blogombal Chapter 837 Where did everyone go?
Chapter 837 Where did everyone go?
Chapter 837 Where did everyone go?
George Stacy was quite happy, not because he had been promoted from Lieutenant to Captain and become the Sheriff of the NYPD's 12th Precinct, nor because he had time to have lunch with Gwen and Peter today.
Rather, he genuinely believed that the second wave of superhero popularity, which began 10 years ago when Tony Stark announced himself as Iron Man and peaked during the Battle of New York, was nearing its end, and that a period of relaxation was about to begin.
"New York City's crime rate spiked in the second half of the year, seemingly heading straight for Baltimore's level, but it improved considerably in the first half and returned to pre-New York levels in the second half."
While eating fried rice, George Stacy said that, contrary to Peter's expectations, there was a standard American Chinese restaurant in front of the 12th Precinct, serving various American Chinese dishes, such as classic General Tso's Chicken and Orange Chicken. The restaurant was loaded with oil, salt, and sugar, and it felt like it shouldn't be located here, but rather in front of some construction site.
Oh, and there are also classic fortune cookies, a type of Chinese food that has nothing to do with Chinese cuisine.
"So, if we can continue to reduce the crime rate next year, I will be able to use up my annual leave and won't have to be busy from morning till night all year round."
Hearing her father's words, Gwen smiled helplessly: "On the condition that you don't continue to get promoted, Dad."
"...Probably not, I don't think so. After all, the layoffs have already been completed, involving tens of thousands of people."
The NYPD has over 50,000 employees, including approximately 38,000 police officers and over 10,000 administrative staff. In Octopus City, nearly 60% of NYPD employees sided with Doctor Octopus, and of these, 23% were fired on the spot, 15% of the NYPD was disbanded, and several precincts were merged.
Furthermore, with the conclusion of the internal review, the final 37% of NYPD officers were deemed not to have been coerced or had no better option, but rather to have voluntarily chosen to join the Doctor Octopus camp, thus creating more than 10,000 vacant police positions in New York City.
Peter paused for a moment, then recalled the homeless people he had encountered at the charity event, before asking Chief Stacy, "Uncle George, do you know what happened to those officers after they were fired?"
Director Stacy shook her head. Since they were all voluntarily following Doctor Octopus, she naturally couldn't connect with them and didn't know them. However, she was curious why Peter had asked that question, so she countered, "What's wrong, Peter? Have you discovered something?"
"I've been helping out at charities for several days now, so... I haven't seen a single homeless former police officer, or rather, people whose lives haven't been affected at all after losing their jobs."
Chief Stacy's expression turned serious. It would be understandable if many, even a significant portion, of the officers had been employed through loans or by finding jobs with security companies, thus employing a portion or even the vast majority of the police force. But the fact that it was almost impossible to find a single former officer who had become homeless because of Octopus City was quite strange.
More than 10,000 people—not to mention ordinary companies, even giant gangs and security companies couldn't possibly handle such a large number of unemployed people.
Peter even became wary: "Have any new security companies or other large corporations emerged recently? It's impossible for these people to just disappear without a trace, is it?"
But Chief Stacy just frowned: "I haven't heard of any similar organizations lately..."
The dinner table fell silent. Gwen, who had been eating silently, watched the two of them talking about work until now, unsure of what to say. But then she suddenly noticed something: "Why don't you look out the window? It looks like that might answer your question?"
So Peter and Chief Stacy both looked out the window. It was a van Peter recognized. On the van was a middle-aged white man with a white suit, a shaved head, a stocky build, and a smiling face. The van was repeatedly broadcasting a "GG" message.
"Fisk Relief Center provides a safe haven for all citizens in need."
The GG was called four or five times before the bread truck finally turned and left. After listening, Peter rubbed his nose and said, "Fisk... his new charity can't recruit that many security personnel and staff. I still don't know what he plans to do after he was released on bail. I heard he joined the Elephant Party?"
"The New York City mayoral election is already over this year, unless he's planning to run for councilman in next year's midterm elections and then run for president in 16," Chief Stacy said with a laugh, then suddenly looked at Peter: "He won't, right? He has no political experience whatsoever, he's a mob boss, at best he'll be a businessman after laundering his money, he definitely won't get elected."
Well, if you knew about a certain President Milk Dragon from another timeline, I guess you wouldn't say such a thing. But Peter still didn't dare to draw a conclusion, and just continued eating. The three of them finished their lunch, and then Director Stacy paid first and said she had to leave.
Gwen got up from next to Peter and moved to sit opposite him. She then asked Peter, "I have to say, uh, aren't you all a bit too focused on these things? Fisk is no match for the Avengers or the Defenders right now, right? As long as he doesn't plan to get caught and taken back, he definitely won't get involved in these things."
"That makes a lot of sense, Gwen. It just doesn't quite make sense."
Gwen looked at Peter in confusion. What? Is my head pointed?
“Fisk has changed the game. He certainly won’t commit crimes anymore, and everything he does now is legal. But legal doesn’t mean that everything he does is right.” Peter sighed. “The worst kind of bad guys are those protected by legal rules.”
"Then there's no way to deal with him unless you can change the law, or simply ignore it. Hmm... it seems like superheroes themselves commit quite a few illegal acts."
Watching Gwen make her own joke, Peter was speechless for a while, then suddenly, as if he remembered something: "Wait, haven't you told Uncle George that you're a superhuman yet?"
"Yeah, I don't want my dad to lecture me."
"...Haven't you told Uncle George that you joined the rock band over a year ago?"
"Really? What's wrong?"
(End of this chapter)