Chapter 324: Chapter 237: There is only one truth!_2
Seeing the situation, the person in charge could only leave in anger, signaling that this matter was far from over.
Inside the interrogation room, William immediately began the questioning, but the foreman didn’t utter a single word.
William knew that his reaction was due to unrealistic hopes that the person in charge could save him.
But testimony was merely a small part. The investigation had already begun once William got hold of the registration list.
While detaining the foreman, William had already inspected the list and noticed something amiss at a glance.
There weren’t that many literate people in town, so Lance had resorted to a clever method to complete the records.
That was to assign each person a number similar to an ID number. A four-digit code could cover almost 5,000 people in the town.
Everyone’s name, number, fingerprints, and other detailed information were all filed and could be retrieved.
That’s why he had promoted the use of numbers. It wasn’t necessary to know many characters to complete numerous registrations.
However, this simple method of registration simplified work but created difficulties for the investigation.
Indeed, the list didn’t have the victim’s number, nor were there obvious signs of tampering. So how was the falsification done?
And why was this person targeted and not another?
William directly found the number of the person listed after the victim and confirmed the victim’s original registration spot, only to find it had been replaced by another number.
And with a number, naturally, they could find the person.
"Check! Find this person."
After leaving, the person in charge knew this situation couldn’t be left as is. Wasn’t this an obvious case of outsiders bullying the locals?
Moreover, he knew certain things. This matter couldn’t be investigated further. It was unpredictable what might be uncovered.
"An outsider didn’t get a spot and now resorts to suicide as a threat! And now the town guard are detaining my people, seriously interfering with our engineering team’s work in developing the west. How can we complete the task given to us by My Lord if this continues?"
"Why are you telling me this?"
Susan looked at the visitor with some bewilderment. She had long since stepped down from those positions and was now merely an ordinary town resident, responsible only for taking care of My Lord’s living needs, without any other authority.
Although Susan was ostensibly an ordinary person, as the saying goes, "A gatekeeper at the prime minister’s residence is considered a third-rank official." As someone who took care of the Lord’s daily life, no one in town dared to underestimate her.
The person in charge understood this, which was why he had approached Susan. Now, he emphasized his point even more.
"They are deliberately causing trouble, trying to oust our people through such means! If this continues, these outsiders will trample all over us! We cannot retreat."
The key positions in town had mostly been controlled by Hamlet’s People. However, with the arrival of these outsiders, a large portion of that power had been dispersed, making them feel threatened.
In some ways, he had gone to Susan because he had no one else to turn to. The other department heads in town were, by and large, not natives of Hamlet.
"You should know why I was removed. I can’t help you," she said.
This comment left the person in charge in an awkward predicament.
Susan’s removal was partly due to issues with her personal capabilities, but more significantly, it was because many of the people she managed were dishonest, which implicated her to some extent.
Susan was deeply hurt. Wasn’t the life brought by My Lord satisfying enough?
So, instinctively, she was wary of these people.
Before she met Lance, Susan might have been just an ordinary peasant woman, but people have the ability to learn. After her experiences, her thinking was no longer so superficial.
She sensed that there was more to this affair than met the eye. And now they’re approaching me to drag me down with them?
"My Lord entrusted the town’s security to Chief William for a reason. If that person truly didn’t do it, I believe the town guard will ensure he receives a just outcome.
Your task should be to minimize the impact of this incident as soon as possible and focus your energy on your work, instead of wasting time here."
Having said that, Susan showed no interest in continuing the conversation. She retreated into her house, clearly not wanting any further interaction.
Susan was just an ordinary person, yet she could speak to him like this, and the person in charge didn’t lose his temper.
It wasn’t that Susan herself possessed such power. Rather, her status was graced with the Lord’s aura. In Hamlet, no one dared to object to the Lord.
The person in charge actually understood that Susan’s advice was the most practical approach. They just needed to stabilize the project’s progress. Whether the foreman was at fault or not was irrelevant to him.
However, he couldn’t do so, because some things weren’t as simple as they seemed.
The plan to develop the west had been approved and then handed down to him. It was he who had arranged for the manpower and established the engineering team, so he couldn’t absolve himself of responsibility.
Not to mention, the fact that this person had become a foreman and secured the project was somewhat related to him.
Sometimes a person does something foolish not because they are foolish, but because when one is in a certain position, some matters are no longer for the mind to decide.
Luckily, the Lord was away, so this matter hadn’t blown up immediately. As long as the man can be bailed out before the Lord returns, there’s still room for remedy.
At the same time, with Susan’s retirement, perhaps I can leverage this incident to overpower those outsiders and become the core that unifies Hamlet’s People.