Shiller was sitting in the mayoral office, having sorted through the majority of the administrative files after the rise of the Pale Knight—all in less than three hours.
Bruce suspected that Shiller was practicing Immortal Cultivation, but he had no proof.
He had no idea how Shiller had managed to sort through the perplexing mass of docunts in an instant, and by the ti he realized, Shiller was already talking with several docunts in hand.
"Have you contacted the ex-mayor?"
"Not yet," Bruce said. He had been watching Shiller work all this ti and hadn't even started to look for the forr mayor.
"Within half an hour, I want him in front of ; if that's not possible, tell him I already know about the incident at the G5 district's Xinhe Building."
Bruce had no choice but to ask the forr staff for information about the ex-mayor, and it was Ms. Weiss who eventually provided the lead. Bruce made a phone call.
The other party's attitude wasn't great, but after hearing the words 'Xinhe Building,' imdiately indicated a willingness to co over for a talk.
About 20 minutes later, Bruce t the ex-mayor, an ordinary-looking fat man with the typical deanor of a politician. Bruce didn't say much, just opened the door and let him in.
The absence of the Pale Knight behind the desk seed to startle him, but soon Bruce was also ushered out, unaware of what they discussed.
At any rate, the ex-mayor erged with his face dripping with sweat.
Watching the ex-mayor leave, Bruce walked into the office and asked, "What was all that about?"
Shiller had just put down the docunt he was holding and said, "Nothing serious. After confirming the Pale Knight was taking over, the ex-mayor set up a few traps for him under soone else's direction, which I've now exposed. Naturally, they have to pay a price."
"That so-called building?"
"Yes, that was a stalled construction project dragged on for three or four years. Whoever got it would find it a hot potato. The ex-mayor deliberately concealed so information to misinform. If the Pale Knight had seen it, he could have easily mistaken the victim for the culprit, and then they could have capitalized on that misunderstanding."
"Looks like his position wasn't very secure."
"If it was secure, then he wouldn't be running out of money." Shiller aligned the docunts to one side and picked up a new one, then said, "Call Kovar from the environntal departnt. I have so questions about the environntal protection funds."
Bruce went to find people again, and soon, a middle-aged man entered the office, and they talked for about half an hour.
Exiting with a pale face and sweat-stained forehead again.
"What happened this ti?"
"Nothing much. Just needed to stir up a strike, which naturally requires funds. I've reallocated so money from the environntal departnt."
"They agreed to that?"
"I told them I needed it for a nuclear power plant." Shiller spoke in an even tone: "Once a tritium leak gets exposed, they will be able to get three tis the current budget for environntal maintenance. Why wouldn't they agree?"
"Well, that should be a good thing for him, so why the expression?"
"Because I also told him that I would only spread rumors, but I wasn't actually going to do it. And the people behind him would definitely want him to make it happen to get a higher maintenance fee; if he fails, he's done for."
Bruce clicked his tongue, fully aware that if the guy's backers didn't know about this opportunity, they might contently take the current money. But the mont they realized the tritium incident proposed by Shiller could bring them such a benefit, they would undoubtedly pursue it at all costs.
But it wasn't easy to do such a thing. Everyone knows how dangerous nuclear power plants are. It's not impossible to ss with this, but it's not sothing a small head of a city environntal departnt could manage on his own. Once the pressure landed on him, he'd be finished.
At best, he might get kicked out for being inefficient in handling the situation, and at worst, it might end up being a suicide with eight bullets in the body, a cunning use of others to carry out a killing.
"So he agreed to the fund reallocation?"
"Not all of it." Shiller sighed and said, "The governnt infiltration runs too deep. I can only reallocate the portion that was supposed to end up in his pockets and those of his superiors. But it's enough to buy a few people."
Shiller then intermittently called several more people, all of whom arrived with keen interest and left with troubled faces.
After Bruce stepped in again, he noticed Shiller with a frown, so he asked, "What's wrong? Aren't things going smoothly? They all seed pretty upset."
"The level of corruption here far exceeds my expectations," Shiller said. "They're very greedy; they have obviously been well-fed for a long ti, forcing to resort to so unconventional thods."
"So what you did before was the conventional approach?"
Shiller glanced at Bruce with dissatisfaction and said, "Of course, the most common political maneuvering there is. You don't even know this? How do you run Wayne Enterprises?"
"Our cosmos is in a better state," Bruce whispered. "And I've battled with Congress for three hundred rounds."
"That's more like it." Shiller looked up at the ceiling and said, "Whenever there's an unexpected incident, it's always the weakest link among us who deals with Congress."
Bruce's mouth twitched at the corners.
Shiller sat up straight and then said, "These people were demanding an outrageous amount, well beyond my budget. I had to use so information to threaten them, but it only works in the short term."
"So what now?"
"The information was fabricated by , just so speculation based on potential developnts. It's useful during individual discussions, but if they start comparing notes, it might fall apart."
Shiller looked at Bruce and said, "Get your super villains to cause so trouble for them, make sure they're too busy to check their accounts."
"I can't guarantee that the pale knight won't find out."
"I'm not asking you to kill them, nor incite them to strike, not even to fight. Just use so tactics to keep them tied up, understand?"
"Be more specific," Bruce said. "I'm afraid what I'm thinking and what you're asking might not be the sa."
"So of them belong to the sa camp; you should sow discord among them. So are at odds with others; you should escalate their conflict. So have money; you should make their money problematic. So are without money; you should give them hope of making money. Have I made myself clear enough?"
"Even clearer," said Bruce.
"If they work for the sa master, create so work troubles for one and fra another. If they each serve their own interests, then push them into conflicts of interest. If there's a benefit to be had in so matter, let them scramble for it. If there's only harm, have them throw it to each other."
"Can you give an example?"
Shiller sighed, knowing it wasn't that Bruce couldn't do it; he simply wanted to know how to do it.
Shiller pulled out a docunt from a folder and said, "Allen Tansy, five-year extramarital affair history, has an illegitimate daughter who's just started elentary school. Tell this to his father-in-law."
"How do you know about this? Did you find out?"
"He contacted the education departnt for his daughter's school enrollnt, taking a spot from a charity foundation's special quota. The process is legal, but sothing seems off."
"And his father-in-law..."
"A mber of the upper class, the one he works for."
"Well, it doesn't seem like a very unique thod."
"What kind of unique thods do you want?" Shiller asked with so confusion.
"I thought you would have more..." Bruce drew out his words, pondering as he spoke, "so thods I've never seen before that are particularly effective. I wanted to learn this from you."
"This is the most effective thod. Because it works, it's classic," Shiller said, sowhat helplessly looking at him. "You seem to be very obsessed with those ideas that spark in the mont, but those alone can't get the job done. Take a look at this."
Shiller handed Bruce a docunt, and with one glance, Bruce knew it was the approval docunt for the terms of a land transaction.
He read the docunt carefully, compared it with so legislation in his mind, and nodded, "Judging from the docunt alone, there are no problems."
"What about this one?" Shiller handed him another.
"That's a charity foundation's special enrollnt quota approval application." Bruce imdiately realized this must be what Shiller ntioned earlier, the clause about the little supervisor's daughter's schooling.
Bruce looked over the docunt and also felt there were no issues; the process seed reasonable. Now he sensed sothing wrong, so he looked at the land transaction docunt again.
But after looking over it, the word "legal" was all that was written throughout.
Such docunts weren't surveillance caras; they couldn't show who the parties involved in the transaction were – the information was just too scant.
"What's with this docunt?"
Shiller pointed at a map on the nearby table, and Bruce walked over to see that this B26 district land was adjacent to the X15 district, where the chemical plant pollution had occurred, sitting about 15 miles east of the factory area, with approximately 23 miles of bordering land.
Bruce's brows furrowed deeply.
"I appreciate your detective talent, but political struggles require a keener sense of sll," Shiller stood and walked over, adding, "Why do you think they want to buy this land?"
"To check for air pollution?" Bruce guessed with a frown. "I just didn't expect them to commit so much capital; this land isn't cheap."
"That's the crux of the issue," Shiller pointed at the transaction docunt. "After review by the municipal departnt, the land transaction process is legal, but the key lies in why such a land deal requires governnt departnt review."
Bruce stalled for a mont; he had only just realized this issue. In Arica, all land was private, and governnt departnts shouldn't interfere with land transactions unless the nature of the land was special.
"The land requires governnt approval for the transaction because approximately 20 square miles to its east there is a natural forest area that could impact the local ecosystem and air quality. According to Section 263 of the State Natural Ecological Protection and Environntal Protection Act, such land transactions must be approved by the municipal environntal protection departnt."
Bruce felt as if so clues in his mind were starting to connect, but the picture wasn't yet clear, so he turned and asked, "Does this have anything to do with the chemical pollution incident in X15 district?"
"If it didn't, I wouldn't have shown you," Shiller said. "After the chemical plant pollution case occurred, the transaction approval request was sent to the municipal environntal departnt's desk, and it would ultimately end up in the mayor's hands."
"This would make it very easy for our mayor to realize that there is an ecological reserve forest not far from the chemical plant, and this natural forest could affect the air quality of an entire area."
"So what?"
"Our mayor is known to be a good man; he would be very concerned about the pollution of this forest, and to prevent it, he would send soone to check imdiately."
"But he won't find anything," Bruce said. "Because the pollution was fabricated by , just to teach a lesson to those land speculators."
Shiller walked back to his desk and placed another docunt in front of Bruce, and Bruce furrowed his brow deeply the mont he saw what was on it.
"Groundwater pollution? Heavy tal exceeding standards? How is this possible?"
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