New Gods of North America

It's about ten o'clock at night.

Several carriages sent out by Miss Harrison, carrying several reporters and staff from the newspaper, as well as several clerks from her steel company, returned to the manor.

As Wayne repeated the story, everyone roughly heard some of the dirty laundry about the Carter Gang from the gang members.

After initially understanding the situation, everyone had a different look on their faces.

The more conservative office workers have realized the potential dangers of exposing these things.

Even with Miss Harrison's promise that she would "never reveal the names of the participants without permission", I still couldn't help but back off.

But the more ambitious journalists quickly realized that this was a good opportunity to make a name for themselves.

On the contrary, he seemed eager to try.

For example, one of them was a young female reporter named Freddy Lowndes.

They have even begun to "deepen the investigation" of news reports based on actual conditions.

"Mr. Wayne, you just said that there was a gang debt victim named "Gallagher". In order to help him pay off his debts, his sister was forced by the Carter Gang to work in a strip club?"

Wayne recalled carefully:

"That's probably the case. But the gang member didn't say whether his sister was coerced, and I didn't ask about this detail. If you care about this, we can verify it again."

Freddy Lowndes listened to Wayne's reply while he lowered his head and wrote furiously in his shorthand notebook.

The reddish-brown hair on her head, with obvious waves, also shook slightly because of her movements.

“The young Mr. Gallagher, simply because he mistakenly entered a casino run by the Carter Gang, was deceived and violently coerced by members of the Carter Gang and ended up in huge debt.

"And his sister, a simple, kind, innocent and beautiful lady who had not experienced much of the world, was implicated by this regrettable accident and was pushed into an abyss of sin from which there was no escape by the Carter Gang.

"In the prime of her life when she should have been looking forward to love and having endless dreams of life, she had to sell her young body, which was full of temptation to the opposite sex, in exchange for extra income.

"But even so, due to the vicious and insidious calculations of the Carter Gang, the interest on the debt has continued to rise, and her considerable income can only barely pay a small part of it. As for the ever-expanding debt itself, it is like a boulder that can crush a giant, leaving her with no hope of paying it off at all..."

Wayne was a little silent after seeing this.

I just used two sentences to explain this matter, but you can interpret it to this extent.

This can almost be considered an original novel, right?!

All of you named "Freddy" are tough guys...

Then Wayne thought again,

"Ms. Lowndes, I heard from them that Deputy Mayor Ed seems to be involved with the Carter Gang..."

Freddy Lowndes thought for a moment, then turned to a new page in his shorthand notebook:

"A gang that disregards the law and morality can expand rapidly like the night in our peaceful and beautiful city, wantonly sucking and squeezing the blood and flesh of innocent citizens. There must be a dark and bloody conspiracy behind it.

"According to the Wayne National Detective Agency, they paid a heavy price in terms of casualties among their members before finally revealing the tip of the iceberg of the cruel reality shrouded in darkness. Countless ironclad evidences ultimately pointed to our seemingly righteous deputy mayor, Mr. Ed..."

"etc!"

Wayne felt more and more guilty the more he read. "Ms. Lowndes, could you not mention the name of our detective agency in your report?"

Freddy Lowndes heard this.

Without thinking, he quickly changed it in the shorthand notebook, so the content above became "According to the Wayne National Detective Agency who does not want to reveal its identity..."

Wayne no longer doubted the professionalism of Miss Lowndes as a journalist in terms of "objectivity" and "truthfulness".

He thought about it for a moment and smiled at the reporter:

"Due to work, our detective agency has met some important figures such as church bishops and senators. We may have more explosive information in the future. If we have a pleasant cooperation, I will consider giving it to you first."

Freddy Lowndes bit the end of his pen:

"Then change it to 'According to members of the Carter Gang who have come to their senses and are no longer willing to continue to be involved in evil'?"

Wayne nodded, "I think so."

…

The next morning.

“Bang!”

A half-folded newspaper was thrown into a man's face.

The man's name is Jack Carter. He looks to be in his forties and has a gloomy temperament. He is the successor of the Carter Gang and the current person in power.

Carter was not angry. He caught the falling newspaper and looked at the news on it.

"Kidnapping, murder, coercion, how many crimes did the Carter Gang commit?"

Carter quickly glanced through it and sneered. "What's written here are just some horrific gangster stories. They look specious, but there is no substantial evidence."

"What about this one? The printing house started printing it late last night. Take another look."

A separate report printed like a leaflet was thrown across the desk.

The paper pages floated left and right in the air and slowly descended.

Carter stretched out his hand and grabbed it. The title on it was "The Shadow of Evil as Thick as Ink: Preliminary Investigation Report on the Carter Gang". There was no name of the newspaper on the page, but there was the signature of a freelance reporter - Freddy Rounds.

Looking further down, although this report is clearly fabricating a more exaggerated story with inflammatory words,

But the names that appeared here seemed very familiar to Carter.

Bill from the bar, Robert from the bank, Marty the lawyer, the stripper's brother, and Mr. Ed, the deputy mayor...

Carter's pupils shrank, and his body instantly straightened up, "I'll arrange for someone to handle it right away!"

"Deal with it? Do you know who are the people behind the other party?" asked the man sitting behind the desk.

"I'll have someone investigate right away," Carter replied.

"The source of the information is said to be a detective agency hired by the sister of 'Philip' in your gang. Those people should be living in his father's manor now.

"But judging from the current situation, I don't think those people are 'temporary hired detectives' at all, but rather connections that the old man left for her. After learning that he had a stroke, they came all the way here to protect his illegitimate daughter from getting promoted.

"In my opinion, your Philip is no longer of any value."

Carter thought for a moment and said, "If it's in their family's manor, I can arrange for Philip to take people to kill those guys."

“Tsk.”

The man behind the desk grabbed the letter opener and threw it at me:

"You still don't understand?! These inside information were obviously leaked deliberately by Philip and his men. He has betrayed us! We must dig out the bullet and cut off the rotten flesh as soon as possible to prevent the wound from festering further."

Carter picked up the letter opener from the ground and put it back on the desk:

"I know what to do, Mr. Ed."