Homeowners Association

After a peaceful night, Leo set out early in the morning with Matt. The first step was to establish connections among the homeowners.

Humanity can build skyscrapers hundreds of meters tall, use advanced weaponry to kill thousands in an instant, and escape from the 60 sextillion-ton planet beneath their feet to venture into space.

But a single human being can easily be tripped by a small pebble and die from the fall.

The more scattered and distrustful they are of each other, the easier it is for them to fall right into the enemy's hands.

"Mr. Ricaldo, incidents like yesterday's will keep happening, but if we unite, we can definitely stop those punks."

Mr. Ricaldo was in his fifties, with graying hair, but his health seemed fine.

From the near-fight with the punks the other day, it was clear he was not only in good shape but also had a fiery temper.

Mrs. Ricaldo had apparently passed away due to illness years ago, but he still had a younger son—

Unfortunately, the son didn't listen to reason and got mixed up with a gang, and the father and son hadn't been in contact for a year.

"You talk like my father, but you're just a kid who hasn't even grown a full beard—you probably haven't even seen the news."

"I'll take on the role of president of the homeowners association. I can bear this risk, and I've also brought in Lawyer Murdock as our legal advisor."

Ricaldo glanced at Leo in surprise. "Kid, your mom still owes me three months' rent. Where'd you get the money?"

"Uh," Leo was caught off guard. "I convinced him to be my legal advisor for free. As for the rent, I'll pay it back. If you don't mind, I can help clean up every day as interest."

Ricaldo took a sip of tea, looked at Matt, then sized up Leo again. "If you had only said that first part, I might have considered kicking you and your mom out tomorrow. But forget the cleaning; if you drop dead, it'll be a hassle. So what's your plan?"

"The first goal of increasing our numbers is to put pressure on the NYPD. If only one person calls the police, the NYPD can easily ignore it. But if everyone in the apartment, even everyone on the street, calls the police together, it's a different story."

"Naive."

"And if we have enough people, we can even catch those punks ourselves. That's actually my plan—I'll handle the evidence, and Lawyer Murdock will provide legal support."

This idea clearly piqued Ricaldo's interest; he swallowed the words he was about to say.

Yes, he purely wanted to catch those punks and give them a good beating.

"Catching them is to increase the cost for the other side of sending punks our way. If they've bribed the NYPD, then for each additional arrest, the NYPD will demand more money from the enemy. They're using violence and fear to divide us; we can exploit their greed."

It was obvious that Ricaldo didn't want to hear such strategic explanations. Seeing the landlord's brows furrow again, Leo quickly added:

"And it's clear that those sent to intimidate us are just punks—scary at first, but they run away when faced with real opposition. We deal with one, and more people will be willing to band together. Then they send more, and we keep beating them down. In short, we'll hit them until they're too scared to come back."

"That's the way!" Ricaldo snorted, his nostrils flaring. "Damn, I've been fed up with those little brats for ages!"

With that, Ricaldo banged on the wooden staircase with his fist, making a noise like a battle was about to break out.

"Everyone out! Get out here—I know you're all home. Not a single one of you had the guts to step out yesterday. Now—get out here!"

The residents hesitated but eventually opened their doors, and they all came out with their families—men, women, and children.

Though it was working hours, they were still at home—clearly, they were unemployed.

"Listen, we can't let those damn punks bully us anymore. From now on, I'm joining this kid Leo's homeowners association, and so should you. Don't think you can stand aside like yesterday. If I can't take it anymore and get kicked out, you'll all have to leave too! I might lose some money, but who's going to let you stay here on credit? Nat, Facado, John, Dean—you big men, all muscle and no spine, like a bunch of women!"

Just then, the wife of one of the residents spoke up: "Ricaldo! Don't you dare talk crap. I've been saying we should fight back! If this coward hadn't held me back yesterday, I would've gone out and beaten those guys myself!"

Her voice was as raspy as a goose's honk, and the woman's shoulders were nearly as broad as her husband's. Her 6-foot-tall husband looked more like her brother.

"Hmph." Ricaldo chuckled and gave a gentlemanly bow. "To you, my Natalia, I apologize."

At this, Natalia's husband, who seemed to be of Latin descent, wasn't pleased. "We have kids, Ricaldo. But you're right, if things are as complicated as you say, we should unite."

"No, we have kids!" someone objected. "Did you forget about last month's case?"

Ricaldo suddenly erupted in anger, shouting at the frail Irishman, "Then get out! We do the work, and you enjoy the good life? There's no such thing in this world!"

The man sheepishly closed the door.

Ricaldo really had some clout; his shouting had left Leo's ears ringing.

Leo knew it was time for him to step up: "Everyone, Mr. Ricaldo is right! If we don't stand up, we'll all end up homeless! New York is a garbage pit, but it's our home! This is our home! Think about it! Helping each other is the key to our survival!"

No more words were needed; the stakes were clear. But Leo knew they needed some time to digest these things.

Yesterday, the punks kicked in the apartment door; tomorrow, they could break into their homes.

Leo didn't think they'd fail to grasp this.

"Thank you for your help, Mr. Ricaldo."

"Hmph, it's nothing." Ricaldo took another sip of tea, then solemnly said to Leo, "But like they said, they have families. You have to promise me you'll protect them."

"Of course." Leo raised his right hand. "I swear I'll protect them. In fact, we'll protect each other—that's the meaning of mutual protection."

"Hmph—mutual protection, you sure talk like... Anyway, get to work. I guess you're not planning to just sit here and wait for trouble to come to you, right? If that's your plan, I might as well take United Construction's money tomorrow and retire somewhere."

Mr. Ricaldo turned and went back into his apartment.

Matt said, "The outcome wasn't bad, but convincing the rest of the community won't be as easy."

"Exactly. That's why we need to do some outreach, and then we need to ensure security."

"How?"

Leo smiled slightly. "Technology changes lives. We'll use the internet, but before that, we need to register the homeowners association. Then I need to register a company focused on community services, so I can provide some tech support to the homeowners association in an official capacity."

"For instance, we could replace the old wiring in the apartments and set up a new security system. I'm a legal novice, so I'll need to rely on your firm for that."

Matt shrugged. "I was already planning to help you, but you've got a real knack for giving orders. Give me some time. Although, honestly, I've never registered a company before... Am I a big-time lawyer now?"

"Not yet," Leo said with a meaningful tone. "But you will be."