Empire of Shadows

Chapter 656: Scandal [666+11]

At five o'clock, the news vendors in Goldport City had already gathered at the designated place for distributing newspapers.

In this era, newspapers had three main sales channels:

1. Fixed address subscriptions: Whether for households or companies, payments were made periodically to the newspaper's publishing house, and the newspaper would be delivered daily by mail carriers to the designated mailbox or newspaper box, or to places like the company's front desk.

2. Sales through newsstands: Newsstands would adjust their orders based on the previous day's sales, generally ordering 125% of the previous day's sales.

In other words, if a newsstand sold ten copies of a newspaper on the first day, it would very likely order twelve or thirteen copies on the second day. This involves some additional knowledge.

3. Distribution by news vendors: News vendors refer to groups of people who make a living by selling newspapers on the streets in various areas (see related descriptions in 'Blackstone Code').

They would obtain cheap newspapers from the publishers and then distribute them to low-wage child laborers they hired to hawk and sell the papers.

The main sales locations were places with high foot traffic, such as train stations and markets.

Although individual sales were small, collectively, they represented a powerful sales force.

Many people were accustomed to having a newspaper in hand while waiting for or riding the train to pass the time, and also to learn about the news.

Generally, news vendors would dynamically adjust the number of newspapers they purchased based on the day's news.

If there was no special news, they would buy fewer copies.

But if there was some explosive news, they would buy more.

This morning, the news vendors were yawning and chatting about yesterday's earnings.

When the freshly printed newspapers, still warm, were thrown from the truck onto the ground, everyone gathered around.

They needed to 'inspect the goods' first before deciding how many copies to take.

For them, the more, the better.

At this time, the light was dim, the sun had not yet risen, and a news vendor rubbed his eyes.

Although it was satisfying to rub away the gritty sleep from the corners of his eyes, he couldn't bother with that comfortable feeling anymore.

He took out his lighter, lit it, and used the faint light to illuminate the headline on the front page of the newspaper.

As they read the contents of the newspaper, one by one, they couldn't help but gasp!

But immediately afterward, they revealed expressions of ecstasy!

Such explosive news meant an impending market explosion and huge profits!

"I want a thousand copies!"

"I want twelve hundred copies!"

"I want…"

They were afraid of getting fewer copies than others and buying too slowly, so they waved their banknotes like those wealthy people, wanting to take all the newspapers in front of them.

The person in charge of selling the newspapers saw their frenzy and revealed an expression that said, "I knew this would happen," while collecting the money and constantly separating the newspapers and handing them over to them.

At seven o'clock, the sky had already begun to brighten, and there were more and more people on the streets. A child wearing a woolen coat and a red, brown, and gray plaid woolen newsboy cap ran down the street, waving the newspaper in his hand and shouting loudly—

"Sensational scandal! A big shot in the Bay Area is suspected of soliciting prostitutes! Get a copy of 'Goldport Today' and see the latest!"

A gentleman who was smoking his morning cigarette by the window couldn't help but widen his eyes. Scandals of such big shots were what ordinary people were most interested in. Even if he didn't have the habit of reading newspapers, he couldn't help but take out some change and shout to the newsboy downstairs, "Bring me a copy!"

The newsboy caught the coin thrown down from upstairs, then rolled up the newspaper, tied it with a paper strip, and threw it forcefully upstairs, and the newspaper landed on the windowsill.

The surrounding pedestrians couldn't help but take out money to buy a copy after hearing these shouts. In fact, some people used to specifically pick up newspapers that others had read to read.

But today's headline was too explosive, and they couldn't wait to see the content inside.

Many pedestrians surrounded each newsboy, and this scene happened in every corner of the city, as well as in front of the newsstands.

After people got the newspapers, they browsed the explosive scandals with rapt attention, even missing the commuter bus they were waiting for!

Even those who were illiterate would buy a copy and have those who could read it read it to them, or follow behind those who could read, scratching their heads and asking what exactly had happened.

The scandal and evidence of three named big shots participating in prostitution were published by 'Goldport Today'.

In fact, 'Goldport Today' didn't really want to publish this newspaper, after all, it also represented a part of the vested interests in Goldport City.

But now is not the past, when some concepts, camps, and positions could be confused.

A huge war has already broken out!

After careful consideration by the investors behind the newspaper, they decided to stand on Mayor Williams' side.

On the one hand, Mayor Williams holds the "power of the mayor" and has an innate advantage.

Secondly, they were also afraid of Lance. After all, Lance unified the entire underworld of Goldport City. If Lance was unhappy and set the newspaper office on fire, who would compensate for the huge losses?

On the contrary, there was no big problem in standing against the wealthy people in the Bay Area. At most, they would just try to make things difficult for the newspaper office.

With the current circulation of the newspaper office, they were really not afraid of ordinary difficulties.

So, the content that was originally unlikely to appear in the newspaper just happened to appear in the newspaper.

Early in the morning, Mr. Hoff sat up rubbing his eyes. He couldn't sleep.

There would be results in these two or three days, and he was now almost sleepless.

He went to bed at three o'clock last night. He glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was only seven o'clock now, and he had no sleepiness at all.

Although he could feel that his body was still very tired, he just didn't feel sleepy at all.

As soon as he put on his clothes and came out of the bedroom, he saw the housekeeper pacing anxiously in the hall on the first floor.

"What's wrong?"

"Did a mouse bite your butt?"

He grinned and made a not-so-humorous joke.

When the housekeeper looked up and saw him, he immediately picked up the newspaper on the table and rushed up the stairs, which was not easy for a middle-aged and elderly person.

"Sir, you should take a look at today's newspaper!"

Mr. Hoff didn't pay much attention to it at first. He smiled and took the newspaper, "Is there anything good on it…"

When his gaze fell on the headline on the front page, his face suddenly turned ashen.

He immediately turned to the second page and found his photo.

He suddenly closed the newspaper, turned around and strode towards the study, saying as he walked, "Get a pot of coffee, and something to eat."

He returned to the study and reopened the newspaper, and began to read carefully. It was illustrated with pictures and texts, detailing Mr. Hoff's entire process of soliciting prostitutes at Red High Heels.

It even introduced that he had once summoned a girl, and the girl came back covered in bruises, and there was even a blurred photo of the girl's face!

Others didn't know who that girl was, but Mr. Hoff knew!

"F*ck!", he couldn't help but slam the table heavily, not knowing who he was cursing.

He continued to bite the bullet and read on, wanting to see if there was anything that could defend him, but the more he read, the more frightened and uneasy he felt.

Below, there was a detailed record of what service he called for on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, who the company sent over and how, and when the girl was picked up, and what state she was in when she came back.

On what looked like notebook pages, there were also the recorder's guesses about some of Mr. Hoff's fetishes, including words like "pervert" and "fetishist".

What was even more deadly was that there was also a photo of a check!

The amount on the check matched the price of the solicitation, the date also matched, and there was his signature.

The newspaper claimed that there were also his fingerprints on this check!

He couldn't even curse anymore!

The dead memory suddenly attacked him, and in a trance, he seemed to have experienced it again.

The night before that day, he had just participated in a card game, and all the cash on him was used up, so he needed to vent the next day, he lost a lot!

After he vented, he realized that he had forgotten to withdraw money. He didn't want to owe a pimp prostitution money, even if it might only be for a short time, a few hours, or a day.

Even for such a short time, that would make him a laughing stock.

At that time, Red High Heels was considered safe and reliable, and they could easily erase it, so he didn't have so many worries and directly wrote a check!

Looking back now, he was still too naive!

The phone on the table suddenly rang, startling him.

After hesitating for a moment, he answered the phone, and the voice of a member of the Executive Committee of the Social Party Committee of Riccaray State came from the receiver.

"Hoff, you better give me an explanation, why does 'Goldport Today' say that you have solicited prostitutes many times today, and… sh*t, are you a sadist?!"

He knew this executive committee member, and he also knew that this executive committee member was not a good person, he also solicited prostitutes, took bribes, and did a lot of bad things…

But now it was him, Hoff, who was in trouble, not this executive committee member. He could only bite the bullet and explain, "This is slander, it's a frame-up!"

The executive committee member didn't give him any face, "It's easy to convince me, it's hard to convince the public. You represent the image of the Social Party in Riccaray State."

"Frankly, I believe the public can't accept a sadist and pervert holding an important position!"

"You have forty-eight hours. If you can't sort this out in forty-eight hours..." The executive committee member paused, and the sound of him inhaling could be heard in the receiver. "Then I will fucking sort you out!"

Immediately following, there was a loud bang as the phone was slammed down.

One could sense that this executive committee member was extremely angry!

One could imagine that soon, members of the Federal Socialist Party's National Committee would be calling him to ask what the fuck was going on with the Socialist Party in the State of Likale?

Why couldn't they control public opinion and stop it from spiraling out of control!

The Likale State Socialist Party Committee is the largest management and ruling organization of the Socialist Party in the State of Likale. The executive committee member is equivalent to a senator in Congress.

When something happens in this area that alarms the National Committee and the Congress, the local executive committee member is the one primarily responsible!

He was sleeping soundly when suddenly a pile of shit landed on his head!

If it was solid shit, that would be one thing. Although disgusting, he could just pick it up and throw it away, and it would be over.

But no, it had to be diarrhea, impossible to wipe clean!

Not cursing at people with vulgar language was already his limit!