Chapter 666: Gathering

After spreading the word among the Ireland Violent Group,

Wayne took the opportunity to ask other Red Armbands about what they had learned during their recent patrols in the Dock Area, and then visited a branch of the Mongoose Gang for a while.

Mongoose, also known as meerkat, in Wayne's impression, looked somewhat like a weasel, but it was not a native wild animal of America at all.

It was said that the Mongoose Gang originally wanted to find a mustelid as their gang totem, but due to their limited education, they copied the wrong word from the newspaper from the very beginning, so the later members could only make do with the mistake.

According to the story Wayne understood, the founders of the Mongoose Gang initially planned to find a name based on animal habits.

The animal they sought needed to have these characteristics: nocturnal, small-scale communal living, untamed, and different from “rats.”

Inferring from these characteristics, the composition of the Mongoose Gang was not difficult to guess—it was, in essence, a loose alliance of professional, but mostly part-time, thieves and pickpockets in the Dock Area.

They usually operated alone or in small groups of two or three, with equal status and no subordination, relying on very broad consensus for their connections, such as exchanging information, helping each other with false testimonies as strangers, and if a member was targeted by a certain gang, others would assist in limited retaliation.

Also because of this nature of gathering to “huddle for warmth” due to unwillingness to be exploited by various gangs, the Mongoose Gang, in a sense, was more like a thieves' guild in the Dock Area, with no unified organizational structure internally; there were “senior members,” but no one was the “boss” of the gang.

As for why Wayne went to a branch of the Mongoose Gang, it was because this small group was currently relatively large in number and more professional within the Mongoose Gang.

There was no recognized “boss” in the Mongoose Gang, but there could be one in individual small groups. The current de facto leader of this small group was named Waggsena, and his code name at the Detective Agency was “Soften.” He recently seemed to have fallen for a rather beautiful mixed-race slave girl, but currently, his chances of success looked slim…

So, in short, this was now an external team privately recruited by the Detective Agency's intelligence group.

It was directly managed by Soften, but had no contact with other intelligence group members, to avoid being traced back.

With financial support from the intelligence group, the people in this small group were considered semi-reformed after being recruited by Soften.

Their main job now was to help collect information, and currently, the specific business they were busy with was collecting information for Wayne's reward for clues about gangs evading taxes.

The low-rise residential building was located in a small alley. The young man who opened the door was quite vigilant after seeing a stranger.

Only after Wayne introduced himself did the guy slightly lower his guard, while sizing Wayne up and down and whistling flirtatiously, “Oh, it’s the great detective. Come in, our boss is home.”

The door was not opened wide, and the guy stood in the doorway. Wayne and Sanders squeezed past him one after another. Then, one of the guy's wrists was quickly twisted behind his back by Sanders, and he was pressed against the wall by the back of his neck.

Wayne and Soften, who walked out of the room, were both attracted by their commotion for a moment. Sanders then slightly loosened his grip, explaining as he forcefully pushed the guy away, “He just tried to pickpocket me.”

Soften sighed slightly, looking at the man: “Mr. Wayne is our client, Jack, you need to be polite enough to them.”

“Got it, boss.” The young man was young but already seemed quite slick. “I just wanted to show them what makes the Dock Area different from other places.”

Soften dared not treat Wayne and Sanders like that. He instructed the young man to continue guarding the door, and then quickly invited the two into the room.

The atmosphere in the room was a little awkward at this time.

Soften hesitated: “Hmm…”

Wayne waved his hand easily, “No need to explain, I’m just here to understand the situation, I can understand.”

According to Lina, these more peripheral people didn't even know her, so it wasn't surprising that they would treat other members of the Detective Agency as strangers.

Wayne was also willing to respect Soften's status as their “boss” among them, anyway, ordinary people couldn't be more mischievous than Liam.

There was no door in the room, and people outside might not be able to hear the conversation. Some things were enough to say here.

Seeing that Wayne didn't mind, Soften went straight to the point:

“We are still collecting the clues you publicly offered a reward for. For now, we have the most clues about the Rabbit Gang; their private liquor sales are semi-public in Richmond. Some beautiful poor girls in the Dock Area were not entirely willing to ‘work’ for them initially.”

“The details of the Sailor Gang’s smuggling have not yet been confirmed. No suspicious cargo ships have docked at their pier in the past few days, but we already have people watching them. If there’s any situation, we will notify you immediately.”

“As for the Aierlan Gang, their community is too exclusive, and it’s difficult for our people to directly inquire with the Aierlan people about many things. But we are trying to confirm through other channels, hoping to get valuable clues as soon as possible.”

Soften's “our people” referred only to the people in this small group, not the entire intelligence group.

In fact, Slingshot's team, originally the sales group and now the Red Armbands, was also compiling the collected clues for the Detective Agency. Their part was overt, and after compilation, it would first be centralized by the intelligence group for factual verification in batches. Finally, after the overt and covert clues were initially confirmed, they would be handed over to the partners.

Wayne nodded slightly, then asked, “How many people do you have here in total?”

Soften also knew exactly what Wayne was asking and quickly replied, “Including me, there are seven people in total, all experienced hands. Uh… actually, compared to some people in your Detective Agency, they might not be particularly professional. But at least they are all quite familiar with the Dock Area.”

“You shouldn’t have been in the Dock Area for long either. Are they all sufficiently convinced by you?” Wayne confirmed incidentally.

Soften was confident in this aspect: “I also have my own special skill. There’s a reason I can be the head of the team. Mr. Wayne, you can rest assured about our professionalism.”

Alright.

It felt like this place wasn’t convenient for talking, and Soften’s current work status was also good.

Wayne didn't rush to talk to him about Little Black Girl, planning to get the full scoop later.

It wasn't until he asked Lina about the intelligence group's recent situation that evening that Wayne realized he had underestimated the blonde's capabilities:

“What?! Your intelligence group is actually starting to make a profit? How did you do it?”

Lina, however, said it as a matter of course, “The intelligence group has been staying in the Dock Area recently, so I had them incidentally inquire about the consumption habits of some gentlemen in those bars and strip clubs of the Rabbit Gang, to balance the intelligence group's income and expenses. Some ladies don't mind spending money on this.”

So a part of the reason you went to socialize with Miss Harley before was actually to deal with these things?

Wayne took the opportunity to gossip, “So are you helping investigate infidelity, or are you helping them vet the character of their fiancés or something?”

Lina also seemed a little troubled: “For infidelity investigations, some gentlemen actually don’t come to the Dock Area, and those clubs in the city are hard to investigate. And for those who do come… their wives might not be able to pay much.”

“As for those ladies, some of them don’t care about the gentlemen’s character, but rather want to indirectly understand their actual financial capabilities—some middle-class gentlemen are not as wealthy as they appear on the surface.”

“I see.” Wayne didn't want to comment on other people's romantic lives, and his attention quickly returned. “Let them focus more on the Dock Area recently. I'm worried that once we move against the Ireland Violent Group, all those gangs will become chaotic. To prevent certain people from coming to apply pressure, we must suppress those nascent issues in time.”

“Don’t worry,” Lina patted her side waist, imitating Wayne, “I know what’s more important.”

Looking at this seemingly familiar scene,

Although Lina's competence was definitely trustworthy, Wayne somehow felt even more uneasy…