With a tremendous bang, the stick of dynamite he had thrown exploded.
Although it wasn't very powerful and didn't blast a crater as he had imagined, the tremendous noise still startled the few people watching from a distance on their motorcycles. They abandoned their bikes and jumped off.
The cowboy's face changed color too. He was no longer as cocky and arrogant as before.
The bomb was real.
He hadn't expected anyone to be this crazy, either.
The good news: the guy across from him only had a crappy gun.
The bad news: the guy across from him was a bomber.
The most important thing was that, even in a place like Prisoner Continent, running with a gang looked pretty dangerous, but the actual chance of getting killed was quite small.
Because, to put it bluntly, gangs existed for profit. The ultimate goal of running with a gang was still all about money.
So whether gangs were fighting each other or coming to someone's door to demand an explanation, most of the time the ultimate goal was to make the other party pay up.
Even when they did get physical, more often than not it was just for show.
Modern society wasn't like the old days. Even if you beat someone to death, you couldn't get the money in his bank account.
On the other hand, if you beat him badly enough to leave him lying at home, and did it a few more times until he couldn't take it anymore, he might cough up the money.
For motorcycle gangs, there were two kinds of people they feared most.
The first was a newcomer, a newborn calf unafraid of tigers, who knew nothing of the rules of the underworld and went straight for the kill, making countless enemies. Though people like that usually didn't live long, they were a real handful whether they were on your side or against you. Most of all, one of them could draw plenty of enemies to a gang.
The second was an honest person, because they normally didn't fight and had no sense of how hard to hit.
When they finally did fight, they went straight to a fight to the death, with no way back.
At least you could try to avoid the first kind. If you ran into the second, only one of you would be going back on your own two feet.
Now the cowboy had discovered there was another kind of person he feared: someone like Li Xingkong.
Could they take him down if they fought today? With so many people there, they certainly could, but how many would die was another question.
If demanding an explanation for some little brat ended up costing lives, he'd be taking a terrible loss.
Li Xingkong pulled out another stick of dynamite. He had brought out a whole sack when he was getting ready, so he had as many as he could reach for.
"Look, I don't think there's any need for us to get so worked up."
The cowboy's tone softened somewhat.
It wasn't that he was scared. He was standing a little too close, and he had actually seen where Li Xingkong had pulled the dynamite from.
A whole sack of it. If that went off with a big enough bang, ten legs wouldn't be enough to run away.
He had come for money, not to throw his life away.
"Can we talk properly now?"
Li Xingkong kept moving his hands. No matter how nice the cowboy sounded, who knew whether someone might take a potshot at him?
He kept his guard up against the cowboy approaching him while scanning his surroundings out of the corner of his eye.
"Huh?"
Where were the motorcycles circling around them? They were all gone.
Li Xingkong hadn't even noticed that the noise from the motorcycles had stopped.
He quickly turned his head for a look. The whole bunch had ridden back to the side of the road some time ago, at least a hundred meters away.
So the cowboy was the only one left standing here.
"Buddy, my boys were wrong to lay hands on you, but you've taught them a lesson. Pulling a gun is going a little too far."
The cowboy noticed the situation too, and his face darkened. Those disloyal bastards-he'd teach them a lesson when they got back.
"Pulling a gun? What's the difference between killing someone with a gun and killing them with an axe?"
As he chatted with the cowboy, he kept watch on his surroundings.
Though the threat was much smaller with only these few people, he still had to be on guard.
After talking with Li Xingkong, the cowboy understood. It seemed this guy really had never been in a gang.
Gang brats were all first-rate at scaring people, showing support, and bulking up the numbers in fights over turf. But expecting them to actually slash someone was giving them far too much credit.
Most of the time, gang fights looked vicious, but the moves they used weren't really meant to kill.
If someone came at you with a knife and really meant to kill you, he'd simply stab you in the gut, one stab for each person.
How did gang members slash people? They raised the knife high in the air before bringing it down, as if they were afraid you wouldn't see them coming.
Anyone who saw it could dodge. Even if you couldn't, it was fine; his blade would cut through empty air on its own. But if you dodged blindly without looking and ran straight into the blade, that was your bad luck.
To put it bluntly, gangs served their own interests too. If you hacked someone to death, no matter who handled the aftermath, money would have to be paid out, and settling things for you would cost plenty.
"You're a ruthless one. I misjudged you."
The cowboy spoke frankly, without looking for excuses. Maybe it was because his underlings had all slipped too far away, and with no one listening, he didn't need to put on a show.
"Let's call it even for today. We won't come around again."
After they stood there at an impasse for a while, the cowboy thought it over for a long time. It didn't look as though he could get anything out of Li Xingkong, and the longer he stood there, the more danger his life was in.
"You'd better remember what you said."
Being able to settle the matter peacefully was naturally a good thing for Li Xingkong. If he could settle it once and for all, that would be even better.
"Don't worry. Even in Prisoner Continent, nobody wants to provoke a lunatic."
The cowboy spat on the ground, then slowly backed up to his bike.
Seeing that Li Xingkong made no move, he jumped on, turned around, and rode away.
The bunch watching from afar saw the cowboy leave and hopped on their bikes to follow him.
In the blink of an eye, every last one of them was gone.
Li Xingkong could hardly believe it himself. Was it really over just like that? Hadn't it started like a tiger's head and ended like a snake's tail?
"Seriously, didn't they leave a little too hastily?"
Li Xingkong put away the gun in his hand and set down the dynamite in his other hand.
"That's not being hasty. That's called not stooping to a lunatic's level."
The system popped out and made a dry remark. Even to it, Li Xingkong had seemed a little unhinged today.
After all, bombs were dangerous things. Playing with them like that was practically dancing on the tip of a blade.
Li Xingkong just smiled and said nothing.
Ever since he arrived in Prisoner Continent, the people and things he had encountered had all been full of threats. Whether men or women, beneath their various appearances they all harbored thoughts that were less than pure and good. Li Xingkong found that hard to accept.
Staying on the defensive would only bring endless trouble, and that also reminded Li Xingkong of some movies he had seen.
If he wanted no one to come looking for trouble, he either had to appear strong enough, like the five permanent members with nuclear bombs at their backs, so that no petty troublemaker would dare provoke him.
Or he had to act crazy enough to frighten ordinary people. Then they would naturally keep their distance and leave him alone.
Take Joker, for example. That guy was crazy to a certain degree. Even among the many fan works about going to Gotham, few had anyone go straight for Joker.
To make even unrestrained transmigrators think twice before taking action, it could only be said that being crazy had its advantages.
By the time Li Xingkong had cleaned up the mess from the explosion and started his daily single draw, it was already afternoon.
"My advice is to hurry up and find something to eat." The system popped up.
"What's the rush? I'm not even worried yet." Li Xingkong climbed up from the ground and rubbed his aching body.
"This time you got a material. If you don't eat, I'm afraid I'll drain you dry."
The system's words immediately perked Li Xingkong up.
"Eat! I'm going right now. Don't stop me."
On hearing that he had gotten a material, Li Xingkong was more eager than anyone.