New Gods of North America.

Chapter 676 "Iron Law"

In the afternoon, Ryan O'Bourne and his two brothers spent almost the entire day observing the area before discreetly and cautiously making their way towards the community along the alleyways away from the main streets.

According to the gang's original plan, after each team successfully carried out their mission, they were supposed to return to the community promptly.

Unfortunately, they were spotted by city officials, and a firework went off into the sky. Some of their companions were quickly arrested on the spot, and the rest had no choice but to scatter and flee in the blink of an eye.

Ryan O'Brien was somewhat experienced in this area. He eventually took his two younger brothers and hid in a relatively secluded underpass. After washing off the blood, they rested there and waited for the situation to calm down.
He hadn't intended to hide outside the community for so long, but the continuous fireworks over the dock area throughout the night clearly indicated official intervention. So, only when the dock area seemed to have returned to its usual tranquility did they cautiously begin their return.

Being familiar with the basic procedures of local government is a required course for every qualified gang member.
Richmond officials don't care much about the security situation in the dock area. As long as you don't mess with the wrong people or get caught by the city police, the police department usually won't investigate too much. They'll just put on a show of investigating for a while and then let it go.

The struggles between gangs are actually quite similar.
Although some gangs will retaliate on suspicion, as long as they have no witnesses, they can deny some things. Although it is not very meaningful, at least they can blame the other party for starting trouble, since they are not too afraid to break into the community anyway.

Fireworks were set off over the community last night, and Ryan O'Bourne guessed that some gangs had probably taken advantage of Mr. O'Sullivan's absence to sneak into the community and cause trouble.
So when he saw neighbors watching people coming and going from the edge of the community, he wasn't too surprised—outsiders would have a hard time remembering what all the gang members looked like, but the people in the community had lived together for so many years, and they could usually recognize familiar faces at a glance.

After greeting the neighbors, Ryan O'Bourne and his two younger brothers pretended nothing had happened and continued on their way home.
He breathed a slight sigh of relief; as long as he could return to the community, the gang members would be basically safe.

Ryan O'Bourne and his group didn't encounter any checks along the way, but instead were stopped by someone in the community.

"Wait, please cooperate with the inspection."

After turning a corner, they encountered several people wearing red armbands. These people had initially claimed to be investigating the plague, but recently they said they were assisting the city hall with tax collection.
However, they were not police officers, and Mr. O'Sullivan had indicated that he should not confront them further and that he could provide appropriate cooperation within reasonable limits. So Ryan O'Bourne stopped—the so-called inspection, according to their previous practice in the community, was nothing more than asking some questions.

To his surprise, these people then wanted to search him.

"What are you trying to do?!" The younger brother, Rowan, reached out to stop them, but his wrist was grabbed and twisted behind his back, and then he was pushed aside and forced to move aside.

"Please cooperate with the inspection."

The young man leading the group was quite agile and initially appeared rather wild, but his expression quickly turned frivolous. "I saw you last night. You were one of the guys who ran away after attacking the second-in-command of the Claw Gang, right?"

Damn!

Ryan Oburn gave him a look, and his two brothers immediately followed suit, launching the first attack. Soon, all three of them were pinned against the wall.

What made him even more desperate was that Ryan O'Bourne, the gang leader who was leading the mission, was carrying an old-fashioned pistol that could only load one bullet at a time—originally intended as their last resort.

Firearms are considered controlled items in Richmond. Handguns are slightly better than lever-action rifles and are not particularly prohibited, but relevant procedures are required. However, the law often does not apply to illegal immigrants. What might be a matter of paying a fine for an American might mean detention and interrogation for him.

That's it, Mr. O'Sullivan himself is now cooperating with the police investigation, and the gangs have been causing so much trouble lately.

If he and his brothers are imprisoned, who knows when they'll be released. Not to mention this guy with the red armband, who just said he saw him last night.
There are eyewitnesses who witnessed the incident and are currently under arrest; it's not impossible that they could be turned around and sent straight to the gallows.

As a result, after searching him, the other party quickly returned the pistol.

???

Ryan Oburn, now released, instinctively took the pistol handed back to him with both hands. His thoughts raced through his mind, and he stood there dumbfounded, his head filled with questions.

The other party then earnestly explained the precautions: "We don't interfere in gang fights, but if you harm innocent people, we will intervene. Conversely, ordinary residents will be protected by us as long as they don't participate in gang fights—of course, if you're unlucky enough to be caught in one, you might still be arrested for gang fighting."

Ryan O'Brien, even though he hadn't quite recovered from the shock, was somewhat unconvinced upon hearing this.

The police officers who patrol from the city always say the same thing, but over the years, so many cases have occurred in the dock area, how many times have they actually intervened?

Everyone still needs to protect themselves.

The other party continued speaking: "However, our boss added a new rule today: even in gang fights, firearms are not allowed during this period. Otherwise, we will use firearms to suppress them. Please tell the others when you get back that knives and the like are enough. Firearms are too easy to hurt innocent people, and it's very troublesome to determine the nature of the crime afterward."

No, wait.
You don't care about gang fights, you don't care about murders, and you don't care about people carrying firearms.
Is it simply a matter of banning shooting?
Ryan Oburn had always considered himself a lawless outlaw who at least had some sense of propriety, but now he couldn't help but wonder—was this reasonable?
Is the division of responsibilities among the city hall's departments really this detailed?

The other party seemed to have seen this kind of reaction before. He shrugged and said, "Our boss only made this decision suddenly at noon today. He told us to hurry up and try to expand the scope of the message, but you'd better treat this as an ironclad rule. This is a very well-intentioned reminder."

After saying that, the other person leaned a little closer: "And here's another friendly reminder. If you see a very beautiful white-haired lady nearby when you're about to take action, please stop immediately, otherwise it might cause trouble for everyone present—including us."

"Oh, and also, silencing innocent family members of gang members is not allowed; it's considered harming innocent people as well. Please remember not to violate this rule."

Ryan O'Brien's thoughts shifted from surprise to shock, then to doubt, and finally to contempt.

Pshaw, gangs are always in a chaotic mess, they don't care about anything else. Anyone who dares to resist will be attacked, and who cares whether the other party is a member of a gang or not?
Besides, how many of the family members of those gang members can truly be considered "innocent"?
These guys working for the city hall are too naive and idealistic; they have no idea what's going on in the dock area.

Then, when Ryan O'Bourne returned home with his two younger brothers, he learned that his youngest brother, Owen, had almost lost his life in the neighborhood the previous night.

The people who rescued Irving at the scene were actually those wearing red armbands.

Ryan O'Bourne remained silent for a long time after listening.

(End of this chapter)