The martial world was not merely about fighting and killing. Unifying the gangs did not necessarily require force.
The martial world also involved treachery and deception... Bah, reciprocal courtesy.
In any case, Magician used every kind of magical trickery to secure order after order from gangs, persuading them to abandon guns and artillery in favor of Shang-Zhou Bronze Swords.
What was that about caliber being justice and firepower being truth?
That was all outdated!
No matter how powerful your guns and ammunition were, could they defeat those mighty ability users?
This treasure of mine from the Shang-Zhou period was just like the Awakening Serum. It could directly transform someone into an ability user, so long as they prayed with true sincerity!
Look, the leader of the Axe Gang who previously bought a Shang-Zhou Bronze Sword had already gained the ability to swallow frogs alive. Action was better than hesitation, and there was even a discount available right now!
After helping several gang leaders "obtain abilities," combined with the endorsement of "mysterious Eastern power," the bronze-sword business immediately took off.
The Kowloon Stronghold's one thousand Shang-Zhou Bronze Swords had already been delivered, but Vill-V had also sold Shang-Zhou Bronze Swords to many other organizations throughout Dusk City,
so production was still being accelerated. Once the orders were completed, the estimated net profit would reach several million.
Naturally, most gangs could not afford that much money, so Vill-V tricked those legally illiterate fools into signing all kinds of unequal contracts.
Anyone who was not legally illiterate had already been absorbed by the "companies." The people left behind were, at best, half-baked strategists who were not even worth Vill-V's attention.
At present, nearly half of Dusk City's gangs had already become vassals of the Taixu Gang.
However, impoverished gangs were not Vill-V's true targets. Even the "companies" backing the gangs had now sent over purchasing lists.
Those "companies" were the true fat sheep destined to fill Vill-V's wallet. They had gathered centuries of Dusk City's wealth beneath their control.
Although these "companies" were subsidiaries under Heliopolis Life Sciences, competition among them was even fiercer than in the outside world. Either you died, or I did.
On an individual level, this manifested as vicious struggles between the gangs in the public eye. That was also why gang warfare in the city never ended.
Even if some gangland superstar wanted to unify the city and restore peace, it would have been impossible, because the true source of the conflict did not lie with the gangs at all. It lay with the "companies" funding them.
Naturally, those "companies" could not pass up an opportunity to make their own power skyrocket, even if it might all be nothing more than a fabricated story.
Gang leaders had already verified its authenticity, so what was there left to doubt? Perhaps this was merely another mass experiment conducted by Heliopolis Life Sciences behind their backs.
The previous Awakening Serum had already allowed several "companies" to taste the benefits, more than doubling their net worth.
Buy! They absolutely had to buy them before the other "companies" did!
Because of this situation, the current purchase orders for Shang-Zhou Bronze Swords from the "companies" alone were already worth tens of billions.
One person told ten, and ten told a hundred. Before long, the swords would surely appear at street stalls in every major city. They might even be exported overseas.
Of course, people occasionally called customer service to complain that the incantations did not work or that the swords could not kill anyone.
Vill-V would explain that they had not been sincere enough, give them different incantations, or make them learn songs such as "Good Luck Comes" to attract Taixu true energy.
Then she would send over several drones equipped with Holographic Projection Technology to fool them a little more. Naturally, those "repair fees" were paid by the customers as well.
In any case, the fraud had not yet been fully exposed. Vill-V was confident that she could clean up every disorderly organization in Barcelona before the truth came out.
Besides, many middlemen knew perfectly well that it was fake and still helped the Taixu Gang maintain the deception. Three people could make a tiger through rumor, let alone tens of thousands saying the same thing.
Thus, the rumor became increasingly fantastical as it spread, until no one could expose the lie behind the Shang-Zhou Bronze Swords.
...
"Hmph, what a worthless Crimson Legend Golden Bronze Sword PRO."
Baolan, captain of the Ninth Special Assault Squad, was a valiant and striking young woman.
Although her arms and legs looked slender, and she served as an intellectual specialist,
she snapped the Kowloon Stronghold leader's Crimson Legend Golden Bronze Sword PRO apart with her bare hands.
"It sounds intimidating, but it isn't even as tough as Jinhua ham. It would be excellent for staging insurance scams, though."
"But Captain, this worthless piece of scrap helped the Kowloon Stronghold's leader regain his confidence after being defeated. He killed the captain of our Fifth Special Assault Squad with a single strike," one biker said with lingering fear. He had clearly developed a terror of the sword as well.
"This must be a cursed sword!"
Combined with the rumors, those bronze swords had already been elevated to divine status. Touching one supposedly meant certain death.
And in their eyes, the death of the Fifth Special Assault Squad captain matched the rumors perfectly.
"Bullshit! That captain didn't bleed to death. He was poisoned after being cut by this sword!"
Just then,
the commander-in-chief of the Ghostfire Syndicate—Tenmon Soji—snatched the blade from Baolan's hand. Then, beneath her horrified gaze, he used the "poisoned blade" to slice open his own palm.
Under everyone's astonished stares, crimson blood dripped from his palm, yet Tenmon Soji's expression remained unchanged.
Only after a moment did Tenmon Soji speak.
"Impure inorganic arsenic trioxide is red in color. In ancient Shenzhou, it was known as crane's-crown red, as well as red alum and red arsenic stone. It is the most commercially valuable arsenic compound and one of the oldest poisons. It is odorless and tasteless."
Seeing Tenmon Soji's vast knowledge, the surrounding bikers exclaimed in admiration.
"If it's that poisonous, are you all right, Commander-in-Chief?"
"As expected of the commander-in-chief. Your dominance is overflowing."
"Why are you making such a fuss? Hasn't the commander-in-chief always been like this? With his ability, why would he fear a little poison?"
Tenmon Soji walked past the young woman and asked with concern,
"What's wrong? Why do you look so frightened? Haven't you seen this sort of thing many times before?"
Baolan hurriedly suppressed the fear in her heart. She covered her expression with one hand and pretended to wipe away tears. "Sorry. The death of the Fifth Special Assault Squad captain has made me a little sad. That guy said he was going to treat me to ramen. Looks like he'll have to break his promise."
Tenmon Soji's voice still revealed none of his emotions. "Go. Head to Onoya and get some proper rest. We won't need you for the next battle."
After Tenmon Soji turned and left, Baolan's thick eyelashes cast faint shadows across her eyes.
Little did anyone know that she was not the captain of the Ninth Special Assault Squad at all. She was Liora, Queen of Hearts of the Mad Hatter organization, in disguise.
The real "Baolan" had already been replaced before they set out.
To reduce the pressure on the Taixu Gang and delay the Ghostfire Syndicate's advance, Liora had done many things.
For example, she had misled the Ghostfire Syndicate into attacking the Kowloon Stronghold, and she had poisoned the captain of the Fifth Special Assault Squad.
Even the poison on the Crimson Legend Golden Bronze Sword had been applied when she snapped the bronze sword apart.