Under a Great Tree, One Enjoys the Shade

The battle ended before it had lasted long...

Neither Zhu Tong nor Zhao Long had any intention of holding back. Whether in top-tier fighters or numbers, they held an absolute advantage, so it did not take long to deal with every gang member unwilling to surrender and stabilize the situation.

At this moment, inside the Wild Wolf Gang's main hall...

Chen Mo sat calmly in the seat of honor, examining the Wild Wolf Gang's resource inventory. Apart from silver, he found nothing that interested him. After all, it was merely an Outer City gang. Still, the tribute rules surprised him somewhat:

"According to the information listed here, a gang's monthly income is divided into three portions: one for the authorities, one for the great Lineages of the Inner City, and only the remaining portion belongs to the gang itself?"

"It's not just us. Every gang in the Outer City is like this," Zhao Long explained.

Then, as though he had made up his mind, he immediately looked over with a resolute gaze.

"Brother Chen... no, Boss Chen, would you be interested in becoming our gang leader?"

If this had happened before, he definitely would not have entertained such thoughts. He might even have killed Chen Mo after the deed was done, like slaughtering the donkey once it had left the millstone. But after witnessing Chen Mo's true strength, he was completely convinced.

The gap was simply too vast. It left him unable to summon even the thought of resistance, let alone any desire to become gang leader himself.

With Chen Mo's strength, he was practically invincible in the Outer City, where an Inner Strength Realm martial artist could reign supreme. Following someone like him would surely bring greater opportunities, a future far brighter than developing on his own.

It was not just Zhao Long. His subordinates, as well as Zhu Tong from the Martial Arts School, shared the same thought.

"Please, Brother Chen, ascend to the position of gang leader. Other than you, I, Old Zhu, acknowledge no one!" Zhu Tong said with a serious expression.

He knew that from the moment he surrendered, the Zhu Family Martial Arts School could no longer hide behind the scenes as it had before. Only one road remained before him: joining Chen Mo's camp.

Of course, from beginning to end, the only person he acknowledged was Chen Mo. Chen Mo was strong enough, so he would only accept Chen Mo as gang leader.

Hearing their words, Chen Mo did not answer immediately. His fingers tapped slowly against the tabletop. Only after several seconds, beneath their expectant gazes, did he speak.

"I can be the gang leader, but you will still handle the daily affairs. Of course, if you encounter something you cannot resolve yourselves, I will step in and help settle it. As for the gang's monthly silver income, I will take sixty percent."

"Greetings, Gang Leader!" Zhu Tong and Zhao Long agreed without the slightest hesitation, both wearing delighted expressions.

Having such a powerful gang leader who was also willing to delegate authority was undoubtedly a good thing for them.

As for the gang's silver, so long as normal operations could be maintained, they had no objection even if Chen Mo took all the rest.

If Chen Mo had known what the two were thinking at this moment, he surely would have cried out in helplessness. He still was not ruthless enough.

And so, Chen Mo became the Wild Wolf Gang's new gang leader, while Zhao Long and Zhu Tong both became deputy gang leaders, managing the gang's daily affairs.

That was right, he had not chosen to change its name.

Mainly because he found it troublesome, and he did not want to draw too much attention from other forces.

Chen Mo would not remain in Hequ County forever anyway. There was no need to take it so seriously. To him, the Wild Wolf Gang was merely a tool for gathering intelligence and resources.

Once that tool no longer worked smoothly or could no longer keep pace with him, Chen Mo would discard it.

Still, in order to gain more benefits, Chen Mo would certainly help the Wild Wolf Gang grow larger and stronger. There were no gangs in the Inner City, so he would make it the number one gang in the Outer City.

It would be best to swallow all the other gangs in the county and eat every last piece of meat, gathering even more resources that way.

The only question was whether doing so would provoke the dissatisfaction of those great figures in the Inner City. Chen Mo understood that such matters had to be handled gradually.

If you can't find it by searching the book title, try searching the author instead—perhaps it was simply renamed!

At dawn, Chen Mo returned home carrying more than two thousand taels in banknotes, planning to find time to buy a standalone house with a courtyard in the Inner City.

The Wild Wolf Gang's monthly income had reached over two thousand taels. After deducting the portions distributed elsewhere, nearly one thousand taels remained. Chen Mo's sixty percent meant that he could steadily earn six hundred taels every month.

And that was only the income Chen Mo received before the Wild Wolf Gang continued expanding. Once Zhao Long and Zhu Tong had cleared out all the discordant elements within the gang, they would begin expanding further.

By then, his monthly income would only grow larger.

In the Outer City, aside from the Tiger Roar Gang, which had Inner City backing and would not be touched for the time being, every other gang was their target for annexation.

Whether it was the Commercial District, the Inner District, or the Slum District, none would be spared. Even a mosquito was still meat.

Thinking of Chen Mo's goal of leaving only one gang in the Outer City, Zhao Long and Zhu Tong felt immensely excited. They would never have dared set such an enormous goal themselves, but if it was Chen Mo, he truly might accomplish it.

With their discernment, how could they fail to see that Chen Mo was likely not even twenty Years old? To kill two Inner Strength Realm martial artists with two strikes, his strength was most likely already at the Divine Strength Realm.

A Divine Strength Realm Martial Artist under twenty Years old—even those so-called geniuses from the county's great Lineages, who had enjoyed massive supplies of resources from childhood, were far inferior. They were not even in the same league as Chen Mo.

Following such a peerless genius, the future could only be bright.

More importantly, they could tell that Chen Mo would not remain in Hequ County forever. This place was far too small for him. He would likely leave within a few years, and when that happened, the gang would surely still be left for them to manage.

In the long run, having Chen Mo as gang leader was absolutely a business with guaranteed profit and no loss.

Ignoring the two men's overflowing drive, Chen Mo spent the following period merely checking on the gang's situation every few days. Most of his energy remained focused on cultivation and increasing his own strength.

On this point, he and Zhao Long's group were in agreement.

In Zhao Long's eyes, a genius gang leader should focus wholeheartedly on cultivation. As for resources and such, they would do their utmost to obtain them for him.

So long as Chen Mo was powerful enough, the Wild Wolf Gang would have the firmest possible backing. They could act much more boldly and would not need to worry about so much.

However, because they had only just integrated the Wild Wolf Gang and undergone a transfer of power, Zhao Long's group did not make major moves recently. Avoiding the Inner District and Commercial District, they pointed their blade toward the Slum District.

Even so, it still drew the attention of the Outer City's other forces.

Both Sun Shan and Yu Ming were Inner Strength Realm martial artists with considerable reputations in the Outer City. Now, both had vanished without explanation, the Wild Wolf Gang had directly changed hands, and the Zhu Family Martial Arts School had been absorbed straight into the Wild Wolf Gang. Such a massive upheaval could not help but draw notice.

Yet apart from Zhao Long, his remaining seventeen former subordinates, and Zhu Tong, no one had seen Chen Mo's true face, much less knew his identity. They only knew that Chen Mo was the new gang leader and that his strength was terrifyingly powerful.

He was simply shrouded in mystery!

As a result, Chen Mo's life actually did not change much. He concealed himself in the darkness, causing many forces to feel an added measure of wariness and fear toward the Wild Wolf Gang.

Under Zhao Long's deliberate spread of the news, word that Chen Mo had killed two Inner Strength Realm martial artists with two strikes gradually circulated. This left the Outer City's forces too afraid to harbor any designs on the Wild Wolf Gang. Among the gangs in the Slum District, apart from a small number that resisted, the rest basically surrendered at the mere scent of the wind.

Some even felt proud and delighted to become members of the Wild Wolf Gang.

Under a great tree, one enjoyed the shade.

With a stable source of silver and people helping him gather information, Chen Mo's days became far more comfortable than before. He did not remain in the Outer City any longer, instead moving directly into the Inner City and spending twelve hundred taels to purchase property.

Compared to the Outer City, the Inner City was undoubtedly much safer.

But Chen Mo still returned to his old trade... digging a cellar!

What he did not know was that he had already attracted the attention of the Inner City's forces...