman, who had brown and black hair, quickly walked into the cigar room.

He looked to be in his early forties, and might have been handsome, but his nose was high and the tip of his nose was slightly crooked downwards, which looked a bit like an eagle's beak when viewed from the side.
Combined with his habitual squinting eyes, it is easy to give people a feeling of being "too shrewd", making people involuntarily want to keep a distance from him.

Malcolm Baker was in a good mood today. He motioned for the other party to sit on the high-back chair opposite him and handed over a cigar box.

"I asked the servant to bring back some cigars from the club. They are all well cared for by special people. Want one?"

Mr. Weissman did not reach for it:
"Mr. Baker, the men who were scheduled to attack Georgeburg last night failed."

The smile on Malcolm Baker's face froze. "The other party was not injured?"

"It's worse than that."

Mr. Weissman raised his eyes and looked at him. "The people who went there suffered heavy losses. None of the bounty hunters we had a cooperative relationship with have returned.

"Of the two Market Security members that we called in from the New York Region for support using your favor, one died on the spot last night, and the other was also injured. He left quickly after bringing back the news. He said that we encountered a very tough target this time."

"what?!"

Malcolm Baker picked up the newspaper from the side.
He faced Mr. Weissman with the printed side of his letter, "But I have already accepted the challenge. If I back down now, the loss of my reputation will be too great."

Mr. Weissman's expression did not change much:
"I think so too. Mr. Baker, you might consider gathering all the people in the state to deal with the opponent before the duel begins. This time, you can't use those profit-seeking bounty hunters. It's better to let the members responsible for 'market security' handle it."

Malcolm Baker frowned slightly. "Those are the people arranged by the headquarters. If they suffer losses, it will lower the headquarters' evaluation of me. If I bet on them, the cost will be too high and it may not be economically profitable."

Mr. Weissman does not seem to approve of this approach:

"I suggest that you should get rid of the other party first, Mr. Baker, even if you have to continue to use your connections with other regional leaders. Compared to the loss of manpower, the headquarters may care more about your ability to solve the problem.

"At this time, what you need to show more is perhaps 'courage'."

Malcolm Baker had already stood up. "Well, I'll go to the cathedral later and see if I can get them to help."

"What if they refuse? Are you really going to accept a ridiculous duel?" asked Mr. Weissman.

Malcolm Baker hesitated slightly:

“Although the duel won’t kill me, I can’t use my extraordinary abilities in public. As for shooting, I’m not an expert in this area…”

“That detective agency has quite a few people. The fact that it has grown to this size in Georgeburg must be related to the local Holy Spirit Church. If we are too concerned about the church, then we won’t have any chance of winning.”

Mr. Weisman smiled after he finished speaking. "I still stick to my opinion. Now is not the time to do economic calculations. If the cathedral refuses to help, then it is best for us to nip the hidden danger in the bud."

"I'll consider it. If I have to gamble, I'll definitely choose the more certain approach rather than losing in a public duel."

(End of this chapter)