Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Do I look like I'm kidding? ...

"You know how to get in, right?" Alvin confirmed.

"That's easy," Elio said. "I was supposed to be on duty tonight."

Alvin nodded. Elio slid down the pipe to the ground, took off his hood, dusted himself off, and walked into the bar through the back door. Less than ten minutes later, one of the Black Gang members who had previously broken into Graham's house emerged from the back door, followed by a young man in a bartender's suit.

"So," Elio said, locking the back door, "you're a member of Liam 'Lucky' Quinn's gang?"

"Of course, little boy," the gang member teased, cigarette in his mouth, "You wanna join too?"

"Why did you break into Graham's house?" Elio said.

The gang member stopped laughing. "You don't know what you're asking for." He spat his cigarette onto the ground and reached behind him. "I suggest you think carefully before you speak..."

He felt nothing. The contents of his holster had vanished without a trace. Only then did his expression turn serious.

"Looking for this?"

Elio pulled a gun from behind him, loaded it with one hand, and quickly pointed it at the gang members.

"Damn, when?"

"I suggest you think carefully before you speak," Elio said steadily. "I'm going to ask you a few questions—just a few. Answer them, and I'll let you go. No one else will know about our conversation tonight unless you tell them yourself."

Alvin quietly jumped off the roof, climbed up a nearby short wall with a better view, and squatted there to watch.

The threatened gang member looked at Elio for a moment and suddenly laughed.

"Come on, kid," he changed his stance and easily shifted his weight to the right, "You've never seen blood. I know what someone who has killed someone looks like, and you're far from a murderer. Don't think you can scare people like a bat just because you have a gun in your hand. Drop the gun now, and I'll let you go..."

Elio lowered the muzzle of his gun, which was aimed at him, as if he had been persuaded. Seeing this, a smug look flashed across the face of the Black Gang member - he knew that this silent kid could not do anything.

But the next second, sparks flew from the muzzle, and before he could realize what was happening, a sharp pain in his abdomen forced him to bend over.

"What…"

Elio didn't miss the chance to lose focus. He kicked the gang member where he'd been shot, knocking him to the ground. Blood stained the soles of his cheap leather boots red as Elio stepped on the wound. With a blank expression, he bent down and pressed the still-hot muzzle of his gun against the gang member's temple. As the gang member screamed in agony, Elio's other hand lifted the man's collar, forcing him to look up and face him.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" he demanded.

"I tell you, I tell you!" The gang members shook their heads. "You want to know why I went to Graham's house and rummaged around? It's simple: our boss told us to do it!"

"Nonsense," Elio said. "Why would he let you do that?"

“Because… because…”

He rolled his eyes, and Elio's leather boot immediately crushed threateningly on his abdomen.

"Please spare me!" the gang members howled. "I don't know why!"

Elio said, "Tell me what you know."

"Well," the Black Gang member twisted his body, "I don't know much, really. It's not like Graham was just a small boss..."

Elio was halfway through his speech when he looked as if he had seen a ghost. "What do you mean by Graham? Is he one of your guys?"

"Damn it," the Black Gang member's eyes widened. "You don't even know this? Then why are you asking about him?"

Before Elio could say anything, the back door of the bar behind them opened with a failed sound.

"What's going on?" someone muttered dazedly, "The back door is locked?"

They had to hurry up. Elio decided to ignore this suspicion for now and knocked the gang member's head with the muzzle of his gun. "Never mind, keep talking."

"Okay, okay," the Black Gang member said quickly, "I heard that he betrayed Quinn and was arrested. My friend and I were sent to search his house to find out if he had any other... accomplices..." As he spoke, his voice gradually lowered, and the look in his eyes as he looked at Elio became full of realization.

Isn’t this the accomplice the boss is looking for?

Elio narrowed his eyes, understanding the gang member's expression. Before he could deliver another kick, the gang member had already expertly thrown his head in his hands and begged for mercy, "I've never seen you before! I don't know anything!"

"You just said he betrayed Quinn?" Elio was unfazed. "Why would you say that?"

Isn't it because he and you are secretly having an affair?

Before the gang member could finish his sentence, Elio knocked him on the head again and said, "I'll give you a chance to think about it carefully."

"Let me think..." The gang member tried to recall, "I heard that he messed up a very important deal, and the boss is very angry with him..."

"What deal?!"

"I don't know that!" the gang member yelled. "I'm not high enough to know that kind of thing!"

He was about to ask more questions when the back door unlocked. Elio paused, glancing back unconsciously. In that instant, the gang member, previously restrained by him, seized the opportunity and reached for the gun pressed against his head. Unable to wrestle, he struck Elio on the wrist, sending the gun tumbling from both of their hands and sliding a mere foot away.

The boss, who had unlocked the back door, was stunned when he saw this scene. The other gang members behind him impatiently pushed him aside, and then he also saw the two figures fighting for the pistol in the alley.

"Damn it!" He reacted and cursed loudly, "Brothers, someone is attacking!"

The other drunken gang members rushed out. Elliot was suddenly caught in a pincer attack. Although he had grabbed the gun, he couldn't help but feel hopeless. In front of him, the gang member holding his stomach just smiled smugly and opened his mouth as if to say something, but the next second, he froze.

His pause seemed to signal something. The battle-hardened Gothamites, swept by the chill of the night air, once again outsmarted their opponents. No one moved. Everyone stared at each other, and Elio sweat dropped.

The gang member in front of him moved first. But it wasn't his hands or his feet that moved, it was his neck. He raised his head with a click, then slowly looked upwards. Behind Elio, a blurry shadow had fallen on the bar sign.

"Good evening," the hooded figure greeted them briskly, "assholes."

The assassin leaped down. He used his weight to pummel the gang members, kicking the enemy behind Elio into the ground. By the time the others reacted and raised their guns, the ball in his windbreaker had already rolled to the ground.

"Grenade?!" the gang members were shocked.

But it wasn't a grenade. The assassin rarely used weapons of mass destruction; it didn't fit his aesthetic. Smoke billowed, and Alvin moved among the indiscriminately attacking gang members, silently strangling their consciousness. When the smoke cleared, a pile of "corpses" lay where they lay, their lives or deaths unknown.

The only one left was another gang member who had broken into Graham's home during the day.

"Speak." Alvin stepped on his head.

"I'll tell you!" he begged. "Whatever you want to know!"

Alvin glanced at Elio. The dark-haired young man in a suit had knocked out the gang member he had just interrogated and was approaching with a gun dripping with blood.

"What deal did Graham break?" he asked deadpan.

"I heard..." the gang member said hesitantly under intimidation, "It's human trafficking..."

Alvin frowned. So, "the boss used Graham to fill the gap in 'goods'."

"Go on," Elio said.

"Every once in a while, they'd grab some people from the streets and take them to a designated location," the gang member confided intermittently, "and that's all I know!"

Perhaps he knew he hadn't said enough and was afraid the interrogator would be dissatisfied, so he quickly added, "There's no time, no place. They're very cautious, only calling in someone about half an hour before the transaction, and they also take away the phone during the transaction."

"You were involved?" Elio asked.

"No," the gang member replied without hesitation, "but my friend was called in once."

Elio was lost in thought. He slowly crouched down in front of the gang member, sizing him up. Alvin glanced at him and released the gang member, who didn't dare resist, instead shrank back against the wall. "Do you have any other questions?"

"I have a small favor I'd like you to do me a favor for," Elio said pleasantly.

Alvin immediately guessed what he was going to do, "You can't be serious."

"I am," Elio said.

“…Can I refuse?” the gang member asked.

Alvin and Elio stared at him together.

"It's simple," Elio said. "If you're ever asked to participate in a trade, just let me know."

His tone was gentle, almost negotiating. The gang members remembered the boy's tepid tone when he'd asked them if they could get a different soft drink when they were out of it. It was damn near identical to his tone now. But he didn't dare to respond casually now.

"How should I tell you?" he asked timidly.

Elio was silent for a moment. Alvin, standing beside him, unzipped his windbreaker, pulled out a disposable cell phone, and tossed it to the gang member.

“There’s only one number in there,” he said, “and you can dial it from anywhere.”

The gang member took the phone, flipped it over, looked at it, and stuffed it into his pocket. Seeing that the two killers in front of him had no other problems, he took a few steps back and then ran away quickly with his hands and feet together.

"Thank you," Elio said.

"Don't thank me so quickly," Alvin sighed, running his fingers through his red hair, "Honestly, you need to rest now."

Fatigue weighed heavily on Elio's shoulders. But he ignored Alvin's advice.

"I'm going to investigate Willow's disappearance," Elio said.

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