Enforcer Manual
Chapter 765 - 763: The Godfather Sends His Regards_1

Chapter 765: Chapter 763: The Godfather Sends His Regards_1

Soon, Lu Xiang received yet another piece of bad news.

The performers from the Spirit Troupe had disappeared. Not long ago, the staff of the Square Theatre received a notification from the troupe that all their performances for the next few days were canceled. No matter how the staff urged them, they couldn’t change the troupe’s mind.

The owner of Square Theatre’s heart was bleeding; this was supposed to be their chance for a turnaround, he had even dreamt of the theatre’s return to its glorious days. However, this beautiful dream was shattered with a single phone call from the Spirit Troupe. He could only speculate that the cancelation of the performance might be related to a murder that had occurred near the Square Theatre.

It was said that three people died in the alley across the street, the scene was extremely bloody, their hearts had been gouged out by an unknown murderer.

The theatre owner cursed the three drunkards in his heart, but he was also helplessly accepting the grim reality.

Now, he still had to deal with refunding tickets and apologizing to the audience.

As for Lu Xiang, the Spirit Troupe’s actions appeared no different from fleeing a crime in fear. Without locating the Spirit Troupe, they couldn’t identify those who had been infected by the "mechanical plague", and could only resort to the crude method of heading to the bar the three victims frequented at midnight.

However, due to her high profile in District Seventeen, the undercover investigation ultimately had to be handed over to Song Lan.

Aurora Bar was one of the most famous in District Seventeen. It used to be the property of "The Rat", and after "The Rat" became world-famous for putting up a multimillion-dollar bounty, Aurora Bar also reached the peak of its business. Aside from regular customers, there were also many former gang members who made a special trip there to pay homage to "The Rat’s" deeds.

The bar had set up an exclusive area for them, providing space for their activities.

Gathering together to reminisce about the gang’s past glory in District Seventeen and then getting blind drunk in the bar had become a part of many people’s lives.

Alcohol provided them with a space for fantasy, making things they wouldn’t dare do in reality come to life in the dreams of drunkenness.

And the next day, they continued their lives, nodding and bowing to the law enforcers.

Song Lan got the information about the three drunks quite easily from the bartender.

They were regulars of Aurora Bar, familiar faces long before "The Rat" became world-famous. But in reality, they were not formal gang members, at best they could be categorized as petty thugs who dared to engage in bottle fights when drunk.

They had always dreamt of joining "The Rat’s" gang to gain a legitimate gang member title, however, after offending a girl in the bar while drunk, they were blacklisted by the bouncers.

Before Lu Xiang’s arrival in the city, every gang member was a person of some standing – they wouldn’t allow three men known only for drunken brawling to become part of the gang.

Regrettably, the three never became real gang members before their deaths.

As soon as the topic turned to the three men, the bartender opened up like a floodgate, sighing endlessly.

Of course, this might also be related to the loss of three regular customers. Although they were far from being gang members, they were fairly desirable patrons, as they spent nearly all the money they got over the years on drinking.

"Have the three been particularly close with anyone in the bar recently?"

Song Lan casually asked.

Lu Xiang had investigated the lives of the three men and found their routine to be astonishingly regular – go to the bar to drink at night until they lost consciousness, and then sleep on the roadside for the entire following day.

"Hold up, buddy."

The bartender suddenly became aware of something and sized up Song Lan, "You’re asking all these questions, you’re not a cop, are you?"

Only law enforcers liked to dig so deep into a dead person’s life, and Song Lan was a newcomer in the bar, who had ordered just an orange juice since arriving.

Especially that last fact was extremely suspicious.

What gang member comes to a bar and doesn’t order alcohol?

After all, this was "The Rat" brother’s territory, and even though the gang members of District Seventeen were struggling, it didn’t mean the law enforcers could do whatever they wanted with them.

Refusing to cooperate with the investigation, that was their final act of defiance.

Song Lan had anticipated that the bartender would ask this, so he said, "There is an orphanage in the West District of Sector 17; I came from there."

Upon hearing this, the bartender first froze, then his look towards Song Lan changed.

People from the underworld were all too aware of the orphanage. Many of the big faces from the gangs were from that orphanage, and the head of the orphanage had the name of "Godfather" in Sector 17.

"How has the Godfather been lately?"

The bartender’s tone became a few degrees more respectful.

"The Godfather is fine; he’s very concerned about these three deceased, so he entrusted me to come and inquire. I hope you won’t make this difficult for me."

"Make things difficult for you? How could I?"

The bartender became somewhat fearful.

With connections that reached everywhere in Sector 17, the Godfather was a man of great influence. He heard that even Lu Xiang had personally paid a visit to the old man, and witnesses claimed to have seen them conversing cheerfully.

"You should go check out the VIP area; maybe the people there know something."

The bartender lowered his voice and added, "Oh, and send my regards to the Godfather."

When Song Lan arrived at the VIP area, the former gang members were gathered, reminiscing about the days when "Mr. Rat" and Chai Ke were still in Sector 17—the glory days that belonged to the gang.

The Godfather’s reputation was very effective amongst these former gang members; upon learning that Song Lan was sent by the Godfather, they were all very cooperative with his investigation.

Soon, through their accounts, they learned of the three individuals’ roles at Aurora Bar—as lackeys.

Flattery, pouring drinks, and helping with odd jobs—that was their usual life at the bar.

As the saying goes, hard work pays off.

After years of diligence, they eventually earned the appreciation of a group of gang members.

Before they died, they had become close with a group claiming to be the Red Lotus Gang.

However, they didn’t know much about the Red Lotus Gang; it was known that in the past, they were an extremely xenophobic bunch, and even other gangs considered them to be utter lunatics.

Acquiring dubious cybernetic prosthetics from black clinics, they had no qualms about the possibility of contracting cyberpsychosis and readily fitted those augmentations into their bodies, with many no longer bearing the appearance of a human being.

Even during the time when Lu Xiang was in charge, they maintained close ties with the black clinics, and their behaviors never subsided.

But oddly enough, despite transforming themselves into monstrous forms, the Red Lotus Gang never really had a case of actual cyberpsychosis.

"I’d advise you to give up; that crowd doesn’t care about anyone’s face, not even the Godfather has sway over them," said a former gang member, his face flushed from drinking as he spoke to Song Lan, his tongue swollen from alcohol, "The only way to blend in with them is one."

"What way?"

"Transplant cybernetic prosthetics, loads of military-grade ones. As long as you remodel yourself to look like a ghost, they’ll come to you on their own accord. Oh, and those three before had also been to the Red Lotus Gang’s territory."

As he spoke, he took several more good looks at Song Lan, "The way you are now definitely won’t work, no chance at all."