Filthy Jade Palace had appeared a short time before the appearance of the alien civilizations. Before that, the Core was as unruly as it could get, and no one could claim superiority in the underground city. As it was disconnected from the main district by a long distance and by gigantic walls, the police never managed to claim control of the area, and neither did they ever truly tried. This left the shady area of the city in a constant troubled state. Gangs and small organizations controlled streets and hoods, yet no one had ever managed to subject them under a single crown.Yet Filthy Jade Palace had done the impossible, and it was after fending off dozens of alien a.s.sailants that they had managed to govern the city"s underground business. a.s.sa.s.sinations, schemes, and fear were the weapons used in this ordeal. Blank-Faced Joe had risen through the ranks from an ordinary gangster to one who founded the organization that later ruled the underground world. Although alien clans and families had aided his opponents, he had stood strong against them and never failed in his duties. Wars after wars, it was only as the last straw that Joe had chosen to ally himself with them. The benefits he had reaped during this phase were extraordinary: cultivation techniques and resources that made him ascend past the realm of mortality, weapons that could disintegrate a building in a single shot. And the only way he had attained his position was due to a box he had found; he explained that the box contained immense treasure that could cause greed to appear in the heart of the most valorous man.
He called it the box of Pandora. To this day, it had never been opened. Its contents had remained secret to all the members of the organization. Even when it came to the alien clans, they had respected his offer and never tried to break their vows. Since then, it had served as a balance of power between the generals of the a.s.sociation. The box couldn"t be opened unless you had all the different keys together. The generals of the Filthy Jade Palace all had a key, and one of their duties was to keep it safe. Many had tried to retrieve its content when ascending to the position of a general, but the most they ever achieved was acquiring two keys. As soon as it happened, the person would simply disappear from the face of the city. Never to be found again.
Blank-Faced Joe walked through a corridor in the main building of Filthy Jade Palace. Reminiscence appeared in his mind as he remembered what he had told the chief from the alien clan from back then. "Greed is what will make this a.s.sociation last!" he remembered that night particularly well. He simply needed to close his eyes, and his senses would vividly remember all of the past events. Like always, it had been his wits that had pushed him through success, and the only bargain he had during that talk was his own person. But he had managed the impossible, and due to that, the walls of this building stood tall during years.
He sighed as he knew that the end was near, even himself couldn"t help but turn slightly emotional as he thought about all those events. "Look at me, if people knew that "Blank-Faced Joe" had feelings when thinking about the past. What would they think?" he pondered as his dead eyes gazed at the filthy sky of the Core. With time, he had come to feel warmth whenever he stared at the soiled firmament. He was aware that it was all fake and that those weren"t clouds but only the reject of the thousands of factories that spanned around the shantytown.
His head shook slightly as his heart turned cold. He needed to keep his mind clear, the end was near, and he needed to take care of the last measures. Filthy Jade Palace"s history was linked to his own. Before, he was just a simple gangster who relied on his wits to dominate the nearby streets. But now he was at a cultivator, someone who sat on the same table as those who run the underground world. Schemes had always been his specialty, and he needed to prepare the last one he would offer to this s.h.i.tty city.
With that last thought in mind, he resumed his walk inside of the long, dimly lighted corridor. "They will probably be curious about why I"ve summoned them! Some of those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds might insult me for wasting their so-called precious time."
A small crooked grin appeared on his pale face. If anyone from Filthy Jade Palace had seen it, their mind would have probably reeled from panic; everyone knew that if Blank-Faced Joe laughed, then h.e.l.l would befall upon your face. Suicide would be the only option left as that b.a.s.t.a.r.d would follow you to the main district just to achieve his goals.
"Pandora… The end is near!" he murmured under his breath as he disappeared in a corner.
A day pa.s.sed quietly in the central district as Fell"s life entered a routine in the battle center. Every day, he would log in the local matchmaking and from then on, would beat one opponent after another. Little by little, he came to be well known from the local community, and his name caused waves through the upper ranks of the game users.
"I heard even TwoSeconds couldn"t help but accept pointers from him!"
"I heard yesterday that he was matched against the rank 7 of our battle center, the fight wasn"t intense at all, and it was pretty much one-sided!"
"Do you think he is offering pointers to the top ranker?!"
Those rumors only served to his purpose as the local matchmaking system was flooded by numerous users that usually wouldn"t care about it. And as the day pa.s.sed, a ma.s.sive changed happened to the community as each individual made astounding progress that shocked the chairman still.