Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

Chapter 498: The Final Exam Begins!

"Clang~~~Clang~~~"

The sound of the ice puck hitting the glass was exceptionally crisp.

This was one of Hansen's little quirks; he liked to hold the ice ball in his glass, not drink it, but just keep spinning it around, letting it touch the side of the glass, using the sound to soothe his ear canals. His desk was littered with documents, but he showed no interest in looking at any of them, just repeating this action over and over again. It was as if he wanted to make this sound the accompaniment to that cool, clear female voice.

“…That’s probably the situation.”

Hansen was used to listening to others finish speaking before offering his own opinion; to him, this was part of gentlemanly etiquette. However, if there was anything too peculiar in what the other person said, he might find it hard to resist.

This is the situation right now.

"You said he uprooted a tree, you meant the branches, right? He broke off two particularly thick branches and used them as sticks to fight off those people, right?"

"..."

The silence at this moment says it all.

“Okay, I understand.” Hans paused for a moment, then continued, “And then?”

"That's it." The woman's voice came from above. "I didn't look any further and came straight here. But Genos and his gang are probably in hell by now."

"If I'm not prepared, I'll be going down to join him soon." Hans chuckled self-deprecatingly, spreading his hands. "So, what's the situation with our old friend?"

"Joffrey is unaware of this yet; he's on the third floor of the casino..."

"That goes without saying, I have no interest in knowing." Hans rubbed his hands together, then suddenly slumped into the chair.

He wouldn't usually make such a gesture, which indicates fatigue, in front of others.

This seasoned politician had already sensed the approaching storm lurking beneath the surface of this tranquil darkness. When it truly arrives, the city's corruption will be thoroughly uprooted, and clues can be gleaned from the Red Army's previous modus operandi.

tonight.

After tonight, everything will be different.

For me, this will be a real test.

With this examiner... there's no such thing as "failure and retaking the course." If you fail this time, you'll lose your head.

“It’s been a pleasure working with you. Just as they said, you are a true professional.” The melancholy lasted only a moment before Hansen sat up straight again. “The final payment will be transferred to your account via bank transfer in three days. Whether I live to see that day or not, you will receive it, so please rest assured.”

"Make them withdraw their spies scattered throughout the city."

"That's it?" The female voice from above seemed to take a liking to Hansen. "My men don't come cheap. They're not just wandering the streets aimlessly; they're gathering intelligence... Every minute costs money. You've invested so much money, and you haven't even caught a glimpse of the Illuminati. Are you just going to back down like this?"

“I do want to eradicate the Illuminati, but right now, there is no more pressing problem in this city than the Red Center.”

The ice puck in the cup had shrunk considerably from being played with. Hansen slowly stood up, straightened his collar and the corners of his clothes, and looked towards the doorway not far away, his eyes gradually becoming resolute.

“I have been negotiating with the Illuminati for a long time. Whether I stay one day longer or one day shorter, I will not die immediately.”

"But Hongzhong is a completely different story. He won't allow any mistakes in my response."

"You can still run away," the woman's voice from above asked curiously. "You don't own any property here. You can just move to another place, change your name, and start over. Why bother fighting this walking disaster to the bitter end?"

……

Hansen did not answer, but picked up his glass and downed the chilled tequila in one gulp.

----

"Dang Cang——"

The ice puck gently bumped against the glass, reflecting the imposing figure directly in front of it from different angles.

"Mayor, you seem to be in high spirits."

Zhang Renfeng raised the broadsword with one hand, his expression shifting between light and dark. On the blade, Genos's blood had congealed, forming a deep blackish-red hue.

He looked at the glass in Hans's hand and asked in a low voice, "I wonder how this tequila tastes compared to human blood?"

……

The people gathered again from their homes, which took about half an hour. After that, Zhang Renfeng acted swiftly. He led a group of miners' families, who were in high spirits and full of anger, and stormed straight into Hans's residence where he worked, without encountering any form of resistance.

Their movements were extremely swift and targeted the vitals. Lagras was a large city with a wide expanse, which objectively dispersed the police force. By the time the police station realized something was wrong, Zhang Renfeng had already kicked open the iron gate and led his men inside.

Stared at by pairs of angry eyes, Hans's hands trembled slightly. Physically, he was undoubtedly weak. Zhang Renfeng didn't even need to lift a finger; two strong young men could easily beat him to death. It's always easy to talk big, but actually being so close to a crowd, feeling their angry breaths and heartbeats firsthand, is a completely different experience.

In particular, being stared at by those two black eyes, as if facing a four-meter-tall North American grizzly bear, made him afraid to breathe.

Hans didn't want to drink so much, but he had no choice. He had to use alcohol to suppress his inner fear, lest it surface and become a weakness.

"Regarding what happened tonight, I... express my deepest regret for what you all have experienced."

Instead of using long, convoluted sentences to deceive people, he bowed slightly to the visitor with the most concise sentence structure, revealing an expression of pity and reluctance. This is a common opening move when dealing with such matters, part of the standard structure. If his colleagues were to grade it, this opening alone would be worth at least thirty points.

Unfortunately, the ones giving him a score right now are not his shrewd and calculating colleagues.

Zhang Renfeng squinted, said nothing, and just stared at him without moving.

Humans are naturally afraid of awkward silences, and the mayor had used this tactic to deal with many people in the past. But in this situation, he didn't dare let the silence last too long, and spoke first, "In fact, just yesterday at noon, I received a verbal notification."

"Hmm." Zhang Renfeng nodded, showing no emotional inclination, simply gesturing for him to continue.

“They told me that there was water seepage at the mine in the Badi Mountains and that the mine might collapse, so I should prepare some compensation money. That money would come in handy if an accident really happened, and I did, that’s all.”

“Heh, compensation…” Zhang Renfeng touched the tip of his nose and sneered, “So, they’re tacitly acknowledging that the miners were still in the mine when the accident happened, right?”

"And you, as mayor, tacitly approved the company's actions. Now, fifty-five miners have lost their lives forever because of the blowout, and fifty-five families have been torn apart as a result."

He raised his long sword, took a step forward, and said coldly, "I have a habit; I don't have many hobbies, but I like to meddle in other people's business. Since no one else is going to take care of it, then I will. I just want an explanation!"

"Who will take the blame for these fifty-five bloody incidents?!"

Chapter 499: Still kneeling here begging for food?

"I."

Hans calmly uttered the word, which surprised Zhang Renfeng.

This is the difference in skill level between him and Genos. You need to clearly define who you can accept being blamed and who you can't. Facing the living devil of the West, trying to be a neutral party is just asking for trouble.

Hans' approach was the opposite of Genos's; regardless of the facts, he first admitted his mistake, took responsibility, and then discussed other matters.

While the Badi Mountains are technically no longer under the jurisdiction of the city of Lagras, aren't these miners employed by the fuel company members of the city? If so, how can they be said to bear no responsibility whatsoever?!

Only in this way can the dialogue continue to some extent, and only then can there be a chance of survival.

“After they made their demand for compensation, tonight’s man-made disaster was more or less predictable.” Hans’s expression was neither sad nor happy. With his hands crossed, he continued in a very calm posture, “I neither explicitly agreed nor explicitly refused. In this city, there is a set of underlying rules that are completely different from the rules on the surface.”

"As usual, I followed the latter."

“You’re the mayor.” Zhang Renfeng’s tone was very dissatisfied, but for Hans, it was a much better outcome than the initial murderous intent. “You’re just going to do whatever they tell you to do? Would you be begging on your knees?”

“To ordinary people, I’m the mayor, but to people with the surname Osborne, I’m just a beggar on my knees. That might sound a bit pathetic, but at most I help them with their accounts and money, that’s all.” Hans gave a wry smile and shrugged. “Even so, so many people want to kneel down, but they don’t even have the opportunity.”

"A mayor of a small town, even if he serves his whole life, at best will only have a good reputation at his own funeral, and he is almost never going to achieve anything. Only in big cities like Lagras is there a path to advancement."

"To put it bluntly, this city is their backyard. From the police station to the court, every important position you can imagine, except for me, the mayor, is occupied by their own people."

"Even the position of 'mayor' itself was just something the Osborne family wanted to save face by not making a big show of it. That's why they had to put some out-of-towner at this luxurious desk."

At this point, Hans patted the luxurious rosewood table. The price of this thing alone was enough to cover several months' income for a poor miner's family.

In a daze, Zhang Renfeng felt as if he had seen this scene a long time ago, so he smiled with relief.

The power structure is like a giant pyramid, with one layer pressing down on the other. Positions are all nominal; whoever holds the power to redistribute benefits and appoint personnel is the true leader.

As long as you're still in this game, it's almost impossible to gain benefits for yourself by opposing those in power.

From the very first day he took over the city, this seasoned humanoid bureaucratic AI was acutely aware that everything here had already been infiltrated by the company. To put it nicely, he was the mayor; to put it bluntly, he was nothing more than a humanoid stamping and signing machine.

Hans took out several newspaper clippings from the drawer, held them up with two fingers, and slowly pushed them in front of the other person.

"..."

"I can't understand English!"—He really wanted to say that, but in this situation, admitting he couldn't read would seem rather inappropriate. So, the atmosphere became somewhat tense.

"They're talking about the previous mayor, Eddie Martinson... who's already dead..."

Fortunately, Nina kindly came over and read the contents of the newspaper, which helped ease his slight embarrassment. "It seems that while he was shopping, someone shot him six times from behind, and he fell to the ground and died on the spot."

"During Mr. Eddie's tenure, a similar incident occurred at the same mining camp of the fuel company. That time it wasn't a blowout, but a mine collapse. At the time of the accident, there were still more than 100 miners working. The rescue was not timely, resulting in the deaths of all the miners."

"The family refused to let it go and made a scene in the city. To appease them, Eddie initiated a legal investigation into the case. He himself died two days later. The gunman who killed him was diagnosed with mental illness and was sent to some hospital that God knows."

“Geoffrey Osborne took over the vacant mayoral powers and instead arrested more than a hundred of these family members and imprisoned them. The entire investigation was dropped. Many of these family members deeply resented him.”

"They therefore defected from the city and became the Lamon Raiders, with the mission of destroying the company. Just in the last few days, the Lamon Raiders' level has suddenly improved significantly, and in terms of tactics and techniques, they seem to have incorporated the classic Southern Ranger style. Perhaps some powerful figure has joined them."

Looking at the newspaper clippings in front of him, Zhang Renfeng's anger swelled even more, and his eyebrows furrowed up little by little, like two swords drawn backwards!

He gripped the knife handle tightly, making a creaking sound.

"With the lessons of the past before me, in order to protect my physical and political life, I cannot possibly oppose the Osborne family without sufficient benefits..." He deliberately dragged out the end of this sentence, which, as expected, attracted Zhang Renfeng's attention.

"But?" He raised an eyebrow.

“But I’ve been holding on at their table, round after round, all for tonight—a perfect chance to go all in.” Hansen looked up, met his eyes, and unconsciously clenched his fist. “Let’s make a deal, Red Diamond.”

"A deal?" Zhang Renfeng thought he had misheard. "Me and you?"

“Common interests are the most powerful form of loyalty, stronger and more unbreakable than slogans and beliefs.” Hans spread his hands on the table, his tone very sincere. “I am quite careful when choosing enemies, but I am twice as careful when choosing allies.”

"Give me a chance, and I will prove my worth to you in the next two days."

……

"What are the conditions?" Zhang Renfeng asked after a moment's thought.

Upon asking this question, the people behind him didn't voice much dissent. Generally speaking, their anger was drawn away by the company's mocking performance. The mayor in front of them was merely a pawn helplessly caught in this distorted power system.

But Hans was not willing to do so. No official with even a little ambition wants to be just a figurehead for signing and stamping documents.

Hong Zhong is known for his ruthless killing, but Zhang Renfeng, the man behind this facade, is not a blind, reckless man who only knows how to kill.

He felt no regret whatsoever for killing Genos. Genos was like a fly; if you didn't swat him, he'd keep buzzing around you, disgusting you. But at the same time, this also meant that his battle with Roanok Fuel Company had begun prematurely, with no room for negotiation.

As the saying goes, "Even farting adds fuel to the fire," and in the current situation, no one should be missed when it comes to winning over others.

The raiders of Lamoine were like that, and so was Mayor Hans before us.

He decided to listen to what Hans had to say about the "deal terms".

----

"I want to be the governor of New Austin."

Chapter 500: The Ninth Level of Prajna Skill

This is what it means to make a name for yourself overnight.

Meteora did say that this guy was an ambitious man, and looking at it this way, his appetite was extraordinary, which surprised Zhang Renfeng.

"Dude, are you kidding me?" He squinted and complained, "I'm not some kind of genie that pops out of a lamp after you rub it a couple of times. I'm not responsible for granting your wishes."

"Is that so? In my opinion, many of the things you've done are no different from those of a genie in a lamp. Whether intentional or unintentional, direct or indirect, you've fulfilled the wishes that many people can only pray for in their dreams... God didn't cast his gaze upon them, but you brought them the true gospel."

"However, this wish is a little special, that's all."

Realizing he was serious, Zhang Renfeng's expression changed slightly, and he said solemnly, "You should know what I do, right?"

"It couldn't be clearer."

"Getting involved with a gang but still wanting to become an official? I can't think of any way to help you achieve that."

"A mayor with no backing, background, or military power is simply delusional to think he can advance further. Since the outcomes are about the same on both sides, why don't I take a gamble on you?"

"Someone like you is probably one in a hundred years. If I don't go all in now, it would be a waste of all the chips I've accumulated."

Hans clasped his hands together, his tone calm yet confident, "If everything goes according to plan, then at most a year..."

He held up one finger, flashing his signature "I'll win" smile, "One year from now, I'll be the governor of New Austin."

“I will do my best to help you, and in return, you will do your best to help me when my test comes. That is the deal I’m proposing.”

"How about it, Hongzhong? Considering your future returns, isn't it a good investment?"

Zhang Renfeng pondered for quite some time, and he vaguely sensed that this was a very important decision for the Red Central Gang.

“Okay.” He extended his right hand and shook hands firmly with the ambitious man. “I agree.”