Sir! Don't close the net!

Nemo took a deep breath, pulled his right hand back, turned around and waved his hand. The knights around him were stunned at first, but they didn't say anything. Instead, they dispersed and called on the knights who were holding the isolation line to adjust their formation to make room for the caravan. At the same time, they only left one path for the caravan.

The grooms noticed this, but showed no surprise; in fact, they all nodded and thanked the knights.

Nemo, his face grim, pulled on the reins, mounted his horse, and stared intently at the carriages that passed by. Only when the last carriage had passed did Nemo release the reins, turn his head to look at the gradually closing gate leading to the Jurassic Circle, narrow his eyes slightly, and gently nudge his horse's belly with his leg.

"Walk--"

------

After walking up the stairs for a while without reaching their destination, Wojciech remained silent throughout, walking ahead like an emotionless guiding machine. Dante's thoughts wandered, but he remained vigilant towards Wojciech.

Although there were no gun marks on Watch, his instincts kept screaming, reminding him to be wary of Watch in front of him.

This wasn't the first time he'd met Wojciech; they'd met just yesterday. A day ago, he'd casually offered Wojciech a cigarette and asked him to light it for him. Now, he even subconsciously wanted to aim the muzzle of his shotgun at Wojciech, who was wide open, just to gain a tiny sense of security.

Wojci

There must be something there.

Dante immediately recalled what Li Yili had told him, and the legacy of the ancient gods that had unleashed true power, as mentioned by the burly man at the butcher shop. Although he didn't believe such a thing existed in the Jurassic Circle, if it did, then Wojci probably possessed it, and Li Yili wanted to give him the legacy of the ancient gods that had unleashed true power.

But then another question arises: how did Li Yili know such confidential information?

The subtle timing, the signs of sabotage along the way that seemed like someone had infiltrated unscrupulously, and the testimonies of others that "Woch used us to test the new guy" led Dante to consider many possibilities.

Wojciech pushed open the door, and light pierced the dim passageway along the stairs. Dante, whose eyes had adjusted to the darkness, instinctively raised his hand to shield them, but his other hand still held the shotgun firmly, the muzzle pointed straight ahead.

Woj noticed Dante's movements but didn't pay much attention. He pushed open the door and stepped aside, saying, "Dante... Mr. Dante is over here."

Dante rubbed his eyes hard, then casually stepped through the doorway into the somewhat blinding light.

They were no longer at the butcher shop, but had arrived at a train station. The black metal tracks, like a dividing line of the world, brutally sliced ​​the scene he could see into a square.

Dante immediately tensed up and even took a step back.

As the most developed country in the world, the wasteland naturally built trains long ago. However, most of these trains go directly to the Cretaceous Circle and the capital Millennium, without stopping in the Triassic Circle or the Jurassic Circle. People who come to the wasteland are attracted by its propaganda and naturally will not go to the poorest places, let alone places full of thugs.

The lives and consumption of the lower class are confined to a certain circle, so the rich don't care whether the poor have difficulty traveling or living. Therefore, even though the Triassic Circle is the largest wasteland area, no vehicle tracks have been built within the Triassic Circle to this day.

The wealthy and powerful Jurassic Circle has only one track. On this track, trains exclusively for gangster godfathers and executives run 24 hours a day, seemingly hiding from or chasing something. And that train is currently parked there, waiting for him.

"The car is ready, young master Dante."

Chapter 75 Four Societies Born from the Wasteland

"Although I think this is a very unnecessary question, you should know that Dante's identity is extraordinary, right?"

Anne closed the book, "The Merchant of Venice," and set it aside. She looked up and casually asked, "What do you mean?"

Li Yili raised an eyebrow and waved the newspaper in her hand.

"Come on, this is the Jurassic Circle, gang territory. Gangs hate it when people try to control them, and they hate it when people openly defy them in the streets. Even beating up a small fry could provoke the entire gang."

"At this point, if someone tries to act as a chivalrous hero without any connections, they might just disappear overnight."

Li Yili paused for a moment and then spread her hands.

"What's more, he's a fool who always flaunts his crimes, as if he's afraid no one will know he's cracking down on gangsters. Everyone else carries controlled knives, but he doesn't shy away from firing a warning shot in the street."

Annie crossed her fingers in front of her and tapped the back of her hand lightly, then Li Yili began to complain.

"This shows that Dante's position in the Jurassic Circle gang was not low; he was at least an officer. But officers don't have that much free time. If an officer were that free, he would have been replaced long ago. So it's most likely that he has connections in the family. Perhaps one of his close relatives is an officer, or perhaps... a gang godfather is a close blood relative of his."

Annie was taken aback and looked Li Yili up and down with some surprise.

"So you plan to control Dante to achieve your goal of controlling the Jurassic Circle gang?"

“Who knows, maybe it won’t be this complicated at all,” Li Yili shrugged. “What I need isn’t some lifeless specimen sitting on a shelf, as long as they move in the direction I need… does it matter whether they’re driven there or lured there…?”

Annie was taken aback. After thinking for a while, she felt a chill run down her spine for no apparent reason. She immediately shook her head, refusing to ponder the deeper meaning behind Li Yili's words.

"So that's why you sent Dante to upgrade his equipment? Do you think the Jurassic Circle gang has acquired some new weaponry and you're trying to use Dante's connections within the gang to lure it out?"

"More or less," Li Yili yawned. "By the way, little Annie, what have you been doing these past few days? Focusing on your exams?"

“Seriously consider the possibility of controlling the entire Jurassic Circle gang,” Anne blinked.

"Oh? Is there any progress?" Li Yili flicked the cable and asked somewhat perfunctorily.

“I’ve noticed something strange,” Annie shifted her body slightly, straightened up, and opened a drawer in the counter, placing the newspapers inside in front of Li Yili. “What do you think these are?”

"newspaper."

“Of course it’s a newspaper! I’m asking, what else could they be besides a newspaper?” Annie retorted loudly, somewhat dissatisfied with Li Yili’s perfunctory attitude.

"A vivid portrayal of the miserable lives of residents in the Jurassic Circle," Li Yili reached for an old newspaper, shook it, unfolded it, glanced at the contents, and nodded. "Oh~ the Mafia even sells cheese, huh? And it's selling quite well, but that's understandable; who in the Jurassic Circle would dare not buy it?"

The Mafia's accounts.

“That’s the key point,” Anai exhaled, his expression becoming extremely serious. “The gangs are engaged in commercial activities. They even have their own industrial chain that even the conglomerate-based Cult of Steam and Steel cannot effectively crack down on.”

"Really?" Li Yili raised her eyebrows and flipped through a few more newspapers.

Just as Annie said, the Jurassic Circle's website lists all sorts of gang-related businesses, not just criminal ones, but also many legitimate ones, like the hotel they're currently staying in.

“Is it strange? They can’t possibly be committing crimes here every day,” Li Yili said, not finding it strange at all.

Even murderers can't kill every day of the day, 24 hours a day, and they certainly can't kill every day in a place full of murderers. They still need to eat and find a place to sleep.

Thugs may be thugs, but the ultimate goal of gangs is nothing more than money and face. Who wants to fight and kill every day? Besides, the entire Jurassic Circle is run by gangs. On their own turf, the money and food they steal will only dwindle with each fight. They can only rely on themselves to make a living.

“Yes, that’s true. The Cretaceous Circle will take advantage of thugs who only know how to be violent, but they will never cooperate with them,” Annie said, leaning back in her chair.

"But do you know what this means? A new society has been born from within the wasteland society."

"This new society has its own rules, its own violent institutions for maintaining those rules, and its own industrial chain."

"Hmm? It only gave birth to one society? Shouldn't it be four?" Li Yili held up four fingers and waved them at Annie.

"A society that is arrogant and disregards human life."

"A cold-blooded society that treats human lives as numbers."

"A society where thugs act with impunity and commit crimes at will."

"A society where the lower classes are in chaos, and they can hardly even tell who they are anymore."

Anne's expression froze, and after a long silence, she let out a long sigh while holding her chin. "I was abrupt. I take back what I said earlier. Of these societies, the Jurassic Circle is the most dangerous right now. If it weren't for the limited destructive power of firearms, they might have actually fought their way all the way to Millennium and replaced the Wasteland Royal Family."

"But now they haven't replaced the Wasteland Royal Family, this rotten and decaying cancer, nor have they used the Wasteland Royal Family as a negative example to create a region that is richer and freer than Millennium. Instead, they've made the Jurassic Circle a breeding ground for crime, and in some ways, it is indeed much freer than Millennium."

"If they actually succeed, the wasteland could become a country rife with crime."

"Huh? Isn't crime everywhere these days?" Li Yili rubbed her fingers together.

Anne's eyes twitched, then she covered her face with her hands and pulled down hard. "Okay, okay, although both are countries where crime is rampant, the higher the position of the wasteland royal family and nobles, the less intelligent they are, and the easier it is to see through their motives. At most, they won't interfere, but they won't encourage it, or even treat crime as an industry."

Annie paused and rolled her eyes.

"Of course, this doesn't mean they're good people. The Jurassic Circle encourages crime because they want to make money from it, while the Wasteland Royal Family discourages crime because they see it as an activity to flaunt their privileges."

"That area is the epitome of garbage in the bastard neighborhood."

Anne's comments were incredibly sharp and merciless.

“I only worry about one thing: that the Jurassic Circle will start another civil war like it did before,” Anne narrowed her eyes. “If it were before, I would definitely support it; it would undoubtedly be a beacon of revolution. But now…”

"All I see are ugly businesses and evil desires to break the rules."

Chapter Seventy-Six: Father and Son

Dante stared intently at Norman, who sat reclining in a chair at the far end of the oak bench, his face taut. The thugs around him, their hands behind their backs, looked up and remained motionless like statues.

After a long silence, Norman broke the silence, stubbed out his half-burnt cigarette in the ashtray, and rolled it back and forth. "Do you remember when was the last time you boarded this train?"

“I forgot,” Dante grinned, spreading his hands to his sides. “Does it matter?”

The surrounding thugs gasped in shock.

Sitting here is Norman, the godfather of the Mafia. Even those ruthless executives don't dare to raise their voices too much in front of Norman.

“If you weren’t my son, you would be mincemeat by now,” Norman said, raising his hand with his index and middle fingers slightly spread. The thugs on either side immediately knelt down on one knee, one offering a cigarette and the other lighting it. After they finished, they stood back up respectfully.

“If I weren’t your son, this pointless meeting wouldn’t have happened,” Dante said, extending his hand in the exact same gesture as Norman.

The surrounding thugs looked at each other, somewhat at a loss.

Dante is Norman's son. In another setting, they would have already offered him cigarettes by now. But Dante's attitude towards Norman wasn't very good just now. If they offer Dante cigarettes now, it might displease Norman. They are not Norman's sons. If Norman is unhappy, they won't be far from disappearing from the face of the earth.

But they can't remain silent, since Dante, as Norman's son, is very likely to inherit the position of the Mafia Godfather in the future.

After much deliberation, the thugs finally turned to Norman and awaited his instructions.

Norman raised his hand and waved it, "If you weren't my son..."

"You think you have a chance to buy those toys from Watch?"

The thugs, who used to cut off people's arms without batting an eye, breathed a sigh of relief, chuckled, placed cigarettes in Dante's hand, and lit them for him.

“Tsk—if I weren’t your son, I wouldn’t need those toys either,” Dante clicked his tongue in annoyance, waving his cigarette toward Norman, seemingly eager to win this debate between father and son.

"Really? If you weren't my son, without these toys, how would you be a hero in the Jurassic Circle, and... how would you pick up your Chalk Circle girls?" Norman held a cigarette in his left hand and rubbed a stray hair on his forehead with his right.

Dante's eye twitched violently. "If I weren't your son, I wouldn't have to go through all this trouble!"

"Are you serious?" Norman raised an eyebrow. "If you weren't the son of a Mafia godfather like me, would you have a chance to meet the heiresses of the Chalk Circle?"

Dante grunted in frustration, then stubbed out his cigarette on the oak table and ground it hard, leaving a scorch mark.

He knew he had lost this argument between father and son.

"Alright, so what does this busy Mafia godfather want with me?"

“I didn’t come looking for you, you came looking for me,” Norman said, raising his cigarette and nodding in Dante’s direction.

"Me?" Dante paused for a moment, then exaggeratedly drew out his words, "Huh? See you? I'll only see you when I'm eating at your banquet."

"The legacy of the ancient gods who have unleashed true power, this... who told you that? How do you know that Wojci possesses the legacy of the ancient gods who have unleashed true power?" Norman narrowed his eyes, his icy gaze freezing Dante's flamboyant expression instantly.

The person sitting across from him now is no longer his father, Norman, but the godfather of the Mafia, Norman.

If he were to make jokes at this point, it would be like Norman eating his feast—no, given Norman's personality, his feast would probably only be fit for wild dogs.

“Ha—I only learned today that there is such a thing as the legacy of the ancient gods who have unleashed true power,” Dante rubbed his face and sat up straight. “Now that I know, I don’t believe for a second that there is such a thing as the legacy of the ancient gods who have unleashed true power, let alone that such a thing could fall into the hands of the Jurassic Circle Mafia.”

Norman's expression remained unchanged; his right hand rested on the armrest, his index finger lightly tapping it.

"Today I just went to Watchi to upgrade my equipment, and then I saw..." Dante frowned, gesturing with his hand, "an unusual atmosphere, and an unusual scene, and then—"