Chapter 232 Crushing Victory
12 hours left until voting closes.
I was half-lying on the couch with a face mask on, while Marcus sat not far away playing video games.
Marcus, who usually preferred shooting games, was rarely playing a music rhythm game. Despite his nimble fingers, he had zero musical talent—the choppy melody kept going off-key.
"What song is that?" I asked Marcus.“Beethoven’s Für Elise?”
"No." Marcus put down his phone expressionlessly. "It's Für Elise."
I rubbed my temples and suggested bluntly, “Maybe you should switch to a different game.”
Marcus sighed. "Gale and Brian said I can't play violent shooting games when I'm around you—it's bad for prenatal education."
"Well, you don't have to torture my ears with such terrible music either!"
Marcus scooted over and nudged me. "Bella, what are you doing?"
“I’m looking at trending topics.”I tilted my tablet toward him a bit. "This reporter who claims to only break news without verifying it says Brian molested the defendant in a school bullying case—a sixteen-year-old girl."
Marcus rolled his eyes.“If Brian actually did that, I wouldn’t know what to think about him.”
I'd actually wondered the same thing.
Marcus picked up his phone and enthusiastically scrolled through the popular comments. "There's even someone saying Brian cheated on him during their relationship. Let me check his profile... damn, 38-year-old male fitness instructor, thick chest hair, leg hair, and armpit hair. His bio says 'I'm proud of my body hair.' Disgusting! Get lost!"
Marcus looked like his eyes were about to fall out. "He doesn't even have a single photo with Brian, and people actually believe his made-up love story? Reported!"
I tapped the screen and said, "I also saw a post claiming that Brian's 100% win rate is because our family is in the mafia—that he regularly threatens plaintiffs and defendants, and even bribes and intimidates judges."
Marcus froze, then said nervously, "But isn't that true? Who leaked it? Do they have evidence?"
I shook my head. "They have evidence and even posted it, but the netizens don't believe it."
Marcus was confused. "Nobody believes it?"
I cleared my throat and read him a few comments:
"As long as he's handsome enough, I can tolerate all his problems!"
"Brian is so good-looking, whatever he says is right. I can forgive him for anything."
"So what if he threatens people? So what if he bribes them? Brian's biggest crime is not knowing me and not loving me."
Marcus laughed dryly. "Brian always used to say he wanted someone to support him. I thought he just didn't want to compete with Gale for power, but turns out he really does have the potential to attract women to support him!"
Hearing Marcus's words, I fell into thought.
Marcus flexed his wrists. "Bella, Gale and Lucas are busy with voting, Brian's busy exposing negative news about city hall, and I'm just lounging around. That doesn't seem right."
I glanced at him. "What about Jacqueline?"
"She's been in Starstream City too long. She needs to go home for a bit."
"Are you bored?"
Marcus shrugged. "A little. How about I go assassinate Veselin? Otherwise, even if Brian wins the election, he'll keep causing trouble."
"I've already poisoned Veselin. I bribed a staff member at the coffee shop he frequents. It's a very small dose of slow-acting poison. He's been drinking it continuously for half a month." I calculated mentally. "In the next day or two, the poison should take effect."
Marcus clapped his hands. "That's so like you!"
"If you're really bored, go find Albino."
Marcus looked puzzled. "Albino?"
"I want to train some loyal assassins. Albino picked out some 'candidates' and brought them back. You can go give him some guidance."
"That's my specialty. Leave it to me!" Marcus jumped up excitedly and rushed out, quickly disappearing into the night.
The next day.
The vote-counting hall was brightly lit by the morning sun, and the atmosphere wasn't as oppressive and tense as I'd imagined.
Of course, looking around, I noticed that only people from our camp looked relaxed. Veselin and his supporters on the other side all had grim faces, with obvious bloodshot eyes and heavy dark circles showing they'd been through days of hard work.
The huge electronic screen refreshed with the final valid vote count in complete silence.
Affected by the previous day's vote fraud scandal, a large number of Chaotic Zone residents had gone to polling stations to vote, causing a dramatic shift in the candidates' support rates.
First place: Brian—255,361 votes, over 41% support rate.
Second place: Veselin—169,895 votes, only 27% support rate.
The notary announced calmly, "Starstream City's new mayor has been born. Congratulations to Brian! The well-deserved winner!"
The whole room erupted.
I clapped hard until my palms turned red.
Amid the noisy cheering, Lucas helplessly took my hand and lowered his head to gently blow on it.
I threw my arms around Lucas's neck and kissed his lips. "We won!"
Lucas gazed at me affectionately, slowly breaking into a smile. "Yes, we won!"
Brian walked up to the podium. His upright posture and handsome appearance in the sunlight were like a god descending. I figured after today, Brian would gain another surge of fans.
Brian delivered his inaugural speech steadily and gracefully. On the other side at the candidates' seats, Veselin stared at the big screen in disbelief. "Impossible, impossible!"
Brian smiled and asked, "Veselin, do you have any objections?"
"Why do you have so many votes?" Veselin's knuckles were clenched white, his chest heaving violently.
"Of course it's because my charm won over many supporters." Brian shrugged, then looked at us. "My success couldn't have happened without my family's support."
Gale and Lucas had each collected 40,000 offline votes, which they cast for Brian on the day before voting closed, immediately opening up a gap with second place.
Veselin was no ordinary opponent. City hall had also collected tens of thousands of offline votes, planning to make a comeback on the last day.
We were prepared for these old politicians' behind-the-scenes manipulation and originally expected to win by only a narrow margin. However, the Woods family and the Caudill family secretly contributed 25,000 offline votes to pledge their allegiance to us. Plus, Jonas and Karen mobilized netizens online, and unexpectedly, Brian's fans strongly supported his career.
No one had expected such a huge gap in the final results.
Veselin clearly couldn't accept this outcome. He clutched his chest hard, his expensive suit getting wrinkled, his breathing becoming more and more rapid.
People watched him and whispered:
"What's wrong with him? Not much ability but quite a temper!"
"He looks like he's about to pass out."
"That's strange. An experienced politician shouldn't be unable to handle setbacks."
Veselin's assistant rushed forward to support him, seemingly wanting to help him go rest.
Lucas's eyes flashed sharply. "He has a gun!"
I instinctively looked at Veselin, then realized Lucas meant "he" was referring to Veselin's assistant!
The assistant had a miniature crossbow hidden in his sleeve. When his hand hung down, the crossbow slid into his palm, and using the motion of supporting Veselin, he secretly aimed at Brian.
Veselin's painful display might be part of a conspiracy, giving his assistant a reason to get closer to Brian.
Lucas and Marcus pulled out their guns. Just as I was about to shout a warning to Brian, Veselin suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and fell straight down, accidentally knocking the crossbow out of his assistant's hand.
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Veselin's poison had taken effect at this exact moment!