“My lord, according to Chaos City’s laws, Bennett is steeped in crime, and deserved to be severely punished, but his properties don’t belong to him personally. The teahouse, shops, and restaurants, etc., are all properties of the Marquis Family. They shouldn’t be confiscated too.”


  “Yes, my lord. There is no evidence that these properties are involved in illegal business. Such a cookie-cutter method is simply too hasty and unfair to the Marquis Family.”


  “My lord……”


  Michael listened to his officials’ advice with a frown. With a dark expression, he said, “Bennett’s case is undergoing investigation. You all don’t get to decide if those properties are legal or not.”


  An elderly official stood up with alert eyes, and said to Michael, “My lord, our Chaos City has always been ruled by laws. Judicial fairness is our foundation. If we can’t even guarantee this, I’m afraid we will disappoint our residents.”


  “I have never doubted using laws to rule the city, and will never touch its bottom line,” Michael said to that official with a solemn expression before he swept his gaze across all the officials present. Using a harsher tone, he continued, “However, if anyone is trying to attribute the properties to the wrong person and confuse the situation, I will never condone it. Bennett’s affair is only the beginning of our Chaos City’s efforts in overhauling the underworld. Don’t expect that there will be any flukes.”


  A few of the officials avoided Michael’s gaze in a panic.

  “We should have done this a long time ago.” The elderly official who stood up earlier nodded his head with consolation.

  “The meeting is dismissed.” Michael got up and walked to the door.

  “My lord, the Marquises had already torn off the seal on the teahouse, and got their people to settle in there,” Dicus said as he followed after Michael.

  “Who gave them the approval?” Michael frowned.

  “The Department of Property Rights gave them the approval note. According to the regulations, they have the permission to decide on such properties whose rights are not confirmed yet. The Marquis Family submitted their request, so the process complied with regulations,” Dicus answered.

  “Ha. They even dared to give the approval note at this time. The four major families have really stretched their arms out too far.” Michael smirked with a dark expression.

  “Do we need to inform the Department of Property Rights first?”


  “There’s no need to. I want to see how far they can go.” Michael shook his head, and continued in a low voice, “It’s time to cleanse the interior of the city lord’s castle too. Otherwise, they might forget whom they are serving. If the interest of the four major families looms over the laws, then Chaos City will have no place to stand.”


  “Yes.” Dicus’s expression became serious. After a moment of silence, he continued, “Apart from that, the commercial property that the Gray Temple gave to Mamy Restaurant’s Miss Rena was also snatched by the Marquis Family.”


  “Something like that actually happened?” Michael halted, frowning, and asked, “Who gave the permission this time round?”


  “The Department of Property Rights seemed to have given them a note.”


  “Seems like there is indeed no one capable after old Marquis has died.” Michael chuckled and continued walking.

  “Do we need to send people there to mediate?”


  Michael shook his head. “Don’t bother with it. Someone will be teaching them a lesson, and it will be neater than us doing it. However, the Department of Property Rights is rotten to the core. Make a trip to the Gray Temple on my behalf later.”


  “Yes.” Dicus nodded as he pondered if the Gray Temple was going to interfere with this matter. They gave the property away, so it seemed right for them to interfere.

  ***

  “Did anything fun happen in the city recently?” Ian smilingly asked as he sat next to a fishpond with a fishing rod, his sight fixed on the buoy.

  “There are quite a lot of interesting things recently. Bennett from the Marquis Family has gone under. All his dirty deeds were dug out, and he most likely is never going to get out.” Scheer, who was sitting next to him, grabbed a handful of biscuits and tossed them into the pond. A big school of fish crowded over.

  Ian sighed, and lamented, “That little fellow was already on the wrong path since he was young. His father was also an a**hole. It’s a pity that he ended up like this.”


  “He deserved it, so what’s there to pity?” Scheer pursed her lips.

  “This matter has gotten too far. The city lord’s castle will most probably start to rectify the issues soon. You are the head of the family now, so you’ve got to make sure that our family members do not extend their hands where they are not supposed to. You mustn’t be careless.”


  “Whoever dares to extend their hands, I will break them,” Scheer solemnly said. “There are so many legal ways to earn money, so don’t blame me for being ruthless if they want to be involved in illegal dealings.”


  “Haha. You lass, you have my style.” Ian looked at Scheer with satisfaction as he chuckled. “If it was your father or your uncles, they would never say or do something like that.”


  “This matter concerns the survival of our family. I have a steelyard in my heart. Those methods are not for the long term, and could never make a family prosper,” Scheer answered seriously.

  “Alright, alright. You go get yourself busy. All the fish are so well-fed by you, so what am I going to fish now?” Ian said with disdain.

  “Hmm. Then, you will fish all by yourself here.” Scheer tossed all the remaining little biscuits into the pond, and left with a smile.

  “This lass……” Ian watched Scheer’s retreating back with resignation before tossing his straight hook into the school of fish leisurely as he muttered to himself, “Jeffree, that old fellow, is indeed not as carefree as me.”


  ***

  In an opulent private room, smoke was whiffing around. Cyril was lying in the bosom of a blonde beauty as he was intoxicated by a magic potion.

  A young master in a long golden robe lying across from him smilingly asked, “Young Master Cyril, what have you been doing recently? Are there any new ways to make money?”


  “Sigh. Don’t talk about it. I am so pissed off by a stupid girl recently,” Cyril spat out with a dark expression.

  He had heard that Blue Suede Fashion’s business was booming, and was already the most profitable and reputable female fashion store in Chaos City. One could even say it was making loads of money every single day.

  And the doubtful voices in the family had begun to lean toward Gloria as she went against the flow to turn Blue Suede around, and even created a new industry.

  Meanwhile, his blacksmith shops’ performance was simply lukewarm, and the advancement of their production capacity had begun to weaken. Given his capability, there was no way he could make them in a short time.

  “Then, let me tell you about a good business. Have you heard about what happened to Bennett from the Marquis Family recently?”


  “Everyone knows about that.” Cyril pursed his lips. He didn’t care too much about the business of this unsavory friend of his.

  “Everyone indeed knows about that, but not many people know that many gamblers and johns had nowhere to go after Bennett was arrested, and all his gambling dens and brothels were sealed. They are all very restless lately.” That person snickered. “If we go and open a few gambling dens and brothels now, and get some of those drugs to sell to those people, then wouldn’t earning money be as easy as a piece of cake.”


  Cyril immediately sat up with glowing eyes, and said, “There’s something like that! Are you for real?”