Taxes are only within machine gun range!

Chapter 86: Calling the police actually worked?!
Inside a grocery store, teenager Neo is sitting at the dining table, eating dinner with his mother—two bowls of corn porridge with syrup, half a cup of cola, an egg, and half a can of beans.

The reason they were able to enjoy such a sumptuous dinner tonight was because the Fan Kang gang members in the neighborhood had been completely driven away, and the police no longer dared to come and collect protection money.

Although imported goods were subject to taxes paid to Milton, the taxes amounted to far less than the protection fee.

"Mom, can we watch TV today?"

Their business used to be quite good, so they bought a very old black and white TV with some minor malfunctions. Although it often had static, it was still watchable.

For the same reason, they also had a very old rotary dial telephone at home.

However, ever since the rise of the Van Con gang and the takeover of the checkpoint by station chief Varta, their profits have been declining day by day. If Milton hadn't come, they might have had to sell the television and telephone for money in just a few months.

"See? Consider this a celebration that those bandits are gone."

The woman turned on the television, and Neo quickly turned his gaze to it, staring intently at the screen while eating.

The news is playing above.

As the news anchor listed the egregious acts of the Fan Kang gang members one by one, Neo's dirty face revealed anger.

"Mom, Fan Kang's gang is really bad!"

Milton actually did a lot of things… The woman sighed inwardly, but after thinking about what both sides had done, she smiled and replied, “It’s alright, the bad guys have been driven away by the ‘Hell Tax Collector’.”

Neo continued chewing his food, watching Milton's interview with great interest.

When Neo and even his mother saw Milton say, "The mob has taken our taxes, our money, our food, and the fruits of our great labor," they momentarily forgot to chew their food and stared blankly at the screen.

These words really struck a chord with them!
They could have been very wealthy, able to watch TV every day and eat eggs every day. It was only because Fan Kang's gang came that they had such a wonderful life taken away from them!

After watching the speech, Neo didn't even want to eat. He jumped off his chair excitedly, waving his arms and legs.

"Bread and money! Dignity and greatness! Let the fruits of our labor return to our hands!"

"Long live!"

The woman, however, wasn't so optimistic. She sighed, shook her head, and said, "Alright, alright, hurry up and take a shower. You'll help me mind the shop later..."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than two figures darted into the entrance of the grocery store.

Without a word, they rushed to the counter, picked up a worn-out pistol, and said menacingly, "Money! Hand over all the money in the register, now!"

robbery? !
Since Fan Kang's gang arrived, robberies have not occurred for a long time.

Because all this money was paid up in the form of protection money.

Why was I suddenly robbed today?

The woman didn't say much, nor did she dare to resist. She raised her hands, went to the counter, carefully opened the money box, and took out all the banknotes inside.

As she handed over the money, she finally saw the faces of the two people in front of her clearly.

"You are... people from Fan Kang's gang. Didn't you just come to collect money a few days ago?"

"Enough with the nonsense." The man with the pistol was as menacing as ever, but for some reason, there was a hint of guilt in his voice. "Now you're paying Milton protection money. If you have any problems, go find him!"

After the old streets were taken over, the gang members in the area had to leave and lost their source of income. So the two men decided to pull off one last heist, pack up their assets in a couple of days, and move them to Mexico.

They weren't afraid of retaliation—Milton's status and position were what they were now, and the cost of deploying him was extremely high. How could they possibly go to such lengths for such a small amount of stolen money?
"All of it?" The woman's eyes pleaded. "Can't we leave a little, like before?"

The gangsters dared not waste any more time on Milton's turf. He suddenly raised his voice and snatched all the banknotes away: "How many times do I have to tell you, this is robbery! Give it all to me!"

The two Van Conn gang members stuffed the money into their bags and then began ransacking the grocery store shelves. Neo, driven by childish rage, watched Milton's speech unfold before his eyes, and anger overwhelmed his reason. He finally couldn't help but shout, "You're all bad people! The 'Hell Tax Collector' will send you to hell!"

The man's expression changed drastically. He suddenly raised his pistol, aimed it at the woman, and pulled the trigger... Click!

No shots were fired, no bullets were fired.

This damn gun is out of commission.

The woman's face turned deathly pale, but she instinctively shielded Neo and collapsed to the ground.

However, the two gang members didn't dare to linger. Seeing that their attempt to silence them had failed, they simply cursed "rotten gun," grabbed their belongings, and ran away.

Three minutes later, the woman looked at the messy grocery store with despair on her face.

This time, Fan Kang's gang went too far in their robbery...

If they hadn't borrowed money at exorbitant interest rates, the grocery store might have gone bankrupt in no time.

How to do?
Are we supposed to go to those underground brothels deep in the black market and sell our bodies for money?
Neo struggled to his feet, gritting his teeth as he shouted, "Mom, when you paid your taxes to the 'Hell Tax Collector,' didn't he give you a phone number? He said it was the police number, let's call the police!"

The woman shook her head with a wry smile: "Calling the police? What's the use? Will the police even care about something like this?"

"Mom, Mr. Milton is a good man. Let's give it a try. I believe he will help us!"

After considering it for a moment, the woman finally nodded, slowly got up from the ground, and went to the dial telephone to call the police.

It's not that I believe Milton is really a good person, but I believe that Milton is unlikely to silence her because of this, so trying it shouldn't lead to any disaster.

I'll try my luck... but I'll probably still have to resort to high-interest loans.

"Hello... sir, I... I need to call the police. My shop has just been burglarized. Please help me. The address is... Can you come right away?! Thank you so much!"

After his mother hung up the phone in shock, Neo immediately straightened his face: "Mom, we were robbed, not robbed. You can't lie to the police officer."

“Child, I’m not lying. I’ll tell them the truth when they arrive.” The woman shook her head with a wry smile. “I’m afraid if I tell them I was robbed on the phone, they’ll think it’s too dangerous and won’t come… Let’s call the police officers first. Maybe they’ll take pity on us and be willing to respond to the call.”

“I still need to make other preparations. Even if the police are dispatched, they may not be able to recover the money; even if they do, they may take a large portion as a kickback.”

"I'll go to the tailor shop next door and see if I can borrow some money..."

Neo thought about the man giving a speech on television and said firmly, "Mom, I don't think so. I believe in the 'Hell Tax Collector'!"

“Sigh, you’re still too naive. If the police force is too weak, they won’t be able to find money; but if they have too many officers, the cost will be too high, which is not worthwhile. Do you understand this simple math problem, child?”

"I don't care, I just believe in Milton!"

"..."

Three minutes later, the roar of a car engine could be heard outside the grocery store.

The woman quickly grabbed a bottle of beer and a can of luncheon meat, and waited nervously at the door—she had to give these things to the police officer no matter what.

Then, she watched in astonishment as an armored vehicle carrying a machine gun and an SUV drove up.

Several men wearing heavy bulletproof vests, tactical helmets, and carrying assault rifles jumped off the vehicle.

The others were responsible for sealing off the scene, while Milton strode quickly toward the bewildered woman, his face extremely grim.

"Was your shop robbed? Who the hell is so shameless as to steal from my taxpayers?!"

(End of this chapter)