Lin Yu hated fighting. He had disliked it since childhood.

Because he was afraid of pain—especially the meaningless pain that came from fighting.

Moreover, if a fight damaged his face, he, an actor who literally "relied on his face to make a living," would have his performances affected for a long time.

Although performing on stage often required an actor to treat their lines, tone, body language, and facial expressions as a whole...

But, when you broke down an actor's skill set, the largest portion ultimately still resided in the face.

The extent to which the subtle expressions controlled by the small muscle groups of the face could be mastered often determined an actor's upper limit.

An actor's face was like a musician's ears, a painter's eyes, an artisan's hands, a runner's legs—it was their "innate talent," the most precious, core part of them that they would hone and train day and night, night and day.

Therefore, if Lin Yu absolutely had to fight...

He would do his best to win, and win beautifully at that—this way, his face wouldn't suffer any damage.

Inside the Magic Boar Bar, the scene was now a complete mess.

Overturned tables and chairs, smashed bottles, broken weapons... 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

And, the challengers lying on the ground.

Lin Yu sat back down at the bar counter, slowly wiping the blood from his hands.

Sleepless City's underworld did indeed have some skilled individuals. These guys had given Lin Yu quite a bit of trouble, forcing him to use almost all of his items to barely secure a victory.

But...

After all, they were just guys scraping by on the fringes of the Outer City. Their strength was ultimately limited!

They hadn't even managed to injure Lin Yu's face.

How many truly skilled masters in the world actually enjoyed living on the edge, never knowing where their next meal came from?

This wasn't a martial arts novel where a genius could suddenly sprout up in the wilderness like a giant radish!

Anyone with genuinely good skills naturally wanted to "master their martial arts and sell them to the royal family"—even if their background was poor, they would have long been recruited to join a major corporation or become a retainer for the nobles.

Especially in Sleepless City, a significant portion of one's strength came from various corporate technologies and alchemy.

The more one wallowed in the mud at the edges of the Outer City, experiencing daily battles, the less likely they were to be as powerful as those seemingly pampered, officially sanctioned combat personnel from the Inner City.

The latter could get modification surgeries at will, their equipment and tech were all the latest. What did these Outer City paupers have to fight against those backed by major corporations and families, when even their handy items, once broken, had to be patched up by themselves?

"Although I used some consumables, it was worth it."

His previous action at the Wan Jin Tian Zuo involved nobles, and the news was still suppressed.

Later, killing the three middlemen had no witnesses at all.

But now, having openly and forcefully taken down over a dozen skilled gang members here in Gray Three Streets, the reputation of "Furbollo," the already somewhat famous legendary Detective, would likely rise to another level.

At the same time, people would also learn about a new side of "Furbollo"...

Just like now, The Butcher, looking rather grim, had no choice but to instruct his subordinates in the Magic Boar Bar to clean up the place, tend to the wounded, and simultaneously step forward to offer Lin Yu an apologetic smile.

"Furbollo... Your Excellency, I truly didn't expect your martial skills to be this impressive as well."

"Regardless... we have witnessed your strength. Any misunderstandings between us can be discussed."

"Just as you said, labeling you as the murderer of those three middlemen based solely on official announcements was indeed rash."

"Since you've come to my territory, you must be intending to clear up this misunderstanding... What exactly do you want?"

Lin Yu looked at his shift from arrogance to deference and laughed.

"Before the fight, seeing your attitude, I didn't really feel like dealing with you. Now that I've experienced the skilled fighters of your Gray Three Streets... I've thought it over carefully, and it seems you aren't quite heavyweight enough either."

"Is there anyone with more weight than you in Gray Three Streets, Butcher?"

Before The Butcher could even open his mouth to answer, a distorted voice sounded from the entrance.

"Mr. Furbollo, the 'Fairy Queen' invites you for a discussion."

Hearing this name, and observing the change in expression on the faces of everyone present, including The Butcher, Lin Yu understood.

"Oh, so it seems this 'Her Majesty the Queen' is the most heavyweight figure here, is that right?"

The Butcher nodded: "Yes, Your Excellency. She is the uncrowned queen of Gray Three Streets... Gray Three Streets has existed almost since the founding of Sleepless City—just as where there is light, there must be shadow. Sleepless City has its glamorous nobles and massive corporations, and it must also have its dirty assassins, mercenaries, and the societies they form."

"No matter how contemptuous your earlier remarks were about this place, it does exist here... tolerated and even respected by the nobles. Indeed, perhaps those great figures could wipe out this street and kill all of us with a wave of their hand... But even if they did, in a few years, or even less, a place like Gray Three Streets would be reborn elsewhere."

"So, those nobles chose to foster their own forces here, rather than brutally eliminating the place outright—which led to Gray Three Streets, from its very birth, having many figures and overlords who once held immense power, some even obtaining 'titles' starting from here... But this place has never been truly controlled by a single person. Gray Three Streets has never had... a 'King'!"

Listening to The Butcher's words, Lin Yu spoke with keen interest.

"Until this 'Fairy Queen' appeared, is that it?"

"Yes... Ever since that name first appeared five years ago, everything changed."

"In the shortest time, doing who knows what... she made the most powerful gang members, mercenaries, and middlemen of that time publicly swear and acknowledge that they were working for her."

"And those who openly opposed her would almost invariably vanish without a trace within a week."

"Most importantly, this blatant act of 'breaking the balance' didn't seem to cause any significant disturbance from the Inner City. Fortunately, after about a year, we confirmed that although the 'Fairy Queen' had consolidated power here, she hadn't established an empire of her own."

"She only did two things: First, she issued a 'Gray Three Streets Convention,' as serious as those 'official decrees,' containing all sorts of bizarre provisions. Some were very gang-like, society-like rules, such as gangs needing to report to her before large-scale clashes with each other, and all venues having to pay her protection fees. Others were rather strange things like 'any business operating a venue must regularly clean up the trash in its jurisdiction'—and violations would truly be punished."

"Second, she would periodically select some 'unfortunate fellows' to become executors of her will—the specific method is just like this now."

The Butcher pointed at the thug at the entrance holding a loudspeaker, who looked no different from an ordinary gang member—but upon closer observation, one would notice...

It was clearly a corpse that had been dead for some time, driven here by some strange force.

"A necromancer?"

Lin Yu exclaimed in surprise.

"It's alchemy."

Old Zheng said calmly.