New Gods of North America

Chapter 515 “20%”

If I had to make an analogy, Mr. Walter, for the detective agency at this time, was actually carrying an "invincible body."

He was somewhat similar to a BOSS without a visible health bar, or a level-blocking character that needed to be resolved through "non-combat means."

Not to mention that a federal senator could be exempt from most charges, even if he were sent in, usually "punishment doesn't extend to high officials."

They would first get "house arrest," and in a few years, someone in their party might become president, or with a little collusion, as long as it didn't involve treason, a pardon would just be a matter of the president signing his name—unless they were "suicided" and no one investigated, otherwise it wouldn't even take eighteen years for them to be "a good man again."

And it was difficult for private organizations like the detective agency to target them. It didn't even have to be to the extent of "harming" them. Simply "verbal threats" or "influencing a member of Congress's normal judgment through illegal means" could constitute a serious crime.

It was the kind of thing that "once the scale is tipped, a thousand pounds couldn't pull it back." If they encountered a malicious, venomous reporter, they might even be labeled a "national enemy."

But those were all political matters. At the very least, the Biddon family would have a headache first. It wasn't the detective agency's turn to rush to the forefront.

Although Wayne also felt that Mr. Walter probably wasn't harboring any good intentions at this moment—even if he wasn't the real mastermind, he was at least "showing off" and "venting anger" for the local intelligence agencies, wanting to give "a little color to those who dared to investigate the problem to their doorstep"—but there was really no need to completely provoke him.

It wouldn't do to say that a big shot sent a clue, and the detective agency would "bite the hand that feeds them." If they started a media war, Wayne would have to spend extra funds and energy, and it would easily affect his reputation and popularity for no reason.

He should first find a way to deal with the "missing small boss" and see how deep the water was.

"I remember that in the city hall's records, the Castallos community is not under their daily management. Jurisdiction is in the hands of the state government. They only have some routine data statistics. The population data that Mr. Walter mentioned is real, but the city hall also said in the notes that the actual resident population is likely higher than the statistical number, and the proportion of people being hidden is estimated to be around 20%. It seems that the difficulty of finding the target inside is not low."

After Ineisha was called back, she quickly began to analyze after hearing the situation.

Lina next to her was already rubbing her little hands: "Even if only 20% of these people choose to resist with force, that's a scale of nearly one hundred and sixty people. Even in a gang, it's a very excessive scale. This is a big job, we have to prepare well."

Wait, why is the big spider next to her starting to jump around?

Wayne was a little worried that Lina would mess things up. "It won't come to that. The main members of the community all have legal residency rights. Even if we beat them, it won't be against the law, but there won't be a bounty. We don't have to engage in armed confrontation."

To use a metaphor that Wayne didn't really want to use, the current situation of that native community was probably somewhat close to the so-called "Chinatown" or a certain "Kowloon Walled City" during times of chaos.

From the perspective of white-skinned immigrants, that place was of course a "three-no-zone" strange land, located outside their daily life's "civilized society," but Wayne felt that such a place would still have even unstable order. If he could control things within the boundary of "catching bad guys" instead of "ethnic conflict," it should be possible to solve the problem relatively peacefully.

Moreover, according to his experience in Black Stone Town, if things went wrong, the enemy would not simply be "20%," maybe it would directly jump to "120%"...

So the plan was quickly decided. In the evening, they would first go to the place Lina had chosen to "seek divine help." Once the possibility of completely false intelligence was ruled out, the detective agency would then send a few people suitable for infiltration over at night.

Even if they couldn't find anyone for the time being, they would first draw a basic map, and then wait until dawn to talk to the people in charge of the community.

As for the gold master, Mr. Moliere, even though his bodyguards had all arrived, he still insisted on not leaving Lina behind. Wayne didn't indulge him. The detectives at home were enough to accompany him.

...

In an era when lighting still required fuel, night travel was not the mainstream choice for the urban masses. Not only did travel expenses increase, but it was also dark everywhere outside the city, and safety was also a concern.

Compared to Westerners who were accustomed to the darkness of the wilderness, or "messengers" who needed to transmit messages between towns as quickly as possible, ordinary people in the city didn't like running around at night.

"Save—Bang!"

After seeing the fireworks rising from the other side of the river bridge, Wayne led his men to block the road here, and then also set off a signal representing "no passage temporarily."

According to the archives in the city hall, the length of this bridge across the St. James River is about four hundred and ninety meters when converted. Because the bridge surface is not high enough in this era, many large ships cannot pass through, so it has also become the dividing line between "internal and external shipping" on the St. James River—the goods of many cargo ships have to be collected, distributed, and transshipped through Richmond, which can be regarded as indirectly increasing the city's vitality and tax revenue.

The distance at which Lina normally summons the Wise Sage and can make the spiritual intuition of almost all extraordinary people madly warn is about within a range of dozens of yards, which is uncertain, and seems to be related to the environment and "medium," but it must be that the farther away, the more blurred the feeling.

At this time, according to the plan, she should be busy in the middle of the bridge. Now that she is so far away, except for some extraordinary people with special abilities, even if other extraordinary people happen to be on the shore at this time, they may at most just "thump" slightly, perhaps know that something is wrong, but they may not be able to sense the specific situation and direction.

That being said, in fact, when the "Wise Sage" really descended, Wayne's own spiritual intuition was still touched. Just like an experienced gunman, hearing an abnormal sound from a distance can tell whether it is the familiar sound of his own gun.

Liam next to him even "shivered" suddenly, and couldn't help patting his little heart, "Since seeing Miss Lina's ability, even if I have been prepared in advance, it is still very frightening..."

Sanders, who was driving the carriage, stabilized the horses, but squinted at him: "It's not as exaggerated as you say, right? Spiritual intuition is only slightly touched. If you didn't know in advance, you probably wouldn't even be able to find the direction. Look at 'Chameleon,' he's not like you."

"You haven't encountered wild beasts in the wild, you can't tell the danger when you hear howls, so you're not afraid..."

"I was also present when the base camp was attacked last time! The pressure shown this time is different from that time."

"This is the difference in sensitivity. Do you have to hear the thunder before you know it's going to rain heavily... Normal little animals will start running away when they hear wild beasts yawning..."

Liam may have been teased by Sanders too much recently, and even his retort seemed a little weak, but Wayne looked at the reactions of several people on his side and felt that everything was still within expectations. Lina herself felt that the location was suitable, so it shouldn't be too wrong.

When a red firework rose in the middle of the bridge, everyone understood that the information had been confirmed, so they quickly removed the temporary roadblocks, got into the car, and drove away, so as not to be found by night-time security maintainers such as street patrol officers.

Target, Castallos Community!

Hehe, even if the police set up checkpoints in the city, they probably wouldn't think that the person who set off the fireworks would run directly to the suburbs.

This is the experience gained after being in the police station.