A Windfall

"Who?! Who the fuck shot the tires?!"

Watching the little truck spin like a top, Zuo Ci and Deathstroke both fell silent for a moment.

"Uh, you..."

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't mean to?"

God was his witness, Deathstroke had only been casually testing the gun. He hadn't aimed at anything at all. Who knew some unlucky bastard would actually get hit?

As they spoke, the little truck finally managed an emergency stop in the warm embrace of a utility pole. Only then did Zuo Ci notice that it seemed to be a vehicle used by the Gangsters.

Just as he suspected, once the truck stopped, a whole crowd of people poured out.

They all wore matching black uniforms and were uniformly burly. At first glance, they looked like the cloned yakuza from Ninja Slayer.

"Huh? What's going on? Has some Gangsters with a death wish come to cause trouble?"

Realizing something might be wrong, Zuo Ci immediately readied himself. If anything really happened, he would give these suicidal fools a proper taste of a crooked merchant's wrath.

Just when Zuo Ci thought they would shout something like "You fucking with us, asshole?!" and open fire, they all jogged toward his shop in unison, then respectfully bowed ninety degrees at the entrance.

"Huh? What's going on?"

The sight left Zuo Ci baffled. What was this? Did mob turf wars start with handshakes these days?

"We're from the Falcone Family. We're very sorry for all the trouble we caused you before. We've come today specifically to apologize."

Old Mark, who led the group, still felt a searing pain in his wounds, but he forced himself to endure it and respectfully apologized to Zuo Ci, not daring to show the slightest negligence.

"Oh, so it's you lot."

Zuo Ci gave them a meaningful look. They were here to pay protection money, so why call it an apology? The Gangsters really did care about saving face.

Then he glanced at Deathstroke, only to discover that the man who had been standing in the shop had vanished, as though he had never been there at all.

If he couldn't see the pistol's name displayed behind the shelves, he really would have thought the guy had run off.

"All right, don't just stand around out here. Come inside if you've got something to say."

Leaving him alone, Zuo Ci told the leader to come inside and talk. He had no interest in watching them perform this bit of performance art from across the ocean.

Old Mark breathed a sigh of relief. The fact that Zuo Ci hadn't exposed his little ploy and had preserved the gang's last shred of dignity probably meant he had accepted their sincerity and wasn't planning to raise the price again.

"Yes, sir.

You lot, get moving and bring everything inside. Be very careful not to damage anything."

After giving Zuo Ci a fawning smile, Mark endured the pain and straightened up, then hurriedly ordered his men to bring everything inside.

At his command, the burly men in black immediately opened the truck doors and carried several black duffel bags into the shop. Then they respectfully unzipped them, revealing the green stacks of Franklins inside.

"I used to see this sort of thing on TV all the time. Now that I'm experiencing it firsthand, it really does feel pretty good."

He casually picked up a bundle of bills, and the strong smell of ink immediately filled his nostrils.

Ah, so this was the stink of money. How refreshing.

"But are you sure it's all here? You're not just putting real bills on top and trying to fool me with counterfeits underneath, are you?"

Zuo Ci spoke offhandedly as he leisurely counted the money. Although he wasn't looking at anyone, an invisible pressure instantly enveloped the entire little shop.

"N-no, we wouldn't dare. We absolutely wouldn't dare do anything like that, nor would we ever do it. Rest assured, the full five million is there, down to the last cent."

Watching Mark scramble to explain, Zuo Ci chuckled and casually tossed the bills back into the bag.

"Just kidding. Relax."

Seeing that Zuo Ci truly had no intention of using this as an excuse to cause trouble, Mark's pounding heart settled considerably. He lightly wiped the sweat from his forehead, then clapped his hands and called for someone outside to come in.

Immediately afterward, two beauties whose ample assets were obvious at a glance, who had been standing behind the hulking Gangsters, meekly carried over a small chest.

Zuo Ci raised an eyebrow at the sight, and Mark instantly took the hint, explaining with a fawning smile:

"This is a gift the Godfather prepared for you. We hope you like it."

As the chest opened, an exceptionally rare Jade Guanyin was quietly revealed before Zuo Ci.

As the biggest Gangsters in Gotham City, the Falcone Family naturally had no shortage of fine antiques like this. But most had lofty valuations and no buyers, making them extremely difficult to sell. Often, they only appeared at auction houses as tools for laundering money.

Thus, giving it to Zuo Ci, who was from the East, both demonstrated their goodwill and cost them little. It was the ideal choice.

"You don't often see a Jade Guanyin this beautiful. You really spared no expense."

Although Zuo Ci knew absolutely nothing about jade, this Jade Guanyin looked lustrous and beautiful. Anyone who wasn't blind could tell at a glance that it was worth a fortune.

"As long as you like it.

There's one more thing. The Maroni Family will be holding a banquet aboard a ship this Sunday, and all their senior members will be attending. The Godfather said you might be interested."

As Gotham's second-largest Gangsters and one of the legitimate heirs to the Roman, the Maroni Family had always been a source of deep concern for Falcone.

Now that all the Falcone Family's senior members had performed a concerto of love with their beloved pets and achieved life's great harmony, they were bound to be unable to show their faces and operate as before for some time.

This gap would certainly give the Maroni Family an opening. Once they realized what had happened, the Falcone Family would inevitably suffer a devastating blow, with potentially incalculable losses.

So they had to stop Maroni now, preferably by leaving his people just as incapable of operating normally for a while.

That was why they had chosen Zuo Ci.

Falcone knew perfectly well that Zuo Ci was terrifying, vicious, and volatile, but he was also extremely greedy.

Surely he wouldn't turn down such a feast laid before him.

"Heh, you've really thought this through, haven't you? You want to use me against the Maroni Family."

Zuo Ci sneered outwardly, but inwardly he was rather pleased. Perfect timing. He had been worrying about finding a suitable opportunity.

Unlike the Falcone Family, few of the Maroni Family's officers kept pets, so that trick might not work very well. Besides, using the same trick over and over was boring. He had been struggling to come up with a good way to deal with them.

This really was like being handed a pillow just as he was getting sleepy.

"Ahem, we wouldn't dare tell you what to do..."

"All right, spare me the pleasantries. Your name's Mark, right?"

"Yes, sir."

Hearing his name, Mark instantly tensed, but he still did everything he could to look meek and compliant.

"Go back and tell Falcone I'm very satisfied with his attitude. This matter is settled. Just remember to pay on time from now on."

"I'll convey your views to the Godfather without leaving out a single word. Now that everything is settled, we won't trouble you any further. We'll take our leave..."

"One more thing. Remember not to keep so many dogs next time. You're not young anymore. You can't handle it."

"Of course, of course."

Mark's expression darkened, but he still had no choice but to agree as readily as he could.

"All right, off you go. Don't get in the way of my business."