After speaking, he turned and left without another word.

People like Uncle Grant, who have spent half their lives in the underground district, have seen all kinds of strange folks. He knew that saying anything more at this point would only cause trouble.

Very soon, plate after plate of grilled meat was placed on Blake's table.

If there’s any benefit to wild beasts, then “enriching the human diet” should count as a fairly important one.

The meat of a few rare mutated wild beasts is exceptionally delicious, and after being cooked, it becomes a rare delicacy. Moreover, the energy contained in wild beast meat is much greater than that of ordinary meat.

However, such edible wild beasts are ultimately few and far between, making them extremely precious. Many mercenaries, after hunting wild beasts in the wild, not only bring back the beast cores but also bring back this delicious wild beast meat to sell at high prices.

Blake ate the grilled meat on the table slowly and leisurely. After all, he was quite free at the moment and in no rush.

His seat was right at the entrance of the shop, with a great view, allowing him to see most of the street outside.

A short, skinny, filthy little boy stood across the street, staring longingly at the grilled meat on Blake's table, swallowing hard.

Blake waved at him.

The little boy looked around, thinking Blake wasn’t calling him.

Blake smiled and waved again. “Yes, I’m calling you. Come over.”

The little boy ran over, standing timidly in front of Blake.

Blake pointed to the empty seat across from him. “Sit down, let’s eat together.”

The little boy was a bit incredulous, but seeing that Blake didn’t seem to be joking, he sat down across from him, a bit reserved.

“Here.” Blake said, picking up the fattest piece of grilled meat and placing it in front of the little boy.

The little boy looked at Blake's expression again, finally convinced he wasn’t joking, and grabbed the meat, devouring it in big bites.

“Eat a bit slower. If you eat too much, your stomach won’t be able to handle it and you’ll throw it all up later,” Blake reminded him.

The little boy nodded hurriedly, but his mouth didn’t stop for a second.

Blake smiled. “Let me ask you, is something going to happen here tonight?”

The little boy swallowed all the meat in his mouth, then said, “Tonight, there’s probably going to be blood on this street.”

“Oh? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know the details, I just heard some rumors. They say some big shot from above has taken a liking to a few businesses here, but The Shopkeeper and Uncle Grant refuse to sell, so…”

“Uncle Grant is that skinny, dark middle-aged man from earlier, right? Who is The Shopkeeper?” Blake asked.

The little boy, still eating, replied in a low voice, “He’s the The Shopkeeper of this shop. Of course, the parts shop next door and the inn across the street are also his. Everyone calls him The Shopkeeper.”

“Oh.” Blake nodded.

Gradually, there were fewer and fewer customers in the shop, and even fewer people on the street.

The underground district’s lighting is extremely limited, with not much electricity available for illumination, so it’s always in a state of perpetual darkness.

But now, the underground district had an added atmosphere of extreme tension and killing intent.

Very soon, only Blake was left at the entrance of the barbecue shop, eating his grilled meat unhurriedly, while the little boy looked around nervously.

“Just keep eating, it’s fine.” Blake raised his hand. “Waiter, bring another drink for this little guy.”

The waiter brought over a drink and placed it on Blake's table. But as soon as he turned around, he started wiping down a sharp black combat knife.

There were even a few others checking their firearms.

When dealing with wild beasts, firearms and other hot weapons are already of little use, but in fights between humans, guns can still be very effective.

Awakened ones can ignore gunfire, but awakened ones are ultimately a minority, making up a very small proportion of all humans.

However, to reduce internal conflict among humans, the world government strictly forbids the use of firearms within the central city. Anyone caught hiding firearms is severely punished, so these people only had a few handguns, no heavy weapons.

Even handguns are illegal. If they’re really investigated, these people could easily spend the rest of their lives in prison.

It seemed this fight was extremely important to them, so much so that they were willing to risk being caught just to use guns.

The entire street had already been cleared out. The residents of the underground district are well-informed and used to this kind of thing, so they had long since hidden away.

Just after eight o’clock, people from several nearby shops came out onto the street.

And at the other end of the street, a dense crowd was already approaching.

On The Shopkeeper’s side, there were only about twenty people, while the other side had sixty or seventy, a huge disparity.

The Shopkeeper was a refined-looking middle-aged man in his forties, wearing a clean white shirt and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, looking a bit like an ordinary office worker.

The leader on the other side looked to be in his thirties, his face covered in scars, a thick cigar clamped between his lips.

The scar-faced man said, “The Shopkeeper, we’ve known each other for a long time. Today, I’ll ask you one last time: are you selling these shops, or not?”

Chapter 12: The Situation Reverses