The Curse of the Former Overlord and the Search for Original Liquid

Elsie Nightwater paid another visit, and that annoying old butler tagged along as usual. But maybe he’s figured out my relationship with Elsie now, because this time the geezer kept his mouth shut and behaved. He kept glancing at me like his heart was pounding, which was weird enough that I shot him a look—what’s up with this old man, why so nervous? Then it hit me: last time, that ashtray incident must’ve left a deep impression.

Yeah, people like him really do learn after a good beating. What Jill Young didn’t know was, the old guy was nervous because he used to have shady dealings with the Syndicate, and now he’s scared Jill might take him out.

“What’s up, Elsie? Why the rush again?” Jill Young swaggered into the Eternal Night Tower with Elsie Nightwater in tow—finally, she had a place fancy enough to host someone important. But Elsie didn’t look relaxed at all. She waved her people away and gave Jill’s crew a chilly once-over. Jill could tell this was about to be some serious business, so she had everyone except for Pierce and Xiaoti clear out.

“You’re planning to keep expanding, aren’t you?”

“Of course,” Jill Young nodded like it was obvious. “Right now, in all of Steelbull City, it’s just us and Lucas over in the Rock District who control a whole zone. I’ve been so busy I can barely see straight—” Pierce and Xiaoti coughed loudly, so Jill corrected herself: “I mean, ‘we’ve all’ been so busy we can’t see straight. Finally got No One Under Heaven sorted out. Now’s the perfect time—everything’s lined up! If we don’t grab more turf now, what are we waiting for, the gunpowder to get damp?”

“Sigh, just as I thought—you folks really have no clue,” Elsie Nightwater sighed. “Think about it. Lucas unified the Rock District a year ago and became Steelbull City’s top dog. Back then, none of the other seven districts had a gang in charge. He was unbeatable. So why didn’t he keep expanding?”

Pierce and Xiaoti were stumped, exchanging confused looks, but Jill Young answered, “He must’ve had his reasons. Maybe the other seven districts didn’t have a clear gang boss, but there were other powers running things from the shadows.”

“At least you’re not totally clueless.” Elsie glanced around, and Pierce smartly whipped out a map of Steelbull City. Elsie slapped her hand on it: “Look, Steelbull City has eight districts, and each one’s got its own secret weapon and ruler.”

This was one of those classic ‘insider reveals the city’s secrets’ moments. Jill Young sat up straight, like she was getting a lecture from a wise master: “I’m all ears.”

“Queen’s District, Rock District—all nicknames made up by outsiders. The eight districts of Steelbull City have their own real names, given by my ancestor Victor Nightfall. But since you folks can’t pronounce them, everyone just uses numbers. First District, up north, that’s Lucas’s turf—the secret weapon is the Killing Fist, which basically means Lucas himself. Fifth District, way down south, is yours, so we’ll skip that. Let’s talk about the others. They don’t have unified gangs, but what makes them scary isn’t the gangs.”

Elsie pointed to the district next to Rock District: “Second District, King of Finance Kimberly’s turf. Kimberly controls nearly every influential bank—two out of the world’s three major currencies are issued by him. He’s the one keeping prices stable and money valuable. You could say he holds the financial reins of the whole world. Syndicate? Compared to him, they’re nothing—he could blow them away with a sneeze.”

“Oh, that explains it. When I first landed in this world, I kept wondering how they managed to keep the money worth anything with all this chaos. Turns out, there’s a genius behind it all. Money really does make the world go round, huh? So, what’s Kimberly’s secret weapon?”

“Of course.” Elsie nodded. “His secret weapon is the Strategic Brain—a supercomputer he designed and built himself. It’s useless for anything but finance, but when it comes to controlling money, it’s like a god. That’s his ace in the hole.”

“Strategic Brain?” Jill Young nodded, then pointed to the district below Second District: “Isn’t this Wu Luan District? Is there anyone in there you don’t want to mess with?”

“Yep, and you’ve met him a few times already—Mr. Reckless.” Elsie explained, “He never officially claims it, but everyone knows Wu Luan District is that cat’s turf. I bet Allied Firepower is part of his operation—otherwise, how could such a tiny shop survive this long? As for his secret weapon, nobody knows. But with Allied Firepower’s skills, I wouldn’t be surprised if he could whip up something wild.”

“Got it.” You really don’t want to mess with a madman’s turf. Jill Young had already snagged two Reckless Talismans as souvenirs, but she had to admit, that weird cat was deep water—still couldn’t figure him out.

“Between Wu Luan District and Queen’s District is the Fourth District—Devil Director’s turf.” As soon as Elsie said it, Jill Young was still processing, but Xiaoti blurted out, “Devil Director?!” Jill looked at Xiaoti in confusion, and Xiaoti explained, “Rumor has it, when he shoots war movies, there’s actual fighting; when he shoots gore, it’s real blood. Every outrageous scene is shot for real, no CGI. Remember that guy Amoeba? He worked for Devil Director and ended up totally bonkers.”

“Wait…” Jill suddenly remembered something. “That movie we saw two days ago—the one about Earth heroes fighting aliens…”

Xiaoti confirmed, “Yep. Everyone who died in that movie? Really died. And the spaceship? Actually built from a real flying machine—it could actually fly.” Then she turned to Elsie: “I just never realized Devil Director was in the Fourth District.”

This chapter isn’t over yet~.~ Click next page for more juicy action!