Chapter 191: Shocked

The Dragon Claw Gang headquarters had become a land of death. Corpses lay quietly by the roadside, at the entrance of buildings, beside the garages, and in the cafeteria. It was like they were all merely asleep, their faces free of pain. There were no wounds on their bodies, but not a single one was still breathing.

Su Yuke felt a chill run down her spine.

Dead. All dead.

She checked the dormitories, the dining hall, the water storage rooms, and everywhere else. There were no survivors. Every single member of the Dragon Claw Gang was dead. The once bustling and noisy headquarters now felt like a ghostly realm.

The sun had already set and a dim light shrouded the earth. Su Yuke felt a chill run down her spine again. She knew that the gang members had died at Li Xiaofei’s hands. The great demon king of the Cloudy Sky Gang had exacted a brutal price on those who dared to challenge his authority.

The nearly four hundred member Dragon Claw Gang had met their end in just one night.

Three large words were carved into the ground of the small square— Righteousness Above All! The characters were engraved with sword energy, cutting twenty centimeters deep into the stone slabs.

One could still feel the lingering sharpness of the sword energy at the edge of the square, as if it was still slicing through the air. The sheer brutality of this retaliation was enough to make anyone’s scalp tingle.

Su Yuke’s first instinct was to capture Li Xiaofei and bring him to justice.

"They're all dead."

"Those beasts in human skin are finally dead."

"Thank goodness! It must have been that hero earlier who delivered justice for us."

The women who had narrowly escaped death began to cheer in palpable relief. Su Yuke was taken aback, but then recalled that not only had Li Xiaofei saved her, but he had also protected all the innocent women during the fierce battle in the Dragon Gathering Hall.

A ruthless demon. But one who possessed a compassionate heart.

The once clear image of Li Xiaofei in Su Yuke’s mind gradually grew blurry. She quickly contacted her colleagues, and a few minutes later, police vehicles came roaring into the Dragon Claw Gang’s headquarters. The area was quickly cordoned off, but the news still spread through various channels.

***

"What?"

The master of the Flying Cloud Sword Gang, Guan Shanyue’s, face went white in shock. The Dragon Claw Gang had been annihilated? All three hundred and sixty-one people at their headquarters, including the gang leader Long Xiaotian, were dead? The sudden and drastic change left Guan Shanyue, known as the Flying Cloud Sword, in disbelief.

"Is the information accurate?"

"Absolutely accurate. It came from an insider at the police department."

"Who did it?"

"It seems like the Cloudy Sky Gang..."

"Seems like? That's impossible. Who in the Cloudy Sky Gang could accomplish something like this?"

Guan Shanyue found it hard to believe even after hearing his subordinate's report. He thought for a moment and dialed a light core number. But the call didn’t go through.

As he stared at Ye Xiang’s name in his contact list, an even worse premonition arose in Guan Shanyue's heart.

***

At Iron Palm Ltd, Zhen Santong, known as Invincible Iron Palm, had a complex expression on his face as he sat in the tea room. He felt like he had been sitting on pins and needles ever since he heard the news about the Dragon Claw Gang.

Long Xiaotian was certainly not weak. Yet, he was killed in his own headquarters and his entire gang was eradicated by the Cloudy Sky Gang. This was undoubtedly the most significant gang-related massacre in the rule-of-law district in the past twenty years.

Iron Palm Ltd. is not much stronger than the Dragon Claw Gang. If the Cloudy Sky Gang could quietly wipe out the Dragon Claw Gang, they could do the same to Iron Palm Ltd.

A chill ran through Zhen Santong's heart.

What should I do?

Their recent actions had already deeply offended the Cloudy Sky Gang. Even if he wanted to make peace, there was no room for negotiation. Moreover, even if he did kneel before the Cloudy Sky Gang, the Ye family wouldn't let him off the hook.

***

"Is this a joke?"

The three leaders of the Daxing Gang sat together, exchanging uneasy glances. They had been urgently summoned from their homes to the Ye residence by a sudden call, and now, the news left their heads spinning.

When they arrived, they discovered that Zhen Santong, the chairman of Iron Palm Ltd., and Guan Shanyue, the master of the Flying Cloud Sword Gang, were also waiting in the living room.

Moments later, an elderly man in a deep crimson Tang suit appeared.

"Master Ye."

"Chief Ye."

The men stood up and bowed respectfully. This elder was Ye Changlin, a senior figure of the Ye family and the fourth son of the old patriarch. He held an unquestionably high position in the Ye family.

When he appeared, the gang leaders did not dare keep sitting.

"Please, have a seat." Ye Changlin picked up a teacup, took a sip, and said, "I apologize for summoning you all here in the middle of the night."

"It’s our duty."

"We're honored to be summoned by Master Ye."

"Whatever you need, just command us, and we won’t hesitate to go through fire and water."

The men hurriedly started to flatter him. They were technically gang leaders who could make anyone on their turf tremble with a mere stomp. But they dared not show an ounce of arrogance in the presence of this decision-maker of the Ye family as they bowed and scraped like household servants.

They had no other choice. Such was the authority of the Ye family. Five great families reigned in Liuhe Base City, the Ye, Du, Qi, Mu, and Zhou. Over the past fifty years, the Ye family had risen rapidly, producing numerous geniuses. Their Duxing Group spanned multiple industries, including healthcare, education, finance, food, and power armor. Members and disciples of the Ye family had infiltrated every aspect of society.

For example, Duxing High School was the most dominant force in Liuhe Base City's High School War God League. The best and most talented middle and high school students in the city were almost exclusively enrolled at Duxing High School. Each year, over 60 percent of the nation’s brightest university students were graduates of this school.

Once these students graduated from university and entered various industries, they would invariably support the Ye family. Were it not for the state's power, the city leader, and the garrison commander maintaining control over the city's operations, the Ye family would have been ruling Liuhe Base City already.

In recent years, the balance of power in the city had been relatively stable. However, when the Ye family started collaborating with the Jiepeng delegation, their influence had surged once again and was threatening to upset the balance.

Rumors were circulating among the gang leaders that the Ye family was aggressively maneuvering to take advantage of the upcoming political performance assessments. It was said they were aiming to remove the current city leader, Tan Zhenwei, and replace him with their own person. It was also rumored that progress on this front was going well.

It was clear that if the Ye family's plans succeeded, Liuhe Base City would essentially become their domain. Compared to the Ye family, gangs like the Flying Cloud Sword Gang were nothing more than grains of sand before a boulder.

So, the sight of Zhen Santong, Guan Shanyue, and the three Fan brothers, Fan Jun, Fan Bing, and Fan Tong, bowing and scraping before Ye Changlin was entirely understandable.

"You've all heard about what happened to the Dragon Claw Gang, I assume?" Ye Changlin spoke calmly.

"We've heard."

"That Cloudy Sky Gang has some nerve."

"Daring to kill so many innocent people in broad daylight... they're utterly insane."

The men voiced their outrage in unison.

"It wasn't just the Dragon Claw Gang," Ye Changlin continued calmly. "Even Ye Xiang of the Ye family was killed in the Dragon Gathering Hall."

He paused before adding, "Li Xiaofei of the Cloudy Sky Gang wasn’t targeting the Dragon Claw Gang. He was targeting my Ye family... Gentlemen, how do you think we should respond?"