Chapter 139 Cold Snap Part Five

Blank-Faced Joe sat in front of a desk in a room of his mansion. His emotionless eyes coldly gazed at the three objects that were on the desk; his hand moved as he grabbed one of the objects. It was a metallic craft with a smooth surface, the craftsmanship was exceptional, and it was in the shape of a key. His hand fiddled with the key a few seconds before putting it back on the deck. All along while playing with the object, an absent minded look was plastered on his face as he pondered on a few matters.

Before long, he recollected himself and took out a chain that hung under his chest. On the chain was a key similar to the three others that were on the table, and without any hesitation, he put began putting the key on the chain before putting it around his neck. He then got up from his desk and walked out of the small office with a deadpan face. A few days had passed since he had tortured the two generals he had in his basement into giving him their key's location, and with the gift from the mysterious figure, he had managed to gather three more keys.

Among the seven key that were given to each general of the Filthy Jade Palace, he had gathered four of them and had gained the majority in the ruling of the underground business. But leading wasn't his only objective, and even if his word now couldn't be denied by the other general of the Inner Court, he had to end it all as time was ticking. Ever since he received the information that New Casablanca had been locked in their crosshairs, he had begun this ordeal in the most secretive way.

To the other three generals, it might simply have looked like he had gained true power in Filthy Jade Palace. Seizing everything for himself and reducing the rest of the member into his subjects wasn't that strange of a matter in the mob like organization. He knew that the three others would constantly be on their guards, those three had climbed through a pile of corpses and weren't like the weaponry general who had clear weak points.

They had ruled their business for years and were known for being infamous as they dealt with the organization's shadiest businesses. Selling body parts, taking care of assassination contracts through the name of Nine Nine, and controlling the city's underground casino. He knew that those three generals were powerful, and even if one of them fell, the others would tighten their defenses even more. Making it difficult for him to gather the three keys in a short period of time; the only way was to take the three of them down at the same time to avoid any complication. But that in itself was a difficult act, even for the well known scheming Blank-Faced Joe.

As he muzzled his brain into finding a solution, he walked through his mansion, and as he was going to serve himself a drink to refresh his mind, he felt a ringing come from his pocket. His hand moved methodically and pressed a dial while grabbing a bottle at the same time.

"What's going on?" he exclaimed while opening the cap.

As he began pouring the liquid into a cup, he heard a panicked voice rush through his phone. "Boss! They are dead, the three other generals have been found dead in their own beds.", his hand shook, and he spilled liquid on the table.

"What were the circumstances?", even with his body clearly showing signs of distress, the tone of his voice was like usual. His subordinate didn't notice anything and continued his report. "They were found in their own beds, their bodies were intact, but they were clearly dead!?", the voice of his subordinate was shacking as it knew the severity of it.

The generals were cultivator, strong individuals that could hold their own in a battle, and their mansions were guarded with rows and rows of guards. Someone who could infiltrate their home without alerting anyone, and who could kill them without inflicting any injury on the body was strong beyond their knowledge. "It was as if they had lost their will to live… As If their soul itself had left their bodies!"

Silence took over in the discussion, and Blank-Faced Joe stood still without moving a single inch. It continued after a few seconds before expressing himself to his subordinate, "What about the keys?". As he waited for an answer, his heart beat faster in his chest as he had an intuition about the current matter. The drug general had been killed, and the key was found on his body. Without even hearing the answer from his underling, he knew that there was a big chance that their keys hadn't been taken away.

"The key was left on their chest, it wasn't attached or anything and simply laid on top of their cold bodies.", his subordinate paused for a second before speaking. "Boss… I feel that this matter is too strange.", he stopped himself from adding that Blank-Faced Joe might be the next target as he was the sole living general.

"Leave the bodies there, and get me the keys as soon as possible.", he said in an unusual hurried tone before closing the communication. He then sighed before emptying the glass in front of him down his throat. He repeated the action several times before closing, throwing the bottle on the wall. He then moved back to his office and approached a bookcase that was close to a wall and took one book from it. Several clicking sounds resounded in the room, and after a few seconds, a narrow path revealed itself.

He stepped inside and, after walking for a few meters, appeared in a cubic shaped room. Rare were the ones that knew of this hidden location, and even his underlings weren't aware of it.