Don't move, it's a robbery!

The leader of the Thorn Gang has always had one worry: the gang's financial problems.

As one of the largest gangs in the city, the Thorn Gang lacks the Green Flag Society's background that allows it to run rampant among the nobility, and it doesn't have the strength of the Desert Wolves, which commands a band of sand bandits. As a typical gang, the Thorn Gang's biggest headache is balancing its income and expenses.

Don't be fooled by the fact that their gang members are out collecting protection money every day. In reality, those who pay protection money to them are mostly small merchants and vendors. The real big merchant guilds all have the support of nobles behind them.

The Thorn Gang isn't the Green Flag Society; under normal circumstances, they wouldn't dare offend the nobility.

In the realm of prostitution, the upper-class clubs are basically the territory of the Green Flag Society, and the mid-level freelance dancers are protected by the Desert Wolves. The Thorn Gang can only get a tiny share of the profits from the bottom-level members.

As for the slave market, yes, it is indeed a place where money is made every day, but the lion's share of the profits goes to the nobles. They only get a small share, which is not enough to support the long-term operation of the gang.

The Thorn Gang also wanted to start some new businesses, but unfortunately, all the top talent had gone to the Green Flag Society. Those who were brave and willing to fight either went to the Desert Wolves or were killed by the guards because they were too arrogant. As a result, the Thorn Gang could only find recruits from those small gangs. These people were mostly illiterate, and even fewer had ideas. When someone finally made a name for themselves, they basically turned it into a losing business because they were not good at managing it.

But among a series of failures, only the casino, which the Thorn Gang ran and thrived, was the Thorn Gang's true source of income.

The Thorn Gang was able to run the casino successfully because most of the gamblers there were local thugs. The Thorn Gang knew exactly what these people were thinking and what tricks they would use, so they never lost money.

With the addition of merchants from other places and some gambling nobles, the casino business has always been very good.

However, the casino has recently encountered some problems.

First of all, there are more people causing trouble.

Because of the ruins and the hero's relics, many outsiders have recently come to the city. These people are of mixed quality, most of them are idle mercenaries, but they are all quite skilled in martial arts. When they lose money in the casino, they will basically choose to cheat and will resort to violence at the slightest disagreement.

The difference in strength between thugs and mercenaries is quite significant. Faced with these people who truly live on the edge, the thugs' bravery is nothing but a joke.

When thugs threaten to kill, they're mostly just bluffing; mercenaries, on the other hand, are capable of actually doing it!

At first, the Thorn Gang fantasized about making money through harmony, but they quickly realized that it was useless. They could only deploy a large number of people to guard the premises to prevent any trouble from happening.

Then, although there were fewer troublemakers, the gamblers had long been scared away by the thugs guarding the venue.

Of course, the mercenaries didn't just cause trouble in the casinos; they caused trouble elsewhere as well. Soon, the city tightened its control over outsiders, and most of the mercenaries in the city were imprisoned.

But the casino's business didn't improve. Not only did ordinary people stop coming, but even the city's thugs stopped patronizing it.

The Thorn Gang members were completely baffled. They could understand why ordinary people would be afraid, but why didn't these thugs and gambling addicts come?

Surely they couldn't have all been kidnapped?

And so, a week passed quietly at the casino. Then one night, a young master from a noble family came to the casino, ready to make a big splash.

This young nobleman was a regular at the casino. Due to his gambling addiction, his father had cut off his allowance, so he hadn't been to the casino for a long time. The reason he was able to come today was because he had stolen an antique from the family and sold it for a sum of money.

As a commercial city, Mogosloar has no curfew, so the Thorn Gang was happy when people came to gamble. But as the gambling went on, the young master got angry and started overturning tables and throwing chairs, revealing his terrible gambling skills.

Actually, it's nothing. Compared to the money he lost, these tables and chairs are nothing. The veteran employees of the casino are used to it.

However, his behavior could already be considered causing trouble.

Remember what we said before? Because a lot of mercenaries have been causing trouble in the city recently, the Thorn Gang sent a bunch of thugs to keep order. To ensure that these people would dare to fight the mercenaries to the death, the Thorn Gang specifically selected some hot-tempered, fearless, and reckless individuals.

These thugs were quite responsible; as soon as they saw someone causing trouble, they decisively took action. The young nobleman didn't think these lackeys would actually dare to hit him, and he started shouting things like, "Try touching me if you dare."

And then, he tried it and died.

The upper echelons of the Thorn Gang were furious when they heard that one of their members had killed a noble young master. However, they weren't too worried. The noble young master wasn't close to the city lord and had no connection with the army. Giving the higher-ups some money to smooth things over would at most cause some trouble.

Then the city was placed under martial law the next day.

The Thorn Gang members were stunned; no one understood why the city was reacting so strongly.

Of course, the underlings were completely bewildered, but the leader of the Thorn Gang still managed to find out what had happened. Just as they had accidentally killed a noble young master, the bandits kidnapped more than ten noble families and their heirs.

The leader of the Thorn Gang, while marveling at the boss's awesomeness, was also relieved that the guards weren't after him. He then gave his underlings an order: no one was allowed to talk about what happened last night.

Since so many people went missing last night, they might as well pin the blame for the noble young master's death on this incident as well.

Of course, as the leader of the Thorn Gang, he naturally wanted to maintain an air of mystery and didn't explain his reasons for doing so to his subordinates. This resulted in the upper echelons of the Thorn Gang knowing that the guards were there for the chivalrous thieves, but the lower-ranking members all felt that the guards were there for them.

Not everyone has the guts to attack nobles.

After a whole day of thinking, the rebellious youths decided to find the guards and tell them about the Thorn Gang and the noble young master.

The guards quickly reported the incident. Coincidentally, the city lord was attacked at that moment, and several officials had just received a death order to capture the bandit within a week.

Upon hearing their subordinates' reports, a series of thoughts quickly formed in the minds of these officials.

The Thorn Gang murdered the nobleman = The Thorn Gang participated in the kidnapping = The Thorn Gang were accomplices of the Robin Hood = The Robin Hood was hiding in the Thorn Gang!

What are we waiting for?! Arrest them!

And so, amidst the trembling fear of the underlings, the Thorn Gang faced a full-scale attack from the guards.

The leader of the Thorn Gang quickly received the news, and he immediately understood the reason.

It must be a misunderstanding! Or someone is slandering us.

No, we can't confront the guards head-on, otherwise the Thorn Gang will definitely face the army's extermination!

Therefore, he decisively issued an order demanding that the gang members give up resistance.

However, by this time, the guards had already clashed with the Thorn Gang, and both sides had suffered casualties. When the leader's orders were relayed to the lower-ranking henchmen, a little negative emotion arose in their hearts, and they all felt that they had been betrayed by their boss.

It's true that we killed the people, but when you sent us to keep order, you said that anyone who caused trouble would be killed without mercy!

Watching their comrades being mercilessly strangled, the thugs who committed the murders were filled with despair and resentment.

So this guy dropped his machete and started spouting nonsense, claiming that his boss had ordered him to kill people and hide the bodies, and that his boss was in the casino. He said he would be willing to testify against his boss if the guards spared his life.

Because the man was too excited, his shouts were somewhat incoherent, and the governor, who was hiding in the distance, did not hear what he was saying. However, the guards beside him quickly relayed what he said.

"Sir! This guy says their boss is right here!"

Upon hearing this, the governor became excited and decisively chose to... retreat.

Ahem, I misspoke. It's a temporary strategic shift.

It wasn't that the governor was cowardly or thought the guards couldn't defeat the bandits; it was mainly that he believed there was a better solution.

"Bring up the dwarven cannons!"