American Tax Officer

David wasn't interested in becoming a star figure, but he was certainly interested in getting a promotion.

William nodded in response, "Of course, do you think it's appropriate for an Inspector, or even a Chief Tax Officer, to become the face of the IRS?"

"Director, what level could that promotion reach?"

"According to the news I got from Deputy Director Donald at headquarters, the lowest might be a Tax Investigator, and at the highest… perhaps a direct appointment to a district sub-branch director position!"

"What, sub-branch director!"

David's complexion changed, a look of shock spreading across his face.

With his current contributions to the IRS's revenue, he was qualified to be promoted to Deputy Tax Investigator.

The only problem was that he was too inexperienced and too young, plus he had just taken up the position of Chief Tax Officer not long ago.

So even if the new tax bill could break some of the previous promotion rules, it wouldn't be possible to become a Deputy Tax Investigator so soon; he would still need to wait for a while.

But now, since headquarters wanted to start this deity-making plan, it meant that all regulations and qualifications would not matter anymore for anyone chosen!

Most crucially, he was still just a Chief Tax Officer, so if he really got picked for this deity-making plan, as William said, wouldn't he jump three levels if promoted directly to sub-branch director?

Even if headquarters didn't settle on sub-branch director, and he ended up with the minimum promotion to Tax Investigator, that would still mean a two-level jump!

Initially indifferent to the deity-making plan, David now became eager, looking expectantly at William and asking, "Director, what exactly are the qualifications for this deity-making plan?"

"The specifics aren't clear yet, but I think it won't be too complicated. Probably, whoever generates the most tax revenue for the IRS and who does well on the performance charts will get picked..."

William saw the desire in David's eyes, but to be honest, he didn't have high hopes for him.

Because he hadn't mentioned one thing: background.

In the workplace of any country, having the right connections is essential for an exceptional promotion.

And David was well aware of this, knowing too that he didn't have any political resources or networks.

Although Deputy Director Donald from headquarters thought highly of David, the decision wasn't just up to Donald.

There were also other deputy directors, the director itself, the senior and junior advisors—a whole array of top-level officials.

Of course, to avoid dampening David's enthusiasm, William wouldn't bring this up!

Besides the background, another factor was performance.

Although David currently held the national top spot, he himself had said it was unlikely he'd maintain it until the end of the evaluation period.

Therefore, all things considered, William still thought that people like Brown Soros from New York and Bellamy Hardy from Los Angeles had a better chance.

Aside from their excellent performance every evaluation period, as far as he knew, they both had significant backing too!

"Creating the most tax revenue..."

Before asking, David had already guessed, and after William's reply, his anticipation faded, and he fell into thought.

If the selection for this deity-making project was based on performance, he would undoubtedly have a hard time competing with the likes of Bellamy Hardy and Brown Soros.

But maybe…

After all, when the time came for selection, the high-level officials at headquarters would surely consider the different platforms of each major sub-branch.

Otherwise, how would the chosen deity be convincing?

But regardless, the most urgent task was to do everything possible to maintain a high level of performance!

Only then, when the deity-making project was launched, could he compete with people like Brown Soros and Bellamy Hardy!

This was a direct ticket to becoming a Tax Investigator, or even a local sub-branch director—a shortcut that would save at least three to five years of struggle, if not ten.

He was even willing to fight with all his might for this opportunity!

"Giggle giggle giggle..."

As the two were still talking, someone knocked on the office door.

"Come in!"

The next second, William's assistant Ottilia came in with a somewhat troubled expression and said, "Director, Director David, Brown Soros has returned to the top of the list..."

Upon hearing this, whether it was William or David, both wore dumbfounded expressions.

How long did it take for them to top the list?

Hasn't even been an hour, right?

How did this Brown Soros suddenly take back the top spot again?

To confirm this, William immediately opened the tax performance rankings on his computer and found, just as Ottilia had said, that the top position on the leaderboard had changed hands once again.

"Wait... 35 million? A single entry of 10 million?"

William seemed to have noticed something unusual, and his expression turned grim.

David also immediately turned to look at the computer screen and saw, just as William had mentioned, that Brown Soros's tax achievements were indeed 35 million, and there was also a single entry of 10 million on the record, which made his face darken as well.

You see, just yesterday, the guy's tax achievements had increased by a bit more than 2 million. Now looking at how the top position was taken away, he instantly took it back, not to mention it was exactly 10 million, just enough to top his 34.32 million by a slight margin.

It's hard not to speculate whether the other party was doing this to deliberately disgust him!

Apart from the two in the office,

At the same time, within the Inspector's Office on the third floor.

"Fake Yau, this damned Brown Soros must be cheating!"

"The day before yesterday, yesterday, and the day before, he recorded entries of over 5 million, over 3 million, and over 2 million respectively. Today, when the top spot was taken, he immediately recorded exactly 10 million. This is definitely cheating and disgusting!"

"This is unfair, we need to appeal to the headquarters for an investigation of him!"

In the Dieter case, all the inspectors at the Lake District Sub-Bureau made a fortune, naturally making them very grateful to David.

Furthermore, with David taking the top national tax achievements ranking, as inspectors of the Lake District Sub-Bureau, they naturally felt a great sense of pride.

But now, that sense of pride didn't last even an hour, and more importantly, it had been squeezed out by the other party in such a seemingly cheating and disgusting manner, which instantly angered all the inspectors in the office.

Among the upset crowd, there was one exception.

This person was Selina, who seemed to be pondering something before she picked up her phone and walked into the restroom.

Of course, apart from the Lake District Sub-Bureau, the inspectors from the major street districts and Newtown District, although not as furious as those at the Lake District Sub-Bureau, were also somewhat annoyed by Brown Soros's disgusting behavior.

Inside the Director's Office of the Lake District Sub-Bureau,

The commotion from the Inspector's Office on the third floor soon reached David and William, who were engrossed in thought.

David pushed aside his emotions and suggested, "Director, this can't go on. How about I go down and stabilize them?"

William considered for a moment. Indeed, the situation required David's intervention to steady things, and so he agreed, "I will call the headquarters about this matter to have them check for any tax achievement fraud!"

Even though he was well aware that if the other party dared to do this, they wouldn't find anything upon investigation, he still needed to express his support for David.

David nodded, turned, and walked out, quickly arriving at the Inspector's Office on the third floor.

The inspectors there were still indignant about the loss of the top spot, but upon seeing David arrive, everyone fell silent.

David began, "Losing the top position makes me more uncomfortable than anyone, but there's nothing we can do. If our achievements are inferior, we acknowledge it. We'll keep working hard to reclaim the tax achievements and focus on doing our jobs well."

"But Director David, as the saying goes, 'don't hit a man in the face.' This bloke named Brown Soros is obviously trying to disgust us, and we also think he's cheating!"

"Right, how come he didn't make a 10 million entry earlier or later, but just after we took the lead, he did?"

"..."

The inspectors on the scene were still indignantly defending David.

David responded again, "Whether it's cheating is not for us to decide. The Director has already called headquarters. If there is indeed cheating, headquarters will provide us with an explanation. Now, everyone, go back to your tasks!"

With that, David looked at Buckynison and others, "You few, come to my office."

After David and the others left, the inspectors on the scene looked at each other, but realizing that the Director had already called headquarters for an investigation, they decided there was nothing they could argue about at the moment and patiently awaited the outcome.

With that in mind, all the inspectors stopped discussing the matter and focused on their work.

Inside the office, David walked in first, followed by Buckynison and others.

As soon as he entered, Nisen blurted out, "Director, even if that bastard isn't cheating, he must be playing some dirty tricks; otherwise, this couldn't have happened!"

"Let's not worry about him for now."

David pushed the files related to three major cases in front of everyone, saying, "These are the cases we will be handling next. Take a good look and see if you can gather some clues."

For the major street district's three cases, he only had some leads on the arms case so far, the other two cases still required more information to proceed.