When the Boss of the Black Wave Gang was thrown to the ground, he was also scared shitless and spilled his guts right away.
"That's right, we did it, that damned Claude used that bitch Delilah to steal three of my sources and over a dozen clients. I had to kill her, or the Black Wave Gang will have no standing!"
"Delilah has been working for your competitor for quite some time now, hasn't she? Why did you only decide to kill her now?" Chloe sensed something was off.
According to the psychologist Linda, Delilah's change didn't happen just a few days ago. She was coerced into drug trafficking for some time. If it was purely business competition, the Black Wave Gang would have acted sooner and minimized the loss.
"I never intended to lay a hand on Claude, it wasn't worth it, but they pushed me too hard, I had no choice." The Boss of the Black Wave Gang said angrily.
"They? Who are they?" Lucifer stepped forward and asked.
"My superiors, the people who supply me with the goods. They wanted me to prepare a client base. They wanted to promote a new type of drug and hoped I could help spread it immediately to seize the market..."
"A new type of drug? What is it?" Chloe asked again.
The Boss of the Black Wave Gang paused, instinctively glancing at the bar behind the sofa. Lucifer caught his action, went behind the bar and began to search. The gang Boss tried to get up, but Chloe cocked her gun, pointing at him, and he dared not move.
After a while, Lucifer found a small box behind the bar. When he opened the lid, he found some candies wrapped in silver foil.
He brought the box over and looked at the candies with Chloe. Lucifer unwrapped one and threw it in his mouth. Chloe slapped him hard, saying: "What are you doing?? Spit it out, it's poisonous!"
Lucifer chewed a couple of times without spitting it out, and while watching Chloe's reaction, he chuckled: "Are you worried about me, Officer?"
"No, I'm not." Chloe turned her head away, but soon, she anxiously said: " Spit it out quickly, what if it's really poisonous?"
"It's okay, haven't I told you? I'm not an ordinary person." Lucifer said, chewing all the while. "It's some kind of chewing gum. It tastes quite good. But whether it contains drugs, I couldn't tell."
"We need to bring it in for testing." Chloe took the box from him. As soon as she took the box, she hesitated for a moment and said: "Wait, this box doesn't look like an ordinary craft. Los Angeles gum doesn't come in such metal tins. It looks more like what you'd find in convenience stores in Seashore City or Star City... "
It seemed that Chloe had remembered something. She examined the box and said: "I've seen this box somewhere, but I can't quite remember... Never mind, let's get back to the police station and test this gum. Let's go."
The two drove back to the police station in Los Angeles. After sending off the gum for testing, Chloe kept staring at the box, trying to recall where she'd seen it.
"Stop it, Officer, you're too into your work. Isn't it time for lunch? Let's go eat." Lucifer invited Chloe.
Chloe initially wanted to refuse, but she felt a bit hungry, so she put down the box and followed Lucifer to the car.
They went to a restaurant not far from Disneyland. There were many tourists and it was bustling. In the center of the restaurant area, three large TVs were playing cartoons.
In this era, this wasn't very common, so many children were cheering and laughing around the TV.
"You have a daughter, right? You can bring her here to eat. The food here is good and cheap, and they have children's meals. Plus, they can watch TV. I think she would like it." Lucifer casually mentioned while eating.
Chloe looked up and examined the restaurant's decor. As Lucifer said, this restaurant near Disneyland seemed to be specifically designed for children with many elements children like.
"Thank you for inviting me, it's a great place." Chloe revealed her first smile since meeting Lucifer. "I have to pick up Beatrice from school later. If I'm late, she will definitely complain."
Although Lucifer felt some regrets, he did not insist on her staying. After all, it's her duty. After eating, Chloe was about to leave. But just as she turned around to leave the restaurant, she heard an advert from the TV behind her:
"Quinns Gum, your ideal lifestyle companion. Small packages for every day travels, larger packages suitable for family gatherings. For gum, please look for Quinns Silver tin gum... "
Chloe suddenly stopped, turned around, her eyes wide as she stared at the TV. Lucifer also turned his head. On the screen was an advertisement for Quinns Gum's large packaging, also known as 'silver tin gum'.
The tin on the screen looked very similar to the one they found. The sizes were almost identical, and both were silver, but the tin they found didn't have the Quin Group's logo on it.
The two ran outside to the restaurant, and after getting in the car, they rushed to the police station. As soon as they entered, a detective came up and said, "Officer Chloe, the test results you asked for are out, the gum indeed contains a special addictive substance, its likely a type of drug."
"Alright, thank you." Chloe took the lab report and quickly rushed to her office, picked up the box. She and Lucifer looked at each other and said, "Quin Group!"
Lucifer quickly deduced the cause and effect:
"The Quin Group has invented a new type of drug, that is this chewing gum. In order to quickly seize the market, they forced the leader of the Black Wave Gang to rob customers. In the fight to snatch clients, the Black Wave gang killed Delilah who was manipulated by Claude."
Then the two looked down at the gum in the iron box. Chloe said, "if the behind-the-scenes mastermind of all this is the Quin Group of Star City, then this thing in our hands..."
"The craftsmanship of this box is exactly the same as Quinns Gum on the market, this is their most powerful evidence of drug trafficking!"
At the entrance of the Star City Villa Area, a car quickly drove out. Kira, looking anxious, said: "We need to quickly recover the gum Old Tott spoke of, we can't let the evidence of the Quin Group's drug trafficking leak out!"
"If the heir of the Quin group can be developed, the Quin group can be very useful to us, they cannot fall..."
"Kira, wake up! Are you trying to cover up the evidence of a notorious drug trafficking group?!" Lila said loudly: "Don't you realize that you're losing sight of what's important? Is this our intention?!"
"This is just for a more important cause! We need every ounce of strength!" Kira raised her voice, saying: "I have no other ways!"
The female agent took a deep breath and said, "This is Moscow's intention. The Congress will be held soon. It will decide our next leader. He needs this power…"
"Who are you referring to?" In Kira and Lila's tone, sparked a deep disappointment. He questioned: "Have you really forgotten why you are working?"
The car sped up, Kira's face began to tremble.
With a "sizzle", the harsh sound of brakes sounded. Kira's forehead hit the steering wheel, the blood spilled. Her hair fell down, making her seem hysterical and collapsed.
After a long silence, Kira slowly brushed her hair aside and said, "…I'm going crazy. I will do anything to defend my hometown. I have no other way…"
"When you think like that, you no longer have a home." Lila turned his head to one side and said, "We once thought the same way, as long as we could maintain our faction, anything goes… what did that result in?"
Kira closed her eyes, and thus, no tears fell. She said, "Maybe everyone has realized that all of this is nothing but a dying struggle, but even so, I want to struggle one more time, perhaps... perhaps there is a chance?"
"He's just using you!" Lila increased his tone: "He makes you believe that he will be the last hope, he will save this country…"
"But I can guarantee you, he won't do anything. When he tells you that you can do anything for power, you can disregard people, justice, ideals, then you should know that he is a traitor!"
Kira took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and looked at the sky outside the car window. At this moment, the dusky clouds slowly dispersed, golden, red and purple interweaving on the horizon line, a red sun was slowly sinking.
The light of dusk gradually faded. After the long night, dawn rose again. On the TV, as the outdoor scene shrunk, the host's scene enlarged. He put his arms on the table, and said,
"Our station reports, Star City's famous corporation Quin Group, has created a new type of drug, much like gum. Upon investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, it has long been connected with the Mexican Drug Trafficking Group, and is very close with the Guadalajara Drug Trafficking Group who once committed a horrific crime…"
"Currently, the Quin Group's actions have caused public outrage. Within the span of three days, Star City has already erupted into three protests, Quin Mansion is now closed, and the relevant person in charge has been arrested…"
"The heir to the Quin family, Oliver Quin, died in a shipwreck. It is not clear whether he knew the truth behind the group's business, but undoubtedly, he couldn't avoid his responsibility…"
"After the event came to light, Quin Group's shares have plummeted, the financial state is worrying, bankruptcy is not far away…"
The TV station's host flipped through the script, and began broadcasting the next piece of news, he continued:
"Let's turn our attention to the international situation. Our neighboring country, Mexico, has recently erupted several farmer and worker movements. According to experts, this may be related to the previous massacre in Sinaloa State."
"However, insiders revealed that these farmer and worker movements are instigated by the left-wing faction. Some experts have claimed that leftists may have colluded with local drug dealers, closely connected to the previous massacre…"
With a "click", the TV was turned off. Hal slowly turned his head and looked at Shiller, saying, "Oliver is missing. Did you..."
Shiller, who was writing medical records on the coffee table, didn't even look up, saying:
"As you can see, I am merely an ordinary university professor... and I'm on annual leave."