The Mafia Empire

No matter how turbult the emotions storming within him, his outward appearance betrayed nothing. He sat backward in a chair, his hands resting on the back of it, propping up his chin. He had be staring at the three bodies for a long time, without moving, as though time had froz a him.

Inside the room, a few others were prest, with ev more people gathered outside, but no one dared to make a sound. They all wanted to know what to do next, but no one had the courage to ask.

After what seemed like an eternity, as the oppressive atmosphere threated to drive everyone mad, Robin stepped forward. He grabbed a cloth and covered the three bodies. Wood\'s gaze shifted from Jim and Jiji to Robin. His eyes were deep, filled with rage and violce, yet eerily calm.

"Tell me, wh you were a teager, did you ever think a day like this would come? That one day, I, or someone else, or maybe ev these two idiots, would suddly leave us and be embraced by the Lord?" Wood\'s tone was steady as he spoke, but only Robin could sse the faint tremor in his voice.

Robin thought for a momt, th shook his head. "You need to pull yourself together now. You didn\'t just have them, you also have…"

Before Robin could finish, Wood abruptly stood up, lifting the chair and slamming it to the g. Splinters of wood flew in all directions. He picked up what was left of the chair\'s backrest and smashed it against the wall. With a loud crash, the backrest shattered into pieces.

Wood paced back and forth a few times, pointing at Robin but saying nothing. He paced again, th stopped, looking straight at Robin. "I want blood for blood. Sd Graf\'s mother and brother to serve as slaves for those two idiots!" It was the only solution Wood could think of that would satisfy his rage.

But Robin didn\'t move, remaining where he stood.

"What? Didn\'t you hear me?" Wood\'s voice grew louder as he stormed over to Robin, nearly face to face. Staring directly into Robin\'s eyes, he asked in a voice dripping with hatred, "Or do you think I can\'t command you anymore?"

Robin took a step back, raising his hands with palms outward in a calming gesture. "You need to stay calm. Killing them won\'t solve anything—it will only make things worse. To be honest, I\'d rather sd them to meet the Lord right away myself. I almost died because of them."

"If you blindly kill Graf\'s mother and brother now, all it will do is make more Guar supporters rally to their cause, making them ev stronger. It won\'t befit us at all. Wood, you have to calm down!"

As Robin spoke, the sound of glass shattering suddly came from upstairs. A group of m wearing trch coats and bowler hats rushed out of the room.

Wood and Robin were momtarily stunned. A couple of m quickly wt upstairs to investigate, and within two minutes, they returned, holding a brick with a piece of paper attached to it. The man who brought it down had an odd expression on his face as he set the brick on the table.

Wood snorted and walked over, pulling the paper from the brick. Scrawled in crooked handwriting, it read: "All traitors must face the consequces of their actions. You freed her, so now you will take her place and face judgmt!"

Wood read it twice before shoving the paper into Robin\'s hands. "What the hell does this mean?"

Robin glanced at the note, his expression darking. He turned to look at the three bodies covered with cloth and said in a low voice, "In the Guar faith, traitors are flayed and left crucified to bake in the sun for three days. If they survive those three days, it means they\'ve be forgiv by their faith and can live on."

"The process cannot be interrupted. If someone interrupts it, that person must take their place and face the judgmt."

Robin wasn\'t a Guar, but he had heard about their customs after Jim\'s wife had be flayed, which had left him in disbelief. He had asked someone with knowledge of the Guar faith and learned what flaying meant.

There wer\'t many words on the note, but the message was clear: someone was going to flay Wood. Whether it was someone from Julian\'s side or another Guar, it wasn\'t good news. It would crush the morale of everyone. Robin stuffed the note into his pocket and crumpled it, suring no one else would see it.

The m who had rushed out earlier came back empty-handed, though they reported hearing from the gatekeeper that the culprit was just a child, no older than thirte or fourte.

Wood and Robin exchanged a glance—it had to be one of Julian\'s m.

"We have to strike back!" Wood shouted, clching his fist. His words lifted the spirits of everyone in the room. With two key figures dead, doing nothing would only lead to disappointmt. Wh Wood spoke of retaliation, they nearly erupted in cheers. Wood paced a few more steps. "Have we found out where Julian and Graf are hiding?"

With Jim and Jiji dead, Robin had effectively become Wood\'s "right-hand man." He quickly replied, "Our m are keeping an eye on Graf. We\'ve also got someone watching Julian. They\'re holed up in an office on Que\'s Avue."

A cruel smile crept across Wood\'s face. "What are we waiting for th?"

...

"They\'re coming out!"

Outside the security booth at Maixiang Gard, a young plainclothes officer spotted a group of people emerging from Wood\'s villa and quickly ducked back.