A Chill

Upper City.

If the Lower City was a chaotic, lawless place overrun by gangs, where shootings, kidnappings, rape, and countless other crimes were too numerous to control—a filthy corner of Central City, a hell for its people, a place no one wanted to set foot in—

Then the Upper City was heaven. A modern metropolis filled with more than sixty-five percent of Central City's wealthy elite, countless mansions, corporations, nobility, civilization, and elegance.

Everything here possessed the advantages of civilized human life.

Light, order, skyscrapers rising everywhere—luxurious, beautiful, grand, and magnificent. Professional women moved through the streets like shuttles, one beautiful sight after another passing by. Cars flowed endlessly through the traffic, displaying wealth and extravagance. This was a glittering, colorful world of indulgence that everyone envied.

There was not the slightest exaggeration in that.

In modern America, in world-famous cities such as Los Angeles and New York, crossing a single street could reveal an entirely different world. On one side, homeless people lay piled across the ground, living listlessly on cardboard beside filthy streets and envying the opposite side. Across the road stood grand mansions, where wealthy people indulged themselves in luxury.

The disparity between rich and poor was so extreme that anyone who saw it would find it unbelievable. Just one street apart, heaven became hell.

Class divisions had always been the main source of conflict, giving rise to even more evil and crime.

Central City was different from other cities. It rarely had such glaring wealth disparities visible from one street to the next.

Central City separated such severe inequality by dividing it across the entire city, which was why the chaotic Lower City had come into being. The Central District, Upper City, South Bay District, and Northwest District, meanwhile, were places of light, warmth, and order—safe enough for the people of Central City to trust and live in peace.

As one of the safest cities in the DC world, Central City owed that not only to The Flash's efforts, but also to the city's very structure.

Upper City, Feihao Kada Club.

The decorations were luxurious, the atmosphere classically refined, and the soft sound of live violin music flowed slowly through the bar.

It should have been a place to relax and soothe one's nerves.

Al Swan looked completely out of place in this setting. His jaw was covered in stubble, his flaxen blond hair was as messy as if he had just crawled out of bed, and his unfocused eyes stared blankly as he slumped in a corner of the bar. His shirt reeked of alcohol, and he looked like a dead fish.

A bartender passed by, politely removed the bottles from his table, then followed his slurred instruction and brought him another bottle of XO brandy. The bartender opened it, poured him a drink, and left.

"Cough... cough..."

Al Swan picked up the bottle directly and poured it into his mouth. The rich liquor instantly flooded his throat and nasal passages, burning fiercely. His heart seemed to throb and roar like an engine starting up, yet it could not roar away the dejection in his heart.

He choked on the alcohol. The mellow XO brandy flowed from the corners of his mouth, down through his tangled beard and neck, soaking the chest of his shirt.

He looked as dispirited as a salted fish.

Kevin, lean and dressed in a fitted suit, entered the bar with concern written across his face.

Al Swan had brought him to this club and bar before. Back then, they had cracked a major drug trafficking ring dealing in over a hundred pounds of narcotics, and their boss had brought them here to reserve the place for a celebration.

They had dressed casually that time and, under Al Swan's lead, entered the club and celebrated to their hearts' content. Kevin had seen a level of luxury and wealthy indulgence that had been hard to believe.

Now, entering on his own required formal attire and a membership card. After several rounds of review and a long list of warnings, he had finally been allowed into this high-end establishment.

Even when he showed his police ID, the security guards here were completely unfazed and refused to yield an inch. If he forced his way in, he might not even be a police officer by tomorrow.

Kevin swept his gaze around and spotted Al Swan coughing in a relatively dark corner.

"Boss, stop drinking."

Kevin walked over and took the XO from Al Swan's hand. The wet, greasy bottle was mixed with Al Swan's sweat and liquor. It felt like touching the body of a filthy drunk drenched in sweat and alcohol.

"Boss, it's only a demotion. We still have a chance to deal with him."

Kevin placed the bottle on the table and looked at Al Swan with anguish. This was the boss he had always followed, his companion, colleague, partner, and friend.

Now, unable to withstand the blow, he had become a miserable drunk.

"Get out!"

Al Swan was the very image of a deranged drunk. The moment the alcohol left him, he went mad. He shoved Kevin away, sending him stumbling backward until he crashed into a chair and stopped himself.

With bloodshot eyes and a crazed drunken glare, Al Swan grabbed the XO bottle from the table and smashed it toward Kevin's head.

Bang!

Kevin could not believe his boss had actually gone mad enough to hit him with a bottle. After the first blow landed, his vision had already blurred, the world spinning as he watched Al Swan raise the bottle again.

Bang!

His head took another blow from the XO bottle.

The leisurely, comfortable atmosphere, with violin music flowing like water, was shattered. Guests and staff stopped what they were doing and looked over.

Such crude behavior had never appeared here before.

"What do you know?!"

"You're just my dog!"

Bang!

Al Swan raised the bottle again, his eyes red as he furiously smashed Kevin once more. The blow left Kevin dazed and in agony.

Especially those words—my dog. Kevin, who had always regarded Al Swan as his boss, followed his lead, treated him as a friend, and stood with him through thick and thin as a fellow officer, could not believe it.

In Al Swan's eyes, he was nothing more than a dog!

He simply could not believe it. A chill sank into his bones.

The pain in his skull and the blood dripping down his face were nothing compared to the painful coldness in his heart.

"You're just a dog. You came to comfort me? Who do you think you are to me? You're a dog!"

"You think this is as simple as a demotion?"

Al Swan panted heavily as he gripped the bottle and looked at Kevin, who had been smashed to the floor, blood scattered around him, half his body obscured by overturned tables and chairs. The chest Alex had kicked began to ache faintly again. It was not heartache; his movements had simply been too violent and had pulled at the injury.

"I have no future!"

"Get out!"

"Go lick someone else's boots. Go find someone else to be your master."

Al Swan tilted his head back and poured the remaining liquor into his mouth. He choked and coughed, spraying out another mouthful. Bloodshot veins filled the whites of his eyes. He wiped the liquor from his mouth with his arm, looked at Kevin on the floor, and burst into laughter.

What he had done might have looked like nothing more than a demotion in Kevin's eyes.

But Al Swan himself knew. He had caused a member of the Central City Brotherhood to be kicked out of the police department's upper ranks. The Swan family had supported him all along, raising him to such a high position and planning his future achievements. All of it had been destroyed by Al Swan's greed for credit.

With that single stain on his record, hostile forces would seize on it and never let go. Al Swan would never be able to enter the police department's upper ranks, and every arrangement the Swan family had made concerning the police department had been ruined.

The Swan family had officially abandoned him as well.

Without the Swan family's backing, and with hostile factions wanting to promote their own people, he would gradually be marginalized, gradually made to take the blame, and gradually demoted further.

And with the Central City Brotherhood controlling more than forty-five percent of Central City's wealth, power, and status, Al Swan already felt that he had reached the end of the road.

The Brotherhood would not target him over this, but plenty of other forces would gladly say a word or two to suppress him and earn favor with the Central City Brotherhood.

This demotion was only the beginning. He had already seen clearly that he had no future.

Kevin could never understand this kind of struggle for power among the upper ranks.

Al Swan continued staring at Kevin, laughing coldly and mercilessly as though he were watching an unlucky child drowning.

Wasn't that right? He had fallen. Kevin was the unlucky child dragged down with him.

At that thought, Al Swan laughed even more wildly.

None of the onlookers spoke.

The bar grew even quieter.

Kevin silently crawled out from beneath the overturned tables and chairs. Without a word, he pressed a hand against the wound on his head, blood from it staining half his face red.

One eye was covered by the blood flowing down, while the other remained silent and emotionless.

He did not look at his former boss, Al Swan, even once more.

Pressing his wound, he walked toward the door with a bleak, sorrowful silhouette. Behind him, he sensed another bottle flying toward him—Al Swan's final act of rage.

The XO bottle was hard enough to send chills down one's spine. It had struck Kevin's head three times, and after hitting his back once more, it fell to the floor and rolled with a clatter without breaking.

Kevin staggered forward and nearly fell, but he steadied himself again. Bitterness welled up in his heart. Tears stung his silent eyes, but they did not fall. His figure remained bleak as he walked out the door step by step.

Al Swan continued drunkenly raging and cursing without end.

A waiter with a white towel draped over his arm approached the ranting Al Swan with impeccable manners. He bowed slightly, then handed him the towel and a phone.

"Mr. Al Swan, the owner wishes to discuss something with you."