Chapter 23: Breaking In
"We don’t break promises—just bones."
Viper’s voice echoed as the wall trembled slightly before caving inward. A hidden passage leading upward revealed itself.
She led the way, with Dusk following closely behind. The others climbed up one after another.
"That phrase of yours must have some meaning, huh? Silas said the exact same thing earlier," Dusk remarked. Now that he was getting deeply involved with this mafia organization, he figured he’d better start learning a thing or two.
"That’s the motto of The Crimson Vow, passed down from my grandfather’s time. The meaning is simple—we keep our word. A promise made will never be broken. But the bones of those who defy us? Definitely broken." Viper explained as she climbed.
’Generational violence with a slogan, huh? Still, it’s not a bad motto. At the very least, if I can get her to promise me something useful, there’s a good chance she’ll actually keep her word,’ Dusk thought.
That slogan gave him a small clue on how to act around her in the future. Of course, he also considered the possibility that her grandfather and she might have completely opposite interpretations of the word "promise."
After reaching a certain height, the passage stopped going up and forced them to crawl sideways. After a while, it angled upward again.
A faint light gradually appeared. Dusk felt like he was crawling into a storage room.
"This is the storage room of a nearby hotel. Naturally, the hotel also belongs to me," Viper said casually.
At first, Dusk didn’t pay much attention. But the moment he stepped out of the storage room, he was stunned.
Unlike the plain storage room, the hotel beyond it was extravagantly decorated. The kind of place someone as poor as him couldn’t even dream of staying in legally.