Chapter 3: Incorporating a Gang
Moments later, Ninglu found an abandoned sewage pipe on the outskirts of Tezvoc, amidst a mountain of garbage.
Hive Cities develop from the bottom up. When humans first settle on a planet, they establish settlements on the ground, then expand upwards over long periods of time.
Due to population migration and other reasons, most facilities in the Bottom Nest have been abandoned.
He crawled into the pipe, wading through the sludge formed by industrial wastewater.
Ninglu walked through the sewage pipe, which was wide enough for five people. After a kilometer, his ears twitched, and the sound waves he captured outlined a scene of hundreds of people fighting in his mind.
He continued forward for several hundred meters, and his hearing outlined a scene of a chase, one person pursuing another.
A scream abruptly rang out; the person fleeing in front tripped and fell, followed by another scream, and the pursuer also fell.
Ninglu listened intently; besides the two, he heard no other living sounds. How did both of them fall?
Moments later, he arrived at the scene; both individuals were already dead in the sewage.
Even in the dim environment, he could clearly see their abnormalities: their shoes were tattered, and their feet were bloody and mangled, caused by hundreds of thousands of crisscrossing wounds.
Ninglu scanned his surroundings and keenly discovered crystal clusters in a corner of the murky sewage.
【Not a living creature, but Thorn Crystal.】
Ninglu knew that Thorn Crystal appeared in Hive City sewage pools, drainage pipes, and other places where pollutants had accumulated over generations. It was less a plant and more a mineral stalk, similar to coral, composed of fragile and sharp, dense crystal clusters.
Fools who fell into Thorn Crystal would quickly discover its terror; its sharp crystals would inflict thousands of tiny but extremely painful wounds.
The greatest danger came from the toxins and chemical corrosives on the crystals, which, upon entering a wound, would turn the smallest abrasion into severe suppuration and ulceration, leading to death if left untreated.
Sadly, most of the populace in the Lower Nest and Bottom Nest lacked medical supplies, so stepping on it meant a swift end to their miserable lives.
【I found a supplementary material so quickly.】
Ninglu bent down and searched in the sewage, quickly finding two complete crystal clusters.
He took out spare clothes from his backpack, wrapped one Thorn Crystal in his shirt and the other in his pants, and placed them in his backpack.
Ninglu was in a good mood and continued forward. Several passages converged, and he saw a platform.
On the platform, two gangs attacked each other around a forge, using laser guns made from scrap materials.
On the left side of the platform, the leader of a group with red cloth tied around their heads, after raising his hand and taking down an enemy with a scrap laser pistol, rolled to dodge an attack, and suddenly his eyes lit up.
He saw a boy who did not belong in the Bottom Nest; his ragged clothes could not conceal his handsome face. He was more valuable than this forge.
He immediately rushed towards Ninglu, reaching out to grab him.
“Kid, come here.”
Ninglu moved his body to the side, and the gang leader grabbed at empty air. The moment the opponent lost his balance, the boy grabbed his wrist, pulled him forward, and then plunged a silver-gray shard into his abdomen.
He found five power cells on the corpse and stuffed them into his clothing pockets.
Mutants had dozens of pockets sewn with different colored scraps on their clothes to store the “treasures” they found.
The Gene-Seed Primarch then picked up the laser pistol, assembled from various parts. As soon as the gun was in his hand, he skillfully checked the power cell.
【The gangs of Vostronia are more skilled than those on other planets. The laser pistols made from scrap materials are above average, capable of firing 23 times in total, and can still fire 17 times.】
Ninglu roared, “Stop!”
Although he was still a boy, his voice held no trace of childishness.
The two warring factions only heard a reprimand, like the cold rebuke of an Arbitrator who occasionally visited the Bottom Nest. Their bodies trembled, and they all turned to look.
When they saw Ninglu, their eyes lit up.
On the right side of the platform, the gang leader, who had poked his head out, spat.
“When is it your turn, kid…”
Before he could finish speaking, a bright beam shot through the vital spot between his eyes, and his corpse fell to the ground.
Both factions were greatly astonished. The distance between the boy and the leader exceeded thirty meters, which was far beyond the maximum range of a scrap laser pistol. It was incredible that he could accurately kill the leader.
On the left side of the platform, several sharp-eyed individuals noticed that the gun the boy was using belonged to their leader, whose corpse lay at the entrance to the passage.
“The boss is dead!”
The shout startled the members of both gangs, and immediately several people’s eyes gleamed. They were all gang leaders, and now that the boss was dead, the opportunity to rise had come.
They immediately turned their guns and attacked their competitors.
As for the boy, no matter how powerful he was, he was just a child. As long as they became the boss, they could always capture him through a group attack.
Ninglu was ready to roll and dodge, but he unexpectedly found them even more foolish than he had imagined.
He immediately sprang into action. Since these people had encountered him, they would be the foundation for his conquest of Vostronia, and now was the time to establish his authority.
“I said… stop…”
As Ninglu spoke, he raised his hand and fired three consecutive shots, killing three members of the gang on the left side of the platform, while two others were ambushed and killed by their competitors.
He then dealt with the victor of the other gang and looked at the crowd.
“From now on, I am your boss. Anyone who disobeys will meet the same fate as them.”
The gang members were all terrified; they dared not move. They had never seen such precise marksmanship, continuous firing, one shot, one kill—they had never even heard of it.
Thus, on his first day in Vostronia, Ninglu formed his own gang, with 310 subordinates.
When Ninglu poured all the fungi from his backpack into the large vat, all the gang members’ eyes glowed green. If not for their fear of his precise marksmanship, they would have pounced like hungry wolves.
Ninglu stood on the platform, looking down at the crowd below. Knowing that the Bottom Nest inhabitants were uneducated, he spoke in the simplest, most straightforward language.
“I will not mistreat those who follow me, but I also do not keep useless people.”
“How much you get depends on your own ability.”
“Soup or dregs, it’s up to you.”
He scanned the crowd, seeing that most people craned their necks and stared wide-eyed at their own feet, with only a few still scratching their heads.
“Now I have questions to ask. Those who can answer will get to drink the soup.”
“First question, where are there giant rats nearby, over one meter in length?”
The better the quality of the magic potion ingredients, the better the effect after consumption.
Ninglu was not afraid of them knowing the magic potion formula; he only needed to ask about two types.
“Me,” the quickest to react was a scrawny bald man, “Boss, giant rats are everywhere nearby, and there are many over a meter long. I can’t give you a number, but there are many in every tunnel and pipe.”
Ninglu looked down at the crowd. No one refuted him; they all showed expressions of regret and anger.
“Very good, you can come up and scoop a spoonful first.”
The bald man immediately ran wildly, stumbling and almost falling when he got onto the platform.
He supported himself with his left hand, immediately got up, and as if afraid the boss would change his mind, he scooped a full spoon.
Smelling the aroma, he impatiently squatted nearby, licking the soup.
Everyone else looked enviously at the quick-reacting bald man, straining their ears, waiting for the boss to ask the next question.
“Second question, who knows where to find wire grass?”