Chapter 223: Legal but Unethical

"Now, an urgent news bulletin: A shooting incident occurred at 6:12 p.m. today in the city of Agel in our state! The incident has resulted in four deaths and three injuries."

"Currently, patrols from the Agel City Police Department have arrived at the scene, surrounding the Bass Bank where the incident took place. However, the situation is dire as the shooter has already closed the bank's doors, locked all the windows, and has taken over ten hostages. More details to follow."

"Cart! Cart! Come over here and see this news. A bank has been robbed!"

Seeing the broadcasted images on the news, Jenny stopped peeling the apple in her hand and exclaimed.

"What's going on? The bank was robbed?!"

Outdoors, Carter, enjoying a cigarette after dinner, could only faintly hear "the bank was robbed."

"Has anyone called the police? Are there any casualties among the staff?"

Startled, Carter, who couldn't hold onto his cigarette properly, rushed indoors. Standing at the entrance, changing shoes, he asked loudly.

"The police are already there! I heard four people died. Oh God, it's terrifying, where are you going?!"

Jenny, startled by Carter's rush to leave, grabbed him.

"It's not our bank; it's Bass Bank in Agel. But it's not far from here. You need to arrange security, be safe. Wait, I'll go upstairs to get the gun. Your firearm license is still in the bedside table, right?"

"Yes! It's in the top drawer of the bedside table! All my documents are there."

While Jenny went upstairs to fetch the gun, Carter, relieved that it wasn't their bank being robbed, sat down beside Melissa on the sofa.

"Don't worry; everything will be fine!"

After patting Melissa's bewildered head, Carter's gaze turned back to the TV screen. At this moment, the reporters had already arrived at the scene.

"Let me tell you, it's not Ben's fault! It's the Bass Bank being too outrageous! Not only did they have the clause against early settlement, they also wanted to deal with us, making us go in one by one. What's the point of that? Letting one person in allows them to manipulate us."

"Ben might have been too impulsive, but Bass Bank is too much this time!"

"In my opinion, Ben did the right thing! He's not a criminal; he's a hero protecting our legal rights! This damn bank should be investigated! Who gave them the authority?"

With the advancing footsteps of the reporter in the footage, some scattered off-screen voices were also recorded by the sound engineer. Though not entirely clear, these disjointed voices made Carter frown.

Agel, Bass Bank.

This name wasn't unfamiliar to Carter. When he took over Forest Bank initially, it was taken from them. Logically, given Bass Bank's ability to merge with other banks, its financial situation should have been quite good in the Georgia banking industry, or at least in the banking industry in the central and southern parts of Georgia.

What the hell happened? They haven't had any trouble yet, but this bank with a good financial situation has a shooting incident.

Listening to the brief descriptions of survivors in the off-screen audio, it seemed that they had recently done something, and then...

"Sorry, but I'd like to ask, why did you suddenly mortgage your own residence for this loan application? After all, I see there are quite a few of you. Could it be that you were instigated to maliciously apply for a loan? I have no malicious intent, just that I believe the audience in front of the TV may have this doubt!"

The reporter, holding the microphone, spoke quickly. It was obvious that this emergency interview was a bit difficult for her.

"In addition, I just heard some of your discussions. You are dissatisfied with the clause in the loan contract at Bass Bank that does not allow early settlement, right? But this clause, it is not illegal, and Mr. Ben's current actions have already amounted to intentional manslaughter!"

"I know, frankly, Ben... even if he were sentenced to life imprisonment, I could understand. He was too impulsive! He shouldn't have done this, but I can understand him! We all can understand him, even though I almost died at his gun."

The chubby guy being interviewed shook his head regretfully, his chubby double chin quivering with the movement:

"I also know that if the clause prohibiting early settlement was written into the contract from the beginning, that's reasonable! It's also legal. But most banks, at most, only prohibit early settlement within the first three years, right? They prohibit it from start to finish. This is legal, but it's unethical! Extremely unethical! We are very disappointed in Bass Bank and angry at their behavior."

"But that's not a reason for Ben to harm others!"

The inexperienced female reporter still insisted on her viewpoint.

"Of course, that's not the reason he harmed others. I just said, I support his imprisonment. It's just that personally, I would sympathize with him."

"You're not a local, you might not know. Ben has always been a good person, and he works hard, too. It's just that he's too straightforward and has a bit of a bad temper. He's offended the leaders many times at work, but he's never wronged his colleagues, us neighbors!"

"Because of his bad temper, although he had the best skills, he has never been promoted. Life has been very difficult. But as long as he can still go on, he won't do this."

"Two months ago, due to Bass Bank's refusal to lend, many factories in Agel had to reduce production and then lay off workers. This unpopular troublemaker was naturally the first to be laid off by the production supervisor."

"The whole environment is so bad that for the past two months, he's been working hard, going out early and returning late, but he can't find any work. And losing his job also led to his wife leaving. Oh, right, that's what happened the day before yesterday. He even dragged me out for a drink that day."