Enforcer Manual
Chapter 525: To Our Old Friend_1

Chapter 525: Chapter 525: To Our Old Friend_1

Song Lan’s differential treatment in her replies made Lu Xiang’s heart flutter, and as she looked at Song Lan lying on the sofa, her firm will began to waver.

I should go home.

Suddenly, the thought of leaving work early crossed her mind.

Immediately after, she once again realized the infectious nature of the apathy virus. As the source of the virus, Song Lan always managed to interfere with her judgment in various ways.

Lu Xiang cleared her throat and calmed her emotions slightly, "If that’s the case, then I can rest assured."

That evening, after a discussion with Song Lan at home, the two decided to send a message to Qi He under the pretense of "wanting to understand Purple Wisteria Institute," mentioning that it was for their long-term consideration, such as potentially planning to send their children to Purple Wisteria Institute for education in the future, if possible.

Qi He replied quickly.

According to official procedures, Purple Wisteria Institute prohibited visits from unrelated personnel, but for the sake of better cooperation between the foundation and District Seventeen, they could make an exception for Lu Xiang and Song Lan this time. Fortunately, the holiday was almost over, and the school season was on the horizon. In half a month, there would be a train specially heading to Purple Wisteria Institute.

The two sides were tacit regarding this matter.

Lu Xiang roughly guessed that this so-called special treatment’s real purpose was to attract the "enthusiastic citizen" to show up.

And the condition to persuade Song Lan was to give him half a month’s leave before the start of the school year. Looking at Song Lan’s astonishing attendance record at the department this year, Lu Xiang couldn’t help sighing deeply, feeling a sense of corruption for tolerating the department head’s long absence.

During this half month, Qi He did many things.

Firstly, he managed to reassure the Review Meeting. Lu Xiang’s temporary suspension of the investigation had finally eased the minds of the Review Meeting members, and the Abnormal Cases Investigation Bureau no longer had the legitimate excuse to use Song Lan as a bargaining chip—although the Conservative Faction had urged them to take action against Lu Xiang until the very moment they withdrew.

They have always believed that Lu Xiang was a ticking time bomb for the United Government and had to be kept in check. Unfortunately, in the meeting’s votes, they once again lost to the Innovator Faction and the Centralists. The recent events had subtly changed the Review Meeting, with an increasing number of Centralists leaning towards the Innovator Faction in their votes.

In their view, the Conservative Faction’s actions were tantamount to inciting war.

Now with the "prison" out of control and the Shadow causing trouble in different cities after escaping, and even some who had escaped to the "outside," colluding with the Rebel Army, the Six Star rescuers who had originally been stationed in the core regions were dispatched to various cities. The United Government was facing an unparalleled turbulent autumn, and no one wanted an internal conflict at such a critical juncture.

Although they didn’t understand the full extent of the "enthusiastic citizen’s" abilities, his influence on the battle between the Barrosa Group subsidiaries in the "outside" and the devourers was well known to all. According to the assessments by the Psychic Abilities Research Institution, the "enthusiastic citizen" had the psychic strength to easily annihilate a city.

In response, Hog Foster insisted that there had been some successful cases in the past for the United Government.

In the early stages of Psychic Abilities research, they had used relatives as leverage to control the actions of powerful psychics; as long as those psychics obeyed their orders, their relatives would receive preferential treatment. If they showed exceptional performance, they would earn additional rights to visit their families.

Hog believed this was a glorious tradition that could be very effective against Lu Xiang and even the "enthusiastic citizen."

Due to the release of The Love Story of Law Enforcement Department, the romantic relationship between Lu Xiang and Song Lan was already no secret, and if they could manage to secretly escort Song Lan back to the core regions, it would be an excellent leverage against Lu Xiang’s actions.

To gain the approval of other Centralists for his perspective, Hog made multiple public speeches at different public venues within half a month, hoping to incorporate his philosophies into the discussions of the next agenda.

The effect of these impassioned speeches was significant.

According to statistics, more than half of the Centralist members now believe that after the setback in District Seventeen, Mr. Hog Foster’s mental state has been severely damaged, and he has completely fallen into a state of madness.

Thus, with the suggestion of the Centralist members and the active operations of the Innovator Faction, a new topic was indeed added to the agenda for the next meeting.

The topic would be to vote on whether to revoke Mr. Hog’s membership in the council.

Because it was commonly believed that a delusional member’s vote could have an extremely detrimental impact on the future of the United Government, and if Mr. Hog, as a member, could not set aside personal grievances during the voting process, then he would be unfit to hold the position of a member.

The Innovator Faction believed Mr. Hog needed to go to a better place.

Like a nursing home or a mental health facility.

...

"Hog Foster is depressed,"

It was already past ten in the morning, yet Lu Xiang hadn’t gone to work. Still wearing her pajamas and holding her cellphone, she recounted the shocking news to Song Lan as soon as he woke up.

She didn’t know what kind of internal struggle was taking place in the core area, nor whether the news was a smear by the Innovator Faction using the media against Hog Foster, but from the content of the report, Mr. Hog’s recent steps were fraught with difficulty. Not only was he facing the awkward situation of being voted out of the Review Meeting in the next session, but there was also dissatisfaction with him within the Foster Family.

"In the worst-case scenario, we might not hear from him again next month,"

If someone within the Foster Family were to replace the family head, then it’s indeed possible that Hog could be sent to a mental wellness center for the rest of his life because of "depression."

Lu Xiang had complex feelings toward their "old friend."

In all honesty, who wouldn’t like an opponent who ceaselessly plotted behind the scenes but always ended in failure?

Mr. Hog’s spirit of repeatedly battling and failing moved her. Even up to the point where he was about to be sent to a mental health facility, Mr. Hog still made public speeches and actively lobbied the Centralist members to embrace his ideology. In terms of dedication, there were few who could match him.

"Is his depression that serious?"

Song Lan didn’t expect to wake up to such shocking news.

He too had extremely complex feelings about Hog Foster.

He felt that this old man was only one memorable line away from becoming a classic villain like those from the Rocket Team or the cockroach thugs.

Hearing the news, he even wanted to buy a bunch of flowers from District Seventeen and mail them to the other party as a gesture.

"No, if he loses his membership as a member, the Foster Family is likely to change leaders, and the new leader will probably be not so easy to deal with,"

Lu Xiang sighed sorrowfully and then glanced at Song Lan, sliding her cold hand under the quilt and onto his stomach, "As for you, do you remember what day it is today?"