Miss Witch Doesn't Want to be a Diva

The kitchen was filled with steam as the chef mixed various ingredients into starch and stirred them evenly before placing them into a steam pot for cooking. After some time, the contents were overturned to form a food that resembled a cake in appearance.

As such food was sliced into pieces and served on plates, the group couldn't help but feel a bit surprised, seemingly hesitant about whether or not to eat it.

"It looks alright; I'll try it first," Guluo said as he cut off a small piece and tasted it. It was a bit hot, and he instinctively blew on it to cool it down.

"Hmm, it's actually not bad, not as terrible as I thought," he commented while chewing.

"If we go by the federal food grading standards, this barely qualifies as T6 grade food," which means clean, sanitary, and sufficient for replenishing various nutrients. This type of food commonly constitutes various emergency ration boxes and doesn't circulate in the market under normal conditions because there's no shortage of ingredients and everyone prefers the better-tasting T5 grade food.

"I told you, this restaurant is one of the few places in the city where the food is good but not expensive," the man they had just met took off his hat and placed it on the table. He grabbed a big chunk of the food and started devouring it eagerly, without the same reservations. He was already accustomed to life here.

After arriving at the restaurant, the group chatted for a bit before their meal was served, and the conversation paused temporarily.

Ruby meticulously cut the predominantly white, multi-colored cake with her knife and fork and ate it slowly. From time to time, she would use her other hand to twist up her purple-red dyed hair to keep it from touching the food on the table.

In this impoverished and isolated area, a young woman as pretty as her was quite rare. Not only were young girls scarce to begin with, but even if there were some, they often lacked appeal due to various labor tasks and a lack of grooming.

So, when she sat down to eat in the restaurant, she naturally drew a lot of attention. Ruby was accustomed to this and found nothing surprising. Read new chapters at empire

"I think we should finish up as soon as possible; this isn't a good place to talk," Red Hat suggested, observing the scene.

"I think so too," the group quickly finished their lunch, then left the restaurant for the rooftop of an abandoned building.

"Now, can we talk?" Kinsenke propped his hand behind his head as he leaned against the wall, gazing up at the hazy sky and the towering, rusted buildings in the distance.

"Sure, where should we start, dammit," Red Hat rubbed his wrinkled hat and thought for a moment before speaking.

"Right, let's start with the two major gangs,"

"One is 'Black Hammer Heavy Industries,' and the other is 'Burnt Iron Energy.' They're the biggest local gangs and control the most crucial sectors, metallurgy, and energy, respectively," he slowly began explaining their origins.

As the Northern Star District gradually declined, many companies started to move away, but some weaker ones with heavy assets couldn't afford to relocate and were stranded. Most of these were concentrated in the heavy industry and energy sectors, as much of their capital was tied up in massive industrial machinery and the accompanying reinforced concrete structures, considered heavy assets. Even if they wanted to sell, there were no takers due to the impending decline of the district, and they were left to rot.

To keep afloat, they continued production, but as the population drastically moved away, the market shrank severely, increasing the pressure.

Many large furnaces, particularly in chemical and metallurgy sectors, consumed huge amounts when shut down and restarted because the materials in the furnace had to be cleared out beforehand. Otherwise, they would solidify upon cooling and render the furnace useless.

The factories couldn't just stop; stopping would lead to greater losses, yet the market kept dwindling, and the security environment worsened.

Thus, heavy industrial groups, which already had numerous workers and a dense population, gradually became the major local forces. They began fighting each other, like starving beasts battling for the last remaining food.

And so the great fire began.

Being industrial groups, producing rudimentary steel armor was no difficult task. It was far from on par with military forces and official military industrial groups, but their opponents were no more than civilians and temporarily armed forces.

Workers armed themselves and, under the command of each group's leaders, destroyed and burned down the factories of their opponents, crippling their lifelines and then taking sole possession of the limited market.

So, after years of fighting, consuming, and merging, Lebyon was left with only two groups, which was as much as the surrounding market could support.

However, with the population of the Northern Second District continuing to decline and the migration away from Jielou City last year, this limited market was still shrinking. Two groups were too many; only one was now necessary.

Thus, the leaders of both sides independently conceived that it was time to decide the final victor. The information fed back by their subordinates and current market analysis told them they needed to determine the ultimate winner.

"So you're saying, you want to enlist our help to take on such a massive organization?" Kinsenke's family owned a large industry, and he was well aware of such groups. They weren't comparable to ordinary, undisciplined gangs.

The larger the heavy industry group, the more stable its internal order, as production demanded it. A single mishap could cause tremendous losses.

"Massive? No, no, no. This isn't the Northern Star District from centuries ago, where any large company had hundreds of thousands of employees. Today's two big gangs have at most a few thousand people. Any more is not only unsustainable but also superfluous," Red Hat shook his head.