Chapter 343 Who’s Taking Care Of Who?
If only Hera knew the magnitude of what she had accomplished without having to exert all her mental effort, she would likely be celebrating with unrestrained enthusiasm. This was an achievement that even Alice never managed to attain. Perhaps it was due to Hera’s shared fate with the female lead, or the influence of the ’female lead halo’ from that shared fate, but whatever the reason, it was undeniably effective.
Luke didn’t attempt to pry Hera away from Rafael’s embrace. Instead, after calming down, he chose to respond to Hera’s earlier remark. "Yes, that person has been quite helpful and is well-versed in the underground world. I believe he’ll be able to handle the investigation," he said. Although he didn’t explicitly state it, Luke felt that dropping subtle hints for Hera to understand could be considered a form of confession.
He decided to be upfront with Hera as part of his commitment to change. Though he knew this transformation would be challenging, he took his first step by dropping a hint. Admitting everything would take time due to his lingering fears, but he hoped that by giving her a glimpse now, she would be less upset when he eventually revealed the full truth.
Luke winced at the thought of that day approaching. To dispel the negative emotions consuming him, he turned to Gerald and said, "I’ll need a soft copy of the report you showed me. I want to send it to my contact to expedite the process of identifying the specific factions involved."
"Factions? How many factions are there in the underground world? In this city or country?" Gerald asked, not giving much thought to his question. He figured that since Luke had an insider, he must have a better understanding of the underworld’s structure and thought it best to ask him for this information.
Luke glanced briefly at Hera before maintaining his composure and addressing Gerald’s question. "There are at least four major factions in the underworld within our country. They’ve divided their territories into North, South, East, and West. The bosses have established a truce to avoid interfering in each other’s affairs, as long as it doesn’t impact their own interests."
"The West and South factions are the most ruthless, prioritizing profit over human life. They are heavily involved in human trafficking, money laundering, drug dealing, smuggling of valuables, and any other lucrative illegal activities. In contrast, the North and East factions are milder. The North is the most mysterious and dominant faction, leading the four in power, followed by the East. The South ranks third, while the West, though technically the weakest, has amassed significant power over the decades and shouldn’t be underestimated."
"These factions each lead smaller groups. From what I know, only the West and South factions have assassination squads or hitmen for hire. The North is too secretive for me to confirm, but they are known to avoid activities directly involving human lives. The East, while milder compared to the West and South, still engages in human trafficking, drug dealing, and other illicit activities."
"The only difference with the East faction compared to the West and South is that the people they traffic are typically those who are deeply in debt and voluntarily become slaves in other countries. They also deal in less harmful drugs and sell cheap herbs," Luke explained, but why he was explaining? It was because he was the boss of the East faction, the second in the rankings in the whole country who was leading the underground world and his strength was only a little behind the North faction.