Chapter 851: Savage

By the time the renovation project reached nearly three months in, the first and second phases were nearing completion. The three overpasses between the first and second phases only required final safety testing before they could be opened to traffic.

Both the first and second phases and the road construction utilized Batcave technology. This meant that residents had to undergo fingerprint and iris authentication, while also providing genetic samples to be uploaded to the Batcave's system. Inside the buildings, one had to follow the permission system; those who had not been authenticated could not enter the buildings under any circumstances.

Even more critical was the traffic. These three overpasses adopted the same authentication system. In addition to authenticating the person, they also authenticated the vehicle; unlicensed or cloned-plate vehicles could not enter. If a driver tried to force their way through, the defensive facilities that would pop up from beneath the road surface were only a slogan away from being a Gao Da.

The residents here didn't have any particular feelings about information collection. Stick your hand in for 30 seconds, and the car could pass through unimpeded. Once the vast majority of people realized that forcing their way through wouldn't work, they just accepted it.

However, very soon, the major gangs and the Twelve Families realized something was wrong. Once the residential areas possessed the power to refuse entry to unauthorized persons, it meant that the gangs would no longer be able to control the residents here.

If they didn't follow the rules, the gangs had no way to punish them. As long as they could run home, no one could break in. This was something the gangs definitely could not accept.

For this reason, the heads of the Twelve Families sought out Bruce once again. This meeting didn't look nearly as mild as the last one; it looked more like a crusade. The moment Bruce walked in, he noticed that the gang leaders below all had unpleasant expressions.

"Cough, cough." Bruce cleared his throat and said, "The phones at Wei En Enterprises have been ringing from last night until this morning. What exactly is the emergency, gentlemen? Why must you find me during these few days when I'm busy?"

"Wei En. Don't beat around the bush with us. What's the deal with that permission identification system you came up with? Are you saying my people can't even enter their own territory?"

"They can enter, but they need to be authenticated." Bruce shrugged and said, "Have you had them go through the authentication process?"

"Why wouldn't I have? After they were authenticated, your what-the-hell system said they weren't residents here and wouldn't let them in. They wanted to go in to collect protection money, but ended up getting beaten out! Wei En! Are you crazy?! Do you want to go against all the gangs?!" Lawrence slammed the table and stared at Bruce.

"Protection money? Of course they will pay." Bruce gave an unexpected answer. He said, "No one is stopping them from paying protection money. Didn't the staff in the buildings tell you? On the 3rd of every month, the protection money is collected by the staff, and after being deposited into a unified account, it is transferred to your bank cards. Haven't you received it?"

The few heads of the Twelve Families sitting in the front row were stunned for a moment. One of them walked out to the reception room next door to make a call. After saying a few words to the person on the other end, he returned with a dark face and said, "Indeed, there is an unidentified deposit in the account, but the amount doesn't match the protection money we used to collect at all."

"Because I took a cut in the middle." Bruce crossed his arms and said, "You don't think I'm actually doing charity, do you? Now that the first and second phases are finished, do you know how much money I've invested? I am a businessman. Besides needing to earn back the costs, I also need a profit."

"But you can't skim off our protection money!" Lawrence shouted loudly. "You should go ask them for it! Go ask those who pay protection money for more. What does that have to do with us?!"

"How do you know I didn't ask them for more?" Bruce raised an eyebrow and said, "Not only did I raise the rent, I also required them to pay 20% more in protection money, while simultaneously deducting 20% of your protection money. This is to recover costs."

"Don't forget, the defensive system I designed, besides being able to block those with ill intentions who want to enter, can also prevent thieves, prevent bombings, and even prevent prostitution, prevent drunkenness, prevent addicts..."

"In the buildings constructed by Wei En Enterprises, all johns, drunks, and addicts, as long as they dare to cause trouble in the hallways, will have robots electrocute them into unconsciousness. As long as anyone dares to fight, there will be armed staff to separate them."

"You don't think that maintaining this kind of safe and stable life doesn't require a price, do you?" Bruce asked rhetorically.

"But we didn't ask you to..."

"Then you didn't object either!" Bruce tapped the table and said, "It was you who said back then that prohibiting excessive drinking was fine, at least the young and strong thugs recruited would be healthier and wouldn't just die drunk in a bar right after being given money..."

"It was also you who said that if prostitution were eradicated, it would be fine, so as to avoid catching all sorts of diseases, not knowing who to pass them on to, and having to be terrified whenever calling someone in for questioning..."

"It was also you who said that taking fewer drugs would be good, so as to avoid walking around swaying every day, unable to hold a gun steady, and wasting bullets during gang wars..."

"It was still you who said that preventing fights would be fine, so as to avoid this gang beating that gang's people today and causing trouble for you, and tomorrow that gang beating this gang's people into disability and causing trouble for you again..."

Bruce spread his hands and said, "I have done it perfectly. From now on, there will be no drunks, no johns, and no addicts in these residential buildings. Everyone will live safely and securely—the perfect reserve army of gang thugs."

"You..." Lawrence was choked up. Afterward, he felt a bit guilty because the things Bruce said were indeed things they had discussed and reached a consensus on previously.

Back then, when Bruce explained the plan to them, he had already emphasized what the situation would be like in these buildings in the future. At that time, the heads of the Twelve Families had praised these defensive measures highly.

In fact, the advantage of gang society is that it replaces blood quickly, but the disadvantage is also that it replaces blood quickly. Everyone gets hot-headed, and it's inevitable that one mess after another will be made. If it's a small gang, it's fine, but after a major gang has a conflict, only the Twelve Families can step in. If they don't mediate well, they will also be talked about.

Just like the Spencer family back then, not only was it thankless, but it was also very easy to cause internal family conflicts. Over time, the heads of the Twelve Families also grew tired of these messy cases and hoped that the people below could stay obediently and not cause them trouble.

Humans are always greedy. They hope that the people who provide them with benefits will be like hungry wolves when they go out to fight, fiercely biting off chunks of meat from the opponent, but when they are brought home, they hope they are obedient pet dogs, staying in their cages when there's nothing to do, and not adding trouble.

It would be best if they were like ATMs: spitting out money when asked, and staying obediently when not asked.

Therefore, they didn't take the problems Wei En raised seriously at all. Instead, they praised him, feeling that Wei En could help them solve quite a few troubles, and with fewer mediation cases, they could have more time for debauchery.

Lawrence clenched his hand into a fist, slammed it on the table, and said, "Listen, Wei En, no matter what, you cannot interfere with where we want to go. Our territory is ours, and on our territory, only we can have the final say!"

Bruce nodded again and said, "Yes, your territory is yours to decide, and I didn't say it wasn't. It's just that you cannot infringe upon my private assets, otherwise I have the right to self-defense."

"Alright, Lawrence." One of the older heads of the Twelve Families spoke up, "And Mr. Wei En, don't be angry. We didn't come here to be petty. I think we should sit down and talk properly."

Lawrence turned his head to the side. Bruce nodded and said, "At the time, I asked if you wanted to invest, and you said no, that I could do it myself. But now that I've done it myself, isn't this my own asset?"

"You can't have it both ways—not spending money and wanting permission. If there were such a good thing in the world, wouldn't Wei En Enterprises have ruled the world long ago?"

"So. You want money?" The older head looked at Bruce and asked.

"It's not that I want money." Bruce repeated again. He said, "It's that you want permission, so you can only obtain permission by investing in me."

"Otherwise, you can also try using violent means. As long as you can blow up the building, this won't be an issue. However, I must remind you that the defensive system is automatic, not controlled by me. Although it won't kill anyone, it will also use aggressive means to subdue dangerous elements."

"As for energy and ammunition, you don't need to worry either. All the weapons in the defensive system use energy, there are no physical bullets, and the energy is provided by the reactor I newly developed, which is almost infinite."

"Bruce Wei En! You are bullying people too much!" Lawrence raised his tone and said.

"I've already said, this matter has room for negotiation. This is only the first and second phases of the project, there are dozens or even hundreds of phases to come. If you insist on interfering, then invest."

Bruce shrugged, remembering the instructions Schiller had given him earlier. Thus, he put on a very typical capitalist face and said, "I've already said, I am a businessman. My goal is only one, and that is to make money."

"I chose to renovate Cat Getan City just to make money better. For this, I must control them first so they can help me make money, which is why I am willing to invest regardless of cost to improve the buildings and traffic."

"If you also want to earn this money, you can't possibly not invest a single cent. Then why should I share the money I earned with you?"

"What form of investment do you accept?" The older head asked. Clearly, he also saw the astonishing profit behind this kind of renovation by Bruce.

To put it bluntly, others couldn't possibly know that Bruce actually truly wanted to benefit humanity, and they wouldn't imagine this playboy was such a great figure.

They would only feel that Bruce invested so much, he must be looking to recover astonishing returns, and thinking further about his plan...

It was easy to discover that Wei En intended to kidnap everyone in the city. As long as everyone lived in his houses and used his roads, they would only be able to listen to his whims. If he asked for a certain amount of money, they would have to pay it.

How much money could be squeezed out of the residents of the entire Cat Getan City? Just thinking about it, even the members of the Twelve Families, who were not short of money, felt their hearts burn with heat.

Cat Getan was much wealthier than some small countries, and as long as one could become a leader with real power in a small country, the wealth that could be exploited was unimaginable.

If this were only seen as a type of investment, then should they invest or not?

All the heads of the families looked at each other, and Bruce scanned the entire room, speaking at the opportune moment:

"You can consider it. Wei En Enterprises welcomes you all at any time." ===== CHAPTER 852 =====