Chapter 19: The Way of the World

The Blue Scarf Gang has been resurrected?

The customers in the restaurant, seeing this, could not help but have expressions of terror appear on their faces.

Although the Blue Scarf Gang had not been in Iron Stone Street for long, and few people had been robbed or extorted, the horrific fate of those who refused to pay was enough to make people turn pale at the mere mention of them.

Not to mention, a large group of the Blue Scarf Gang had stormed in with such ferocious momentum! Among this group of Blue Scarf Gang members who broke into the restaurant, only two did not have blue neck scarves tied.

One was the short-haired, lean youth who led them, a smile always hanging on his face.

It was none other than 'Camel'.

The other was the tall and burly man beside Camel, at least two meters and one tall, like a towering and solid iron tower; a body two meters and one tall would be hard to ignore in any setting, and he followed Camel with a blank expression.

"Business is booming, Young Lady Ji."

Camel looked cheerfully at the young woman behind the counter not far away, his gaze brazenly sizing up her body. "It's been a month since we last met, you've become more beautiful. Before, I was blind, I actually didn't see it?"

The hooligans of the Blue Scarf Gang behind him all laughed upon hearing this.

The young woman's face was somewhat pale, and she instinctively stepped back half a pace.

In the past, when she showed her face in the shop, she wished to be as plain as possible; it was only because the Blue Scarf Gang had disbanded and she saw Lin Qing arrive that she had specifically put on makeup.

Who would have thought... the Blue Scarf Gang had come again? "Brother Lao."

At this moment, a man in a suit in his thirties walked over quickly, blocking behind the young woman, and smiled ingratiatingly: "Why have you come?"

"Brother..." The young woman bit her lip; she knew another large sum of money would have to be paid.

"Boss Ji's business is so good, it seems you've made quite a lot recently."

Camel said with a smile: "There's no special reason for coming today, I've just been busy and haven't come over for four weeks. Trouble Boss Ji to make up the payment for these two months."

"Two months?" The man in the suit's face changed slightly.

Camel glanced at the customers in the restaurant and said: "So many customers, business is so good, shouldn't Boss Ji thank us for our maintenance?"

While speaking, he took out a pack of cigarettes, flicked one out and placed it before his lips, smiling: "Boss Ji, help light it?"

The man in the suit took a deep breath, took a lighter out of his pocket, and forced a smile: "Brother Lao, the shop's funds have been tight recently; could you see if we can just pay for one month first?"

"Oh?"

Camel laughed and said: "So you mean paying only for last month, and starting this month we don't need to help with maintenance anymore?"

The man in the suit's face changed.

He knew the true meaning of this sentence; once maintenance was no longer needed, endless harassment and destruction would follow immediately.

By then, forget about running a shop and doing business; even personal safety would be uncertain.

As for calling the police?

If that were useful, would he need to bow his head so humbly? The man in the suit hurriedly pleaded: "Brother Lao, that's not what I meant, it's just that recently at home it's really..."

"I don't care about all that."

Camel cut him off: "Who doesn't have difficulties? I have a big group of brothers here waiting to eat. Boss Ji, let's understand each other, don't you think?"

By the end, impatience had already shown on his face: "Hurry up, the brothers are waiting to rush to the next place."

The man in the suit took a deep breath.

Just at this moment—

"Hey! That kid, what are you filming?"

A hooligan suddenly pointed at a customer in the shop and shouted: "Hand the phone over to me!"

Someone even filmed it?

Upon hearing this, Camel turned his head to look, a mocking smile rising at the corner of his mouth.

This wasn't extortion for him; it was legitimate business for a proper company, taxes even had to be paid; what was wrong with discussing business face-to-face?

Even if the police were called, he didn't care; there were people who would speak for him.

Still, he was somewhat curious; someone was actually this brave?

"Hmm?"

The next moment, after Camel saw the young person who was filming, the smile on his face suddenly froze.

"I'm talking to you and you're deaf, huh?"

The hooligan who discovered it first, seeing that person still filming, cursed and pulled a telescopic baton from behind his back, then walked over quickly. But he had only taken a few steps when he felt a shock behind his head; a great force suddenly came, knocking him blind before his eyes, making him unable to stand steadily, and he immediately fell flat on the ground.

"Damn, who is it?"

He got up with a heart full of anger, suddenly turned his head, and found that Camel was staring at him with cold eyes; he instantly felt as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over his head, and his anger went out completely.

"B-Boss?"

Camel said with a cold face: "Why don't you hurry and go apologize to Group Leader Lin?"

"Group Leader Lin?" That hooligan suddenly remembered the new Inspector of Iron Stone Street the boss had mentioned before, and his heart trembled.

He ignored the pain, hurriedly got up, walked over, lowered his head, and said: "Group Leader Lin, I failed to recognize a great mountain; please forgive me..."

"Go apologize to the Public Security Bureau."

Lin Qing cut off his words, held up his phone to record a front view of him, and said: "You actually dare to openly extort and collect protection fees in front of law enforcement officers?"

That hooligan's face turned pale.

"Haha, Group Leader Lin, that's accusing an innocent person."

Camel walked over cheerfully: "We are a security company, just doing business. If you don't believe me, look, this is my company's business card."

Saying this, he extended a business card towards Lin Qing.

Lin Qing didn't even look at it, simply saying: "Does forced buying and selling count as doing business?"

"Forced buying and selling?" Camel was surprised: "Then you have misunderstood."

He turned his head to look at the man in the suit and said with a half-smile: "Boss Ji, you speak the truth; if we ever forced you, you can say it right now."

The man in the suit remained silent.

The Camel certainly didn't force or threaten him, but as long as he refused, the other side had plenty of means to ruin his business, and the people who carried out the acts hid themselves well; even if caught, they would swear blind it had nothing to do with the Blue Scarf Gang.

Even illegal acts like splashing paint, dumping feces, or smashing glass wouldn't keep them in detention for long.

Moreover, this Camel seemed to have strong connections; even if he called the police, the other side wouldn't fear it.

What could he do?

This was also the reason he knew the young man was an official Patrol Officer yet never thought to seek help.

Patrol Officers were only responsible for patrolling and searching; what could they actually do to these people?

"Group Leader Lin, look, Boss Ji says there isn't any."

The Camel smiled at Lin Qing and said, "Your misunderstanding of us runs too deep."

"Misunderstanding?"

Lin Qing said, "You know what you are doing, and I know too; there's no need to say such things in front of me."

He glanced at the tower-like, burly man behind the Camel, then at the shattered glass door, "That door was kicked in by you, wasn't it? Intentional destruction of public property?"

The Camel immediately put on a conciliatory smile: "No choice; this restaurant's glass door was wiped so clean my brother didn't see the glass ahead. He used too much force and accidentally kicked it like this. Rest assured, we will definitely pay."

"What a fine 'accident'." Lin Qing put down his phone and said, "After you pay, you can get out."

The tower-like burly man stared at him fiercely, his eyes radiating vicious hostility.

The Camel wasn't angered either; he just smiled and nodded, saying, "If we had known you were dining here, we wouldn't have come to disturb you now."

He immediately turned to the man in the suit and urged with a smile, "Boss Ji, how much is this door? Just deduct it from the maintenance fees for these two months. Since Group Leader Lin is dining today, we won't disturb you; this gives you time to gather the money. We'll come back tomorrow."

The man in the suit forced out, "Brother Luo, I'll try my best to gather enough money tonight."

Lin Qing sat quietly aside, saying nothing.

Even if he spoke up and intervened, the result would not change; the Blue Scarf Gang simply didn't want to provoke the Patrol Bureau uniform he wore.

But the money they should earn, they would still earn.

That is how the world works.

The World Government doesn't care much about areas outside the Urban Circles; it seems as if they are irrelevant, and all civilization and order appear real only within the Urban Circles.

And outside the Urban Circles, so-called laws and regulations are mostly just fig leaves.

(End of this chapter)