Chapter 32: The Center of Attention

Lewis certainly understood the underlying meaning of the other party's words, but since he himself was not too clear about it, he could only give such an ambiguous answer.

However, his reply clearly did not satisfy Hector, who continued to press, "Lewis, even with talent, this is still too outrageous. All of our Inspectors want to understand the details, it should be very helpful to them. Can you disclose any information?"

Hector's words were very clever.

He didn't directly say he wanted to know, but instead, he used the excuse of the curiosity of the Inspectors in the department. Lewis, if you weren't willing to share, it would mean that you were being too selfish!

Now, tell us whether you're willing to talk or not!

Unfortunately, it's the same old story; Lewis himself didn't understand, so how could he explain the reasoning?

"As the Chief Tax Officer, there are some things you guys understand that I shouldn't inquire, If you want to know, you can ask Inspector David yourself!"

"..."

Upon hearing such a response, Hector and the others were somewhat at a loss for words.

"All right, the assessment meeting is about to begin, everyone should head back and get ready!"

Seeing Lewis issue the order for them to leave, even though everyone still wanted to pursue the matter, they had to turn and depart.

Lewis, looking at the tax performance charts he had painstakingly created, shook his head helplessly, then picked up a crumpled paper ball and tossed it into the waste bin!

The chart summarized the tax performance for robberies, zero-dollar purchases, car theft gangs, and more, but unexpectedly, a gang of thieves from the Island Nation had also arrived today, thus necessitating the creation of a new report.

...

Two hours later, after David had dealt with the last person from Bangguo, he took out his computer and started auditing the overall taxes.

"My part is... $163,200."

"Mine is $52,000."

"Together, that makes $213,500!"

This figure did not surprise David too much.

Under the scrutiny of his 'Golden Finger', he had already discerned the income level of this group from Bangguo, which was overall slightly higher than that of the Island Nation people.

Just Quan Zhentai himself was required to pay over $110,000 in taxes. Add on the various henchmen, and reaching a total of $213,500 was naturally quite normal.

"Log it into the database, Mary."

"You got it!"

Mary and her team cheerfully started counting, and before long, their tally matched the amount calculated by David's side. Subsequently, they transported the tax money for storage.

Time quickly advanced to noon.

After lunch, all the Inspectors from Headquarters, some taking the stairs and others the elevator, all convened on the fifth floor of the meeting room.

The total number of Tax Inspectors in Headquarters was eighty. Including the Chief Tax Officer, Deputy Tax Inspector, Tax Investigators, and other executives, the count was nearly one hundred.

Fortunately, the entire fifth-floor area was used for the meeting room and could accommodate so many people.

Once David and the other Inspectors were all seated.

At that moment, Lewis and the other Chief Tax Officers made their entrance and took seats in the front row.

Then, four more individuals entered.

Two of them were Deputy Tax Inspectors from the department, and the other two were Tax Investigators.

As the Director and Assistant Director were both at Washington D.C. Headquarters for training and other duties, the actual management of the department was currently in the hands of these two Tax Investigators.

After coming in, three of them took their seats in the front row, while a black man in his forties dressed in a suit took the stage in front of the large screen.

His name was Gusin Shelby, one of the department's two Tax Investigators.

"Good afternoon, everyone. It's time for our bi-monthly assessment again. Next, based on the data submitted by the various Chief Tax Officers, I will report on the work performance of the different teams!"

Gusin signaled the screen controller, and soon the screen displayed lines such as 'First Team,' 'Group 1234 Tax Performance.'

"The first squad, in this assessment period of half a month, collected a total of $48,200 in unreported taxes; the first group accounted for $21,000, the second group $13,000..."

"Not bad, it's a full double the performance of the last assessment period, which was $22,000. Let's give them a round of applause for encouragement!"

Following Gusin's lead, thunderous applause filled the room.

Just then, the screen operator switched the display to the second squad.

Gusin continued, "The second squad, over this half-month assessment period, collected $37,000 in unreported taxes; the first group accounted for $11,000, the second group for..."

"Overall, also very good, let's continue with a round of applause for encouragement..."

"..."

The first month after the Black Tax Law had passed was marred by inadequate intelligence and training, leading to all the teams' performance being dismal.

But thankfully, after the experience of the first assessment period, the Inspectors found some experience and feel, resulting in the tax performance of this second assessment period soaring to double or even triple the previous figures.

Time flew by, and within the blink of an eye, an hour passed.

Now, the highlight finally arrived!

"Next is the data for the seventh squad..."

The seventh squad was the team led by Lewis and also the one to which David and others belonged.

David, however, seemed relatively calm, while Nisen, Bucky, and other team members, despite mental preparation, were still noticeably anxious at this moment!

"The seventh squad, during this assessment period, achieved a tax performance of $886,800!"

As soon as this figure was announced, the atmosphere on the floor went still, and everyone looked at the seventh squad with eyes filled with envy, jealousy, and shock.

The other six squads combined didn't even reach $300,000 in performance, although the data for squads eight, nine, and ten were yet to come.

But it was evident that, even if those three squads combined, they would at most contribute about $400,000, which still wasn't even half of the seventh squad's sum.

In fact, not only was the floor of Inspectors and Chief Tax Officers taken aback.

Even Gusin on the stage was unsettled when announcing the number, but he still pretended to be unaffected and continued, "Group one of squad seven has a tax performance of $13,000, group two, $812,000..."

When the number $812,000 was heard, all the Inspectors involuntarily turned their gaze towards David. As for the other two groups, their figures weren't even registered.

"Let's give them an applause, especially for the second group of the seventh squad!"

In the previous six squads, Gusin had mostly glossed over the groups, never specifically emphasizing any one group for accolades.

But for the seventh squad, due to David's group's standout performance, he specially highlighted it in front of the whole department.