Chapter 3

You want an explanation?

Rhode almost laughed out loud. He shook his head inside. A small-time gang boss who only throws his weight around in some backwater town in America actually dared to demand answers from the King of the Abyss, the guy who commands a million troops and makes enemy nations back off for miles? It was ridiculous.

"I can give you an explanation," Rhode said, his face calm, his tone as casual as if he was talking about the weather. "But first, you answer one question."

"Hahaha!" James laughed angrily, his eyes full of cruelty. "Interesting. No one in the north side has ever dared to set terms with me, James. Go ahead, I'll let you die knowing why."

Rhode pulled a slightly wrinkled photo from his coat and flicked it. The photo landed neatly on the table in front of James.

"Have you seen this girl? Did she go missing from your bar half a month ago?"

James glanced down at the photo of the innocent girl—Rhode's sister, Mary. A flash of guilt and lust crossed his eyes, but it quickly disappeared.

He looked up, grinning viciously as he licked his lips. "Oh, this little thing looks pretty fresh. I've had so many women, I don't remember. But... if you send her over to play with me for a few days, maybe I'll be happy enough to leave you a whole corpse."

You're dead.

Rhode's eyes turned cold in an instant, like an endless frozen abyss.

"Smack!"

Right after James finished speaking, Rhode grabbed a whiskey bottle off the table with his right hand and smashed it hard against James's big head, the swing carrying a fierce whoosh.

The bottle shattered.

Light red liquid mixed with bright red blood ran down James's fleshy face, looking especially shocking.

Silence.

Everyone in the room stared in shock, eyes wide with fear.

How dare he?! Surrounded by hundreds of Gray Serpent gang members, he actually made the first move and smashed their boss's head?!

"Ah—! You bastard!"

James clutched his bleeding head, his face twisted in pain. He'd never taken a hit like this before. He started screaming at the top of his lungs, "Chop him up! Turn him into dog food! Do it!!"

"Kill—!"

At the order, hundreds of Gray Serpent thugs armed with knives and pipes charged forward with a roar, their killing intent flooding the room. The dense crowd was about to swallow Rhode.

But Rhode didn't even blink.

He moved like a blur, charging straight at James through the wave of blades.

A few guys in his way didn't even see what happened before a terrifying force slammed into them, sending them flying and coughing blood.

One second? Half a second?

When everyone could see clearly again, Rhode was already right in front of James.

"I'll ask you one last time. Tell me where she is."

Rhode's voice sounded like a death sentence from the depths of hell. He struck fast, grabbing James's thick neck with an iron grip and lifting the two-meter-tall giant clean off the ground with one hand.

In that moment, Rhode's eyes turned empty and deep, and the terrifying killing aura he'd built from walking through mountains of corpses poured out without holding back.

Boom!

The temperature in the entire bar seemed to drop ten degrees in an instant. Everyone shivered hard, like they'd fallen into an ice pit. That was the kind of absolute killing intent only someone who's killed thousands could have.

James, dangling in the air with his neck squeezed, kicked his legs wildly, his face turning from red to purple.

Looking into Rhode's emotionless eyes, James's usual toughness from years in the underworld collapsed. He felt death. This man would really kill him, and crushing him would be as easy as stepping on an ant.

"I... I'll talk... let... let go..." James squeezed out a weak plea from his throat.

Rhode loosened his grip. James dropped to the floor like a dead dog, coughing violently while clutching his neck.

"She... she was taken by the Black Robe!" James gasped for air, shaking with fear.

"Who's the Black Robe?" Rhode looked down at him, his eyes sharp as knives.

"It's... it's the head of the New York Black Robe Society, a very mysterious woman. I just pick out suitable college girls at the bar and send them to her. I don't know anything else!" James kowtowed frantically. "As for finding the Black Robe... she only contacts me one way. I can't reach her! Please spare me, that's all I know!"

Rhode looked down at James, a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

"A useless guy like you doesn't deserve to waste air." Rhode spoke flatly and lifted his right foot, ready to crush James's skull.

Feeling the deadly pressure from above, James screamed hysterically, "If you fucking kill me, the Gray Serpents won't let you go! No one in New York can protect you!"

"Oh? Who gave you the confidence to say no one in New York can protect him?"

Suddenly.

A cold, proud, commanding female voice came from the bar entrance without warning.

"Crash—"

The bar door was shoved open roughly. Dozens of bodyguards in black suits, sunglasses, and earpieces rushed in, quickly surrounding the Gray Serpent gang members who had been surrounding Rhode.

Under everyone's gaze.

Ivy, wearing delicate black high heels and a black coat that hugged her perfect figure, walked slowly into the bar with an overwhelming queen-like presence.

"Ivy Moretti?!"

The moment James saw who it was, his face, already pale from being choked, turned even whiter than paper.

Rhode still had James by the throat, half his body off the ground, his face flushed red. But when James saw Ivy, his whole body started shaking uncontrollably.

In New York, the name Ivy stood for absolute wealth and ruthless methods.

Ivy ignored the gang boss on the floor. Her cold eyes had locked onto Rhode the second she walked in. Her gaze was complicated—still carrying a bit of lingering shame and anger, but mostly something hard to describe.

"In New York," Ivy stopped three steps from Rhode in her high heels, her cold voice echoing clearly in the silent bar, "who would dare touch a single hair on my man?"