Chapter 1009: Chapter 502: Hogan Considers Himself Lucky (2)
Sparks flickered, and the thin mist of tobacco smoke hovered in the room’s air.
"’We have limited patience,’ haha."
With a strong taunting tone, he mimicked the sticky accent of the Fishman from before, and sneered.
"A few long-scaled animals are trying to teach me how to do things."
"Seventy? When they say seventy, they think I’m a dog they raised?"
"Hundreds of brothers rely on me to eat, and if we’re just relying on those few Gold Coins, we’d have starved long ago. If we don’t find other jobs, are we supposed to drink sea water to survive?"
Speaking, Gerry suddenly turned, his gaze towards a corner of the room.
"Hogan, don’t you agree?"
Just as he finished speaking, a particularly young little gangster emerged trembling from the crowd, a flattering smile on his face.
"Boss, you’re absolutely right!"
"It’s an honor for those Fishmen to cooperate with Ebbtide Gang! Now they’re trying to give orders, completely blind to the situation!"
Despite having received very little education and only recently being at the bottom rung of the street, Hogan’s eloquence was quite mediocre.
Yet even so, his few words were enough to bring a smile back to Gerry "Carrion Vulture’s" face.
Casually pinching out two silver coins from the money bag to throw to him, Gerry exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Guard the goods looted from the ship."
"I checked them once before; there may be many valuable things inside. After the task is complete, we’ll get someone to appraise and estimate their worth."
"You bring some reliable brothers and guard the warehouse—nobody is allowed near it."
"Understood, Boss!" Eyes reflecting the dazzling Gold Coins, Hogan took the Coins with delight, carefully tucking them in his chest, and loudly promised, "I’ll guard these goods so tightly that not even a rat gets in!"
Upon hearing this, Gerry didn’t say much further, he just waved his hand at Hogan and let someone take him out of the room.
...
...
Hogan felt rather lucky.
Initially causing some trouble at the docks, offending Haiya and the Sword of Vengeance Blade Ship Group, he thought his gang life, even his life might end there.
Unexpectedly, those Big Shots seemed not to care about this little incident, and many days passed without anyone coming to give him trouble.
Inadvertently, due to the incident at the docks, he gained a decent reputation within Ebbtide Gang, and was appointed a squad leader.
Whether Destiny was playing a joke on him, just days earlier when he returned to Ebbtide Gang, he was reassigned away from the docks for caution, hoping to make some extra cash near the waters around Suo Yu Bay. But he accidentally stumbled into a coral reef guarded by professional adventurers—something he only came to know after careful inquiry.
It was his timely reaction, sensing that the unexpected gale on the sea was off, and narrowly spotting the figure that resembled "Haiya" Xia Nan onshore, and decisively retreating with his men.
Otherwise, he feared both he and the ship would have been buried at sea.
Indeed, this experience once again made Hogan a notable name in Ebbtide Gang, and even attracted the gang boss, "Carrion Vulture" Gerry’s attention.
After all, not anyone gets to encounter professional adventurers of such caliber and manage to retreat unscathed.
Let alone the opponent he met was Xia Nan "Haiya," who once single-handedly wiped out the Corner Shark Gang hierarchy.
Recognized by Hogan, he was directly assigned by the gang boss, Gerry, to his side at Wildberry Cliff.
It’s foreseeable that in the near future, he’ll shed his former "little gangster" identity to become an Ebbtide Gang "Big Shot" with a well-known name.
"Keep up, don’t waste time."
"If you delay, be careful our Boss might sink you into the sea tomorrow!"
Hogan wielded a lantern, calling out to a few young members behind him.
High-spirited, attitude arrogant, nothing like the timid little gangster he once was.
And the other young gangsters behind him dared not show an ounce of dissatisfaction in front of this rising star, nodding and bowing, quickly quickening their steps in agreement.
Their rather coordinated response made Hogan feel a bit buoyant, as if walking on clouds, his heart filled with glee.
As early as many days ago when he first arrived at Suo Yu Bay, he certainly never imagined he’d have these fearsome tough guys following him like little brothers one day.
His heart swelled, inevitably imagining about his future.
With this kind of promotion speed, it might just take a few more years and he’d steadily attain a position in the gang’s hierarchy.
By then, find a few good-looking women, have a couple of kids, give the family some account.
Then rake in the money, and on White Cliff... hmm, buy a decent house in the Cormorant District, maybe even find a cheap Battle Skill to train, perhaps...
With those thoughts in mind.
Suddenly, a sound emerged from the darkness snapping him back to reality.
"Who!?"
Hogan suddenly stopped in his tracks, shouting towards the direction of the sound.
At this moment, the group was on their way from the camp to the warehouse, surrounded by dense bushes and woods.
It was late at night, with the only light source being the moon covered by the clouds, and left just his lantern in hand. The visible range was about five meters, the rest was pure blackness.
And had it not been with a few companions behind him, Hogan wouldn’t have dared to walk alone.
The air momentarily stilled, the mood of silence and deathly ambiance spread through the woods.
The gangsters’ muscles tensed, their expressions nervous as they stared at the distant underbrush.
No one dared speak, yet sweat faintly glistened in their weapon-clutching palms.
"Rustle..."
The bushes shrouded in darkness suddenly shook.
The ensuing noise in the night made their hearts practically leap to their throats.
Crack—
A petite dark shadow abruptly leapt from the underbrush, nearly scaring Hogan at the very front to jump, causing the lantern in his hand to sway and rock.
But just in the next second, with the shadow’s approach, they finally glimpsed the source of the noise.
—A brown-furred wild rabbit with bewildered eyes.
Hogan sharply exhaled a sigh of relief.
Instinctively lifted a hand to rub his chest, placating a heart nearly springing out of it.
Inadvertently reflecting on his panicked display earlier, he felt a bit shameful in front of his juniors.
"Ahem!"
Deliberately coughing twice, Hogan forced his face into a relaxed but slightly dramatic tone, chiding the few behind him:
"It’s just a wild rabbit, what’s to be afraid of."
"When I confronted ’Haiya’ at the docks, I wasn’t as pathetic as you."
Considering to boast again about his past encounter.
Not sure why, but a strange cold wind suddenly swept through the woods.
Bone-chillingly cold, as if able to seep into skin.
Mysteriously familiar for no particular reason.
Hogan’s body broke out in goosebumps, his empty left hand instinctively raised, touching his neck.
Without noticing his odd behavior, a seemingly clever little gangster behind him, eager to agree with Hogan’s remarks, quickly chimed in:
"Boss Hogan, you’re right!"
"Speaking of which, you’ve never really described how it was when you encountered Haiya back then, perhaps now’s a good moment... chat with us?"
Hogan didn’t mind bragging to these juniors once more about his glorious past.
Yet now, anxiety unknown to him arose from the cold wind deep within, sapping his interest in discussion.
He waved his hand, just considering saying something.
Whoosh—
Another gust of cold wind blew through.
Stronger than before, carrying a peculiar gritty sound.
Leading Hogan to instinctively blink.
And when he opened his eyes again.
The junior in his view, expectant expression still apparent, even the slightly raised corners of the mouth under the facial muscle-driven movement visible.
But looked further down, above the neck, there appeared a growing line of blood.
"This is..."
Hogan’s mind instinctively turned.
Yet before reaching a conclusion, with the junior’s head separating from the neck, scarlet warm blood accompanied by heavy stench, dyed Hogan’s vision a deep red.
