[Shop - Kaufoglandon Auto Sales Center]

The second-floor comprehensive lounge area also serves as a showroom, with spotlights on the display platform, greenery, varying sizes of sofa sets, and arching floor-to-ceiling windows divided by metal pillars.

It's as spacious as an airport VIP lounge.

John sat cross-legged in a spherical sofa chair. The coffee and desserts were ordered individually. They tasted good, though he didn't dare delve into the ingredients. If he could get the recipe, he might try adding it to the store's menu.

Oulos advised John to use his brain more.

He also thought it made sense. Mercenaries must often weigh the logic behind a mission; hot-blooded street kids can easily be duped by middlemen and unscrupulous businessmen.

So John quietly observed and organized intelligence:

A four-lane black internal road runs through the building, with yellow and white painted road signs slightly worn, and the washing station continuously releases water day and night, causing the shiny black road surface to reflect neon light spots.

Repair orders from Kaufoglandon street are always sent here; various load-bearing machines and transport equipment come and go, and through the heavy glass, one can imagine the hissing valves and the tootling warning lights...

It's hard to imagine how many vehicles can be handled daily. From a business perspective, they're absolutely making a fortune! Rolling in money!

Who is their boss?

The Black Gold Gang controls the West District.

The Owl Town Gang controls Sakura Cross Street.

The East District has both "above ground" and "underground" forces.

John hasn't visited the East District often, mostly coming to see Ryan Randall for treatment. The most memorable part of it is — the ground is dotted with more than a dozen large companies.

Multinational corporations and several Eden City council members work in tandem.

They represent the "above ground" part.

The companies control the financial district and large shopping centers, manipulate the leasing and sales of commercial street storefronts, take cuts from suburban industrial factory districts and exploit labor, and monopolize real estate sales and rentals...

Nocturne Bar is their money pit and information relay station.

There's no real local gang on the East District's streets. Madox Gang and the White Motorcycle Gang are propped-up puppets, tools for the corporate capital to control the streets.

Including the reception hall where John is sitting, the oval racetrack and car modification workshop form a large building complex, always shrouded in the reflections from glass curtain walls and shadows of skyscrapers, even during the day.

They are the "underground" part of the East District.

As long as you follow any of the corridor entrances, you can reach the largest black market trading center in Eden City.

Almost everyone you pass by is carrying a wanted notice.

Gang hustlers and mercenary teams replenish, enjoy themselves, and seek work opportunities here, while large numbers of well-connected and smart merchants bury their business underground in the East District, from clothing sales to assassination and kidnapping...

Anything you desire can be satisfied here.

The way they maintain order is through armed patrolling guards, like those guarding around Ryan's clinic and those intimidating gunmen hovering around underground stalls.

But for anyone truly surviving amid the covetous eyes of corporate interests, there must be other powerful balancing means, or...

A leader with enough clout to intimidate.

Kaufoglandon Auto Sales Center is the only business extending from the "underground" black market to the "above ground," appearing rebellious among skyscrapers.

It has deep pockets. To park customers' vehicles, it even bought an oval indoor parking lot right next to the reception building. The exterior large screen continuously broadcasts advertisements, adorned with a flamboyant sign over ten meters in diameter, and when night falls, the holographic projection towers into the clouds like a waterfall, reaching deep and far like a spotlight.

John withdrew his gaze and glanced inside the building.

His position is close to the second-floor glass railing, and the lounge area is scattered among greenery and round display platforms.

The building's top is a steel frame structure, with rectangular pipes winding and embedded with various lighting fixtures, creating a "dark under the lamp" effect used to cover up the rough industrial-style decor.

Around the second-floor lounge area where John was located.

Rotating display stages featured various sports cars and motorcycles, including Eisenberg and Detroit International.

The air conditioning was set to a low temperature.

The faint perfume scent pricked his nose.

The lighting effect combined to overshadow customers' eyes like black stockings, filling the room with tranquility and mystery even during the day, while luxury cars shone, or had their hoods lifted, unabashedly flaunting their alluring configurations.

John took a sip of coffee to dilute the sweet aftertaste and gazed over the railing to the ground floor:

The ordinary section and outdoor square were stocked with regular cars.

Their origins were unclear, belonging to a legitimate gray transaction, with street second-hand car intermediaries frequently coming and going.

The main customers are mercenaries and gang members.

If your fists aren't hard enough, you might get fleeced. If your street reputation can't support the class of your ride, you might get tripped up.

John brought the car to test their attitude, to see if the previous robbery was a misunderstanding or targeting.

The coffee was already more than half finished.

John could distinctly feel the tiny amount of stimulant added inside, making his mind more active than usual.

He leaned over the glass railing and looked toward the ground floor maintenance area.

The Jurassic ZT15 was suspended in a room surrounded by light strips, its armor modules pulled out to replace damaged layers, and the bullet heads embedded in its plate metal were being gradually cleared, with the hood and chassis exposed to the air, displaying equally luxurious configurations.

Through bulletproof glass, he could see the moving mechanical arms and the maintenance workers in Kaufoglandon overalls.

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