Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

Jimmy McGill.

It has been almost two weeks since he was arrested.

Since they infiltrated Tianma Town, Logan has lost all his intelligence sources. No matter how stupid they are, they're not going to be on your side anymore. As for Jimmy and Ego, Zhang Renfeng only knows that, at least until the last time he inquired, both were still alive.

But if the stalemate continues, things could get complicated. The Thunder Clan isn't exactly known for its reasoning. Ego, being Hector's son, won't do anything rash, but Jimmy's situation... will become increasingly dangerous. If, as Logan suggests, they surround him for ten days or two weeks until they run out of ammunition and supplies, they're guaranteed to vent their anger on Jimmy.

The reason he was willing to partner with me in the first place was because he thought I could protect him in a critical moment.

"Sorry Jimmy, I'm a little late, but I still came..."

He thought to himself, "You must be having a hard time right now, but hang in there a little longer."

"Tonight, I'm going to pry his turtle shell open!"

----

……

"And then? Then he said in that tone, 'Mr. McGill, I know you'll be surprised, but please hold your breath. This groundbreaking invention might shock you. Those despicable copycats, jealous of my intelligence, are trying to steal this patent from me. You'd better prepare yourself; this is the moment to witness a miracle!'"

"Whoosh—! He lifted the tattered cloth, and guess what was inside?"

"...What is it?" Amy leaned against the railing, clearly captivated by Jimmy's witty remarks; the curiosity in her eyes was genuine.

"It's a toilet, hahahahaha—!!"

Jimmy took a big gulp of Kentucky bourbon, laughed heartily, and pounded on the dungeon bars, laughing until tears streamed down his face.

Chapter 371: The Beauty of Dimensional Reduction Attack

Half a roast chicken, a bowl of navy curry stew, and a bottle of beer—that's Jimmy's dinner for today.

Although Laro said things like "feed him whatever you want," everyone's understanding of "whatever" is completely different.

When she actually went to the kitchen to ask for food, the head chef in charge just picked out these things randomly, which were all leftovers from the men's meals. Normally, these would have gone straight into the slop bucket without him even giving them a second glance.

Knowing there was a prisoner available, they simply tidied him up and handed him over to Amy.

But for Jimmy, who had been locked up for several days and was now releasing all his fear at once, there was no better food.

The smoky and spicy aroma of the roast chicken that hits your nose, and the tingling sensation of beer sliding down your throat, all made you feel warm, even when leaning against the cold, dark walls of the dungeon.

"Looks like you're in a good mood." A slightly teasing voice came from the dungeon entrance, echoing in the dark underground. "I heard that Hector's face turned as red as a pig's liver when he went out. He was supposed to be stationed in Tianma Town with Laro, but he went back immediately and missed seeing this scene. What a pity."

"Ego!"

Without even needing to identify him, Jimmy knew who it was. At this hour, there was no one else but him who would be willing to come down to the dungeon to see him.

In any case, it's still a blessing to meet someone on your side in a place surrounded by malice.

"You're just a mule..."

This was the first time Amy had seen Ego in person, and also the first time she had ever seen a dwarf, so she was inevitably a little surprised. On the other hand, Ego had lost count of how many times he had been looked at like that, but he didn't take it to heart at all, and just chuckled, "You have food and drink, and pretty girls to keep you company. As a prisoner of the Thunder Fury Gang, you can still live so comfortably. You're the first one."

"What, you want to join too?" Jimmy held up the half-empty bottle of beer to him, leaned against the stone wall, his suit and tie crumpled, looking nothing like the elite he once was, and said with a smile, "I'm currently explaining modern law to this ambitious young woman, explaining how it should be practiced in civilized society!"

"What exactly is the relationship between the two of you?" Amy looked at the two of them, her eyes narrowing. "Mr. McGill, didn't you just admit in the meeting that the Mule wasn't a member of the Red Center?"

“Kid, this world is a big one, not just the Red Center Gang and the Thunder Gang.” Igor wiped the ground with his sleeve, sat down against the wall, stuffed a few bottles of liquor into the fence, and rolled over. “During the expansion of the gang in New Elizabeth, they once cooperated with a business tycoon named Ryan Childer. This ‘slippery Jimmy’ was Childer’s lawyer.”

"Later, Tuku died, and none of his team survived. That's when I took over his business. To find out what happened before, you had to talk to Jimmy... That's how our friendship started."

The highest level of lying is not lying at all, but only telling a partial, leading truth.

Ego, a master of rhetoric, had already grasped the essence of this. He neither admitted nor denied being a member of the Red Center gang, but simply explained from another angle that he and Jimmy knew each other. With a casual remark, he smoothly brushed aside Amy's doubts.

For Igor, nothing could be more satisfying than seeing Hector humiliated. And not just in front of everyone, but in such an irreversible way, leaving him speechless.

This is such a wonderful day, let's just call it his birthday.

The drinks were downed sip by sip, and the atmosphere grew increasingly lively and enthusiastic as the conversation flowed. In a sense, if Jimmy were still confined to the Zolael family mansion, he would never have dared to be so unrestrained, but now, his roommate was nothing more than a skeleton, so what did it matter?

----

"Time...machine?" Amy repeated the two words, seemingly unable to comprehend how these two seemingly unrelated words could be put together.

“Yes, yes, isn’t it strange? This must be the strangest case I’ve ever handled, and it’s related to a patent.” Despite being a little drunk, Jimmy’s logical ability was still intact, and he recounted the case almost entirely from muscle memory: “A strange scientist from Dover Valley claimed that he had developed a time machine.”

"It was a chair connected to various devices, and a cage-like cover that hung over your head. According to him, the device on the back of the chair would release a certain current, transmitting a person's 'consciousness' to their past body at a specific frequency."

"Ah...ah..." Amy only half understood.

"And then?" Igor asked curiously. "Did someone steal his patent?"

"He was a doctor from White Torch Town... He was called a doctor, but he didn't actually have a medical license. He worked at the clinic where he was stationed. He believed that the electric current released by this chair could treat mental illnesses. But in reality, his so-called 'treatment' was just passing an electric current through a person's brain."

"After one or two times, this person becomes demented and stupid. If you say something to him, he will wait a minute before replying, and most of the time he will be talking nonsense. When a person becomes stupid, naturally there is no mental illness."

"What?" Amy felt a chill run down her spine. "Electric current through the brain...electric current...does that mean...something like lightning?"

She had seen lightning strike the desert, turning vast swathes of sand into pale glass.

"How can such a thing be allowed? Is no one in charge?"

"Who would dare... Dean Chilton is deeply entangled with the town's judicial system. This guy uses the name of the mental hospital to engage in prostitution, tying the female patients to chairs and giving them a little electric shock. Once their minds are muddled and they can't understand anything, they're at his mercy."

Jimmy sighed. "He puts everything on the guise of 'science,' but in reality, once the door is closed, who knows what he's up to?"

"If it were in Dover Hill, we might have a better chance of winning, but unfortunately... the courts there are really... sigh."

"In the end, I had no choice but to go back to White Torch Town for the trial. The judge and the prosecutor were all people of Dean Chilton. This electric chair had become a symbol of his business, so naturally they wouldn't budge. I tried everything I could, but I still couldn't win."

At this point, he seemed somewhat defeated, so he simply lay down on the haystack and murmured, "Thinking about it now, I feel a little sorry for that scientist. The way he looked at me... was very sincere."

“Most clients who ask me to do things always hold back, or they deliberately downplay their influence in the matter, and they lie and deceive. I’ve seen it all before.”

“But he didn’t. He’s a really pure person. His work was plagiarized just like that. I feel really bad about it.”

"He was defeated by this rotten world."

----

“I always thought big cities were great… but it turns out this kind of thing happens too…” Amy pursed her lips, her brows furrowing slightly. “As long as you have money and power, you can do whatever you want, and no one can control them… that’s the kind of world we live in.”

“Huh? No, no, no, it’s not what you think at all.” Jimmy waved his hands repeatedly. “Although it sounds strange, they were punished not long after.”

"There's more to it?" Amy asked in surprise. "But Mr. McGill, didn't you say the case had already been lost?"

“We lost the case,” Jimmy said with a laugh. “But not long after, Red Center arrived.”

Amy's expression was full of surprise.

"So, Dr. Bell, who stole the electric chair, Dean Chilton, who ran a sex business, and the legal professionals who provided him with protection... every single one of them was killed by the Red Center. The entire town of White Torch underwent an unprecedented purge, and all those who couldn't stand the light of day were wiped out."

“From top to bottom, only good people like Sheriff Gordon were not replaced. Everyone else, even the mayor, was replaced.”

Chapter 372: Mechanisms and Secret Passages!

Amy, who isn't a native of White Torch Town, can hardly imagine what this feels like.

Money, power, law, order... City dwellers have a set of things that are different from gangs, but fundamentally very similar, that bind everyone.

The girl hadn't received much education, and she couldn't find the right words to describe it, but in reality, this was a form of institutionalization. Everyone within this system had to act according to the rules. Jimmy could silence several Zolaels in the council chamber, yet he succumbed to the system.

Hongzhong, on the other hand, seems to come from another world.

He disregarded this system built upon a complex web of interests and shattered it with a single blow.

Whether it was a prosperous metropolis or a violent border town, it made no difference to him. It had taken the Zolael family seven years to bring Numa Town under their control and make it part of their system after Logan crossed the Fortress Mountains. Yet, Red Center had overthrown it in less than seven days.

Now, he has crossed the mountains and is about to enter Tianma Town!

"So, that's why you work for him?"

"It's not entirely because of that. Anyway... as the boss, I think Hongzhong is much better than the people in the Nulei Gang." Jimmy recalled the 70/30 split he agreed on with Zhang Renfeng, and it felt like a dream. "Not to mention, at least he was willing to share the money with me, very willing."

If the Thunder Fury Gang were replaced, would it be 30%?

While they eat meat, partners like Jimmy probably won't even get to drink the soup; they'll only be able to lick the salt from the bottom of the bowl, and might even have to pay out of pocket.

“You’ve worked with two Zolaels, Rancho and Laro. In a way, they’re the two smartest people in our family.” Igor shrugged self-deprecatingly. “What do you think of them?”

“Mr. Rancho... he adopted me and taught me how to survive. Logically speaking, I have no right to judge him.”

Amy pursed her lips, her eyes filled with worry, and she almost blurted out the word "but".

Neither Jimmy nor Igor urged her; they simply drank their wine and waited quietly.

"The day Hongzhong came knocking on my door, I asked him about the river, and this is what he told me..."

……

As they listened, Igor and Jimmy's expressions both became serious.

After all, they were separated by a mountain, and once war broke out, all communication between the two sides would be cut off. They only knew that Rancho was dead and that Red Center had led a group of people to fight their way over from the other side of the mountain and had now settled on the ranch. Apart from that, the two knew nothing about the details, including what had happened in Numa Town.

Water contamination, corporate conspiracy, and the Zola El family pulling the strings behind the scenes... It took Amy a while to explain the whole story.

"Damn it!" Igor slammed his fist on the wall, then sat down weakly, leaning against the wall and letting out a long sigh.

very weak.

"Mr. Igor, didn't you know about the contract between the fuel company and the family?" Amy asked in surprise. "You're a family member too, aren't you?"

"You were also in the meeting today," Igor asked listlessly. "Did they call my name?"

Amy was speechless for a moment.

"Do these idiots even understand? That's the water source for an underground cave! If the groundwater is polluted, toxins will accumulate in the riverbed and the water itself, and then spread to the bodies of plants and animals. Everyone living nearby will be polluted sooner or later; no one can escape it!"

Igor's tone was full of exasperation and frustration, "Do they think that just because there's a mountain in between, everything will be fine... and there's the factory too!"

"If it's about mining, then so be it. But how can you let a factory be built so close to residential areas? Once the factory is built and operating at full capacity, the toxic wastewater and exhaust fumes it produces will only get worse. What's in their heads? Horse manure?"

“As long as there’s money to be made, what does this matter?” Jimmy’s tone was calm. Cheder had several refineries under his control, and he had seen far too many legal cases involving factory environments. “Don’t overestimate them. In their eyes, only people with the surname Zolael are considered human.”

"As for the others, they are all livestock such as pigs and cows. If they get sick or rot, we just replace them with another batch."

……

“Yes, Jimmy, you’re right…” Igor lowered his head, which was a size larger than normal, and looked repeatedly at his palms and the backs of his hands, as if to confirm whether dirty blood flowed in his deformed body.

Finally, as if making a decision, he clenched his fist and muttered, "So, all of this should fucking end."

"Young lady, let me give you a friendly reminder. My older brother is a very charming person. He's very good at using this tactic to deal with people. It's not just talk; he makes you feel that he really cares about you and is thinking about you. I've seen him do it before; he's incredibly skilled. To be honest, I can't even compare to him."

"But that's fake. When the time comes, he'll make you die without hesitation... so don't fall for it."

Igor earnestly advised her, "You've seen it yourself, this godforsaken place has no future."

“Mr. Laro?” Recalling what had happened these past few days, Amy pondered for a moment. “I think he simply doesn’t have time to pay attention to me. There’s an even bigger problem ahead of him. These days, he’s always been elusive and unpredictable.”

……

For other people, it might just be casual conversation over tea or dinner, and they would just let it slide by.

But Igor is different.

Laro once commented that he "only sees, doesn't analyze," but in fact, Igor is better at listening than observing.

It's somewhat pathetic, but since childhood, he's been constantly ridiculed because of his dwarfism. To fight back, he had to listen at all times to find loopholes in their language and logic—he developed the habit of listening and thinking simultaneously.

Igor firmly believes that key information can be precisely extracted from the words a person unconsciously uses.

"His whereabouts are uncertain?" Igor asked. "What do you mean? Did he go to Rongma Town?"

“Sometimes,” Amy said hesitantly, “but…a lot of the time, he would suddenly appear somewhere and then suddenly disappear, and no one saw how he got there.”

“Once I went to see him to ask about my future plans. But his room door was locked, and he said he had gone out. I waited at the bottom of the stairs on the first floor for a long time, and then he suddenly came downstairs. He told me in a serious tone that I shouldn’t come to see him unless it was something very important.”

“I asked some people around him, but none of them told me anything. They just told me to ask less about Laro’s whereabouts.”

"Isn't it weird?"

……

"Disappeared suddenly, then reappeared suddenly?" Jimmy's drunkenness kicked in, and his speech became slurred. "Magic? I've seen it before, it's nothing new. Someone performed it at the Jade Theater..."

"..." Igor frowned, thinking rapidly.

Disappearance, reappearance.

Avoiding crowds? But why?