[Will there be one today?]

The message read on the phone.

“Oh, he seems to be getting more impatient, I wonder if something happened to him?” Kai mused as he read the message on his phone. At the very top the name ‘Green Fang’ was displayed.

[There is no need for you to ask me. I will notify you when I need you.]

Kai texted back and placed the phone back into his pocket as he continued on his way to a particular car park. The car park itself was quite large, six stories yet it was empty. Although the night sky was out, it wasn’t too late, yet there were no cars present at all.

The reason why it was empty was because today was due to it being another day like before, it was a fight night, and the multiple gangs in the area had made sure that those that didn’t need to know about it, wouldn’t stumble upon this place.

“So tell me again, why didn’t you invite that Green Fang guy? Are you worried he might go crazy again?” Innu asked, having caught a glimpse of Gary’s message on Kai’s phone.

The newest member of their yet to be named gang was wearing the new uniform he had been given. The black overcoat with a golden trim and his matching trousers suited him surprisingly well.

“Because it would be a bit much to invite our leader to such a small occasion.” Kai answered with a smirk, not turning around.

“Our leader? That green haired guy that could barely fight is supposed to be our leader? Didn’t know you had a sense of humour, but seriously tell me the real reason.” Innu insisted.

However, Kai didn’t say another word, and just continued to move towards the car park. There were two guards up ahead who didn’t look like they quite belonged there. Still, it was a perfect way to stop anyone nosey from snooping around.

Innu, for a moment entertaining the possibility that Kai wasn’t just pulling his leg, stopped in his tracks, making Marie nearly walk into him. At the last moment, she gracefully sidestepped him.

“He really is not joking? I need to know what the hell I signed myself up for!” Innu asked the girl, who just shook her head before following behind Kai.

The two guards appeared to be adults in their late twenties or early thirties. They checked over Kai and his entourage briefly, yet didn’t say anything else as the trio walked past them. Inside, the three could hear the sounds of several people cheering.

Innu knew that once they went further in, he wouldn’t be able to ask Kai as many questions, so he had to ask now.

“Fine, fine, let’s say that kid is our leader, then isn’t that all the more reason to bring him along? Not to belittle him or anything, but he clearly isn’t really used to these kinds of things and some more fighting practice couldn’t hurt either. The way he currently is...”

The leader of a gang could be said to be their most important person. In a way, they alone symbolised the prestige of their respective gang, hence why in most cases it was the gang member with the most strength.

Due to the ‘No Lethal Weapons Act’, individual strength was important these days. In cases of disagreement when one side needed to ‘convince’ another, the most forward way was to do it the good old fashioned way.

However, this wasn’t always the case, especially for established gangs it wasn’t rare to have a wise leader at the top, one who wasn’t just a musclehead. In those cases it would either be their right hand man or those under him with the frightening strength that would ensure that others followed their command.

Usually, those kinds of leaders had something special about them, a type of unique charisma that had allowed them to get trustworthy people to work under them in the first place.

Innu had joined in the belief that Kai would be the latter type, which was why he was shocked to learn that Gary was supposed to be their leader. He didn’t even fit the former type, so with him as their gang’s representative it was practically asking for trouble. The fighter could already foresee them getting picked on by other gangs.

“Alright, seeing that you’re asking out of concern for the new gang you’ve joined, I suppose I shouldn’t keep you out of the loop. You see, in my opinion there are certain qualities that distinguish a great leader from a good one.” Kai replied, not slowing his steps.

“A great leader needs to have a reason to keep growing his territory. Putting it simply, they need ambition and hunger. At the moment, I’m testing that person’s hunger since I want to see just how far he will go. If I’m right, then it’s just a matter of time for Gary to start acting on his own. Once he does, it will be a perfect opportunity to find out just how ambitious he is.”

At this moment, the three could see several cars that had been parked in a way to make an arena. Crowds were cheering from behind them as a fight was already taking place. The first thing Innu noticed were certain students from Eton High. His fists tensed up as images of what happened before flashed through his head.

‘He said that they will be our next opponent, I guess we are here to scout them today then.’ Innu thought.

“Don’t worry.” Marie spoke up. “With the amount of different prospect gangs, sub divisions, and colour gangs here, no one will be stupid enough to start a fight, so your body can stop shaking.”

“I’m not scared, but angry!” Innu replied with gritted teeth. “I can take on any one of those backstabbing bastards on their own. They only beat me because they ganged up on me!”

The girl just smiled and lightly patted him on the back before she looked for a good spot to watch the ongoing fight. Meanwhile, Kai had been paying attention to something else. On top of one of the cars, a little behind the arena, there was a large digital board that had the names of today’s fighting roster, as well as the betting odds.

‘Strange, I was sure Billy Buster was meant to be fighting today.’ Kai thought. ‘Given his fighting record the gangs must have already tried to scout him. Were it not for his loss that day, I’m sure he would have gotten a serious offer.’

‘Was his pride hurt so badly that he wants to wait for people to forget… or did Gary actually manage to hurt him more than I thought?’ Kai wondered.

———

At that very moment, Billy opened the fridge in his apartment complex.

‘I’m so hungry.’ Billy thought as his eyes latched onto some raw lamb at the bottom of the fridge that had still yet to be cooked. Without even a moment’s hesitation his hand grabbed it and before he knew what he was doing, he had started digging into it with his mouth ripping it apart.

Eventually, when he was done with his meal, he let out a satisfied burp, scratching his neck, which showed a mark on his neck, where he had been bitten.

Chapter 37 - Turf war

In the town of Slough there was an unwritten rule concerning the area where Gary lived. When the sun went down, that was when the underworld came out to play. The colour gangs and more would roam the streets.

If Gary hadn’t told his mother he would be staying at Tom’s, who lived in a more affluent area, then she would be worried out of her mind. He had also often lied about his parents dropping him off by their apartment as well.

As a former transporter for the Underdogs, Gary had needed to learn not only where their own territories were, but also what territories belonged to which colour gang as well as which areas were the most common fight spots. The knowledge that the entire town, except for a few key areas, had been divided in so many sub areas which the gangs claimed for their own, had left quite the bitter aftertaste in his mouth.

It had been vitaly important to memorise the safest route as it was rarely the most direct one. Gary often would have to go through a bunch of different territories to reach his destination. It was safe to say that he had been quite good at his job, which was why he had never failed a delivery until that day.

‘At least I got this strange system out of this all.’ Gary thought to himself as he quickened his pace. He had his hood up covering his green hair, not that it stood out among all the other punks that were currently out on the streets. After all, he had chosen that hair colour for that reason specifically.

Still, for what he was about to do, he needed to make sure that he wouldn’t be recognisable.

Using what money he had left, he bought a few cheap rags from the convenience store that were black in colour. Leaving the store, he searched for an unoccupied alley and started to rip them up, then tied them around his arm and legs, covering them fully. Once he was done, Gary headed towards a certain area of town.

It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. The graffiti on the wall that had marked this area as belonging to the black colour gang appeared to have just recently been tagged over with red paint. This was the same as claiming ownership over this area.

Gary closed his eyes and concentrated on his ears. All his senses had been sharpened ever since he woke up with the Werewolf System. Listening carefully, he could hear the sounds of some people talking amongst themselves. Although he was unable to hear exactly what they said, he did make out the sound of a spray can. Opening his eyes he walked in the direction the sounds came from.

‘It seems like luck is on my side tonight. But for the red colour gang to have spread this far out into the black colour gang’s territory and to do it so brazenly… Surely they should know that the black colour gang works for the Underdogs… are they just brave, stupid… or do they actually have the backing of someone who is willing to go against Damion and his goons?’ Gary thought as he stepped out.

“Hey, this ain’t your territory! Do you really think you should be doing that?” Gary asked, his heart beating louder with every word he spoke. Just as he had heard, there were three of them, all wearing red colors. One of them was clearly holding a spray can in the midst of tagging yet another wall, but as for the others, Gary had no clue what type of weapons they might have on them.

The three young adults looked at each other for a second and started to laugh. The one closest to Gary, who also happened to be the largest among the group, therefore most likely designated as the lookout, came at Gary.

“Let's get him!” The man swung at Gary, sure that the height difference would play out in his favor, but the high schooler was able to duck the first punch.

‘Luckily, I used Charging Heart as soon as I entered the alleyway. Were those gang members always so aggressive? Here I thought I would need to taunt them a bit more.’ Gary saw an opening, a chance to attack, so he quickly kicked the first person right in the stomach, using the tip of his toes to dig in.

The man curled over and Gary mused that if he had gone in again he could have finished off the first member, but instead he decided to turn around and run.

‘I can’t underestimate them, and I can’t let them see my face clearly! There’s three of them and only one of me.’ He reminded himself as he widened the distance, but at the same time made sure to allow the gang members to follow after him.

Running away, the red colour gang members were soon chasing after Gary. Three members soon became six, then nine. The first three hadn’t exactly kept quiet, making others notice them and join in the chase.

The sheer number of them, which continued to grow, reassured Gary that he had made the right decision in choosing not to fight. If he had been caught up with the first three, then there was a good chance the others would have joined and eventually outnumbered him.

This morning, with Gary’s brimming overconfidence after becoming a type of Altered who had even won a fight in the arena, he would have decided to fight the three of them. After all, there was that one instance when he had managed to defeat five members of a colour gang, but after losing to Xin, he felt humbled. His crush had reminded him that one shouldn’t judge someone by only their outer appearance.

“That guy, he’s not fast but he isn’t slowing down!” One of the Red gang members huffed as they continued to chase.

Gary couldn’t deny that fact, not when his system had assigned him a mere 3 points of Dexterity which he figured was linked to his speed. Even after using Charging Heart his running wasn’t much faster than the average person’s. Fortunately, he more than made up for that in the stamina department that he had already confirmed was linked to his Energy bar.

Eventually, Gary arrived at his destination, a park with an open platform. Using his sensitive ears he could hear what he had been hoping for.

“I need help! Red colour gang has come to fight us!” Gary shouted out loud.

It was only then, that the dozen or so red colour gang members noticed that they had been following Gary all the way into an entirely different area, one that was under stricter control of the black colour gang. A group of black colour gang members that would regularly use the park as their hangout spot was already present and quickly surrounded the trespassers.

[New Quest received]

[My enemy’s enemy…]

[Using your knowledge you have caused quite the stir]

[You have instigated a turf war!]

[Choose a side and make sure they win!]

[Quest reward: 50 Exp per defeated person]

There were around ten of them in total, making the fight more or less even. The red members, seeing no situation out of this mess, decided to go ahead and fight. The two sides clashed bringing out their weapons in the form of bike chains, pocket knives and baseball bats. Some just used their fists and those were the ones who knew how to fight a little better than others.

As for Gary, he didn’t just stay a bystander in all of this, he was also joining in, mostly because he needed to. For one, he needed not to blow his cover and then there was also his Quest reward.

Nevertheless, Gary was sneaky enough to wait for the right chance before delivering the knockout blow to the weakened enemy. Were all of this a game, the gang members might complain about him essentially kill stealing, but as it was, the other black colour gang members just regarded him as another member. In this intense moment they didn’t care who got the last punch in, yet for Gary it was vitally important, because the counter that had appeared would only go up when he would knock someone out.

The fight didn’t last more than a few minutes, and in the end the black colour gang had won. Huffing and panting, three of them were still standing, well four if one included Gary, while the rest had lost consciousness. Surprisingly, despite some of them having had pocket knives, nobody was bleeding badly apart from a few scratches.

[Quest reward: 450 Exp]

[Congratulations, you have now reached: Level 4]

[A stat point has been granted]

[50/460 Exp]

Seeing this, Gary was pleased that he now had two total stat points to allocate, since he had not yet allocated the previous one. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been able to decide what to use it for, but he had come to the realisation that it was wiser to allow his body to naturally improve until it hit some sort of limit, before he would start using them.

“Hey you were quite skilled there man, what group are you from?” One of the black colour gang members approached Gary from behind who still had his face turned away.

Unfortunately, as a transporter Gary had only needed to know about the colour gang’s territories, so he didn’t know the ins and outs of the gangs. While he was racking his brain on how to get out of the situation, he heard another sound from the system.

[Optional Quest received]

[…is also my enemy?]

[The truth is you belong to neither of these gangs and now you can come out on top.]

[Defeat the remaining gang members!]

[Quest reward: 50 Exp per defeated person]

‘This system…’