Chapter 2

"I think that we should get to the main topic of tonight before you end up giving Ren Tian alcohol poisoning from teasing him so much." Ghost Face told Shi Heng before taking a deep breathe after realizing he finally was calming back down.

Since Ren Tian was an individual prone to drinking when he was upset, Shi Heng would always use such opportunities in order to tease Ren Tian as if he was lower compared to him. On the outside looking in, this would be disregarded since the Ren family was in fact very much feared across the Flower Continent.

But what people did not realize, was that the Shi family had been able to marry off quite a few of their pure bloodline women to other powerful groups in order to expand themselves. Therefore, as the Ren family specialized in taking over big territories with their fists and publicly, the Shi family had grew just as fast but in a smarter manner.

When a group chose to expand, the only way was to either completely eliminate another Crime Lord, or to soak them into their own ranks. Usually unless completely necessary, even the top rated powers did not want to wipe out a Crime Lord.

The reason, was because it was far easier to make friends and absorb an established entity and less likely that anyone would have a problem with it and plan to betray said group who was doing this. The Ren family was in fact feared by many, but they also ended up having just as many enemies!

"I couldn't agree more, it turns out that rookie is not just any rookie since he was able to grab the attention of my family."

"If I were to guess, the reason for this, is because he has someone secretly backing him and they want him to just appear as if he is acting alone. Such a strategy has worked out well in the past, but the success rate is determined by who exactly is his backer."

"Either way, the fact that his name is spreading quickly and that old dragon is not acting against him can also be rather troubling. Within a single week, that rookie was able to recruit enough men to take down that Crime Lord who was known for his disturbing antics." Shi Heng told the other two individuals before Ren Tian cut in.

"Just the way he was able to recruit so many men shows how much wealth his backers must have. Sure, it took us only five days to take over our districts in this city, the one he is in, would take us at least several months each even if we boasted our own backers."

"My family sent a representative from the main house and they told me to stay clear of that person for now. You don't know this Ghost Face, but many of the absolute top powers in the Flower Continent declared a ceasefire when it came to acting against each other."

"But the way that Zheng Qigang just went ahead and hired so many men outright and took over a district is unheard of. It is almost as if his backing may actually not be from a power on the Flower Continent which should worry us greatly." Ren Tian told the group as he started to eat some more food.

"That does sound more concerning, however, I thought that if the government finds out that an outside backer took over a section in a city, that they would automatically act against them with full force?" Ghost Face cut in as his face changed into a more deathly look.

"That would normally be the case, if the government was as powerful as they once were in the Flower Continent's borders. You should know as much as we do, that several government officials created their own Crime Lords as well and wouldn't necessarily use their forces to destroy threats like that."

"Since government officials started to do this, only the military could be trusted to remove such threats. This is what we like to refer to as a double edged sword since we have no problem expanding our borders into other places, but back home we are suffering like this." Shi Heng told the group before drinking more alcohol himself just from the thought of this.

"Oh well, at the end of the day, a rookie is still a rookie regardless of his backing. It is not like anyone could outright invade this country to begin with so as long as he remains small, anyone could surely decimate him at any given time." Ren Tian told the group before chuckling.

Ren Tian was very boorish and loved attention drawn on him and just daydreaming at Zheng Qigang's face when someone invaded his territory and stripping him of his Crime Lord title was music to his ears. Besides, who else in the Flower Continent would be willing to deter attention away from the almighty Ren family's potential next head?

After talking a little while longer, the three Crime Lords finalized their yearly goals, spoke about who they would be promoting within their districts, as well as other business practices that they needed to go over on this night.

This was not an unusual thing, and it is said that every Crime Lord regardless if they were in an alliance with others or not, would make the final decisions on these matters every year on this day.

Since it was like this, many members of families and organizations would be even happier on a day like this because they knew if they worked hard enough, the next day they would receive some type of promotion.

When it came to Crime Lords and the men who served under them, it was clear that the Crime Lord in each family or organization of said district had the final say of matters concerning the entire group. However, the majority of the time, Crime Lords would split up some responsibility for smaller matters onto the members of their groups.

In this way, the Crime Lords could focus on the bigger picture, while those who served them, were able to see the fruits of their labor to the extent of even being the face of said group to the public.

With such practices in place, on top of increasing their own pockets, these men were able to gain a foothold for themselves. All this was calculated originally when these laws existed and were adopted by every group rather immediately.

Some would say it would be due to almost guaranteeing full control, while others felt that this was due to the fact that not all Crime Lords being physically dominant. If the Crime Lords were able to purchase short term loyalty, it would take something different to keep said loyalty for much longer.