48 Hours a Day

The big and small forces from the southeastern part of the city of Rome were gathered in this tavern today. It was crowded, and it looked very lively.

However, Zhang Heng knew that those powerful enough to make decisions were not here. They were sitting on the second floor. He instructed the middle-aged Jew to conduct the meeting while quietly listening to their quarrels and conversation downstairs. They would only comment during critical times and would be the ones that would decide the fate of this place. And Zhang Heng was hoping to hear from them.

The middle-aged Jew sneered when he heard the words, “Do you really think you can meet Mr. Lockheed whenever you want?”

However, as soon as he finished talking, a young girl came down from the second floor, looked towards Zhang Heng, and curiously asked, “You are the gladiatorial champion of the Amphitheatrum Flavium, the mysterious oriental man from the distant empire?”

“That sounds like me,” Zhang Heng nodded.

“There are rumors that you are the incarnation of a certain god, with wings on your back, and you can soar in the sky, but you seem to be no different from the ordinary.” The girl seemed a little disappointed.

“In order not to scare my friends, I put my wings away.”

The girl laughed when she heard this, “You men like to talk nonsense. Since you treat us as friends, come on, my grandpa wants to see you.”

“After you.” Zhang Heng stood up from his chair and followed the girl to the second floor.

The middle-aged Jew had a look of frustration on her face, but he knew the girl, and he knew that Lockheed decided to meet Zhang Heng. And the most important rule of being a member of the Jewish gang was never to question Lockheed’s decision. So, he closed his mouth and said nothing. After that, he respectfully watched the two go upstairs.

The girl whispered to Zhang Heng as she walked, “My grandpa hates dishonest people the most, so don’t lie when you see him later.”

“Thank you for the reminder, but I always like to tell the truth,” Zhang Heng replied.

“Well… I think we will know soon.” The girl smiled.

The two arrived on the second floor fairly quickly. Contrary to what Zhang Heng expected, there were only four people on the vast second floor.

Three of them were sitting at a long table. On the main seat was an old man in his early sixties. He had a distinctive Jewish look and had short brown-black hair, but most of his hair had turned white. He also had a broad forehead, aquiline nose, and a pair of deep-seated eyes. It seemed like he could see through everyone’s heart.

Needless to say, he should be the current boss of the Jewish gang, Lockheed. He was the most important figure in the entire southeast city. The rise of Lockheed was a legendary tale in this place. Born of an ordinary Jewish family, his father died young, and his mother had to sell her body to support the three children in the family. As the eldest son, Lockheed had to work from a very young age to make more for the family. He used to be a thief, an apprentice in a blacksmith shop, urine collector, and sewer cleaner.

In short, he had done all kinds of jobs that could make him money. It was not until he joined the Jewish gang that his life gradually got better at sixteen. But at that time, fate would make a cruel joke on him. His mother and sister died in plague one after another, and his only remaining brother also died in a gang conflict.

And until the age of thirty, Lockheed was just a small and inconspicuous character in a Jewish gang, with only five subordinates at most.

Then there was the legendary battle. At that time, the leader of the Jewish gang was betrayed by his own men. Someone wanted to assassinate him, so he fled all the way to the temple. There was no one around him, and at that time, Lockheed happened to bring his two men to collect money at the market in front of the temple.

The three of them protected the boss. No one knew how they fought against those enemies while severely outnumbered, but when help arrived, the three of them were soaked in blood. Lockheed’s two men did not manage to hang on until the doctor came to help them. Lockheed was the only one that survived the battle. After that, his bravery was recognized by the Jewish leader, and his rank in the gang rose to new heights. And after the death of the leader, he was chosen as successor, taking over the largest gang in this southeastern city.

All the children on the streets of the Southeastern District regarded Lockheed as their idol. They wished that, like Lockheed, they too would be able to achieve something great.

On the left-hand side of Lockheed was a Sikabri who was about his age. He was meditating, and his eyes were closed. He was the boss of the second largest gang of the area, Golden Crown. His business included money lending and rent collection. Although he didn’t have as many members as the Jewish gang, he was richer. More than half of the real estate in the southwestern city belonged to the Golden Crown.

On Lockheed’s right-hand side was a young man. Unlike the two people around him, he looked very young, about the same size age as Zhang Heng, and came with an innocent smile on his face. He looked like the family member of the bosses here. He was actually the spokesperson of Beehive, which was the third-largest force in this city.

No one knew who Beehive’s boss was, and no one knew exactly how many members Beehive had and what kind of business they conducted. The only thing they knew was that.

Beehive was the oldest gang in the southwest city. They were everywhere, and anyone could be a member. Even Golden Crown and the Jewish gang had members from Beehive. Hence, no one could hide anything from the Beehive gang. Other than that, it was rumored that all the assassins in the southwestern city were related to them too.

The young man here was one of the few from Beehive in charge of communication and negotiations with other gangs. His nickname was Cornu.

As for the fourth person, instead of sitting at the table, he stood aside and poured wine for the three important personnel like a waiter in a tavern. However, Zhang Heng stared at him the longest because he realized that he could not gauge his true strength.

It was no wonder that the three of them could sit so casually on the second floor, with no guards protecting them.

“Zhang Heng, in the southeast city, no, it should be told that the whole city of Rome is talking about you.” The first person who spoke was Cornu from Beehive. With a smile, he said, “Two months ago, you were still the gladiators from the Victor Arena. After you regained your freedom, you immediately began to work for the emperor. It is said that the emperor values you a lot. When you were a gladiator, he visited you privately. Naturally, you don’t want to mess up your first task.”

“So when you joined the patrol team, you started to work on your task right away. First, you forced Iron Handcuffs and his men to attack you. After that, you appointed the thief called Soap to be your puppet. It is a smart move. You know that it is not right for the patrol team to take over those gang members and territories. Otherwise, you would have attracted our attention long ago. And you are very cautious. You looked for the five gangsters that you knew previously and formed an anti-patrol alliance. With that, you can make sure Soap will not grow too fast. Second, you can take the opportunity to get rid of the unstable factors in the two gangs. After that, you started to expand your patrol team aggressively.

“Your series of actions have successfully attracted the attention of Mr. Lockeed. We extended an invitation to you, but unfortunately, you went to look for your political ally, Clint. After that, the Senate started to spread the message that the emperor wanted to do something about the southeastern city. Am I right? By the way, you had Focaccia with honey for breakfast. You don’t like the bread because it was overbaked.”