Sir! Don't close the net!

“Well…” Ashley frowned, looking somewhat troubled. “I want to wait until Mr. Dante has finished his work. I don’t want to cause him any trouble. If possible, I really want to rush to Mr. Dante’s side immediately.”

Seeing Ashley's worried face, the other young ladies also offered their words of comfort.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Dante waved away the choking black smoke and dodged the sewage on the ground. He arrived at the butcher shop where he used to buy guns. Before he even entered, Dante keenly sensed something unusual. Several people were holding their backs and occasionally showed expressions of pain. Some even had swollen lumps on their faces.

Dante's heart skipped a beat as he recalled Li Yili's confident expression.

Could it be that Li Yili came here last night?

Dante coughed awkwardly, walked over to a burly man rubbing his back, took out a cigarette from his pocket, shook out a cigarette, handed it to him, and asked casually.

"Dude, you had a great night out last night."

The burly man glanced at Dante, forcibly suppressing his raised eyebrows. He took the cigarette, pulled out a matchbox from his pocket, lit Dante's cigarette, and then lit his own before the match burned out. He shook the nearly burnt-out match and tossed it into a pool of blood.

“Dante…sir, please stop talking. Last night was absolutely bizarre,” the burly man exhaled a smoke ring, his face full of resentment. “We all got beaten up last night.”

"Getting beaten up—cough cough cough—" Dante coughed heavily a few times, his face full of disbelief, "This is...right, does anyone really dare to cause trouble here?"

Dante's first suspect was Li Yili, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt it was impossible. If it really was Li Yili who raided the place, even if her identity was not exposed, the place would not be able to operate as usual.

"It's not about causing trouble, but..." The burly man pinched the bridge of his nose, paused for a while, and then clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Woch got something good and used us as a test subject."

Dante was taken aback, his face full of surprise.

In the Jurassic Circle, "good stuff" generally refers to newly produced weaponry. Given Woch's status in the Mafia, he certainly has access to firsthand high-quality weaponry, but this trial run is somewhat delicate.

Those are guns, bullets!

It leaves a hole in someone's body when you hit them!

“It’s hard to understand, right? We don’t believe it either, but nothing was lost, and…” The burly man paused, leaned close to Dante’s ear and lowered his voice, “and Watch also showed us something incredible.”

"Unbelievable?" Dante had even more questions on his mind.

A gun that can't kill?

Dante suddenly recalled Li Yili's strange request.

Go upgrade your equipment.

Dante narrowed his eyes slightly and then casually flicked the needle. "Even you say so, so it must be something extraordinary. I wonder if I'll have a chance to get my hands on it. My old friend is good, but for my own safety, I'm willing to give it up!"

"This..." The burly man hesitated for a moment and then shook his head. "This matter is not up to me, and it may not even be up to Wochi. As for that thing, how should I put it, you'll understand once you've seen it. That thing is more dangerous than any weapon."

"Danger?" Dante raised an eyebrow, turning his head nonchalantly with a cigarette dangling from his lips. "I think it's just a minor scratch, what danger could there be—"

Dante was startled, his eyes widened, and he slowly turned his head to look at the burly man to the side.

"The good stuff you're talking about, it wouldn't happen to be... the legacy of those ancient gods, would it?"

“It’s even more powerful than the legacy of the ancient gods,” the burly man said, raising his head meaningfully.

“How could that be?” Dante pondered for a moment, then raised his hand and waved it. “Neither the Cult of Steam and Steel nor the royal family of the Wasteland could allow the Jurassic Circle’s gangs to obtain the legacy of the ancient gods, not to mention—”

Dante paused, then raised his hand and gestured.

"It's something even more powerful than the legacy of the ancient gods."

Dante was clear about the Jurassic Circle's position in the wasteland, the Cretaceous Circle's attitude was ambiguous, and the wasteland royal family, representing the capital Millennium, was extremely vigilant.

“At first I didn’t believe it either, but Wojcick showed me right away,” the burly man spread his hands and nodded toward the passage at the end of the meat stall. “Maybe you can talk to Wojcick directly.”

"If that thing has a stable supply, it will probably replace weapons very soon."

Chapter Seventy-Three: Donations from Merchants

Dante did not believe the strongman's claim that something more powerful than the legacy of the ancient gods would replace the weapons in the Jurassic Circle. Weapons were the foundation upon which the Jurassic Circle gangs survived. It was thanks to the incredibly stable weapons supply that the Jurassic Circle gangs had managed to reach their current status, where even the Church of Steam and Steel had to give them some respect.

How could someone be replaced so easily?

The legacy of the ancient gods who unleashed their true power

Produce.

If something were truly that good, how could it be reliably delivered to the Jurassic Circle's gangsters while both the Cult of Steam and Steel and the Wasteland Royal Family were watching?

Unless the Jurassic Circle gangs can produce the supposed legacy of the ancient gods that has unleashed true power as steadily as they produce weapons.

However, he knew these principles, as did everyone else, and then there was Li Yili's ambiguous request.

Dante, filled with questions, passed through the butcher shop and arrived at the passageway. The first thing he noticed was the pit in the ceiling, as if some unlucky soul had been blasted into it by a rising dragon punch and turned into an ornament. And judging from the situation, there were many more such pits.

Dante glanced back again and saw the former thugs, looking like they had kidney deficiency, each clutching their backs and occasionally letting out a sigh.

Dante suddenly understood a lot. After straightening his collar, he walked through the hole-filled passage to the basement. In the cold basement, Wojci had his right hand behind his back and his left hand reaching into a box, seemingly inspecting the goods.

Dante glanced at the boxes in the basement, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "So many are being moved out at once? Is the Jurassic Circle preparing for war?"

Woch withdrew his left hand, turned to face Dante, and spread his arms to the sides with a hint of helplessness. "These are thoughts that a nobody like me can't possibly understand. If I ask too many questions, the higher-ups will get impatient."

“The people above…” Dante scratched the back of his head and stopped asking questions. Instead, he looked around, searching for traces of the legacy of the ancient gods who supposedly had unleashed true power.

Wojci raised an eyebrow, lowered his hands, paused for a moment, then placed his left hand on his hip and waved his right hand toward Dante. “Dante…sir, have you taken a fancy to something new? I remember you just bought two…small pistols yesterday? So you didn’t like those things? In that case, why don’t you try this one?”

As he spoke, Wojciech turned around and pulled an oversized shotgun from the box, waving it at Dante.

"Isn't this the kind of product we're supposed to sell?"

"No one will notice if one or two are missing," Wojci shrugged, looking completely unconcerned.

"Whoa—"

Dante caught the shotgun, tapped his palms, nodded, and said casually, "This thing looks pretty powerful, so I'll take it... I'll take it."

Dante narrowed his eyes and gripped the gun barrel tightly with his fingers.

"I heard you have something even better here? The legacy of the ancient gods, unleashed with true power?"

After a moment of silence, Woch pinched the bridge of his nose, turned around and called out towards the passageway, "You guys, move the goods! Mr. Dante... let's talk over here."

After saying that, Wojciech turned around and pulled down the gas lamp embedded in the wall. With a clattering sound of gears turning, one wall of the basement sank down, revealing an upward staircase.

Woch gestured for him to proceed before heading up the stairs.

"Oh--"

Dante nodded, carrying his shotgun, and followed behind Wojciech. At the same time, at Wojciech's beckoning, several burly men walked down the corridor into the basement and began moving the double-packaged firearms.

Dante glanced back once, then paid no further attention. Perhaps the weapons were simply being moved to another location under the guise of a transaction, or perhaps the transaction was with a gang outside the Mafia. There were many possibilities. Even if he found the answer, it wouldn't matter. Could he really stop an arms deal with just a shotgun?

Under the methodical efforts of several burly men, the basement was quickly emptied. Outside the butcher shop, one carriage after another silently bumped into the double-packaged goods, some going straight, some turning around, and some turning left. The carriages flowed to various corners of the Jurassic Circle. Soon, various seals appeared on the carriages, some saying "Gift from Chaoyang Chamber of Commerce" and others saying "Gift from Dezhou Meat Shop".

After going around in circles for a while, carriages of different designs, seemingly from different places, gathered in front of the gate from the Jura Circle to the Triassic Circle.

The knights of the Wasteland Royal Family guarding the gate were stunned. They had never seen such a grand display before. Then, one donation certificate after another from the Chalk Circle Trading Company struck them like lightning, but the stamps on the certificates were all genuine.

After exchanging bewildered glances for a moment, the knight in charge of guarding the gate muttered something and raised his hand to signal the others to move aside. With a heavy thud, the massive door opened fire into the Triple Circle, and the noise attracted the attention of the residents and homeless people inside the Triple Circle.

Wilson Parr was still fast asleep in the bed he had moved out of Millennium.

Nemo, who was keeping a close eye on the situation in the Triassic Circle and did not let his guard down despite the favorable circumstances, was the first to notice that the gate between the Triassic Circle and the Jura Circle had been opened. Before the residents and homeless people of the Triassic Circle could gather, he led his men to the gate and successfully set up a cordon before the Triassic Circle and the homeless people could get together. Nemo himself rode his horse to meet the first carriage.

Nemo paused for a moment when he saw the seal of the merchant guild on the carriage. Before he could speak, the coachmen got off and walked towards Nemo. Soon, Nemo had a stack of donation certificates from the merchant guild in his hand.

In order to become Earl Nemo Parr, unlike other idle nobles, he studied every day, learning about the interests and power dynamics of the wasteland. He knew very well what these seals and donation certificates represented.

But it is precisely because he understands that he is now full of question marks.

Are the businessmen in the Cretaceous region... the kind of people who would do something like this?

Nemo frowned as he flipped through the donation certificates one by one.

If Count Wilson Parr were present, he would probably narcissistically believe that the Cretaceous merchants understood the atmosphere and decided to use this method to help their wasteland royal family and nobles and the Cult of Steam and Steel seize control of the wasteland.

But he wasn't that narcissistic. He knew very well how the merchants in the Cretaceous region made their fortunes. These merchants were never benevolent, nor were they as docile as they appeared.

If it were just one or two merchant guilds acting together, he might hesitate, but with so many merchants acting together, there's definitely something wrong!

"If you don't mind... let me check your donations."

Nemo commanded in an unquestionable tone.

Chapter Seventy-Four: The car is ready!

Faced with Nemo's request, the coachmen only hesitated for a moment before readily making way, even putting their hands behind their heads and moving away from the carriage to indicate that they would not do anything unnecessary.

Nemo was taken aback by the coachmen's self-righteous attitude, but he wasn't intimidated. He tightened his light armor, pulled on the reins, dismounted, and led several knights who were perfect for providing cover and human shields to the nearest carriage. After looking around, he raised his hand and beckoned. A knight with a stoic expression immediately stepped over Nemo and pushed open the cargo box on the carriage.

The box contained slaughtered cattle.

Nemo raised an eyebrow and stepped forward, glancing at the beef cattle inside the box, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Since the cattle have already been slaughtered, why leave them with a complete carcass?

Nemo glanced at the grooms standing far away, looking in their direction with an innocent expression, narrowed his eyes slightly, and then reached out and tore open the ox's belly. The knights standing next to Nemo gasped in shock, and even Nemo's eyes widened in surprise.

The cow's belly was full of cold guns.

Nemo turned his head sharply, but what greeted him was not a row of cold guns, but the harmless smiles of the grooms.

Do they not know what's inside? Or are they just feeling reckless?

Nemo raised his hand to signal the knights around him not to be nervous, closed the cargo box, and turned to walk towards the second carriage.

As expected, the cargo box was double-layered; what was actually being transported into the San Diequan area was weaponry.

Nemo, with a grim face, didn't let the remaining carriages go unchecked. He inspected them all, even going so far as to dismantle the entire carriages to search them thoroughly. However, the only cargo he found was the firearms hidden inside the meat and livestock in the cargo boxes.

Nemo raised his hand and closed the last cargo box, his fingers on the box tightening slightly.

The waters of this aid mission were far deeper than he had imagined.

In the entire wasteland, only the Jurassic Circle gangs are producing weapons, and they're not just producing a small amount.

Clearly, this waterway involves not only Cretaceous merchants but also Jurassic gangs.

The merchants in the Cretaceous Circle were one thing, but the gangsters in the Jurassic Circle were something he really couldn't understand. You see, the Mafia was established and grew to its current state because of the atrocities committed by the wasteland royal family and nobles. The Jurassic Circle gangs had even more grievances against the wasteland royal family and nobles than against the Cult of Steam and Steel.

The Wasteland royal family and nobles want to seize control of the Wasteland from the Cult of Steel, fueled by the fires and steam that have ignited in the Triassic Circle. While the Jurassic Circle gangs are unlikely to directly attack the Wasteland royal family and nobles, they are also unlikely to help them, let alone offer such a substantial amount of support.

Nemo was certain there was something wrong here.

Perhaps this is a test from the Jurassic Circle gangs and Cretaceous Circle merchants. If they have the guts and the courage, then they will consider whether to increase their investment in the Wasteland Royal Family in this struggle. This time, the funding will be distributed in the name of the Wasteland Royal Family and nobles. But if they don't have the guts and the courage, then this time it is the Cult of Steam and Steel that is providing the funding.

There might be a few more layers, but there are too few clues, and he can't keep blocking these convoys forever.