"Begin the plan."
Martin Lee, leaving his home, pressed the Bluetooth earpiece by his ear and issued the order to the already-prepared Demon Gang members.
"Understood, boss."
A deep, raspy voice came through the radio into Martin's earpiece. The Demon Gang members hidden throughout Chinatown sprang into action, flooding toward New York's largest gathering place for gangs—Hell's Kitchen.
Before long, Martin Lee's phone began ringing frantically.
"What are you trying to do, Negative?"
A voice like muffled thunder demanded from the phone.
"Just a personal grudge, Kingpin. You know that."
At some point, Martin Lee's appearance had changed. His entire body had taken on the black-and-white colors of a photographic negative, and his voice had become just as deep and raspy as those of the Demon Gang members.
"Just causing trouble for Hammerhead?"
"Just causing trouble for him."
"If you do anything unnecessary, you know the consequences, Negative."
"Don't worry, Kingpin. I have no intention of making an enemy of every gang in New York."
"Good."
After exchanging a few probing remarks, Kingpin hung up and instructed his subordinate beside him, "Keep an eye on every move the Demon Gang makes. As long as they don't provoke our territory, do nothing."
Besides Kingpin, gangs large and small throughout Hell's Kitchen were stirred up by the Demon Gang's movements.
The gangs that knew the inside story and could contact Martin Lee remained relatively calm, but the many smaller gangs that knew nothing gathered anxiously in their own territories, bracing themselves for the Demon Gang's "invasion."
Yet before the Demon Gang's invasion arrived, quite a few gangs took advantage of the chaos to recklessly swallow up their neighboring rivals.
The superheroes active in Hell's Kitchen—Daredevil, The Punisher, and the rest—were all put on alert as well. But after learning that it was merely gang warfare, most of them chose to watch from the sidelines.
With no third party interfering, the Demon Gang members drove straight in and smoothly broke into Maggia territory.
As the Demon Gang's longtime rival, the Maggia had always kept an eye on their movements. They were not caught off guard and had instead been waiting in full battle readiness within their territory.
Even so, Maggia boss "Hammerhead" Joseph Harold still could not figure out why the Demon Gang kept targeting him.
Martin Lee, transformed into Mr. Negative, was personally formidable, and the Demon Gang was slightly stronger than the Maggia. But once the two sides exchanged fire, the battle fell into a stalemate.
Fighting on their home turf gave the Maggia some advantage, but more importantly, the Demon Gang was mainly composed of Chinese immigrants and all its territory lay in Chinatown. Its connections could not compare to those of the Maggia, who had long operated in Hell's Kitchen. The moment Hammerhead noticed the Demon Gang's movements, he swiftly contacted his allies in Hell's Kitchen. That was how they managed to withstand the Demon Gang's all-out offensive.
"Hmph! A bunch of trash!"
Mr. Negative had not expected to wipe out the Maggia in one wave, but their resistance still exceeded his expectations. He snorted and created a demon mask from negative energy, placing it over his face as he prepared to join the battle himself.
Martin's true identity was not much of a secret in New York's underworld. Publicly, however, he was still a philanthropist who had received the Medal of Freedom. And with Kraft to worry about, whenever he acted as Mr. Negative, he wore a demon mask to conceal his identity.
That was also why Hammerhead still had no idea when he had offended the Demon Gang.
With Mr. Negative joining the fight, the Demon Gang's offensive immediately became unstoppable. Under his leadership, they seized three important Maggia strongholds in succession within an hour.
This finally made the big boss, Hammerhead, unable to sit still. He hurriedly led his men out to intercept them.
"Negative!"
As a russki, Hammerhead raised his Chicago Typewriter the instant he saw Mr. Negative and fired a burst at him.
Mr. Negative merely lifted an arm casually and formed a negative-energy shield before himself, easily blocking the bullets.
"Die!"
Seeing no need to speak with Hammerhead, Mr. Negative waved his hand, ordering the Demon Gang members to continue attacking the Maggia. He himself charged at Hammerhead with a negative-energy sword in hand.
Unlike Martin Lee, Joseph Harold possessed no special powers. He had merely suffered a devastating head injury during a gang shootout, then replaced his skull with an iron one. This made it impossible for bullets to blow his head apart. After extensive training, he could easily ram cars over and smash through walls with his iron head. That was how he earned the nickname Hammerhead.
But before Mr. Negative's negative energy, Hammerhead's iron head, invincible in ordinary gang fights, was hardly worth mentioning.
In just a few minutes, Mr. Negative slashed Hammerhead until his flesh split open and his body was covered in wounds. His already-damaged head was cut open once more, revealing the metallic skull gleaming beneath.
Though Hammerhead had never personally witnessed Mr. Negative's strength, he had gathered information on him as an enemy and knew that Mr. Negative was someone with special abilities. People like that were hardly rare in Hell's Kitchen.
Boom!
A massive figure burst through the wall of a nearby building and rammed into the unprepared Mr. Negative shoulder-first. It drove him forward, smashing through several walls in succession before Mr. Negative erupted with negative energy and hurled it away.
"Cough, cough... Damn it..."
Mr. Negative struggled to his feet from the rubble. His left arm hung limply at his side. When he gently touched his left ribs, a sharp pain shot through him. He had clearly been badly injured as well.
The negative energy Martin Lee gained after the human experiment had given him superhuman strength, but it leaned more toward stimulating others' minds and energy attacks. It did improve his physical abilities somewhat, but not by much.
"Alexei!"
Mr. Negative stared fixedly at his attacker and squeezed out the name through clenched teeth.
Like Joseph Harold, Alexei Mikhailovich Sytsevich was also a russki. But unlike Hammerhead, who had carved out vast territory, the simple-minded Alexei had always worked as muscle in Hell's Kitchen. Later, he had been tricked into undergoing human experimentation, forcibly wrapped in a layer of rhino hide, and gained near-invulnerability along with physical abilities far beyond those of ordinary people.
Rhino Alexei climbed to his feet, shook his woozy head, and snorted a blast of hot air from his nostrils as he glared back at Mr. Negative.
Alexei was not very intelligent, but his combat power ranked among the best in Hell's Kitchen. He was not helping Hammerhead out of any "fellow countryman" loyalty. He was simply being paid.
And if someone paid him, he would put in the work. Alexei's way of thinking was that simple.
"Ha!"
Alexei lowered his head, aimed the horn on his head at Mr. Negative, and with a furious roar, launched himself forward like an enraged rhinoceros.
"Tch... This is troublesome!"
Mr. Negative created several negative-energy spears and hurled them at Alexei. At the same time, negative energy erupted beneath his feet and blasted him off to the side.
The black spears struck Alexei, making him cry out in pain, but they did little damage to his body. Instead, Alexei snapped every one of them apart as he charged through.
Mr. Negative retreated among his subordinates and narrowed his eyes to survey the surroundings. Hammerhead had already vanished, leaving behind only a group of men and Alexei to hold him back.
"We're leaving!"
After pursing his lips, Mr. Negative reluctantly gave the order to withdraw.
Besides creating blades and energy attacks, Mr. Negative's most powerful ability was actually negative-energy corruption. Put simply, it amplified the negative emotions buried in people's hearts. It was naturally devastating against ordinary people or those who had experienced especially tragic events, but its effect was far less obvious against the villains of Hell's Kitchen.
If he had not been ambushed, he could have continued tangling with Alexei. But his injuries were severe now, and he could not stop this brutal Rhino. The Demon Gang had no other outstanding individual fighters besides him. Continuing the battle would only let Alexei turn everything upside down.
"I still underestimated Hell's Kitchen..."
Surrounded by Demon Gang members, Mr. Negative left Hell's Kitchen and looked back unwillingly at the Maggia stronghold.
As one of New York's largest gang leaders, Mr. Negative could not possibly have ignored a special place like Hell's Kitchen. But his territory was ultimately based in Chinatown. Though he knew of figures like Kingpin, Alexei, Daredevil, and the others, he had never interacted with them directly. Most of his dealings with Hell's Kitchen had been retaliatory strikes against the Maggia.
That was why Alexei had caught him completely off guard.
Just as Mr. Negative did not understand Hell's Kitchen, Hell's Kitchen had not previously understood Mr. Negative's strength very well either. Since he had failed to finish everything in one stroke this time, it would be much harder to force Hammerhead out again. Even if he did force him out, Hammerhead would certainly be fully prepared.
But eliminating the Maggia did not require killing Hammerhead. As long as he kept destroying the Maggia's businesses and assets, the hungry wolves of Hell's Kitchen would naturally kick them while they were down, swarm in, and devour the Maggia piece by piece.
Even if that meant injuring the enemy by a thousand and himself by eight hundred, Mr. Negative would not hesitate for the sake of revenge. But as an outsider, the Demon Gang could launch one large-scale surprise attack against the Maggia. If it turned into a prolonged conflict, Hell's Kitchen's big shots, including Kingpin, would not allow it. With Alexei as an example, Mr. Negative would no longer underestimate these people.
"Notify the others to withdraw..."
Mr. Negative clutched his ribs and gave the order unwillingly.
"Send a few more men to Kraft's side. Make sure he stays safe."