Chapter 759: Those Who Run the Streets

What happened?

The Red Viper looked at the smoking pipe and flint in Fisso's hands, looked at the honest and pure smile on the other man's face, and stiffened all over.

Why was the Head Wolf here?

The supernatural hormone in Nekra's body secreted wildly, yet it could not calm the trembling that ran from his fingertips to behind his ears.

And what did his words mean?

What three-legged stool? What balance?

"Old friend, were you waiting here from the start, waiting for me to come knocking?"

Nekra probed verbally, while his heart was incomparably anxious.

Was this a trap?

Had he already been surrounded?

Why had the people keeping watch outside made no sound at all?

Had they been killed?

Or worse, bought off?

Damn it.

If it really was as that accountant said, if because of his relationship with Lausanne the Second, quite a few people in Jade City now wanted his head to curry favor with the important people...

Nekra felt his back fill with sweat.

"You forgot, Little Red. Clearly, you were the one who came looking for me first."

Fisso narrowed his eyes and smiled.

"Why are you suddenly in such a hurry to leave?"

This fellow, once famous for courage and love of fighting, was no longer what he had been.

Fisso looked at the tense and suspicious Red Viper before him, who had entered a hedgehog-like counterattack state, and gently shook his head in his heart.

Ever since Turnbull died and the Blood Bottle Gang declined and split, Nekra had lost himself in struggles for power and was firmly suppressed by Phantom Blade Catherine.

After so many years, he had already been suppressed for too long and too cruelly, so long that he forgot his former lofty spirit and ability to adapt to changing situations, so cruelly that only violence, poison, and painstaking schemes remained.

But as the winner of that transfer of power, how was Catherine not the same?

The Red Viper took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the knife handle.

No.

Calm.

Calm down.

He had not lost yet.

After all, Fisso himself was not famous for bravery and skill in battle.

And that was already putting it politely.

"No matter what you intend to do, old friend, you should not have come in alone..."

The Red Viper observed and calculated the distance between himself and Fisso. A trace of resolve appeared in his sinister voice.

"...and come so close to me."

The Blood Bottle Gang members behind Nekra received the signal. Their faces turned ruthless as they gripped their weapons, spread out, and surrounded Fisso.

Razzanchi Fisso's hand, which was rubbing the bitumen-crystal flint, paused slightly. The warm smile on his face gradually disappeared.

The atmosphere was bad.

Rick, who had secretly crawled to the wall, trembled in his heart and immediately grew nervous.

If the Red Viper took the Head Wolf hostage, should he seize the chance to perform and bravely save his boss?

Rick fiercely shook his head.

What kind of joke was that?

Of course he should look after himself first!

What was a boss? Could it be eaten?

But what if Fisso kills the Red Viper?

The rational voice deep in his heart thoughtfully reminded him:

How should you position yourself? How do you explain yourself to Fisso? How do you use the situation? How do you pursue benefit and avoid harm while climbing higher?

Rick trembled all over.

On the other side, Fisso did not even look at the Blood Bottle Gang members around him whose eyes shone with murderous light. He only stared at Nekra, whose gaze was resolute, and spoke unhurriedly:

"You know this is still my territory, right?"

The meaning in his words made quite a few people begin to hesitate.

Only the Red Viper scoffed.

"I know you have people lying in ambush outside."

Nekra pretended to be relaxed and flicked his short knife.

"But I also know you suffered heavy losses at North Gate Bridge. Most of those who could fight died at Lausanne the Second's hands. Unless you kill him, you cannot be at ease."

Whether Fisso was at ease or not was unclear, but after these words, the Red Viper's subordinates did indeed feel much more at ease, their eyes eager to try.

The Head Wolf scoffed softly. He did not refute him, only withdrew the hand that had offered the pipe.

"Believe me, at this distance, even if your lackeys rush in, they cannot save you."

Nekra narrowed his eyes and pointed at Rick beside them.

"Even adding this accountant will not work."

Actually...

Hearing this, Rick's legs shook, his smile awkward.

You could also choose not to add this accountant.

"Even if that means paying with your own lives?" Fisso asked softly.

The Blood Bottle Gang burly men all paused.

"We run the streets."

Nekra spoke in a low voice, ignoring the hesitation in his subordinates' eyes.

"We choose our own roads."

Fisso remained silent, but Rick wailed inwardly.

After several seconds, Fisso suddenly gave a snort of laughter.

"Hahahahahaha..."

His shoulders shook with laughter, and he had to lower his head and cover his face to hide it, leaving everyone else in the office confused and baffled.

Only the Red Viper grew increasingly furious.

"What are you laughing at?"

Fisso could not stop laughing and could only raise a hand in signal.

"Nothing. I just feel... you finally look a little like you did back then..."

That's right. The Nekra of those years, the Western Desert soldier who survived Blade-Tooth Dune, who relied on his ability and ruthlessness to carve out territory on the road and frighten everyone.

Not the Red Viper who, under Old Turnbull's deliberately malicious obedience tests and habitual punishments, was forced again and again to risk his life fighting Black Sword and his companions, wearing himself down until he became muddled and no longer human.

Except the last time.

That's right, Fisso thought emotionally through his laughter.

The Red Viper's unreasonable out-of-control temper and vicious, twisted character had not been inborn, and had not even been formed by supernatural stimulation.

They were the terrible scars left on his colleagues and subordinates by that old gang leader whom everyone feared. Scars the latter never realized were there. This included the Throwing-Knife Clown, who became excited at the sight of blood and loved cutting people's skin, the Divine-Disordering Soldier who destroyed countless families through kidnapping and trafficking, Karka, who took pleasure in abusing small animals and torturing the weak, even Lausanne the Second, who killed without blinking after his creed shattered, Old Bott, who believed until death that selling and buying drugs was merely mutual willingness, and Phantom Blade Catherine, who would use any means to climb upward.

Deep into the bone.

Lingering and hard to heal.

They could only cover them slightly for the rest of their lives with rage and hatred, madness and brutality.

Nekra looked at Fisso, his brows tightening, his eyes growing colder.

The other man's laughter displeased him.

Beside them, Rick nervously swallowed.

"Fine. If I say I came here without bringing a single person..."

Fisso stopped laughing. He rubbed the bitumen-crystal flint and waved his hand.

"...you probably would not believe it."

"Nonsense."

The Red Viper cast aside the strange feeling in his heart, tightened his grip on the knife handle, urged his supernatural hormone, and urgently estimated how many ambushers might be outside.

"Who does not know you are timid and afraid of death, that you even bring a dozen Eradication swordsmen to wipe your ass when you go out to shit?"

"Oh?"

Hearing this, Fisso laughed and did not take offense.

"After so long, is that still what the red bandannas say about me?"

What else could they say about you?

The Red Viper suppressed the urge to retort.

For so many years, ever since Dog Fang Bott and Gang Leader Turnbull fell one after another, and the Brotherhood's Razzanchi Fisso suddenly rose and seized market share, the drug lords in the Blood Bottle Gang who ate from this bowl had never been resigned.

But first, they could not destroy your business.

Second, they could not uncover your details.

Third, they could not find your whereabouts.

For years, they heard only your name and never saw you, hating you until their teeth itched.

What else could they say?

Could you really expect the Blood Bottle Gang, your old enemy, expect those bosses who needed face to discipline their little brothers, to honestly announce to the world: Sorry, all these years, not a single thug we sent to kill Razzanchi Fisso came back, not a single drug lord who went to steal his business survived, and there are not even many people left who have seen Fisso's true face?

Wasn't all they could do to puff out their chests before adoring little brothers, hands on waists, laugh heroically at the sky, and say: Fisso really is a coward, scared by us until he does not dare go out to shit?

Every time he thought of this, Nekra felt resentful and furious.

If it had been back when Gang Leader Turnbull was still alive...

Which gang, which society, which blind fool, even which bluecoat or greencoat without a great background, would dare openly defy the Blood Bottle Gang?

Were they unafraid of thugs by day, or unafraid of Lausanne by night?

Did they have a place abroad to land, or someone working in the palace?

Could they afford to provoke the great merchant groups, or dare offend the iris?

But if a ruthless hero like Turnbull were still alive...

The Red Viper tightened his fist, his mood first regretful, then grateful.

Damn it. That old bastard should stay dead.

Aside from being bad for the Blood Bottle Gang, this was good for everyone.

"Mister Rick."

The next second, Fisso unexpectedly turned his head, his tone kind.

"When I came to restock in the past, did you ever see me bring bodyguards?"

Rick was startled. He first instinctively lowered his head, then forced himself to raise it again.

Why me?

What did I do wrong now?

What does this have to do with bodyguards?

Rick swallowed and spoke tremblingly:

"No. No, no, I never saw that."

"Why?" Fisso remained kind.

Why?

Rick's mind went blank. He wanted to speak, but stopped.

"Because..."

Because you came each time only to buy fireworks?

Because you, Razzanchi Fisso, before today, in the eyes of everyone who did not know the truth, were merely a vulgar and mercenary commoner who rose early and worked late, a fireworks peddler, Master Suleiman?

What would an ordinary fireworks seller need bodyguards for?

To guard his fireworks cart?

Rick suddenly trembled all over. He understood something.

"Because you do not need them."

Rick took a deep breath and looked at every person there.

"Because among so many businesses and plates in Jade City, we chose this place. We chose the fireworks-processing trade to do business."

The Red Viper and his subordinates all frowned.

Only Fisso's eyes lit up. He clicked his tongue, nodded, and began sizing Rick up again.

As for why the fireworks trade...

Rick's breathing became somewhat disordered.

Because it was convenient.

Whether importing raw materials, manufacturing and processing, assembling and transporting, or retail sales, most of the fireworks trade's processes and principles, equipment and tools, were similar to and connected with the Black Street Brotherhood's "main-line" business. Convenient for providing...

Mm, cover.

Those junior fireworks powder loaders recruited from outside North Gate Bridge could, under strict surveillance, wear protective clothes, masks, and gloves, repeating operations again and again, cautious and trembling.

After a day, when they had been searched, changed clothes, and returned home muddle-headed, many did not even know what "powder" they had loaded.

Of course, by the time they had enough seniority, enough to realize what "powder" they were loading, the generous wages and rewards, plus the reality of living outside North Gate Bridge, were enough to make them actively shut their mouths.

Mm. Occasionally passively too.

But that was not the answer Fisso needed.

"The production and storage of celebratory fireworks carry risks."

Rick hugged his severed arm and forced himself to stay calm.

"Therefore, to the outside, we have excuses and reasons to strictly manage, monitor, protect, and even confidentially isolate the business."

Of course, there were also the large regular fees paid to all the big and small fire, construction, and public security offices under city hall and the Security Hall when handling every sort of license and certificate.

As soon as these words came out, others were still hesitant and uncertain, but Nekra's expression changed.

Fisso smiled even more happily.

Very good, Rick. Well done.

Catching sight of Fisso's expression, Rick gritted his teeth and listened to the rational voice from his heart:

You can do it. You must do it, because you are more than this.

Because you are destined to accomplish a greater undertaking.

Rick took a deep breath.

"And once information leaks or enemies come knocking, when we need to race for time and destroy evidence and traces, the large amount of flammable and explosive bitumen-crystal fireworks powder stored here as cover only needs, only needs..."

Click.

"Only one fire."

The sound of flint scraping suddenly rang out, startling everyone and making them turn their heads together.

Fisso had lit the fire in his hand and was gently heating the tobacco in his pipe.

"One small flame."

The Head Wolf skillfully turned the flame and looked around the entire office.

"Or even one tiny spark..."

Nekra swallowed.

Following the other man's gaze, he looked around in disbelief.

All three walls of the office had shelves, piled with various sundries and documents, as well as rows along the bottom...

Wait. Those were storage barrels?

One, two, three...

Ten, fifteen, twenty...

Staring at those rows and batches of mysterious storage barrels, the Red Viper's pupils instantly focused.

No.

No, no, no.

He was mad.

If all of this contained bitumen-crystal fireworks powder, then one spark...

"...can destroy everything, leaving no future trouble," Fisso said faintly, shaking the flame.

In that instant, everyone, with Nekra at the lead and Rick included, felt their backs go cold and their hands and feet go numb.

Only Fisso held the fire in his hand and sighed emotionally.

Once lit, it bloomed brilliantly in an instant, and nothing would remain.

Only that brief skyful of light and flame, intoxicating, deeply unforgettable.

How similar was it to their main-line business?

"Gentlemen, everyone, in fact, this place, including the entire Burning Street, at any time, strictly forbids bringing in any source of fire."

In the extreme silence, Rick trembled as he ended the final sentence, or the final cut.

"Forgive me, Mister Rick."

Fisso apologetically shook the lit pipe and grinned at Rick.

"I usually do not smoke."

The latter hurriedly forced out a smile and nodded in return.

The pipe burned with faint light, thin strands of smoke rising.

The office full of storage barrels was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.

Nekra clenched his teeth.

"Boss..."

A sturdy man behind him spoke nervously, but Nekra raised a hand to stop him.

He worked hard to calculate the distance he would need to charge to reach Fisso, and looked at the distance between Fisso and the nearest storage barrel.

"You yourself cannot escape either," the Red Viper said, forcing himself to remain calm.

Fisso smiled, not caring at all.

"We run the streets."

He played with the pipe, smoke drifting from it, and kicked the storage barrel beside him with deep meaning.

"We choose our own roads."

Nekra's breath caught, incomparably stifled.

He looked at his own short knife and the slowly burning smoke and fire in Fisso's hand, then looked at the mysterious storage barrels before, behind, left, and right. For the first time, he felt that the distance between him and the other man was so far.

Fisso's smile remained, while the others were fearful and uneasy.

Time passed second by second.

Finally, after the longest minute of Rick's life, the Red Viper spat out a breath in hatred.

With a face full of indifference, yet in an unquestionable manner, he waved for his subordinates to put away their weapons, withdraw outside the door, and leave the office to him and his good friend of many years, Razzanchi.

They needed to reminisce.

This made everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

Rick most of all.

"Please take the corpses in the room with you as well, and trouble yourselves to be polite."

The Head Wolf continued playing with the smoking pipe and said with deep meaning:

"Perhaps one day, we will also have to rely on strangers to politely send us on our final journey."

The Blood Bottle Gang's vicious thugs looked at one another, sweating all over. In the end, under the double pressure of fear and orders, they lifted the corpses, which were thanks to them, and carefully withdrew from the office.

When leaving through the door, every one of them passed beside and behind Razzanchi Fisso, close enough to touch the pipe and flame in his hand.

But not a single person dared make an extra movement.

They did not even have the thought of glancing at that little country old man.

As if the one sitting there was not a person.

Seeing this, Nekra only grew more irritated and furious.

"Mister Rick, you may as well stay a while longer."

Rick, who had lowered his head and hunched his chest and was preparing to quietly slip out behind everyone, felt his ears twitch.

He stiffly turned around and saw his direct superior, Head Wolf Fisso, turn his head and smile at him.

"As my heir to the business?"

In that instant, Rick felt both ears buzzing and his legs go weak.

Not good.

He knew.

Rick used all his strength to hold the wall.

He wanted to follow the Blood Bottle Gang thugs ahead of him and leave the office, but found that his legs were trembling and hard to move.

"I know what you are afraid of," Fisso said softly.

It's over.

Rick's knees went soft, and he almost knelt to the floor.

He knows.

Whether the little moves he had made behind the scenes or the big boast he had just made before the Red Viper...

He is here to settle accounts with me.

"Everyone on the road knows about the Blood Bottle Gang's petty mess."

But unexpectedly, Fisso's next sentence was not directed at him.

"It was Lausanne the Second who led it. Little Red, you and Old Fogg joined hands and cut off one of Little Blade's hands, plus half the local gang leadership?"

Eh?

Rick jolted. He steadied himself and raised his head.

"Then you should know, at least in Jade City, the blade bitch has fallen."

Nekra was sitting in Rick's usual special seat, his face dark, staring fixedly at the pipe in Fisso's hand.

"You have no need to help her."

If not for the accident, they would have killed the blade bitch as well.

Nekra tightened his fist.

But it did not matter. She was now completely defeated, her men all gone, her influence vanished, her reputation greatly reduced.

After losing Jade City's profitable income and territory...

On the road, no one would listen to a crippled old woman.

And the greatest hidden danger left was only...

"Me, help her?" Fisso snorted lightly.

"It doesn't matter. I know you are not helping her."

The Red Viper pretended to be calm.

"You were afraid Lausanne the Second would settle old accounts with you, so you agreed to cooperate with the blade bitch and lay an ambush at North Gate Bridge to deal with him. You were helping yourself."

On the other side, Rick came back to himself, grateful and relieved.

Excellent. Not me.

Fisso was not talking about me!

The Head Wolf sized Nekra up for quite a while.

"That night at North Gate Bridge, I did indeed lose quite a few good hands."

Clap.

The Red Viper clapped his hands.

"See? Mixing with the blade bitch brings nothing good..."

"But Little Red, do you really think I or Little Blade have that much face?"

Fisso interrupted him, his smile unchanged.

"Enough to command four Supreme Class experts of different positions and take down Lausanne the Second in one move?"

Nekra's smile disappeared.

He slowly lowered his hands and pondered for a while.

"I know, I know. The waters behind Lausanne the Second are deep and involve quite a few important people."

The Red Viper shrugged and pretended to be relaxed.

"But guess what? Emerald Palace has settled down now. Peaceful. His Highness the Prince and the two Covendiers, three sides reconciled, everyone delighted!"

The Head Wolf raised an eyebrow.

Nekra leaned forward and blinked cunningly.

"Believe me. Lausanne the Second will not appear again. I advise you not to go looking for him anymore, in case trouble lands on you."

Hm?

Rick, off to the side, was confused.

Wait. Weren't these words what I just analyzed for him?

Nekra glanced at him, intentionally or not, making him not dare cut in.

"So you are safe, Razzanchi!"

The Red Viper spread both hands and smiled sincerely.

"There is no need to cooperate with the blade bitch anymore."

Fisso stared at the Red Viper meaningfully. Only after quite a while did he say faintly:

"Don't worry. I have no intention of handing you over to Little Blade."

The Red Viper relaxed slightly, but immediately grew wary.

Wait. Did that mean he would not hand me over himself, but would let someone else do it?

Fisso chuckled.

"You also do not need to worry about being implicated because of Lausanne the Second. As you said, the important people in the palace have resolved their dispute and are busy dividing the cake. They would dearly love to forget this plague of a killer. Where would they have the leisure to care about his old grudges in the lower levels?"

Nekra stared at the Head Wolf and unknowingly breathed out.

Good. The thing he had worried about most had not happened.

His name had not been hung up in Emerald Palace.

Only Rick felt bitterness in his heart.

He had worked so hard just now to fool the Red Viper into thinking disaster was about to descend, making him anxious to drop everything and leave Jade City forever.

Then if the Red Viper remembered him in the future...

"As for whether some blind fools on the road might want to tie you up and send you as a gift..."

Fisso shook his head.

"Did you not hear what the barber said? The new regent in Emerald Palace does not much like us. He returned all the gift lists."

Even though he was poor to the point everyone in the city knew it, though everyone could only pretend not to, that important person still did not want their share money.

After hearing the other man's words, the Red Viper's smile returned.

Good.

Excellent.

"What is strange about that? He thinks it is too little, too dirty, too lowly. He thinks the gift-giver's status is too low, not elegant or decent enough."

Nekra sneered.

"They are a prince. When it comes to scraping oil and water with superb methods and clean posture, how can those who run the road compare to those doing imperial work?"

"Indeed, he thinks it is too little."

Fisso sighed, though his tone was completely different from the Red Viper's.

"He is a prince. At this moment, merely by not scraping oil and water, he has already scraped away even greater oil and water."

Or rather, for these people who hold power, the oil and water in their eyes has never been the same oil and water as what we see.

Rick was thoughtful, while Nekra was completely confused.

But he cared more about another matter.

If what Fisso said was correct, then he had no worries left in Jade City, and the only thing he needed to worry about was...

"As for Little Blade."

Fisso suddenly spoke:

"She sent word on the road."

"Oh?"

The Red Viper grew wary.

"What? Is she too angry to swallow it and wants to imitate the North Star, inviting me to settle things in single combat?"

The Red Viper burst out laughing.

"Or curse me and Fogg to die without whole corpses sooner or later?"

Of course, her greatest goal should be to muddy the waters and drag out time while waiting for reinforcements from Eternal Star City's subordinates, trying to retake Jade City.

But they would not give her such a chance.

Find her as soon as possible, finish her...

"She forgives you."

Fisso said faintly.

Hm?

Rick was startled.

"Forgiveness is all she has left to..."

Nekra, who had been sneering lightly, stopped halfway through. His smile suddenly stiffened.

"What... what did you say?"