35 Black Jack Society

The city bus was running on the middle of the City, its engine sound was roaring peacefully like a sleeping horse in the barn.

Naruto leaned his back on the seat they manage to get this time, maybe because it was a lunchtime now, so the people have no longer much to do in this period.

Naruto eyes glanced at the scene being play by the window of the modern wagon, though nothing special on the other side to watch, it just displaying people usual day. His face revealled a thoughtful expression, his eyes went blur sometimes as if he recalled for something. Then he turned his head to his left, the peacefully sleeping form of Zhang Cai became a feast for his eyes. Her steadied breathing and occasional parched mouth, the relax expression she wore which was a contrast against her previous expression that still fresh on his mind.

Naruto's mind went back, to the miniature park of the clearing on side of the road.

"Do you know Black Jack Society?"

"Hmm, I don't think so... I do know few of Society but none them has Black Jack as their name"

"Un, then I explain it to you..."

The sun was about to reach its peak when people started to fill the clearing, they took a sit on the wooden bench on these place, in order to release their exhaustion and tiredness after shopping for half a day.

Naruto and Zhang Cai sat on the same wooden bench, one in the left while another in the right, both of them observed the playground full of bunch little devils that running around in happiness. Zhang Cai took a deep breath before start talking with a solemn expression

"Black Jack Society is just the same as much other Society but the people they have consist of people who love to gamble."

"At first, these people just want to share their hobby and favorite betting game, but along with their society growing larger, they began to participate in many activities including politic, you won't be strange if found many government people supported by them."

"As for the reason of their involvement, you don't need to guess, what else but to prolong their dirty claw and influence in the south part of Zhong Hai."

Zhang Cai clenched her small hand into a fist as if she expresses her hate toward them. But then she seems remembered something.

"Ah, I forget to mention it to you that the south part of Zhong hai are famous for they gambling establishment, from a small shop to large casino, you can found them anywhere in there."

Naruto listened to Zhang Cai's explanation with a wrinkled brow, he didn't like these gambling sorts of thing, it just wastes of money, maybe deep inside him, he still held a grudge to his perverted mentor for plundering his saving, so he could gambling yet only for keep losing in the end.

"So what makes this Society a goose among the duck?"

Zhang Cai face became darken as she continues, "just like other, Black Jack Society engaged in many illegal activities: selling drugs, human trafficking, assassination, extortion, and every possible illegal thing you could imagine."

She turned her face to Naruto with a bitter smile, "That also includes bad loaning..."

Naruto's nerve system became tense the moment he saw her expression, she continued, "unlike others who like to play hard and crash, Black Jack, doing their activities with discretion and deception, even if you are part of their member, unless you enter their inner circle, you wouldn't know what they did.

As I state before, they like to play betting and they still do, but this is what made them exactly the worst of them all."

There was a slight pause inside her tone, is like she tried to say something hard.

"They reel you inside to their game and make you addicted but you don't realize that you actually fall as their prey.

And once you got inside their snare...

You might as well kiss your freedom goodbye..."

Naruto widened his eyes at her words, "Sister Cai, I'm not sure I really understand"

Zhang Cai while still with bitter expression explained slowly, " Black Jack Society will look for any people who seem likely in need of money or other reason relating to money, they persuade them to join their betting game, of course not all of the people they tried to reel was easy and not going to join them in a heart beat, but this scums would not easily give up, they will provide the poor and unfortunate person with false win and more false win until they blinded with momentary success, thus, they would be playing more and more."

Zhang Cai eyes gazed at the horizon ahead with sadness reflected in her eyes, "Time slowly passes, your odds of winning getting lower while your money quantity getting fewer, until you have nothing left to bet and this is where they come in, pretended to be someone graciously willing to support you, they promise will lending you money to continue playing and repay them back when you are winning. Magically, after this sequence, your odds of winning suddenly comeback, any sane people would realize the foul in this trickery but they, like I said before, had been blinded with succession.

A Bird would never forever in the air, your luck will never stay in good, especially if the game was rig, you just like a puppet who move by other people string, you lose again and started to borrow more but sadly, your winning chance never come back, these people never allowed you to borrow from them again for free anymore, they need something, something to bargain if you lose in the next game."

By this point, Zhang Cai didn't need to explain anymore because Naruto already can guess where this is heading, in fact, that she knew so well about this Black Jack Society prove that she had involvement with them. Naruto leaned his head back and his eyes darted upward, he looked at the bird who soar at the ocean blue sky and the group of clouds who swimming in it.

"They complied?" he said without facing her.

"They did."

Naruto held his breath before he continued, the tense atmosphere that coated them both played its part well at this moment.

"What they offered as bargains?"

"Everything, it can be their house, enterprise, car, accesorry, or... their wife."

Naruto's heart felt being tear apart right now, the sudden urge to kill rise within him, with a heavy tone and clenching hands he said: "How is the wife right now?"

Zhang Cai expression was hidden by her bang again, "She..."

Naruto was ready to explode but when he sees Zhang Cai expression, the urge suddenly diminished, the reason is simply that the expression he saw from Zhang Cai is not a desperate or hopeless but confident smile and hope of flame that rise in her purple iris pupil.

"She had been struggling...

and if everything goes well, she soon would succeed."

Naruto stared at her after hearing her self-proclaimed, with a confused expression he said: "How..?"

"She work extra time on her weekend, the place she worked had a payment base on hour performance, luckily for her, the debt wasn't that big in the first place and the due time was quite long, thus, she will be able to pay the debt by herself!" Zhang Cai nodded in acknowledgment

It took time for Naruto to process her word, short awhile, he finally recovered and let out a chuckle, "She's amazing," he said while his eyes softly gazed at the female in front of him.

Zhang Cai blushed at this but giggled nonetheless, "She is isn't she?"

"Yup! She is my favorite heroine, at least for now!"

"Hey! What's with the 'for now' thing!"

"Hahaha, don't you said yourself that bird would never forever in the air."

"How lazy of you duplicating my word!"

Both of them did joke to each other and slowly repel the previous gloomy and dark air among them.

Back to the present time, in the running public transportation.

Naruto's eyes gazed at the sleeping form Zhang Cai with tenderness, he couldn't imagine such a daily goofball woman turn out to be a fierce fighter. One needs to remember that she said herself that whoever gets caught in involvement with Black Jack Society was never be able to suck the air of freedom again. But Naruto could see, from the determination she shows before, she stubbornly rejected that idea itself.

"Sister Cai, I know that we only met for a short time but... I'm proud to have known you..."

Naruto didn't care whether she heard him or not, but the feeling of admiration that came from his heart was truly genuine and he couldn't help but convey it to her.

Naruto turned his face away from her and went back to his usual habit, at the same time, the side corner of the lips on a certain shoulder-hair length woman was turned little upward.

(***)

Heaven Pleasure Tavern was one of the gorgeous building among the other building in the west side of Zhong Hai City, it's decorated brazenly with amorous color here and there to attract a lot of people's attention. Although it wasn't located at the bar street but it has quite a name among the rich people or famous people in Zhong Hai.

At this time, inside this den of pleasure, in one of its room, a large group of people is seen gathering together. There were men and women who seem chatted or flirted with each other party.

"Ahahaha! Rejoice, brothers, we finally be able to breathe the free air again after being in the hiding for a while!"

One of the men with dignified look spoke loudly, the man had short-straight hair and lean torso, wearing sort of black shirt as clothes,

"Hehe sure Big Bro, hiding it such a boring thing to do, besides eat, piss, and playing card!" the man with mohawk hair said.

"Yeah! Now we get a chance to fuck a whore, it makes me excited to the bone, a man, after all, need to vent his frustration, hahaha!" another man without hair now spoke.

"So don't hold your self back, go wild! Hey, where is the server?! Bring out more ladies!" the dignified looking man shouted out loud. As soon as he finished, the door toward the room opened and followed by a young lady in server suit, her appearance causes the men in the room eyes turn green, it was because the making of this woman is beautiful to the extreme. With a proper front, a great curve on the side, and plump on the back almost make this room flood with saliva. Not to mention her pretty face that can be categorized as one of the faces that can bring the downfall of the nation.

The dignified looking man face lit up and a flame rose within his eyes, without waiting the young woman with a hair tied into a bun spoke, he immediately ordered, "Bring the rest of the girl here, and you..!" He pointed his finger toward the server, "You would serve me and fulfill every order I make, If I want you to strip, then you would strip, if I want you lay on the bed, then you would do so, you get it?!"

This man was a vice leader of the renown underworld gangster. Every one except the leader would follow his order, let it be thugs, hookers, and other. So he naturally would rampantly order her to do everything he says. This man already imagined how this young lady would squeal underneath him. But unfortunately, his imagination had to be broke because of what the young server's words.

"I'm sorry exceptional guest! But this unworthy body had been reserved for someone else, the person already dictated that whoever dares to touch me beside him would be received severe punishment," She said with a charming smile and flirty eyes.

This vice leader was angry because there are other dares to disobey him, but remembering the look of this woman, whoever reserved her must be pretty rich or important person, maybe a young master from one of the clans or one of the people who sit on government chair. Combine it with the situation that his gangs now faced, he can't act unreasonably and created unnecessary trouble, clearly by his careful conduct, his position as vice leader is not a joke.

With a disappointed face, he said: "Fine then! just call the ladies to the room, we want to be entertained." The young server lady nodded, she clapped her hands and soon many women come out from the front door one by one, they came in with many kinds, there was a delicate looking woman, fiery vibe looking woman, and many more. They wore a sleeveless red dress that only reaches into their knee, but a tore fabric on the bottom part of their dress was long enough to reveal their white luster tights. On their hand, a tray with many wines could be seen on top of it.

The server lady bowed her body and said with apologies tone, "Exceptional guest! Since we cannot fulfill one of your order, please accept this free wine as a token of our apologies for your inconvenient!"

The men in the room lit up their eyes as soon they saw the delicious wine deliver by these pretty whores. Without suspected anything, they grabbed the transparent glass and drunk the wine to their content.

The server lady once again bowed her body, her plentiful front who fight against the gravity now fell into these man eyes including the vice leader. The flame once again ignited within him but remembered once again that he cannot touch this woman made him sighed in dissatisfaction.

"I will leave the guests alone now, please, enjoy your activity and our 'dish'," she smiled and left the room.

The vice leader took a last look at the door, throwing away his foul mood, he roared "Now! don't hesitate! Let us ravage them up!" As soon as he said this, all of his men cheered up and started approaching the ladies, there were those who pretended to be a gentleman and act romantic while there were also those who acted wild and started encroachment upon this delicate preys.

The vice leader also follow in suit, he grabbed one of the woman thin waists and put her into his lap, without waiting for the woman to respond, he crashed his lips into hers. He forcefully ate this hooker thin lips but soon he felt something wrong, although he was indeed full of lust he never been this aroused before as if his passion has been forcefully pulled out.

"The drink! What did you put into it?!" The vice leader quickly leaned back and interrogated her.

"Exceptional guest! please don't be scared, it just a little aphrodisiac had been put inside the wine, so you can do the deed in a more passionate way," the woman didn't show any change of expression as she explained slowly.

Aphrodisiac?

True enough, I feel like being stimulated, the vice leader thought before saying, "Good! You people sure are feisty and I like it..."

The vice leader soon was about to get another thin lip of her before a screaming voice entered his ears.

He startled and turned around only to see one of his men fell to the floor, that man complexion was pale and ghastly expression filled his face. The vice leader widened his eyes at this when he was about to warn other people, more screaming resound in the room.

"What the fuck?!"

"My body... I can't move..."

"What the hell is wrong?!"

His men one by one fell into the floor and he was about to yell in anger before his strength within his body suddenly gone, it's not slowly dissipating or disappearing but just gone.

They were forced to kneel, the strange wine who these people claimed to be aphrodisiac seems like having another effect on their body, they felt like their strength was seeping away, making them feel hopeless and powerless.

"Who are you people?! Don't you know who are you messing with?!" The Vice Leader roared, he never expected the place they usually hanged out could be turned to be a trap for them, he remembered calling the host of this place before going here, but now seems like everything was a setup.

"Of course we know you, in fact, that's the reason we did this in the first place!" one of the 'hooker' spoke coldly, a sneer hanging on her beautiful face.

Cold sweat rsn down from the temple of this brownish skin big-guy, he suddenly didn't have any good premonition regarding all this incident, although there are many underworld gangs reside in west Zhong Hai, none of them have the guts to face up the giant like his, even though the influence of his gang was getting weaker prior to their illegal activity being found, but they still have many bases and posts anywhere, also still have a lot of manpower. That means that whoever the identity of this trapper could only belong to two group, first would be the pigs while the other would be...

When Ziang Hu was in his thought, the sound of footstep can be heard from the hall outside the room, it was steady and slow, like the tune from the classical music, but anyone who heard it didn't feel relax and happy instead they felt a chilling cold fill their heart.

The front door was open, revealing a beautiful and charming woman behind it, her official server suit and hair that tied into a bun appeared visibly on everyone eyes, this young woman precisely the attendant who previously refused Ziang Hu order, now with the appearance of this woman cleared all the doubt within his mind, he can guess it right who behind the scheme of this situation right now, all the feature this woman had match perfectly with the leader of that group, her seductiveness and charm had proved it.

"Never expected, the leader of Red Thorn Society would scheme to this point just to trap a bunch of thugs like us..." Ziang Hu said in mocking tone. The fiery and charming lady gave him a cold smile, with the exact same mocking tone, she said: "but you, not just a normal thugs isn't it, Mr. Ziang Hu, vice leader of Chen Dahai group?"

Goosebump suddenly invaded Ziang Hu's body, turning his eyes to the side, "I-I don't know what are you talking about!"

The lady laughed amorously, everyone who heard her would feel their legs turn jelly but at this situation her laugh sound like a demoness...

"Who are you trying to fool? With all of this effort we do, you think we will get a wrong target?"

Since there was no use to cover up his and the boys' identities, Ziang Hu fiercely glared at the lady, he shouted, "Don't overestimate your self, Situ Jiang Wei! You would only be able to do this just because the boss was in hiding, not to mention your father, you think your society success base on your own effort?"

Jiang Wei wrinkled her brow the moment her father being mentioned, with slightly irritated voice, she said: "What do you mean by that?"

Ziang Hu laughed loudly at her inquiry, he sneered, "Your society can become one of the top dogs within Zhong Hai just because your father is silently assisting you!"

Jiang Wei didn't respond at the fact Ziang Hu presented, looking at her wore deadpan expression, Ziang Hu think she was in shock, this was the moment when the phrase 'striking the iron while it still hot' play its part, he added: "Those gangs that you easily take over is not because your gang firepower was broken through the roof! But because they had been pressure over by your father first! And you can still safe without other society tear you up because your father's influence scares them off! Hahaha! Poor child, your power just an illusion created by your father!"

Ziang Hu spoke until he almost out of his breath, he hoped his effort bear a fruit which was Jiang Wei's despair face but what he saw isn't what he expected. Jiang Wei coldly smirked after heard ZIang Hu's word, her replied was hard enough for him to take, "You think I don't know?

I realize my own strength wasn't enough to bring down other groups, and there is something always bother me whenever we commence a siege on another base, why it always seemed easy, why no one of them bothered that there is another group was on the pay grade, even if it just a newborn baby, why no hold any awareness this baby may birth along with a grenade in its hand?

The night where I was attacked by my father's men is the night where I confront him about this, you know what? He admits it, he admits that it was his doing all along because he looked down on me, he thought what I was doing just a child play and not worth to become his enemy.

From that time, I decided to cut all of my ties with him, he was enrage by it and send his men to kill me."

When Jiang Wei spoke this, a strong hatred revealed within her eyes, Ziang Hu trembled upon seeing this, he never expected this young girl to be such a cunning and decisive woman.

"But your father will send his army if you try to destroy his influence in here!" Since mental attack strategy has failed, he decided to use a threat to put her movement in a hold. He had been entrust to take care of this group while Chen Dahai went into hiding. After awhile inactivity to avoid police detection, he changed the group name and managed to open in the public again.

Jiang Wei shook her head right and left, with a helpless expression she said: "Are you stupid or what? You think my father will still maintain his connection with Chen Dahai after his deed has been known by the police? If I can uncover your identity like this, what makes you think the police couldn't?"

Ziang Hu once again tremble, he started to hate himself that he couldn't hold back until everything was taken care off.

Jiang Wei regained her cold demeanor and said: "Enough with the pleasantries, let's get into the main point, you would tell me where all of Chen Dahai stronghold within West Zhong Hai, their security, number of men and weaponry."

"You think I would easily tell you this?!" Ziang Hu snorted.

"Of course you don't," Jiang Wei looked at one of her people who held down one of the Ziang Hu henchmen, with a cold tone she said: "bring him here."

The person nodded and harshly dragged the powerless thug into Jiang Wei's front. Without waiting for any reaction from Ziang Hu, Jiang Wei aimed her 9mm pistol to the thug and...

*Bang!*

A bullet resided within the thug's head as the sound of the firearm went off inside the room. Ziang Hu stared in a wide eye at the execution in front of him, Jiang Wei had once again given him shocked feeling and if not exaggerate, dread.

"You dare to kill my men?!" Ziang Hu roared.

"Why wouldn't I?" Jiang Wei glanced at the darken face Ziang Hu, "only by doing this, that you would understand how serious your circumstances are."

"I swear if I ever get out from here, I'll-"

"Save your threat for someone else, I don't have time for listening to it," she signalled another one of her people with her eye, without she had to converse it, that person understood and quickly dragged the thugs beneath her to the in front of Jiang Wei.

"I give you five second to tell me what I want to hear and if I heard something I don't like, my gun would fire off immediately," Jiang Wei said while aiming at the scarred thug's head.

"Situ Jiang Wei, you pay for this..." Ziang Hu glared at her, if eye could kill, maybe Jiang Wei already died thousand times.

*Bang!*

Another thug fell down with a hole in his head. Jiang Wei signaled her people to bring another one in front of her, with a deathly frost tone, Jiang Wei spoke: "It seems you can't talk once with a monkey. Fine! Let me repeat it, IF I heard something I don't like coming out of your mouth, my GUN will immediately fire off..."

Ziang Hu realized the charming woman in front of him right now was completely in power, with stubbornness reflected within his eyes, he said: "I won't tell you anything!"

"Fine, suit yourself."

*Bang!*

One by one his men fall into the victim of Jiang Wei 9mm pistol, even the strongest and most evil underworld gang wouldn't be able to hold against such pressure for a long time, this was his men! People who went through one battle to another together with him, now they had gone, with a hole on their head. He saw the despair and hopeless expression on their face as life flashed through before their eyes. Unable to prevail any longer, Ziang Hu broke down and started telling Jiang Wei everything she wants to know.

Short a while later, after finished handling Ziang Hu and what's left of his henchmen, Jiang Wei walked out from the building, it was 12 pm, right at noon, they surprisingly have been inside for an hour.

Jiang Wei let out a sigh as she closed her eyes, with a slightly trembling hand, she reached out to a black stone on her necklace that hung around her neck. She always did this whenever she feel nervous about something, in her mind, a face of blonde-hair man slowly appeared, he had shown his soft smile and gaze at her, this makes her felt relax and become comfortable.

"Naruto, please give me strength..."