Benjamin stood silently in the middle of the sitting room. After thinking for a long time, he finally said, "I don't know whether you know about the incident during the mayoral election two years ago..."
"The mayor of Metropolis is an extremely important position. The State Legislature is usually very cautious when selecting candidates. Generally speaking, there are no more than four candidates. Like every other mayoral election, one or two of them are merely there to make up the numbers, while the rest are genuinely competitive."
"But that Metropolis mayoral election was exceptionally fierce. There were twelve candidates in total, each representing a different party or faction."
Schiller frowned at Benjamin and asked, "How could there have been so many people? How did the State Legislature approve it?"
Benjamin looked back at Schiller, staring into his eyes. "That election was held because the mayor before White had been assassinated. It was an emergency election."
"The State Legislature feared that too few candidates might allow someone with ulterior motives to manipulate the election, so they loosened the screening standards."
"The State Legislature had assumed that at least ten of the twelve candidates only wanted to add some polish to their résumés and had no real intention of competing for the position. But who would have thought that every one of them would fight so fiercely for it?"
Benjamin's tone grew increasingly grave. "Perhaps the warning signs had already appeared by then."
"At first, it was only ordinary electoral competition—speeches, canvassing for votes, attacking opponents..."
"But afterward, things grew worse and worse: vote-buying, rumors, harassment, exposés. Two candidates even suffered inexplicable Car Accidents and had to be hospitalized."
"Seeing that the situation was spiraling out of control, the governor wanted everyone to sit down and talk, rather than let things turn