10 Turf War I

Over the past few months, David had been trying his best to carry out all his duties perfectly. After all, Nico had told him that if he performed well, he would be 'made'.

He was constantly on the lookout for any Buccantis in the neighborhood. They were easy prey, after all. He was sure that if took out another crew, he would definitely be promoted. Alas, they'd barely had any activities in Clinton since that night at the auto shop.

Since the easy route to promotion was blocked, he helped Nico out in every possible way he could. In fact, he was even taking on more work than necessary, which in turn relieved a lot of pressure from his boss. Naturally, the latter was quite happy about it.

And when he wasn't doing any work for the family, he would go to the gym and hone his fighting skills. He had begun taking lessons in MMA in addition to the boxing and Brazilian jiujitsu that he was already learning; he had now become a well-rounded fighter.

Apart from that, he would mostly spend his time going on dates with different young ladies. Strangely enough, all the girls would ghost him right after the first date. But David wasn't disheartened—after all, there were many fish in the sea.

Today, he had finished his work much earlier than usual and was walking toward a cafe in Clinton, where he would be meeting another date. As he was walking down the sidewalk among the crowd, he willed the system panel to appear in front of him.

[Name: David Watson]

[Age: 17]

[Affinity: XXXX XXXX]

[Strength: 1.5]

[Agility: 1.7]

[Constitution: 1.5]

[All system functions are locked]

With each passing day, he could feel his strength increasing. Although minuscule, it was progress nonetheless. And David loved the feeling of getting stronger. He could directly see it every time he sparred in the gym.

Just as he finished reading his status, he arrived at the cafe where he was supposed to meet his date. He entered the cafe and looked for the girl he had matched with on a dating app.

From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a black-haired girl in her late teens waving at him. David walked toward her with a smile. He sat down across from her and greeted, "Nice to meet you, Rachael."

Rachael cheerfully replied, "David, it's so good to see you! You look way better in person."

David's cheek reddened a little as he awkwardly said, "Haha, it's just that I'm bad at taking selfies."

The two made some small talk and then proceeded to order food. The entire time, David struggled to keep his gaze away from Rachael's deep cleavage. Of all the girls that he had gone on dates with, she was by far the hottest.

'I can finally get laid, holy fuck! Just don't ghost me,' he thought as he continued chatting with her. Then, just at that moment, his phone rang.

David's eyebrows twitched and he didn't even take the phone out of his pocket, but simply hung up. No one was going to stop him from getting laid tonight, not even god. He looked at Rachael and said, "Sorry about that, where were we?"

The two continued talking, but just a few seconds later, his phone rang yet again. Rachael looked at him and giggled, "It's okay, you can take the call."

David smiled apologetically. "I'm really sorry." He took out his phone from his pocket, and when he saw the name of the caller on the display, he had a massive urge to throw it away.

He picked up the call and said in annoyance, "What is it, Roberto? I'm busy." Then he abruptly stood up from his table and nearly screamed, "Are you fucking with me?"

David spoke on the phone for a few more seconds, his expression turning solemn. In the end, he hung up and heaved a dejected sigh. He looked at Rachael, who was looking at him with worry, and apologized, "My bad, but I really need to leave."

He took out some money from his wallet and put it on the table. Without waiting for his date's reply, he turned around and rushed out of the cafe.

"W-Wait!" Rachael got up from her seat and followed after him. She had really taken a liking to David and wondered just what'd come up for him to leave so urgently. However, when she got out of the cafe and looked around, she couldn't see him anywhere at all.

On the rooftop of the building right across from the cafe, a shadowy figure with red eyes glared at Rachael with unprecedented killing intent. The figure spat through gritted teeth, "You… must die as well."

Meanwhile, David had already run a few blocks away. He was moving at such high speed that the passing crowd was looking at him with utter shock. However, he didn't care about what others thought at the moment; he really needed to hurry.

Roberto had called him and said that the family's territory had been suddenly invaded by the Buccantis. Currently, there was a battle going on in all the territories of the Rossetti Family. Soon, Hell's Kitchen would also become a battlefield.

The only reason Roberto knew that in the first place was that one of his friends from another crew had given him a timely notification.

David couldn't help but inwardly curse, 'Fuck me! So the reason those bastards have been quiet in the past months was because they were preparing for today.'

As soon as he heard Roberto's warning, he ran. But he wasn't running away; instead, he was rushing to gear up. How could he miss such a golden opportunity? All he needed to do was slaughter every member of the Buccanti family in the neighborhood and he would be promoted.

His lips curled up into a wide grin as he thought, 'Finally, I can go all out. I wonder just who can stop me with my increased stats.'

After running for another minute, he finally reached his destination: a butcher shop. He entered the store that still had a handful of customers buying meat. When the shopkeeper, a dark-skinned man with a shiny bald head, saw David enter, he clapped his hands and loudly said, "Alright, fellas. Shop's closed."

The customers grumpily left, as it wasn't closing time, leaving only David in the store. After all the others had left, the shopkeeper locked the doors from inside.

He then looked at David and smirked. "Judging by the look on your face, I'm guessing some shit's hit the fan, huh?"

David solemnly nodded. "Bobby, the Buccantis are invading. There's gonna be a bloodbath."

Bobby's eyes narrowed. "So they finally made their move. It's earlier than I expected."

David was taken aback as he cursed, "The fuck!? You knew? Why didn't you tell me?"

Bobby rolled his eyes and walked to the counter. "You never asked."

David was speechless. He followed Bobby and said, "Never mind that. I don't think I have much time before those bastards show up."

"I hear you," Bobby walked to the corner of his shop and pressed an inconspicuous switch. A small section of wall slid to the side, giving way to a path that led to a secret room full of all kinds of modern weapons. On the walls, different guns were showcased, and on the tabletop, all kinds of blades were displayed.

Bobby gestured at the weapons in the room with his hand, his lips curled up into a smirk. "Pick your toys."