Once blood began to flow, there was no stopping it.
At night, the neon lights went out one after another. By day, shops closed their doors, one after the next. Shattered storefront windows were nailed shut with rough boards. Graffiti covered the once-glitzy advertisements, replacing them with gang symbols and angry slogans.
Black Mask wasn't just targeting Falcone, Maroni, and Rupert Thorne. He was indiscriminately attacking and absorbing nearly every gang territory within his reach. Gunmen wearing identical skull masks swept through in modified vehicles like a plague. Anyone who refused to cooperate faced the cruelest reprisals against their businesses and even their families-charred corpses hanging from lampposts, or dismembered remains stuffed into trash cans, became Black Mask's new calling card.
"This guy's a complete fucking lunatic."
Li Jie sat in the car, thoroughly annoyed as he watched the few pedestrians hurrying along the deserted street. Territories once maintained through a delicate balance between competing powers were now being devoured, one by one, by bullets and flames wielded by fanatics unafraid to die.
"Why have so many shops in Chinatown closed too? What am I supposed to eat for lunch? That alone is reason enough to beat this fucking Sionis guy to death."
The Gotham Police Department had issued a warrant for Roman Sionis, but it didn't do a damn thing. Everyone knew the criminal was holed up near the docks with a gun in hand. Whether anyone could actually go there and arrest him was another matter.
Although Loeb's departure was already a foregone conclusion, he still wanted to leave with some dignity. Most of the department's manpower was stationed around Civic Plaza to ensure there wouldn't be another incident like the last one.
Meanwhile, Li Jie and Wilson drove the newly repaired E350, usually parking outside Robinson Park