The following day.
Vivian sluggishly opened and rubbed her eyes. She was about to get up and prepare breakfast, but then the girl noticed the bowl of porridge on the table as the tempting aroma entered her nostrils.
When she looked toward the stove, Soran was there frying an egg with a serious expression. It was an amusing scene, as he was wearing an apron and preparing breakfast like a housewife.
“Big brother, isn’t this a bit too wasteful?”
Vivian took in a deep breath of the oily fragrance in the room and circled her sleek arms around Soran’s neck. She secretly sniffed his body, and as expected, there was a faint scent of blood. For some reason, she was sensitive to the smell of blood since she was a small child, and she could easily tell if Soran had gotten into a fight or not from the smell.
The smart girl did not ask her brother about what happened last night.
“Big brother, that’s way too much oil,” she said while thinking that it was a pity. “You only need a little bit of oil for frying eggs. Next time, let me do it instead.
“Ahh, look at all the wasted oil…”
Vivian sniffed her nose like a puppy as if she was satisfied by the smell.
“Alright, little housewife!”
Soran placed the poorly fried eggs into the bowl of porridge and patted Vivian’s head.
“Sigh, I’ll just leave that to you then,” he said while feeling slightly annoyed.
A bowl of warm porridge topped with fried eggs and slices of smoked meat ; Vivian was drooling just from the looks of her breakfast.
The seemingly simple breakfast was something luxurious to most people and was only affordable for the rich nobles and merchants in the city. It had been a while since Vivian last had such a lavish meal.
After finishing the rich breakfast, the little girl began tidying up the room.
_Oh, I have to wash big brother’s clothes too!_ she thought.
Some hustling could be barely heard from outside. It seemed that several men had been loitering around the siblings’ house for a while now. Soran was sitting near the door with a dagger in his hand and was sculpting something with a serious expression.
“The Honourable Soran!”
A man who looked like a thug fearfully walked toward Soran and said, “Sawey expresses his thanks to you for solving one of his problems!
“He sent me to deliver gifts as a token of gratitude.”
The man waved his hands at the two men behind him, and they nervously walked over with a large box in their hands.
Soran looked up and told Vivian to accept the gifts before slowly saying, “I’ll take these.
“However, I have no interest in the slums. Whether or not your gang can take over the area is Sawey’s problem, not mine.
“Is that fine?”
Soran’s voice turned cold as he fiddled with the dagger in his hands.
Beads of cold sweat formed on the representative’s forehead as he answered while stuttering, “N…No problem at all!
“Sawey agrees as well!”
Sawey was overjoyed when he heard the core members of the gang which had been getting in his way were all killed overnight, but his face cramped after learning that Soran was the killer.
“Boss!”
A ruffian who had quick wits entered the room while panting, “The reasons for his actions are now clear.
“It seems that Gale threatened Soran and sent men to kidnap his little sister as a hostage!
“Everyone who lives near East Drain Street knows that Soran cares more about his sister than his own life. Gale angered Soran by targeting his sister and ended up getting killed.
“Also, who knew that Soran was so good at fighting?! He was rather docile before.
“Everyone from the Crossed Alley calls him the Throat Slitter now, you know? Even the guys from the docks heard of his insane actions. Eleven elites all had their throats slit, and blood drenched the entire floor!
“Boss, should we send someone to ‘take care’ of him?”
A man who had one of his eyes patched thought for a while and said hesitatingly, “Even though he’s strong, he’s just a single person after all.
“If we let him go, I’m afraid we can’t take over the Crossed Alley.”
_Bam!_
Sawey grabbed the nearest thing and threw it at the ruffian who suggested killing Soran. The ruffian was hit and had blood all over his face, but Sawey ignored him and went on, “Kill him?
“Do you even have a damn brain? Is your head full of shit?
“He stormed straight into their headquarters and killed all of Gale’s elites! He could easily kill us all if he launched a sneak attack on us!
“Let’s not act rashly. Send Qiang over to Soran’s place and give him a gift. We’ll soon discover his intentions.
“If Soran’s such a powerful man, he’ll manage to leave the slums sooner or later. No one would willingly stay in this hellish place if he could afford to move away after all.
“Right, send some men over to the Crossed Alley and see if Soran wants to take the place for himself or not. If he doesn’t intend to do so, make sure you defend the place from other gangs properly!”
His subordinates all ran around busily, but Sawey remained seated with a cramped look. He called over one of his men and ordered him, “Bring Qiang over here. I’ll personally prepare the gift.”
If Soran could kill all of Gale’s elites in a single night, he could probably do the same with Sawey’s men as well.
_This man is way too dangerous!_ Sawey thought.
It would be best if he could get on good terms with Soran. Thinking back, the reason why he, who was once a random thug, was now the boss of the gang was that he was a flexible person. He knew that trying to act strong was pointless, and only doing things within his abilities was the best option.
All of Gale’s close men were killed without exception. Even the merciless gang leaders in the slums were taken aback by such brutal and barbaric actions. Brawls often broke out in the streets, but the mortality rate was low, as both sides would try to keep their own men alive as much as possible.
Who would run errands and work for the leaders if their subordinates all died?
The thugs seemed as though they were dumb and stupid, but they were all smart enough to avoid joining gangs which often had their men killed.
It was a peaceful morning—that was only for Soran and Vivian though.
Sawey was extremely delighted after hearing Soran’s reply. He immediately ordered his men to gather in order to take over the streets near the Crossed Alley. As Soran clearly expressed his disinterest in the area, the territory was now free for all; whoever had the most power could gain control over the area.
Sawey gathered several hundred of his men near the Crossed Alley. Although most of them were just there to beef up their numbers, around a hundred of them were capable of fighting. Among the hundred or so men who could fight, only a handful of them had actually undergone professional combat training and learned how to kill. Others were just brawny men who only knew how to win fights through brute force.
Fights in the slums were a common occurrence; as long as it did not cause problems for the normal citizens and nobles of Amber City, having ten or so thugs killed was not a big deal.
When all of his men answered his call and gathered, Sawey soon took over the Crossed Alley and the nearby area without going through fights on a large scale.
However, this territory was nowhere near as profitable as the docks. As half of the city’s money circulated through the docks, up to a hundred men could die overnight if a fight for control of the docks broke out. This was something which would shock the entire populace of Amber City; in comparison, the Crossed Alley territory was just an insignificant area for most people.
The slums? Who the hell would care about such a filthy place?
The people who were powerful could not care less about the events in the slums, but they all heard about a strong young man appearing in that hellish place in the past few days.
His name was Soran the Throat Slitter.
According to the rumors, he killed all his enemies by slicing their throats and was a reputable man in the slums. He was a well-feared person even though he was unaffiliated with any gangs, and the gang leaders all did not dare make a move on the young man.
Another two days had passed when Vivian finally noticed something was strange. People showed signs of fear when they conversed, and they often peeked at her with uneasy eyes. As for Soran, no one even dared to look at him straight in the eyes.
“Big brother is way more incredible now!”
Vivian swept the fallen leaves in front of their house with a broom while murmuring, “The men who brought the gift were Sawey’s men.
“Why would he send such an extravagant gift to brother?
“Ah, I heard Gale’s elites were killed by someone called the Throat Slitter! Big brother must be that Throat Slitter!
“Hehe, even the name alone sounds powerful. Big brother is a lot stronger than before.”
When Vivian walked past the grocery store at the corner of the street, the shop owner’s wife who hit her back with a broom a while ago turned pale. She prostrated herself on the ground after confirming Vivian was Soran’s little sister and began slapping herself in the face until it was all swollen. The old lady was relieved and grateful when Vivian promised not to hold a grudge against her. The shop owner handed a box with a dozen Silver Derahls in it over to Vivian, saying it was a gift to show their sincerity.
They were obviously shuddering in fear.
Although they were afraid of Soran the Throat Slitter, not Vivian, she still enjoyed the situation since everyone was treating her favorably.
“La~La~La~”
The little girl hummed as she cheerily tidied up the room.
“Hehe, we’re the bad guys!
“Everyone’s scared of us!
“No one’s going to bully us again!”
*[advantage]: by having their erection in contact with her
*[ cent bills]: China has cents in bills called jiao
*[Guoshu]: Guo here means country and shu means technique
*[ 190 centimeters]: Over 6ft tall
*[Lake Cui]: Cui Hu, also means Green Lake
*[hundred dyuan bills]: 100yuan is their biggest bill
*[Daoist Fierce Tiger]: The author of this novel
*[Noodles]: made of wheat
*[Rice Noodles]: made of rice
*[Zhang Tian Tian]: Tian means sweet
*[Bajiquan]: Also known as Eight Extremities Fist, but Bajiquan sounds nicer to me
*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes
*[12.47 to 13.07]: don't ask me about the tree sap