Chapter 433: Chapter 309: This Is a Matter of Face That Cannot Be Ignored
The Spirit Realm, Dongwu City.
Early in the morning, along the docks of a river that ran through Dongwu City, many people were already hard at work.
Workers in short linen shirts, with damp towels draped around their necks, unloaded cargo from a freighter docked at the pier.
Although the sun had only just risen and the morning air wasn’t too hot, the workers hauling cargo back and forth from the ship were already drenched in sweat.
"Stop slacking! Pick up the pace! Another freighter will be here soon, so hurry up and get this one unloaded."
Even though the sweat-soaked workers weren’t slacking off, the foremen supervising them still felt they weren’t working at their full potential and relentlessly urged them on.
A closer look at the dozen or so foremen urging the workers on would reveal that each had a tattoo on the back of his hand.
These foremen were members of the Red Blood Gang, and this dock was the Red Blood Gang’s property.
Not far from the docks stood rows of warehouses, used for temporarily storing the cargo unloaded from the ships.
And just behind these warehouses of various sizes was an open area filled with many new houses. These were the residences of the Red Blood Gang members.
Compared to the residences of the Cyan Stone Gang members, the homes of the Red Blood Gang were clearly much better.
It was precisely because the Red Blood Gang owned a dock that brought in significant income every day that they were much wealthier than the Cyan Stone Gang and more generous with their members’ benefits.
At this moment, quite a few people were gathered inside the Red Blood Gang’s assembly hall.
Seated in the main chair was a kind-faced man in his forties. He was tall, about six-foot-three, slightly overweight with a potbelly, and dressed in loose-fitting clothes.
This tall, heavyset, middle-aged man was none other than the Gang Leader of the Red Blood Gang, Hong Jiu. Despite his kind, good-natured appearance, he was in fact a ruthless and cruel character.
"Do we know who did this?" Hong Jiu asked, his voice devoid of emotion. Seated in his grand master’s chair, he stared at the two motionless corpses lying on the floor, their faces covered with cloths.
The various Red Blood Gang lieutenants in the assembly hall glanced at one another, but no one answered their Gang Leader’s question.
The two members had died in a small alley, where they were discovered by a passerby.
After the passerby reported it to the authorities, the yamen learned they were Red Blood Gang members and simply assumed it was a case of inter-gang fighting. Seeing that no innocent civilians were harmed, they couldn’t be bothered with it and just had the Red Blood Gang come and retrieve the bodies.
"I asked you a question! Are you all mute?" Seeing that no one had answered him, Hong Jiu’s tone grew heavier as an oppressive wave of Spiritual Energy emanated from him.
Hearing the harshness in Hong Jiu’s tone, the lieutenants in the assembly hall knew their boss’s anger was rapidly rising. If no one spoke up soon, they were all bound for a severe tongue-lashing.
No one wanted to get cursed out so early in the morning, so the lieutenants all turned their gazes to a man seated in a chair to Hong Jiu’s right.
The man was in his thirties, with a medium build and a square face. He carried a scholarly air about him that made him seem out of place among the others in the assembly hall.
His name was Fang Jingtang, and he had been a Scholar before joining the Red Blood Gang.
Although he was no match for anyone present in terms of martial strength, his management and accounting skills were exceptional. He kept the Red Blood Gang’s affairs in perfect order and its daily accounts crystal clear, making him an invaluable talent.
As the Gang Leader of the Red Blood Gang, Hong Jiu had no shortage of enforcers. He therefore valued a talent like Fang Jingtang immensely and would often consult him for his perspective and advice on many matters.
Furthermore, whenever Hong Jiu was about to lose his temper, Fang Jingtang became the only person the beleaguered lieutenants could turn to for help. Only he could soothe the Gang Leader’s burgeoning fury.
"Ahem."
The sound came from Fang Jingtang. Receiving the pleading gazes from the lieutenants as Hong Jiu’s anger mounted, he decided to speak.
He turned to the simmering Hong Jiu and said, "Gang Leader, please calm down. Without any witnesses, it will take some time to investigate and find the killer.
Give them a little time. I’m sure they can find him."
Hearing Fang Jingtang speak, the lieutenants immediately chimed in, "Gang Leader, please give us some time! We’ll find the bastard who killed our brothers, even if we have to tear the city apart!"
"Fine. I’ll give you three days," Hong Jiu said, suppressing his rage. "Dead or alive, you will find the bastard who humiliated our Red Blood Gang."
He hadn’t been this angry in over a decade. Ever since defeating a rival gang that had tried to take this dock from him ten years ago, no one had dared to provoke the Red Blood Gang.
But now, someone had dared to challenge a sleeping giant, killing two Red Blood Gang members in one go. This was a direct slap to his, Hong Jiu’s, face.
In truth, Hong Jiu didn’t care one bit about the lives of two low-level grunts.
What he cared about more was how the other gangs would mock him once word of this got out.
’Members of the great Red Blood Gang, killed so ignominiously, and we don’t even know who the killer is? What an absolute joke.’
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