"That's right."

"Who would take money and then stir up trouble for themselves?"

On the way back.

Dirk Carter asked Yves Quill, who was driving, "Have you arranged everything down there?"

Yves nodded and said, "Don't worry, I've arranged it. At the political consultative administrative section, I have a classmate to whom I will leak this matter."

"You're my secretary. If you leak it to him directly, won't that give us away?"

Dirk Carter asked.

Yves smiled and said, "Tonight, we have a class reunion. I'll pretend to let it slip after having too many drinks. It will be fine."

Dirk Carter was satisfied with this arrangement and nodded without speaking further.

Yves glanced at Dirk Carter several times through the rearview mirror.

Dirk Carter noticed this detail and said, "If you have something to ask, just ask directly."

Feeling a bit embarrassed, Yves scratched his head and said, "Sir, I don't quite understand. A few days ago, you offended Chairman Leonard Bates from the consultative conference, and today you deliberately accepted a bribe in public, and you want me to secretly leak that you received the bribe to the political conference. Aren't you bringing trouble upon yourself?"

Dirk Carter chuckled and asked, "Yves, let me ask you, if you were Leonard Bates and heard about my bribery at the Tobacco Bureau, what would you do?"

"What else could be done? There'd definitely be retaliation. Chairman Bates is a former prosecutor, investigating such matters would be a piece of cake for him."

"I want him to investigate me."

Dirk Carter said.

With that, Yves suddenly felt enlightened.

He realized and said, "I understand. You want to use the political conference to investigate the Tobacco Bureau, right?"

Dirk Carter nodded.

He said, "The consultative conference has the responsibility of political participation and deliberation. Although it doesn't have the power to investigate, it does have a supervisory role. Leonard Bates, wanting to get at me, will definitely think this is not my first time accepting bribes from the Tobacco Bureau, and will try to dig deeper. In this way, Coltrane Vincent's case becomes the breakthrough point."

"But how can we get the political conference to notice Coltrane Vincent?"

Yves asked.

Dirk Carter smiled and said, "That's easy. From today, go to the mental hospital every day to visit Coltrane Vincent for me. You should know that when targeting any leader, the secretary is always the best breakthrough point."

Yves said excitedly, "Rest assured, sir. I will handle this flawlessly."

This step was completed today.

Dirk Carter's plan was almost halfway executed.

In the coming days, it would be time to see the political conference's performance.

He chose Leonard Bates for this task for three reasons.

The first reason was explained by Yves earlier: Leonard Bates has a background as a prosecutor; he's an expert when it comes to investigating corruption.

The second reason is that although Leonard Bates is overly indulgent with his children, deep down, he's a clean official. His once promising career was ruined because he offended his superior due to his upright nature, leading to his exile in the Kenton County political conference to retire.

There's a third reason.

Corruption investigations usually involve the procuratorate or the disciplinary commission and supervision commission. It's unexpected for the usually low-profile consultative conference to take on such a task.

As long as Templeton Quill is unaware, there naturally won't be any "evasive" actions taken in advance.

Dirk Carter's car had just reached the entrance of the County Committee courtyard.

He saw a man in plain clothes constantly peering inside at the gate.

Dirk Carter instructed Yves to stop the car.

He asked, "Uncle, who are you looking for?"

The man, seemingly in his forties, with disheveled hair and dirty clothes, nodded and bowed as he came over and said, "Hello, sir, I would like to see County Mayor Dixon, but they won't let me in."

While speaking, the man pointed towards the security booth.

Dirk Carter opened the car door and stepped out.

He asked, "Uncle, is there something you need?"

The man hesitated as if he wanted to speak but stopped.

After assessing Dirk Carter and possibly thinking he was quite young, he waved his hand, saying, "Never mind, I'll just wait for County Mayor Dixon."

"Uncle, this is our Deputy Magistrate Carter."

After parking the car, Yves came over and said to the man.

The man was taken aback and asked, "Are you the Deputy Magistrate?"

Dirk Carter nodded to confirm.

Upon hearing this, the man knelt on the ground with a thud, startling Dirk Carter.

"Uncle, please don't do that. If there's something, just say it. Stand up, stand up."

After helping the man get up, Dirk Carter saw the man's eyes were already red. He wiped his tears and said, "Deputy Magistrate Carter, please help the people of Rearpond Village, please save them..."

"Rearpond Village? Is that the one in Bloomdale Town?"

Dirk Carter asked.

The man nodded and said, "My name is Yan Old Cripple, I'm the village head of Rearpond Village..."

Rearpond Village is a natural village in Bloomdale Town, Kenton County, also a mountainous village surrounded by mountains, with relatively poor conditions.

About half a month ago, there was a landslide at Vista Mountain within Rearpond Village, but the situation wasn't severe. However, lately, the loosening of the land seems to be worsening, indicating the possibility of a large-scale collapse.

The village has 323 households, totaling 1,058 people, all at the foot of Vista Mountain. If a collapse were to occur, destruction and loss of life would be inevitable.

Upon hearing this, Dirk Carter felt a sense of urgency.

He asked, "Did you report the situation to the higher-ups?"

Yan Old Cripple nodded and said, "We reported to the town government more than half a month ago. The town government also reported to the county, but the county only sent a few experts over, claiming that winter makes severe landslides unlikely. After that, the matter was dropped."

Afterwards, Yan Old Cripple went to the town again.

The town's response was that if the experts said there was no problem, then there was no problem.

Having no other choice, he could only escalate the matter.

He managed to meet Bjorn Dixon last time, who simply said he was aware and would handle it.

But after waiting at home for several days without any specific measures, he became desperate and came to the county government. This time, however, when the security heard he was looking for Bjorn Dixon, they just refused him entry. So he had no choice but to wait at the gate.

Dirk Carter roughly understood the situation.

He waved to a security guard who had been watching from a distance.

The security guard rushed over excitedly.

Smiling, he asked, "Deputy Magistrate Carter, did you call me?"

"Why didn't you let him in?"

Dirk Carter pointed at Yan Old Cripple and asked.

The security guard looked helpless, scratched his head, and dared not speak.

Dirk Carter shouted angrily, "Don't want to talk, huh? Then you might as well quit, you're fired."

The security guard panicked upon hearing this.

He hurriedly said, "Deputy Magistrate Carter, it's not my fault, it's ... it's the orders from above not to let him in."

"Above? What do you mean by above?"

Dirk Carter asked.

The security guard, seeing the dark look in Dirk Carter's eyes, dared not hesitate. He stammered, "It was... it was Secretary Dimitri who ordered it."

Secretary Dimitri?

That naturally refers to Dimitri Dutton.

Dimitri Dutton is Bjorn Dixon's secretary, so these orders were naturally from Bjorn Dixon.

"Come on, you follow me in. I want to see who dares stop you."

Dirk Carter grabbed Yan Old Cripple's hand and walked through the gate.

With much haste, they arrived at the door of the County Mayor's office.

Dimitri Dutton, who was talking with someone, froze when he saw Dirk Carter and Yan Old Cripple coming in. He rushed to intercept them, saying, "Deputy Magistrate Carter, Deputy Magistrate Carter..."

"Where is County Mayor Dixon?"

Dirk Carter asked.

Dimitri Dutton said, "County Mayor Dixon is in a meeting with someone; I'll report to him first."

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