New Gods of North America.

Chapter 714 Wind Direction
Wayne had barely seen off the Secretary of State's "chief secretary" when Lina, yawning, returned in her carriage. The temporary outpost had become a chaotic place lately, and the intelligence team had a relatively independent safe house in the dock area; if she wasn't back at the workshop, she would often take time to go there to improve her living conditions.

Lina's task at this moment was both simple and troublesome: to initially verify the reliability of Michael and Michelle, and to secretly settle them down without alerting the church.

The twins are both currently at the 5th rank. Although their extraordinary abilities don't seem suited for combat, their successful escape from the cathedral guards last night is an undeniable fact.
Moreover, looking back at the outcome, the fact that the siblings were able to escape the pursuit of a bunch of organizations in the Old World and eventually arrive safely in America shows that they were not actually as "pitiful, weak, and helpless" as Michelle implied in her recounting of the past.

Therefore, Wayne has simply "chosen" to trust them for now.
But it may not really be "absolutely necessary".

To resolve the issue of the siblings' placement once and for all, the detective agency actually has two and a half options.

The first option was to secretly send them to Blackrock Town, which was now called "Wichida". The second option was to fabricate their experiences and then register them at the cathedral as new recruits of the detective agency. The last "half" option was a compromise, which was to send them to one of the detective agency's offices.

However, all these solutions require addressing the trust issue first.

Kansas is Wayne's hometown, and the office is often fraught with danger. He can't possibly send two intermediate-level extraordinary outsiders there based on just one meeting.
If something unexpected were to happen, it could be like "damaging a major artery" for Wayne.

When the cathedral registers new members of the detective agency, although the basic information comes from the detective agency's "self-report," this information is recorded in relevant files. Who knows if the church members will secretly verify or confirm their identities?
It's easy to fabricate stories for Michael and Michelle, but that has to be based on their own "reliability." Otherwise, if they cause trouble later and then easily leak the information, and the church eventually traces it back to the detective agency, even Wayne might have to wonder if his license will be forced to "expire."

Therefore, Lina was asked to conduct a period of screening on them first.

This became a relatively safe and easily acceptable approach for both parties.

Lina didn't know the twins at all before, so there was no question of her targeting them. In fact, some of Lina's experiences were more exciting than their stories combined, and might even have a kind of "lower-dimensional attack" effect, making them feel safe or obedient.

More importantly, Lina's rank and status in the detective agency are sufficient to ensure that her routine review of Inessa's former "acquaintances" will not appear negligent and will seem objective enough—especially with the "wise sage" protecting her, she doesn't have to worry too much about being suddenly attacked.

In fact, Michelle seemed slightly relieved after learning that the detective agency would be observing them for a period of time.

She's probably encountered a lot of strange things, so the detective agency seemed more cautious and formal, showing both trust and reservation, which actually made Michelle feel more at ease.

The people at the cathedral are probably still investigating the whereabouts of these two extraordinary outsiders.

Therefore, it is not convenient to bring them directly back to the workshop for the time being, lest the church people bump into them in the workshop, or the monks of the cathedral follow some strange clues and go there.

Lina, however, thought the problem was easy to solve. The carriage set off with the people in it, saying that she planned to temporarily set up a safe house for them to stay in.

"Don't worry. When the intelligence team is setting up safe houses, they will use informants to isolate the identities of the people. Even if the people from the cathedral do go there, there will be informants who are unaware of the situation to help cover it up. At least it will not be easy to directly trace it back to the detective agency."

"If they are still targeted by accident, then we can let them find a way to hide temporarily. The dock area is so chaotic, it is not easy for the church to find people. Otherwise, those few members of the Tranquility Sect could not have hidden for so long."

Anyway, it sounds pretty "free-range"...

……

So many people have arrived so early in the morning; it feels like the wind is blowing a little strange.

Wayne didn't get any sleep at the temporary outpost this morning. The carriage then headed towards Richmond, where he could only doze off for a short while on the way.

The first stop was the city hall. Under the pretext of "reporting on the progress," Wayne first sought out Quinn, a seasoned veteran of the corporate world.

Tax Officer Quinn's attitude didn't seem to have changed much. He took a piece of paper, made a few simple notes, and then began his analysis:

"Judging from the total amount, Wayne, your tax collection campaign is unlikely to be classified as a 'failure'. However, some of the amounts may still be disputed, so we still need to be careful during this period."

What was written on the letter were several numbers. The "3600" checked at the top was an approximate total tax amount calculated based on historical accounts voluntarily provided by several gangs. The bulk of this came from the Rabbit Gang, which alone contributed over $2900. The remaining smaller amounts came from several smaller gangs, including the Tuto Gang, which also pledged cooperation.

The calculations for this part are based on the information provided by these gangs themselves. They are considered to be the toll money they use to "avoid disaster," and it will basically only increase, not decrease.

Then there's the underlined "15800," which comes from the Irish gang. Of that, $15,000 was the estimated value of the plantation shares found at O'Sullivan's house, and the remaining $800 is the total amount of taxes their gang can currently collect.

Because the amount was large enough to clearly exceed the normal income level of the Erlan gang, the tax officer Quinn believed that the city hall had both the confidence and the motivation to classify it as "ill-gotten gains" and would confiscate it directly, and probably no one would object.

Next is the circled "9400" marked with a question mark. This part represents the Sailors' Gang's total contribution, which makes up a large proportion of it. It consists of the estimated value of goods found at the two sites where Jason wiped them out, plus some less valuable gang properties that are now "abandoned."

Tax Officer Quinn was more cautious about this figure, specifically pointing out: "Judging from the scope of business of that sailor gang, as a gang assisting in the management of the docks, the goods they are responsible for guarding do not necessarily belong to them. I suspect that this number will continue to increase, but eventually some seemingly unconnected gentlemen will be able to produce corresponding legal documents to prove the true ownership of some of the goods."

Wayne sensed something was amiss in Quinn's words, so he tentatively asked, "What do you think the total amount for this part will ultimately reach?"

Based on the intelligence currently known to the detective agency, the Sailors Gang is definitely involved in smuggling—or to be more precise, almost any gang that can monopolize an entire dock or has its own independent cargo fleet is a suspect in this matter. The only difference is the amount of money involved. Some are high-risk smuggling operations involving "whole ships" or even "whole fleets," while others are just harmless "ants moving grains."
However, smuggling by ship usually happens "ship by ship". If they can't be caught in the act, the goods usually slip away quickly, and then everyone can confidently say that they are completely clean.

The tax officer, Quinn, casually gave a figure: "I guess the total is at least $100,000, maybe more."

Ok? !

Did I mishear you, or are you just desperate for money?

Based on the cotton that was the main export of the American South at that time, the finished cotton was shipped in bales, each weighing about 500 pounds. At an average price of about 10 cents per pound, a standard bale of cotton, large enough to kill someone, was worth about $50.

One hundred thousand US dollars translates to 2000 bales, enough to almost fill a medium-sized ocean freighter. This is roughly the annual cotton farming income of a so-called "large landowner" or several "medium landowners".

Although this is only "planting income" and not "net profit," and does not include other investments or crop returns, or asset appreciation,
But how could the Sailors' Gang, a gang that wasn't even particularly large in the dock area, possibly compete with those plantation owners in terms of revenue? The number of officially registered members of the entire gang probably didn't even equal the number of slaves under their names. Smuggling also requires costs, you know.

Wayne almost had his brain shut down because of this short sentence.

Tax Officer Quinn, perhaps worried that Wayne hadn't understood, thoughtfully added, "Part of the credit should go to your detective agency. However, this portion won't be counted as a reward, since it won't become extra revenue for the city hall."

One hundred thousand US dollars... "Some" gentlemen... even the city hall doesn't get this portion of the revenue...

Wayne quickly filtered out distractions and finally arrived at a guess that seemed relatively plausible.

He thought for a moment: "Some of the goods are probably damaged, so the relevant bank or insurance company should be responsible for compensation in the end?"

Tax Officer Quinn nodded: "Good that you understand. We only handle the tax collection part; we don't need to get too involved in other matters."

It turned out to be the case.

What was really being targeted wasn't the "Sailor Gang's" money at all.

As the saying goes, fortunes change. The Ellan gang was recently "beaten up" by a bunch of other gangs in the docks area. If it weren't for Jason interfering, the Sailors' Gang would have almost made a fortune in silence.
However, in Richmond's downtown area, some gentlemen seem to be planning to "besiege" the person behind the Sailors' Gang, and even the city hall is planning to tacitly approve it.

No wonder the leader of the sailors' gang came to "surrender" early this morning.
Was it because of that so-called "hearing" that a certain banker was "preemptively attacked" by a certain politician?

Unexpectedly, I didn't even notice that the fight here was more exciting than the one at the docks.

(End of this chapter)