Chapter 591 - 375: Terrifying Fiend, Lingering Nightmare

Chapter 591: Chapter 375: Terrifying Fiend, Lingering Nightmare

By now, news of the incident had spread. All the gangs and factions within Dongwu City had heard about it.

Many analyzed that the culprit who set fire to the Red Blood Gang’s headquarters last night and killed so many people was likely connected to the Flying Dragon Gang. After all, the two gangs were now as incompatible as fire and water.

Although the Red Blood Gang had powerful backers, given the hatred between the two sides, it was reasonable to think the Flying Dragon Gang wouldn’t dare to act openly but wouldn’t shy away from using underhanded methods. Pulling off something like what happened last night seemed quite plausible.

Meanwhile, the members of the Flying Dragon Gang were all gloating when they heard about the Red Blood Gang’s disaster. Since they weren’t responsible, they naturally denied it when the other gangs voiced their suspicions.

They explained to outsiders that if the Flying Dragon Gang had ties to such a powerful expert, they would have annihilated the Red Blood Gang long ago. Why would they have waited until now?

The various factions in Dongwu City found this explanation reasonable, but it didn’t completely clear the Flying Dragon Gang of suspicion.

Under normal circumstances, as long as civilians weren’t harmed, the yamen couldn’t be bothered to intervene in fights between two gangs.

But this incident had caused a huge commotion and affected many residents living near the Red Blood Gang’s territory, so the yamen had dispatched men to investigate what happened last night.

While the yamen’s men were investigating, they also sent a message to the leaders of every gang.

The message stated clearly that whoever was the mastermind behind this should turn themselves in to the yamen as soon as possible. A voluntary surrender would result in a lighter punishment.

If the yamen discovered the truth first, the mastermind and any associated gang would be severely punished by the authorities, and it wasn’t out of the question that their gang would be eradicated, root and stem.

Initially, the leaders of the various gangs were just watching the Red Blood Gang’s misfortune like spectators enjoying the drama.

They never expected the situation to develop beyond their expectations and end up affecting them, much to their frustration.

Although none of the gang leaders had ordered the arson attack on the Red Blood Gang’s headquarters, they couldn’t guarantee that some hothead under their command hadn’t acted on their own. For their own protection, they began to conduct internal investigations within their gangs.

At this very moment, a certain someone in another world was busy playing a game, cursing out his terrible random teammates. He had no idea that his actions last night had thrown all the gangs in Dongwu City into a panic, dooming them to endless grievances for days to come.

「」

Because of last night’s great fire and the many Red Blood Gang members slain by the masked killer, the gang’s dock had ceased operations. The cargo ships that were supposed to dock and unload there had all been diverted to other docks.

The area destroyed by the fire was a complete mess of rubble and ruined walls.

Due to the significant impact of the fire, the yamen had dispatched numerous experienced constables to investigate the scene.

At the scene of the fire-ravaged area, many yamen constables were searching, hoping to find some useful clues.

Not far away, a canopy had been set up, and a long line of people was queuing in front of it, waiting to be questioned by the yamen’s constables.

Liu Qizhi, who had been away on business, returned to Dongwu City this morning. As a sub-leader of the Red Blood Gang, he heard news of his gang’s disaster the moment he got back.

He immediately rushed back to the headquarters with his men. The sight that greeted him—a scene of devastation, put to the torch by a great fire—left Liu Qizhi dumbstruck.

"How could this have happened?"

"Liu Qizhi, you’re back!" A weary-looking Red Blood Gang member on the scene spotted Liu Qizhi and walked over.

"Old Qi, I just got back to the city. I heard that last night, we..." Liu Qizhi quickly recounted what he had heard on the road about the Red Blood Gang’s calamity.

"Yes, all of that really happened last night. A lot of our brothers were killed by that fiend," the Red Blood Gang member called Old Qi said with a grim expression.

He was also a sub-leader and had been on-site when the attack occurred. However, he was responsible for guarding the cargo at the docks and hadn’t directly joined the group hunting the arsonist.

When the raging fire was finally extinguished by the fire-fighting team, Old Qi went to the battle site. Seeing the brothers he used to drink and feast with lying scattered on the ground, lifeless, he nearly broke down.

However, once he recovered, a sliver of relief surprisingly bloomed in his heart.

Looking at his dead brothers, Old Qi thought, ’If I hadn’t stayed behind to guard the cargo at the docks and had joined the hunt for the arsonist instead, I would’ve most likely ended up just like them—a cold corpse.’

"How many died?" Liu Qizhi asked. Hearing this, Old Qi recited the names of the sub-leaders who had died last night, then briefly stated the number of casualties among the regular members.

"That many people died?!!!" Liu Qizhi was stunned. The number of casualties Old Qi reported was even greater than the losses from the recent assassination of Hong Jiu.

Furthermore, the losses weren’t just in sheer numbers. The casualties among their core members—the sub-leaders of the Red Blood Gang—amounted to over a dozen. For any gang, this was an incredibly devastating blow!

After all, if regular members died, they could always recruit more; replenishing them wasn’t difficult. But if too many sub-leaders were lost, it would take three to five years to replace them, if not longer.

Lin Li wanted to crush the Red Blood Gang and make it disintegrate in the shortest possible time. The effects of last night’s operation could be described as exceptionally good.

After this incident, the Red Blood Gang’s current strength had plummeted from the ranks of first-rate gangs. Even among the second-rate gangs, they could only be considered middling at best.

The Red Blood Gang, single-handedly founded by Hong Jiu, was the result of decades of his painstaking effort, eventually becoming one of the few first-rate gangs in Dongwu City.

Who would have thought that in less than ten days, not only would its founder Hong Jiu be killed, but the Red Blood Gang he built would also lose its former glory. It was truly a lamentable turn of events.

"Where’s the Gang Leader?" Liu Qizhi asked.

"The Gang Leader was seriously injured. He’s at a clinic receiving treatment right now," Old Qi said.

"Take me to him," Liu Qizhi said. He wanted to see Fang Jingtang immediately and ask him what the Red Blood Gang should do next.

"Alright, follow me." Old Qi nodded and led Liu Qizhi to the clinic where Fang Jingtang was being treated.

「」

"No, don’t come any closer! Ah—!"

In the quiet patient room, a man wrapped in white bandages and lying on the bed suddenly let out a terrified scream.

Outside the room, passing physicians heard the scream but paid it no mind, continuing about their business.

It wasn’t that these physicians were cold-hearted or ignoring the patient.

They reacted this way because the patient in that room had already cried out like that over a dozen times.

At first, the physicians had thought something was wrong and would rush to the room to check on him.

But after discovering he was only talking in his sleep, they stopped paying much attention when they heard more screams from the room.

"GASP..."

Fang Jingtang, the one who had screamed, was panting heavily as he slowly opened his eyes.

He raised a hand to wipe his forehead and found it slick with cold sweat.

He had just had another nightmare. He dreamed of the fiend in the black hood, of the great fire that destroyed the gang’s headquarters, and of the brutal slaughter of nearly all his men.

That terrifying fiend had become Fang Jingtang’s personal nightmare.

「」