Chapter 144: Counterattack 3
Chapter 144: Counterattack (3)
That evening, the Long Clear Gang forcefully attacked, destroying the Red Eagle Gang. Gang leader Gong Kenan was killed on the spot, and the Red Dust Street became part of the Long Clear Gang’s territory.
When news of this matter spread, all of Clear River City was shocked.
The Long Clear Gang had always done things under the control of the Bloodline Nobility Clans, so major disagreements rarely occurred, even though there was the occasional bit of friction. The Red Eagle Gang belonged to the Shen Clan, while the Long Clear Gang belonged to the Lai Clan. For the Long Clear Gang to make a move at this moment had profound implications.
At that moment, a rumor suddenly began to spread.
While Shen Yuanhong was out on a trip, he had suffered a tragic death.
The whole Long Clear City exploded into commotion like something was dropped into a smoking hot pan.
Shen Yuanhong was a Light Shaking Realm, one of Clear River City’s well-known experts. He was also the Shen Clan’s source of dominance.
The sudden spread of news about his death wasn’t actually that big of a deal. It was just a rumor, after all, which the Shen Clan could deny. However, the sudden attack of the Long Clear Gang, along with the Shen Clan’s sudden silence, immediately gave people cause to start speculating wildly.
With the Long Clear Gang making a sudden move, many people believed that Shen Yuanhong had indeed gotten himself into trouble, and Lai Wuyi had instructed the Long Clear Gang to do so upon getting wind of it.
Lai Wuyi was instantly under attack from all sides. Many people thought that he was kicking someone while they were down.
“Bastard! Wang Wenxin, what the hell did you do? Who told you to do this?”
Within the Lai Clan’s main courtyard, Lai Wuyi was in a fit of rage as he yelled while smacking the table.
Wang Wenxin stood below him and replied confidently, “Clan Patriarch Lai, that’s not right for you to say. I didn’t do anything wrong; what are you getting so mad at me for?”
Lai Wuyi jabbed his finger at him and asked, “Why did you wipe out the Red Eagle Gang?”
“Why?” Wang Wenxin laughed coldly, “That’s an interesting way of putting it. We have always been fighting over territory, haven’t we? Red Eagle Gang has no one protecting them right now, yet they control such a fat portion of territory. How could I stop myself from trying to get a piece of it for myself?”
“But the Bloodline Nobility Clans are all allied together. Your doing this is the same as kicking them while they’re down and taking advantage of the state they are in!”
Wang Wenxin immediately countered, “Then when my Long Clear Gang was being wiped out on the docks by Su Chen, what did the other gangs do? Does that count as kicking us while we were down? Does that count as taking advantage of the state we were in?”
Lai Wuyi was flabbergasted.
That year, when Su Chen washed the docks with blood, the Long Clear Gang had sustained heavy losses. Even though Wang Wenxin had appeared afterwards to clean up the mess, losing power and influence was inevitable due to how many people had died.
The real world was very practical. If you were weak, you shouldn’t take so much territory.
Even though they were under the control of the Bloodline Nobility Clans, it was impossible to remove all conflict between the various gangs. The clans could only try to mitigate the size of the commotions.
As such, during that period of time, some of the Long Clear Gang’s territory had been divvied up by the other gangs.
During that time, however, Su Chen had helped Wang Wenxin secretly train a group of skilled subordinates, with whom he was able to easily reclaim a large portion of that territory.
No matter what, though, the gangs taking advantage of one another was common. This wasn’t a conflict born out of grudges. The Red Eagle Gang had indeed taken over some of the Long Clear Gang’s territory and businesses back then.
As such, when Wang Wenxin said this, Lai Wuyi couldn’t think of anything to say in rebuttal.
After thinking about it for a moment, he could only say, “But if you do this, what does it say about how you view the Lai Clan?”
Wang Wenxin raised his eyebrows. “The Lai Clan?”
“Wang Wenxin, you can’t possibly believe that the Long Clear Gang can rise up with just your support, right? Without the support of my Lai Clan, do you really think the Long Clear Gang could have even lasted until now?”
Wang Wenxin guffawed. “The Lai Clan’s support? You mean taking 70% of the profits of my Long Clear Gang, but doing nothing once the old gang leader died, giving away territory in exchange for making peace, and even delivering the gang members into the hands of those murderers? That kind of support?”
Lai Wuyi froze.
Back then, when Wang Wenxin had assumed control, Su Chen had forced the Long Clear Gang to hand over the culprit of the murder of the Origin Bureau’s personnel. The Lai Clan had agreed helplessly, but they also knew that this matter would breed unhappiness amongst the gang.
Indeed, that kind of acquiescence now reared its ugly head today. Wang Wenxin and his subordinates no longer put the Lai Clan in their eyes.
When he thought about it, that had to be the case.
Otherwise, how could he dare do something like this?
Lai Wuyi stared savagely at Wang Wenxin. “If it weren’t for what happened that year, you might not have been able to climb to the top either.”
Wang Wenxin replied with a smile, “You’re not wrong, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t try and get revenge for the previous clan leader.”
Getting revenge for a dead person was a great excuse. Even if the successor couldn’t wait for the former leader to die, taking on the role of a sympathetic and loyal subordinate was always useful pretense. The act could not only rope in the other gang members but could also serve as a pretext for waging war.
In this kind of age where status was incredibly important, having the appropriate pretext for waging war was still important.
Otherwise, the Bloodline Nobility Clans and An Siyuan wouldn’t need to be so cautious. Actually, many people wouldn’t need to act so cautiously.
A world without caution, where pure martial strength determined social status, was a world where brains were not so important and where the strong consumed the weak.
They were very lucky that they were not in that kind of a world. This world still had some semblance of order and regulation, resulting in a sense of caution.
Even though there was a lot of chaos within that order, exceptions to those rules, and fearlessness in the face of caution, there was still a general need and desire to maintain a certain amount of dignity.
As such, when Lai Wuyi heard Wang Wenxin’s words, he knew that he had already lost control of the Long Clear Gang.
Actually, he had probably lost it a long time ago; it was just that the cards hadn’t been laid out on the table until now.
Lai Wuyi stared coldly at Wang Wenxin.
He knew that he had two choices.
The first was to immediately kill this disobedient bastard. However, there were many reasons why this was a bad move. First was that doing so was equivalent to admitting to outsiders that he had lost control over the Long Clear Gang. The second reason was even more chilling. After all, the Long Clear Gang had taken down the Red Eagle Gang and swallowed up their territory, increasing their profits. The group to benefit the most was the Lai Clan. Wang Wenxin’s actions were equivalent to a conquest. If Lai Wuyi were to kill him, it would be too hard for others to accept. Thirdly, he might not even be able to kill him. The Lai Clan had no Light Shaking Realm cultivators; their strongest experts were all Yang Opening Realm experts, a number of which had been lost in their pursuit after Su Chen. On the other hand, the Long Clear Gang had been on the up-and-up recently, and a number of new Yang Opening Realm cultivators had joined their ranks. Apparently, the Long Clear Gang had some kind of secret technique that had elevated the strength of the gang as a whole.
That was why this first option wasn’t a good choice.
The second choice was to tacitly agree with Wang Wenxin’s actions. This way, at the very least on the surface it would appear that he still had control over the Long Clear Gang, and maybe he could even benefit from their swallowing up of the Red Eagle Gang - Wang Wenxin hadn’t said that he wouldn’t pay up.
However, this would put Lai Wuyi under the pressure of the other Bloodline Nobility Clans.
Lai Wuyi thought for some time, then said slowly, “I can understand your sentiment of revenge for the former clan leader......”
The two of them simultaneously cursed in their hearts, What sentiment of revenge?
“However, your actions put me in a difficult position. But since you did it already, and you belong to the Lai Clan, it is my duty to protect you. When Li Yue was working for me, I wasn’t able to protect him well enough. This time, you may consider it an apology from me. I will take the responsibility for it this time.”
A delighted expression appeared on Wang Wenxin’s face. “Many thanks for Clan Leader’s understanding! The Long Clear Gang will definitely continue to work hard for the Lai Clan.”
“Okay, you may go. Just don’t make any more problems for me,” Lai Wuyi said as he waved his hand weakly.
Of course, he couldn’t have possibly dreamed that the Long Clear Gang’s problems had only just begun.