"Explain the situation clearly first, then I'll consider it."
Silas didn't immediately agree to Charles's request. Instead, he wanted to extract more information from him.
Gangs and Beyonders, these two unrelated terms, how had they intersected?
"It starts recently."
Charles began his explanation.
Apparently, there was a gang in Backlund called the "Zmanger gang," composed primarily of highlanders from the Southern Continent.
They were fierce fighters and didn't get along with any other gangs.
This included Charles's own Reman Gang, which frequently clashed with the Zmanger gang over territorial disputes and conflicts between members.
However, in recent days, the Zmanger gang had become surprisingly docile.
These highlanders had suddenly gone silent, no longer fighting with other gangs.
But this was the chaotic East Borough.
When you showed compromise and retreat, someone would inevitably take advantage.
Several gangs neighboring the Zmanger gang began seizing their territory and driving out their members.
Though the Zmanger gang resisted, their boss Meursault, their strongest fighter, never appeared from start to finish.
Their boss had vanished!
You had to understand, Meursault was incredibly formidable, his combat prowess far exceeding ordinary people.
It was precisely because of him that other gangs had been suppressed by the Zmanger gang.
Now that Meursault was gone, everyone began kicking them while they were down, devouring the Zmanger gang's sphere of influence.
The Reman Gang was among them.
At first, though the Zmanger gang resisted, because they were being attacked by all the gangs simultaneously, the pressure on the Reman Gang wasn't significant.
"But then, we accidentally seized a package from them, and those highlanders suddenly went berserk."
Charles said with lingering fear, "It was like we'd kicked them where it hurts.
They completely ignored the other gangs, abandoned their territory, and came after us like madmen, demanding we return the item."
"And what does that have to do with this?"
Silas waved the poem manuscript in his hand.
It sounded like ordinary gang warfare, nothing that should involve Beyonders, unless there was something wrong with the package they'd seized.
"Because those guys cared so much about that package, our boss decided it must contain something valuable and refused to return it to those highlanders no matter what. So a fight broke out," Charles recalled.
"As the fighting continued, several people with strange abilities appeared."
What had started as a brawl between two gangs transformed into a larger melee after Beyonders joined in.
The Beyonders apparently belonged to two different factions fighting each other.
One side was stealthy with sinister methods, while the other wore metal masks and seemed to carry an irresistible authority in their movements.
That poem manuscript had been tossed onto one of the gang members by someone with clown face paint, during a break in his struggle with the masked figures.
The Zmanger gang chased the Reman Gang, who fought back while fleeing with the item.
The Beyonders from both sides also battled, neither wanting to let the other take the package.
In the chaos, many Reman Gang members were injured, so Charles brought the wounded here to seek Silas's treatment.
In other words, the gang had obtained something dangerous, and two Beyonder factions were fighting over it?
Silas summarized what he'd heard and nodded thoughtfully.
No wonder the southern district had been noisy all evening. This was the cause.
"So what exactly is in that package?"
He asked directly.
"Well..."
Charles hesitated.
"If you don't tell me clearly, how can I decide whether to help you?"
Silas pressed.
"It's a stack of manuscripts with drawings and notes, all jumbled together.
We can't make heads or tails of it," Charles said. "I really don't know why they care so much about something like that."
Manuscripts, not mystical items.
Silas thought.
If he participated in this brawl, though there would be danger, since there were so many Beyonders involved and the situation was so chaotic, he might be able to gain considerable benefits.
After all, he was already a Sequence 5 Beyonder. Though he was a half-mad Sequence 5, that was still enough to protect himself in a melee.
With this in mind, he looked up at the slightly nervous Charles.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I hope you can protect our safety until we offload that item."
Hearing that Silas was willing to accept, Charles breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you so much. I'll go report to our boss right away..."
"Bang bang bang!"
Another round of urgent knocking interrupted his words.
Everyone in the living room simultaneously looked toward the entrance.
The bedroom door opened, and Silas saw his sister emerge as well.
"Mr. Charles!"
An anxious voice came from outside the door. "We brought people!"
"It's Jack and the others!"
The gang member shouted. They seemed to be more members of the Reman Gang.
Silas looked at Charles, who quickly walked toward the entrance while explaining, "They're our people too. When we split up to run, we gave them your address."
So more injured gang members were behind the door.
Silas said nothing, watching as Charles opened the door and ushered in several black gang members with varying degrees of injury.
They looked equally disheveled. The most seriously wounded one was already unconscious, his chest a bloody mess.
"Quick, Mr. Anderson, please treat him too."
Charles lifted the unconscious man onto the table, then spoke to Silas.
Silas walked over to the injured man.
His face was deathly pale, the wound extremely deep but no longer bleeding much. His eyes were tightly closed, apparently unconscious.
Something's wrong with this guy.
Silas thought.
He could hear the injured man's heartbeat, steady and strong, nothing like what an injured person should sound like.
Even more convincing evidence was that his Shepherd characteristic had reacted, warning him that there was a "lamb" before him that could be shepherded.
Was this a Beyonder who'd infiltrated the gang members to secretly investigate?
I'll oblige you.
Silas slowly extended his hand.
Under the watchful eyes of the gang members, this doctor who had just treated several serious injuries suddenly used his hand like a blade and viciously stabbed into the unconscious man's heart.
"Pfft!"
There was no sensation of piercing flesh. The figure before him rapidly flattened and shrank, ultimately transforming into a shattered paper doll.
"Mr. Anderson! This... what is..."
Everyone was startled. The turn of events was too sudden for them to react.
"Boom!"
The flames in the apartment's gas wall lamp suddenly flared. With the sound of shattering glass, a figure emerged from the fire.
He still wore gang member clothing, but his facial features were rapidly shifting position, finally becoming a completely different face.
"It's you!"
Charles cried out in shock. He immediately recognized this person as one of the Beyonders who'd been hunting them!