A Black Market LitRPG

Chapter 5: Supply And Demand

In the Red Lions' base...

The Red Lions were much larger than the Seven Snakes. The gang controlled four districts in total, with more than three hundred men in total.

Each of the three subordinate districts was controlled and managed by separate sub-leaders. They were now eyeing the Seven Snakes district, which would be an easy kill. However, they were not the only enemy facing the Red Lions, with both larger and smaller gangs trying to test them with small skirmishes.

No gang wanted a full-out bloodbath between gangs – they were here to make money, not to be mass murderers.

At this very moment, the sub-leader of the adjacent district to the Seven Snakes was training hard against a wooden dummy in a massive training yard nested between buildings. Winding up a punch that caused the reddish armour set to elicit striking neon blue lines reminiscent of arcite fuel, he delivered a devastating strike, cracking the wooden dummy figure into half.

Two Red Lion associates ran up to him, getting down on one knee while waiting for the sub-leader to acknowledge their presence. He panted slightly, grabbing a towel from a servant and wiping off the sweat on his scarred forehead. He ran his other hand through his spiky dark red hair before tossing the towel back and nodding towards the two underlings. "Speak."

"Boss Wrent, we still can't find any trace of Riker. We suspect another rival gang has imprisoned him."

"Who did it?"

The associates looked at each other before one gulped and bowed lower. "Boss, I think it's the Seven Snakes."

A loud bellowing laughter roared through the yard. "Ridiculous! Against us?! The Left Paw of the Red Lions?! That fat slob Ulon and his measly twenty men would never be able to pull off such a feat."

"But boss, Riker was last seen heading towards their district, where we recently took over ownersh-"The associates paused as Wrent raised his hand.

"Or maybe a bigger gang has impersonated them and is trying to get us to fight each other. I would not put it past the Ilysian Punks or the Wretches, and it won't be the first time they did such a thing. Our main headquarters is still at war with them. Focus your search on the punks from Versia."

"Yes, boss. What do we do about the Seven Snakes now?"

Wrent currently had more than sixty men under him, three times the number of the Seven Snakes. However, a cornered animal was just as dangerous as a wounded one. Wrent was playing the slow game. Any pyrrhic victory would leave him weak and vulnerable to the other sub-leaders and external rival gangs.

If I can subjugate the Seven Snakes while the headquarters and other sub-leaders are busy with the Ilysian Punks and Wretches, it would be a big boost to my reputation and allow me more of the take.

"Carry out my orders. Keep an eye out for any booming businesses of the Seven Snakes. The moment any of them stand out, we will slowly target them one by one with persistent harassment, crippling their finances. They are already in debt, which would eventually force them to capitulate without a single loss of life on our side."

The next day...

Kyle observed intently as he poured out a tenth of the Stamina Recovery potion, mixing it with stored rainwater as the base, representing nine parts. He then swirled the mixture around before pouring it into an empty flask, filling it to the brim.