She is a natural disaster.

Chapter 33 One Stroke, Multiple Benefits

Anastasia was not at all surprised by Mike Montagu's growth and changes.

After all, she was the one who facilitated this growth and change.

Mike Montagu's performance at the Riverside Apartments last night was very impressive.

He was indifferent to LeBon Dupont's death and didn't care about the life or death of Detective Pig; he only wanted to know if Anastasia had gotten anything.

Clearly, Mike has moved on from the trauma of killing his own kind. Murder is no longer an untouchable taboo in his eyes, but a means to achieve his goals.

Only when he heard Anastasia describe how cruelly she had tortured Dupont did Mike, who had finally emerged from his trauma, finally react. His face contorted, and his body instinctively moved away from Anastasia.

Mike Montagu's instinctive avoidance is perfectly normal; it's a very normal physiological reaction.

Hearing Anastasia's detailed description of the torture, hearing the fine needles piercing the gaps between the fingernails and nail beds, even though Mike didn't see a single needle, he could feel the pain just from hearing the description.

To put it more bluntly: just thinking about it makes me feel pain.

Therefore, it was perfectly normal for Mike's body to react instinctively. Besides, murder and torture are two different things.

Mike Montagu's growth is a good thing for Anastasia, meaning that even if there are more scenes of killing in the future, her targets will have a certain capacity to withstand it.

But for Mike himself, it's hard to say whether this kind of growth is a good thing or a bad thing. Humans should have a sense of awe for death, and at least understand the impact of death on others.

If humanity loses its reverence for death and fails to understand its impact, human behavior will become completely unrestrained, and acts of murdering one's own kind will frequently occur, even becoming as simple as eating and drinking.

Jolina was unaware that Mike had already killed someone, unaware that he had crossed the line. Therefore, Jolina could only sense the changes in Mike, but she didn't know where those changes were occurring.

Mike wouldn't bring up the fact that he personally committed murder to Jolina, and Anastasia certainly wouldn't utter a word about it.

"Did we forget something?"

Inside the spacious carriage, Mike tried to change the subject.

"How am I supposed to know what you've missed!" Jolina said, sensing that the other two in the carriage were hiding something from her.

The carriages of the luxury carriages are large and spacious, where passengers can not only enjoy fine wine and food, but also draw the curtains and do some things that cannot be seen in public.

Jolena first glanced at Mike, who was deliberately changing the subject, and then at Anastasia, who was staring out the window. Jolena was certain that the two of them were hiding something from her.

"If you're referring to the matter of relaying messages for Du Pang, then it can't be considered an omission, and we no longer need to bring it up."

Anastasia looked away from the window. She had many opportunities to relay the warning Dupont had received to Gibson, but she did not.

"Do you believe what Gibson said?" Mike asked. "I don't think that Chief Inspector Lopez would really be on my side. I really can't think of any benefit I could bring him."

"Whether Gibson was sincere or not isn't really important," Anastasia said. "What's important is that Gibson made it clear what the Uptown Police Department's attitude and stance are going forward; they've decided to withdraw from this conflict."

"You mean the Uptown Police Department has other things to do and doesn't have time for me?" Mike thought for a moment and said, "Is that what you mean?"

Anastasia nodded, then looked at Jolena and said, "I don't know the specifics of the situation inside the Uptown Police Department, but I think that Chief Inspector Lopez is definitely going to do something."

Jolina nodded in agreement, saying, "The chief inspector wasn't promoted from the bottom; he was directly assigned by the Security Bureau. Several section chiefs in the department are more or less dissatisfied with this, and even Hector has complained to me about it."

Then, Jolena explained her relationship with Hector Evans to Anastasia.

"Even Evans, a section chief who's seen as just coasting along, is dissatisfied. It's impossible for someone as ambitious as Gregory Barnes to remain completely inactive," Anastasia said. She didn't know much about the police department's internal affairs, but she did understand human nature.

Jolena nodded heavily again and said, "I heard Hector mention that Barnes originally had a chance to compete for the position of Chief Inspector. He has served in the Upper District for many years, and he has a chance to compete for the position, both in terms of seniority and merit."

The result was predictable: Gregory Barnes failed to become the chief detective of the Uptown Police Department.

Jolene continued, "It's said that Barnes pulled a lot of strings to get a chance to be selected as the chief inspector, and you all saw the result."

As she spoke, the beautiful detective looked at young master Montagu with resentment.

Although the Montague family has not been in power for long and its foundation is not yet deep enough, it can still be considered a privileged class.

"The Security Bureau and the Police Department had already decided on the Chief Inspector. Barnes had no chance at all; the position of Chief Inspector was never meant for him."

As she said this, there was a hint of dissatisfaction in Jolina's tone.

The arrival of a leader from outside the police station will inevitably cause dissatisfaction within the Upper East Side Police Department, and may even lead to serious internal conflicts.

Faced with this situation, some people choose to accept it voluntarily and cooperate with the new chief inspector; others accept it passively. They will not do anything out of line, but they will complain a few words behind the scenes or outwardly comply while inwardly resisting.

Some people chose not to accept it, and Gregory Barnes was one of them. Taking advantage of the fact that the newly appointed chief inspector had just taken office, he chose to take action to sideline the new leader and prevent the new chief inspector's orders from reaching the chief inspector's office.

Jolina continued, "Barnes controls the two most important departments in the police station, the Operations Division and the Police Division, which is why he can remove police officers from the streets without the chief inspector's permission."

At this point, Jolina suddenly stopped talking, Mike let out a cold laugh that was hard to decipher, and Anastasia looked back out the car window at the people coming and going.

Lopez may have become the chief inspector of the Uptown Police Department because of his family's influence, but he couldn't possibly be completely incompetent. The Lopez family would not allow a good-for-nothing to show his face and disgrace the family.

Since Lopez is a capable person, he couldn't possibly be unaware that Barnes was undermining him.

Mike immediately thought of Lopez's approach. The new chief inspector hadn't dealt with Barnes not because he was weak or incompetent, but because he was waiting for the right opportunity to wipe out all the opponents.

Chief Inspector Lopez must have known that Barnes had depleted the police force on the streets, but he turned a blind eye to it and may even have secretly helped Barnes carry out his ambitious subordinate's attack plan.

With all available police resources mobilized, the attack on Mike Montagu took place, and the opportunity that Detective Chief Lopez had been waiting for finally arrived.

"Our retaliation was exactly what Lopez expected," Mike suddenly said. "I'm a little afraid of him now."

Anastasia shook her head and said, "Lopez isn't as scary as you think. It's normal for Lopez to have guessed that we would retaliate afterwards. There's no reason in the world to take a beating and not fight back."

"You mean, he guessed we'd retaliate, but he didn't expect our retaliation to be this intense?" Mike asked. "He didn't expect Dupont's body to be hanging on the lamppost in front of the police station."

"I think so." Anastasia looked away from the car window again. "Gibson was a little too polite just now. He wants us to stop here."

"Lopez is worried we'll do something even more extreme," Mike said, "like blocking the entrance to the police station in the central courtyard."

Anastasia's aggressive behavior clearly exceeded Lopez's expectations, and if Lopez wants to continue in his circle, he must step in to resolve the matter.

Either shut down Anastasia and Mike for their impulsive actions, or make Gregory Barnes, the troublemaker, apologize.

Lopez chose the latter, opting to cut Barnes off from the Uptown Police Department and abandon this ambitious subordinate.

In this way, Chief Inspector Lopez could both curry favor with the ruthless Anastasia and Mike, and eliminate the ambitious Barnes, achieving two goals at once.

"People who play politics are all filthy-hearted," Jolena clicked her tongue. "Barnes isn't a good person, and Lopez isn't any better."

In the game set up by Lopez, Mike Montagu is also a piece on the board, and the kind of piece that can be sacrificed.

The son of a well-known tycoon got into trouble on the territory of the Upper East Side Police Department. One of the reasons for the incident was the Upper East Side Police Department's illegal deployment of police forces. This crime alone was enough to end Gregory Barnes' police career.

"I don't want to have dinner with Lopez at all right now," Mike said in a fit of pique. He knew his situation well; having more friends was always better than having more enemies.

Upon hearing this, Jolina quickly spoke up to persuade Mike, saying that he couldn't act like a spoiled brat at a time like this.

"Mike, I think you should still meet with Lopez and hear what he has to say," Jolene advised. "The withdrawal of the Uptown Police Department is a good thing for us."

More friends mean more paths; fewer enemies mean fewer obstacles.

Mike was just throwing a tantrum; he didn't really not want to see Lopez, so he looked at Anastasia.

As long as Anastasia provides an opening, Mike will be able to put aside his spoiled brat attitude, accept the offer, and then find a suitable time to meet with Lopez.

"We definitely need to meet, but not now," Anastasia kindly offered an excuse. "We don't have enough leverage, so it's difficult to get anything out of Lopez. Being too eager will only invite his contempt."

Anastasia wanted to establish a partnership with Lopez, an equal partnership, not a subordinate relationship where Montagu was subordinate to Lopez.