New Gods of North America.

Chapter 482 Difference
It is said that the "efficiency" of American politicians is actually very fragmented.

When it is slow, it is as still as a mountain. Sometimes, it is just a trivial detail, and several groups of people take turns to delay it again and again, and it can even be dragged on to the point where people forget about it.

When it's fast, it's also aggressive. Sometimes a bill of hundreds or thousands of pages is freshly released in the morning and can be passed unanimously before lunch. Even if a serious person wants to read it carefully, he probably won't be able to finish it.

But what Wayne didn't expect was that the bosses could be so efficient in "solving cases".
He had just briefly stated some of the things he had recently investigated, and while fiddling with the green plants, the old man, Basque Bitton, came to the conclusion:
"So Walter Norton obviously made a serious mistake in this matter, which was the main reason for the assassination. Do you have any evidence now? Either witnesses or physical evidence will do."

Wayne was a little impressed by the scene.

Don't you big shots need evidence to make judgments? Are you putting the main responsibility directly on someone else?

I am not here to help you play political warfare...

So Wayne could only weakly remind, "According to the current investigation, the murderer should be the group lurking in Virginia..."

Mr. Basque waved his hand without even looking up, his attitude seemed a little more indifferent than when he watched the duel before:
"That's not the way to look at the problem. According to what we know now, Walter obviously knew about the existence of the murderer's gang before the assassination. As a member of Congress, he actually allowed the murderer to continue his actions, causing innocent American citizens to be harmed. This is the most critical issue."

Wayne was almost convinced. This statement sounded very high-sounding, with a kind of momentum that "even a thousand pounds can't be pulled back after being weighed on the scale".

But Wayne was here to investigate the case after all. "From what we can see so far, Mr. Walter and his team may have some clues in advance, but they may not be directly related to the assassination. We now want to learn more about the specific situation they have. I wonder if you are willing to provide help in this regard?"

Mr. Basque fell into deep thought. Wayne seemed to see Seth Grayson decades later in him. Both of them were the type who would think things through before speaking.
But this look on the old man seems more suitable for his age.

Soon, Mr. Basque spoke again: "After several elections, I don't have many friends in the postal system. Walter only stayed in office until now after changing parties. But I still have many old acquaintances in the local area. Although they can't tell you the internal situation directly, they can find out for you."

Then he turned around and looked at the old butler, who nodded skillfully and turned to look at Wayne. "Mr. Wayne, if you need to know anything related in the future, you can come and ask me directly. If you encounter something I don't know, I can also help you find out, and I will tell you the result in time."

Wayne now has many questions to ask. Even if we put aside the investigation, at least he is very curious about the structure of the local spy organization.

He was just planning to take his leave from the old man and then find a place to continue chatting with the old butler in private. Unexpectedly, old man Basque seemed to suddenly remember something and found an excuse to send the old butler away.

Wayne and Mr. Basque were the only two people in the greenhouse.
He looked more serious now:
"By the way, Wayne, didn't you plan to hold several public duels in a row? Why did you suddenly terminate them and claim the prize?"

Oh, I thought you were going to tell me some secret.

Why do you still remember this? I was just doing it casually, it doesn’t make any money...

Wayne didn't know whether Mr. Basque knew about the "Church of Light" or not, so he had to explain that because the follow-up involved hidden organizations and cultists, it was not appropriate to attract the public's attention in a big way.

In order to keep the situation low-key, the public duel had to be dropped.

The old man nodded, and then asked, "So, Wayne, you should also be a 'Extraordinary'?"

Wayne hesitated for a moment, not sure whether he should say it.

The affairs of the Extraordinary are not confidential, but the Church does not encourage the spread of the knowledge to ordinary people. It is the kind of thing that "those who understand will understand, but those who don't understand should not be told". When Wayne first went to the Cathedral to report, he was warned that if any adverse consequences were caused, he might be held accountable. Mr. Basque obviously got the answer from Wayne's reaction:

"Don't worry, the matter of Beyonders is no secret to our family. In fact, my eldest grandson Victor is also a Beyonder. Unfortunately, the Cathedral said that he does not meet the requirements to join the church. I just want to confirm whether you have the power to protect yourself."

You should have said it earlier.

With the "one for one" intelligence, Wayne nodded.

But Wayne also noticed a detail, "It sounds like you are not an extraordinary person?"

If the whole family is made up of Beyonders, there seems to be no need to single out the grandson for mention.

The old man seemed quite open-minded in this regard: "You can tell from my current appearance that extraordinary people usually don't live to my age. Go to the main house to find the butler first. He should be able to answer some of your questions. If there is anything else, I will send someone to contact you."

Wayne saw the old man pick up the scissors again, and he didn't bother him any more.
However, Wayne had an extra doubt in his mind. What did "most people don't live to his age" mean?
This thing can shorten your life?!

……

"The earliest intelligence agencies in the Federation can be traced back to the Continental Intelligence Committee established in the colonial period to resist Windsor. At that time, information was mainly obtained through some scattered personnel and channels, such as the support of wealthy people, businessmen, scholars and sympathizers, to transmit information between colonies and coordinate actions in various places.

"After the situation in America stabilized, the corresponding institutions were reorganized and disbanded. Currently, they are basically composed of three relatively large parts: one part belongs to the military, which is mainly used to collect intelligence and indirectly control the militia organizations in various states; one part belongs to the administrative system, which is managed by the cabinet's diplomatic department and is mainly responsible for external intelligence collection; and another part theoretically belongs to Congress, which is now mainly based on the postal system and is responsible for paying attention to some key areas and special people.

"Because of the Founding Fathers' wariness of privilege, these intelligence agencies are relatively small today, independent of one another, and rarely communicate with one another. You can basically think of them as larger, more decentralized police departments, or smaller, more professional churches.

"Compared to the military and diplomatic parts, the postal system is more complicated. The basis of the structure was the correspondence committees organized by the colonies. The sources of the personnel were different. Some were recruited from outside, and some were stakeholders of local prestigious figures. In the subsequent reorganization and dismissal process, some personnel were retained or got new jobs because of donations and support from local wealthy people. Therefore, it is inevitable that many places have some "local characteristics" until now, which will appear looser, with greater regional differences and higher autonomy."

In the reception room, the old butler asked the servant to bring hot tea, and then began to answer Wayne's questions. Perhaps to make it easier to understand, he spoke in quite detail.
Wayne understood this very quickly. If he substituted the current situation of police departments across America and sheriffs in the West, it was basically another application of "mind your own business" and "stop talking when it's none of your business."

At the same time, Wayne also guessed that the Beaton family probably bet on the military for the next generation, so the promising grandson served in the military.

The same goes for “there are ways to investigate intelligence but normally we don’t know the internal workings of the postal system”, there are people here who can conduct secret investigations and they don’t seem to mind causing unexpected losses to the other side.

There are still many old acquaintances in the local area...

The meaning of these words varies greatly when spoken by different people.

Wayne solved the question he was most curious about, and then continued to ask according to the list of questions in his mind, "Then how many people will Mr. Walter and his team have locally?"

The old butler continued to answer: "If it is the manpower in the whole of Virginia, the total number should be more than a thousand. But they need to be dispersed in various towns and postal routes in the state, and they also have daily tasks to perform. In fact, the number of people who can be used regularly and flexibly in the Richmond area is estimated to be around a hundred..."

(End of this chapter)