Chapter 64: Why Is He Getting More and More Handsome?

On the first day of the SSR Club's grand opening, an unpredictable and subtle shift rippled through the landscape of the New York Mafia.

After the banquet concluded that night, Luca bid farewell to the guests one by one, though a few lingered in the casino, gambling until the late hours before finally departing.

As Old Zuo and his associates were leaving, Luca was at the bar with Jimmy, tallying the day's total of new club memberships.

Initial counts showed a little over two hundred membership cards issued.

These were not the rare-tier cards, but part of the standard membership system. The rare-tier cards were reserved exclusively for Luca to gift directly.

"Old Dove! My luck was pretty decent tonight; I managed to win some money from your casino. You don't mind, do you? Hahaha! Shit, after losing so many times, I finally caught a win!"

Old Zuo laughed heartily, stepping forward to embrace Luca. The latter joked in response, "Old Zuo, if you keep winning, I'm going to have to add you to the casino's blacklist."

"Hey! Such a stingy bastard! This little bit of money isn't even enough to buy a car!"

Old Zuo, whose dream was to buy a boat, patted Luca on the back. "I'm going to win a yacht right here from you!"

Nearby, Black Sonny, who had also walked away with a modest profit for the evening, seemed quite pleased, though he harbored deeper thoughts. After exchanging a few brief words with Luca, he departed.

"Old Dove, I'll come back to play next time."

Watching the figures of the men as they walked away, Luca picked up the cocktail from the table and took a sip. It burned his throat slightly.

Black Sonny was one ruthless, cold-blooded talent, dammit...

Luca thought to himself that compared to Black Sonny assassinating the boss of bosses, his own assassination of the underboss seemed like child's play.

Not only that, but according to the original plotline, this fellow Black Sonny would ignite wave after wave of internal strife within the Bonanno family.

First, he would kill the boss of bosses, followed by the consecutive assassinations of three capos!

He would practically wipe out the entire middle management of the Bonanno family, annexing all of their business operations.

He exclusively slaughtered his own people! He had completely lost his mind!

He even dragged Old Zuo and Donnie along to dismember and bury their enemies' corpses.

These massacres were supposed to remain secret, never to be known by outsiders, but Black Sonny never imagined that Donnie was an undercover federal agent!

He had even dragged the guy along to help chop up bodies, effectively handing him all the evidence on a silver platter.

In the end, when Donnie's undercover assignment concluded and all the information was exposed, Black Sonny, Old Zuo, and their entire crew were executed by the family's high command—Donnie had caused the family's vitality to be severely wounded, and since Black Sonny and the others had vouched for Donnie the mole, all of them had to die.

Though rebellion was a traditional art form in Mafia families, descending into the kind of chaos seen in the Bonanno family...

"If Galante is truly going to be eliminated, you really have to count on Black Sonny," Luca mused with a wry smile.

Sometimes, professional assassins like himself and O-Ren Ishii could not quite compare to ambitious mobsters like Black Sonny.

The knife coming from closest to home was always the hardest to evade; it struck when least expected.

"Luca," Malizia approached from behind, letting out a sigh. "I've made inquiries. Your guess was correct; the Commission only approved the execution of Galante. Richie's hit was purely Dominic's personal initiative."

Luca sneered inwardly. No matter how wildly the original plot diverged, it certainly wouldn't reach a point where all the major families agreed to execute Richie. This damned butterfly effect had been more than half stirred up by Dominic alone, and the bastard had even tried to drag him down into the water with him.

"What about Richie's end?"

"Dominic is already dead; there's no need to target them anymore," Malizia shook his head. "However, Galante's execution must proceed. That was the unanimous decision of the Commission."

"That's not a problem. I know what needs to be done."

This was the moment to build up bonds with O-Ren Ishii and the One-Eyed Lady.

The Empress of the Underworld...

...

On the street.

Old Zuo pulled out a wad of cash and slapped it into Donnie's hand. "Kid, invest in me, and you're bound to make a fortune. Once I buy my yacht, we'll go out to sea and fish together."

Donnie: "......"

Damn it, this was the first time in history he had ever gotten money from his capo.

It was a miracle! The perpetual borrower had turned into a benefactor!

"Old Zuo," Black Sonny asked abruptly, "is there any gift you want?"

"Hoh! You rascal, are you planning to give me a gift now that you've won some money? Buy me a yacht, then."

"Fuck a yacht!"

Black Sonny scolded with an amused, exasperated laugh, but thinking of how Old Zuo had visited and sent money to his mistress and wife every week while he was locked up in prison... well, this brother was still solid.

Once he became a capo, he would definitely still look out for Old Zuo.

...

The club's opening promotional event brought in quite a few people over the next few days who were curious about the newly opened venue and came to experience it firsthand. Jordan had also introduced a number of wealthy elites and middle-class professionals from Wall Street.

Business was doing reasonably well.

William ultimately agreed to Luca's request, coming to the club to work as a butler.

It wasn't until the fourth day after the grand opening that the family held the funeral for Dominic.

Over the past few days, the assassination had sparked fierce arguments during a new secret closed-door meeting, but the final outcome remained unknown to those lower down the ranks, and no new execution orders had been handed down—the mandate to eliminate Galante was simply reaffirmed.

However, this meeting was clearly different from the previous one, given that a Bonanno internal mole had been involved in murdering their own boss...

Yet, whatever compromises or exchanges of interests had been struck remained opaque to outsiders.

At this moment, during the funeral.

Luca stood amidst the crowd, clad entirely in black.

Here, he encountered the drug lord Frank, who had come to pay his respects, along with several members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad.

Standing right beside him were the assassins Elle Driver and O-Ren Ishii. Luca could sense the one-eyed woman periodically glancing toward a specific corner with her remaining eye.

Over there, a tall, blonde woman was intimately linked arm-in-arm with an elderly man with long hair.

As the system interface popped up, Luca averted his gaze without a trace.

【Character Card Discovered: Bill (Locked)】

【Bill: S】

【Origin: Kill Bill】

【Skills: Overreaction; Chains of Loyalty】

【Bond: Stranger】

...

【Character Card Discovered: Beatrix Kiddo (Locked)】

【Beatrix: SSR】

【Origin: Kill Bill】

【Skills: Resurrection; Vengeance; Maternal Radiance; Yellow Tracksuit; Pai Mei's Direct Disciple】

【Bond: Stranger】

Seeing the skill "Pai Mei's Direct Disciple," Luca almost failed to maintain his expression.

The aforementioned Pai Mei was a legendary Chinese martial arts master—Taoist Priest Pai Mei—who was also a friend of Bill's, as well as the master of Black Mamba and One-Eyed Elle.

Pai Mei possessed a supreme martial art known as the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.

It was an immensely powerful style of Chinese kung fu. In the original plot, Beatrix ultimately used this very technique to kill Bill—an American female assassin using Chinese kung fu to murder Bill while he was raising a child in Mexico.

Although the plot was somewhat abstract, it painted a picture of several highly skilled assassins and an even more outrageously formidable Taoist priest, Pai Mei.

If Pai Mei were still alive, all five Black Mambas put together wouldn't be able to beat him.

At this thought, Luca glanced sideways at Elle—she was already missing one eye, which meant Pai Mei was already dead. In the original storyline, when Elle was studying under Pai Mei, the master had plucked out one of her eyes in disgust.

Seeking revenge, Elle had poisoned the fish soup, killing Pai Mei.

The fish soup is served~~~

Tragic and unfortunate.

An absolute powerhouse of peak combat tier, poisoned to death by a lesser subordinate, severing a legendary bloodline of martial arts.

Now, only Black Mamba remained in the entire world who knew the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.

...

For now, Black Mamba and Bill were deeply in love, so it wouldn't be appropriate for Luca to insert himself into the situation. That foolish woman had been utterly brainwashed by Bill...

Luca withdrew his gaze and purposely asked Elle beside him, "Who is that woman standing next to Bill? Is she his daughter?"

Elle froze, nearly bursting into laughter.

Hahahaha, this was the first time she had ever heard someone refer to Black Mamba as Bill's daughter. It struck her as infinitely hilarious... even an outsider felt that those two adulterers were completely unfit to be a couple.

"They do look a lot like father and daughter, don't they?" Elle found Luca increasingly agreeable the more she looked at him. Giving him a few extra glances, she realized this fellow was exceptionally handsome, his attractiveness leaving that old man Bill trailing miles behind.

"Isn't she?" Luca feigned utter astonishment. "I just got the impression that their faces didn't look all that much alike as father and daughter."

"Hahaha!"

Elle patted Luca on the shoulder, then pulled out her small notebook and jotted down a note. "Dove, I really like your humor... Well, you didn't see wrong; they are indeed father and daughter."

She briefly mentioned Black Mamba's first name. "Next time you can go ask her and say, 'Bill is so good to you; have you and your father been this close since you were little?' Haha, I bet you Beatrix will turn red with embarrassment when she hears that."

Evil woman, trying to play me like a fool... Luca smiled inwardly. "I like your straightforwardness, too. Chatting with you makes me feel so at ease."

He extended a hand. "I'm looking forward to our cooperation even more now."

Elle gave Luca's palm a cheerful smack. "Just wait, big sis will help you get the job done."

【Bond: Familiar】

A woman consumed by jealousy tended to have a somewhat extreme personality. Could they really shorten the distance between them just by trash-talking the other woman? Luca glanced over Bill's two skills—every single damn one of them was related to women. The bastard was a master PUA artist, having utterly bewitched his entire troupe of female subordinates.

Fortunately, O-Ren Ishii possessed a fairly high resistance against Bill and hadn't been duped.

Luca cast a glance at the Japanese woman beside him, dressed in simple mourning black. Opening his interface, he applied Brian's skill points.

【Expend 80 fragments to redeem "Radiant Charm"?】

【Yes / No】

Yes!

【Redemption successful, skill has been added】

【Radiant Charm: Your personal charm is enhanced, making it easier for others to develop favorable impressions of you. Efficiency of improving favorability with the opposite sex +10%; Efficiency of improving favorability with the same sex +15%】

【Remaining Skill Fragments: 4】

"Miss Ishii?" Luca inquired, "How are your injuries?"

Over the past few days, Luca had frequently visited Long Island to check on her and Elle. Their relationship had grown quite familiar, though O-Ren Ishii retained a trace of aloofness. With her life plans mapped out with absolute clarity, she marched straight toward her goals, unwilling to be distracted by anything else in her surroundings.

A man like Luca—handsome, formidable, yet gentle and attentive...

"Thank you for your concern; I'm quite recovered." O-Ren Ishii maintained a poised demeanor, nodding slightly before quickly shifting her gaze away.

For some reason, she suddenly felt that Mr. Greco had become even more charming today?

Just because he had changed into a handmade suit?

He had been coming to visit her every day during this period—was it because...

O-Ren Ishii clenched her fingers, hurriedly extinguishing that bizarre train of thought. What kind of strange things was she even imagining?

"Dominic was an elder to me; his death has left me deeply grieved..."

Luca stared with a melancholy gaze at the coffin about to be lowered into the ground. "He was a remarkably important mentor in my life, and someone I once admired the most. After I joined the Mafia at the age of ten, I set him as my goal, dreaming of becoming a leader just like him..."

Luca chatted on and on with O-Ren Ishii about some of his past memories with Dominic.

Most of what he said was true.

Back when young Luca was first brought by Malizia to meet Dominic, he had been instantly captivated by the man's power and personal magnetism. At the time, Dominic was still a kindly uncle, a capo who hadn't yet started drug trafficking and hadn't revealed his iron-fisted, ruthless side to Luca...

Luca remembered it very clearly. Once, when Dominic was chatting with him half-jokingly, the topic turned to what kind of person he wanted to become in the future:

Was it better to be loved or to be feared?

Dominic's choice had been: In this life of crime, you're bound to make enemies; you have to learn to make friends, but being someone who is both loved and feared is too difficult... I would rather have everyone fear me.

......

"Please accept my condolences, Dove."

O-Ren Ishii offered a soft word of comfort, her voice unconsciously softening. Perhaps because the man beside her shared similar life experiences and ambitions, coupled with their identical status as assassins, she always found a reflection of herself in him... His words naturally made one feel a sense of intimate kinship.

Luca's gaze deepened. "Miss Ishii, I am going to avenge Dominic. Eliminating Galante is the only thing I want to do right now. If you help me this time, no matter what troubles you face in the future, and regardless of who your enemies or targets are, I will stand by your side."

Empress of the Underworld, let us fight side by side!

Vengeance, huh... O-Ren Ishii involuntarily thought back to the traumatic bloodshed of her childhood. She nodded gently. "This is also my mission. Let us complete it together."

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Elle waltzed over, casting a peculiar look at Luca. How did this kid get even more handsome in the span of a single blink?

"We were trying to guess what unspeakable secrets are written inside your diary."

Luca shrugged, looking toward O-Ren Ishii. "Right?"

O-Ren Ishii: "Right, we're both quite curious."

The two of them exchanged a knowing smile.

【Bond: Familiar】