novelraw Chapter 157 : Chapter 157
Chapter 157 : Chapter 157
Volume 2
Chapter 81 : Standoff
Lorenzo’s steps came to a sudden halt.
He knew that whistle all too well.
That was why his face had turned so ugly, as though he had just stepped on something filthy in the street.
Only the bunch known as the Hyenas used such a hideously shrill whistle to pass messages.
Which meant…
From within the dark alley, the sound of steady footsteps suddenly rang out.
As though he were on his way to some elegant banquet, a man dressed in impeccable formalwear slowly emerged from the shadows.
“Mr. Lorenzo, the night is long. Why be in such a hurry? Why not sit down and have a little chat?”
The man wore a top hat and held a gold-trimmed cane.
He was neatly dressed from head to toe, and his voice carried an elegant cadence, making him sound like some lofty grand noble.
But the moment he spoke, the occasional flash of his gold tooth shattered that cultivated elegance completely and the aged face revealed beneath the moonlight was full of the same greed and madness as a hyena’s.
Behind him, burly men silently stepped out of the darkness one after another.
In their hands were bloodstained sabers, spears, clubs, and staffs.
Their eyes were savage and unruly, and they stared at Lorenzo with mocking smiles, as if they were looking at a clown.
This was a mob of thugs.
And in the entire Lower City, there was only one pack of thugs that dared bare its fangs at Lorenzo.
“The Hyena Gang? Schulz?”
At the sight of these thugs—men who, in the name of collecting protection money, had burned down who knew how many shops and buried who knew how many people along the riverbank—veins bulged violently across Lorenzo’s forehead.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh? Mr. Lorenzo, that is a rather strange thing to ask. In all the Lower City, is there any street with someone’s name written on it, marked as private property?”
Schulz gripped his cane tightly, his face breaking into an exaggerated grin.
“The night is long, and sleep escapes me. Naturally, I had to come out for a stroll and get a little exercise.”
“A stroll? What a coincidence.”
A cold gleam flashed through Lorenzo’s eyes.
As one of the major gangs of the Lower City themselves, these people were far more troublesome than the wild dogs still tailing him even now.
But at this point, he instead calmed down.
“What exactly do you want? Our Redfire Gang and your Hyena Gang have always kept to our own sides.”
“Of course. I have always believed that the Hyenas and Redfire are very good friends. But since we are friends…”
Schulz stared at the rune-covered metal container in Lorenzo’s hand, greed shining nakedly in his eyes.
“When there is something good, one ought to know how to share, should one not?”
So it really was for the ancient dragon heart’s blood?
But how did he find out?
Lorenzo’s gaze turned even darker as he quietly moved the metal container behind his back.
An object like ancient dragon heart’s blood, filled with violent energy, required an extremely high-grade spatial storage device to contain it.
And a spatial storage device of that level was far more valuable than a mere ten drops of ancient dragon heart’s blood.
Other than some high-ranking great nobles, no one could afford to use such a thing.
So he had no choice but to carry it in his hand.
And if he carried it in his hand, then he had to face the naked greed in all those eyes.
“Schulz, you had better think this through. The Redfire Gang is no soft persimmon for you to squeeze at will!”
With a sharp metallic rasp, Lorenzo’s men drew their weapons.
The blades flashed coldly in the dark.
Though they were fewer than the Hyenas, these men were all elites he had personally selected.
Naturally, they did not fear a bunch of thugs who had nothing to their names besides ferocity and a willingness to die.
“Or are you planning to risk your life against mine?”
Lorenzo glared viciously at Schulz like a beast grinding its fangs and thirsting for blood.
He knew that compared with the violent thugs around him, the Hyenas’ leader, Schulz, was a petty man steeped through and through in treachery and cowardice.
And a man like that, though greedy, cherished his own life greatly.
Which meant he would never do anything without confidence in success.
“It seems Mr. Lorenzo has misunderstood me.”
Sure enough, faced with Lorenzo’s desperate fierceness, the naked greed in Schulz’s eyes quickly faded, and a smile returned to his face.
“The truth is, I am not someone who admires violence. I prefer doing business with people.”
“Business?”
“Five drops. I want to buy five drops of the ancient dragon heart’s blood in Mr. Lorenzo’s hand.”
Schulz raised one hand and narrowed his eyes.
“At the normal market price. Five million per drop. Five drops for twenty-five million. What do you say?”
Behind him, a burly man stepped forward carrying several sacks.
When he pulled the mouths of the sacks open, bundles of dark green high-denomination banknotes were revealed inside.
Schulz had come prepared.
Or rather, from the very beginning, he had never intended to fight Lorenzo to the death.
Instead, he meant to offer a price Lorenzo could barely bring himself to accept.
He intended to force Lorenzo to accept that price.
After all, he needed the ancient dragon heart’s blood badly, and spending a little money meant nothing to him.
“Twenty-five million?”
But instead of considering the offer as Schulz had expected, Lorenzo’s expression became even uglier, and he snarled through gritted teeth,
“You think you can buy five drops from me for a mere twenty-five million? Are you trying to fool a child?”
“Hm? Is that not the normal market price?”
Although something like ancient dragon heart’s blood, priceless and impossible to find on the open market, would certainly sell at a premium, surely it would not be so outrageously high that Lorenzo could not accept it.
Just as Schulz was puzzled over it, one of his subordinates suddenly leaned in and whispered a few words into his ear.
At once, his expression turned strange.
He lifted a fist to his mouth, as though struggling not to laugh.
“Well now… Mr. Lorenzo, the fact that you got swindled out of fifty million has nothing to do with me!”
“Cut the crap. If you really want to buy it, then put up fifty million. Maybe then I will consider it!”
Lorenzo’s face was flushed red, but his stare remained vicious.
Five drops would still be barely enough to complete his lord’s mission, so it was not as though he could not part with them.
But that price was non-negotiable.
He did not want people to mention him only to tack on, Lorenzo? Oh, he is one of the biggest suckers in the entire Lower City.
He was not about to be the only fool in this.
“No. I cannot accept that price either.”
The smile on Schulz’s face gradually stiffened as well, and he looked coldly at Lorenzo.
“I only brought twenty-five million.”
“Then there is nothing left to discuss!”
The two men faced each other in silence.
In that narrow alley, the atmosphere turned as cold as frozen iron.
The grinning thugs and Redfire’s elites tightened their grips on their weapons at the same time. A bloody clash could break out at any moment.
“Kh-kh, in that case, ten drops does not seem like nearly enough to go around.”
But at that moment, a third voice suddenly cut in, shattering the frozen tension in the air.
Yet no one felt any warmer for it.
If anything, the cold only sank deeper into their bones.
Because beneath that shrill, ducklike voice, they also heard the sound of a bowstring being drawn taut, like a monster tearing at steel cables. It made their scalps prickle.
So everyone’s body tensed instinctively.
Lorenzo and Schulz’s expressions changed drastically, and both turned at once toward the source of the voice.
On the rooftops flanking the alley, a short figure, stunted like a dwarf, slowly emerged from the darkness.