Green Street's entertainment industry was one of the most developed districts in the outer city.

Because of the mysterious Mrs. Fino behind it, many wealthy people from the inner city came to this area for consumption and entertainment. Especially gambling projects like the bloody arena, which were not available in the inner city, generated an exaggerated amount of revenue just from the commissions of those gambling magnates.

Generally speaking, such entertainment venues had gangs overseeing them, making it easier to deal with some local issues.

For example, thieves, con artists, customers who didn't pay, troublemaking drunks, illegal human trafficking, psychedelic potions... and some other shady deals.

It wasn't that the behind-the-scenes bosses weren't capable of handling these things, but rather that "outsourcing" a portion of the work for a fee would save a lot of trouble, even be a win-win situation, and wouldn't be demeaning.

Previously, the situation was that the Cross Society had enough clout to secure the oversight rights of Green Street.

Also, because the Cross Society's backer could bring some high-quality customers to the street's entertainment industry, everyone was happy.

But now, with the Reyes family's Third Branch acquiring ownership of some of the big venues in the Green Street district, the situation had changed.

This young master Martin wanted to kick the Cross Society out and replace them with the Steam Party, who were closer to him.

Originally, many of the venues in Green Street had shares belonging to the Reyes family, just like the arena "Crimson Bunker" that Soren always liked to visit; the Third Branch was now the major shareholder.

It seemed reasonable to change the overseers of one's own property.

But while reasonable, it didn't align with martial world rules.

After all, the outer city was the territory of the three major gangs, all desperate outlaws who licked blood from their blades. They earned their livelihood with their lives, so why should they give it up just because someone said so?

Originally, negotiations involved give and take.

The ultimate goal of gang fights was to pursue profits.

The Steam Party really wanted to take over the oversight, so offering some concessions and paying a large sum of money wasn't out of the question.

That way, everyone could have a way out.

But young master Martin's current intention was to make the Cross Society "roll" out naked.

........

"Smoker" Samb, looking at the smashed old pipe on the table, concealed a flash of gloom in his eyes, suppressing his anger.

He looked at the young man in a suit upstairs and asked in a deep voice, "Young Master Martin, what do you mean by this?"

"What do I mean? Heh..."

Young Master Martin sneered, not even bothering to look at the Cross Society executive, and said, "From now on, I'm the one calling the shots in Green Street. Also, watch your tone. Don't think anyone is qualified to talk to me. I'm not here to negotiate with you. I'm just having Hogg here to notify you that within three days, I don't want to see any more Cross Society people in my venues."

After saying that, he finally turned his gaze to Smoker and asked, "Now, do you understand?"

Hearing this, not only Smoker, but everyone in the Cross Society looked extremely ugly.

If anyone else had been so arrogant, they probably would have already started a firefight.

But facing this important figure from the inner city, none of the Cross Society members dared to point their guns at him, and their faces flushed with憋 (biē - suppressed anger).

Smoker said coldly, "Young Master Martin, it's fine for the Cross Society to withdraw from your venues. But if you do this, I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain to Mrs. Fino..."

Pawns against pawns, generals against generals.

Smoker knew very well that he was not qualified to negotiate with this young master. He could only bring out their backer.

Gang members were desperate outlaws struggling at the bottom of society. In the inner city's upper class, they were just third-rate "thugs," with worthless lives.

Status?

Respect?

They were thinking too much. They were just tools.

Although it sounded cruel, that was the reality.

Hearing this, the young master Martin said coldly, "If it weren't for Mrs. Fino's sake, I wouldn't have come here myself. Besides, this is a matter for my Reyes family now, and it has nothing to do with Mrs. Fino..."

These words directly shut down all the Cross Society's arguments.

He wasn't even giving their backer any face, and there was no room for further discussion.

........

Outside the tavern window, Soren frowned.

The more prominent the family, the more they valued cultivating connections, and the less they should offend people so "brainlessly."

This young master Martin seemed aggressive, with the arrogance of a typical纨绔 (wánkù - playboy) son of a wealthy family. But Soren felt that someone who could face such a group of fierce gangsters without changing his expression shouldn't be as superficial as he appeared.

Not giving face to these gangsters from the Cross Society was one thing, but not giving face to Mrs. Fino was very intriguing.

This kind of complete disregard for giving face made it feel like... the other party simply didn't care about offending people.

"Things seem to be getting complicated..."

Soren's thoughts raced.

He quickly realized that the Green Street incident was just a superficial manifestation, and behind it were more high-level games.

The oversight rights of a few streets weren't enough to warrant this young master's personal visit.

If there was no subsequent value, then there was no need to give face...

This kind of thing usually happened when the building was about to collapse.

A flash of inspiration struck Soren, and he quickly inferred two possibilities from young master Martin's words: 1. Someone was going to take action against the Cross Society; 2. Someone was going to take action against the backer behind the Cross Society!

"Could it be that someone is preparing to move against Mrs. Fino, or the power behind her?"

As soon as Soren thought about it, he immediately felt that what he had thought of was probably close to the truth.

He knew before that even if the force behind Fino wasn't Reina's father, the relationship was still very close. After all, Qian Tiao was Reina's own little aunt.

If anyone had the ability to force the Reyes family to split, would they take the opportunity to cut off their wings?

In fact, Soren had guessed that things weren't that simple when Reina was assassinated.

If one could rise to power simply by killing people, then the people in charge of the Maynard family would be too stupid.

Choosing assassination was probably to create internal contradictions.

Now that Reina was not dead, the conglomerate was still forcibly split, and the Black Tower executives who fueled the incident behind the scenes also surfaced. But since they had already done it, they had to swallow the criticism of being greedy.

Dividing the Reyes family into seven was obviously because the other party didn't have the ability to hammer this behemoth to death, so they created contradictions within them, luring some, dividing some, and attacking some...

This was a very clever political strategy.

Therefore, this was also why the Third Branch in the outer city didn't continue to support the Cross Society, their old partner, but turned to the Steam Party. This was actually a true reflection of the inner city's contradictions transferred to the outer city.

Thinking of this, Soren suddenly understood why this young master Martin was so tough, because he knew that someone was going to move against Mrs. Fino.

His thoughts flashed by, and Soren muttered in his heart, "If that's the case, a lot of people are going to die in this turf war..."

........

Young Master Martin slapped all the Cross Society members in the face with a few words. Kai, who was next to him, gnashed his teeth as he listened, and cursed in a low voice, "This damn young master, I really want to shoot him!"

Despite saying that, no one really dared to do it.

Even if the Reyes family was split up, it was still from one "oligarch" split into seven "giants."

This Third Branch was not to be underestimated, and was definitely not something a gang in the outer city could provoke.

At this time, young master Martin lost patience and didn't want to stay in the tavern any longer. He threw out two gold coins as if he were giving alms, and said arrogantly, "This is for the wine just now."

Saying that, he didn't even look at the Cross Society members again and said, "Remember, in three days, I don't want to see you again."

Then, without looking back, he walked out of the Elephant Tavern with his bodyguards.

The Steam Party and his group were like foxes behind a tiger, with smug smiles on their faces, following behind the young master, and swaggering away.

Smoker and Red Demon, the two executives, had dark faces and didn't speak.

Although all the Cross Society members were filled with anger, no one dared to stop them.

........

After the enemies left, Kai and the other captains also rushed into the tavern.

As long as the executives gave an order, they could immediately grab their weapons and chase after them.

"Boss Smoker, what do we do now? This damned Steam Party is going too far!"

"I say... let's grab our weapons and screw them! I just saw those Steam Party guys looking smug, and I almost couldn't help but give those bastards a shot."

"That's right! That what-bullshit young master, I really want to twist his head off!"

"..."

Few gangsters were afraid of causing trouble, especially those who could become captains, who hadn't crawled out of piles of dead bodies.

They weren't afraid of fighting, and they all rolled up their sleeves, ready to start fighting immediately.

But the executives obviously knew that the matter involved more inside information, and they considered things from a higher perspective.

Soren wasn't qualified to go in, so he quietly listened outside.

He felt that the executives could definitely think of what he could think of.

If they really started a war now, the Cross Society would lose both morally and financially.

No matter what, would they dare to openly assassinate a young master from a major inner-city family?

They would have enjoyed killing, but what about the consequences?

Did they really think that the inner city's public security police and city defense army weren't quick enough to wipe out a gang?

Smoker suppressed everyone's anger and said, "I'll go back to headquarters and ask the president what he says... Don't be impulsive, wait for news."