"Don't make things worse for me," Karen immediately retorted. "How can you expect to get by with this gangster-style intimidation? I have legal and administrative methods to deal with it, so there's no need to worry."
What could Hayden do after she said that?
"it is good."
So after he ended the call and put down his phone, he stroked his chin and said to Angela,
“Let’s go and secretly investigate and see what kind of person this newly appointed ‘Federal Enforcement Agency’s Special Supervisor for the New Seattle Area, Mr. Denton’ really is.”
————————————————————————————
During his nearly ten-year career as a professional mercenary, Hayden traveled to many unusual places.
In contrast, the Federal Executive Office building in New Seattle seems rather uninteresting.
The place wasn't hard to find. It was a typical federal building, huge and ugly, with a million steps that made it look like it was built on a mountain of stairs, and lots of pillars. Unlike other common government office buildings, the people inside were all burly men with slicked-back hair, wearing sunglasses and protective jackets, each with tiny earphone wires dangling from their ears, and they were all watching everyone coming and going warily, questioning them rigorously.
That being said, they weren't actually that strong. Their protective jackets couldn't stop any armor-piercing bullets, and those intimidating black sunglasses couldn't really see through much illusion magic. Their communication channels could even be hacked by Hayden from two years ago.
After all, the federal government is very poor.
The federal government's current revenue primarily comes from leasing museums and memorials to large corporations for tourism. Some argue that the federal government could operate these facilities itself, potentially generating greater profits, but that's not the crux of the matter. It's a matter of perspective. Ultimately, the government's responsibility is to govern the country, isn't it?
The newly appointed Special Supervisor Denton of the Federal Enforcement Agency in New Seattle was probably someone with this mindset, at least that's what Hayden guessed. He and Angela used a modified concealment spell to sneak into the office building and found the supervisor's office in no time.
Supervisor Denton looked to be about the same age as Hayden, both being natural humans. However, he was tall and thin, wearing a spotless black wool suit with the collar buttoned up tightly. His face was also dignified, serious, and unassuming.
In fact, regardless of the season or temperature changes, the Denton executive always wore this black wool suit. He never smoked, drank only in moderation, and usually didn't overeat. He had a very clear and specific health plan and insisted on exercising every day.
However, these don't seem to be the main point; we've gone off on a tangent.
The key point is that when Hayden and Angela were sneaking around the office building, they overheard other federal employees calling this Denton supervisor "Severus II." That nickname says a lot.
Not long after, when Hayden finally found Denton's office, the special manager was speaking firmly and forcefully to a subordinate:
"I don't care if that flower shop is run by elves or not. Anyone who colludes with the Mafia in smuggling, anyone who supports criminal gangs, I will uproot them all! I will restore integrity and justice to New Seattle!"
088: A dog born of a wolf
have to.
Hayden rubbed his temples invisibly.
So this is the kind of guy we've encountered.
It's not that Hayden dislikes serious and righteous officials. Although truly serious law enforcement officials would certainly clash with people like him who belong to the gray area, Hayden still knows what's right and wrong.
The problem is, while this new manager's ideas sound good, it's unclear what he's actually thinking...
So Hayden patiently waited until the Denton Special Supervisor finished reprimanding his subordinates and writing a document (these days, only a few places still used paper to write reports), and then, around lunchtime at the federal office building, the Special Supervisor left the office.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Hayden remained invisible and moved closer to the computer in Denton's office, preparing to hack into it.
Huh? Didn't he just suffer a hacking attack around this time last year? How come he dares to do it again this time?
Hey, Hayden didn't just sit at home studying all year for nothing! Besides, he's already mastered quite a bit of the techniques Alastor left him, so why wouldn't he take the opportunity to try them out?
However, just to be on the safe side, Hayden didn't fully commit his consciousness. Instead, he focused half his attention on the material world and devoted the other half to the StarNet intrusion. This was a very dangerous maneuver, but top hackers and even modern gods almost all knew how to use this technique. Even if Hayden might never become a top hacker, there were still things he could learn.
It's somewhat ironic that, due to federal budget cuts, government employees still work on flat systems. There are no 3D graphics; all computers are equipped with basic 2D displays, and all work data from each computer is uploaded to a central server for synchronization. This also involves the issue of staff turnover. Federal employees are like spare parts that can be readily replaced. So if someone gets sick or something else happens, their colleagues or supervisors can take over the work immediately.
At least that's the theory.
Hayden pulled a bronze staff from his robes, tapped it lightly on the main unit, and used sympathetic magic to connect to the system.
In the astral vision, the central server of the New Yatu Federation Executive Office looked like a massive black cube, silent, solid, and devoid of any light. Six or seven anti-intrusion software programs patrolled around the cube. They were all large, robust figures in blue overalls, resembling soldiers, though their ranks were not visible—after all, they didn't need ranks, as these StarNet avatars all ran the same program. If they detected any unauthorized, illegal activity, or even something they disliked, they would immediately report it to the central server.
Playing around with these cheap, outdated anti-intrusion software programs seemed like a lot of fun, but unfortunately, this was a government office building, not a place for Hayden to waste his time. So he muttered something under his breath, then vanished from the StarNet's field of vision, drifting past the security software like the wind. He then pulled out the "Dainslev Demon Sword" that the hacker Dulin had sold him, stabbed it into the cube's wall, and his body followed the blade through the wall, appearing on the other side.
Upon seeing the scene inside the server, Hayden immediately gasped in shock:
"Holy crap, this is such a mess!?"
Everywhere he looked, data was flying everywhere. Cubes, spheres, tetrahedrons, and polyhedra were interconnected in a network of cylinders, straight lines, and spirals, all crudely tangled in the same space. Everything before Hayden's eyes was chaotic and disordered, like a pile of building blocks haphazardly assembled, the assembler having long forgotten what they had originally intended to create.
Angela also poked her head out curiously, and was stunned by the sight: "Huh? What's this?"
Hayden muttered as he answered, "This is the federal government's server, a hacker's nightmare."
This is the most inefficient computer system in the world.
That's the kind of government the Union of America is like. It exists to do things that large corporations are unwilling to bother with or spend the money on. You can't expect much efficiency from such a system.
So it took Hayden quite a while to figure out what was inside. It seemed to be a rather old system, with most of the equipment being primitive. He squeezed his way closer before he was finally able to examine the data blocks tangled within the mess of wires and extract the information he needed.
What he was looking for, of course, was the personnel file of the newly appointed Denton Special Supervisor, and exactly how the Italian Mafia family, the Giannelli family, had been wiped out. There were far too many bureaucratic documents and formulaic writings in there, so I'll just translate a simplified version here.
In short, Mr. Denton has only been in New Jersey for three months, and it is probably because of the end of the "Bopuma" incident and the repeated changes in the market and political situation in New Jersey. Several large companies hope that the security situation in New Jersey will improve, but at the same time they do not want their rival companies to take charge of security. That's why he was transferred by the Federal Executive Office and even promoted.
However, Hayden had no idea what these so-called "special agents" or "special supervisors" actually were, or what their rank was. In any case, it seemed that Mr. Denton was just an FBI agent before coming to the New Seattle Enforcement Office, not in a particularly high-ranking position, perhaps something like a mid-level police officer.
But after arriving in New Seattle and being promoted to "Special Supervisor," he performed exceptionally well. Mr. Denton's work ethic as a law enforcement officer was virtually impeccable; he showed zero tolerance for criminals, being as meticulous as he was with the buttons on his own clothes. Within three months, he dismantled wave after wave of criminals, apprehending street thugs, arresting groups of drug dealers, and taking down gang leaders. Murderers, sex offenders, robbers, and thieves were harvested like wheat and sent to prison.
New Jersey, or Evergreen, has abolished the death penalty, but many vicious criminals are still shot and killed by police (and police drones) during arrests and resistance.
As a result, the lives and public security of ordinary people in New Jersey have naturally improved a lot.
In addition, Hayden also tried to find out how Mr. Denton had managed to get hold of the Giannili family, since everyone knew that the Italian Mafia wasn't easy to legally capture. However, after searching high and low, Hayden didn't find any particularly useful official records, only discovering that the New Seattle Federal Executive Office seemed to have many intelligence sources and informants.
But that's enough for him to guess the result.
“The Mitra Corporation, and possibly other large companies involved in the New Atlanta market, are likely providing support to the local federal enforcement agencies to increase the efficiency of the federal police.”
Why? Of course, it's because Angela revived the dragon vein of the abandoned industrial zone... The big companies want to have better production efficiency and economic conditions here, but they can't control the security themselves. After all, there are several big companies vying for the market here, so of course they simply support the federal police in maintaining order.
Big corporations tell the police where to arrest petty bourgeois criminals, the police go and arrest them, their assets are confiscated, and everyone's happy. The cash-strapped federal government gets revenue, and the big corporations don't even need to contribute much of their own money—a win-win situation!
"Owner."
Angela suddenly spoke up at this moment,
"My sensors sensed that the manager was walking back to his office."
"Huh?" Hayden exclaimed in surprise, "How much time has passed?! Don't these civil servants even slack off during lunch break?!"
"Isn't this what they call judging others by one's own standards?" Hayden thought to himself, then copied the documents, quickly grabbed Angela, chanted a spell, and vanished into thin air. The wind they transformed into slipped through the crack in the office door, creating a refreshing breeze in the lifeless Federal Executive Office building.
Denton's special supervisor happened to be walking down the corridor to his office when he was hit head-on by the gust of wind. He frowned as the air current swept away, not feeling refreshed, but rather a look of suspicion on his face. His gaze was like a steel drill, cold and penetrating, seemingly able to see through the molecules of the air.
Of course, in reality he couldn't see through it; at best, it was just a vague insight stemming from the instinct of a law enforcer, like a watchdog sniffing out wolf tracks.
So Denton just stared at the corridor and windows with a suspicious and speculative look for a while, then went back to his own office, pondered silently for a long time.
"Show me the product license information for that [Flower Magic Workshop]."
Then the Denton special manager said to an employee.
--------------------------
Overall, Hayden didn't find much useful information in the Federal Executive Office building.
Fortunately, he had other sources of information. Ironically, Hayden's name was now considered a big shot in the lower echelons of New Seattle's streets. After all, Angela had made the mercenary company bigger and bigger, while at the same time, many other organizations were being taken down one by one by the police, or even killed by Hayden and his mercenaries—because occasionally a gang would hire Hayden and his men to attack another one.
After all the commotion, the people on the streets naturally developed an even greater awe for the "Retribution" company, which stood out from the crowd.
"By the way, it seems you've really made that military recruitment agency bigger and bigger,"
Halfway there, Hayden suddenly remembered this and turned to Angela to inquire about it.
"As the business grows, money becomes a problem. How exactly are you paying their salaries now? Are you splitting it equally?"
Angela immediately shook her head: "In the past, the commune only had Yolanda and the others, and their abilities and the value of their labor production were actually about the same, so I distributed all the profits equally. But now the commune has more members, and their levels are also different."
"Generally speaking, the principle of distribution according to work is reasonable and in line with the overall interests. However, I cannot find a way to measure the value of labor in different types of complex labor in the existing data. The market price given by capital seems to be a reference, but there is excessive exploitation of surplus value. Therefore, I redesigned an algorithm to measure the value of labor and distribute income. I manage and distribute all the economic activities of the entire commune."
Algorithm?
(Robots...regulate production...manage resource allocation...?)
A few strange words flashed through Hayden's mind like an electric current, but he ultimately decided not to dwell on them.
He quickly contacted some acquaintances to inquire about the character and conduct of this Denton special manager, and the results were not good.
In the bustling streets, all those belonging to the "unemployed" class were terrified of Special Supervisor Denton. The mere mention of Denton's name would send them scattering; the mere sight of Denton would leave them frozen in fear.
That's how intimidating and ruthless this person is.
Hayden even heard people say—it was just like in the movies—that even if a homeless person, driven by hunger, stole bread from a grocery store and was found out by Special Supervisor Denton, he would still treat it as burglary.
Of course, Hayden himself was well aware of how unreliable the street rumors were; he himself was one of their victims. This incident might not have truly involved an undocumented homeless person stealing bread simply because they were hungry. But Hayden also knew that even the most unreliable rumors have a seed that served as their origin. The description of this special supervisor's personality is probably not too far off.
Then Hayden continued to question more thoroughly, and as a result, he discovered something even more alarming:
Mr. Denton's parents were actually sent to prison by himself more than a decade ago.
Rather than saying it was outrageous, Hayden investigated and found that Mr. Denton's parents were the kind of people who had never done a decent job in their entire lives. They made a living by drug trafficking, prostitution, and pimping. They might not be considered extremely wicked, but frankly, they were scum who languished at the bottom of society.
It's a miracle that Mr. Denton survived to his teens in their clutches. Even more miraculously, Denton turned the tables and put them in prison, later becoming a federal police officer himself.
Among the mostly incompetent federal employees, Mr. Denton stands out. He has repeatedly distinguished himself, demonstrating loyalty and competence, and became a federal police officer at the age of thirty. Now, not even halfway through his thirties, he has seized the opportunity presented by the changing landscape of New Seattle to become a special supervisor of the regional enforcement office.
When Hayden discovered this record, he realized: This guy is not someone to mess with.
Even if Hayden were to sneak into Mr. Denton's bedroom in the middle of the night with a gun, press the muzzle against his forehead, and tell him to behave, it would probably have absolutely no effect on this guy who can legally send his parents to prison.
What else could he do? Hayden couldn't really kill Mr. Denton. He wasn't that bad.
Moreover, the fact that Mr. Denton has not been assassinated by any gang so far means that either he is actually quite good at fighting, or his intelligence capabilities and sources are very powerful, or both.
Sure enough, before Hayden could even leave the bars where he was going from bar to bar asking for information, bad news came from Karen's side.
The situation is a bit awkward.
Karen looked genuinely frustrated during the video call; Hayden rarely saw that expression on Karen's face.
The federal enforcement agency says they need to check my product license.
A pause.
Then Hayden frowned: "But you should have a license to open a shop, right...?"
[Use your brain, Hayden. I'm developing new products at such a rapid pace; how could I possibly go through all the government approval procedures and get the licenses for each one?]
Karen sighed and tugged at her hair.
Large companies don't need this kind of thing; they're basically like states within states, they can approve their own products. But I can't operate like that. Only about 60% of the items in the store have been approved and have state government permits. That's the limit I could manage before opening the store.
Her flower shop hasn't been open for very long. It's already quite astonishing that Karen was able to obtain certifications for two-thirds of her products.
However, no matter how well she did before, she still has to face the same problems now. This is indeed a bit troublesome.
"What if they find that you have many products without licenses?"
Hayden asked tentatively.
Other things are hard to say; it depends on how the lawyer handles it. But first and foremost, it will definitely be...
Karen also frowned.
[...forced my shop to close.]
089: He has committed numerous evils and is utterly devoid of conscience!
When Hayden arrived at Karen's flower shop, Karen had already arranged for her lawyer to arrive.
Of course she'd hire a lawyer. Who wouldn't hire a lawyer to live like a decent person in this day and age? And it would have to be a good lawyer who knows everything about federal law and the internal laws of various giant corporations.
Incidentally, Karen's lawyer is a cyclops. Hayden arrived at the flower shop and was momentarily stunned to see the three-meter-tall bald giant wearing a flawless custom-made suit.
The Cyclops even glanced at Hayden with its huge single eye on top of its head, and then grinned in a friendly manner with its cave-like mouth.
"Let me introduce you, Hayden, this is my lawyer, Alex.
Karen had just rushed out of the flower shop.
“Alison, this is Hayden, my friend, and the security contractor who has been employed by this store for a long time.”
Alexia? So this is a female Cyclops.
However, Hayden did know that Karen had a strange fastidiousness about this; she would try to find women whenever possible, so it wouldn't be surprising if she chose a female lawyer. In fact, compared to the cyclops lawyer, gender was practically irrelevant.
Why would you hire a cyclops as your lawyer?
So he quickly found an opportunity in private and asked in a low voice.