New Gods of North America.

Chapter 678 "Stability"

At their temporary base in the dock area, the detective agency was holding its routine morning meeting.

"The number of people involved in the attack last night was significantly less, but the proportion of seriously injured and dead is increasing. Although the police cooperated with us to extend the detention time of O'Sullivan and his group, the Irish gangs have not completely restrained themselves, and retaliatory actions were still carried out last night."

"As for the other gangs involved, in addition to the Rabbit Gang and the Tuto Gang, the Claw Gang and the 'Michelson Brotherhood' also complied with the requirement not to use firearms. The latter even suffered additional casualties as a result."

"The community of Erlan is generally stable. Some gang members stayed in the community last night and did not launch any further attacks. People were also persuaded to stay at home, and the number of people on the streets last night was significantly reduced. The situation has improved a lot compared to the 'riot' the night before."

Doug finished reading the summary report and then waited for the partners to speak.

Wayne pointed to Seth, who had also been pulled into the meeting, and first briefly explained the responsibilities they would be in, before giving a summary.

Anyway, after the main targets of the shooting are rotated and rested, they will continue to go to the community to maintain stability.
Taking down the gangs was considered a "side job," but the official business still needed to be done. A group of people were assigned to protect Seth and his team during the day and assist them in investigating the gangs' assets. Information that the intelligence team had already gathered would also be gradually passed on to them through Lina.

Wayne has been eyeing the Ellan community these past few days; the workshop is currently short-staffed, and the cannery he's setting up also needs workers.
Although using slaves on the Beaton family plantation was not expensive, it actually created a debt of gratitude to the Beaton family, and this couldn't continue indefinitely. If some of the processing could be moved to the dock area, it would reduce hidden risks and make subsequent transportation more convenient.

The Irish people in the community are, in a sense, a good option as well. Many of them have families, do manual labor, and support each other. Their average income isn't particularly high.
Because of the language barrier and the fact that their faith doesn't belong to the mainstream Church of the Holy Spirit in America, even if they were to sell the workshop's trade secrets, they probably wouldn't get a good price.

Canned luncheon meat needs to be sealed before being heated to solidify. Semi-finished products can be prepared at the factory and transported over, so the location isn't too critical; however, the steamer needs to be near a water source.
But if we do it this way now, it will look like the detective agency is also trying to take over the territory. So it's best to build the bottling workshop outside the community of the Erlan people, just to do business in a harmless way, keeping a distance from the "place of trouble". We can find a way to recruit people after things have calmed down.

This also gives the detective agency a reason to remain in the dock area even after tax collection ends—businesses naturally prefer a stable environment, allowing the agency to continue its gang-related operations.
If things go smoothly, it might eventually form a relatively stable small community in the dock area, which, in addition to illegal immigrants including Irish, could also employ some local freemen.

We could invite the cathedral to send a pastor here, and some free citizens could register to vote in Richmond. Or we could try to get some of the illegal immigrants to legal status.

If this path proves feasible, by then, anyone who tries to drive the detective agency away will likely face the same kind of trouble as the detective agency dealing with the gangsters.

Wayne doesn't plan to be a community councilor or anything like that, but he can use this place as a pilot project. When Wayne returns to the West to develop Wichita and then explores his own land, he'll have a clearer idea of ​​what to do.

To avoid having to go through trial and error again later—that's Wayne's "own home," and the townspeople are all old neighbors. If something really goes wrong, we can't just pack up and run away like we did in the docklands.

After the meeting ended, everyone left one by one, leaving only the three partners in the small room.

Inessa, who had just returned to the base before the meeting, then delivered some bad news:

"The forces behind the Erlan gangs may be more powerful than we imagine. They may have already colluded with some forces in the Old World."

Ok? !

So outrageous?

This is just a small community gang, though it's not exactly small—enough to build its own town anywhere else—but on the East Coast, it's basically just a gang that the police don't usually get involved in and that has connections in the city.

How did they end up colluding with the Old World?

Inessa explained, "I reviewed the interrogation records Willie brought from the police station yesterday afternoon. The prosecutor is currently cooperating with City Hall to pressure the arrested gang members to confess to things they know about the gang's hidden assets."

"A member of the Erlan gang confessed to a lot of things after being found to have a murder case against him. He mentioned that he was assigned to dispose of some of the bodies when the dock accident happened."

"On my way back just now, I specifically took some people to look for them. Those corpses were most likely killed by high-level extraordinary beings."

Wayne glanced at the hidden Tier 7 Inessa, then at the Tier 6 Lina who was openly displayed inside. It was no longer news to the detective agency that powerful extraordinary individuals from the Old World would come. Just a few days ago, they had dealt with a group of evil god cultists, so it was actually not that difficult to deal with them.

He casually confirmed, "High-level? How high is that?"

In spoken language, "higher" and "lower" ranks are often relative concepts. For example, a pastor in a church can be referred to as a "higher" or "lower" pastor in everyday conversation, referring to the difference in their seniority and authority. However, within the church's definition, their status is theoretically equal.

When the detective agency encounters enemies on the spot, they often simply categorize extraordinary enemies as high-level or low-level. "High-level" refers to those that the agents generally find difficult to deal with, while "low-level" is the opposite. Only specific numerical ranks are used to indicate the true level.

Inessa's expression was always calm, but she didn't seem relaxed at all: "I'm talking about a true 'high-level' one, possibly above level 8. The kind that even the evil god followers of the Tranquil Cult might not be able to handle if we don't summon 'Koyatl'."

"No way?" X2
Lina, who had been teasing the giant spider with her finger, suddenly raised her head.
Wayne was also a bit shocked. Could this Erlan thug really be this outrageous?!

Inessa's expression was very serious. "Lina should know about my situation back then. The key to my rapid advancement was that I was promoted during a 'trial,' and the extraordinary abilities I used also changed completely."

Seeing Lina nod beside her, Inessa continued:

"What they were actually doing was a taboo experiment: injecting excessive amounts of extraordinary drugs into children with strong enough tolerance, and then having them try to fuse with a core remnant left by an ancient high-level extraordinary being."

"After being rescued from the orphanage and no longer taking the calming drug in the Hunter Association, I vaguely remembered some things from back then. In my memory, I was the seventh test subject to meet the criteria, and after surviving, I was once praised as a 'gift of the Holy Spirit'."

"If we exclude coincidences, those corpses were likely killed by an extraordinary ability of the same origin. Not only did it take away their blood, but it also completely absorbed the 'vitality' naturally present in living beings, resulting in the characteristic withering characteristics. Judging from the state of the corpses, the opponent's current rank should be above mine."

Wayne couldn't help but confirm, "As I understand it, above the 7th rank, an Extraordinary's state should start to become unstable. At the 8th rank, wouldn't the opponent be..."

It's hard to describe, but Wayne immediately thought of a nuclear power plant that was about to have an accident.

However, no sooner had he said this than Wayne seemed to find the answer in a "flash of inspiration" he had received after facing the "wise sage."
That was originally a faint thought that he had almost completely ignored, but now it seemed to suddenly light up—extraordinary power itself does not have the concept of "stable" or "unstable". They are a bit like water in a balloon. Through interaction, they will squeeze and change the "container" to the state that best accommodates them, just as electric current will always preferentially pass through the circuit with the least resistance.

The so-called "instability" is actually the "container" being changed to a more "reasonable" form. Even the "complete explosion of the extraordinary being and the complete dissipation of extraordinary power" are a kind of "reasonableness" in a broad sense.
It's just that what's "reasonable" for extraordinary power is completely unacceptable by human standards.

Inessa understood what Wayne was trying to ask, and after a moment's thought, she replied:
"Given that there have been no suspicious signs or incidents in the dock area recently, the other party is likely to have a way to temporarily stabilize their situation."

"This usually only represents two possibilities: either the other party has a large amount of extraordinary materials to consume, or they have already become a semi-mythical creature with non-human characteristics, but can still temporarily maintain their rationality and may be 'hungry' at any time."

Mythical creatures sound impressive, but they're actually not a good thing.
Ghouls covered in putrid liquid, hellhounds drooling uncontrollably, and even the "mushroom head" and "pus-oozing giant king" that Wayne had seen before, are all members of the "mythical creature" family.

The images in Wayne's mind quickly shifted from a "nuclear power plant about to explode" to various bosses from Resident Evil.

isn't it?
How could such a small dock area have so many hidden talents that went unnoticed?

Could there be an underground city beneath the ground?

Lina pondered for a moment, "Could the other party have already left the dock area?"

Inessa nodded: "Possibly. But even so, in dealing with the Erlan thugs right now, we might have to be prepared for them to come back at any time."

(End of this chapter)