Everyone cherishes time, but time is also the most helpless of things.
It won’t show you any more mercy just because you cherish it, nor will it move any slower for you.
Whether you cherish it or ignore it, your time and everyone else’s is the same.
Or rather, the process of matter acting upon your bodies is the same.
It’s even possible that because you cherish time, you make yourself more tired.
But who can really say for sure about such things?
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
After lunch, Sarif went to the cemetery. They had a family cemetery where all their relatives were buried.
This year, several new tombstones had been added. They stood there quietly, showing no signs of decay, nor any heavy sense of grief.
Inadvertently, he discovered a fallen yellow leaf in the grass on the ground. When he looked up at the trees above, he realized that although it was still summer, some of the leaves on the trees had already turned yellow.
No matter how fiercely the sun shone on this world, it could not stop the arrival of autumn.
Those lives that had bloomed against the scorching sun in the height of summer were finally about to meet their end, just like the people lying here.
They may have once had their own glories, joys, and sorrows, but when everything came to an end, they were all the same, whether you were outstanding or mediocre in the past.
A killing intent hidden in the wind, accompanied by some spiritual and intellectual stirrings, swept through this world.
He patted the tombstone closest to him, turned around, and strode outside. Today, he was going to bring closure for the relatives who had died this year.
He would make Rick understand that the stupidest thing he had ever done was to make a move on him.
He got into his car and headed towards the city center, and his subordinates also got into their cars one after another, beginning to act according to the established plan.
On the other side, a dozen kilometers away, Rick stood by the window, consuming a fine cigar. On the open ground of the estate in front of him, there were more than a dozen cars parked, and a large group of gunmen who had just arrived were chatting in groups of three or five.
As long as Sarif was taken care of, the Tita family would be like a cripple with a broken leg, unable to hop around anymore.
Then, after dealing with a few other people, he and the Kodak family would become one of the twin emperors of Golden Port.
A scene that he couldn’t even have fantasized about for so many years actually had a chance of becoming a reality. He felt an endless sense of exhilaration in his heart.
He held the thick cigar, savoring the taste of burning money.
Every fine cigar is rolled from money. Perhaps every puff is a few cents, a dozen cents, or even more expensive.
A gust of wind blew, gentle and soft. He glanced at the time, made a gesture, and the gunmen all got into the cars.
He looked down at this scene from above, like an emperor about to ascend the throne, reviewing his soldiers.
It was time to bring all this to an end.
“Are you afraid?”
In the Pasoretto family estate, Alberto looked at Francisco. The sixteen-year-old boy shook his head. “No, I’m not afraid.”
If his voice hadn’t been trembling, then his expression would have been more convincing.
He was afraid. Actually, it was quite normal to be afraid, because this was not an outing, but a battle.
In a battle, people will die. Either the enemy, or one’s own people.
Every life is worthy of respect, no matter whose it is. And what a battle does is to take away the most precious thing from others.
Alberto stuck the cigarette he had just lit into his mouth. “You’ll get used to it.”
He pulled open the car door. They were not needed today, but they would also be at the scene, to watch Rick meet his end.
Francisco took a deep drag of the cigarette. His lungs felt a little itchy. He coughed twice after exhaling the smoke. He was not used to the strong cigarettes Alberto had given him.
However, he did not throw it away. He got into the car holding the cigarette. Behind them, the people by the seven or eight cars also got in.
Sitting in the car, Francisco felt his blood begin to burn. He had a very special feeling. He didn’t know how to describe it. In short, his emotions were very agitated now.
“Are we going directly, or with Uncle Lance?”
“Cisco, anyone in this world may one day be unreliable, including me. In the end, the only one you can rely on, the only one who can provide you with help, is yourself.”
Alberto patted the driver’s seat, and the driver started the car.
Lance’s afternoon nap was awakened by the alarm. He rubbed his face.
The summer afternoons were particularly prone to drowsiness. He was also still in his growing stage. He started to get drowsy and took a nap on the sofa.
After he got Mr. Jobav’s bank, he would arrange a rest room in his office. When he needed to rest, he could lie down for a while.
“Is everyone ready?”
He reached out and took a glass of iced orange juice from Elvin’s hand and took a sip.
The sweet and sour taste, coupled with the icy coolness, woke him up quite a bit.
No, it wasn’t just icy. There were also mint leaves and the like added. The air was cool as it passed through his trachea when he breathed.
“The boys are all ready.”
Lance took a couple more sips, put the glass back on the table. He stood up, supporting himself on his legs, and twisted his neck, making a cracking sound. “Then let’s set off.”
He added in his heart, to blow the horn for the demise of the Five Families!
At 2:50, Bandy sat at an open-air coffee table on the third-floor terrace. There was only his table on the entire terrace, and only him.
He was smoking, thinking about some things.
With the sound of footsteps, he looked towards the door. It was Sarif.
He stood up, took a final drag of his cigarette, threw the butt on the ground and stomped on it, then greeted him with a smile, extending his hand to shake Sarif’s, and then they hugged each other.
“Thank you for coming,” Bandy invited him to sit down. “Rick should be here soon. I’ve invited you both here again today to end the terrible situation in Golden Port as soon as possible.”
“Sarif, you are a smart man. you must be able to understand that our current situation is actually not good.”
This was a very “coercive” statement. If you “don’t understand,” then it means you are not a smart person. Most people are unwilling to admit that they are not smart, so they can only go along with his words.
However, it was clear that Sarif did not intend to accept this statement. “I don’t want to know what the situation is now, nor do I want to care too much. I just want to know when I can get revenge for my family.”
Bandy frowned slightly. “You’ve already killed his son. It should be even.”
“I’ll repeat once more, I didn’t do it!”
As they were speaking, Rick also walked in from outside. He glanced sideways at Sarif. “What didn’t you do?”
Sarif said directly, “Your son, I didn’t kill him!”
“This matter was handled by Alberto and Lance, so we are not even.”
Rick didn’t even sit down before he slammed the table and leaned forward to look at him. The coffee on the table was shaken by the slamming action, so much so that it splashed out. “Don’t fucking portray yourself as so innocent. You are all in this together. I don’t care who specifically did it, you are all responsible.”
Sarif also started to argue. “My cousin also died, my younger cousin also died, my… why the fuck don’t you talk about this?”
Seeing the two start to argue again, Bandy frowned with a headache. He slapped the table and said in a voice that suppressed both of them, “I didn’t invite you here today to argue, but to solve problems!”
“Both of you, sit back down!”
The two glared at each other, but in the end, they sat back down.
Although they were all one of the Five Families, there was also a distinction between strong and weak among the Five Families.
For example, the Kodak family, which had already been laundered through the profits generated by their casinos, was clearly a cut above the other families.
They were the only ones who had truly achieved “full coverage,” whether it was in gang business or the federal government.
When he spoke, these two guys still had to have some scruples.
In fact, whether it was Rick, Sarif, or Figal or Paul, they had never thought of doing anything to the Kodak family, because they were too strong.
The gangs of this era were indeed very strong. They could even formulate social rules on an equal footing with the federal government in some areas.
But a gang was ultimately just a gang. It had a ceiling. Before a gang with the same scale as a country emerged, as long as things continued to escalate, the one that would ultimately fail would still be the gang.
Here in Golden Port, among the Five Families, the Kodak family possessed the power to let problems continue to escalate and to solve them.
Seeing the two sit back down, a reserved smile appeared on his face. “We can have a good talk…”
In fact, this talk did not last long, because besides cursing at each other and demanding some impossible things, they had no intention of working towards a negotiation at all.
Their gunmen were just outside. Now they were just waiting for the other party to step out of the hotel, and then be shot into a sieve.
Maybe in ten minutes, maybe in twenty, the person opposite them would be dead. Why would they still talk to them?
Bandy was also too lazy to continue mediating. He directly declared the negotiations a failure and left first.
He didn’t want to get blood on himself. After all, they had been old friends for many years.
Sitting in his car, Bandy closed the door and said softly, “A little faster, leave this vicinity as soon as possible.”
“Yes, sir,” the driver felt a clear pushback when he started the car.
Actually, these gentlemen did not like the feeling of being pushed back. When not pursuing speed, the feeling of being pushed back would only make them feel uncomfortable.
Just like an elevator.
For some reason, as the car was leaving, Bandy kept looking at both sides of the street. He found that the street today was a bit strange.
The strange thing was that there were people sitting in the cars on both sides of the road. These people were basically all quiet, neither talking nor moving, just sitting inside.
Some people also looked over at him, the indifference in their eyes making him shiver in this hot summer.
Are these the gunmen Rick found?
He could only think so. He would not have thought that Sarif had also arranged for people, let alone that Alberto and Lance had also arranged for people, just for today to completely get rid of Rick.
“Should we follow them?”
Elvin asked, sitting in the passenger seat.
If they were to follow, he only needed a gesture, and a car would follow. Lance shook his head. “Our target today is not him.”
Elvin’s gaze then left that car. Just as he was watching the car, Bandy seemed to have felt this gaze as well.
He saw the young man sitting in the passenger seat of the car looking at him, and also vaguely saw another person sitting in the back seat, who was not very clear.
There was no respect, fear, or other similar emotions in this person’s eyes. On the contrary, there was a look like he was looking at prey, which made him uncomfortable.
He began to have some doubts. Were these people really Rick’s gunmen, or were they… actually someone else?
With this thought, his heart was shocked. A chill crawled up his spine from his ass crack. With every inch it crawled up, another layer of goosebumps would rise. He shivered again.
He also withdrew his gaze from those people. At this time, he could have completely stopped, dialed a number in a roadside phone booth, and told Rick that the situation might be about to take an unplanned turn.
But for some reason, not only did he not stop, but he instead had the driver continue to speed up. “Faster.”
Only the further away he got from that place did his sense of unease gradually disappear.
He kept looking back, always feeling that that street had at this moment turned into the mouth of a monster that would swallow everything here.
And at this time, the two angry guys also walked out of the hotel. They each came to the side of the ramp on either side of the hotel. Their cars were waiting for them here.
Neither of them immediately got into their cars, but stood by the car door, looking at each other.
From a distance of about twenty meters, the two’s gazes met in mid-air. They both saw a very familiar thing in each other’s eyes, just as they were showing at this moment.
Contempt, mockery, the look of waiting to watch a good show…
Fucking sicko!
Both of them turned their heads and got into their cars. Sarif lit a cigarette, and Rick took out the half-smoked cigar from the cabinet inside the car.
The car trembled slightly and began to move.
He held a lighter to the cigar for a while before taking a puff.
After today, the landscape of Golden Port was going to undergo a huge change.
A faint smile appeared on Rick’s face. This damn guy, let him go see God!
Just as he was fantasizing about ruling the entire city, a car suddenly pulled up parallel to his. He frowned and looked at that car.
He didn’t like this situation, being parallel with someone. What kind of thing is he, to be parallel with me?
But the next second, the other party pulled out a submachine gun and pulled the trigger at him.
He subconsciously hid in the… wait, something is wrong, this should be “hid behind the seat” … but the sound of bullets hitting the glass, pa pa pa, made him come back to his senses. This car was bulletproof.
But his front and rear cars were not so lucky. Bulletproof vehicles were not cheap, and he couldn’t prepare one for each of his subordinates.
These subordinates escorting him were quickly shot into a hornet’s nest. The cars lost control and crashed into the houses on the side of the road.
The moment the gunshots rang out, the whole street was filled with screaming people. Bullets were flying everywhere. The glass showcases on the side of the road were constantly being shot with bullet holes and thus shattered.
Those shop owners were calling the police, praying that the police would come quickly, at least not until everything had gone as bad as it could.
Sarif stood up, a bit pathetic, his face flushed.
Partly from anger, partly from embarrassment. He had forgotten that his car was bulletproof, so much so that he had just dived to the ground in a pathetic manner. He hoped the driver didn’t see it, otherwise he would have to change drivers.
But at this time, he clearly didn’t have that much on his mind to deal with this matter. The cars escorting him in front and behind had already disappeared. The only thing he could do now was to find support as soon as possible.
The bulletproof glass was indeed bulletproof, but not indefinitely. It also had a limit to what it could withstand.
And these gunmen were clearly veterans. They continuously used the brief moment of impact, using baseball bats or something else to hit the bulletproof glass that was already full of cracks.
Seeing that it had already been deeply dented and was starting to shed glass shards, Rick hurriedly shouted, “Quick, drive back, go after Sarif, we have our people over there.”
The driver also realized this. He sharply turned the steering wheel when passing through an intersection.
At the same time, Sarif was also suffering the same attack. The bullets clanged against his car. The gunmen from Yalan were really not afraid of death.
They kept driving their cars to hit Sarif’s car, trying to force him to stop. The whole street was in a mess.
Sarif’s bodyguards also started to get out of their cars and exchange fire with these gunmen. The whole street was in a mess in an instant.
Lance felt it was both a bit unexpected, but also within reason, when he saw this scene.
There was a gleam in his eyes. He was clearly planning something.
Without his order, his people did not make a move.
Alberto saw that Lance’s men did not move, so he did not have his men move either.
The street was getting more and more chaotic. The traffic order was completely gone.
Even some passing drivers were hit. The cars were scattered all over the street.
Both sides had also discovered each other’s “existence,” and the scope of the firefight became even larger.
“Let’s deal with Rick first. He’s still too much of a danger to us.”
After a while, Lance made a decision. Elvin stuck his arm out of the car window, waved it in the direction of Rick, and the doors of more than a dozen cars on both sides of the road were pulled open in an instant. A large number of gang members with weapons rushed out of the cars and chased after Rick’s car.
Alberto’s men also began to act. With so many people, even if some of Rick’s gunmen had returned to support him, they probably couldn’t hold out for too long.
The whole street became lively. The sound of crackling gunfire echoed throughout the city center.
(End of chapter)
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