Invitation

"No, no, no!" Leonard shook his index finger, patiently explaining to Sugar to satisfy his own twisted sense of humor. "You've got it all wrong!"

"The Black Bear Gang was here yesterday, but we've absorbed more men and grown stronger since then. It wouldn't be right to keep using the name Black Bear Gang!"

"Therefore, we are now a new gang: the Fierce Tiger Gang!"

"What does the protection money you paid to the Black Bear Gang yesterday have to do with my Fierce Tiger Gang?"

"That's right! What does that Black Bear Gang have to do with our Fierce Tiger Gang?" The lackeys behind Leonard echoed his words one after another. The mockery and playfulness in their tone left Monet and Sugar feeling both furious and helpless.

They finally understood: Leonard had come here specifically to cause trouble for them.

"Sister, what should we do?" Sugar, only nine years old, was suddenly at a loss.

As for Monet beside her, though she tried her best to comfort Sugar, she lacked the strength to fight back and could only be led by the nose by Leonard.

"Fine! Leonard!"

"How much protection money does your Fierce Tiger Gang want now?"

"Haha! Wouldn't it have been better to just say that earlier?" Seeing Monet fall into his trap, Leonard laughed wildly. "It's not much. Don't say we don't look out for you."

"The protection money our new Fierce Tiger Gang requires isn't much—just three hundred thousand Beli will do."

"Impossible!" Monet immediately retorted. "When you were the Black Bear Gang, it was only one hundred thousand Beli a month. Now you've tripled it; who could possibly afford that?"

"I already told you, the Black Bear Gang has nothing to do with our Fierce Tiger Gang." After impatiently emphasizing this again, a cruel smirk curled Leonard's lips. "Whether or not you can come up with the Beli is your problem."

"The rule of our Fierce Tiger Gang is simply to 'protect' you. For those who can't pay the protection money, we naturally have our ways."

"This..." Monet had no doubt that if they couldn't pay, Leonard would certainly do things she didn't want to see.

For a moment, Monet and Sugar fell silent.

Leonard didn't mind. At times like this, the opponent's psychological defenses were at their most fragile. As long as they wanted to survive, he naturally had ways to mold them however he pleased.

"Gray-sama! Can I take action?" Baby-5, watching from the side, was already seething with rage. If she hadn't been waiting for Gray's order, she would have already wiped these people out.

"Don't be in such a hurry. I'll ask a few questions first!" Their conversation hadn't been hushed, and in the quiet atmosphere, both sides had naturally heard them.

"I just noticed there are two little brats here, too." Leonard, whose attention had been entirely on Monet, finally took note of Gray and his companion in the corner.

"Just trash. Who gave you permission to speak?" Gray's eyes were sharp, his tone majestic. "Kneel!"

He swept his right hand from left to right, and the force field above Leonard and his men was instantly accelerated by Gray, bringing three times the gravity down upon their heads.

In an instant, as ordinary people, how could they possibly stand under triple gravity?

First, they were forced to one knee, then pressed flat against the ground, blood leaking from the corners of their mouths due to ruptured internal organs.

"I hate it when people interrupt me while I'm speaking, especially when it's a piece of trash doing the interrupting."

"Also! You're standing too high, and I don't like looking up at people!" The sudden turn of events left both Monet's side and Leonard's side stunned.

After Gray finished speaking, Monet pulled Sugar behind her, looking at Gray and his companion with guarded eyes.

"Who... who are you!" Leonard struggled to get up, but the heavy gravity pinning him down left him completely powerless.

Realizing he had kicked a steel plate, he immediately prepared to grovel. "My lord, my lord, please spare this lowly one."

"Whatever you need, my lord, just say the word, and I will handle it for you immediately!" His words were filled with extreme flattery, accompanied by cautious, fearful eyes.

If not for his unchanged face, Sugar felt she would never have recognized him as the same Leonard who had been throwing his weight around just moments ago.

"I have no requests! However... I am curious about one thing." Raising an index finger, Gray looked at Leonard. "When you gangs collect protection money, do you actually protect the shops that pay you when pirates come to town?"

"My lord, you jest. Pirates are all vicious and cruel people."

"We only collect a bit of protection money for the sake of profit. It's not worth risking our lives against pirates for a little bit of money."

"Besides, after pirates raid a place, they can't stay on an island for too long. But people have to live, right?"

"There will always be shops. If one shop is gone, there will be others in the future."

Hearing Leonard say this, Gray understood the meaning instantly: they collected protection money without providing service, treating the shops like leeks to be harvested.

Pirate raids had nothing to do with them; if one shop was gone, there would always be another.

"Understood!" Gray nodded in realization, losing all interest in this piece of trash who only drew his blade against those weaker than himself.

"After hearing that, what are your thoughts?" Gray turned his gaze toward the two sisters, Monet and Sugar.

Monet was startled. She glanced at the gang members lying on the ground, feeling like she was on the verge of tears.

After her younger sister was born, their parents had died at sea. She had raised Sugar through all the hardships of life, and the suffering she had endured in her youth was beyond words.

She had opened a restaurant a few years ago, and just when she thought life might get better, the local gangs kept coming to cause trouble.

Being squeezed by gangs while trying to protect her sister, she had endured a bitterness that could not be told in days or nights.

Today, when Leonard came to cause trouble, she thought it was the unluckiest thing that could happen, but Gray's casual suppression of the gang made the despair in her heart weigh even heavier.

Seeing Monet's silent demeanor, Gray was very disappointed. "Have you been oppressed for so long that you don't even have the thought of resisting?"

"They are bad people!" Fortunately, while Monet was silent, Sugar, who didn't overthink things, answered Gray's question directly.

"That answer... is acceptable!" Gray nodded, then shook his head, saying quite seriously, "The reason they keep demanding protection money from you is simply because they think you are easy to bully."

"If I weren't here today, were you planning to give him more protection money, or were you going to let your sister become his woman?"

"No way! I don't want Sister to marry such a nasty, ugly villain!"

"But with your current strength, you have no way to refuse him. If you don't do as he says, have you thought about the consequences?"

Sugar was stumped by the question: "This..."

Unable to find a rebuttal, she looked up at her sister, Monet.

Monet, however, remained silent. Having raised her younger sister single-handedly, she was mature beyond her years and naturally understood the consequences involved.

"All tragedy and helplessness stem from one thing: you lack power."

"As ordinary people, you are merely the ones being exploited. Even without Leonard, there would be a Windnard or a Rainnard; today's situation would still come to pass regardless."

"If you had power, you could confidently say 'NO' to others!"

"If someone bullies you, you could fight back, and if you see something you don't like, you could just beat them up."

"So then, young maiden!"

"Do you wish to become a ma..."