The Iron Barrel pub was dimly lit, smoke hanging thick in the air from cheap cigars and cheaper cigarettes.
It was a neutral ground in the Outer Region, a place where criminal dealings happened without interference. The owner knew better than to ask questions or pay attention to conversations.
In a private room at the back, five men sat around a heavy wooden table covered in alcohol bottles and ashtrays.
These were the remaining major powers in the Outer Region, each controlling between ten and fifteen percent of the territory.
Viktor Slade sat at the head of the table, a massive man with a shaved head covered in scars.
His organization specialized in protection rackets and had over forty members. He had C+ rank, the strongest person in the room.
To his right was Chen Wei, a thin man with calculating eyes who ran the largest gambling operation in the region. He had C-rank, but was dangerous in ways that didn't show on status screens.
