Chapter 23: Mayor’s Dog

Dino agreed with White Tiger’s persuasive logic: using a consistent number would simplify the risk of exposure if the number’s owner traced the call back to him.

Dino then dialed the number. Keshav took a long time to answer, and his voice, a stark contrast to his imposing official demeanor from the previous day, was trembling. Following his superior’s instructions, Dino told him, “Go do something to atone for your sins.”

He briefly outlined the situation regarding Roma and her daughter, then hung up immediately. Dino was still quite nervous, only slightly less so than the night before, and unable to engage in any superfluous conversation.

As White Tiger had said, he left the card and threw the phone into the lake. Dino breathed a long sigh of relief. He was nervous, scared, and also a little excited.

“With the deputy secretary of the provincial party committee stepping in, Martin and his associates should be punished, right?”

He was somewhat unsure, but White Tiger nodded decisively:

“That’s for sure. Martin is at most a deputy section chief, and even his uncle, who is a director, is at most a division chief. It wouldn’t take a provincial deputy secretary more than crushing an ant to crush them.”

In his excitement, Dino walked back overnight. Taking the highway, it was only about 70 kilometers, which would be difficult for others, but with Dino’s stamina today, it took him only a little over three hours, and he didn’t find it strenuous.

Back in Blossom City, at Yellow Dog’s request, Dino used a public phone to call Roma’s cell phone and lied, saying that he was a reporter and that he had used his connections to get the matter of Roma and her daughter published in the internal reference, and that the central leaders knew about it and had formed an investigation team that would come down to investigate the next day. He told Roma to preserve the evidence and fully cooperate.

He spoke according to White Tiger’s instructions and convincingly hid his identity. On the other end of the phone, Roma burst into tears and thanked him repeatedly. When Dino heard her sad cries, his eyes welled with tears.

After hanging up the phone, he gritted his teeth and said to Old Four-Eyed and the others, “If Keshav doesn’t make a move, then I’ll give them a taste of their own medicine. I’ll gather a pack of dogs and have them bite those beasts to death.”