CHAPTER 49: NIGHT RAID (1)

The moonlight shone bright at night. No clouds were covering its gentle and soothing light.

However, the light it gave was meaningless to the hundreds of city lights shining all over the city and the slums.

Out of the countless stars in the sky, only a few of the brightest ones managed to overpower the city lights to show off their beautiful shine.

Eben now stood beside the window, staring at one of the stars that were still visible in the midst of light pollution.

"So? There’s still no news whatsoever about the Strong Arm gang?" He asked without leaving his gaze through the window.

His underling answered, "No, boss. No one came to report or say anything.

Even other gangs couldn’t get any info from trying to get close to their building and find out what happened.

Even some of them who knew the people who stood guard on the door never got any answer when they tried to communicate with them."

Eben finally turned away from the star and faced his underling.

"Let’s go. We’ll check things out yourselves."

======

"And that’s done! We should be able to start receiving patients tomorrow."

Ash sat on the vine and root chair he made in the reception room.

The chair was guaranteed to be structurally strong since it was made out of titanroot.

And as for the comfiness? It was made with braided vines. It wasn’t as comfortable as silk and wool, but it wouldn’t make your glutes ache even after sitting still for a couple of hours there.

’Now, I only need to think of ways to make people come here and what I should do with the ex gang members...’

Ash’s plan to gain a place in society was to make a clinic.

There were many sick people in the slums. And a lot of them didn’t have access to proper medication.

From the ex gang members’ stories, there was a real clinic with real doctors, but the price was nothing but affordable.

The most common way people treated their sickness was to buy a drug from a non-licensed pharmacy that was run by people who didn’t have a proper education in medicine.

They would only go to the clinics if their loved one’s life was in danger and needed urgent and proper care. They wouldn’t even usually do it if it were for their own lives.

And they would either lose all of their savings or go into lifelong debt if they decided to do that.

Hence the reason why they usually preferred to just enjoy the remaining time they have and die instead of going into a lifelong debt for themselves.

Though Ash technically didn’t have an ability to cure, his ability will definitely free these people from their sickness.

They would triumph over the disease that struck them and made it theirs.

Besides, Ash also needed those diseases for himself.

By opening a clinic, he would be getting a win-win situation for himself and the people of the slums.

In fact, it was a double win for him.

Ash would not only get his place in society, but he would also get all kinds of new diseases and unlock even more abilities for himself.

’But I doubt people would just blindly trust gang members if they told them that they had just opened a very cheap clinic that didn’t cost them a limb.’

It would even be a miracle if these people didn’t think the gang members were actually kidnaping them to have their organs sold to the black market.

Ash scratched the back of his head.

’I need some publicity stunt or a very good marketing strategy to be able to do this...’

Caw. Caw.

Keen’s sudden caws pulled Ash from his thoughts.

He went to the underground training room and called out,

"Jack! Are there more Strong Arm members that are still out of the hideout?"

With a single stride that covered several meters with ease, Jack came over and bowed his head.

"No, boss. All members of Strong Arm are here. There’s no one else."

But Keen’s message was clear.

"Then, do you know why more than 40 people are making their way to our base in the middle of the night?"

Jack rubbed his chin and stared intensely at the floor, his mind trying to come up with a reason for it.

After a few long seconds, Jack finally spoke, "Yes, boss. There might be a reason for that...."

Jack then began explaining about Strong Arm’s relationship with one of the main gangs that ruled the slum, the Grey Leash.

"So, basically, you guys were trusted to run this part of the slums by these people and you should’ve given them a daily report?"

"Yes, boss."

Ash facepalmed.

"No wonder they were this serious. The commotion this afternoon must have alerted a lot of people,

and without any one of you guys reporting to them what had happened, they must have thought that something extreme must have happened."

’Which wasn’t wrong, by the way...’

"I’m sorry, boss. I forgot about them." Jack bowed even lower.

"No, no. I should’ve asked you guys more about the politics in the slums. But do tell me more about all the things in the slums after this."

Knowing what the problem was calmed Ash a little.

’This is unrelated to the city finding out about my abilities.’

But now the problem was, what should Ash do?

If he decided to fight and kill every single intruder, then he would really be screaming to the world that someone with enough power to cause danger to the city had come into the slums.

And if he decided to induct them all into his family, then the sudden, drastic change in the people’s behavior would also be recognized by other residents of the slums.

He needed to slowly spread his gift to the masses.

And no one would even be aware that they had joined Ash’s family until everyone was on his side and there was no one left who would oppose them.

Neither of the two available options seemed that beneficial to him.

But staying inside the base and doing nothing was an even worse action.

He would see for himself whether there’s another option that hadn’t been unlocked yet.