Although several newspapers had rushed to publish reports about the Ethan incident the day before, the real bombshell exploded the following day.
Because Beihai Daily, the largest newspaper in Wenster, reported on the event—and it was the front-page headline.
Typically, Beihai Daily only covers core civic affairs, legal issues, and policy matters, avoiding any content related to the Mafia, let alone on the front page.
But today, as soon as you got the newspaper, you could see the most prominent headline: Law-abiding citizen subjected to violent law enforcement, where is Wenster's civility?
The accompanying picture showed Ethan standing at the entrance of the Security Office, with another photo below depicting Lewis pinning Ethan to the ground in the interrogation room like a raging beast.
This kind of news instantly put the Security Office in the spotlight, and as for Lewis, his career as a law enforcement officer was effectively over.
Indeed, he had already been suspended the day before, and today he received notice of being repatriated to his place of origin.
He originally came to Wenster from the Royal Capital for career advancement, but now being sent back, he might as well forget about progressing within the Security Office system.
He couldn't have imagined that his ruin would result from a minor Mafia member.
So, after leaving the Security Office, he directly called the Evans family.
After all, everything started with the Evans family.
However, the Evans family wouldn't take his call at all.
Because the Evans family was also in a crisis themselves.
They received the latest news that they might be ousted.
The Evans family conference room was filled with smoke.
George Evans, eyes bloodshot and beard unkempt, had none of his usual elegance. He took another drink and looked at the people below.
"Still no definitive news?"
He hadn't slept since things went wrong the day before.
Initially, Lewis's failed operation caused his original plan to completely stall.
Lewis hadn't lied to Ethan about one thing: the Evans family did plan to act against the Bolita family.
George's team of gunmen was ready, and to ensure everything went smoothly, he even hired experts from a neighboring city.
But then, Lewis had his incident.
Seeing the newspaper, his blood pressure rose.
Plans that had been certain became uncertain in an instant.
The family leaders advised him not to give up; now is the best time to attack. Even though Ethan had come out, the Bolita Clan was in a weakened state.
Leonardo had destroyed much of the Bolita Clan's elite forces; it was the perfect opportunity.
Lewis also called, urging that they must attack, claiming he could even join the fight himself.
But George hesitated; he couldn't forget what Ethan had done, especially silently taking out Tony at Alberto's funeral.
The stalemate lasted into the evening, at which point Ethan went to Sandro's castle.
Receiving this news, George dared not move.
He desperately wanted to know what Ethan and Sandro discussed.
He spent a lot of time and effort to investigate this information.
By the time he finally received it, it was already dawn.
The contents of the news filled him with regret.
If he had known earlier, he would have acted without hesitation the day before.
Delaying until today, it was already too late.
The news was that Ethan was forming an alliance with Sandro and two other major families to get into the bootlegging business.
The Evans family had been kicked out.
At this point, even if they took action, the other families wouldn't agree, especially Sandro.
"George, if you ask me, don't worry about so much—act now. They haven't truly allied yet. As long as we take out Ethan, we can still get a seat at the table."
This subordinate made a good point, quite reasonable.
But that is assuming they win.
What if they lose?
Joan's fate was there as a reminder.
And really... can they win?
George took a deep breath.
The subordinates continued to chatter.
"Let them see the iron and blood of the Evans family!"
"Shut up." Finally, George exhaled, "Arrange a car; I want to see Sandro. Also, send someone to see Ethan and tell him I'd like to invite him for dinner."
In the end, he did not have the courage.
"Everyone, disperse."
When Ethan received the news, he was still at the Virel Tavern, having just finished breakfast.
He hadn't left after Klei departed the day before.
Because the Evans family's matters weren't resolved yet, according to Virel's intel, the Evans family's people hadn't withdrawn, the standoff continued.
Ethan, not daring to be careless, stayed at the tavern, ready to respond at any moment.
In this process, Virel reported to Ethan about the situation of the new territories taken over from the Cabreya family.
Ultimately, he mentioned the issue of weapons force.
Previously, much of the family's armed forces were under Leonardo's control.
As a result, most of it was buried with Leonardo that night.
Now, it was a serious lack of military force, a real vacuum period.
Even integrating the people from the Cabreya family made no difference.
Without a core military force, the only real core might be the dozen or so people at the Virel Tavern.
During the last assault on the Cabreya family, they even lost one member.
Coupled with today's standoff scenario, Virel had to bring up this matter.
Ethan planned to have each leader send some of their best subordinates to him for concentrated training, led by Virel.
Then there was the problem with weapons; they didn't have enough guns.
They couldn't rely solely on the weapons hidden in the Virel Tavern's basement.
However, speaking of guns, Ethan did remember something.
He hadn't seen a single submachine gun in Virel's wine cellar.
And that's an excellent weapon for city gang wars.
So he asked Virel about this, but Virel seemed confused, genuinely not knowing what a submachine gun was.
Ethan felt like he had drawn a good hand.
Though he couldn't improve fake wine being clueless about brewing, he had a certain background in firearms. In his previous life, he had studied firearms, at least understanding the basic structure and principle of a submachine gun.
Combine that with his current knowledge authority, he understood the world's firearms thoroughly.
Thus, based on this world's firearms, he incorporated elements of a previous life submachine gun's structure and ultimately designed a new firearm.
That night, apart from preparing for battle, he spent most of his time drafting blueprints.
By the time he finished the blueprints, he had almost finished breakfast, coinciding with the news of the Evans family's troop withdrawal.
"Virel, please find someone to prototype this gun. Remember, it must be kept confidential. Once made, bring it to me first."
Ethan stretched, handed the blueprints to Virel, and prepared to catch up on sleep.