I Start with a Mysterious Island

Chapter 571: Chapter 368: Flames Light Up the Sky, One Wave After Another

WHOOSH...

RUSTLE... RUSTLE... RUSTLE...

A gust of wind swept into the courtyard. The branches and leaves of a large, flourishing tree swayed in the breeze, making rustling sounds.

Although Fang Jingtang was now the new Gang Leader of the Red Blood Gang, he hadn’t moved into the opulent mansion built by the late Hong Jiu. Instead, he continued to live in his original courtyard.

The study was brightly lit. Fang Jingtang was looking over the accounts from the past few days.

He had promised that certain great personage that after taking over the Red Blood Gang, he would take its business to the next level. Therefore, Fang Jingtang had to produce results in the shortest time possible.

This led him to order his Red Blood Gang subordinates to further exploit the dockworkers and to find ways to seize the daughters of those who couldn’t repay their debts.

"’The income over the past few days has increased considerably. If we maintain this, I’ll soon be able to fulfill the promise I made to that dignitary,’ Fang Jingtang muttered to himself with a satisfied smile, nodding after he finished reviewing the accounts.

He closed the ledger, set it aside, and picked up his teacup. Just as he took a sip and prepared to get up to inspect the docks...

A figure rushed into his residence. Without bothering to knock, the man threw open the study door and ran inside.

Fang Jingtang frowned, seeing his subordinate burst in so rudely.

He set down his teacup, about to reprimand the man in his capacity as Gang Leader.

But before he could speak, the Red Blood Gang member who had rushed in blurted out something that stunned Fang Jingtang.

"Gang Leader, it’s bad! There’s a fire at our residences!"

"Don’t panic. If there’s a fire, just get some men to douse it with water."

"We can’t! The fire is too big!"

"What? Too big?"

Hearing this, Fang Jingtang immediately strode out of his study and looked into the distance.

An orange-red glow filled the distant sky, and thick black smoke billowed toward the heavens. This was worlds apart from the small fire he had imagined, one confined to a corner of a few courtyards.

"What happened? Why would such a massive fire start?"

"I don’t know! When we first spotted it, it was just a small area. But a moment later, it had grown this big."

Fang Jingtang narrowed his eyes. His scholarly demeanor vanished, replaced by a chillingly cold aura.

It didn’t take much thought to realize that a fire spreading this quickly was highly suspicious. Fang Jingtang immediately came to a conclusion.

"’Someone is intentionally setting fire to our homes!’"

"Gang Leader, I think we should immediately have the dockworkers stop what they’re doing and go fight the fire."

Fang Jingtang nodded at his subordinate’s suggestion. The man immediately dashed out of the residence and ran toward the distant docks.

’Was this the Flying Dragon Gang?’ Fang Jingtang wondered as he watched the fire grow, his suspicion immediately falling on their mortal enemies.

* * *

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The sound of a bronze gong rang out across the docks. The dockworkers, who were busy unloading cargo from the ships, were immediately drawn by the noise and all turned to look at the Red Blood Gang member striking it.

Seeing that he had everyone’s attention, the Red Blood Gang member stopped banging the gong. He pointed to the distant fire and shouted at the dockworkers.

"Everyone, stop what you’re doing right now! Grab a bucket and go put out that fire!"

The dockworkers looked into the distance, and many of them cried out in alarm.

"My God, there’s a fire over there!"

"It looks pretty big!"

"A fire that big? Going over there could be dangerous!"

"Yeah! One wrong move and you could be burned alive..."

The Red Blood Gang member with the gong saw that the dockworkers weren’t moving to fight the fire. Instead, they were just chattering amongst themselves, clearly reluctant to go. His expression darkened.

"Get moving and put out that fire! If you just stand there, you can forget about today’s wages! And don’t even think about working on our docks ever again!"

The simple threat struck the dockworkers right where it hurt.

Without this job, the source of income for many of their families would be cut off. To keep their positions, even the reluctant dockworkers started to move.

They all went to the storage area to get buckets, filled them with water from the riverbank, and then hurried toward the fire.

"A bunch of worthless scum..." the gang member with the gong muttered contemptuously as he watched the dockworkers head off to fight the fire.

"Should we go help put it out, too?" one of the whip-wielding overseers on the docks asked.

The Red Blood Gang member with the gong thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"You guys watch the cargo on the docks. Make sure none of this scum tries to fish in troubled waters and steal our stuff."

"Got it." The whip-wielding overseers nodded, then watched the gang member with the gong hurry toward the scene of the fire.

* * *

In front of a silent courtyard.

SNAP.

Lin Li snapped his fingers. A spark shot from his fingertip. Instead of dying out, the spark instantly swelled in midair. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into several Fireballs, each the size of a watermelon.

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