Chapter 1032 - Demonstration of Power
While Silver was racking his brains about how to put Jin"s plans into action, the ma.s.sive "big brain" System was simultaneously taking into account the possibility that the Southern Region could be turned into a prospective country under their rule. Since "just a city" such as Pandapolis was not enough, the System wanted Jin to have a "mock country" to rule.
However, Jin did not care about all these plans for the future. His priorities were to ensure proper housing, sanitation and an overall better quality of life for the Southerners which he now felt responsible for.
All those ancient feuds stemmed from humans and monsters fighting for the survival of their population. As long as the humans could be fed and sheltered properly, he believed that cooperation with their former enemies might be possible… at least in theory. He was not naive enough to believe that everlasting peace could ever be realized so easily, otherwise others would have done so already.
Alas, there were problems everywhere.
Today, he had turned his attention to Demopolis. The Wolf Fox brothers had been gathering information for the upcoming Police Raids. Although Jin would have loved to create a new dungeon instance for the shop, the elimination of the Demopolis Triads and Mafias was an essential step to stem out the evil, repossess their wealth and improve the lives of the Demopolis Citizens.
So far, the citizens had shown mixed responses about Rex"s way of rooting the weeds out of the corrupted political system in his first few days of office. The majority were just relieved that the takeover had been relatively peaceful to their lives, (since most of the damage had been done at the location of the prison which housed the dungeon core). They were still unsure whether this unknown new master could be a threat to their daily lifestyle or make it better.
On the other hand, most Mafia Bosses understood the need to stay low for the time being since many had been implicated by the truth serum. They believed that Rex was merely putting up a show to gain the respect of the citizens because of the sudden takeover which many did not expect and it would only take time for him to reach out to them.
Of course, there would always be outliers. One such minor mafia boss did not take heed of the King Rex"s public warnings and brazenly arrived in front of the Demopolis Palace with his men all in full glory. He wanted to reveal that Rex was just a mere puppet to the shadows of the Demopolis.
As one might expect, things did not end well for him.
His goons had brandished their weapons to intimidate the Demopolis Palace Guards, as well as the Demon Home Guards under General Vual, who had not shown any mercy to the trespa.s.sers. Hails of bullets had rained down on them, executing every one of them and a modified Sherman Tank had blocked off the Palace Gates to prevent them from escaping.
It was a short and quick ma.s.sacre, which only ended with the nameless Mafia Boss on his knees, panting for his breath while he held his bloodied sword. Instead of his enemies, the weapon he held were dripping with his own blood.
Injured with multiple bullet shots to his legs and upper torso, it was nothing short of a miracle he was still alive. But given his endurance and physical attributes, he was barely hanging on to the thread of life. The boss looked back at the carnage done by the inc.u.mbent king.
There had been no time for him or his elite bodyguards to create a magical barrier to protect themselves from the speedy metal projectiles shot from their gun barrels. He knew what a gun looked like since there were some in circulation but he had never seen such a fast-action rifle, shooting multiple bullets within a minute.
Making his defeat even more depressing, not a single Palace nor Home Guards had even been injured from the supposed "show" of power. All their belongings, including their horse carriage, was later gathered in the middle of the palace, and burned right in the middle of the garden plaza.
It was to ensure every single demon related to this mafia group was killed. Of course, they had been relieved of their weapons, armour and anything valuable though Vaul would claim that it was merely repossession so that such items could be sold for the common good of the Demopolis.
And while the looting of the corpses and throwing them to the centre to burn each and every one of them, the mafia boss was being dragged into the palace with a team of eight Home Guards including a Dark Elf loaned from Kraft to the Palace Halls. As the instigator was about to seep into the darkness, he found Rex pulling him up and punch him in the gut, leaving quite the first impression on him.
"My other a.s.sociates will come and take revenge for me. They WILL kill you. You won"t have another day of proper sleep without a.s.sa.s.sins targeting you, waiting for the right moment to strike you down. And don"t forget, we can resurrect again and I have the sufficient resources to do so!" The Mafia Boss threatened one final time in a trembling voice because of the pain from his wounds but Rex merely laughed at his feeble threat.
"That"s perfect! I welcome all of them to come to find me and it will certainly make my life a whole lot easier! But guess what? Reality isn"t as rosy as you thought it would be, little kid. Plus don"t me so sure that you can resurrect back without my permission." Rex pulled out his details from the database with the System help since it was in sync with the Demopolis" Dungeon Core too. "You see, thanks to your act of violence, this will only further cement my perception as the killer of all evil."
"What bullc.r.a.p. You are the same as us. The only difference is that you have a f.u.c.k.i.n.g crown on top of your head!" The Mafia Boss coughed as he could indeed feel he was going to be unconscious from the loss of blood, and probably die from it. (Un)Fortunately for him, Rex still had plans for him. He would not allow him to die just yet, so he got Pei to heal his wounds. Just enough so that he would not bite the dust right now.
"I don"t care for crowns, or do you see one on my head right now? You know what? I"m feeling a little generous today. You"ve already played your part, but you can still be useful. All I need you to do is to give me some of your close friend"s names and you shall be allowed to survive this ordeal. Betray your friends and you shall have a golden crown for your head." Rex said with a smile and he could see that the Mafia Boss was wavering.
After all, he did not become a Mafia Boss by being loyal to a certain someone. He had fought, stolen, lied and even betrayed a few friends to reach his current position. So if this new King was indeed foolish enough to not only release him but also pay him, why not?
Especially when these "close friends" he had were not exactly very friendly when push came to shove. Thus, with Rex"s offer dandling right in front of the boss, he nodded his head slowly. In any case, he could simply inform his friends before the Home Guards could do anything. (And that was a.s.suming he was able to get out of this situation in one piece.)
"Well, what are we waiting for? Tsu, Kai!" Rex shouted and clapped his hands twice, for the brothers to magically appear right in front of him, first in fox form and subsequently transform into humans. "Take the statements of our friend here. If you find his information credible, return him to me. Oh and inform Kraft that I have promised the fellow a golden crown."
"Yes, my King." Tsu nodded his head and a slight smirk appeared on his face for a brief moment. He then turned to the mafia boss knowing that the golden crown treatment was something of a torturous punishment by pouring hot melted gold onto the Mafia Boss"s head. At a whopping 1000 over degrees celsius, the melted gold treatment would surely kill. "You are one "lucky" fellow to be bestowed such an offer," Tsu said then extended his hand up with a smile while Kai exerted some of his chi to stop the bleeding.
The Mafia Boss was sure that he could not miss out on this once in a lifetime opportunity. To forever wear a golden "crown" on his head when the interview was over.