Marvel's whitewashing cop, you want me to save the world?

Chapter 131 Taking Office and Executing First: Medical System

At night, the fluorescent lights hummed softly overhead in the Manhattan Police Department, and most of the workstations in the lobby were empty.

But none of the remaining people left work early.

Everyone was busy, but there was an irrepressible excitement in their busyness.

Every few minutes, someone couldn't help but turn around and glance in the direction of the director's office.

Li En sat in the old-fashioned reception chair in the director's office, his back against the wall, his hands crossed on his knees.

He has declined the reporters' requests for a fourth round of interviews.

Brock stood next to him, and the landline on his desk hadn't been quiet since the press conference ended.

The phone rang again as soon as I hung up.

Brock grabbed the receiver and held it to his ear, his tone shifting from normal volume to a low murmur within seconds, then back to politeness.

Finally, he dismissed them with the sentence, "Sorry, Officer Lee is not here right now."

He put the receiver on the base, turned his head, and his face showed a kind of helplessness after being repeatedly tormented.

"People from the White House office called, asking you what you really think."

Li En turned her head to the side, her brows furrowing slightly.

"Why are they attacking?"

This reaction startled Brock for a moment, then he sighed.

"Didn't that playboy Iron Man tell you about that kind of thing?"

He moved down from the edge of the desk, walked around to Li En, leaned his butt against the edge of the desk, and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

He looked at the young man sitting in the chair, whose face seemed to say, "I don't think this is anything to be surprised about."

"You did announce that you would run for mayor of New York City, but you are not affiliated with any party right now."

"According to the rules—you don't even qualify to be voted on."

Brock spoke in a calm tone, not lecturing, but simply stating the fact that Lee might genuinely not have time to investigate.

He loosened his arm, extended a finger, and poked at the dusty chandelier tubes above the ceiling.

"For decades, it has been a two-party system, with the same two parties constantly changing hands."

"Do you know why no third party has been able to come to power so far?"

"Do I even need to think about it?" Li En didn't even lift her eyelids, her voice as indifferent as if she were talking about something not worth the time to discuss.

"As soon as any third party showed any signs of emerging, they were all thwarted by their combined efforts."

Brock nodded. Although this kid didn't care much about political procedures, he understood the essence of politics better than anyone else.

He sat down in another chair next to Li En, took off his hat and placed it on his lap.

He ran his fingers back and forth along the brim of his hat twice, then looked up, his gaze filled with a deeper level of inquiry.

"Your reputation is no longer limited to New York."

"You have revealed the dark creatures, confirming the existence of hell and demons."

Frank also publicly demonstrated how to send a person's soul to hell.

After you throw these things around, your reputation explodes across the entire United States.

Both parties certainly want to bring you into their camp, making you the brightest link in their chain of interests.

He stopped there before finishing his sentence.

His eyes were fixed on Li En, unblinking.

He was genuinely curious about Lee's final choice.

Given Lee's current reputation, if he were to agree to join any political party, his position as mayor of New York City would be a foregone conclusion.

In a year or two at most, he will be able to enter Congress, and then become president.

As long as there is the support of a major political party and the existing reputation base, that path is almost a foregone conclusion.

Li En gently shook her head.

"I have no interest in joining any political party; those things are rotten to the core and only hold me back."

Upon hearing this, Brock slumped slightly as he leaned back in his chair.

That wasn't disappointment, but rather letting go of the burden I'd carried for so long.

He exhaled, a faint smile appearing on his lips, his tone much more relaxed than before.

"I knew you'd make this kind of decision."

He put his hat back on his head, stood up, and tapped his fingers lightly twice on the edge of his desk.

"So now we need to do a few things: form a political party and get Tony Stark and Norman Osborne to provide political donations and publicity resources."

Leave the legal matters to Matt and Foggy—you won't be of any use keeping them in the office.

He paused abruptly, turned around, and his gaze returned to Li En, his brow slightly raised. "But first, we need to confirm one thing."

"What's the problem?" Li En looked up.

Brock looked him in the eyes and asked, enunciating each word clearly, "What's the name of our party?"

Li En was silent for a few seconds before speaking, his tone calm.

"Let's call it the Earth Alliance."

He glanced at Brock, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"No one stipulates that the word 'Party' must be added."

"Earth Alliance." Brock chewed on those four words twice, then nodded.

He turned around and picked up the landline receiver again, his fingers already on the dial button, but then suddenly turned his head to look at Li En.

"Okay, you can't go anywhere tonight. You'll stay here and wait to sign all sorts of documents."

"Those things will be piled up in front of you."

He finished speaking and was about to dial when, as if remembering something, he put the receiver back on his shoulder and pointed at Li En.

"You should inform Tony Stark and Norman Osborn first; they need to know about this as soon as possible."

"Furthermore, you need to think clearly in advance about what you will do and what policies you will implement after you take office."

"Those three slogans were indeed good, but they need to be supported by something."

"Don't worry." Li En leaned back in her chair, crossed her hands on her knees, and the smile on her lips remained unchanged.

"I've already figured out the first thing I'll do after taking office."

Brock's finger, which was about to press down, froze in mid-air.

He took the receiver away from his ear, turned around, and became somewhat interested.

"What was the first thing you did after you came up here?"

"Medical care".

The two words came out of Li En's mouth in such a light tone that it was as if he had casually mentioned tomorrow's patrol route.

But the moment Brock heard those two words, he stood frozen in place for a full three seconds.

In the United States, healthcare is a taboo industry.

Why did that thug who got into a car accident prefer to jump out of the moving ambulance and die rather than be taken to the hospital?

Why do the residents of Hell's Kitchen, when injured or with broken bones, prefer to bite on a stick and carry the injury themselves rather than stand in front of the hospital registration window for even a second longer?

Why is it that even a veteran cop like Brock, who has been in the force for half his life, refuses to go to the emergency room when the bruise on his chest after his bulletproof vest stopped a bullet and he is in so much pain that he can't sleep at night?

Because going to the hospital isn't about getting treatment, it's about dying.

Medical bills can drag a middle-class family into bankruptcy within six months.

Insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, medical device suppliers, and human organ dealers—each link in the medical industry is rife with profit-seeking; none of them are clean.

There are too many people trying to take advantage of that place; every hand holds the lifeline of ordinary people in their grasp.

Anyone who dared to touch this piece of the pie was crushed to death.

This is why no politician has ever dared to make healthcare reform their first priority upon taking office.

Even if they make a lot of noise before the election, there will be no real change after they take office.

But now, Lee says his first priority is to get medical help.

On his first day in office, he was going to strike the first blow against the darkest industry in the United States.

Brock stared at Lee for a long time.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

Then he suddenly laughed and reached out and pressed down on the brim of his hat.

He pulled his hat brim down a little to cover the wrinkles around his eyes caused by laughing too hard.

He didn't ask Li En how to change it, nor did he mention how difficult it would be; he didn't ask anything at all.

Because he suddenly realized that if Li En didn't start medical surgery after taking office—that wouldn't be like Li En at all.

He turned around, picked up the receiver again, and pressed the dial button.

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