Records of the Weakest Emperor

Chapter 132: Yellow River Gang

In a detached house somewhere in the southern-tip part of the Southern Borough.

Two figures could be seen seated on a couch in front of a table.

There was wine on top of the table and the fireplace nicely warmed up the room to the right temperature.

These gentlemen clad in suits suitable for their assumed status stared at each other before one of them said.

"Boss... We've discovered some clues from that ongoing investigation. The people who killed Talion, Jeff, and our brothers seemed to have come from the Murky Water Gang." The gentleman who sat on the left-hand side of the room had a respectful look on his face.

"On what basis did you make such a deduction?" The middle-aged man sitting in front of him replied. The middle-aged man's skin tone revealed that he was a native Ashmelion citizen.

However, his posture was unnaturally exceptional for his age. If not for the fact that his sideburns were graying, one would think that he was a man in his mid-twenties.

"The Murky Water Gang often disposes of the bodies from members of the other gangs into the Revoir River. I also found pieces of fabric belonging to the Murky Water Gang. They must've killed one of us to serve as a warning regarding that encounter that we had with them recently at the Western Borough..."

"Hmmm... The Murky Water Gang is indeed becoming quite bold. Have they forgotten that they are the weakest? It seems like the time for us to remind them of their place is nigh. What are the chances of them being used as a borrowed knife?"

The middle-aged man posed a question to the other.

The gentleman seemed to have been astounded by the question for he didn't manage to answer.

"I see..." The middle-aged man took the gentleman's silence as an answer that he didn't all of the truth behind the incident, "How many times I have told you to not act so fast without investigating things properly?"

"What if all of these was just a ploy from the other gangs to use us against the Murky Water Gang?"

"If we end up becoming their borrowed knife against the unruly Murky Water Gang, then it would be a disaster!"

"I-I'm sorry, boss... I've made a mistake. This will not happen again."

The gentleman directly kneeled onto the ground and apologized.

"It's all right, it's all right... I just want you to understand the chess game that's happening between the Quads for so long since our very first establishment. If you do not want to become a pawn, then you need to be steadfast and have a certain presence of mind."

"For now, forget about those bodies... I want you to capture that Viktor or any witness to the crime. We've got to question them so we can see if we are indeed being used as a borrowed knife, or if all of these were done by the Murky Water Gang."

The middle-aged man smiled, "Do not forget that there are outside participants in this chess game..."

"The three Judiciaries from the Church of the Orthodox Gods exist, and those bastards might've killed our men to bait us out into attacking the Murky Water Gang. Thus, gaining the upper hand and advantage in this chess game."

"Remember..."

"You cannot let your guard down, do you understand?"

"Yes, boss!" The gentleman fiercely replied.

Even now he was still in shock. Hearing so many words from his boss made him understand a lot regarding the status quo of the quads. In short, every member of the Quads wanted nothing but to monopolize the entire city of Ashmelion to themselves.

But the only reason why they weren't making a move was that they were afraid of being used as a borrowed knife.

A borrowed knife could easily be abandoned and replaced with a knife that had a proper owner.

If the Yellow River Gang really did fight against the Murky Water Gang, even if it didn't end up in mutual destruction. The winner would still be grievously injured that the other gangs would be able to take advantage of that opportunity to annex them, or maybe even sell them out to the church.

The gentleman clenched his fists.

He stood up and didn't dally in the place any longer.

The boss of the Yellow River Gang had already retired and he was the prime candidate to be the next boss. But until he had proven his capability to his brothers and to his boss. It would be impossible for him to officially become the next boss of the Yellow River Gang.

He must take this issue seriously and dig deep until he reached the bottom of it.

Until then, he must not rest.

A carriage taxi brought him back to the Northern Borough wherein he received the news that his brothers captured a woman who had rented the house where his deceased brothers were last found.

Upon his arrival at the warehouse near the docks of the Center Borough, the gentleman entered the warehouse and soon discovered the woman in question.

"Wake her up." The gentleman coldly said.

One of his underlings fetched a pail of water and he doused it all over the woman's face.

"Ah!"

The woman exclaimed upon being rudely awakened.

But her pupils immediately constricted in fear when she realized where she was.

"W-Who are you? Where am I? What is this?!" The woman started struggling. But it was futile, the ropes that shackled her were ropes that usually kept ships in place. They were incredibly hard to break, and not even a sword can slice them even after a dozen strikes.

"Calm down, calm down..." The gentleman took a bowl of porridge and said, "You must be hungry, right? I heard from my men that they took you away in the middle of the night. You must've not eaten anything. Come, open your mouth. I'll feed you."

The gentleman was so kind that the woman found it strange.

She wanted to curse at him, but since one couldn't possibly slap a smiling face.

She didn't know what to do.

"Oh, not eating? Then, how about some water? Your lips look awfully chapped, for a woman as gorgeous as you, you should take care of yourself." The gentleman sweetly smiled and brought over a container filled with water up to the woman's lips.

But she seemed to be in fear of drinking the water as she closed her lips tight and shook her head around.

Her concerns were valid though, since what if the water was filled with poison? That would be the end of her. This was why the woman was so determined not to intake anything that they offered to her, no matter how delicious looking the food was, and no matter how thirsty she was for water.

"You're such a stubborn woman, eh? You don't want to drink any water?" The gentleman raised his eyebrow, "Then, don't drink anything, you bitch!" He suddenly raised his voice and hurled the water container right at the woman's face.

The container made out of clay shattered from the force and the woman let out a pained shriek.

Her face bled as the container shattered on her face.

"You're screaming... Yeah, you're screaming! You should've taken the path to heaven while it is still available. Now, since you're obviously so defiant, then I will welcome you to the path of hell..."

"I'll cut to the chase now and if you do not want to become that woman whom you tried so hard to protect earlier according to my men, then you've got to answer properly!"

The gentleman mentioned the old woman whom the woman tried to protect earlier in the scuffle back at that small hut.

They had killed the old woman, right in the eyes of this woman, so the moment his words came out.

Fear appeared on the woman's face.

She didn't want to die.

She was about to turn her life around with the appearance of that man in her life, yet she's going to die?

What's more in a place like this?

And with her daughter being so young?

No!

She cannot die!

She regretted visiting the small hut to fetch that keepsake that her husband left for her.

If she just didn't go out so late in the night to fetch that thing, then she wouldn't be in this situation! To be honest, Charlotte knew the dangers of the Northern Borough and she wasn't so muddleheaded as to actually go to visit the Northern Borough in the night.

However, when she heard some news regarding the road-widening project and the demolition.

She steeled her resolve and decided to visit the small hut where she lived in the past few years in order to fetch that medallion. But little did she knew that the gangsters of the Yellow River Gang had coincidentally discovered her entry to the small hut.

With their interest piqued and having discovered from the locals that she had been renting the place before the incident happened, the members of the Yellow River Gang decided to kidnap her.

Charlotte managed to quickly hide the medallion inside one of the inner pockets of her dress as she was being carried away to the warehouse near the docks.

"Wh-What is it... I will answer... Ask me..." Charlotte became despondent. She was a woman that knew a thing or two, so it wasn't a problem for her to understand what these people wanted from her. She gnashed her teeth until it bled, and the gentleman in front of her lightly chuckled.

"So obedient... That is what I like... All right, since you're being so obedient, then I will release you once you've answered my question." The gentleman smiled.

"Really?" Charlotte's eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Of course! I'm a man of my words. My men here can vouch for me in that regard."

The gentleman turned to look at the others and they revealed smiles on their faces, "Yes, madame... Contrary to what everyone thinks of us, we are people that keep our words. Our boss here is a saint when it comes to keeping promises. You can rest assured..."

"However, if you dare to lie to our boss, then the consequences aren't so pretty. Have you not noticed that you virtually have no injuries on your body even though it's been a few hours since we kidnapped you? Well, that's my boss's show of benevolence. His kindness will continue so long as you obediently answer his questions without lying..."

"I hope you know what path to choose, madame..."

The gang member who spoke up was quite eloquent. The clothes on his body were also higher in quality when compared to the clothes of the other gang members. In short, this man must be a member of the gang, but his trade was being a merchant instead of being a rogue.

"Did you hear him? Well, what do you think? Are you ready to answer now?"

The gentleman smiled at Charlotte.

Charlotte firmly nodded her head.

"Nice... So decisive... All right, let's get this show on the road..."

The gentleman took a wooden stall and then sat on it in front of Charlotte, "One of my informants said that the landlord of your place hired my men in order to rob you of money but in the end. All of my men died, but Viktor managed to escape as well as you and your daughter..."

"I wonder, do you have any idea who killed my men?"

The gentleman's eyes narrowed with mirth, but Charlotte felt as if he was staring right into the eyes of the devil.

"No... I have no idea... I have no idea who killed them!" Of course, Charlotte knew who killed those gangsters from the Yellow River Gang.

It was Calvin!

But could she really have the heart to sell out Calvin? Charlotte's financial and social standing may be piss poor but she was educated enough to know that one couldn't betray a comrade.

"Oh, you have no idea who killed them? Are you sure you're not lying to me? Back then, my informant said that you were in the room with your family when the scuffle happened. Are you going to keep lying to me?"

"My patience is thin, I hope you can understand that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity..."

"Anger me..."

"And you're dead..." The gentleman coldly spat.

"Boss, why are we even trying to talk to that bitch? Just torture the answer out of here and everything would be a lot easier!" One of the gangsters spoke up with a frown on his face.

The gentleman turned around and took a weapon made out of steel from his chest pocket.

He pointed it at the gang member who spoke up and then pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A resounding clap rang out and the presumptuous gang member stared wide-eyed at his boss who decisively ended his life. If he knew that he could die if he spoke up, then even if he was given the guts of a tiger, he wouldn't dare to speak up!

A dull thud soon followed and the gentleman casually blew onto the smoke that came out of the barrel of his weapon.

"Wow... This thing sure is powerful... A single strike can kill a man so easily. I wonder why the military isn't taking advantage of a weapon like this." The gentleman lightly chuckled.

The other gang members who had observed everything that had just happened shivered in fear as they stared at the chunk of metal in the gentleman's hands.

Never in their wildest imaginations did they think that a chunk of metal could end the life of a person so easily like that.

They simultaneously gulped a mouthful of saliva and none of them dared to be so presumptuous anymore as to actually question the actions of the boss.

Tears welled up in Charlotte's eyes.

She was terrified, and anxious.

If that weapon was used on her, then there was no way that she could be saved.

The gang member that received an attack from the strange weapon had his head split open like a watermelon.

Charlotte gnashed her teeth.

The gentleman noticed that Charlotte was sufficiently terrified and he smiled, "Now, are you willing to answer my question? Who was the person who killed my men? Don't even try to say that you do not know again."

"My patience is about to run out and my hand is trembling..."

"I might use this thing to you and not even a god can save you from death..."

Charlotte clenched her fists until her nails dug deep into her palms.

She slowly nodded her head and said, "T-The one who killed your men... I-It's the... It's the landlord!"

Bang!

"You're lying to me again..."

The gentleman had pulled the trigger and the bullet struck the ground beside Charlotte's head.

Charlotte's pupils constricted, but she insisted, "No... I wasn't... I wasn't lying... I am telling you the truth!"

"Heh... What a joke..."

"The landlord?"

"That man is already one of us and he has already confessed that the man who killed my men is your husband..."

"Hahaha... I was just testing you all this while, I never expected you to be such a loyal woman."

"But it's a pity..."

"Since your husband killed my men, then I would have to sacrifice your blood to placate them in their graves!"

The gentleman raised his weapon and pointed the barrel at Charlotte.