I Advise You to Be Sensible

As he thought, Downton pulled out his submachine gun and kicked the door wide open.

After the door flew away, Downton saw three Half-Dead men barely writhing on the floor.

Just as Downton finished off the three men, a door connecting to the lounge wall was being hastily shut, while a hidden hatch in the lounge floor was being pushed open.

Someone was lifting that hatch!

As the gunman pushed it open, half his body emerged from below. The moment he looked up, he came face-to-face with Downton.

He abruptly stopped climbing, raised his gun at Downton, and roared.

"Damn it, quit fucking squeezing me! I'm about to die, for fuck's sake..."

Rat-a-tat-tat!!!

"No wonder I could hear so many people. This room really does connect to a lot of places!"

After casually spraying down the unlucky bastard blocking the hatch, Downton suddenly noticed that, as the man's body crashed into the underground passage, two grenades were thrown out from below.

Downton hurriedly tried to turn and run, but before he could even move, the grenades detonated right in his face.

He felt like his eyelashes had nearly burned away, but his eyelashes were not the issue. The damn shrapnel was.

When the fragments driving him back embedded themselves in his body, he felt as if he were about to come apart.

Looking down, he saw countless streams of blood seeping through several holes in his suit.

"Fuck... that fucking hurts!"

The pain made Downton grit his teeth and laugh. Shrapnel hurt far more than bullets.

Bar­ing his bloodstained teeth, Downton endured the pain and struggled toward the hatch.

The next moment, a hand reached out from the hatch, and the pistol in that hand fired wildly in Downton's direction.

Another bullet lodged in Downton's calf. As he fell, he threw his backpack over to stop the hatch from closing, then pulled a grenade from the bag and tossed it into the opening.

Boom!

An explosion sounded beneath the floor, masking the sound of another door in the lounge opening.

Five or six gunmen seized the chance to rush into the lounge through that door and immediately opened fire on Downton.

Pfft!

Splat!

Downton was hit by more than one bullet, but he barely managed to shove the hatch completely open.

Grabbing the edge of the hatch, he forcibly dragged himself into the underground passage, then fell downward with gravity.

Thud!

"Urgh!"

The pain of landing made the wounded Downton let out an involuntary roar.

Not far underground, the gunmen who had already found cover saw Downton's condition and immediately became far more aggressive.

"He's finished!"

"Kill him!"

"Why is there only one of him?!"

"The boss is cursing over the radio! Kill him, now!"

Cursing loudly, the Russian gunmen focused their fire on Downton.

Under their concentrated fire, Downton pulled out his submachine gun and emptied an entire magazine.

He had no idea whether he hit anyone, but that no longer mattered.

A moment later, Downton emerged into a broad lobby with his submachine gun in hand.

The instant he appeared, countless people cried out in alarm.

"Ahhh!"

"It's the robber!"

"When did he get here?"

"Are the security guards useless? Kill him!"

"Careful, he has a gun!"

Amid the countless screams, Downton rolled his eyes at the few security guards charging toward him.

"Just my luck, guys. I actually ended up in a bank."

Before he could finish speaking, a barrage of bullets struck his chest, and a burst of fire flared up inside Gotham Bank.

A moment later.

"Whew."

Downton let out a heavy breath, then warily looked around.

Good. This time, he had not randomly landed in a bank. He was in the back seat of a car.

So could someone explain what the bald guy beside him was doing here?

Before Downton could think, instinct made him press his submachine gun against the bald man's chest.

At the same time, the bald man pressed his pistol against Downton's head.

Feeling the cold muzzle, Downton could not help but laugh.

"What a coincidence, Victor Zsasz. I fucking landed in your car!"

As he spoke, Downton glanced out the window. Though he did not recognize Gotham's roads, he saw several tall buildings he had only just passed by.

"Oh, even more of a coincidence. You're heading to Dimitrov's territory too?

Sorry, but I've already had a little tour of the place. Their gunmen were especially welcoming, haha."

Laughing, Downton lowered his gun and casually slung an arm around Victor Zsasz's shoulders.

With Downton's arm around him, Victor's face twitched, but he ultimately did not shoot Downton in the head.

As one of Falcone's longtime men, Victor might have been bloodthirsty, but he obeyed Falcone even more.

How could he not know that Falcone wanted to build a good relationship with Downton? So he forcibly suppressed the urge to shoot and returned his pistol to the holster beneath his ribs.

"Downton, stop pretending this was some accident. You came specifically to warn me!

What kind of accident would make you conveniently appear in my car? You clearly came to warn me not to compete with you for Yuri Dimitrov!"

With that, Victor patted the back of the driver's seat, and the driver immediately stopped the car.

Then Victor pointed at the utterly bewildered gunman to Downton's right and ordered him.

"Get in another car. Let Downton and me catch up!"

The subordinate naturally did not dare defy Zsasz's order. He immediately opened the door and ran out, leaving the back seat to Zsasz and Downton.

Downton shifted a little farther away from Zsasz, then raised a hand and patted Victor's arm.

"Thanks, buddy. I wouldn't have minded three people in the back seat, but it really would've been a little cramped."

"Cut the bullshit. Tell me your plan. Don't tell me you came here just to fuck with me!"

Victor slapped Downton's hand away and glared at him viciously.

Meeting Victor's gaze, Downton loaded a fresh magazine into his submachine gun and continued with a cheerful smile.

"I told you, it was all just a coincidence. I'm not interested in what you're doing.

No, that's not quite right. I am a little interested. I don't care about Dimitrov's territory, but I want to take his head myself!"

"Is that why you came looking for me?"

Victor cut Downton off. After giving Downton's gun a strange look, he continued.

"And you fucking threatened me with an unloaded gun!"

"That's because I couldn't bear to see you die, Victor Zsasz."

Hearing Victor's words, Downton replied with exaggerated sincerity.

"You know, before I went to the Dimitrov Family, I even talked to Liv about you.

In my eyes, you're the one guy in all of Gotham most worthy of my admiration. If you don't believe me, ask Liv. Maybe she secretly recorded a video of me praising you.

Anyway, I threatened you with an empty gun because I was afraid it might go off and blow your head apart.

Falcone will grow old someday, but I'm still very young. I want you to live long enough to see Falcone's decline, then decide whether you want to follow behind me, Zsasz!"

As his words fell, Downton inserted the loaded magazine into his submachine gun and smoothly chambered a round.

Then he turned the barrel and pressed the submachine gun against Victor Zsasz's chest once more.

"Now tell me your choice. Me, or death?

Zsasz, you only get one chance to choose, so...

I advise you to be sensible!"

Thanks to everyone's continued reading these past few days, we've barely managed to climb into the top hundred of the new light novel rankings with Downton.

But our position is practically at the very bottom, where nobody can even find us...

Please keep following along so we can work hard and climb a few more spots. Hopefully, we can snag a chance at a trial recommendation!