A Stalling Tactic with Hidden Agendas

After a few gasping breaths, Jon spoke in a hoarse, feeble voice. "I'm not dead. I can hear you."

Su Yi crouched and blew secondhand smoke into his face. "The Wolf Fang Gang sent you?"

Jon looked at Su Yi and rasped, "Yes."

Su Yi smiled casually. "Relax. I'm not planning to kill you today."

After a pause, he said, "Go back and tell the Wolf Fang Gang that if they like playing these games, I'll play along to the end."

"The four of us couldn't scrape together one pair of parents between us. But the Wolf Fang Gang is different."

"Bell Max has a daughter, doesn't he?"

"And Deputy Leader Cairo Mars's parents are enjoying a comfortable retirement."

As he spoke, Su Yi produced a brand-new Kedi Star as if by magic. The fingers of his other hand moved with a pianist's agility, fitting a dark gray tube to the muzzle.

"I hear a gun with this suppressor sounds about as loud as a fart."

"I wouldn't mind letting them hear a few more."

At the sight of the Dark Star Suppressor in Su Yi's hand, Jon's pupils contracted.

That was a genuinely rare, restricted item. Even the Wolf Fang Gang's connections could barely get hold of one!

Su Yi tapped Jon's face with the gun barrel.

"As for whether those little pops release gas or blood, well, that's hard to say."

Gulp!

Su Yi's tone was refined and courteous, but the threat beneath it was chillingly matter-of-fact. The hair on Jon's back stood on end.

He believed Su Yi would do it.

Because the man had a corporation behind him!

That mysterious level-twenty figure from earlier had to be a corporate executive who couldn't show his face.

His rank was at least L20!

And Su Yi even had a Dark Star Suppressor!

"Understood! Understood!"

Jon was truly afraid now.

He wasn't afraid of Su Yi. He was afraid of the corporation behind him.

If the corporation took notice of the House of Loving Kindness at this critical moment, years of preparation would go to waste!

Su Yi smiled and nodded. He lit a cigarette, tucked it between Jon's lips, and patted his shoulder.

"I hope you convey my words perfectly."

"Otherwise, when the Wolf Fang Gang gets wiped out, don't blame Weber Nigel for coming after you."

Looking at Su Yi's smiling face, Jon nodded repeatedly. "Understood, understood!"

He knew exactly who Weber Nigel was.

Su Yi left the alley and disappeared around the corner.

Jon didn't get up right away. Only when the cigarette burned his lips did he snap out of it and hurriedly spit out the butt.

Once he was sure Su Yi had gone, Jon's expression darkened.

"Damn Max!"

He hated Max for putting him in charge of this job!

And he hated him even more for failing to investigate the other side's background first!

There was a level-twenty corporate executive here, and Max had sent him to his death!

"Now isn't the time to make a move against you. One day, you'll regret this!"

Jon didn't dare linger another moment. He fled as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, Su Yi called Alton and the other two, who knew nothing of what had happened. "Don't worry. It's taken care of."

Su Yi was confident that, after seeing the strength he had displayed, the Wolf Fang Gang wouldn't dare target Alton's family and friends again.

They would have to weigh the consequences first!

The three were stunned when they heard. Once again, they became convinced their boss could do anything!

On the way back, Emma, no longer in disguise, said with a delighted grin, "That felt so good!"

"Did you see how scared he was? He nearly pissed himself."

Disguises of every kind were easy for a sorceress who had spent a thousand years in hiding.

Being able to make simple changes to their appearance was an essential survival skill for sorceresses like her.

Su Yi handed her fifty. "Nicely done. Here's your reward!"

Emma snatched the money and stuffed it into her shirt pocket. Then she asked curiously,

"Didn't you want to get rid of them? Why are you acting like you want to ease tensions now?"

In Emma's view, they should have killed Scarface and tossed his head into the Wolf Fang Gang's hall as a warning.

"It's just a stalling tactic," Su Yi said casually.

"Even if we break them in a head-on fight, the survivors will keep assassinating and harassing us from the shadows."

"I need these few days to prepare. Then I'll tear the Wolf Fang Gang out by the roots."

"By the time it happens, they won't even know who their enemy is."

Emma blinked. "Huh? You can do that?"

Su Yi smiled mysteriously. "You'll see. Go home. Don't make Sefni worry."

"Oh." Emma gave Su Yi a sweet smile. "Well... bye, boss! I'm off the clock!"

With that, she left in high spirits.

After saying goodbye to Emma, Su Yi went home. Once he had completed his Self-Reward for the day, he settled in for a comfortable night's sleep.

Late that night, on the second floor of a nightclub controlled by the Wolf Fang Gang.

In the lounge sat a bald middle-aged man, Bell, and a man with spiked hair whose head had been half-replaced with cybernetics.

"Next time something like this comes up, do your fucking homework!"

"I'm not your attack dog!"

"Otherwise, don't blame me for turning on you!"

"I'll show you what a Black Hand can do!!"

Jon angrily tore into all three of them.

He told them how close he had come to dying that day and about the level-twenty Blessed on the other side.

He also repeated Su Yi's warning three times from start to finish, making sure the fools understood it.

The bald middle-aged man was Cairo Mars, the deputy leader. He now handled all the Wolf Fang Gang's affairs and was a trusted aide of Weber Nigel.

The man with spiked hair was Iron Sledgehammer, the Wolf Fang Gang's top fighter.

He wasn't a Blessed, but more than sixty percent of his body had been replaced with cybernetics, giving him combat power comparable to a level-fifteen Blessed.

Cairo smiled at the furious Jon. "Please calm down, Mr. Jon. We were in the wrong. We were careless!"

"Don't worry. It won't happen again!"

Jon snorted and left without another word.

Cairo and Iron Sledgehammer then turned their eyes to the pale-faced Bell.

Cairo's voice turned cold. "I told you to look into his background. Not only did you lose seven men and get caught, you nearly got Jon killed!"

"Are you brain-dead? You didn't investigate before making a move?"

Bell had no defense he dared offer. "I'm sorry, boss. I was wrong," he said quietly.

Iron Sledgehammer looked ready to explode. "That Gheros is damn arrogant. Does he think a corporation backing him means he can do whatever he wants?"

"Boss, I'll kill him tonight!"

Cairo stopped him at once. "Don't be rash. We didn't expect him to have corporate connections."

"And he clearly wasn't bent on hurting us. Otherwise, Jon wouldn't have come back alive."

"I've already had someone check the recent increase in weapons on the market. The numbers match what the people we caught told us."

"That means Gheros isn't selling his weapons here. He's almost certainly selling them across the border."

"If he's willing to avoid stepping on our business, we shouldn't stir up more trouble. Let's give him some room."

"Especially since he may well be acting as a front for a corporate executive."

Iron Sledgehammer asked, "We're just letting it go?"

"Of course not," Cairo said with a cold smile. "We're buying time."

"We need to focus on killing that Beetle first. Without his supplier, Gheros is nothing."

"Then we'll deal with him and force him to give up his smuggling route!"

"When that happens, the whole border will be ours!"

"Brilliant, boss!" Iron Sledgehammer and Bell said at once.