Chapter 783: Refusals, news, and sudden situations

At the end of August, a guy named "Adams" called Lansi, inviting him to Jinzhou to attend this year's Federation Joint Conference.

It sounded very high-end, and at first listen, it sounded like some important activity.

But in reality, this Mr. Adams had omitted a keyword—gang.

The Gang Joint Conference is held every one to two years. It was held last year, and it's being held again this year mainly because this year is the "first year of the war," and many things in society are changing.

Gangs also need to keep up with the development of social forms and change; they cannot be abandoned by this rapidly advancing society.

This is an activity that all gangs in the Federation want to attend. It can be said that the Joint Conference is the standard for determining whether a gang truly has the qualifications to step onto the big stage of the Federation.

No matter how powerful ordinary gangs brag about being, as long as they cannot attend the Joint Conference, it means their influence is only effective locally, and they are still just small players in front of national peers.

Without a doubt, the Lansi family had done quite a few big things in the past two years and already met the standards for attending the conference.

As a relatively well-known and active social activist in the southern region, and also a broker, it was quite appropriate for Adams to contact Lansi.

The reason gangs are gangs is that these people are either unruly, full of doubts about authority, full of rebellious bones, or simply have bad brains and are pure villains.

They needed to figure out Lansi's attitude first.

Unfortunately, Lansi refused. Invite him to Jinzhou?

Before he killed those people from the Perez family, he would try his best not to go to Jinzhou.

Even if he had to go, he would go in an armored vehicle!

His refusal was within the expectations of some people. After all, he had just ended a conflict with the Perez family, and the Perez family had great influence in the central region of the Federation. Lansi was very unlikely to come.

Some people mocked Lansi for being timid. Only those who were older understood that not being influenced by public opinion and impulses when young meant he could go further on this path.

Lansi's refusal to attend the Joint Conference was itself a questioning of the authority of the Joint Conference. Coupled with the fact that Fran was always bad-mouthing Lansi in front of others, the five major families' attitude toward Lansi couldn't be called very good.

Maybe not that hateful, but definitely not liked—neutral leaning toward dislike.

But no matter what they thought, it didn't have much significance to Lansi, because he had already decided to occupy the south first.

In the company's recreation room, everyone sat together playing cards, a game with relatively high competitiveness.

The card game could have four to eight participants. Although it was called poker, it was actually more like a board game using playing cards, performing operations to gain or reduce points based on attack, defense, and strategy.

The person with the highest final score wins.

This was a relatively complex game, but interestingly, everyone knew how to play it.

Its rules were no simpler than learning a mathematical formula, but 99% of the people here might never learn that mathematical formula in their entire lives.

Yet, for these things, these game rules that were complex enough to make one's head spin, they could remember them quickly, use them skillfully, and even remind others that doing so was right or wrong.

Perhaps those people were right; there were no fools in the true sense in this world, only those who were willing and those who were not.

Lansi then pulled out two cards and placed them face down in front of him: "When is Ethan's next boxing match?"

Ervin, while looking at the cards in his hand, responded to Lansi's question: "The tenth of next month is a Saturday. They arranged it for eight o'clock on Saturday night."

While pulling out some cards, he continued: "If he can win against this opponent, he will be able to obtain the qualifications to challenge the boxing champion."

Others weren't surprised. If Ethan hadn't been a latecomer to the sport and didn't have a big name in the boxing world, the only thing he could do was fight his way up step by step.

And it was very difficult to fight.

If it weren't for Lansi's support behind him, it would actually be very difficult for Ethan to get the opportunity to fight top-ranked boxers even now, let alone a qualifier related to challenging the cruiserweight champion.

Here, it's not that you can fight whoever you want, nor is it that you can fight just because you want to.

To put it simply, if you want to fight those famous people, they also have to consider problems like what if they lose.

So they will evaluate and weigh the pros and cons. If their chances of winning aren't high, they won't fight you.

You have the skills, but you can't improve your ranking at all.

You say you are the best in the world, do you have a gold belt?

Have you knocked out those celebrities to prove your strength?

So behind this, a series of operations are needed—capital operations, power operations.

You have to offer conditions they cannot refuse before they will fight you.

Money, the influence of power, or threats.

With Lansi not considering the appearance fee, he overcame one difficulty after another. Now he was already relatively famous. The appearance fee for his opponent this time had reached 350,000, which Lansi paid out of his own pocket.

The other party said that if it was lower than this amount, he wouldn't fight. If he lost, his ranking would drop, and he would lose some stable income, so there must be sufficient compensation.

350,000—that's enough to fight a champion, but now, he could only do this.

Enio didn't understand this very well: "If he wins against this opponent, can he fight the champion?"

Ervin shook his head: "Hard to say. It depends on whether the champion is willing to fight him."

Enio placed his cards on the table: "He can still refuse?"

"Then what is the significance of this challenge qualification?"

Ervin understood more about this matter; he was more concerned about Ethan's development in the boxing world.

Now, after more than half a year of continuous challenges, Ethan's ranking had begun to climb rapidly, and he had earned the nickname "King Kong."

But he was too young and didn't have any big capital backing him, so even though he was very strong in the boxing world, no one took him seriously.

The current boxing organizations were still in their infancy, and many rules were unreasonable, such as the issue of challenging the champion.

They only stipulated that boxers registered under the league needed to enter the top ten to challenge the champion, but they didn't say the champion must accept the challenge.

The champion could avoid the fight, but constantly avoiding the fight would ruin their reputation, so it seemed the champion only had one path to take—accept the challenge?

That's not the case. If someone else challenges the champion at this time and the champion agrees to the other challenger's challenge, then from preparation to the match to post-match recovery, a year might just drag away.

When Ethan launches a challenge again, the champion can respond to other people's challenges. As long as the champion doesn't want to fight Ethan, there is always a way to avoid fighting him.

"My points." Lansi threw the cards in his hand into the pile and added some points to his score chips: "Once Ethan meets the requirements, whether to fight or not won't be up to him."

Ervin smiled: "That's not wrong."

Not many people were truly willing to fight Ethan on his way up the rankings. This kind of unknown newcomer was hard to deal with.

If you agree, people think you should win; they won't cheer for you, nor will you gain more benefits or advantages from defeating an unknown boxer.

But if you lose, the loss will be huge.

So basically, it was Lansi paving the way with heavy money, forcing them to fight all the way.

But once it reached the champion level, relying solely on money might not necessarily make him accept the challenge; other means would still need to be used.

Letting more Imperial people appear in front of the public with a positive image was something Lansi had always been doing.

The simplest way for a group not to become victims is to master more upper-level resources and power.

Only with more celebrities, capitalists, and even politicians among Imperial immigrants would the social status of Imperial people in the Federation improve.

They were chatting about these topics, chatting about some things within the family, when the door to the recreation room was pushed open.

Lansi glanced at the door; it was Bolton.

Bolton had already selected a person to replace him in managing part of the intelligence. Although he didn't want to do this—he had been poor and down-and-out, so he knew better that only by firmly grasping power in his own hands was it the safest.

But Lansi had spoken, telling him not to be so "exclusive," so he could only do as told, taking out a portion of his power and distributing it to his subordinates.

At this moment, he was in a hurry, with no expression on his face. Lansi asked casually while others were shuffling cards: "Do you want to sit down and play for a while?"

Bolton shook his head. He walked to Lansi's side: "Our people heard some news further south."

Ervin started dealing cards. Lansi tilted his head, holding a cigarette, letting the burning end be on the slightly higher side so it wouldn't smoke his eyes.

But even so, he still squinted at the cards in his hand and asked somewhat unclearly: "What news?"

"Some people say the Sumuli people are transporting a large batch of alcohol to the Federation."

Lansi's movements stopped, and Ervin didn't continue dealing cards. He turned his head to look at Bolton: "Is the news reliable?"

Bolton swallowed: "I believe it is reliable. I have already let them go investigate again."

Lansi took a deep breath. He actually always wanted to go to Sumuli Island to see what kind of ability those old stubborn people had to be able to protect Christopher, but because of the war and the complex situation on Sumuli Island, even if he went, he probably wouldn't get any good out of it.

He was thinking about how to solve this problem and didn't have any good ideas for the moment. He didn't expect them to take the initiative to send some interest first.

What does this mean?

This means the funds on Sumuli Island are not enough. As long as they don't have money and are uncomfortable, Lansi is very happy.

"Let people inquire again, make it clear, and then contact the local Imperial gang. When the time comes, wipe them all out."

"You worry more, don't be stingy with money, understand?"

Bolton nodded repeatedly: "I know."

Lansi didn't say anything more to him, picked up the cards again, and started a new round of the game. All of this was just a small interlude in the day.

The waves outside the window constantly impacted the rocks on the shore. It clearly looked like a stormy sea, but it sounded like the sound of waves with a hypnotic effect.

A gust of hot summer wind blew in from the window just right, lifting the curtains and blowing on people, instantly blowing away the sleepiness and cooling the heat.

Summer is a hot season. Although the sea breeze can make people feel cool and soothe restless hearts, the cool breeze is not always there.

On such hot days, people's emotions fluctuate more and are easier to lose control.

Summer is also the peak season for Karl's business. The soldiers saw too many long skirts and white legs, and each one couldn't control themselves.

The plan between Lansi and Admiral Miles had long been put into actual use. Regardless of whether the soldiers had needs, the military would issue them "physical therapy cards."

One card could allow them to receive thirty minutes of therapy service, release pressure, and soothe emotions.

Even if some naval soldiers were a bit shy and embarrassed to go for health care, there would be familiar soldiers taking them there.

Every day during lunch break and in the evening, one could always see many soldiers walking toward the area north of the base. Lansi had already had Karl build several buildings similar to bachelor apartments there.

These buildings were not very high, all four- or five-story steel-structured houses, which were also the most popular construction method in the Federation at present.

Those steel-structured materials were produced in the factory according to the design requirements and transported to the construction site, where they only needed to complete simple assembly and welding, and the main structure of a house was formed.

Then came the reinforcement and other processing work; it only took a very short time to complete the construction of the house.

Although the construction period of this type of house was short and had many advantages, there were also a lot of disadvantages. For example, once it encountered intense flames, the melting of steel would cause big problems.

But Federation people didn't think such a big fire would happen, or at least most people didn't think a huge fire would occur. They had perfect fire-fighting systems and could easily extinguish fires.

The houses here also adopted this model. Each house was only twenty-plus square meters, including a bedroom and a bathroom.

On the wall outside each room, photos of the workers were posted, along with their numbers and health certificates for the last month.

Each building had about two hundred rooms, and a total of more than a thousand girls worked here.

This became a good place for soldiers to relax, and it was even more crowded after the weather got hot.

Karl patrolled his territory. He knew there were many people behind his back discussing him, saying nasty things, and cursing him.

But he didn't care.

When those people were still digging through trash cans for food others had left over, he was already living in a big villa, eating food made by a cook right in front of him.

With an income of several thousand dollars a day, let alone cursing him, even if these people came over together to beat him up, he would be willing.

Moreover, he followed Lansi's requirements and never forced anyone to come here to work.

Everyone who came in to work did so voluntarily, and there were even girls from the Federation!

The price here wasn't high, but it won in stable customers. Sometimes they could receive seven or eight, or ten-plus customers a day, and the distribution was fair, with no extra exploitation.

With an income of ten-plus or twenty-thirty dollars a day, even in New Jincheng, they were high-income people.

They didn't have any hateful feelings toward this place and were very respectful to Karl. After all, they relied on their own efforts to support themselves and their families.

If they had time, they would also greet Karl or chat with him.

But now, they didn't have any time. The entire floor was filled with those sounds, and Karl was also made somewhat agitated.

Whenever it was busy, Karl would patrol different floors so that if he encountered any problems, he could deal with them in time.

These soldiers were all young people. Sometimes they often had quarrels or even fights over who went first, and he needed to deal with them in time.

He had just arrived on the third floor of Building No. 2 when he heard arguing. He immediately walked toward where the sound came from. Several soldiers were bullying a girl.

Karl pushed through the crowd and walked in. The soldiers who came here to relax basically knew Karl and also knew that Karl was the manager here, but they weren't like the girls here who lacked respect for Karl.

After all, Karl was a Slader, and the business he ran made the soldiers look down on him somewhat, so some of them didn't give Karl much face.

Once he squeezed into the crowd, he saw a girl squatting on the ground hugging her shoulders and crying. He walked over and checked the girl's body; there were no exposed wounds.

The only thing worth mentioning was the red and swollen slap mark on her face. It could be seen that she was hit very hard, and it had swollen up slightly.

Then he turned his head with a cold face and looked at the three soldiers standing together: "What happened, gentlemen?"

"To the point that you need to slap a young girl?"

"Does doing this make you look stronger than others?"

Some laughter came from the surrounding soldiers.

One of the soldiers pushed Karl somewhat annoyedly: "She refused to serve us!"

Karl frowned. He turned his head to look at the girl squatting on the ground, and then chose to believe the girl instead of the soldiers' rhetoric.

After all, those who were willing to work here and could persist were all those who had made psychological and physiological preparations.

If it were someone who couldn't do it, it was basically impossible for them to come, and even if they came, they would leave quickly.

He noticed that this girl had worked here for at least a month, which meant she had psychological and physiological preparations.

He asked: "What's wrong?"

The girl found it hard to speak: "They wanted to come together, but only gave one card."

More laughter rang out around them. Not all soldiers were bad seeds. Someone in the crowd said: "Isn't this just white-pimping?"

This sentence brought another burst of uproarious laughter. The three soldiers' faces also didn't look good: "Fuck, didn't the higher-ups say one ticket can only be used by one person!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 784 =====