Chapter 1215 The Mayor“s Candidate
With the exit of Shangjing Survivors Alliance, Mayor Liu, who previously belonged to Ding Liwei’s force, stepped down.The position of mayor was highly sought after.
Those officials who were previously kept at a distance by Ding Liwei and Wan Peng were now revitalized. They did all they could to be on their best behaviour and perform well.
Those politicians with lackl.u.s.ter abilities and received their position through flattering did all they could. They almost immediately succ.u.mbed under the NAC banner and sang its praises. The most extreme even sent their wives and daughters to the General’s barrack under the name of “consolation”, only to be able to be crowned with the position of mayor.
Especially when they heard the news of Song Chenyu’s promotion and his responsibilities of overseeing the four gates of Pingan Street, the collection of the city gate tax and his a.s.sistance of the garrison to maintain order, the politicians on Pingan Street keenly captured the signal released by NAC.
Jiang Chen did not seem to plan to parachute an official in. Shangjing would still be maintained by a local survivor.
Xu Tiannan was the person that felt the most confident. When Jiang Chen decided to swing down his machete down at Shangjing Survivor Alliance, he not only did not step up to stop him, he actually immediately cleared his boundaries with Ding Liwei and Wan Peng. Previously, the Guardian Sect was only looking for the whereabouts of Line 0, but when it learned the news of NAC’s involvement, they immediately stopped.
He seemed to be the perfect candidate for mayor!
However, when the mayor was revealed, the decision shocked everyone.
NAC, in fact, did not parachute an official in from w.a.n.ghai, but it also did not select a mayor from the officials in Shangjing. The decision was an unknown merchant who travelled between Shangjing and Haizhou.
In the fur business out of all businesses.
How could someone like that be the mayor? Is this a joke?”
Why did you choose him?”
While she looked at the flus.h.i.+ng, joyous Liu Wendi in the middle of his speech in the square, Zhao Qiuran could not understand the rationale.
Even from the perspective of an outsider, the choice was hard to comprehend.
“Do the person who becomes mayor make a difference?” Jiang Chen asked softly. “There is no one in Shangjing that I can trust. So it’s better to choose an obedient person than a dogmatic person on the surface but will go against my orders behind my back.”
Jiang Chen smiled and turned to walk back to the military base.
“After all, if I don’t know, I can always ask. The apocalypse existed for many years, who didn’t start learning from scratch?”
After being in a position of power for so many years, he started to learn about the type of people he should use.
Sixth Street required a business genius like Chu Nan, but he would not be a good fit for Pingan Street.
Instead of picking an agent he could not fully trust, it was better to choose someone without any foundation here, but understood the situation. Thus, this person would not be easily fooled by the people here, but could not do anything without the backing of NAC. In order for this person to establish themselves in Pingan Street with a complex power distribution, this person must depend on NAC.
With the checks and balances, the mayor and the council would never work closely together. Therefore, the mayor afar would not be able to fool Jiang Chen hundreds of kilometers away.
The loyalty maintained through this method was far more reliable than slavery chips, since the latter was only suitable for the average people without power and influence.
Zhao Qiuran saw Jiang Chen had turned around and quickly followed behind him.
On the way back, Jiang Chen debated about the next steps.
With the mayor’s candidate finalized, the next step would be to redistribute the cake and appease Xu Tiannan’s force. Ding Liwei and Wan Peng were uprooted, Xu Tiannan’s force intelligently stayed honest till now. Jiang Chen always didn’t mind giving some benefits to honest people, especially since the two forces were still allies by name.
Just when he thought about which bone to give Xu Tiannan, he saw a beautiful woman in a cheongsam. She stood in front of the military camp, s.h.i.+vering, while she was peeking inside the base.
At first glance, even Jiang Chen, who had seen many gorgeous ladies, was stunned by her appearance.
The split of the cheongsam revealed a large amount of smooth skin, and her perfect thighs were as smooth as jade. The fullness of her chest outlined a stunning S-shaped curve with her rounded bottom. The slender waist was the perfect size, distracting people with lucid imaginations.
Her black hair was a waterfall, paired with her elegant lashes. She was the definition of perfection. Even among trophies, she was the brightest one. Her watery eyes siphoned people’s soul and combined with her helpless expression, it would make any man want to press her to the ground.
Wearing a cheongsam in this weather must be difficult for her.
When Jiang Chen saw her, she obviously also spotted Jiang Chen. Perhaps she sensed the glimpse of being stunned in Jiang Chen’s eyes, a look of joy appeared in her pupils. With teary eyes, she cautiously walked forward to Jiang Chen with her head lowered.
“Pleased to see you, General Jiang.” An Yiran bowed.
“What is it?” Jiang Chen asked her.
Her cheeks were slightly red, and water seemed to be dripping out of her eyes. An Yiran looked up at Jiang Chen, and weeped. “I just want to thank the general for saving my life from the demon Ding Liwei…”
In her weeping tone, she denounced how inhuman Ding Liwei was and how she was forced to marry him. Then, she gazed at Jiang Chen with an adoring look, while she expressed how she wors.h.i.+pped the great hero that stood taller and implicitly hinted that he was the one in her mind…
In the end, she s.h.i.+vered while holding her arms.
For any normal man, the next step would be take her into the room and add another layer on her…
Tricks! Full of tricks!
Jiang Chen couldn’t help but curse in his mind.
Am I a little virgin who has never experienced love? Mhmm! I was a spare tire (1) before!
“Hehe, no need to thank me.”
With a smile, Jiang Chen pa.s.sed by her, as he left a dumbfounded An Yiran standing in the chilling wind
“You rejected her? The woman seemed to be Ding Liwei’s second wife, I remember her name was An Yiran?” Zhao Qiuran said incessantly behind Jiang Chen.
“So?”
“I heard that An Yiran is certainly a somebody. Before the war, she was a famous Pan-Asia Cooperation singer. Not only did she sing a lot of popular songs, but she starred in several well-received movies. Two years ago, she woke up from the hibernation chamber and was purchased by Ding Liwei in an auction. Typical slaves would be rewarded to his subordinates after he was done, but not only did she escape the fate of being a slave, she became an upper-cla.s.s lady and was even more favored than Ding Liwei’s first wife,” Zhao Qiuran said.
“So what?” Jiang Chen smiled, unmoved.
“You’re not moved?” Zhao Qiuran blinked. “Speaking of this, you actually let them go. I thought you would turn them into slaves.”
“Am I that perverted?”
Jiang Chen glanced at her and scared her into covering her mouth.
“Ahem, it has nothing to do with being a pervert. Aren’t all powerful people like this?” Seeing her honest words did not anger Jiang Chen, Zhao Qiuran spat out her tongue and said nonchalantly, “For example, the Wan Peng you killed. In the past, there was a relatively powerful mercenary group in Pingan Street. The head of the mercenary group was also a member of the council. Later, because he had upset Wan Peng, not only was he thrown away to be fed to the zombies but his wives and daughters were also chained and locked in a bas.e.m.e.nt for half a year before everything ended.”
“So, I did some good deeds for the sake of the people,” Jiang Chen joked.
“For the sake of the people?” Zhao Qiuran snorted. “That’s a stretch. That mercenary group head was not a kind soul either. Or rather, no one in the Shangjing Survivors Alliance was good.”
To be precise, no one was good on the wasteland.
This was an era where people took advantage of other people.
“Now that Pingan Street is under my control, you’re no longer wanted. Do you still want to go to w.a.n.ghai?” Jiang Chen changed the topic and nonchalantly asked.
Zhao Qiuran hesitated for a moment, but still nodded firmly.
“I have already spent enough time here. The merchants have praised w.a.n.ghai into an Utopia, so I want to go there and take a look.”
Afraid that Jiang Chen would not agree, she quickly added, “I can fight, I can fight for you—”
Jiang Chen smiled slyly.
“Fight for me? That’s not enough.”
Zhao Qiuran’s face turned red as she took two steps back and put her arms in front of her chest. Her pupils with a hint of the wilderness was now covered with fear, “What, what do you want?”
“It’s not what you’re thinking.” Jiang Chen shrugged.
Someone with spiritual abilities would be a great experimental subject. He couldn’t find the cell bank of Eden Technology and if Lin Lin knew that he also let a rare “white mouse” escape, she would surely punch his chest with her little fists.
When Zhao Qiuran thought about it, it made sense. Since he even rejected a woman like An Yiran.
Zhao Qiuran scratched her cheeks awkwardly and continued to follow Jinag Chen. However, she did not know that although she was no longer treated as a woman, she was labeled as a white mouse.
In front of the barrack, Jiang Chen looked at her.
“So, your ability is telesthesia.”
“Yes.” Zhao Qiuran nodded.
“Other than sensing positions, is there any other use for your ability?”
“What are you referring to?” Zhao Qiuran did not quite understand his point.
“For example,” with a slight pause, Jiang Chen smiled, “Identify a person, or whether a group of people are lying.”
(1) Spare Tire – The second-choice of a male/female while he/she is already flirting with/dating someone else