Chapter 50 Auxiliary Skills

Two days later.

Sorrell traveled from Switzerland to New York.

Initially, he had no intention of coming since Jordan had already transferred all the funds, leaving no active business between them. However, Jordan had dropped a bombshell—he claimed to have discovered that Sorrell was having an affair with his close friend's wife.

This left Sorrell in a terribly awkward position.

Jordan had a circle of partners, and when those twenty million were shipped to Switzerland, the wife of one of those partners had lent a hand. After a few trips moving the money, lingering glances led to mutual affection, and eventually, she ended up in Sorrell's bed.

Stealthy affairs were thrilling, but getting caught was a different story...

Secondly, Jordan mentioned wanting to start a new business venture, which piqued Sorrell's interest enough to make him immediately fly to New York for a visit.

Compared to a somewhat attractive married woman, money was far more important. He just hoped this wouldn't affect his new partnership with Jordan too much.

Upon arriving in New York that day, he went straight to Wall Street to discuss money laundering cooperation with Jordan. Throughout the meeting, neither of them mentioned the affair; they talked strictly about money, acting as if the incident didn't even exist.

They even enjoyed a pleasant dinner together that evening.

The next day, Sorrell headed to the Benihana restaurant, taking the opportunity to visit some local clients.

Benihana was a chain of teppanyaki restaurants whose owner, Rocky Aoki, was a Japanese national who also ran a drug trafficking operation.

As one of the victims of Blue Magic, the Japanese drug-dealing syndicate under Aoki's command wasn't doing well either, having been squeezed out by Frank into near-obscurity. Out of desperation, he had begun seeking cooperation with Frank, becoming one of his distributors.

At least in New York and its surrounding cities, you couldn't avoid Blue Magic if you wanted to deal drugs.

Sorrell would launder the illicit drug money, scrubbing it clean through maritime powerboat races and other sporting events... through advertising sponsorships, investments in major sports clubs and events, equipment procurement, rigging match outcomes, and athlete sponsorships.

Compared to laundering money for Jordan, laundering it for these drug dealers yielded a much higher commission for Sorrell.

It was also much more dangerous.

......

New Jersey.

Rich pinned photos of Rocky Aoki and a Black man onto the blackboard.

"Aoki, Japanese. On the surface, he's the founder of the Benihana restaurant, but secretly, he's also the president of a Bōsōzoku motorcycle gang."

"A motorcycle gang?"

"The Japanese Bōsōzoku are quite famous; their members are a bunch of speed-freak bikers who are crazy about motorcycles... As you know, in any organization, once you get a large group of men together, they always love teaming up to break the rules."

Rich tapped the blackboard. "And they are no exception—drug trafficking has become the top choice for these bikers! They don't just sell Blue Magic; they also sell..."

Rich reeled off a long list of drug names.

Everyone nodded.

Aside from the folks on Wall Street, underground gang members made up the largest group of addicts, followed closely by these thrill-seeking young bikers... toss a stone into a crowd of them, and you'd easily hit a junkie.

Rich pointed at the Black man again: "Turner, Frank's biological older brother. He runs a tire shop in the Bronx and helps Frank move drugs; this guy also loves street racing. He and Aoki met through illegal street racing, and they use the races to trade and transfer the drugs!"

"We've taken down so many distributors now that besides Frank, this bunch of bikers is the hardest group to deal with in New York's drug trade! They transport drugs using the biker gang, and all those bikes have been modified for high speed and high maneuverability..."

Rich said helplessly, "Our patrol cars can't easily catch them."

Without catching the perpetrators, it was difficult to secure a conviction with ironclad evidence.

David laughed, "How about we modify a few police cars ourselves? I've been dying to try nitrous boost."

Everyone simultaneously turned their gaze toward their superior.

Modified cars cost budget funds, after all....

Their boss wore a speechles expression: "The money for that last drug bust was hard enough to secure; where would I get the cash to modify racing cars? Even if we modified them, would your driving skills even cut it?"

Everyone: "......"

......

The Bronx, the biker gang's stronghold.

The room was throbbing with restless punk rock music, and numerous brightly dressed young people were dancing and jumping around inside.

Luca, dressed entirely in black, walked past, and quite a few biker gang members waved to him.

Passing through the lobby, guided along the way by various bikers, he finally went through the back door and arrived at an abandoned, graffiti-covered half-finished building.

......

There were many young people here racing and showing off their skills—on motorcycles or in cars—circling the unfinished building, throwing open-air beer and barbecue parties, with sexy, alluring women visible everywhere.

Luca found Matilda holding a box of milk on the outer edge of the venue. Surrounded by a crowd drinking alcohol, she was the only one drinking milk. This sight brought a gentle smile to Luca's lips, thinking to himself that although this little brat acted older than her years and was full of rebellion, she was willing to trust him and listen to his words.

"Matilda!"

Hearing Luca's voice, Matilda turned her head as if by conditioned reflex, instantly spotting that tall, straight figure amidst the vast crowd.

Matilda smiled sweetly, trotted over to hug Luca's forearm, and conveniently used his sleeve to wipe a milk mustache from the corner of her mouth.

A group of little punks nearby stood up and greeted the Pigeon.

Luca sat down in the crowd, listening to them chat and boast... Compared to the rather gloomy and serious family members, these punk-and-bike-loving youths were undoubtedly much more vibrant.

At least the Mafia wouldn't dress up in such flashy, colorful clothes, nor would they sport counterculture hairstyles.

"They're racing, the stake is three thousand bucks," Matilda pointed to a red and black modified car, "That's Nancy's car; she's in the race too."

Luca glanced over and saw that Nancy was currently in second place, trailing a green Mitsubishi that was faster, handled corners more smoothly, and was pulling far ahead of everyone else in first place.

This was an opponent in a completely different league.

The race ended, and the green Mitsubishi claimed first place with overwhelming dominance.

The car door opened, Brian stepped out, and amid the cheers of the crowd, he collected the stakes from the other drivers, with quite a few women crowding around him.

Looking at that eye-catching head of blond hair, Luca smiled faintly.

Blond hair plus a sports car—those two elements were absolute killers anywhere, and Brian was the quintessential blond heartthrob, welcome wherever he went.

"Hey~~"

The tall and sexy Nancy walked over and greeted Luca, "I went looking for you at the club last time, but you seemed very busy."

"That's why I took the initiative to come check things out this time." Luca observed his surroundings, his gaze finally resting on Nancy's pretty face, "I really like the atmosphere here."

[Nancy: C]

[Biker Phantom: Your control over motor vehicles +20%, extreme road condition clearance rate +20%; when riding a two-wheeled motorcycle, skill effects are doubled]

[Learning Requirement: Bond must reach Friend or higher; requires Skill Fragment X20]

A fairly decent minor skill.

But compared to Brian's bug-tier [Unity of Man and Machine].....

Luca looked up toward the blond-haired man surrounded by the crowd not far away.

[Brian: SSR]

[Unity of Man and Machine: Your control over motor vehicles +50%, extreme road condition clearance rate +50%, and you are proficient in various driving stunts; when you are involved in a car crash while driving a motor vehicle, the probability of injury is reduced by -50% ~~ -80% (determined by driving skill)]

[Learning Requirement: Driving Mastery above LV6; Bond must reach Close Friend or higher; requires Skill Fragment X100]

......

[Radiant Charm: Your personal charm becomes stronger, others find it easier to develop a favorable impression of you, opposite-sex favorability growth efficiency +10%; same-sex favorability growth efficiency +15%]

[Learning Requirement: Bond must reach Friend or higher; requires Skill Fragment X80]

......

[Turning Over a New Leaf: As an official law enforcement member, when going undercover in a criminal syndicate, criminal trust +20%; after turning traitor, criminal syndicate extra trust +30% ~ 50% (determined by bond with criminals), while official trust -70%]

[Learning Requirement: Bond must reach Close Friend or higher; requires Skill Fragment X80]

......

[Family Man: You are someone who places great importance on bonds and loyalty. No matter what difficulties your teammates/family (Close Friend bond or higher) encounter, when fighting for protection, as long as you shout out the phrase "For Family", you will temporarily gain buff effects:

Combat power +50% ~ 100% (determined by bond); Willpower +50%, negative psychological states -50% (fear, hesitation, anxiety, pain, despair, etc.)]

[Learning Requirement: Bond must reach Partner or higher; requires Skill Fragment X200]

......

[See You Again: When you exit the scene, your teammates/family (Close Friend bond or higher) temporarily gain +10% ~ 30% to all their abilities (all learned skills);

This skill effect will continuously weaken over time until it disappears; upon reuniting, this skill effect immediately disappears and refreshes]

[Learning Requirement: Bond must reach Symbiotic; requires Skill Fragment X300]

Looking at these five skills, Luca wore a family-like, caring smile.

This kid's skills were truly overpowered.

The Unity of Man and Machine skill was more than a tier stronger than Biker Phantom; it was essential for driving, and crucially, it reduced injury probability during crashes.

The Radiant Charm skill was also fantastic, boosting the efficiency of farming favorability. Luca felt it was even more effective than directly granting favorability—plus, it farmed faster with the same sex! Good brothers!

The third skill was useless; it was another official undercover skill.

The fourth skill required shouting a catchphrase, but Luca didn't mind. He had already shouted peace-defending slogans countless times; he wouldn't mind adding a "For Family" slogan to the mix.

Could he, the Pigeon, not be a Family Man?

As for the last one...

"Is there any need for me to learn this skill? It doesn't buff myself, it buffs my teammates."

Luca muttered thoughtfully, "This is the first time I've seen a skill that buffs teammates... Isn't this a support skill? As long as Brian stays far enough away from me, can I trigger the stat boost?"

At this thought, Luca's expression turned rather peculiar.

This skill really seemed unnecessary to learn. As long as he raised Brian's bond past Close Friend, wouldn't Brian trigger a combat boost for him every time he exited the scene?

And then he could find Brian to reunite, refresh the skill, and repeat...

A continuous cycle of see you again.

Luca felt this skill was practically meant to be used this way!

"Brian this guy is a heavy-duty support character!"

Luca grinned widely. Not bad, not bad—how could a Godfather's entourage lack a support character who casts buffs?

Though the method of casting buffs was a bit abstract, requiring the support to stand behind everyone else...

Right now, Luca needed to figure out how to farm bonds with Brian. Playing the emotional card was definitely a must, but to truly move the guy and rapidly earn his recognition...

Street racing was indispensable!

Luca glanced at his LV4 Driving skill, thinking he could invest a few more skill points into it. Unity of Man and Machine required at least LV6 Driving Mastery.

Additionally, Biker Phantom was worth learning; it only required a Friend-level bond and cost just 20 fragments, which was quite a bargain.

......

"Hey! Old Pigeon!" Brian walked over, extending a hand to high-five Luca.

"I caught the race just now. Nice driving!" Luca praised.

"New York drivers can't give me any pressure," Brian shrugged. "Drivers over in Los Angeles are stronger."

As if that was the same thing, Los Santos was the holy land of street racing... Luca suggested, "Interested in coming somewhere with me?"

"Where to?"

"Street racing, of course."

Information about Sorrell and the Benihana restaurant flowed through Luca's mind...

Money laundering, drug trafficking, street racing...

Luca figured Benihana really knew how to play, running right into his crosshairs on all fronts. For laundering money, he had Denham; for drug dealing, he had Rich and David.

And for street racing, he had Brian!

Wasn't this setting up Benihana to be ground into dust?

He might as well take down Benihana right along with Sorrell, sharing the spoils with his friends.

Those Japanese swordsmen shouting Banzai wouldn't be able to stop him, the Ambassador of Peace.

Luca smiled faintly and instigated, "Don't underestimate New York. The roads here might not be as free as Los Angeles, but the racing scene here is every bit as good as LA's. Brian, didn't you want some pressure? I'll find you a stronger group of racers!"