Greed X Ambition X The Chess Player

When Divine Dog: Totality threw Shu Mu onto the gravel, he seemed to have been drained of all his strength.

He lay sprawled there, his limbs splayed at unnatural angles, the marks of Divine Dog: Totality's teeth still pressed into the collar at the back of his neck.

His chest rose and fell rapidly, but every breath was short and shallow, as though the Aura in his body had been completely squeezed dry, leaving even breathing a burden.

When Shu Mu raised his head and saw Jiang Ye, his narrow eyes opened wide.

What showed in his pupils was not anger or hatred, but a deep despair.

He had run.

He had even used Shu Mu's Short-Sightedness.

He had thought he had run fast enough, far enough, and made a clean escape.

But by the time Divine Dog: Totality dragged him back, he hadn't even had the strength left to struggle.

Jiang Ye looked down at him, a smile curling his lips.

To Shu Mu, that smile was like someone holding a knife to his neck and slowly sharpening it a couple of times.

"Run."

Jiang Ye spoke with a chuckle.

"Weren't you pretty good at running just now?"

At those words, Shu Mu's body trembled.

He managed to force a smile, but the expression squeezed onto his face looked worse than crying, the curve of his lips as stiff as if it had been pried into place with iron tongs.

"Boss... I wasn't running just now."

Shu Mu's voice was terribly hoarse.

"I was just... going home to check on things."

"I still had some unfinished business at home."

Jiang Ye said nothing.

He simply watched Shu Mu in silence. His gaze wasn't intense, but it sent layer after layer of cold sweat seeping down Shu Mu's back.

"Please, spare me."

"I have an eighty-year-old mother to look after and an eight-year-old child crying to be fed..."

Halfway through, even Shu Mu felt the words sounded too fake.

In Meteor City, an eighty-year-old mother would never live to that age, and an eight-year-old child surviving in this place was already a miracle.

But he still steeled himself and finished what he had to say.

"Spare my life, and I'll obey your orders forever and tell you everything about Grey Elder."

Jiang Ye was in no hurry to respond.

He stood there, his shadow lying quietly at his feet, while Divine Dog: Totality's enormous body crouched behind him, its black-and-white fur stirring gently in the wind.

He said nothing. The silence was like an iron plate slowly descending, crushing Shu Mu bit by bit.

At that moment, Shu Mu felt like a beast with its limbs bound, lying on the ground and waiting for the butcher's blade to fall.

He would rather Jiang Ye curse him or kick him. At least then he would know what was going to happen next.

But Jiang Ye said nothing, just stood there watching him, and the pressure was more suffocating than any threat.

As time passed, Shu Mu's breathing grew heavier.

He could feel his heart pounding painfully in his chest. Beads of sweat slid down the bridge of his nose and fell onto the gravel, leaving tiny dark spots.

Just as he was about to reach his limit, Jiang Ye finally spoke.

"Did Grey Elder put you up to this?"

Shu Mu froze for a moment, then nodded vigorously, as if he had seized his last lifeline.

"Yes! He was the one who put me up to it!"

"He told me that as long as Tie Liao and I joined forces to swallow up the Rust Bone Gang, our two groups would run District 13 together!"

Halfway through, a belated note of hatred suddenly entered his voice.

"But now I know... that old bastard Grey Elder was using us both as his weapons!"

Jiang Ye watched him quietly, neither contradicting him nor agreeing.

He could tell that there really was hatred in Shu Mu's eyes when he said those words.

But that hatred had come too late. From the moment he agreed to join forces with Tie Liao, he should have known he was a blade in Grey Elder's hand.

He had simply chosen to turn a blind eye in the face of the enormous prize that was the Rust Bone Gang.

In the end, greed was to blame.

Seeing that Jiang Ye wasn't speaking, Shu Mu hurriedly added something else.

"And I know Grey Elder has already gone to the Council of Elders for his coronation."

"He'll soon officially become the elder of District 13!"

Iron Wall and Shattered Eye's expressions changed at the same time.

Iron Wall clenched his fists, while Shattered Eye's Adam's apple bobbed.

The two exchanged a glance, each seeing the same shock and gravity in the other's eyes.

They knew better than anyone that the difference in authority between an acting elder and a full elder was as vast as heaven and earth.

Once Grey Elder entered the Council of Elders, he would be one of Meteor City's elders.

Moving against him would be the same as opposing the entire Council of Elders, or even the entire power structure of Meteor City.

With a single word from Grey Elder, the Rust Bone Gang would be like a town swallowed by a tsunami, without even a chance to struggle.

Jiang Ye took in Iron Wall and Shattered Eye's reactions, but his expression didn't change at all.

To him, the Rust Bone Gang wasn't important enough that he couldn't abandon it.

If Grey Elder really chose to use an elder's authority against him,

then let him come.

The final outcome definitely wouldn't be the one Grey Elder wanted.

Jiang Ye fell silent for a moment, then slowly spoke.

"Go on."

"Tell me everything you know."

Shu Mu swallowed and began pouring out everything he knew.

"Grey Elder has a large number of men and plenty of weapons at his disposal. He's a Nen user himself, and he also keeps a few capable fighters under him."

"But none of those are his real trump card..."

He paused, as if hesitating over whether to say the last part.

But in the end, he said it.

"He has mafia backing."

"It's said to come from the Ten Dons!"

At those words, Jiang Ye's eyes narrowed slightly.

The Ten Dons.

He naturally knew of them.

They were the supreme ruling group of the underworld mafia, ten men who each controlled the mafia forces in one of ten regions across the six continents.

They ruled the mafia not through force, but through wealth, connections, and their underground network.

But they had an elite unit directly under their command.

The Shadow Beasts!

Ten Nen users who took orders directly from the Ten Dons and carried out all manner of dangerous missions.

Jiang Ye knew how much weight the Ten Dons carried in the original story.

They could mobilize armed mafia forces, blockade city streets, and offer enormous bounties. The bounty on the Phantom Troupe alone had reached two billion Jenny per person.

Even the Nostrade Family was nothing more than a subordinate branch in the eyes of the Ten Dons.

At that moment, he suddenly understood why Grey Elder wasn't in a hurry to deal with Dodge.

In Grey Elder's eyes, Dodge was like a jumping clown. No matter how much trouble he stirred up, Grey Elder could suppress him in an instant.

Dodge thought that attaching himself to the Nostrade Family would get him an elder's seat, unaware that he had been outside the chessboard from the very beginning.

He wasn't even qualified to sit at the table!

Even without Jiang Ye's interference, Dodge could never have become an elder.

A smile appeared on Jiang Ye's lips.

"As expected of an elder of Meteor City."

"Everything is under control, isn't it?"

Shu Mu's words had given him a complete picture of the entire battle.

Whether the Shattered Iron Group and the Gray Rat Squad won or lost, whether the Rust Bone Gang was wiped out or turned the tables, Grey Elder could sit back and reap the rewards.

The winning side would be suppressed by the forces he had cultivated, while the losing side would be swallowed up completely.

All he had to do was sit in the Council of Elders' hall, wait for the coronation ceremony to end, and then return to District 13.

Everything there would obediently return to the palm of his hand, ready to be manipulated as he pleased.

No one dared step outside the chessboard.

Because anyone who did would only die!

Shu Mu looked at Jiang Ye, a glimmer suddenly appearing in his eyes that even he himself didn't notice.

"You're so smart..."

His voice trembled slightly, but his tone carried an almost pleading urgency.

"You must know what everything I've said means."

"Right?"

At this moment, Shu Mu no longer dared treat Jiang Ye as an ordinary twelve-year-old drifter.

The child standing before him had killed Tie Liao and captured him, and after hearing about Grey Elder's background, his face hadn't shown the slightest trace of wavering.

There was no fear or panic in those eyes, only something Shu Mu had seen very few times in all his years living in Meteor City.

That thing was true ambition!

He wasn't looking at the leader of a small gang, nor a drifter who had risen to power by killing Dodge through sheer luck.

He saw a chess player sitting across the board, rearranging the pieces!