That made sense.
Aman had received professional military training, but at the end of the day, he was just a dropout from a military academy—no match for real special forces.
Let alone the rest of his men.
This was the downside of Hog Union's rapid expansion.
Against small-time gangs, Hog Union could rely on its size and superior equipment to crush them. But when facing gangs of similar size and with some real foundation, things got tricky.
Right now, Hog Union's upper-level combat strength relied entirely on Hardy alone.
"I can take care of the Gunner and the Gunsmith myself, but if I have to handle every tough opponent personally, what do I need you all for?"
Hardy popped a grape into his mouth, closed his eyes, and asked calmly.
Building a gang was, of course, his way of gathering fortune and influence, but if the foundation was unstable, further development would be difficult.
His own abilities were limited. Only by training a group of competent subordinates could he break through this bottleneck.
"Um..."
The subordinates in the office looked at each other in embarrassment.
"With me here, there's no gang in Gotham that can threaten us. But I don't need useless people as my subordinates, either. Once you've recovered, everyone's training regimen will double. Aman, find a way to recruit some retired soldiers and officers. Offer them good benefits and have them serve as instructors."
Hardy thought for a couple of seconds before speaking.
Those veterans could not only help train his men, but also had a certain...
Their abilities can fill gaps in combat strength, and also stimulate a sense of crisis among the existing subordinates.
Now that outsiders are coming to compete with you for benefits and status, if you don't work harder to climb up, you'll be eliminated sooner or later.
As for internal conflicts that might arise, as long as things don't get out of hand, Hardy can't be bothered to intervene.
If these people can't even keep things under control, what's the point of bringing them in?
"Boss, we can hire some people from the underground mercenary market. There are a lot of retired veterans there, and even some real tough guys."
"Just do as I say."
Hardy waved his hand dismissively.
There were simply too few useful talents under his command. Right now, although Hogg United was cooperating with the Two-Face Gang, they were still at odds with Falcone.
The latter had deep roots and a formidable reputation in Gotham's underworld, and many people were watching to see if this rising star, Hogg United, could really establish itself in Gotham.
Until then, anyone with a bit of sense was reluctant to get involved in these muddy waters.
Unless Hogg United could achieve a real victory over Falcone and firmly establish itself in Gotham.
After his subordinates left, Hardy turned on his computer and began researching information.
Information about ultraviolet technology.
In many film and television works, against vampires and other creatures that fear sunlight, ultraviolet grenades are an effective weapon.
Given the level of technology in the DC universe, manufacturing a proper ultraviolet grenade shouldn't be a big problem.
But what Hardy needed was for his Demon Slayer world avatar to be able to manufacture ultraviolet grenades in the 1910s.
That was a much greater challenge.
After some research, Hardy found that, at least on the surface, ultraviolet grenades didn't exist in the current DC world.
Because under normal circumstances, humanity's technological development simply wouldn't go in that direction.
Humanity's use of ultraviolet light was basically limited to sterilization, air purification, or medical equipment.
If Hardy wanted to make an ultraviolet grenade, he would need to use high-powered miniature ultraviolet LED lights paired with high-energy batteries, but that was nearly impossible to achieve in the Demon Slayer world.
LED lights only came into existence in 1969, thanks to the development of semiconductor technology worldwide. It wasn't until 1993 that a Japanese engineer produced blue LEDs with extremely short wavelengths, allowing humans to create color displays by combining the three primary colors.
As for ultraviolet LEDs with even shorter wavelengths, that didn't happen until the 21st century.
Hardy was nowhere near capable of advancing that world's semiconductor technology to 21st-century standards in one leap.
However, that didn't mean Hardy hadn't found any useful information.
Traditional medical ultraviolet lamps are made by filling a quartz glass tube with mercury vapor and inert gas. When the electrons of mercury atoms transition and return to their excited state, they emit ultraviolet light.
In other words, as long as you electrify the mercury vapor and control the voltage within the appropriate range, you can make the mercury atoms repeatedly transition between two states.
After packaging this part of the memory and sending it to his Demon Slayer world avatar, Hardy searched for some other information before returning to the garage.
When he was making Black Gold No. 1 before, funds were limited, so he had to settle for relatively suitable materials, just wanting to get it done first.
Now, things were different.
Thanks to Two-Face robbing two bank vaults, Hardy received fifty million dollars.
Thirty million of that was laundered by Hardy to develop Hogg United's legitimate assets, while the rest was used in situations where the source of the money didn't matter, such as the black market.
Combined with the value and profits from assets like Hogg Motors and the Sbaletta Bar, Hardy was now, on the surface, a wealthy man worth over fifty million.
Many things he couldn't afford or obtain in the past could now be acquired through certain channels.
Of course, to get the really good stuff, he still had to go through the Penguin.
Hardy's current plan was to use better materials to remake a Black Gold No. 2.
That didn't mean Black Gold No. 1 was useless.
With the improvement of his chakra control skills and the increase in his avatar's chakra, he could now perfectly control two puppets at the same time.
When that time came, Hardy's strength would more than double.
Unfortunately, while Hardy wanted a quiet period to develop, reality wasn't giving him that opportunity.
The next night, late at night.
Dock Street, Hogg Motors, Hardy's personal engineering lab.
Hardy had just finished assembling the leg components for Black Gold No. 2 when a group of subordinates, all dressed differently, came rushing in, flustered.
"Again? Where's Aman and the others?"
"Boss! There's a fight!"
The blond-haired leader said in a panic.
Hardy poked his head out from behind the lathe, frowning at the group.
"Sons of the Scepter?"
"No, not just the Sons of the Scepter, Boss!"
The blond explained:
"Starting a few days ago, the Two-Face Gang began grabbing territory left behind after Maroni's death. When they tried to take the South District docks, Falcone's people showed up to fight for the turf too. The fighting kept escalating, and now the Two-Face Gang and the Falcone family are at all-out war."
"The Two-Face Gang and Falcone are at war—what's that got to do with us?"
The blond-haired man replied bitterly:
"From the outside, we've always had a lot of cooperation with the Two-Face Gang, and we're considered their closest allies. After the Maroni incident, everyone thinks we're siding with the Two-Face Gang against Falcone. So just now, the Sons of the Scepter led people and attacked into Cheek Street. Aman has already taken people to hold them off."