Chapter 455 - La Hiena's Foot

La Hiena was frustrated. Who would not be frustrated at a time like this? He pounded a fist against his desk. He saw that his immediate second winced at the sound. Compared to La Hiena's hulking form, his second had been someone who was thin and hairy. Like a wet rat. 

"I think we should just kill them," said his second, eyeing the gleaming gun under the harsh light of a lamp. "It would make our jobs easier."

"No," said La Hiena. "You know what we should be doing? Convincing the Qings to sign another contract with us." In his frustration, he put another tobacco on the corner of his mouth and lighted it.

His second was a no-brainer. He was not sure what that term really meant but in his opinion, it was someone who had a brain but did not know how to use it. "Why should we do that?"

La Hiena did not mind explaining, at least someone was going to listen to him vent out the problems that he had been internalizing for the past few days. Honestly, it was making his stomach upset. And he did not like it when his stomach was upset. He could not enjoy eating—which was his favorite thing of the day.

This was one of the reasons why his problem had to stop.

"Because, the Qings are the only mafia in Chengshi that has the police in their palms." He took a puff. "Another reason is that, the smaller mafias in the area, are too afraid to make a deal with us. True, the Qings would kill them once they find out that they were under our care before we could respond to help them. Now, if you're going to help, tell me how are we supposed to tap back into the Chengshi market."

"There are a lot of other countries, you know?" his second shrugged like it was the most obvious answer. "We should just leave Chengshi and find another place where we could sell our goods."

La Hiena smiled patiently. "Do you know how much the Chengshi market means to us? Around forty percent of our goods get dropped by in that little dock and give us a pile of money to lay upon. If we lose them and we don't find a way to get back there, we are going to lose half of our money. And if our money gets cut in half, we are going to be left begging on the streets."

It was an exaggeration. But La Hiena was not someone who understood the concept of "enough". He already had money stored away in banks, offshore accounts, and cash underneath spots in the earth that would set him good for a few lifetimes. He did not like the thought of receiving less. He did not like the thought of his money going down as well.

He was the kind of person who just had to have it all.

"The highest bidder gets the police, doesn't it work like that?" asked the young second.

For the first time, La Hiena actually smiled. "You got that right! That's absolutely correct. But the question is, who is going to outbid the Qings?" he showed his hands to the man in front of him. "Nobody. Because nobody is rich like the Qings. Do you understand that?"

"But are we really going to go back to the Qings' good graces?"

La Hiena stared at the far wall. The lights were all off in this little home office of his. Only the lone lamp on his desk was left to cast a light. He tried imagining how they were supposed to get to Chengshi again, but all he could think about was the obnoxious little child of Qing Zihao, Qing Chen.

Qing Zihao was once a great man. Now, he did not know what happened to that colleague of his. Maybe that man made the wrong decision of letting that son of his take the throne.

Well, if La Hiena was going to be honest, Qing Zihao was one of the best mafia lords that he had ever met. He had come strong since he took the seat from his father. However, it did not last very long. It had been that wife of his, he hissed in his mind. Probably poisoned his mind or something. He went soft since the hearts started flying and love was in the air.

Then as if he could not make more bad decisions, Qing Zihao gave the throne to that perfect-looking little boy. La Hiena had got to admit, that boy was someone who he would want in his own family. Charismatic to the public and knew how to handle business well.

But… that was also the boy that cut ties from him, leaving him with almost a half load of drugs with nowhere to go.

"I don't think we could go back to the Qings good graces," answered La Hiena. "There's no changing Young Mr. Qing's mind." He leaned over the desk. There was only one way that this could go.

You see, there was this thing called silent rules in the world. Like a common courtesy at some point. Now, in the mafia, you got to respect everybody's boundaries and be careful not to step on another person's toe. Their silent rule was: not outing each other to the authorities.

But Young Mr. Qing did not step on La Hiena's toe. He stepped on La Hiena's foot! It was why La Hiena was no longer going to play fair. He tried relentlessly to woo other gangs to join their ranks and be rich, but the invisible power of Enigma still held them all together, bounded in fear.

"Here's what we'll do," he began the elaborate plan, his second looking wide-eyed until he finished.

"That sounds great!" beamed his second. "We'll get started."

La Hiena felt bitter as the door closed. How was he the one that produced that stupid rat-like offspring?