The Mafia Empire

Wood was very familiar with him. Through the bootleg liquor trade, Wood ran three different sized bars for Gador, which required large quantities of low cost, high profit bootleg alcohol. Wood could meet all of Gador's needs for such liquor, so they were not only business partners but also friends.

When things went wrong, Wood's first thought was to find Gador. With their long standing relationship and a bit of money, Gador could easily take Julian out. At this moment, Wood was filled with regret. Ten years ago, he had been nearly identical to Gador one step away from becoming a tycoon, with a large group of various men under his command.

Even the city's biggest players would tip their hats to him in greeting.

Then he had taken that step forward. To make himself more suitable for the image of a successful upper class man, he disbanded his gang and relocated many of his men. He opened his fine suits and presented himself as harmless to everyone, stepping into the halls of the elite.

But now, he regretted it.

In all these years, aside from money and a bit of minor fame, he hadn't gained much else. Those real big shots had looked down on him before, and they still did. His fancy suits and slicked back hair hadn't changed their opinion. Just because he stopped making people lose their most valuable possessions didn't make them respect him.

In this city, nothing had really changed for him those he couldn't offend, he still couldn't; and those who dared not offend him still wouldn't.

But he had lost the most important thing of all his axe, the symbol of his madness!

It was at this moment that he suddenly realized the true intent behind the rules. When someone exceeded the limits, the rules would push them into another realm, forcing them to voluntarily disarm before they could become a real threat.

Dazed, his car sped into Gador's estate in the eastern district. A group of armed men rushed up to the stopped car, dragged Wood out, and pulled him inside.

Gador stood on the second floor balcony of his manor, watching as Wood was hauled out. He frowned. Waving his hand, he ordered his men to bring Wood inside and called for a doctor. At the same time, he sent a team out to gather information.

He wanted to know what had left "Wood the Axeman" in such a dire situation, fighting for his life.

Before long, Julian's information was laid out on his desk. To Gador, the city held few secrets. As the head of the most powerful gang in Ternell, he had access to plenty of resources.

"Does anyone know anything about this association or this Julian guy?" Gador asked, leaning back on the sofa in the grand hall, his legs crossed, the polished tips of his shoes reflecting the soft glow of the chandelier above.

Most of the people in the hall remained silent, including a few Guars. Gador's gaze lingered on the Guars, but they stayed silent.

The sight of a flayed corpse had reminded all the Guars of their traditions.

Betrayers had to be judged.

In the silence, Gador chuckled and shook his head. "I never expected there'd be something I didn't know about. Wake Wood up and ask him what he plans to do."

"After all, he's an old friend of ours!"

...

Every established gang has its own dedicated doctor. These doctors help gang members deal with issues that can't easily be treated in hospitals. After all, with gangs ranging from twenty or thirty members to a couple hundred, there are always people falling ill or getting injured, making having a doctor almost a requirement for a fully formed gang.

In Ternell city, the most common ailments were colds and fevers. The poor couldn't afford the high quality filtered water from the waterworks and had to rely on well water for their daily hydration. Well water wasn't exactly clean but also not completely dirty.

The real problem was that many people didn't bother to boil the water before drinking it, especially younger men who would drink straight from the pump without a second thought.

So, fevers and colds were rampant.

Under the care of the private doctor, Wood's wounds were stitched up. Fortunately, he had been unconscious the entire time, feeling none of the pain. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to say how long it would have taken to finish stitching all the wounds.

Ternell wasn't without anesthetics, but their side effects were significant. The main ingredient in the anesthetic came from a mushroom that induced hallucinations. This mushroom, once widespread, caused some terrifying symptoms when eaten accidentally.

The head knight of the Inquisition, a prominent figure in the Holy Church, once declared that the "These mushrooms" was a seed sown by the devil. Its use would gradually lead people to lose their sanity and embrace the devil's influence.

With the loss and dangers linked to These mushrooms, the Star Empire launched a large scale "eliminate the devil" campaign, where people uprooted the mushrooms and burned them in large fires. Both religious law and imperial law were revised to include strict bans on cultivating, consuming, or selling These mushrooms, with severe punishments for violators.

Though these mushrooms seemed to have disappeared, the Empire's scientific academy had never stopped researching them. Experiments found that in small doses, besides causing mild hallucinations, the mushrooms had a special property: they blocked pain. In simpler terms, they contained a substance that disrupted the transmission of pain signals between neurons, rendering even a broken bone painless.

However, the use of these anesthetics was strictly regulated. It required an application from the lead surgeon and a metrologist, followed by approval from the "Sensitive Materials Committee." Fortunately, this process took only about thirty minutes.

Like any structure built to weather storms, there were always leaks. Occasionally, anesthetics would slip through the cracks of this strict system. Gador, for instance, had two doses stashed away for emergencies. Clearly, Wood's injuries didn't qualify as such an emergency.

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