Ryan saw the map on the wall. Hell's Kitchen had been circled, and the more than ninety blocks inside had been colored differently. He did not pay much attention to it, assuming Bai Jing was merely studying the distribution of forces throughout Hell's Kitchen.
Until Bai Jing spoke.
"If we wanted to bring all of Hell's Kitchen under our control, how long would it take?" Bai Jing asked.
Ryan froze, then immediately shook his head. "That's impossible, Boss. There are too many forces in Hell's Kitchen—over a hundred gangs of all sizes, from every country and ethnicity. Dealing with them alone would be difficult. And above them is the underworld emperor, Kingpin. He wouldn't allow Hell's Kitchen to be unified. Then there are the major corporations, religions..."
In short, the situation in Hell's Kitchen was complicated. Unifying it was impossible.
Bai Jing shook his head. "Nothing is impossible. If there are difficulties, solve them. If there are objections, kill them!"
As long as one's thinking did not slip, there were always more solutions than difficulties.
Refusing to submit? That just meant he had not killed enough people yet!
Besides, it was only Hell's Kitchen. What threat could it possibly pose to him?
According to the movie universe's timeline, most of the heroes in Hell's Kitchen were still underage. The only somewhat powerful one was Daredevil, but he was a melee fighter.
Just try getting close to me.
Besides, Daredevil was still a gentleman. Gentlemen were easy to deal with.
As for Kingpin...
He was melee too.
And merely human. No matter how big his muscles were, he was still human.
For Bai Jing, whose future targets were Ancient One and Thanos in his quest for the Infinity Stones, an opponent like Kingpin was truly beneath notice.
Of course, one should despise the enemy strategically while taking them seriously tactically. For instance, Bai Jing kept his Gravity Field activated at all times, lest some sniper blow his head off.
"We'll start nearby!" Bai Jing pointed at 45th Street. "Our target is to take these four blocks and expand our territory to six blocks first!"
"The Viper Gang occupies 45th Street. Their territory covers six blocks—we're no match for them!" Ryan said. "If we attack them, the Redneck Gang on 47th Street will definitely take the opportunity to attack us too!"
Across all of Hell's Kitchen's twenty-four streets were more than a hundred forces, large and small. Tug one hair, and the whole body moved.
As for why it was over a hundred rather than an exact number—
Because gangs fought every day. It was common for one to be formed today and wiped out tomorrow, while underworld intelligence networks could not exactly be laid out in public. Everyone's information was updated slowly; one gang might have been wiped out for half a year before people on another street found out.
So the question was, why had the Gray Squirrel Gang, despite being so weak, survived for so long?
Because the Gray Squirrel Gang occupied a very peculiar location.
Looking out the window, one could see more than a dozen aircraft of various kinds parked at Pier 86 along the broad Hudson River.
There were fighter jets, reconnaissance planes, and a famous Anglo-French supersonic passenger jet—the Concorde.
Back then, in pursuit of more efficient transportation and to meet the demands of the military competition during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, Britain and France jointly developed this supersonic passenger aircraft. But it was too noisy, and several accidents occurred after it entered service. The public gradually lost trust in it, and in 2003, the Concorde was officially retired. One of them had been placed here.
Why were so many aircraft parked here?
Because this was the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. A retired aircraft carrier had been placed here for tourists to visit.
However, in 2006, the ship had been towed away for major repairs, so the carrier could not currently be seen at the pier. Still, some of the aircraft that had not been displayed on the carrier remained visible.
The Gray Squirrel Gang's territory bordered Pier 86. Naturally, they could not fly these fighter jets into battle, nor could they afford pilots, but they could choose to blow up the fighter jets.
The Gray Squirrel Gang could not beat any other gang, but they could blow up the fighter jets and bring down divine punishment—the American military—so everyone could perish together.
Relying on that threat of divine punishment, the Gray Squirrel Gang had barely managed to survive on the 46th Block, opening several bars and casinos.
Their sources of income included bars, casinos, prostitution, drugs, human trafficking, debt collection, and so on.
The neighboring Viper Gang was much the same. So was the rest of America.
Ryan was still complaining, but Bai Jing ignored him and instead reviewed the intelligence on their neighbors.
Redneck was a discriminatory term used by those "superior white people" to refer to "inferior white people," similar to calling someone a country bumpkin or hick.
Most of them came from the American South, and many of that group came from Texas. Thus, Redneck was sometimes specifically used to refer to Texans.
Their ancestors had made their living through farming. They were poorly educated and fond of heavy drinking, so they generally came across as hot-tempered and difficult to communicate with.
Likewise, due to their low level of education and culture, Rednecks generally married and had children early. What happened when an uneducated woman had an alcohol-loving man at home?
Domestic violence rates became extremely high.
Again, because they lacked education and could not distinguish right from wrong, in Bai Jing's world, a clever man had won their support with speeches using simple, vivid metaphors instead of any complex language, along with highly inflammatory but essentially empty slogans. In the end, he successfully ascended to the pinnacle of American power.
As for the Viper Gang, its main members came from southern Mexico. Mexican gangs were more powerful than the state itself, and competition was even fiercer there. A group of gang members who had failed back home had smuggled themselves into America and settled down in Hell's Kitchen.
Because of their connections to Mexico, the Viper Gang could obtain a large supply of drugs. They were also Hell's Kitchen's largest drug supplier. Nearly forty percent of the drugs entered Hell's Kitchen through their channels before flowing across America.
From a cautious perspective, taking down the Redneck Gang first would be easier. If the Viper Gang were eliminated, the drug supply network would inevitably be disrupted. When the major gangs came knocking, they would likely be difficult to withstand.
But that was precisely the effect Bai Jing wanted.
As a superpowered individual, he was practically unbeatable throughout Hell's Kitchen. How could he have the American time to take down the gangs one by one?
It would be better to gather everyone together, have a little chat, and end the negotiations in one wave.
General Tso's Chicken was considered the number one Chinese dish in foreigners' minds, yet in reality, hardly any Chinese people had eaten it. It was Bai Jing's first time seeing the dish as well.
It was golden in color, crispy on the outside and tender within. One bite was sweet, crisp, tender, and slightly spicy.
It actually tasted pretty good!
Then he tried the Mapo Tofu.
Bai Jing had not come from a wealthy family, and the Mapo Tofu he had eaten back home had not been authentic either. Some places made it numbing, others spicy, and the tofu itself varied widely.
As for what authentic Mapo Tofu tasted like, he did not know either.
Still, he thought the one Ryan bought tasted great.
"There's a Chinese restaurant nearby?" Bai Jing asked curiously.
"Yes, there's a Chinese restaurant called Yun Gui Xiang!" Ryan imitated Chinese as best he could and pronounced the three characters. "It's not far downstairs. The owner is a short, fat Chinese man!"
As he spoke, he subconsciously reached to pull at his eyes, intending to make them into narrow slits. But then he suddenly remembered that his own boss was Chinese. Immediately, he did not know whether to keep pulling or stop, and he was utterly embarrassed.
"You're Latino yourself, a discriminated-against ethnicity, yet you discriminate against chinese people?" Bai Jing chuckled. He had known chinese people had low status in America, but apparently that was not just a rumor!
Ryan gave an awkward smile. "No, no, Boss. I've always respected you!"
Before you continue