A big event is happening at the end of the sea, and Lu En also has his own things to do.

While Lieta was building a prosthetic limb, he was going to take care of some business and look for the gangsters here.

Every city has some not-so-clean places where certain people seek benefits for themselves through violence, threats, intimidation, and other despicable behaviors. This kind of organization is generally called a gang.

Unlike the weird organizations in novels that are all dressed in black, operate tightly, and even steal from the rich and give to the poor, real gangsters are not so upright.

This group of scum in the city has basic skills in forcing good girls into prostitution, running casinos, and exploiting delinquent women and all kinds of fools. They will beat and scold anyone who disobeys, kill them directly, or even bury them alive.

Others engage in loan sharking, or deal in narcotic powders, or even illegal drugs such as hallucinogenic potions.

Those with higher grades will occupy the labor market. There are many farmers looking for odd jobs in the market. It is often seen that many farmers' gathering points are occupied. Then these guys forcefully charge fees per head. If they don't pay, they will resort to violence.

, beating people to death is a normal thing, and they also monopolize the low-level labor market. People at the top need to find coolies, so they have to hook up with them. Those poor people who want to work hard must also go through them to find work.

, both sides exploit each other to make money.

The more powerful gangs are already organized. These gangs are generally organized into chambers of commerce or families. They bully and dominate the market through business activities, accompanied by violence, and also open casinos to make profits, and even collude with the military, city defense forces and guards.

, buy and sell arms, become bigger and stronger.

The highest-ranking ones even have fixed seats in the National Assembly, and even hold noble titles. They look like serious businessmen. However, behind-the-scenes assassinations, collusion between officials and businessmen, demolition, control of docks and transportation, and the control of large buildings.

There are countless conflicts over interests and violent disputes over civil engineering projects.

For the empire, gangs were once a big problem that troubled the government. The evil forces continued to grow, gradually penetrated into the upper levels, and attracted more and higher-level officials. The snowball grew bigger and bigger, and public dissatisfaction boiled.

Of course, public dissatisfaction is not the most important thing, it is just an excuse. What is important is that there is a special faction within the empire, and each faction is born to carve up profits.

Of course, Apidu also has his own gang, and Lu En just wanted to visit them.

If you want to find these people, there is one place that is fastest, and that is a dark alley.

The alley is very smelly and stuffy. The buildings are messy and the paths are narrow and dark. Serious people will not pass through here. Only some special professions will often crawl in here. The mottled mud blocks and broken roofs are the main signs here.

The most striking feature.

Lu En walked into the alley of Apidou Market. He was holding a cane and wearing a black robe, which made him stand out in this place.

Of course, the attention here is silent.

Every open window in the basement, every narrow path on the roof, and even the small window with only a slit above the head seems to make people feel that there is a faint gaze coming from inside, but if you look closely, there is nothing.

As Lu En continued to go deeper, a voice came from a dark crack in the wall next to him.

"Hey, old guy, you're in the wrong place. This is not the place for people like you, go back!"

"No, I'm here to find you." Lu En shook his head: "I have something to do with you. You know, there will always be times when I need you."

"What are you going to do?" said the voice in the darkness, with a hint of caution in his voice.

"Buy some goods." Lu En replied, but he did not directly say what goods he wanted.

In all cities, there will always be a prohibition on the trade of certain goods due to social, political or religious reasons. The most common prohibition is alcohol, certain magic items, or strict control. Even weapons and armor may be banned.

It is prohibited, but as long as there is demand, there will be supply, and in many cases, the local thieves guild acts as this supplier.

This is smuggling, which is usually divided into three parts: collection, transportation and sale.

The collectors work outside the city to obtain these illegal goods. To accomplish this, they may purchase the required goods in other locations, which is very simple, or they may have to manufacture them secretly or obtain them illegally, which is very complicated.

The transporter is then responsible for transporting it into the city. A skilled smuggler may use wooden barrels with false bottoms to pack the pottery or transport it through long-abandoned sewers. Anyway, there are many ways, and those with strict control may also pack the goods in

brought in from livestock or humans.

Eventually, the sellers set up a black market to sell these contrabands and make huge profits.

Of course Lu En didn't know the market situation in this place, so he came here directly to ask.

"For this kind of thing, you should go to them instead of coming here." The voice in the darkness said after being silent for a while.

"I'm new here. I don't know the market. I need help making an introduction, but I can't find anyone." Lu En smiled, then popped out a gold coin, and then grabbed it in his hand: "I won't treat you badly, I am a noble.

"

"Aristocratic gentlemen will come here in person? And I haven't seen your family coat of arms." The other party didn't believe it.

"Do you think I will bring other people and heraldry here? Are you stupid, or am I stupid? Besides, what does it have to do with whether I am a noble or not? I can pay you, and you can be my guide.

People, it's that simple, don't block my way if you don't want to." Lu En stopped with his cane and prepared to continue walking inside.

"Guide? If you were the policeman, wouldn't you be the one to take the blame for us? Then I will be the one to take the blame!" The voice in the darkness spoke again.

"Isn't it enough that the money I give you is enough to buy your life? If the money is enough, what else can I ask you to do?" Lu En frowned and said deliberately arrogantly.

As he spoke, he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, which was ordinary parchment. He always carried it with him. It was used as a casting material for many kinds of magic, such as reading magic.

The moment it was pulled out, subtle magic waves began to form in an instant.

"This is a second-level magic scroll. It comes from a master of Magic 8. I don't need to say much about its value. It's just a deposit. After I bring it to you, I will give you a third-level one." Lu En said directly.

Thrown to the ground.

As he spoke, the ordinary piece of parchment had turned into a real magic scroll. Of course, it was temporary. The material and ink were not good enough. In fact, it could not carry magic. After about two or three days, the energy attached to it would

It will dissipate and turn back into ordinary parchment, but until then, this is a genuine magic scroll.

"How do you prove it?" The other party's voice was trembling.

If these magic scrolls are real, then they are worth hundreds of gold coins. Ordinary second-level scrolls are about ten gold coins. Third-level scrolls are more expensive, costing thirty or forty gold coins. But if they are made by a level 8 master,

Hand, the price can easily double, because the master's scroll has a lower spell casting failure rate and is more powerful! It is also more stable. With the same material, the scroll can be effective for a longer time, and the shelf life is greatly improved.

About one hundred gold coins can really buy his life. For the Ma Chai at the bottom of these gangs, gold coins are not something they can touch.

Besides, Lu En's performance also convinced him that those nobles were indeed like this.

Lu En didn't say much, prepared to use his stick to fly away the scroll, and then strode forward.

"Wait! I will lead you! Otherwise you will never find it, and you don't know the secret code! Only if I help you can you get in!" From the slit next to him, a short man appeared

Ran out.

This is a monster hybrid with a stooped body and a rat tail. He wears very ordinary linen clothes and straw sandals on his feet. He looks more like a farmer than a gangster.

But in fact, this is reasonable.

Gangsters all look like gangsters, so do gangsters still want to do things?

"My name is 'cockroach', you can just call me that!" He came out and said hastily, then quickly climbed to the ground and picked up the parchment.

Of course he couldn't sense magic, but there was a very simple way for ordinary people to identify magic items. He picked up the parchment and scratched it hard with his fingernails. He only heard a tinkling sound, and the magic runes automatically activated.

came out, flashing some floating light spots in the air.

After confirming that this thing was indeed a magic item, he happily put it away. Then when he saw Lu En standing with a cane, he coughed twice again, straightened his face, and said stiffly: "Ahem! Come with me.

!”

Then he turned around again, couldn't help but grin at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes narrowed in smile. He couldn't help but reach out and touch the magic scroll in his pocket. Once he touched it, he couldn't bear to let go.

Lu En didn't say anything else, and just followed him. With him leading the way, he seemed to pay less attention along the way, and he passed through the block smoothly.

Then, we came to the red light district.

The place is bustling with lights and feasting, and the place is full of women, wearing heavy makeup and scantily clad clothes. There are also all kinds of weird moans coming from the alleys, because the Pheasants and Liuyings don't necessarily have beds, so they have to work on the spot.

Seeing someone coming, some orioles came over, and the strong smell of powder swept over them, but they were all pushed away by the cockroaches.

"Come on, come on! I have something serious to do! I'll see you next time!" He was unambiguous when pushing people. He put one hand in his bag to hold the magic scroll tightly, and the other hand didn't forget to wipe the oil and touch two more.

It doesn’t cost any money anyway.

In addition to these women, there are also some underage girls, most of whom have been trafficked, deceived, or even threatened with violence to do this business.

There was a turtle man leading two or three little girls from the street into a small yard.

This scene is not uncommon and happens every day. Due to illness and excessive roughness, the elimination rate in this industry is very high, so fresh blood is urgently needed.

At this moment, he saw a city defense soldier here. This guy was really bold because he was actually wearing a military uniform.

Soldiers and sailors are regular visitors to brothels because their working environment is full of men's smelly sweat and muscles. It's not unusual to see members of the city defense army here, but Lu En still dares to come directly in uniform.

First time meeting.

But he immediately realized that this man was not here to have fun.

Because there was a teenage girl standing next to the soldier. The girl was kneeling and pointing out a man covered in tattoos.

The soldier looked at the tattooed man: "Did you know that the empire's laws stipulate that minors are not allowed to engage in the sex industry."

The tattooed man smiled playfully: "Master Jun, although she looks a bit young, but look, I have a certificate. Look at this, it's written in black and white on it!" He took out a contract, which was written on it!

The girl's address, age, and other basic information were written on it. The age written on it clearly showed that she was an adult, and there was also the girl's own signature.

"Uncle! I didn't sign it! I didn't sign it, really!" The girl hugged the soldier's leg.

"The words written in black and white cannot be denied, right? Master Jun?" The tattooed man quietly handed over a few silver coins.

"Well...since there is evidence to support it, she must have lied, right?" The soldier accepted the silver coins without leaving a trace, and then shook off the girl hugging his leg.

"In this case, it is none of my business. After the investigation is completed, I will leave first." He turned and left, not caring about what happened next.

The girl whimpered in panic, but was grabbed by the tattooed man, dragged into the room, and then beaten severely inside.
To be continued...