The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

“What?” Poppy was surprised to see her three friends who had come down, “How could Kathy...”

“We pulled her up,” Emma said.

“Gosh.. Thank goodness. I was so scared. It turned out that the workers were taking a break so I had to look for them outside.” The black irises girl explained as holding her chest.

“So you two saved the girl who she said fell off the balcony?” One of the workers asked.

Hesitantly, Emma nodded and smiled stiffly.

“Sounds impossible,” One of the men muttered as he rubbed his chin.

Then another man who looked older came up to them. He had heard the news that a girl had almost fallen from the balcony of the building he was renovating. He heard the news from several residents who saw him eating at a tavern, “Are you girls playing on the balcony?” he asked directly.

“We.. we were,” Poppy answered in a low voice when she saw the man’s angry face.

.....

“Look. I know you are the owner of this building and you also hired us. But I told you earlier not to play around here. This building has long been abandoned and is still under renovation. You should know that this is not a place to play. If anyone gets hurt here, we will also be in trouble,” He nagged.

“We apologize for this incident, Sir. We understand and admit that we were wrong. At first, we just wanted to see a little progress on the renovation. But it seems we were too careless,” Emma said.

The man just sighed as he shook his head slowly, “If you’ve seen enough, you can let us get on with our work now. We’ll be closing this place at six, so we don’t have much time.” The man said intending to kick them out.

The four girls nodded, “Alright. We are sorry to fuss here.” Emma answered.

“Come on girls,” Poppy whispered before stepping out, followed by the others.

The four girls got into Emma’s car with a tense feeling. If only Emma hadn’t caught Kathy quickly, they didn’t know what would happen to Kathy. Falling from the third floor straight onto the asphalt road. If it didn’t kill or put her in a coma, it would definitely break a lot of her bones.

“By the way, Emma. Thanks for saving me. If you hadn’t been so quick, I would have been dead by now. But.. how’s your arm?” Kathy asked as soon as Emma started the car.

Emma shook her head, “My arm is fine, Kathy. I’m glad you’re safe,”

“But, if I think about it, aren’t you two so awesome? Are you two even human?” Kathy shifted to sit in the middle and moved her head so that she was between Emma, ??who was driving and Rachel, who was in the front passenger seat.

Emma and Rachel glanced at each other. Then Emma chuckled, “What are you talking about? We were able to pull you up because we worked together. If I was alone I wouldn’t be able to pull you up either.”

“That’s right.” Rachel nodded.

Kathy shook her head, “Still, I think that’s kinda weird, Emma. I know my weight’s not light at all. Maybe for a guy the size of Troy Roner, he could tell that I’m light. But we’re both the same size. Don’t you remember? You could swing me with one hand! Wasn’t that crazy?!”

“Maybe it’s because of the adrenaline,” Rachel answered flatly.

Emma snapped her fingers, “That’s right. Adrenaline. Have you ever seen an ordinary person who could run as fast as an Olympic athlete when he was being chased by a dog? Or an old granny who could even carry her two grandchildren at once when her house was on fire? It all sounds impossible but it’s the adrenaline that makes it possible. Our bodies can do what is beyond our capabilities when we’re panicking.” She explained.

“Really? Well.. It’s pretty explaining,” Kathy came back to her senses with a doubtful face.

“From your story, I’m curious as to what the real situation was. Was it really that cool?” Poppy asked.

Kathy nodded quickly, “That’s freaking cool,”

“Believe me it’s not that much, Poppy.” Emma cut while laughing and turning the steering wheel. “Kathy seems to find it all awesome because she was the one hanging down below. Rachel and I were still safe upstairs so it was nothing great at all.” She continued.

“Hmm..” Kathy mumbled softly as she squinted her eyes and shrugged.

***

News of the Creeper’s fall had reached the ears of a man whose neck was supporting a thick gold chain. Previously Hell Gate, then now Creeper. It seemed the situation was more serious than he had thought.

Pablo Diablo took a sip of his cigar and blew thick smoke into the air while watching Jen Marrie’s busy street with a straight face. He clearly knew that the level of his group was far above the Deadly Square. Those were the four major groups that spin the illicit business economy in Handway City. They were Creeper, Hell Gate, Red Jack Commander (RJC), and Beast Empire.

Pablo himself led a group called Dragger which had a level above the Deadly Square. Even so, he admitted that the four groups were so powerful and influential. When Hell Gate fell, it didn’t have much effect on Handway City’s dark world economy. But now when the Creeper had also fallen, the ecosystem emptiness would begin to be felt.

“What would Black Hole do about this?” Pablo muttered.

“Isn’t if the Creeper down, then RJC would get bigger? That’s the same, right?” Creed Johnson said. He was a black man with two deep eyes. His body was as tall as a basketball player who reached 2.1 meters.

“If RJC is bigger than this, isn’t that the same as it would level up to the equivalent of Dragger?” Pablo turned his body to look at Creed who was sitting on the sofa playing a game on his cell phone.

Creed glanced at Pablo briefly, “But we all know what RJC’s leader is like, right? I just can’t judge him as bad or good. He seems like a good person trying to be bad. He wants to match Apollo but couldn’t,” he laughed.

Creed’s words provoked Pablo’s chuckle. But the laughter soon disappeared and was replaced with a sigh, “Marcel is indeed soft. Looks like he was forced to use dark means to protect the elderly on Redvalley Street. But that doesn’t rule out the possibility that he would take over the Creeper territory. You know that human desire is unpredictable.”

“Then what are you going to do? After all, Black Hole hasn’t announced anything yet. It seems that they are confused about dealing with this mess. This’s kinda weird because when Hell Gate fell, they could immediately decide to increase the deposit rate,”

“Actually, if they raise the deposit rate again, I think I’d start to object. Even though our income is large, I don’t deny that the fee we have to give is already quite large.” Pablo replied. Then he seemed to think for a while, “Should we be the ones who take over all the Creeper’s territory? That way, our income would get bigger, right?”

“You want to start playing in the robbery business?” Creed immediately looked at him with a cold face.

“Do you think I’m not that talented?” Pablo took another sip of his cigar.

Steadfastly, Creed nodded, “That kind of robbery business is a very uncertain business and has many risks. The entertainment business like the one we run now is still often sought after by night people. But who would be willing to be robbed? The robbery business only benefits one side. Therefore, the superheroes are more focused on targeting them.”

“Super Hero? Ah.. You’re right. I heard RJC was helped by a group called Black. Did you know that?” Pablo asked.

“Of course, I know. From the information I gathered, Black teamed up with RJC to destroy the Creeper scam business that killed the workers in Chingsu District. Things have gone fucking crazy. The most troublesome thing is when we could no longer tell who is the bad guy and who is the good one.” Creed replied.

“Actually, I don’t really care about Black. Even though they are said to be very strong, it doesn’t seem like they have many members.”

“Reportedly, there are only two of them. However, since they are wearing masks, no one knows for sure whether the group had many members that alternated to come out or only has two members. Isn’t it because they are mysterious, then we should be careful?” Creed said without taking his eyes off his phone.

“You advise everyone to be careful yet you look so relaxed.” Pablo took a deep sip of his cigar. The man named Creed was indeed a game addict. Fortunately, he was quite smart and very adept at fighting.

Creed shrugged, “Not seeing doesn’t mean not being alert. Your face doesn’t have to look tense to be serious. Life is already tough, no need to try building a good image.”

“Your words are too heavy. You know that?” Pablo looked at him sarcastically. But of course, Creed didn’t care. “Looks like I have to expand the territory.”

Creed glanced at Pablo again, “That’s up to you. But then don’t bother me if something goes wrong. You know I have to play games for at least eight hours a day. Don’t make me short on game time.”

Pablo couldn’t help but give a flat face, “I can’t believe a hand that’s always playing games can crack someone’s skull with just one blow.”