When the group had arrived in Slough, it wasn’t peaceful times for the Howlers, nor could any of them relax.
Kai knew what had occurred—there was a fight between two leaders, two of the Kings, and retaliation was expected one way or another.
They didn’t know when, so Kai quickly called for a meeting. In the underground of one of the grand hotels in Cipen, where wedding venues would be held, a grand meeting had occurred.
“Everyone is to stay on high alert. Inform each other if there is anyone suspicious. Keep an eye on the color gangs as well in case any of them are being used,” Kai ordered.
“As for the teams located in the skyscraper towers, you need to make sure you don’t miss anything. Several eyes need to be awake at all times, looking out for attacks from above or below! Does everyone understand?”
“Yes sir!” the squad leaders replied, and they would go ahead to relay the information to the rest of the Howlers in the city.
A lot had changed in Slough—there were new buildings and a redesign of the city. Skyscrapers had been built as tourist landmarks, four in total.
However, this was actually all planned out by Kai. The skyscrapers were more like watchtowers that were observing from the outside.
Even the way the buildings were built around the outskirts was done with a strict urban planner so they could defend the city easier from an attack.
After leaving the hotel lobby, Kai was immediately back on his phone, contacting a number of people. He was getting information from all of their allies, trying to get a handle on Harvor and the One Gang’s movements.
If they could get ahead of it, it would be great for them.
‘The good news is so far there seems to be no movement from Harvor and his gang; the bad news is I don’t know the reason why that is.’
‘If possible, I want to avoid a fight in Slough at all costs. We were able to rebuild Slough once, but I’m not sure we could rebuild it again.’
‘After the last fight with one of the Kings, we weren’t the ones that got Inferno City—it was Harvor, so he got all the riches from the fight.’
‘The same thing could happen again, and we would have no way of rebuilding Slough at all.’
After exiting the building, Kai raised his hand, getting a car to pull over. It wasn’t a taxi, but the member driving was part of the Howlers.
Since the last fight, Kai had stopped wearing his mask, so pretty much everyone knew who he was and the important role he played in Slough.
“Take me to the ice rink,” Kai said.
The man asked no questions, even opening the door from his driver’s side, and allowed Kai to get in. After dropping him off, Kai looked at the ice stadium.
A place where certain sporting events in Slough would take place, and at other times, just be used as a regular ice rink for entertainment.
Today, the venue was closed, privately booked out.
As Kai reached the entrance and had his hand on the door, he let out a big sigh.
“This is what I’ve been dreading the most.”
——
Slowly opening his eyes, there were two things that had come to Gary’s mind. One of them was that he was cold, and the other was that he was quite hungry.
In his view, he was staring at a metallic ceiling with a display of lights. It wasn’t the usual scene of a bed or the white ceilings of a hospital, so he was quite confused.
As he eventually got up, he realized he was in a bed but mostly ignored the sights in front of him because there was a table with a platter of meat laid out and ready for him.
Gary’s body was moving even before his hands as he reached out and gobbled up the food bit by bit. As he did, his energy was restored, and he started to feel a lot better.
As he took a break, it was only then that he started to realize where he was.
“Am I in an ice rink?” Gary called out. “And there’s a bed of all things… am I still dreaming?”
“You certainly aren’t,” Kai said.
As Gary turned around, he could see the bed he had gotten up from, and further in the stands, where the observers would be, were the core members of the Howlers.
Austin, Marie, Olivia—those that had been with Gary since the start of the Howlers’ creation.
Gary was pleased to see them there, and it brought a smile to his face, but equally, things were confusing for him. Nothing was making sense.
“Wait a minute, why am I here?” Gary thought as he went to touch his head.
He could feel a pain in his stomach. As he went to check his system, he saw that the food and energy were doing their thing, and seeing it all, it hit him.
The new, uncompleted quests, the fact that his HP was still low, and his body was healing—Gary remembered everything.
“Wait…what happened? How are we here? This is the ice stadium in Slough, right?” Gary asked. “Where is everyone else? Where is Xin? Where is Harvor?
“What happened? I remember being hit…”
Gary was panicking, but then he thought for a moment. He was fine, and Austin was over there as well. Since Kai was here, maybe somehow they all managed to get saved.
“I guess we all made it out alright in the end if I’m here,” Gary said.
To that question, though, he felt Kai’s pulse change.
“That’s the thing, Gary—not everyone made it out,” Kai answered.