Enforcer Manual
Chapter 626: Truth or Dare_1

Chapter 626: Chapter 626: Truth or Dare_1

With a heavy heart, Doug returned to the Law Enforcers department.

He brewed a cup of coffee and secluded himself in his office.

The Morger Family was not fond of jokes; this time, with the presence of Mendoza Morgue himself in District Seventeen, they probably had already decided to eliminate Lu Xiang. Unlike the senators in the core city who loved to talk big, Mendoza’s past work in District Seventeen involved handling "external" business disputes for the Morger Family.

And they had offered a tempting chip.

Director of the Law Enforcers Department in the border city—the title might not seem high, but it was one of the most lucrative departments. The former director, after serving for a bit over a decade, had amassed wealth enough for the latter half of his life.

On the other hand, the reason why Mendoza revealed this news to him so bluntly was to tie him to the Morger Family’s ship of thieves.

The price for being a snitch was brutal.

To this day, the black market was still awash with videos of the Morger Family executing traitors, which could be considered their peculiar hobby. They recorded the bloody, cruel, and perverted processes and then released them for a revel with "like-minded enthusiasts."

Doug knew that if he refused Mendoza’s proposal, he would face the Morger Family’s bloody retribution, and even his close friends might not escape unscathed.

Perhaps the Morger Family didn’t care whether the rumors were true or not; they just wanted a reason to wage war, to restore the past prosperity of their sealand energy business in District Seventeen.

As time ticked by second by second, after downing his third cup of instant coffee, Captain Doug made a gritted decision, left the office, and headed straight for the director’s office.

Upon entering, Lu Xiang was sitting at the desk, going through the materials related to the Southeast Bank heist.

"Director, there’s something important I need to discuss with you."

Seeing Lu Xiang, Doug’s chaotic thoughts finally calmed down.

The distance from his department to the director’s office was a turning point in his life; he didn’t know what the future held, and he might disappear from this world forever in a few days, just like that young man who had struggled to escape from the village, or maybe soon, the black market would be circulating an execution disc starring him.

"Mendoza came to see me."

However, as Doug spoke these words, he felt suddenly relieved.

"Are you talking about Mendoza Morgue?"

"They come with ill intent; the Morger Family wants to take action against you, probably over some business matters."

"Are you referring to the forbidden drug trade?"

Lu Xiang pushed the materials on the desk to one side, somewhat surprised by Doug’s visit.

In fact, Grandpa Li had already informed her about their meeting, which included the Morger Family’s hope for Doug to take over the vacant director position.

"There are rumors you’re going to take action against Ferren Morger, but I suspect it’s a farce they are staging themselves. Unlike the criminals we’ve encountered before, he is an extremely dangerous person. I suggest starting from today, to arrange a special ops team to escort you to and from work every day."

"I’ve heard about the Morger Family’s methods, but more than that, I’m curious as to why you’re reporting this."

"It’s my duty."

"What’s the real reason?"

"...Because just now in the office, I suddenly remembered Kate."

When mentioning Kate, Doug, who always presented himself as a tough guy, lowered his head, his gaze softened a lot; at that moment, he seemed to have grown a decade younger, returning to that naive age.

He still remembered in a certain cabin, Kate holding car keys, greeting him in the hallway.

Kate excitedly told him that the missing persons case she had been investigating was finally making progress. She was about to rush to a small town on the outskirts of District Seventeen. She left the department building bouncing with energy and didn’t forget to tell him to wait for her good news. If she could find an important clue in the town, she would treat him to a night at the bar near the department, promising they wouldn’t return until they were drunk.

For Law Enforcers, it was just an everyday afternoon.

"Now I understand a bit why she clung to that case. These days, being an honest person is the hardest role to play, especially for us Law Enforcers, when you want to thoroughly investigate a case, reality will force you to give up for a hundred different reasons."

Sometimes it was the temptation of power and wealth.

Occasionally, it was threats and intimidation.

If you become an obedient ostrich and bow to these two forces, life becomes much more comfortable.

That’s why, when Kate insisted on investigating the case, the most frequent advice she heard was, "This is a thankless job," and those who often told her this were precisely her friends.

Before Kate was an abyss, and all they could do was watch her fall into it helplessly.

Doug regretted more than once that Kate was born at an unfortunate time. If she had started investigating that damned missing persons case a few years later, she could have held on until Director Lu took office, and everything would have ended differently.

Although Lu Xiang had been in office for less than a year, she had already shown him the city was changing in the direction people hoped for.

But if Lu Xiang died, District Seventeen would revert to its old ways overnight.

"Director, I’m a straightforward man, I’ve never said this to you before,"

Doug took two steps forward, his hands resting on Lu Xiang’s desk, "It doesn’t matter if I die. We have several capable veterans in our department who could take over my job at any time, but you can’t die. If you die, all our efforts in the past few months will have been in vain."

Lu Xiang wanted to say something, but a strong sense of crisis suppressed all her words. Almost instinctively, she kicked the desk fiercely, and an unprepared Doug lost his balance and fell backward.

Almost at the same time, she heard the sound of glass shattering.

Armor-piercing bullet.

To ensure the safety of department heads, the office glass was bulletproofed, but the sniper’s bullet pierced the bulletproof glass as if it were nothing, leaving a bullet hole where Doug had just stood.

"Be careful, there’s a sniper."

Doug immediately reacted, rolling himself behind the nearest cover.

Then came several more gunshots in quick succession. The sniper seemed to have no interest in Lu Xiang; their target had always been only Doug.

It seemed they wanted to assassinate Doug right in front of her, the department head of the Law Enforcers.

"Old Sa, the building across from us, take someone there immediately."

The situation was urgent, and Lu Xiang couldn’t worry about Doug’s presence as she used the private communicator provided by Medea to contact Sammuen.

...

Meanwhile, at the same time, thick black smoke and the acrid smell of burning had attracted a crowd of onlookers beneath her apartment building.

The fire was in the green belt under the apartment building, and it looked like someone had purposely set it.

Yet, the scene at the location was bizarre.

There were no casualties from the fire, and besides the charred green belt, there was a bicycle burned to a crisp on the now blackened and barren ground.

Song Lan arrived later.

Grandpa Li recognized the burned bicycle and immediately went upstairs to find him.

Song Lan stood among the crowd for a good while without stepping forward.

As someone who prioritized a carefree life, he couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had felt such a surge of emotion.

"Thank goodness, it’s good that no one was hurt."

Grandpa Li could only comfort him from the side.

"But..."

For a moment, Song Lan was at a loss for words; the pointing and whispering of the surrounding residents disrupted his thoughts to some extent.

He didn’t know what he had done with his MK-II to deserve such a misfortune.

"If there’s anything you want to say, just speak to me."

Grandpa Li comforted him, patting Song Lan’s shoulder.

"But they assured me this bike was bulletproof."