Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Choice
The sun sank below the horizon, and the flies that had buzzed all day grew quiet.
But night in Tangdu District also meant that order was shrouded by darkness, and the area quickly descended into pandemonium.
However, Tangdu was unusually quiet tonight.
The strongholds of the Fuzhou Gang, three other Chinese gangs, and four local gangs within the Tangdu District had suddenly suffered annihilation.
And just across the river, in the wealthy district, Cassius Fernando, the man in charge of security, stood before a young man with a look of confusion on his face.
Gafei Fernando gently swirled his wine glass. "My father will agree to this," he said meaningfully.
"This..." Cassius frowned.
Gafei drained his glass, stood up, and clapped Cassius on the shoulder. "I will go and explain everything to Father myself. I’ll bear all the consequences."
Hearing Gafei’s words, Cassius finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, I’ll have my men keep quiet. But if the Patriarch gives an order, then I can only apologize, Gafei."
The subtext was a warning to Gafei: go see your father, and do it quickly, before Cassius was put in a difficult position.
But Cassius didn’t know that the one who had unleashed a bloodbath in Tangdu District tonight wasn’t Gafei, who stood before him.
Instead, it was the combined forces of Gafei; Mad; Redis; Harry and his nephew; the East Japan Chamber of Commerce under Takasugi Hei; and three other mid-sized local Manila families.
All of these forces were caught in the Spider Web of the Homo Sapiens Company.
Jacques, the so-called Patriarch of the Fernando Clan, was no match for the Homo Sapiens Company on his own.
What’s more, tonight’s events weren’t just limited to the Tangdu District; the whole of Manila was surging with hidden currents.
...
He watched the little girl wolfing down her food.
Li Qingye, in contrast, ate slowly and deliberately.
This was a villa district in the eastern suburbs of Manila. To make things more convenient for his operations in Manila, he had his people purchase this estate. The manor spanned roughly 750 acres and was completely walled off.
"I’m full!" the little girl said, fighting the urge to keep eating.
Li Qingye’s eyes narrowed into a smile. "Good awareness. A person who has been starving for too long can die from eating too much at once."
The little girl’s expression changed. She was glad she hadn’t kept eating.
"Jasmine, you must protect yourself. You are my asset, after all."
Sangjibada Laiyal replied respectfully, "Yes, sir. I, Sangjibada, will become your most loyal jasmine."
"You may go."
"Yes."
Sangjibada Laiyal followed a Soldier out of the dining room. Tomorrow, she would be sent to Dart Port.
This was merely an interlude in the night’s events.
A short while later, Zhang Wei, having settled his older brother Zhang Hao, appeared in the dining room. The table had already been cleared, leaving only a steaming pot of Longjing tea.
"What are your brother’s plans?"
Zhang Wei’s expression darkened. "He doesn’t want to return to Huaguo for now. I’m planning to send him to Dart Port to clear his head."
Li Qingye wasn’t surprised. Among the rescued, many had been abused to the point of disability or suffered from psychological trauma that was hard to erase.
Many of them probably lacked the courage to face reality at the moment, especially the prospect of reuniting with their families.
Li Qingye took a sip of tea and said calmly, "Perhaps I can help them move on. The question is whether they’re willing to take revenge themselves."
’Revenge!’ A sense of fear and apprehension toward his boss was already beginning to grow in Zhang Wei’s heart.
"Why struggle with it? I won’t force them. I’m merely giving them a choice."
With that, he stood up and led Zhang Wei, Phil, and the others to a secret surveillance room in the estate’s chapel.
Chen Jianxiong was gathering the people who had expressed their wish to stay. They were assembled in the chapel’s main hall—173 of them in total.
Among them were middle-aged men beaten until they were crippled, prostitutes who had lost all will to live, and young people whose eyes burned with hatred and a desire for destruction.
When Zhang Wei saw his own brother among them on the surveillance monitor, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of anxiety.
But Zhang Hao, standing in the crowd, wore an expression of numbness and pain.
A Soldier slowly walked up the marble steps and stood before the crucifix. His somewhat vacant gaze seemed to pierce through everyone’s hearts, and for a moment, his figure seemed to merge with the sacred effigy behind him.
"Are you in pain? Are you lost? Are you angry?"
His voice rang in everyone’s ears.
"This is the reality of the world. Tragedy is its primary color. Your tragedies are nothing more than insignificant grains of sand among the teeming masses. I, too, was once such a grain of sand."
"If you want revenge, then stay. If you don’t, then walk out of this chapel on your own. A plane will be arranged to take you home tomorrow. Remember, this is not a mandatory choice. You have ten minutes to decide."
As soon as his voice fell.
The 173 people erupted into a commotion. Some whispered to one another, some hesitated, and others wore savage expressions.
Soon, people began to make their choice.
"Thank you so much for saving me, but I just want to live a quiet life now... I’m sorry..." With that, the man left the chapel.
In a short time, more than a dozen people had left.
Li Qingye didn’t have the Soldiers stop them from leaving. Since they chose to give up on revenge, he would let them go.
Ten minutes later, only 107 people remained in the chapel.
"It seems you have made your decision. Are you sure? No regrets?" the Soldier’s cold voice rang out again.
"No regrets."
"Hahaha... I have nothing left. What more can I lose?"
"I just want to kill those bastards."
Some lost control of their emotions, some were hysterical, and others gritted their teeth in hatred.
Seeing the savage expression on his older brother’s face, Zhang Wei knew he couldn’t change his mind. ’If I stop him from getting revenge now, how could I face him in the future?’
’Hopeless.’
It was an impossible situation.
"Zhang Wei, go and rest," Li Qingye ordered in a tone that permitted no argument.
Zhang Wei opened his mouth to speak, but in the end, he left with a dejected look on his face.
After Zhang Wei left, Li Qingye instructed Chen Jianxiong to take those who had chosen to stay to the estate’s underground wine cellar.
The underground wine cellar was well-hidden, but its collection of wines had long since been moved out. The entire interior had been converted into over a hundred cages.
Inside those cages were the leaders of gangs like the Fuzhou Gang, the Butte Gang, and the Nanyang Society. There were 43 of them in total, all core members of their respective gangs.
At that moment, Wu Guishan, the Hall Master of the Fuzhou Gang’s Luzon Hall, was locked in a cage with two of his men.
When he saw Chen Jianxiong appear outside the cage with Zhang Hao and the others...
Wu Guishan started shouting, "Do you have any idea who I am? Do you know that offending the Fuzhou Gang means offending the Fernando Clan and the Lopez Clan? Get your boss over here, or you’ll face the consequences!"
"Heh... I don’t like to waste my breath on dead men," Chen Jianxiong said, turning and clapping his hands.
The Soldiers understood his signal. They immediately opened the cage door and handed out daggers and axes to Zhang Hao and the others.
"Wh-what are you doing...?"
"AHHH..."
"No, spare me! I have a secret account at a Swiss Bank! Just let me go and..."
But Zhang Hao and the others, their hearts already filled with hatred and rage, were completely unmoved. Daggers and axes flew, and blood and flesh splattered inside the cage.
Li Qingye watched this scene on the monitor and chuckled to himself:
"So, they feel pain and fear after all. They bleed and die just like anyone else. And here I thought they were somehow different."
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