Chapter 37: Turf war

In the town of Slough there was an unwritten rule concerning the area where Gary lived. When the sun went down, that was when the underworld came out to play. The coloured gangs and more would roam the streets.

If Gary hadn’t told his mother he would be staying at Tom’s, who lived in a more affluent area, then she would be worried out of her mind. He had also often lied about his parents dropping him off by their apartment as well.

As a former transporter for the Underdogs, Gary had needed to learn not only where their own territories were, but also what territories belonged to which colour gang as well as which areas were the most common fight spots. The knowledge that the entire town, except for a few key areas, had been divided in so many sub areas which the gangs claimed for their own, had left quite the bitter aftertaste in his mouth.

It had been vitaly important to memorise the safest route as it was rarely the most direct one. Gary often would have to go through a bunch of different territories to reach his destination. It was safe to say that he had been quite good at his job, which was why he had never failed a delivery until that day.

‘At least I got this strange system out of this all.’ Gary thought to himself as he quickened his pace. He had his hood up covering his green hair, not that it stood out among all the other punks that were currently out on the streets. After all, he had chosen that hair colour for that reason specifically.

Still, for what he was about to do, he needed to make sure that he wouldn’t be recognisable.

Using what money he had left, he bought a few cheap rags from the convenience store that were black in colour. Leaving the store, he searched for an unoccupied alley and started to rip them up, then tied them around his arm and legs, covering them fully. Once he was done, Gary headed towards a certain area of town.

It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. The graffiti on the wall that had marked this area as belonging to the black coloured gang appeared to have just recently been tagged over with red paint. This was the same as claiming ownership over this area.

Gary closed his eyes and concentrated on his ears. All his senses had been sharpened ever since he woke up with the Werewolf System. Listening carefully, he could hear the sounds of some people talking amongst themselves. Although he was unable to hear exactly what they said, he did make out the sound of a spray can. Opening his eyes he walked in the direction the sounds came from.

‘It seems like luck is on my side tonight. But for the red colour gang to have spread this far out into the black colour gang’s territory and to do it so brazenly… Surely they should know that the black colour gang works for the Underdogs… are they just brave, stupid… or do they actually have the backing of someone who is willing to go against Damion and his goons?’ Gary thought as he stepped out.

“Hey, this ain’t your territory! Do you really think you should be doing that?” Gary asked, his heart beating louder with every word he spoke. Just as he had heard, there were three of them, all wearing red colours. One of them was clearly holding a spray can in the midst of tagging yet another wall, but as for the others, Gary had no clue what type of weapons they might have on them.

The three young adults looked at each other for a second and started to laugh. The one closest to Gary, who also happened to be the largest among the group, therefore most likely designated as the lookout, came at Gary.

“Let's get him!” The man swung at Gary, sure that the height difference would play out in his favour, but the high schooler was able to duck the first punch.

‘Luckily, I used Charging Heart as soon as I entered the alleyway. Were those gang members always so aggressive? Here I thought I would need to taunt them a bit more.’ Gary saw an opening, a chance to attack, so he quickly kicked the first person right in the stomach, using the tip of his toes to dig in.

The man hurled over and Gary mused that if he had gone in again he could have finished off the first member, but instead he decided to turn around and run.

‘I can’t underestimate them, and I can’t let them see my face clearly! There’s three of them and only one of me.’ He reminded himself as he widened the distance, but at the same time made sure to allow the gang members to follow after him.

Running away, the red coloured gang members were soon chasing after Gary. Three members soon became six, then nine. The first three hadn’t exactly kept quiet, making others notice them and join in the chase.

The sheer number of them which continued to grow, reassured Gary that he had made the right decision in choosing not to fight. If he had been caught up with the first three, then there was a good chance the others would have joined and eventually outnumbered him.

This morning, with Gary’s brimming overconfidence after becoming a type of Altered who had even won a fight in the arena, he would have decided to fight the three of them. After all, there was that one instance when he had managed to defeat five members of a coloured gang, but after losing to Xin, he felt humbled. His crush had reminded him that one shouldn’t judge someone by only their outer appearance.

“That guy, he’s not fast but he isn’t slowing down!” One of the Red gang members huffed as they continued to chase.

Gary couldn’t deny that fact, not when his system had assigned him a mere 3 points of Dexterity which he figured was linked to his speed. Even after using Charging Heart his running wasn’t much faster than the average person’s. Fortunately, he more than made up for that in the stamina department that he had already confirmed was linked to his Energy bar.

Eventually, Gary arrived at his destination, a park with an open platform. Using his sensitive ears he could hear what he had been hoping for.

“I need help! Red colour gang has come to fight us!” Gary shouted out loud.

It was only then, that the dozen or so red coloured gang members noticed that they had been following Gary all the way into an entirely different area, one that was under stricter control of the black coloured gang. A group of black coloured gang members that would regularly use the park as their hangout spot was already present and quickly surrounded the trespassers.

[New quest received]

[My enemy’s enemy…]

[Using your knowledge you have caused quite the stir]

[You have instigated a turf war!]

Choose a side and make sure they win!]

[Quest reward: 50 Exp per defeated person]

There were around ten of them in total, making the fight more or less even. The red members, seeing no situation out of this mess, decided to go ahead and fight. The two sides clashed bringing out their weapons in the form of bike chains, pocket knives and baseball bats. Some just used their fists and those were the ones who knew how to fight a little better than others.

As for Gary, he didn’t just stay a bystander in all of this, he was also joining in, mostly because he needed to. For one, he needed not to blow his cover and then there was also his Quest reward.

Nevertheless, Gary was sneaky enough to wait for the right chance before delivering the knockout blow to the weakened enemy. Were all of this a game, the gang members might complain about him essentially kill stealing, but as it was, the other black coloured gang members just regarded him as an other member. In this intense moment they didn’t care who got the last punch in, yet for Gary it was vitally important, because the counter that had appeared would only go up when he would knock someone out.

The fight didn’t last more than a few minutes, and in the end the black coloured gang had won. Huffing and panting, three of them were still standing, well four if one included Gary, while the rest had lost consciousness. Surprisingly, despite some of them having had pocket knives, nobody was bleeding badly apart from a few scratches.

[Quest reward: 450 Exp]

[Congratulations, you have now reached: Level 4]

[A stat point has been granted]

[50/460 exp]

Seeing this, Gary was pleased that he now had two total stat points to allocate, since he had not yet allocated the previous one. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been able to decide what to use it for, but he had come to the realisation that it was wiser to allow his body to naturally improve until it hit some sort of limit, before he would start using them.

“Hey you were quite skilled there man, what group are you from?” One of the black coloured gang members approached Gary from behind who still had his face turned away.

Unfortunately, as a transporter Gary had only needed to know about the coloured gang’s territories, so he didn’t know the ins and outs of the gangs. While he was racking his brain on how to get out of the situation, he heard another sound from the system.

[Optional quest received]

[…is also my enemy?]

[The truth is you belong to neither of these gangs and now you can come out on top.]

[Defeat the remaining gang members!]

[Quest reward: 50 Exp per defeated person]

‘This system…’

*****

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