Node Event

Oswald did not understand what he meant. Qin Wei was smart, but he was honestly terrible at the job.

Qin Wei knew that better than anyone. He had tried collecting rent a few days ago, but after an entire day of running around, he had not collected from a single household.

Simply put, a person's mindset could not change overnight.

Qin Wei could manage to mind his own business, but lay hands on the elderly, the weak, women, and children? He was not that much of an animal yet.

This time, though, it was fine. He had never intended to collect the rent through violence.

Leading Old John outside the tent, Qin Wei took out a pack of cigarettes and offered him one. He had bought a pack to keep on hand after disposing of a body with Harvey a few days earlier, and today it finally came in useful.

Old John glanced at Qin Wei, then at the cigarette, unsure whether he should accept it.

"Go on, smoke. I'm here to collect rent, not lives! Afraid I'll hurt you?" Glancing at John's yellow-stained index finger, Qin Wei simply stuck the cigarette in the man's mouth and lit it for him.

"Thank you..."

A cigarette brought the two men closer, and Old John began to talk.

The circus had spent years camped on Baron's turf in the West End, but the ground rent had suddenly gone up recently. Unable to afford it, he had been forced to move his family to the East End.

Old John looked a little embarrassed at this point. He had come to the East End because he had heard that a lot of gang members here had died overnight, and figured the rent collectors would not get around to him for a while.

"Running away won't help... cough, cough, cough!"

Qin Wei took a drag and immediately broke into a violent coughing fit, while a powerful wave of dizziness rushed to his head. His lungs could not handle the burning smoke at all. Apparently, this body's original owner had never had bad habits like smoking.

"Are you all right?"

"I skipped breakfast. My blood sugar's a little low." Qin Wei rubbed his temples and brushed past the embarrassment.

"How about this? Things aren't easy for any of us, and if I don't collect anything, I'll have trouble explaining it to Maroni. Just give me a token amount. We can talk about the rest later."

Moved by Qin Wei's sincerity, Old John turned out every pocket he had, but only managed to scrape together a dozen or so dollars.

Qin Wei did not actually need the money. His main goal was to see whether the Node Event could be avoided. If he took the money, the bad blood between the two sides would be settled for now. The gang would not retaliate, and Dick would not lose his family.

Whether he could recruit him or not, Qin Wei did not want to make enemies of a major character on the heroes' side.

But just as he was about to accept the money, brakes screeched at the end of the street.

Looking toward the sound, he saw a mud-spattered, old brown Ford lurch into view with a clumsy fishtail. It knocked over a trash can on the corner, then waggled its rear end as it drove up to the open ground in front of the Old Church.

Following a loud cough, a thick yellow wad of phlegm shot out of the window like a cannonball and landed on the windshield of Oswald's sports car.

"Fuck me! Little Penguin's doing well for himself! Haven't seen you in a few days, and now you can afford a car this nice!"

The voice arrived before its owner. After a burst of shrill laughter, a tall white man with slicked-back hair climbed out of the driver's seat. Three underlings followed him out, and one spat on Oswald's prized car.

The white man leading them was gaunt, with dark eye sockets and deeply sunken cheeks. He looked like an orchid mantis that had gone hungry for three days.

His suit jacket hung open, and he undid two shirt buttons to expose the dense black tattoos across his chest. Taking a baseball bat from one of his men, he struck the sports car's hood hard enough to buckle its edge upward.

Oswald rolled up his sleeves and charged out of the tent, but when he saw the newcomer's ghastly face, he could not help frowning in dismay.

Like him, Baron had started as an enforcer and climbed his way to his current position. Unlike him, however, years of drug abuse had left Baron mentally unstable. He was a lunatic through and through.

"That's Baron. He's seriously fucked in the head. We don't have any men with us, so don't get into a fight with him."

Having vented his excess energy, Baron shook himself out and thrust his arms toward the sky with a whoop. Then he smoothed back his hair and inched toward them with tango steps.

"Whoo! Look at this little gathering! The Flying Graysons! John, John, tell me, is that pretty wife of yours, Mary, home?" Baron craned his neck to peer into the tent.

He looked disappointed when his search turned up nothing, but soon found a new target to mock.

"Little Penguin? Long time no see. Like the present I gave you?"

"Who the hell are you calling Penguin!"

He had told Qin Wei not to lose his cool, yet Oswald was the first to lose his temper, throwing a punch at Baron.

But with his head only reaching Baron's chest, he posed little threat. Baron dodged effortlessly and, in the blink of an eye, pressed a gun to his forehead.

"You want to fight me? With what? Those stubby little arms? Or those poor men of yours who got ground into pulp at the casino?"

Baron doubled over with laughter, and the men he had brought laughed along with him.

Surrounded by their laughter, Oswald's face turned livid. He did not dare fight back, because Baron really would shoot.

Finally, Baron's gaze settled on Qin Wei's face.

"I've heard of you. You recovered five million in gambling money for Mr. Maroni. You've got some talent. How about working for me?"

"No, thank you. And it's not just me-John won't be paying you ground rent anymore, either." Qin Wei turned him down with a smile, indirectly telling him that the Grayson family was now on his turf, and he should leave them alone.

Just as the crisis had been about to resolve itself, Baron had barged in. Now Qin Wei was increasingly certain that the Node Event could not be avoided.

The Grayson family wouldn't really die here, would they?

Still woozy from the drugs he had just taken, Baron completely missed Qin Wei's meaning. His eyes swivelled toward Old John.

"You son of a bitch! You owed me money, so you ran off to the East End?"

Baron turned his gun on John.

With his head lowered, the man tremblingly held the money out to Baron.

"This is all I have..."

Predictably, he received a resounding slap. The pistol butt struck his face, tearing a long gash, and coins scattered across the ground with a clatter.

Not everyone working for the Roman was as easygoing as Qin Wei.

"Who the fuck do you think you're fooling with this chump change?" Baron's pupils gradually lost focus, his eyes bloodshot. High on drugs, he had lost all hold on his reason, and thick saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth.

At that moment, he was like a rabid dog.

Old John trembled and looked to Qin Wei for help, but all he received was a helpless shake of the head.

Baron's men had guns trained on them too. They could barely protect themselves.

Qin Wei had already pulled Oswald aside. He quietly glanced at Dick's anxious face behind the tent flap.

Unless the main player stepped in, he would stand by and watch from here on, letting the situation escalate.

Fortunately, Baron only kept hammering the man over the head with his pistol butt.

Though Old John was beaten bloody, his life was not in immediate danger. He curled up to protect his head while gesturing for Mary to hold back the hotheaded boys.

"Remember this! Next time I come, you'd better have the rest of my money. Every last fucking cent!"

Baron swayed his head and cursed, preparing to tuck the gun into the back of his waistband.

But just then, something unexpected happened!

Bang!

A gunshot rang out. Old John clutched the back of his neck and collapsed into a pool of blood.

An... accidental discharge? When did I take the safety off?

Baron froze too, but soon found something to occupy himself.

Consumed by rage, the two brothers charged out first, intent on fighting Baron to the death. But what happened when flesh and blood met the barrel of a gun?

Bang, bang!

The older brother took a bullet to the head and slid to the ground at Baron's feet. The younger brother was shot in the abdomen and rolled in the pool of blood, clutching his wound.

Baron was evil to the core. Having accidentally shot someone, he chose to double down.

Despite his grievous wound, Old John found the strength somewhere to lunge forward and try to wrest Baron's gun away, only to be shot dead by several rounds from an underling behind him.

Bang, bang, bang!

The rapid gunfire echoed endlessly through the empty square outside the church. The Statue of the Virgin Mary, blackened by fire, bore witness to the massacre.

Qin Wei was so shaken that he almost forgot to breathe. Though he had known the Grayson family was unlikely to escape death, watching it unfold right in front of him still hit him hard.

"Oz, shoot!"

Before Qin Wei could remind him, Oswald had already drawn his pistol as Baron's underling swung his gun around.

But unlike Qin Wei, who was desperate to save lives, what drove him to act was a blaze of fury.

"You dare kill people on my turf! Baron, you son of a bitch!"

The underling farther away went down after two shots. Baron, terrified by Oswald's sudden eruption, ducked his head and scurried into the tent.

When Oswald chased him inside with his gun, he found a tear in the empty big top. Mary lay on the ground, hit by a stray bullet and barely breathing.

"Save... my boy..."

The woman pointed at Dick, who was still struggling in the pool of blood outside the tent, and breathed her last.