Chen Che suddenly stopped in his tracks, spotting a familiar figure darting swiftly through Ant Street.
"It's him?!"
Seeing that figure with fiery red hair, Chen Che snapped back to his senses.
Wildfire Gang!
Last time, when he went to confront Moore, he was ambushed by the Wildfire Gang halfway through.
It was only because of the system that he found out the attackers were from the Wildfire Gang.
Gangs like Wildfire are a dime a dozen in the Lower City District, literally hired muscle who'll do anything for cash.
But these types usually don't take private jobs—they've all got big backers in the shadows.
They're basically private soldiers kept by various powers in Special Zone Nine.
No need to guess—the Wildfire Gang attacked him on Tasting Commerce Association's orders for sure.
This is a clash between two big players. Wildfire? Just pawns. Chen Che almost got killed by them and wants revenge, but even he knows there's no point taking it out on the little fish.
So, for now, he hasn't paid them much mind.
That red-haired guy, though—Chen Che remembered him well. He was one of the bikers who'd chased him down.
What's the system's mission this time?
[Vengeance or Grace?]: Faced with someone who nearly killed you, what will you do?
Vengeance: Kill the main members of the Wildfire Gang and see your revenge through!
Reward: X20 Ultimate-grade Wild [Bursting Chestnuts]—finished dish.
Effect: Eat a chestnut, and anything you touch can be turned into an explosive and thrown.
Damn, what the hell?!
Chen Che's murderous intent started bubbling up, but then he saw the other option.
[Grace: Forgive the members of Wildfire Gang and help them instead—win their unwavering loyalty!
Reward: Land-rank, Grade-One [Loyal Meat Bun] recipe!
Effect: Anyone who has sworn loyalty to you and eats this bun will gain a random amount of loyalty from 0.1% up to a random upper limit.
When loyalty reaches 75%, even death won't make them betray you.
When loyalty hits 90% or higher, they'll lay down their lives for you without a second thought, even if it means turning against the world!]
Huh?!
Just like that, [Bursting Chestnuts] lost all appeal for Chen Che.
Honestly, what could be more valuable than an army of loyal Death Warriors willing to die for you?
No wonder that dish is land-rank.
This recipe's a savage one.
The catch? It's not exactly easy.
Wildfire are obviously Tasting Commerce Association's lapdogs. Meanwhile, he's broke as hell. How's he supposed to turn them?
Chen Che thought about it for a second, then shook his head. Never mind—just follow and see what's up.
"Where are you going?" Xia Na saw Chen Che abruptly change direction and asked.
"I spotted the gang who tried to kill me before. Time for payback."
Xia Na twitched her lips. "You? With just that one ratty bulletproof vest and a popgun, trying to stir up Ant Street?"
Chen Che looked at her. "Aren't you coming? You'd just stand by and watch me walk into a trap?"
Xia Na folded her arms, face haughty. "Don't count on me to bail you out. I'll only drag your sorry ass away after they've beaten you half to death."
"That's good enough for me."
"Seriously? Let me warn you—I don't hold back, so if I have to use my Demon Pattern and you get fried, don't blame me," Xia Na "kindly" reminded him.
"Really? That just sounds great. Just make sure it's 240 volts AC—anything less and it's not even fun. The more 'exchanges' we have, the closer we'll get."
Xia Na: "???"
What the hell is he rambling about?!
…
The Wildfire Gang had a base on Ant Street.
A warehouse.
Piled high inside with the most common food around: face squash.
Their boss, Wildfire Johnny, was a famous name throughout the whole Lower City District.
Born and raised in the slums, a stone-cold character. Even before Special Zone Nine was founded, he was hustling on these streets.
He rallied a bunch of kids from the slums—kids who never had enough to eat—and together they decided to carve out a future.
At first, no one cared about this little gang of kids.
What could a bunch of runts even do?
At one point they were all about to starve to death together.
Then Johnny pulled off something "big," caught the eye of some major player, got his first job, his first real meal.
No one dared laugh at those kids after that.
His first "boss" was a local motorcycle transport gang leader: Luo Jie.
An Asian guy.
Luo Jie had a rival—another biker gang boss, Rumi, a fat black man.
Their two biker gangs were always at war.
Johnny and his crew came crawling to Luo Jie, begging for food. Luo Jie just scoffed at these scrawny brats, said they were useless.
Drunk out of his mind, Luo Jie told Johnny: if you can bring Rumi to me, I'll feed you and your friends.
Three days later.
Johnny and his crew showed up—with Rumi.
That fat black bastard weighed 300 jins easy—no idea how the hell he even fit on a bike.
Johnny's gang couldn't move the guy, so… they had to chop Rumi up into pieces.
One kid dragged an arm, another lugged a leg, one used blood-caked hands to haul intestines caked with mud.
Johnny carried the head. The whole crew, under Luo Jie's stunned gaze, managed to reassemble Rumi in front of him piece by piece.
Johnny explained that Rumi had a habit—he liked little girls.
He'd go into the slum streets and snatch up orphan girls, just to torture them.
So Johnny let his little sister bait Rumi in.
Rumi walked into the place and got jumped by Johnny and his friends, knocked out cold. His two men outside were so strung out they barely knew their own names.
The kids weren't strong enough to move Rumi out, and worried of being found before sunrise.
So they gagged Rumi, then split his body. Each took a piece.
And brought them to Luo Jie.
Johnny asked Luo Jie: Can we call you boss now? Can we finally get a meal?
Luo Jie was nearly scared witless by the whole scene—but agreed.
He gave those kids a full meal. Johnny and the others, that first meal in ages, damn near passed out after eating.
When they woke up again—
They were already tied up and delivered to Rumi's gang.
Luo Jie got scared. Rumi's dead; his boys would tear the world down to avenge him. Luo Jie valued his own life.
So he handed the scapegoats over, hoping to calm down Rumi's angry crew.
At the last second, Johnny yelled out loud.
With no help from Luo Jie, how could a bunch of starving kids kill Rumi? He just sent us over to take the fall for him!
We're scapegoats!
But Rumi's guys wouldn't buy it—no way some kids could take Rumi down without Luo Jie helping. Not a chance.
Fighting broke out between the two gangs.
In the end, after the deaths and carnage, the only ones left standing were the kids.
Johnny and his crew picked up guns and finished off every wounded survivor.
They collected the heads and went straight to Luo Jie's turf, piling them up in a mound as a warning.
All they wanted was for the others to be too scared to mess with them—to live a little longer, eat off Luo Jie's supplies, and at least spend their last days with full stomachs.
Word of their brutality spread fast, but they were still just kids in the end.
They were probably all going to die anyway.
Another wolf-pack gang would swallow them up sooner or later.
But luck was on their side, it seemed.
That's when a commerce association arrived.
The regional manager heard about those kids, got curious, took them in, gave them food.
Had them start working for him.
That's how the Wildfire Gang came to be.
Wildfire—ruthless as hell.
Can't be snuffed out, devours anything it can burn.
Wildfire Johnny—every streetwise punk in Special Zone Nine knows his legend.
One of the true hardasses of Special Zone Nine.