Chapter 107: Audacity Beyond All Bounds
City of Light Chasing, abandoned area.
As the morning sun rose, the weather in October had already grown colder. In a dormitory room on the sixth floor of the Green Sparrow Gang’s ruined building, Flo was sorting documents at his desk when he suddenly felt a gust of cold wind blow in from the window. The feathers on his back wings could not help but tremble, and his whole body shivered.
“The weather really is getting colder and colder.”
Flo put down his pen, stood up, walked to the heater at the side, picked up a tennis ball-sized piece of energy ore from the wooden bucket next to it, and placed it directly into the heater.
In just a moment, the desk-sized heater began to radiate waves of heat in all directions, as warm as sunlight.
“Fortunately, this time we obtained a share of the energy vein at Crimson Moon Mountain. Otherwise, I don’t know how many bits we would have to spend this year to purchase these energy ores.”
Looking at the energy ore in the wooden bucket, Flo felt quite pleased with his own vision and choices.
If not for the help of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, their Green Sparrow Gang had to take out 30% of the gang’s annual profit each year to purchase energy ore. Besides using the energy ore to enhance training effects, a considerable portion was used for heating.
The winter in the City of Light Chasing was not something everyone could live through comfortably.
Aside from the residential areas in the city center and suburbs, which were specially heated by the City of Light Chasing, other places had to find their own ways to keep warm. Most vagrants in the abandoned area could only burn wood for heating, and only those with some bits would use energy ore for warmth.
As for the major gangs with strongholds in the wilderness, burning wood was definitely not an option. Their wilderness strongholds were very simple and not insulated at all, so they could only rely on energy ore for heating, and the daily consumption was quite large.
Under the condition that they could mine their own energy ore and had heaters, that consumption was negligible.
However, compared to obtaining a share of the Crimson Moon Mountain energy vein, Flo felt that his greatest gain was managing to cling to the thigh of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
Especially recently, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was planning to set up a wilderness transit market at Crimson Moon Mountain. That was the real wealth, something a miniature energy vein could not compare to at all.
For a miniature energy vein, having reserves of twenty thousand tons of energy ore was already good, and the deeper it went, the harder it was to mine and the more manpower it consumed.
But a wilderness transit market was a long-term business. It could ruthlessly harvest wilderness nomads and earn price differences as a middleman. Its annual profit was definitely not inferior to those small enterprises in the suburbs, and his personal profit might even surpass that of the gang leader.
As long as he had three million bits, he could go to the Martial Artist Association to learn a Martial Artist-level cultivation method and then hire Martial Artists from the Association to instruct him in it.
Not to mention a future breakthrough to become a Martial Artist, at the very least, reaching the level of a Limit Quasi-Martial Artist would be no problem.
Just as Flo was thinking about what goods to resell at Crimson Moon Mountain, a winged tribe woman pushed the door open and walked in quickly. Her expression was flustered, and sweat was streaming down her forehead. This winged tribe woman was none other than Fischer, an elder of the Green Sparrow Gang.
“Flo, something big happened in the wilderness yesterday!” Fischer’s face was full of panic, and she was even stammering as she spoke.
“Don’t panic.” Seeing Fischer so terrified, Flo knew something serious must have happened, but he still poured a glass of water and softly comforted her, “Sit down, have some water, calm down first, and tell me slowly.”
“There’s really no time.” Fischer took the water but set it aside. “It’s about the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall!”
“The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall?” A trace of tension appeared on Flo’s face. “Did something happen to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall? That shouldn’t be. I just came back from Crimson Moon Mountain not long ago. What could happen to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall? Don’t tell me the plan to open the transit market has already been exposed?”
At present, the transit market at Crimson Moon Mountain was only in its early stages, attracting at most tens of thousands of wilderness nomads. Compared to the tens of millions of nomads outside the City of Light Chasing, this number was nothing at all. Crimson Moon Mountain was also over a hundred kilometers away from the City of Light Chasing, so it was hard to draw attention.
Moreover, under normal circumstances, even if the suburban gangs got wind of it, they could not possibly take action within ten days or half a month.
“It’s not that.” Fischer said anxiously, “I heard the news on my way back from the wilderness. Last night, experts from the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall attacked the headquarters of the Great Ape Gang.”
“They attacked the headquarters of the Great Ape Gang? What is wrong with the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall? That’s the Great Ape Gang!” Flo’s voice jumped several pitches in disbelief. “Attacking the headquarters of the Great Ape Gang, is the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall trying to go to war with them?”
Ordinary wilderness nomads might not know the situation of the Great Ape Gang, but the top hundred wilderness gangs were clear. As one of the ten great clans in the City of Light Chasing, the ape clan had countless ties between the Great Ape Gang and the Gorilla Gang in the suburbs. Even the top three wilderness gangs did not dare to provoke the Great Ape Gang.
The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had only just managed to gain a foothold in the wilderness. It had not been long since they provoked the White Feather Gang, and now they turned around and struck at the Great Ape Gang.
Flo had no idea what kind of insane move Hall Master Lin Qi was playing.
Was this how relationships between wilderness gangs were supposed to be handled?
“I don’t know either.” Fischer shook her head, then added, “I heard it from passing ape clan nomads. The headquarters of the Great Ape Gang was attacked by a group of human experts wearing silver-gray long-sleeve T-shirts. They went on a killing spree in the Great Ape Gang’s headquarters. Just among the Great Ape Gang members who died, it’s estimated there were four to five hundred, and Noco, the vice gang leader in charge of the headquarters, was cut down on the spot.”
“Insane! Completely insane!” Flo felt like his brain was cramping. “Killing Vice Gang Leader Noco and taking out four to five hundred members of the Great Ape Gang, the Great Ape Gang will definitely fight to the death over this.”
“What should we do next?” Fischer asked quietly. “Are we still going to cooperate with the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall?”
“You’re asking me? I don’t know either.” Flo held his head, feeling a massive headache. “If we keep working with the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, we will definitely suffer retaliation from the Great Ape Gang. But if we don’t cooperate, then we lose the transit market. This Hall Master Lin is really putting me in a tough spot.”
At the same time, not only Flo received news of the attack on the Great Ape Gang, but many major wilderness gangs with sharp intelligence networks also heard about it and were all utterly shocked.
One after another, they felt that the leader of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had gone mad.
As an old and established major wilderness gang, the Great Ape Gang had long ranked in the top twenty and also had close ties with the Gorilla Gang. Other wilderness gangs could not avoid them fast enough. The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had only just reached around the top fifty, yet dared to launch a night raid on the Great Ape Gang. Even if they wanted to climb up, this was not the way.
Some of the major wilderness gangs even strongly suspected that the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall had become arrogant after winning the death match against the White Feather Gang, which ranked seventeenth before.
They must have thought the Great Ape Gang, ranked twentieth, was nothing, so they launched a night raid on them, completely unaware of what kind of existence they were provoking.
“The Obsidian Martial Arts Hall really is ruthless.” Isaac, the gang leader of the White Feather Gang, flapped the wings on his back as he looked at the information on his smart watch and could not help clicking his tongue. “A night raid on the headquarters of the Great Ape Gang, I’m surprised they actually did it.”
“They wiped out 617 people from the Great Ape Gang in one go. Among them, 241 were apprentice-level and above. They lost a vice gang leader and two elders. If that old gorilla Watu finds out, he’s going to go crazy.”
“And if that old gorilla Watu does go crazy, even I am afraid. I really don’t know what they were thinking. Truly impressive.”
In any wilderness gang, vice gang leaders and elders were extremely important, not only because they were powerful but also because they handled many of the gang’s affairs.
Now that a vice gang leader and two elders were gone, the affairs of the Great Ape Gang would be thrown into chaos for a while, and it would be very hard to find suitable replacements.
With such heavy losses for the Great Ape Gang, Isaac did not even dare to imagine what kind of retaliation the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall would face next.
At this moment in the hall, a slightly hunched middle-aged man of the winged tribe finished reading the information on his smart watch. He did not show any joy. Instead, his brows furrowed slightly.
Noticing the expression of the hunched middle-aged man, Isaac asked curiously, “Mans, is there something wrong with this intel?”
“There is indeed an issue.” The middle-aged man named Mans nodded. “According to this intel, the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall only sent nineteen experts to carry out the raid. They killed that many people, yet thirteen of them were still alive at the end. That is unbelievable.”
“Although those thirteen survivors are all heavily injured and barely have any combat power left, the foundation of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall is much stronger than we expected.”
“And that Hall Master Lin, according to the intel, is suspected to be a Martial Artist. That is a big problem. Faced with a Martial Artist and a gang with such a deep foundation, I am worried the Great Ape Gang might not dare to move against Crimson Moon Mountain for now.”
“Relax, it’s just a suspicion.” Isaac smiled. “And even if Lin Qi really is a Martial Artist, with the Great Ape Gang having suffered such losses, Watu will never let the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall go. Others might not know, but I know that old gorilla Watu very well.”
“Watu has been in charge of the Great Ape Gang for more than thirty years. Back then, in his early twenties, he was already a Quasi-Martial Artist, praised by many in the wilderness as a genius. When he became the gang leader of the Great Ape Gang at twenty-five, he already showed the strength of a Limit Quasi-Martial Artist. After more than thirty years, how could he still only be a Limit Quasi-Martial Artist?”
“Gang leader, you mean Watu has long since become a Martial Artist?” Mans asked in surprise. “But if he became a Martial Artist early on, as long as he showed his strength, even in the Gorilla Gang he could take a high position. It would not be impossible for him to become the gang leader of the Gorilla Gang. Why would he spend all these years as the leader of a wilderness gang? What is the point?”
“Mans, you’ve only been in the City of Light Chasing for a short time, so you don’t understand the way things work here.” Isaac explained with a smile. “In the City of Light Chasing, becoming a Martial Artist does indeed bring a huge rise in status and identity. But in the urban circles, you are still at the bottom among Martial Artists. The resources you get are just the leftovers of the mid and upper-level Martial Artists.”
“Watu’s ambition is great. His goal is far more than just becoming an ordinary Martial Artist. All these years, he has been quietly accumulating strength, which is why the management of the headquarters has been rotated among several vice gang leaders, while he himself has stayed in Patrol Night Town long-term, managing everything there. Why do you think that is?”
“Gang leader, you mean he wants to seize Patrol Night Town for himself?” Mans could not help but suck in a breath of cold air. “How dare he? Is he not afraid of enraging the senior officials of the City of Light Chasing?”
“Why wouldn’t he dare?” Isaac laughed. “Do you think Patrol Night Town originally belonged to the City of Light Chasing? It was just the law of the jungle. Back then it was taken by a senior official of the City of Light Chasing from a Martial Artist of Wanxing City. Now that senior official is dead, and his children are only ordinary Martial Artists. Many people have their eyes on it. Watu is just one of them.”
“Once he seizes control of Patrol Night Town, he can defect to Wanxing City at any time. If the City of Light Chasing doesn’t want to lose the profits from Patrol Night Town, they either go to war with Wanxing City or recognize the legitimacy of the new manager of Patrol Night Town.”
“With all the resources and financial support of Patrol Night Town, given Watu’s talent, it’s not impossible for him to break through that barrier.”
“Now those youngsters from the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall have made the Great Ape Gang lose so much face, and the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall has also lost a batch of its top tier experts in this battle, with the rest all heavily injured. Watu is no fool. Even if he has to expose part of his trump cards, he will take down the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall to wash away this humiliation and solidify his position. Not to mention, there is also the Crimson Moon Mountain small energy vein, that piece of cake. I don’t believe he can resist that temptation.”
“Newcomers these days always think gang struggles are just about fighting and killing. They have no idea that conflicts between gangs have never been limited to that. Next, Mans, send two squads of shadow guards to keep an eye on Crimson Moon Mountain. Since the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall has made our White Feather Gang lose face, we cannot fail to show our stance at a critical moment. Let the shadow guards go and give them a final send-off.”
“Two squads of shadow guards? Gang leader, isn’t that too much?” Mans looked at Isaac in surprise.
The shadow guards were a group of experts whom Isaac had spent nearly half of the gang’s resources and ten years secretly cultivating. Each shadow guard had strength comparable to a Quasi-Martial Artist, and the shadow guard captains were comparable to Limit Quasi-Martial Artists. They were all death squads who did not fear death, and only four squads had been cultivated in total.
Each squad had six people, so two squads meant twelve. This force was enough to wipe out any wilderness major gang with fewer than fifty people. Using them now just to deliver a finishing blow to the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall was indeed using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
“It’s rare for a youngster to bare his teeth at me. Of course I have to give him some respect.” Isaac waved his hand. “All right, pass down the order.”
“Yes.” Mans could only nod to this and left the room.
City of Light Chasing, suburbs, Phosphor Fire Trading Market.
A middle-aged half-scale race guard wearing A6-grade battle armor carefully pushed open the door of the underground secret room and slowly walked up to Xia Ling, who was practicing her kicking techniques. With great respect, he said, “Miss, we have just received major news. The wilderness headquarters of the Great Ape Gang was attacked last night. More than six hundred people from the Great Ape Gang were killed, and Vice Gang Leader Noco was also taken out.”
After kicking off the training robot’s arm with one strike, Xia Ling wiped the sweat from her forehead and asked casually, “Which gang did it?”
Fights between wilderness gangs were all too common in the City of Light Chasing. Even an attack on the headquarters of the Great Ape Gang was not particularly surprising.
“According to the intel, it should be the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, the same group who did business with you not long ago,” the middle-aged half-scale race guard said cautiously.
“Them? How is that possible?” Xia Ling immediately stopped her movements and could not help but look at the middle-aged guard, her eyes full of surprise. “Are you sure the intel is accurate? That’s the Great Ape Gang we’re talking about!”
