Blood Sea Gang (4k)

"Thanks, brother."

Bern panted heavily as he looked up at Lin Mo.

For a time just now, their party had nearly been driven into a desperate situation. If Lin Mo had not suddenly stepped in and taken out the enemy Ranger, their entire party might have been wiped out here.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I was protecting myself too."

Lin Mo pulled the blade from his chest and tended to his wound as he replied.

The reason Lin Mo had doubled back and circled around to take out that Ranger was not simply because he held a grudge, nor was it because he was kind enough to help them.

The most important reason was that if he had not done so, he would most likely have suffered as well.

He was injured. Both his combat strength and speed would be affected. If those people had easily dealt with this adventurer party, they might have continued pursuing him afterward. That would have been troublesome.

So it was better to take the initiative and kill them directly.

But even so, Lin Mo did not think they were safe yet.

Although their composition resembled that of an adventurer party, their attire made them seem unlike ordinary adventurers.

That meant the five people from earlier were likely not the whole group. Especially since one had escaped, who knew whether he would go notify his companions and bring more people to hunt them down?

So information about these people was extremely important now...

Bern had clearly thought of that as well, which was why he had deliberately spared the greatsword warrior for the time being.

"Even so, I still have to thank you for stepping in when you did."

Bern slowly steadied his breathing. After thanking him again, he did not waste any more time on the subject. "We can chat later. Right now, we should deal with the important matter first."

Lin Mo nodded and walked with him toward the warrior lying on the ground.

"Who are you people?"

Bern placed his hand on the hilt of the sword piercing the man's thigh and asked while watching him warily.

"Heh—"

The man sneered, clearly with no intention of answering.

"It seems you know very well that you're doomed."

Lin Mo slowly walked over and crouched about two meters away from him—at that distance, even if the other man suddenly attacked, he would have plenty of time to react.

"So you weren't planning to have us spare you anyway. You'd rather put on a brave face before you die and play the tough guy?"

The man did not answer. He merely snorted again, though his gaze could not help drifting toward Lin Mo.

Lin Mo smiled and continued, "But how do you know we definitely won't spare you?"

"Trying to trick me? I advise you not to waste your effort..."

He finally spoke. There was still no hint of compromise in his words, but uncertainty had clearly flashed through his eyes.

If one could live, no one wanted to die. Lin Mo's words had made him glimpse a sliver of possibility, perfectly stirring his desire to survive.

"We're all just trying to make a living. It's not easy for any of us. How about a deal? Answer my questions, and we'll let you go... Right, Uncle?"

Lin Mo looked at Bern and gave him a meaningful glance.

"But Kent..."

Bern immediately understood and put on a troubled expression.

If he agreed too readily at a time like this, it would seem less believable.

"The dead are gone. Taking revenge for him has no practical meaning. We should think more about the present."

Lin Mo patted his shoulder, glancing at the warrior on the ground from the corner of his eye.

Those words had been meant for him as well.

Think more about the present...

"Fine!"

After struggling with it for a while, Bern finally nodded.

"Now, tell us. Who are you people?"

The man stared at Lin Mo, seemingly trying to find something in his eyes.

"If I tell you, will you really let me go?"

It sounded like a question, but more like he was talking to himself. Several seconds later, he finally spoke again. "I don't believe you."

"Sigh."

Lin Mo shook his head helplessly. "How many Silver Coins are you making to risk your life like this? Or is it that even if you tell us, your colleagues won't spare you?"

The man did not respond. He did not even snort. It seemed he had completely given up on communicating and was simply waiting to die.

Unable to probe out more information, Lin Mo could only beckon to Miriam and Evan, who had just gotten back to his feet. "You two, come help me with something."

Once the two young people approached with puzzled looks on their faces, he pointed at the enemy on the ground. "Help me hold him down."

As he spoke, he took out the small knife he carried with him.

"What are you trying to do?"

With his wrists pinned by the two of them, the man had initially looked disdainful and had no intention of speaking. But when he saw where Lin Mo was aiming the blade, he began to panic.

Lin Mo's expression remained calm as he explained in a gentle tone, "Where I come from, when dealing with tough men like you, we usually grant your wish and show you the utmost respect..."

As he spoke, the blade drifted over the man's body. "We use blades to slowly cut the flesh off your body, piece by piece, until you become a skeleton... If you're lucky and tough enough, perhaps you can endure several hundred cuts and slowly enjoy what it feels like to be a tough guy."

When he finished speaking, the blade stopped once more at its original position. "We'll start here."

The sharp blade cut through skin. Pain flared, making the "tough guy" who had just heard those words shudder from head to toe. Imagining the scene Lin Mo had described, he stared in terror, and the willpower he had thought so tenacious instantly collapsed.

"You... you bastard!"

That bastard had even started at a man's dignity!

"Has anyone ever told you that you sound like you're acting cute when you curse? Then again, you'll be a woman soon enough, so it suits your gender."

Lin Mo kept talking as his hand continued moving. The blade had already opened a wound several centimeters long.

"Wait!"

He finally cried out in horror. "I'll talk, I'll tell you everything! Please, stop..."

Lin Mo rose with a smile. "That's more like it. If you'd done this sooner, why suffer so much?"

The man breathed rapidly. It took him a while to calm down before he slowly said, "We're members of the Blood Sea Gang."

"The Blood Sea Gang?!"

Just those first words made the experienced adventurer Bern furrow his brow.

"You know this gang?" Lin Mo looked at him.

Bern nodded with a grave expression. "It's an underground gang that rose to prominence in Rania City around ten years ago. Back when I was younger, I joined an adventurer party from Rania City, so I heard that name before."

"At the time, the Blood Sea Gang had been established for less than two years, but its rise was already impossible to stop. As a newly established gang, it not only accumulated tremendous power in a very short time, it even defeated the old Black Wolf Gang head-on in one clash. From then on, it became one of Rania City's three major gangs... Not long afterward, I left that party and returned to town to form my own team, so I don't know much about what happened afterward. But I still heard the Blood Sea Gang's name often."

So it was a very large gang?

Lin Mo frowned. This was troublesome.

"Why would members of the Blood Sea Gang come near Roland Town? With your strength, you shouldn't think much of such a rundown little town."

Bern asked with a face full of confusion.

"I'm not too sure either."

The man shook his head. "The higher-ups assigned us to stay in this forest. We've been here for more than two months already. They haven't given us any specific work, only told us to keep waiting here and not expose our identities. The wages they issue get skimmed at every level. If we didn't find ways to make some money, we wouldn't even have enough to eat..."

He complained nonstop, clearly harboring plenty of resentment.

"How many of you are there in total, and where exactly are you stationed?"

Lin Mo continued questioning him.

"I don't know... I only know that our party has ten people, and we're stationed more than ten kilometers southeast of here. As for how many parties came in total, how many people are in the other parties, and where they are, the higher-ups never told us."

"Are you sure?"

Lin Mo narrowed his eyes and waved the short knife in his hand.

"I'm sure! One hundred percent sure!"

Seeing Lin Mo's movement, the man immediately panicked. A burly man weighing over two hundred pounds acted like an aggrieved little wife. "Brother, how would I dare lie to you?"

He had spent many years in the gang and considered himself to have seen plenty of ruthless methods, but none had been as inhuman as the man before him.

He did not look like he was lying. Lin Mo's brows drew together as he fell into thought.

The information they had was far too limited for him to guess the Blood Sea Gang's purpose. From their current arrangements, though, rather than pursuing a clear predetermined goal, they seemed more like they were waiting for or guarding something.

Following the usual patterns in stories, perhaps there was treasure somewhere, or perhaps an unknown Secret Realm?

Which one it was, or whether it was something else entirely, did not really concern Lin Mo. None of it had anything to do with him at the moment.

He only wanted to complete quests, earn money, and steadily improve his strength step by step.

So what concerned him most was whether killing four Blood Sea Gang members just now would bring further retaliation.

"You said just now that you don't know the numbers or locations of the other parties. Does that mean you've never met them?"

"Basically not. Even if we do meet, we usually don't interact much."

"Why?"

"Because we belong to different factions, I suppose."

Bern answered the question for him. "When I was still an adventurer in the city, I heard that the Blood Sea Gang had several bosses. They stood united against other gangs, of course, but internally they weren't a solid block at all. There were major conflicts between them."

"Right. There are five bosses now. Our party serves under the Fourth Boss. There are conflicts between the factions. It's already pretty good if we don't start fighting when we meet..."

"One last question."

Lin Mo slowly crouched down. "How do you deal with personnel losses?"

"At the end of every month, someone comes to verify the situation. The captain reports the numbers and reasons then..."

After answering, the man looked into Lin Mo's eyes and seemed to realize something. He cried out in panic, "You said it before! As long as I answered your questions, you'd let me go!"

"Don't be nervous."

Lin Mo smiled, about to continue, when Bern suddenly interrupted from beside him. "You said your party is stationed to the southeast?"

"Yes, I remember."

The other man did not speak. Lin Mo answered for him.

Bern lowered the map in his hand, looking thoughtful. "You said earlier that your pay gets skimmed and that you have to find ways to make money... Besides attacking adventurers like us, does that include robbing merchant caravans?"

"I... I don't know..."

"Really don't know? You'd better think it over. Think carefully before you answer."

Lin Mo toyed with the short knife in his hand as he spoke.

"You... you went back on your word!"

"Did I?"

Lin Mo spread his hands. "I did say I would spare you, but didn't you reject that yourself? Later, you were the one who got scared and confessed on your own."

As his words fell, the short knife in his hand slit the man's throat.

"Ghk—"

The warrior's eyes widened, and indistinct sounds came from his mouth. Judging by his expression, they were probably curses, but unfortunately, he no longer had the chance to say them.

Slash Proficiency +1

Watching the notification float before him, Lin Mo stood and flicked the blood from the tip of his blade.

His adaptation to this world had been faster than even he had expected.

He had not even been through many battles, yet he displayed the ruthlessness and decisiveness of a seasoned adventurer.

Even taking another person's life like this did not make him feel too uncomfortable.

Perhaps he was naturally suited to surviving in a world like this...

Bern also took out a cloth he carried and wiped the blood from his sword as he looked at Lin Mo.

"Brother Lin, shall we talk?"

Lin Mo nodded and did not refuse.

He had not trusted these adventurers he had encountered so suddenly before, and that was normal. But after their simple cooperation just now, that had improved somewhat.

More importantly, they were tied to the same rope now.

"The day after tomorrow is the end of the month. One of them got away just now. Once he returns, he'll definitely tell the others what happened here. If they pass the news on to the Blood Sea Gang..."

Bern's eyes were graver than ever.

As someone who had once lived in Rania City, he knew deeply just how terrifying the Blood Sea Gang was.

The gang alone had at least thirty people who had completed formal advancement!

There was an almost insurmountable gap between those with classes and those without. Even though he called himself a level 0.8 class-holder, stronger than most ordinary adventurers, he probably would not last even three minutes against a true class-holder.

Once the Blood Sea Gang learned that they had killed its members, they would inevitably face endless pursuit.

So...

"We have to take out the rest before the people verifying the information arrive."

As Lin Mo spoke, he searched the corpse before him. Aside from several Gold Coins, he indeed found a map.

Unfolding it, he saw rough lines outlining the general route. At its center was a circular ink dot, which should be this party's camp.

Lin Mo tossed the Gold Coins to Bern. "Whoever kills them gets their loot. No problem with that, right?"

Although the warrior before him had died by his hand, he had clearly been defeated by the uncle before him and the young female Ranger beside him. The loot of the Great Axe warrior Evan had killed would belong to them as well.

Likewise, the loot of the assassin and Ranger belonged to Lin Mo.

Bern caught the Gold Coins with a smile and bumped fists with Lin Mo. "Pleasure working with you!"