New Gods of North America

It's said in the Jianghu that the "efficiency" of American politicians is actually very fragmented.

They can be as still as a mountain when they're slow, sometimes dragging on even the smallest details with multiple groups taking turns, to the point where people forget about the whole thing.

But they can be as swift as a raging fire when they're fast, sometimes passing bills of hundreds or thousands of pages unanimously before lunch, even though a serious person wouldn't have time to read them all.

But what Wayne didn't expect was that these big shots could be so efficient in "solving cases."

He had barely finished a simple account of some recent investigations when Mr. Basque Beaton, while fiddling with a plant, concluded:

"So Walter Norton is clearly guilty of serious dereliction of duty in this matter, and is the main cause of the assassination - do you have any evidence now? Witnesses or physical evidence will do."

Wayne was a little impressed.

Do you big shots not need evidence to make judgments? You're pinning the main responsibility directly on someone else's head?

I'm not here to help you with political infighting...

So Wayne could only weakly remind him, "According to the current investigation, the killer should be the group lurking in Virginia..."

Old Mr. Basque waved his hand without looking up, his attitude a little colder than when he had watched the duel:

"That's not the way to look at it. According to what we know now, Walter knew about the killer group before the assassination, and as a congressman, he allowed the killers to continue their actions, causing innocent American citizens to be harmed. That's the key issue."

Wayne was almost persuaded. These words sounded grand and righteous, with an aura that "a thousand pounds couldn't pull back."

But Wayne was here to investigate the case after all. "From the current perspective, Mr. Walter and his people may have had some clues beforehand, but they may not be directly related to the assassination. We now want to understand the specific situation they have in hand in more detail. I wonder if you are willing to provide assistance in this regard?"

Old Mr. Basque fell into thought. Wayne seemed to see Seth Grayson decades later in him. Both were the type to think things through before speaking.

But this look seemed more appropriate on the old gentleman.

Soon, Old Mr. Basque spoke again: "Over the past few elections, I don't have many friends left in the postal system. Walter has only been able to stay in office since he switched parties. But I still have many old acquaintances locally. Although they can't directly tell you the internal situation, they can help you find out."

Then he looked back at the old butler, who nodded very skillfully and turned to look at Wayne. "Mr. Wayne can come directly to me to ask about anything related later. If there's anything I don't know, I can also help you find out. I will definitely tell you in time when there are results."

Wayne had a lot of things he wanted to ask now, even if he put aside the investigation. At least he was very curious about the structure of the local intelligence organization.

He was about to say goodbye to the old gentleman and then find a place to chat privately with the old butler, but Old Mr. Basque seemed to have suddenly remembered something and found an excuse to dismiss the old butler first.

Now there were only Wayne and Old Mr. Basque in the greenhouse.

He looked a little more serious at this time:

"By the way, Wayne, didn't you plan to hold several public duels in a row? Why did you suddenly stop and redeem the prizes?"

Sigh, I thought it was some secret.

Why do you still remember this... I was just doing it casually, it wasn't profitable anyway...

Wayne didn't know if Old Mr. Basque knew about the "Church of Light," so he had to explain that because it involved hidden organizations and cultists, it was not suitable to attract public attention in a high-profile manner.

In order to keep things low-key, the public duel could only be abandoned.

The old gentleman nodded and then asked, "So, Wayne, you should also be a 'Transcendent'?"

Wayne hesitated slightly, unsure whether he should say it.

The matter of Transcendants is not a secret, but the church does not encourage publicity to ordinary people. It is the kind of thing where "those who understand, understand, but don't tell those who don't." Wayne was warned when he first reported to the cathedral that he could be held accountable if it caused adverse consequences.

Old Mr. Basque had obviously gotten the answer from Wayne's reaction:

"Don't worry, the matter of Transcendants is not a secret to our family. In fact, my eldest grandson, Victor, is also a Transcendant, but the cathedral said he does not meet the conditions for joining the church. I just want to confirm that you have the power to protect yourself."

You should have said so earlier.

With the "one-for-one" exchange of information, Wayne nodded.

However, Wayne also noticed a detail, "It sounds like you are not a Transcendant?"

If the whole family were Transcendants, there seemed to be no need to single out the grandson.

The old gentleman seemed quite open-minded in this regard: "You should be able to tell from my current appearance that Transcendants generally don't live to my age. Go to the main house to find the butler first, he should be able to answer some of your questions. I will send someone to contact you later if there is anything else."

Wayne saw the old gentleman pick up the scissors again and didn't disturb him any further.

But Wayne had another question in his mind, what did he mean by "generally don't live to his age"?

Does this thing also shorten lifespan?!

...

"The federal native intelligence agencies can be traced back to the Continental Intelligence Committee established during the colonial period to resist Windsor. At that time, information was mainly obtained through some scattered personnel and channels, such as the support of wealthy people, businessmen, scholars, and sympathizers, to transmit information between the colonies and coordinate actions in various places.

"After the situation in America stabilized, the corresponding agencies were reorganized and dismissed. Currently, they are basically composed of three relatively large parts: one part belongs to the military, mainly used to achieve intelligence collection and indirect control of militia organizations in various states; one part belongs to the administrative system, managed by the cabinet's foreign affairs department, mainly responsible for foreign intelligence collection; and another part is theoretically under the Congress, now mainly based on the postal system, responsible for paying attention to some key areas and special people.

"Due to the founding fathers' vigilance against privileges, the scale of these intelligence agencies is not very large today. The parties are not subordinate to each other, and there is very little intelligence exchange between them. Basically, you can regard them as larger and more decentralized police stations, or smaller but more professional churches.

"Compared with the parts belonging to the military and foreign affairs, the situation in the postal system is relatively more complicated. Because the foundation of the architecture that year was the communications committees organized by the colonies separately, the sources of manpower varied. Some were recruited externally, and some were originally stakeholders of local prestigious people. In the subsequent reorganization and dismissal process, there were also some personnel who were donated and supported by local wealthy people, so they were able to retain or obtain new jobs. Therefore, continuing to this day, many places inevitably have some 'local characteristics', which will appear more loose, with greater regional differences, and higher autonomy."

In the reception room, the old butler had the servant bring hot tea and then began to answer Wayne's questions. Perhaps to facilitate understanding, he spoke in great detail.

Wayne understood this very quickly. By slightly substituting the current situation of the police in various parts of America and the western sheriff, it is basically another application of "sweep the snow in front of your own door" and "shut up if it's not your business."

At the same time, he guessed that the Beaton family probably bet the next generation on the military, so the promising grandson served in the military.

"There is a way to investigate intelligence but they usually don't know the internal situation of the postal system" is also the same reason. There are also people here who can conduct secret investigations, and they don't seem to mind causing accidental losses to the other side.

There are still many old acquaintances in the local area...

The meaning of these words differs greatly when spoken by different people.

Wayne solved the most curious question and then continued to ask down the list of questions in his mind, "Then how many people would Mr. Walter and his people have in the local area?"

The old butler continued to answer: "If it is the manpower in the entire Virginia, the total should exceed a thousand people. But they need to be scattered in various towns and postal routes in the state, and they also have daily tasks to perform. It is estimated that only about a hundred people can be regularly and flexibly used in the Richmond area..."