Shadow Empire

Chapter 1168 Report
After receiving a phone call in his office, Supervisor Ike went to Director Roland's office with a sheet of paper containing some notes.

After knocking on the door, I was allowed to enter and then casually closed the door behind me.

"What's wrong?" Director Roland asked, sitting in his chair. He had just received a phone call saying that they had discovered a clue about the reporter.

Before he could tell Mr. Potter and his son the good news, Supervisor Ike came over.

Perhaps sensing that the atmosphere within the Bureau of Investigation had been somewhat delicate lately, and that Roland was avoiding him as much as possible regarding some important matters, Director Ike decided to "take the initiative."

He called Lance and explained the situation, after which Lance gave him an address.

"We've found information about that reporter."

Director Roland frowned. He had just made a little progress on his end, and Supervisor Ike had already found someone?
He was actually a little skeptical, so he said hesitantly, "Could there be a mistake?"

Supervisor Ike handed over the documents in his hand. "I had someone check, and in recent years, that reporter has purchased several apartments in New Gold City. These are the addresses and information of the apartments."

"Then I had someone check the recent water usage in these apartments, and the water meter in one of the apartments had changed."

Director Roland's expression subtly changed. He was somewhat annoyed. This was indeed a good direction for the investigation. He looked down at the piece of paper in his hand, which had several addresses on it, one of which was circled several times.

"Did you send someone?" he asked, instead of returning the paper to Supervisor Ike.

Supervisor Ike shook his head. "I came to see you as soon as I heard the news."

Director Roland immediately stood up, walked around the table to Supervisor Ike, and put his arm around his shoulder. "Very good, I will handle this personally, so your people won't need to do it."

"It's best not to let anyone else know about this. I will notify all departments to suspend the investigation of this case."

"If you've had enough rest recently, come back to work."

Director Roland decided to give Supervisor Ike a chance to prove that he was no different from before.

Supervisor Ike breathed a sigh of relief. "No problem, I'm always ready."

Director Roland patted him on the shoulder, "Very good, now get to work, leave the rest to me."

He watched as Supervisor Ike left his office, closed the door, locked it, and then returned to his chair. He dialed Mr. Zhong Porter's number. "We might have found the person."

A dozen minutes later, Director Roland arrived at the apartment building in Mr. Zhong Porter's car. People from other vehicles quickly got out of their cars and entered the building.

What they didn't notice was that at least two cameras were pointed at them from across the street.

Director Roland was a little nervous. This was an opportunity to regain the Potter family's trust, and he had to seize it.

As Mr. Porter and his men arrived at the door of the "safe house," everyone was ready to break down the door.

This time, they played the roles of FBI agents. They wore gloves and turned off the safety on their handguns, ready to shoot and kill reporters at any time.

Their plan for this operation was to eliminate this reporter and cut off all the problems right there.

As for how to get rid of him smoothly and legally?
If a dangerous individual pulls out a gun and attacks law enforcement officers, then it is justifiable for the officers to shoot and kill that person on the spot.

A slightly bald man stood by the door, looking coldly at his subordinates, and gestured a countdown with his fingers.

As he clenched his last finger into a fist, the battering ram was lifted by the four men and slammed into the vicinity of the door lock.

The wooden door frame showed signs of cracking instantly, and the person who broke down the door immediately retreated, while the others rushed into the room.

The reporter was still resting at the time. He had been staying up all night for the past few days, only daring to go out for a stroll late at night to do some things he wanted to do.

He contacted several journalists to talk to them and see if he could expose the matter, or contact some socialists to spread the word.

He had originally planned to meet again tonight to present something substantial, so he's currently sleeping.

The moment he heard the sound of the door being broken open, he opened his eyes, then put his hand under his pillow and took out the pistol.

But the intruders came in too fast, so fast that he didn't even have time to react before he saw a group of people rushing in.

These men aimed their weapons at him, causing him to slowly raise his hands, and the pistols in his hands fell onto the bed in front of him.

A slightly bald man walked up to him, grabbed his hair, stared at his face for a while, and then confirmed that he hadn't grabbed the wrong person.

He then took the weapon from the bed, fiddled with it briefly, and fired several shots toward the door.

These shots made the reporter realize that he was very likely not going to survive. Just as he was about to say something, the people around him pulled the trigger.

In an instant, at least twenty or thirty bullets pierced his body, and screams and even alarm bells rang out from outside the corridor.

Seeing the reporter who was already beyond dead, the bald man put the weapon back in his hand, creating the illusion that he had fired first.

Now, everything makes sense.

The police arrived quickly, but were notified that the FBI had taken over the case. The coroner then took the reporter's body away, while the slightly bald man and his accomplices packed up everything they could carry from the house.

There might be some leftover evidence in there.

After a large amount of stuff was loaded onto the FBI vehicle, the bald man went to Director Roland's car and explained what had happened to Mr. Porter in the back passenger seat.

After confirming that there were no problems, Mr. Zhongbo finally smiled with satisfaction.

Director Roland, sitting next to him, also wore a relaxed smile.

In a distant café, a professional camera captured everything, but it's highly unlikely to be used anytime soon; it's intended for the Porter family, not for Director Roland. "You have abilities beyond what I imagined, Roland. It seems only you can handle this position as Director of the Bureau."

"Then do a good job, and don't let anyone be disappointed in your abilities again, do you understand what I mean?"

Director Roland nodded in agreement, "I understand. I will definitely do my job well and make sure I don't let anyone down."

He was then asked to leave the car, and the convoy quickly left the area.

Standing on the road watching the departing convoy, Director Roland sighed, but quickly rallied again.

He needs strength.

Without power, he couldn't deal with these people. Look at their arrogance; they even impersonated the FBI and openly eliminated a potentially innocent person.

But he was completely helpless; it wasn't that he didn't want to do anything, but rather that he simply lacked the ability to do anything.

This is still within the Potter family; in the Federation, they only represent two percent or one percent, not even reaching the top 0.5 percent.

If they are this arrogant, then how arrogant are the higher-ups?
He kicked a pebble on the roadside, hailed a taxi, and soon left the area.

When Mr. Porter returned, he immediately told Mr. Porter about it. Mr. Porter was very satisfied with the quick handling of the matter, which would not have too much of a negative impact on his election campaign.

"What about Jeffrey..." his son asked softly.

Mr. Porter didn't think too much about it. "If Jeffrey is a smart man, he'll know what he should do, and I'll talk to him later."

"Overthrowing me will not bring him any benefit, but if I come to power, I can make deals with him in certain areas."

“Go warn that bastard’s friends to stop talking nonsense, and those who do talk nonsense…” He didn’t say what to do, but just stared straight at his son, who understood and stood up.

"I know how to do it."

For Mr. Potter, this matter seemed to have come to an end. Next, he would play the role of the "monarch" that people expected at the Sacred Farm celebration.

In the past few days, another reporter has basically exposed all of Director Roland's secrets. He started his investigation by examining Director Roland's family background and went through almost the entire process of his career advancement.

Before this guy became an excellent law enforcement officer, his life could indeed be described as excellent, whether in his studies or other aspects. Even after becoming a law enforcement officer, he was often able to solve cases that others could not.

However, after a headless case that remains unsolved to this day, his life trajectory seems to have changed.

Furthermore, he uncovered even more.

Now, he plans to organize these things a bit, write them into an article, and publish them in the newspaper.

He even had a title in mind—"Before the Hero and After the Hero."

A title that looks full of conflict and opposition, yet can entice people to keep reading.

This was a serialized article, and because there was so much to write, it couldn't all be done at once. He described in detail Roland's experiences before becoming the director of the FBI, and then sent the report to the editor-in-chief.

News that directly targets senior federal government employees like this will definitely need to pass censorship.

There is also political censorship in the federal news industry. For example, the articles in the Post and the Daily Mail have opposing stances and purposes. Content that the Post approves of may be strongly opposed by the Daily Mail.

Ideological competition has always existed, and there has never been true freedom on this land of the Union.

There is only illusory, unrealistic freedom, a freedom that people imagine.

After the editor-in-chief reviewed the report, he made a phone call to someone at a higher level. Ultimately, the call and the content of the report ended up in the "Socialist Party Social Information Management Office".

This is an internal party body, not a federal government agency, but an office within the Socialist Party.

Its main job is to review and approve news that may attract public attention, or to counter news published by media with opposing views.

In short, it's an office that may seem to have little real power, but it's still quite important.

The office reviewed the report quickly and immediately gave the editor-in-chief approval. The editor-in-chief then placed the report on the second page and also checked some of the reporter's subsequent work.

The next morning, the newsboys received their own newspapers from the masthead, who distributed them while telling them about the important news in the newspapers.

Some of the children were too young to go to school and didn't know the words. They could only quickly memorize the news headlines read out of the newspaper and then hawk them on the street.

The federal government does not prohibit the use of child labor, and many orphanages or families with multiple children send these children out to work on the streets from a very young age to earn money for their families.

There was a news report about a couple who kept having children, more than a dozen in total, and then sent these children to work in factories for about 25 yuan a month.

This way, after deducting the most basic nutritional needs for the children each month, they can still save more than a hundred yuan.

There are many such parents in welfare homes and orphanages.

As dawn breaks, the city of Xinjin, already preparing for winter and with increasing temperature differences between day and night, will not gradually brighten until around 7 a.m.

The newsboys had already begun running around the streets selling newspapers from their backpacks to passersby. With their shouts, people interested in the news would stop, take out ten cents, hand over a newspaper, and take it with them.

After reading the front-page headlines, people quickly notice the news on the second page, becoming curious about both the headlines and the content.

Just like Director Roland at this moment, he slept well last night, and when he got up in the morning, his wife had already prepared breakfast and put several newspapers on the table.

As he sat down at the table and picked up one of the newspapers, after reading the news about Mr. Potter's attendance at the Golden State Farmers Festival, he turned to the second page, and his expression froze instantly...

(End of this chapter)