New Gods of North America.

Chapter 722 "Secrecy"

This world, sometimes, has a touch of dark humor.

As dawn broke, Wayne listened to the agents' reports and felt that the actual damage caused by the gangs' siege of the Ellan rioters over the past few days was probably less than what the community residents had done in one night.

"The person you rescued here last night, boss, was the 'strategist' of the Erlan riot gang and several of his men. In addition, the homes of three other minor leaders were also ransacked. Two of them have already been found in the community, and the other one actually ran into our temporary stronghold."

"Mr. O'Sullivan's house was almost destroyed as well. Fortunately, part of his house was made of brick and stone, so it should still be usable after repairs. There are a total of eleven wounded people. Five of the seriously wounded have been sent to the church hospital, and the rest have been brought back to the stronghold. But Brother Merlin and his men seem to be planning to take over completely."

Perhaps because the people in the community were either acquaintances or from the same hometown, even though the crowd was indignant, the injuries were not particularly serious, and the families involved were not directly implicated.
Some of the guys who were considered "leaders" were actually carrying weapons, but in that situation, they obviously didn't dare to hurt anyone, and they didn't even dare to fight back.

However, the most devastating real damage was that it shattered the "authority" of these gang members.
From the initial eyewitness who said, "I was instructed by so-and-so," to the next low-level leader who said, "So-and-so also knew about it," and then to the one who came knocking on the door who said, "That time someone died had nothing to do with me."
Community members flocked in, their numbers growing larger and larger, and the attacks targeted almost exclusively the "core members" of the Erlan riot gang, as well as their "direct subordinates."

Since both sides are "one of us," one side could be a "superior" and the other side could be "relatives and friends."
Most of the ordinary members of their gang are effectively neutral, which indirectly reduces the intensity of the conflict. Even if a detective agency were to directly infiltrate, it's unlikely they would achieve the same effect.

Inessa was among the "first group" who came with Brother Merlin and the others last night to investigate. The ordinary people in the community didn't intend to harm them, but they also didn't know how powerful she was. Inessa couldn't exert any power against innocent civilians, so she could only watch the situation unfold alongside the monks.
Lina arrived later, having made quite a haul that night. She's already teaching the agents how to swear in Erlan. Apparently, one of the leaders didn't escape last night because of her "secretly tripping him up."

At this point, even piecing together only fragments of information, the detective agency had a general understanding of some of the things the Erlan yakuza had done.
Some of their core members had a vague understanding of the "Extraordinary Ones," but their contact was not deep, and they kept their distance. However, they did help cover up this part of the matter.

Fortunately, they chose to be vague, and the cultivators present promptly offered reminders, preventing certain things from being said in front of everyone.
Otherwise, just confirming the scope of knowledge afterward would probably keep the people at the cathedral busy for a while.

Unfortunately, the detective agency has been busy cleaning up the mess and maintaining order since last night, and hasn't had time to interrogate them yet.

Brother Merlin seemed to have gleaned some key information from this and began to implement information control, temporarily avoiding even Wayne and Inessa.

Therefore, on the way back to the temporary base, the three partners pieced together the information themselves.

Inessa had the best memory and was present at the scene, so she had firsthand information:
"From what the witness said, their gang sometimes receives special instructions to be responsible for contacting certain special goods."

"On the night of the dock incident, he initially thought it would be ordinary smuggled goods, but the level of secrecy involved clearly exceeded his expectations. Some of the laborers were silenced on the spot, and others were killed by them afterward."

"The reason why there was such a big commotion last night is because the pay for completing 'special work' is often exceptionally high. As a result, some long-time residents in the community have had accidents."

"What is certain at present is that a ship did come at that time, and the people in charge of the liaison were also a group of people from out of town. The ship left overnight and it seems that it did not complete the unloading, which is consistent with the characteristics of 'transporting people'."

Wayne pondered for a moment: "That witness wasn't even at the scene, was he? It sounds like he was also some distance away."

“Hmm.” Inessa nodded. “There were already boatmen on the ship, and quite a few outsiders came to make contact. The Erlan gang was mainly responsible for ‘clearing the area,’ and anyone who got too close was almost always destined to ‘get into trouble.’”

Ah this...

Wayne roughly sorted out the relationships involved.

The situation itself is not particularly complicated. The communities of the Erlan people are relatively closed off in the dock area, and the Erlan gangs actually control the docks. So, with both "geographical advantage" and "human resources," it is only natural that they would participate in some smuggling activities.

However, the problem lies in the issue of "secrecy".

Smuggling is illegal and highly profitable, and there should be corresponding "rules" within the gang. Those involved may also receive extra "hush money" as a form of "equal rights and responsibilities."
Most smuggling activities are probably not that dangerous, since some of the goods themselves are not prohibited, but rather the smugglers are trying to evade customs duties. It's impossible to kill all the workers involved every time.

So, once, twice, three or four times, some of the lower-ranking "loyal members" in the gang found that nothing had happened.

Over time, the idea of ​​"keeping the good stuff within the family" might begin to emerge.

However, sometimes, getting involved in these kinds of things can really be "deadly."

Although the big bosses may have already instructed that the work be handed over to "newcomers" or "outsiders" to facilitate their elimination later, some middle and lower-level leaders who think they are familiar with the job may not be able to distinguish the difference in advance and will probably continue to stuff "acquaintances" into the ranks.

Therefore, the eyewitness who was unearthed became the trigger for the community riot last night.

He sounded like the kind of gang member who didn't realize how dangerous things were, and actually introduced his neighbors' relatives and friends into the situation, which led to the neighbors calling in their friends and the collective anger of the long-time residents of the community.

Similar incidents have likely occurred more than once before, otherwise there wouldn't have been so many outraged citizens last night.
However, the frequency of such accidents should not be particularly high, and they are probably in a state where "it can still be concealed afterward," otherwise some family members would probably have already exploded.

—This is the downside of lacking experience. Even in Blackrock Town, when handling disputes, it's essential to distinguish whether the parties involved are "long-time residents" or "new residents."

Even if the difference isn't immediately apparent, their actual appeal is on completely different levels. Even the town mayor wouldn't casually put on airs with the "long-time residents" who have lived there for many years.

Lina quickly figured it out, her expression a mix of amusement and sarcasm:

"Our detective agency was actually one of the reasons for last night's riot. If O'Sullivan hadn't been arrested, and if we hadn't been cracking down on the local gangs recently, these ordinary people in the community probably wouldn't have dared to jump out and attack these gang members."

Wayne nodded in agreement, but he still preferred to "look ahead": "We can probably focus our efforts in two directions. As for the follow-up of that high-level extraordinary individual, we might have to inquire with the cathedral later, or if the other party has already left the dock area, then we can temporarily ignore it."

"Then, since the community is so concerned about what happened last night, we should promptly disclose the relevant information, excluding the extraordinary cases, to prevent them from gathering again."

Lina said slyly, "Don't worry, I'll have Seth and the intelligence team take the opportunity to sow discord between them and the gang members. That way, it'll be easier for you to take over their community."

“I’m doing this to restore normalcy to the community as quickly as possible,” Wayne explained earnestly. “And it will also help our cannery recruit workers. It’s all for the good of everyone.”

“That sounds alright. I’ll have ‘soften’ them say the same thing later.”

(End of this chapter)