Chapter 686: Scramble
When the Detective Agency dispatched personnel, the Dock Area immediately descended into chaos.
After leaving the scene to Merlin and his monks, the Detective Agency saw a different signal flare rise above the stronghold, and the main force quickly turned back for a counter-attack.
Although members of the Rabbit Gang also helped stake out and observe the situation, they primarily served as human cameras or alarms and did not participate in direct action or maintaining order.
The Detective Agency did not issue flares to them, to prevent them from being used for feints or diversions; they mainly relied on Agents patrolling.
Doug, at the stronghold, was able to consolidate some information in a timely manner; besides intelligence officers sending messages secretly, birds that could fly at night also helped, and some citizens treated the stronghold like a Police Station, actively coming to report cases.
If he sent a signal, it meant the situation had deteriorated to a certain extent.
Wayne followed Inessa’s carriage towards the Ireland community; to save time, some Agents from other teams who had arrived in batches also boarded the carriage, even crowding onto the roof.
On the way, they encountered an owl in the sky following several individuals, hooting; one team of Agents immediately jumped off the carriage to pursue, and, at Wayne’s instruction, fired warning shots.
Taking advantage of the situation to cause trouble was an aggravated offense.
It was fortunate that they arrived relatively quickly; at this point, many people in the community’s houses were still observing the situation, and no one had yet jumped out to rally their neighbors to “all come out.”
To prevent them from collectively leaving their homes to take matters into their own hands again, the Detective Agency made more noise than in the previous two days; previously, they aimed to resolve incidents quickly and restore peace to the community, but now they switched to various calls and warning shots, letting everyone know that such matters were still being managed.
Thus, compared to the intermittent “firework displays” of the previous two days, the subsequent period of that night was more like “thunder without lightning”; the noise quickly stirred up for a while, then gradually became intermittent and faint.
This also owed a little to Sanders’s boasting; many Agents who had rushed over earlier, after hearing Sanders’s version of the story, felt a little relieved—although there might be “high-level” Extraordinary People, the one who committed the crime today was just so-so, no need to panic, it wasn't so easy to be collectively instantly killed.
Then, as dawn approached, Wayne roughly understood why he had encountered that guy in that place.
Because the Sailor Gang was in trouble again.
That short fellow probably got lost after finishing his work, walking in the opposite direction after leaving.
Looking at it another way, it was actually reasonable; perhaps his next target was someone in the Ireland Violent Group, and he chose a new route that was relatively less likely to encounter people.
This time, the leader of the Sailor Gang would definitely have to be replaced.
After all, if a normal person is split in two, it would probably be quite difficult to feign death…
Moreover, a guy who was originally a “witness” and accused Wayne of killing the reporter also ended up dead at a small gathering of the Sailor Gang last night.
It made Wayne a little hesitant, wondering if he should give that white-masked person a discount on the carriage compensation fee.
One thing at a time, after all.
…
“Have you heard? The Sailor Gang seems to have been almost wiped out yesterday. Several of their leaders ended up as corpses, and the rest haven’t shown their faces again.”
“It was those Red Armbands who did it. I said they’ve been so active in the Dock Area recently, they were bound to eventually take direct action. At first, they pretended to be police, just for show, but in reality, they just wanted to seize territory.”
“No way? I’ve seen them only arresting troublemakers lately. A few days ago, there was a commotion near my house, and they didn’t continue to act against those who surrendered on the spot. They really do seem to have official backing.”
“You’re being misled by the false impression they’ve created. The Richmond police don’t bother with matters in the Dock Area, so why would they do this? It’s because there’s profit to be made. You’ll see, once the other gangs are pretty much dealt with, they might be even more brutal than the current gangs.”
At noon the next day, Wayne took the opportunity to bring Seth and others to the Sailor Gang’s hideout to assist in checking their assets. Unexpectedly, these well-educated weaklings were so shocked by the fresh scene from last night that they all threw up profusely.
Wayne found a nearby bar, intending to have Sanders get them some drinks to calm their nerves, and then, in a bar that normally wouldn’t be open during the day, he encountered a small group of idlers drinking and chatting, who happened to be criticizing the Detective Agency.
So Wayne sent Sanders to negotiate prices with the bartender, while he himself approached, pretending to be a passerby: “I heard they’re planning to open workshops in the Dock Area and might recruit workers here. If they want to do business, it’s normal to hope not to be disturbed by gangs, right?”
The loudest guy at the table was clearly unconvinced: “That sounds good. Opening workshops, recruiting workers, but in reality, isn’t it still the same old routine played by these gangs on the docks? Then a fixed portion of the wages will have to go to them, and if you want to work on other docks, people will still come knocking. If you ask me, it’s better to continue supporting the Sailor Gang now; at least their share percentages and rules are clear, and they might even remember our favor. Who knows what the new gang will be like.”
Although the other person wasn’t looking at him, Wayne still nodded: “That makes sense. But didn’t the leaders of the Sailor Gang have an accident last night? When I came over just now, I saw many people gathered there, and I heard their boss died.”
“It’s just the police making a fuss. Who in the Dock Area doesn’t know that even if they pretend to investigate, the gang members will still be fine in the end? But it’s true that there was an accident within the Sailor Gang; among them, only Mr. Henry is slightly better. It would be great if he could become the new leader of the Sailor Gang. Don’t you think so?”
At this point, the man looked around for agreement. After noticing Wayne, whose attire and demeanor were different from the dock workers, he paused slightly.
Wayne initially thought this guy was setting the tone for the Detective Agency, but now he felt like he was rallying support for some remnants of the Sailor Gang, trying to stabilize the situation externally and smoothly take over.
The former required close monitoring; the latter he was less inclined to manage.
It was a good thing that someone wanted to rebuild the faction; otherwise, it would be even more troublesome if individual remnants hid and caused trouble, probably harder to catch than wild boars running all over the mountains.
So, Wayne and Sanders didn’t make a move in the end, not even pulling out their Red Armbands.
Seth and his team, however, were preparing for new work; collecting taxes was only a short-term task, and if they only helped Willie as a backup lawyer afterward, the workload probably wouldn’t be saturated enough.
Their propaganda work the previous night had been quite good, so they might as well create a Dock Area tabloid.
And let these bar patrons see what an iterative upgrade in information dissemination efficiency looks like.
More importantly, it would make finding people easier; if there was a regular publication that could print portraits, that little short person who could transform last night would probably be much easier to find.
Even if the Agents ran themselves ragged, there were only so many of them, after all; how could it be as cost-effective as spending a little money to buy information directly?
Resources still needed to be allocated more rationally.
