"What happened? Explain it clearly."
Alex frowned tightly. Jack always pulled off unexpected stunts, yet somehow ended up absurdly lucky and profited the most every time. And he was timid and afraid of trouble, scared of this and wary of that. In terms of courage, ability, and mentality, he wasn't cut out to be a boss at all. Yet he had somehow risen all the way through gang conflicts, becoming the boss without even knowing how it happened. That was truly astonishing.
"Yes, Boss. This kind of thing has to start with our call seven days ago.
Hehe... Yo, Boss told me to hold things steady safely, so I held the gang steady with my fear and cowardice, yo yo yo, cut yo yo, but who would've thought..."
"Speak normally."
"Yes, Boss."
"It went like this.
Everything started seven days ago, after my call with you.
I still remember that day. The liquid in Lower City's gutters was still black.
The sky over Lower City was still light wrapped in darkness.
Boss, your radiance shone like a goddess in the moon, illuminating the road ahead of me.
Boss, do you know?
There's something funny about being a gang boss. When trouble comes, the underlings look to their boss. If the boss is emotionally stable, the underlings feel reassured. Half of a boss's composure comes from pretending to be calm, while the other half actually comes from the underlings around him."
"Get to the point."
"Yes, Boss. Because of you, I felt very reassured.
You told me to hold the gang together and wait for you, so I did.
But a group of old-timers in the gang didn't like the look of me. They thought I wasn't qualified to be the gang boss.
Who am I?
I'm Jack!
Good-hearted Jack, loyal to his brothers in Lower City.
If they said I wasn't qualified, did that make it true?
Yes, I really wasn't qualified, so I decisively gave the boss's position to someone else. That would surely keep things stable.
The next day, the new boss was hacked to death by the Hell Angels!
Boss, I was so scared..."
By this point, Jack had begun to cry.
Then Jack continued through his tears. "Then they... elected me boss again..."
"I became the boss again. I didn't dare go out on the streets because I was afraid someone would hack me to death.
A lot of people in the gang had a problem with the Hell Angels. Our gang and the Hell Angels had always been enemies, and several bosses had died on both sides. I was terrified I'd be next.
I didn't want to die, so I planned to call the Hell Angels' boss and negotiate. We could divide up our territory and stop fighting all the time. Also, if possible, I wanted to hold a concert. I had several DJ tracks I wrote myself and some choreographed street dances. I'm not bragging, but I'd definitely become famous.
For the sake of my concert, I couldn't let the Hell Angels and my gang keep engaging in random armed clashes."
Alex's head was full of question marks. How had this become about his concert again?
Alex simply couldn't understand Jack's obsession with hip-hop. For this dream, timid Jack had actually dared to leave gang headquarters and risk his life to negotiate.
"What happened next was something I never could have imagined.
I called the Hell Angels' boss, but he cursed me out. He said that if I had the guts, I should come directly to his headquarters and negotiate with him. He said that, considering I was good to my brothers and loyal, he wouldn't hack me to death. He told me to come if I had the guts."
"And then? You went?"
"I went."
"You weren't afraid of dying?"
"But the Hell Angels said they wouldn't hack me to death."
"..."
"I brought two highly capable underlings with me and went to Hell Angels headquarters.
At first, everything went well. The Hell Angels saw that I was the Severed Hand Gang's boss and wanted to take me out. But many of them said they admired my courage for daring to come to their headquarters. Besides, they had already taken out one Severed Hand Gang boss, so they really didn't hack me to death.
See? I said the Hell Angels wouldn't hack me if they said they wouldn't. I know one of their guys who makes music. They're very trustworthy."
Alex fell silent. The fact that Jack had survived this long meant his luck stat had to be maxed out.
"I had a great talk with the Hell Angels' boss. After I gave up the Severed Hand Gang's seven most profitable districts, along with some prostitutes, protection fees, and nightclubs, many Hell Angels members were indeed very happy. They thought I was very sincere. I finally got to DJ at one of their nightclubs and performed several of my songs and dances. That day was just... so incredibly wonderful.
At last, under my tireless efforts, the Severed Hand Gang and the Hell Angels successfully developed a friendly friendship."
Alex's mouth twitched. At least half of the Severed Hand Gang's income—nearly over four million dollars—had just been handed away by Jack.
Moreover, now that Jack was the boss, a large portion of that income actually belonged to Alex.
In other words, for the sake of his own life and the stability he kept talking about, Jack had directly given several million dollars of Alex's money to the neighboring gang.
You were such a fucking talent at being a gang boss!
"A lot of Severed Hand Gang members were furious. They thought I, their boss, had betrayed them. But I only remembered your orders, Boss. I had to keep things stable."
"So at the time, I calmly faced all the gang members with a wise, confident expression, telling them to wait a few days and see.
Because I knew that once you freed up your hands in a few days, Boss, you would definitely take out the Hell Angels sooner or later. I've always believed in you, Boss, without the slightest doubt."
Alex nodded. That was right. After dealing with The Multiplicity, he had indeed planned to help Jack.
"But for some reason, I had several very capable underlings. According to them, they received a hint from me, but I really hadn't hinted at anything.
Those capable underlings secretly gathered information on every Hell Angels leader. On a dark and windy night, they presented all that information to me, scaring me half to death.
They said they had received another silent hint from me.
Actually, I was just standing by the window, looking at the moon, smoking a cigarette, and saying, 'The wind is rising.'
I swear, I was thinking about song lyrics at the time.
But somehow, my underlings gathered men and secretly launched a night raid on the Hell Angels' leaders, hacking every one of them to death.
It was fucking terrifying. In just two days, the entire Hell Angels gang was scattered by our Severed Hand Gang.
Now we're taking over the Hell Angels' territory.
A lot of unrest broke out. Dozens of streets were fighting bloody battles.
My gang, the Severed Hand Gang, has leaped to become the gang with the largest territory in Lower City."
"So you became the boss of Lower City's largest gang just like that? Did the Severed Hand Gang take over Stilson Street and Pomo Port?"
"Yeah. Those two little places were taken long ago. My underlings said the boss of Pomo Port fled to Thailand overnight. Some of my men took an airship to hunt them down. What's wrong?"
Alex felt a breath lodged in his chest, leaving him utterly speechless.
So my number one undercover agent had been chased all the way to Thailand by this guy, and number two had gotten caught up in it and had his leg broken by Jack's underlings.
Jack, you were fucking outstanding!
Outstanding among the outstanding.
So outstanding my teeth ached.
"Stop chasing him." Alex gave the order helplessly. Who could have imagined that Jack would become Lower City's overlord in an instant? No one could understand Jack's methods.
"Yes, Boss."
"But Boss, what should I do? I've already become the boss of Lower City's biggest gang. They say I'm farsighted, loyal, good to my underlings, charismatic, confident, persuasive, passionate, optimistic, convincing, popular, sociable, and trustworthy. I've received so much praise, and many young people have joined the gang because they admire me."
"The original first- and second-ranked gangs are very unhappy with me. They think I stole their thunder, but I didn't want this either! The Severed Hand Gang's territory plus the Hell Angels' territory makes us number one in Lower City. What can I do?"
"How about I give them some territory? Boss, I always feel like they want to kill me!"
"I'm panicking! What should I do?"
Alex pondered for a while, then said, "Send me information on every gang in Lower City. I want detailed files."
"In that case, I'll support you in ruling Lower City!"
"Huh?"
Before you continue