Empire of Shadows

Before being picked up from the chessboard and thrown off, every chess piece does not think of itself as a chess piece, and even thinks that it has the opportunity to change its own destiny, to jump off the chessboard and become a player.

In fact, most chess pieces do not have this opportunity.

A person like Lance is ultimately a very small minority among a very small minority. He has transmigrated, and although he did not carry anything with him, the knowledge in his mind surpassed everything.

If you remove these things, or rather, temporarily move him out of the successful, then besides a very small number of lucky ones, no one can easily do this.

The director did not have such an ability. He was a chess piece, at the beginning, now, and in the end.

The fate of a chess piece is just that straightforward, you can see it at a glance from the very beginning.

If you are not on the road to risking yourself, then you have already risked yourself.

Exchanging pieces.

Seeing that the director was not speaking, the lieutenant governor said again, ”The governor has already called me to inquire about this matter.”

”If you want to protect him, you absolutely can’t. And he must be severely punished by the law.””Only in this way can we shut some people’s mouths.”

”And only in this way can he press this matter down.”

After he finished speaking, he stared at the director’s face. Feeling the burning sensation on his face, the director could only nod in agreement. ”I will have their positions removed.”

”Just removing them is not enough. You need to first control them and hand them over to the prosecutor’s office.”

”The speed of the trial of this case will be very fast, so you have to be mentally prepared.”

As for what to be mentally prepared for, the lieutenant governor did not say. After all, it was not very suitable for him to say it himself now.

How to send someone to their death also has its own intricacies.

You can’t say ”go and die.” That’s not good. You have to have him propose it himself, ”I... can.”

The lieutenant governor had been giving the director this kind of hint all along, just hoping that he could understand this point and accept this reality.

The director nodded. ”I understand.”

The lieutenant governor was very satisfied with his performance. This way, the problem on Lance’s side would be solved.

As for Mayor Wade’s request, he would not really take it seriously. What was his purpose in taking the initiative to expose this matter to some of the media?

In the end, wasn’t it just to leave the passive ”victim” role and become the one who held the initiative?

For this kind of thing that would obviously cause a huge threat and impact to the lieutenant governor himself, from the perspective of most normal people, it could not have been done by him.

When people don’t know who the mastermind is, the simplest way to find the mastermind is to see who has gained the most benefit from this matter.

Whoever has gained the most, then even if this person is not the mastermind, he must have an extraordinary relationship with the mastermind.

The news had been exposed, but it was still within control.

The face of the state government had been damaged. Both governors were ”victims.” The only one who could really get benefits from this seemed to be only one person, and that was Mayor Wade!

In order to increase his chances of winning the gubernatorial election, he had constantly challenged the bottom line of the entire Indeno State political arena. He, this biggest beneficiary, had stood on the opposite side of everyone!

Politics and politicians are always dirty. From the moment they came into this world, it has been so.

He was the only beneficiary, so he would become, in the governor’s eyes, the person who was trying to destroy the ”everything is fine” situation. He was destroying the great situation of Indeno State.

This way, the governor would be very unhappy with Mayor Wade. Then the request that Mayor Wade had made to have the lieutenant governor withdraw from the election, the governor would not let it come true either.

The election hadn’t even started yet, and Mayor Wade was already jumping up and down. When it really came to the election, would Mayor Wade use some more despicable means to win?

This was very possible!

As long as the governor disliked Mayor Wade, then as a qualified ruler, he would have to find a way to balance this force of Mayor Wade.

Even if the lieutenant governor had on the surface agreed to publicly declare that he would not participate in the election, the governor would find a way to have him not say it, and would also encourage him to continue to fight with Mayor Wade to balance the relationship.

No ruler would ever want to have an existence that could influence, and even threaten, his own rule, even if this rule was not long-lasting.

But at least when they were still the rulers, they did not want anyone to challenge them.

On the surface, the exposure of this news was a heavy blow to the lieutenant governor, but if it was used well, it could on the contrary become a knife in his hand!

After the director had finished speaking, neither of them immediately said anything more, but remained quiet.

After about two minutes, the lieutenant governor leaned back. ”When the governor was communicating with me, he also mentioned your matter.”

The director sighed in his heart, but he knew that this result was inevitable.

He had once tried his best to refuse such an ending from happening, but it was useless.

These few days, he had also been thinking about the cause, the promotion, the development, and the result of the whole matter.

In the end, he couldn’t even find a single solution, unless Police Captain Matthew had not touched the goods from the very beginning, or after he had intercepted the goods, he had handed them all over to the Bureau of Hazardous Materials without taking any for himself.

Only in this way could the current situation be avoided.

But as long as he had a little greed, the current situation would occur.

The power of the Lance Family was still too strong, and what they had done was not secretive enough. He could already guess that the problem was in the selling of the stolen goods.

If Police Captain Matthew had transported this batch of wine to other states to sell, there would not have been these problems. But this would have created a new problem. Where would he get the sales channels in other states?

So this was a dead end. It was fine if it wasn’t discovered, but once it was, there was only this possibility.

So much so that he himself was implicated.

The director knew that the lieutenant governor was waiting for him to take a stand. He was very reluctant, but he had to pretend to be generous in considering the overall situation. He lowered his head slightly. ”I will announce my resignation to take the blame.”

A smile appeared on the lieutenant governor’s face. ”This matter may not be enough just by resigning to take the blame. I know that person, Mayor Wade. He will definitely do everything he can to continue to push for the escalation and seriousness of the situation.”

”So you have to be mentally prepared...” he looked directly at the director, but the other party did not raise his head, nor did he meet his gaze, ”...it’s possible that the prosecutor’s office will come to talk to you, but it’s definitely not because you are implicated in their criminal problems, but a minor crime like dereliction of duty.”

”I know you may be a little unwilling in your heart...”

The director shook his head. ”No.”

The lieutenant governor laughed twice, his tone very gentle. ”Alright, we’ve known each other for many years. I’ve always trusted you very much. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have recommended you to be the chief of the state police.”

”You don’t have to pretend or anything in front of me.”

”I hope you can continue to believe me. As long as I don’t fall, you won’t fall.”

”In my opinion, your talent is being constrained in the position of a small chief of a state police department. It’s a waste of your talent.”

”This opportunity is just the right time to get rid of this shackle, to let you have a greater future, a wider space.”

”The sentence for dereliction of duty will not be too long, maybe one or two years. I will arrange it then. You will be paroled in at most half a year.”

”Next, you will become very busy, because you have more new jobs!”

He promised what should be promised, and also drew a big pie. Although they all knew that these things might not be true, and might not be realized, but at this time, the role it played was still very important.

The director nodded. ”I understand.”

The lieutenant governor was very satisfied with the handling process and the result of this matter. ”You go and make the arrangements. Be mentally prepared.”

The director then stood up and said his goodbyes, and then left the room.

The next day, two more small newspapers reported this news. The governor was finally a little unable to hold back. He called the governor again. ”You have to solve this matter as soon as possible, or do you hope that it will become the biggest scandal since the founding of the country, so that I can announce my resignation to take the blame at the state legislature?”

His tone was already very impolite, and he had even used his own resignation as a bargaining chip, but this was exactly what the lieutenant governor meant.

His tone revealed a hint of difficulty. ”I am already dealing with it, but the media’s side...”

The governor directly interrupted him. ”I will handle the media’s side. You clean your own ass first, damn it!”

The lieutenant governor listened to the sound of the phone being slammed down from the receiver. Not only was he not uneasy, but on the contrary, he couldn’t help but laugh. The governor was angry.

This was a good thing!

He gave the director a call, and then another call to the state prosecutor’s office. Soon the prosecutors began to act.

Some of Police Captain Matthew’s subordinates were also asked to go to Red Rock City as soon as possible for debriefing. Although these people did not know what on earth had happened, they more or less still had some enlightenment in their hearts.

At this time, Mayor Wade was preparing for a new round of negotiations with the lieutenant governor, but unexpectedly, the governor’s call came first.

Although the two were in a superior-subordinate relationship, if a mayor was really tough, he could also not give a damn about the governor.

This was like in a state of the Socialist Party camp, there might also be one or two, two or three cities whose mayors were Liberal Party members, or Federalist Party members.

A governor cannot directly appoint a mayor, but he also has a certain influence. This is the purpose of politicians fighting for public opinion and support.

At a critical moment, it is really useful!

Although Mayor Wade was not afraid of the governor, he was also not willing to offend this guy. After a polite greeting, the governor’s impatient voice came from the receiver.

”Did you give the materials to those newspaper offices and the media?”

”Wade, I know about the competition between you and him, but I have never thought of stopping you or stopping him. This is your war.”

”But you don’t drag me in!”

”Some of your actions have made me very embarrassed, very passive. My personal suggestion is that you can stop now. If you continue to walk forward, you will only push yourself and us further away!”