Darkstone Code

Chapter 668 - 0665 Catching thieves in the thieves’ den?

Trying to find a person who has been missing for two years in a city is a very difficult task.

In the Federation, where household registration management is not strict, the simplest way to trace a person’s movement is to check their spending records, specifically the usage of bank cash checks.

The use of cash checks in the Federation is almost equivalent to cash. Some children from middle-class families will have a checkbook with them, although the limit may not be very high, it reflects many phenomena.

Do ordinary people have a cash checkbook?

Yes, in this era where checks are widely used, when someone has more than fifty dollars in a bank deposit, they will recommend cash checks to the depositors.

From a checkbook with a total of fifty dollars and twenty pages, to one with a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, fifty pages, the specifications of cash checkbooks are plentiful enough to suit people of various levels and stages.

Of course, beyond that, there are no cash checks, mostly bank drafts or promissory notes.

The value of popularizing checkbooks and cash checks lies in consumption. If a person has a hundred dollars deposited in the bank, they might have an impulse to spend up to sixty dollars.

But being restricted to these funds being in the bank means their desire to spend cannot be promptly carried out, causing this spending desire to vanish.

In order to ensure that when these people wish to spend, they inevitably do so, promoting the circulation of funds in society, checks demonstrate their value.

Worried about not being able to withdraw money in time?

No problem. As long as you write a number on the checkbook and sign your name, you can take the items away.

Such a convenient payment method has led to countless impulse purchases every year, especially now during a time where there are many unemployed vagrants and incidents of violence and troubled law enforcement are frequent.

Carrying cash is very dangerous, but carrying a checkbook is not. As long as you intentionally sign the wrong name or sign a name different from the one left at the bank counter, even if they take your check, it will be hard to cash it.

——When cash checks are used directly for consumption, if it’s not a large amount, financial officers will generally just call to verify the check’s authenticity.

For instance, checking if the number and bank account have money, and whether the cash check can be paid out.

But if the amount is relatively large and hits the limit, financial officers will seek verification by checking for distinctive features in the signature.

Overall, the payment with cash checks is still very reliable, even though there is a large number of fake checks infiltrating the market every year and harming businesses, people are still fond of this payment method.

Tracking checks to determine movement only applies to ordinary people. For those holding a large amount of cash and possibly engaged in gray industries, it’s not suitable.

Because they use cash, and cash doesn’t communicate like checks, which means once a person disappears from visibility, they completely vanish unless they willingly surface themselves.

Going to the bank for deposits and withdrawals, using checks and signatures, using social security, medical insurance, or various commercial insurances, otherwise this person will genuinely disappear completely.

To find this person, a wide-scale and high-intensity search operation must be launched, which in the Federation is almost impossible.

Even if the FBI intervenes, they cannot prevent such a large-scale investigation to sweep the entire city for a potentially hidden person.

So, when the copperhead mentioned searching the whole city, the police chief didn’t give any positive feedback.

After saying this, he also realized it’s impossible, even if he is part of the Federal Tax Bureau, he cannot achieve it.

"Damn, can we issue a bounty on this person?" He suggested another possibility, nodding as if assured, "We should be able to, I’ll make a call..."

With that, he picked up the phone on the chief’s desk and went to the corner, muttering a bit with his back to the room.

He reported the situation here to the Assistant Director of the State Tax Bureau, who agreed to his request and demanded that the state government and the FBI issue a bounty and wanted poster with a reward of a thousand dollars.

When he returned, he made a new request, "I want to find the former underlings of this newsboy..."

The police chief and the responsible detective exchanged glances, still without any comment, making the copperhead subtly realize something was wrong, he pressed, "What the hell is going on again?"

Faced with the special investigator from the State Tax Bureau, the police chief wasn’t very intimidated, he formed his right hand into a fist and tapped on the table twice with his knuckles, "Mind your language, this is the chief’s office..."

Copperhead and he locked eyes for a moment, then apologized, "Sorry, I was too anxious."

It wasn’t the right choice to rashly offend the local police. Some people always think the investigative bureau holds a rank higher than the police, and indeed, that is true, but when it comes to controlling a region, the police station undoubtedly has more sway.

If you offend the investigative bureau, then so be it, but if you offend the police station, the local police have plenty of ways to sabotage your operations.

The police chief got the results he wanted, his face showed more smiles, and he wouldn’t deliberately offend copperface too harshly, so at this moment he added, "...Mr. Copperhead, the reason why my detectives and I...", he shrugged, "It’s because the former newsboys are now Lynch’s ’adopted sons’. "

"They were legally adopted by Lynch, and among them, the two oldest have some local fame, they are the ’Green Brothers’, a lot of people know them."

The fame of the Green Brothers, even the police chief had heard of more than once. The family workshop model promoted by Lynch provided countless jobs for Sabin City, but some problems also arose in this.

Some people took the materials and machinery provided by Lynch, sold them for money and enjoyment, and repeatedly found ways to apply for new quotas, which also involved some problems with the workers’ union.

They had once called the police, but the police station didn’t have any good solutions, the regional prison refused to accept the criminals, and the police station couldn’t house so many people.

Those people had no money, no care for their lives, at most a few warnings would end it.

Until the emergence of the Green Brothers, they maximally solved these issues, of course their methods might not have been so appropriate, but at this point, as long as it wasn’t a serious criminal offense, the police station mostly ignored it.

Now they are not doing the same things as before, but their reputation hasn’t decreased at all, instead, it has grown due to a series of car accidents involving some people.

People realized that formerly they might have just beaten up those freeloading, now they truly dared to kill, although there was no evidence to indict them.

Hearing the police chief’s account, copperface felt worse, "Isn’t there any way to deal with them?"

The police chief shook his head, "...Sir, you have to understand one thing, who you’re dealing with is actually Lynch, it’s not that I’m cowardly, I’m merely stating a fact."

"Lynch’s connections from the Mayor, to the Governor, to the President, to Congress, perhaps you haven’t prepared to take him down!"

As a head of a lower-level law enforcement unit, the police chief’s sensitivity in viewing problems is sometimes more accurate than mid-to-upper management at the state or federal level, planning to use some crude, ordinary tactics to take down someone with significant energy?

This isn’t just ridiculous?

Back then, it wasn’t the local tax bureau that brought down the Henghui Group, a multinational corporation, but someone in Congress exerting pressure.

Later, when the Ristone Group was taken down, it wasn’t the local tax bureau and FBI exerting pressure, but some people in the Governor’s office and Congress.

Without the exertion of these people, the local area had no means to deal with these mega companies.

Not to mention other things, if now a rumor spread that someone wanted to deal with Lynch, Sabin City would explode, all those thousands who depend on Lynch and the jobs he’s provided would immediately bristle, organizing together to resist anyone investigating Lynch.

This could even lead to massive unrest or turmoil, at that point, never mind a state tax bureau special agent, even their chief couldn’t withstand it!

Of course, he could understand this special investigator’s approach, after all, these "lords" handle a lot of big matters, always having a mysterious sense of superiority, he could understand.

Copperhead’s expression didn’t look good, "This is my job, it’s my mission!"

"Do as you please, I’ve said all I need to, you can go to the archives over there to get materials on the Green Brothers and others, they will cooperate with you, and as for the rest...", the police chief took out a pipe and tapped it on the table, "I need to work."

After the copperhead left with an unhappy expression, the chief picked up the phone, dialed a number, "Someone is investigating you and your former newsboy, incidentally, send my regards to Mr. Lynch..."

On the other side, Copperhead coming out of the police chief’s office took the files on the Green Brothers and other newsboys back to the hotel, he reflected on the police chief’s words after reading the files, and decided to call the assistant director.

The order to investigate Lynch was requested by the chief, but after assigning the task, he immediately went to the Federal Tax Administration Bureau for training, leaving these matters to the people below.

And from the beginning, the investigation fell into a passive state, whether it was Fox or anyone else, the difficulty in investigating Lynch was astonishing.

The police chief’s words also made him realize that this matter couldn’t be easily resolved by him, the assistant director, or the State Tax Bureau.

Unless higher-ranking figures pushed this matter, otherwise, it would be difficult to achieve.

But the question is, will the big figures personally step in?