Chapter 626: [Extra] Boundary Marker - 4 - The Tumor That Must Be Excised

"Leo, you are not the Messiah."

"You can’t save the whole world."

"Your duty, your legitimacy, comes from the mandate of the three hundred thousand citizens of Pittsburgh. They gave you this power to protect them, not for you to take their money and play the saint."

"If the Mutual Aid Alliance goes bankrupt and Pittsburgh’s pharmacies are empty, what will your citizens do to you?"

"They will tear you to pieces."

"That is politics."

Roosevelt’s voice became as hard as iron.

"Politics is the art of allocating resources, and resources are always scarce."

"You must make a choice."

"Do you want to be a bleeding heart who moves outsiders, only to watch your own city collapse?"

"Or do you want to be a cold Night Watcher, guard this wall, and let the people inside survive?"

Leo turned back to face Joe Miller.

The expression on Leo’s face had completely vanished.

Sympathy and hesitation were replaced by a cold mask called responsibility.

"Joe."

Leo began to speak.

"I know this is cruel."

"That doctor, the people buying the medicine... they might all be good people, pitiful people."

"But."

Leo’s finger tapped heavily on the tabletop.

"We can’t save the whole world."

"We can only save Pittsburgh."

"If this wall collapses because we sympathized with those outside it, then the people inside will die too."

"Our finances are bleeding. Every US dollar we lose weakens our leverage against Washington and the insurance companies."

"If we don’t plug this hole, the Mutual Aid Alliance won’t survive the winter."

"When that happens, the health insurance companies will come roaring back. They’ll laugh at us and say our experiment failed. They’ll raise the price of medicine back to three hundred US dollars, or even higher."

"At that point, it won’t just be people from Ohio who can’t afford medicine; people in Pittsburgh won’t be able to afford it either."

"That would be the real disaster."

Leo stared into Miller’s eyes.

"This is politics, Joe."

"Politics is about drawing boundaries."

"Politics is deciding who gets to eat and who gets left out in the cold."

"We have to protect those on the inside."

Joe Miller looked at Leo.

He saw something in the young Mayor’s eyes that felt foreign to him.

It was the weight of power, and its cold-bloodedness.

He suddenly understood why Leo was able to win.

Because this man dared to make a choice in a moral quagmire, dared to bear infamy to protect the greater good.

"I understand."

Miller lowered his head, his voice a bit hoarse.

"Then... how should we handle this?"

"Close the net."

Leo gave the order without any hesitation.

"Cut this line."

"That doctor, Edgar Stone. Have the police intervene. The charges are illegal operation of a pharmacy and interstate smuggling."

"Seize his clinic, confiscate all the medicine. Bring it back and put it in our warehouse."

"As for the elderly people acting as couriers..."

Leo paused.

This was the most difficult part to handle.

The elderly people who lined up in the cold wind just to make a dozen-or-so dollars were citizens of Pittsburgh. They were his voters.

If they were arrested, public opinion would explode.

"No arrests."

Leo said.

"We can’t arrest the elderly. It would make us look like fascists."

"But, there must be punishment."

"We’re going to use technology."

Leo picked up the phone on his desk and dialed Marcus Thorne’s extension.

"Marcus."

"It’s Leo."

"Activate the risk control system’s highest level. Lock all accounts with suspected abnormal purchasing records."

"Send a message to the owners of those accounts."

"Tell them the system has detected abnormal medication usage. For their health and safety, the Mutual Aid Alliance will be suspending their Red Card privileges for a period of three months."

"If they want to have their accounts unblocked, they must come to City Hall in person and sign a medication compliance agreement."

"Furthermore, even after their accounts are unblocked, their purchase limit will be cut in half."

It was a shrewd administrative penalty.

For the elderly who depended on cheap medicine to survive and also wanted to earn a little extra cash, suspending their service was worse than jail time.

It meant they had lost their privilege.

This sharp, personal pain would be enough to teach them a lesson.

"Also," Leo added to Miller.

"Notify the media."

"Have Sarah issue a press release."

"Focus on cracking down on the traffickers."

"Tell the citizens that a group of greedy middlemen are stealing the benefits of Pittsburgh’s people. They stole our medicine and sold it to outsiders to make a profit."

"This has caused our inventory to become strained, and the people of Pittsburgh who truly need the medicine can’t get it."

"We need to frame this operation as a righteous battle to protect Pittsburgh’s assets."

"We need to leverage the citizens’ xenophobic sentiments."

"Make everyone think that the doctor is a thief and the outsiders are plunderers."

"Only then can we seize the moral high ground."

A chill ran down Joe Miller’s spine.

’He’s exploiting human selfishness to mask the cruelty of the system.’

"Understood, Mayor."

Miller put away the report.

"I’ll get on it right now."

He turned and walked toward the door.

When he reached the door, he stopped and looked back at Leo.

"Leo."

Miller hesitated.

"That doctor... he’s actually a good person."

"I know."

Leo said without looking up, his eyes on the pen in his hand.

"There are a lot of good people in this world."

"But good people can’t save this city."

"Only order can."

Miller said no more and left, pushing the door open.

The office door closed.

Leo put down his pen.

He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling.

He knew that tonight, on the Pennsylvania border, that faint light was about to be extinguished.

Those vehicles waiting in the wind and snow, those desperate eyes, would lose their last hope.

A few people might even die because they couldn’t get medicine.

That debt would be on his head.

"Leo, if you want to hold power, you have to learn to watch others suffer and remain unmoved."

Roosevelt consoled him.

"Not because you are cold-blooded."

"But because you know that if you go soft, more people will suffer."

"You made the right decision."

"You’ve saved Pittsburgh’s lifeblood."

"As for the bloodstains..."

Roosevelt’s voice gradually faded away.

"Time will wash them clean."

Leo stood up.

He walked over to the map.

The red territory on the map, representing Pittsburgh’s influence, was still stable—in fact, it was an even more brilliant red.

Because he had excised the tumor on it.

Even if that tumor had been filled with sympathy and goodwill.

’But in the face of survival, excess goodwill is a tumor.’

"Ethan."

Leo pressed the intercom button.

"Prepare for tomorrow’s meeting."

"We’re going to discuss the second phase of the Inland Port expansion."

On this cold night.

Leo Wallace once again confirmed his identity.

He was not a priest.

He was the king of this city.

A king’s mercy is reserved for his subjects alone.

As for those outside the walls?

That was God’s business.