"Giles!"
Kimura turned his head, his eyes filled with disbelief towards Giles, which quickly transformed into uncontrollable anger.
"Do you know what you're saying?"
Kimura, gritting his teeth, was on the verge of emotional collapse.
The envoy had already deemed his accusation invalid. His only hope was the accusation from the Scar family, yet Giles was saying there was none?!
Tony hadn't said this when they talked.
More importantly, what would the leaders of those camps think after Giles said this? He had invited these camp leaders by using the Scar family's banner.
He had so assured the camp leaders, and now Giles was suddenly turning against him.
Clenching his fists, Kimura subconsciously looked around. The camp leaders were staring at him intently, their eyes filled with unrestrained rage.
Regardless of their original intentions for being here.
At least, now they were attributing all the problems to Kimura. It wasn't their fault; this was the most common human nature.
When faced with problems, most people would instinctively shift the blame onto others.
Even if their initial motivation was greed.
"I'm just stating the facts."
Giles remained calm, ignoring Kimura's threatening gaze.
He had been clear-headed from the start. At this point, what was there to struggle for? The mermaid envoy's attitude had already determined the final outcome.
If the mermaid envoy had been on their side, their verdict would have been passed already.
He wouldn't have needed to step in.
Since he was needed, it meant the Mermaid Kingdom was genuinely neutral or leaning towards the outsiders. He also had no evidence of being extorted by Tony.
Furthermore, it wasn't clear if this even constituted extortion.
Tracing back to the root, they were the ones who provoked Chen Yu first, only to be captured by him in the end and have to redeem their freedom through a loan.
Seeing this, Chen Yu raised an eyebrow slightly.
A rare instance of clarity in this world.
Chen Yu had thought that the camp leaders were all brainwashed by Kimura and had lost their minds, and that Giles would continue to argue with him stubbornly.
It was a good thing he had a good impression of Giles when he captured him earlier.
Although the Golden Realm Great Swordsman was working for Tony at the time, his actions and demeanor showed he was a person with a brain, unlike Tony who, even as a prisoner, kept shouting about what he would do to Chen Yu.
Giles's defection was unexpected but not entirely out of the question.
But it had no impact on Chen Yu.
Even if Giles had stubbornly refused to budge, Chen Yu had the loan agreement to refute his claim of extortion. Besides, the mermaid envoy was on his side; what could they possibly do against him?
"Well, do you have anything else to say?"
Chen Yu spread his hands with a smile, looking at Kimura, who was already showing signs of unease.
Silence fell upon everyone.
At this point, they had no accusations left against Chen Yu, and the plan could be declared a failure.
"Chen, you're lucky this time!"
With the situation as it was, Kimura could only give up despite his immense reluctance. He had laid out such a grand scheme, only for it to end like this.
"But, I'm telling you, this isn't over!"
With that, Kimura turned and walked away. Despite his convincing act, he desperately wanted to leave this troublesome place as soon as possible.
But before he could take a few steps, Chen Yu's troops had already completely blocked his retreat.
"What do you want to do now?"
Kimura, his path blocked, glared intently.
"Didn't you just say it wasn't over?" Chen Yu shrugged with a smile. "You bring a bunch of rabble here to show off, and then you just pack up and leave. Do you think our city-state is a service station, where you can come and go as you please? If word gets out, how will our city-state maintain its reputation? How will our City Lord save face?"
"What do you want?"
Unexpectedly, before Kimura could speak, Sverl stepped forward with a frown.
"You were just lucky, and there wasn't enough evidence for your accusations. It's already generous of us not to arrest you for further investigation. Now you're blocking our escape route. Do you intend to attack us?"
Chen Yu ignored him and glanced at Roy.
Ultimately, Sverl belonged to the same faction as him, and Chen Yu had to show some consideration for Roy's reputation.
"Don't worry about me, deal with him however you see fit." Roy smiled. Sverl, upon hearing this, rebuked, "Roy, you can't even be bothered to pretend anymore, can you?"
"Huh?!"
Roy stretched his neck, cupping his hand to his ear, feigning deafness.
"What did you say?"
"Fine, when we get back to the city, I will tell Uncle everything. You colluded with outsiders. Let's see if Uncle will stand by you then." Sverl said sternly.
Unexpectedly, Roy let out a chuckle.
"Are you out of your mind? At this point, you don't think I'll go back to the city with you, do you?"
"Brother-in-law, are you staying?"
Chen Yu immediately looked up. Roy grinned but remained silent.
If Roy was willing to stay, Chen Yu would have welcomed him with open arms. His city-state was in dire need of talent, and Roy, being in a core position within the City Lord's mansion, would surely be capable of high-level management in his city-state.
Having been in the City Lord's mansion before, he might even possess the knowledge and experience of managing in the underground world.
"As expected, you're a traitor!" Sverl yelled, his teeth practically grinding. With Roy's stance clearly established, Chen Yu no longer had any reservations about dealing with Sverl. "What are you yelling about, what are you yelling about!"
Chen Yu stepped forward slowly, his expression hostile.
Er Gou, with his muscular physique, followed closely beside Chen Yu. His bell-sized eyes swept across the surroundings, causing Sverl to instinctively step back.
"Can't you see the situation clearly?"
"Everything here is under the control of our city-state now!"
"You're still yelling here. Believe it or not, I'll smack you with my big mouth."
Chen Yu glared, raising his arm. Sverl reflexively blocked. Realizing Chen Yu was just toying with him, an overwhelming sense of shame surged through him.
"You, you..."
"Me me me me, what me? Stuttering for half a day and can't even say a damn thing." Chen Yu scoffed and curled his lips. "Forget it, I don't have time to waste arguing with you. Looking at you now, are you planning to stand up for these beasts?"
"What do you want?"
Sverl forced himself to stand tall, puffing out his chest.
Chen Yu could tell at a glance that he was merely putting on a show; he looked tough but was essentially a paper tiger, one poke and he'd collapse.
He couldn't be bothered to quibble. Compared to minor embarrassments like face-slapping, the main issue was more important.
"What I want is very simple."
Chen Yu spread his hands with a smile, but in the next second, he turned vicious.
"Damn it, pay up!"