Chapter 75: Chapter 68: Thank God? You Should Thank Li Wei

"Fuck you!"

Jose suddenly burst out. His eyes bloodshot, he violently flipped over the pile of chips in front of him and roared, "You’re cheating! These cards are marked!"

CLATTER—

Chips scattered across the floor. The surrounding gamblers froze for a moment, then a commotion burst out as they scrambled to grab the chips on the ground.

"You’re asking to die!"

One of the thugs guarding the second-floor staircase frowned. He gave his partner a look and strode over, his hand already reaching for his waist.

Suddenly, the lights in the hall flickered and went out for a few seconds.

Jose’s mind went blank. But driven by the crisis, he squeezed out the last dregs of his potential, using the few seconds of darkness to slip along the wall to the rear of the second-floor corridor.

"Fuck! What’s going on?!"

"Where’s the backup power? Leto! Is someone trying to rip us off?!"

"Nobody move! I’ll shoot anyone who makes a sudden move!"

Fortunately, the darkness in the hall only lasted a few seconds before the lights came back on.

Leto emerged from the second-floor office with several thugs.

He held a walkie-talkie, asking about the generator’s status, but all he got in response was a busy signal.

While signaling his men to go check, he led the others downstairs to calm down the casino’s patrons.

However, as if playing a joke on him, the lights went out again with a CLICK.

It wasn’t the flickering of a tripped breaker, but a complete, deathly, and prolonged darkness. It was as if an invisible hand had instantly choked the life out of the entire building.

All the slot machines went silent in an instant. After a second of stunned silence, the once-raucous casino burst into even louder, more terrified screams and curses than before.

"They’re going to kill us!"

"Run!"

"There’s money on the counter!"

The immense chaos threw the gamblers into a panic. But Jose, instead of retreating, used his last ounce of grit to stumble through the pitch-black darkness toward where he remembered the office was.

’If I can just get in... maybe I still have a chance!’

To his ecstatic relief, the second-floor office door was actually unlocked. He burst in like a gust of wind and fumbled inside the desk drawer Don Quixote had specifically told him about, grabbing whatever he could find and stuffing it all into his jacket.

Suddenly, he felt a barely perceptible breeze, but he had no time to think about what it was or where it came from.

’Oh God, have you finally decided to bless me for once?’

He heard footsteps on the stairs and saw the beam of a flashlight, which scared him out of his wits.

Clutching the items in his jacket for dear life, he scrambled and crawled his way out with the other gamblers, not even realizing he’d knocked several people over.

He dashed out of the construction site, made several turns, and finally jumped into Don Quixote’s car in a dead-end alley.

Don Quixote didn’t have time for questions. He slammed on the gas and sped off, taking a long, roundabout route through Queens before finally returning to Bei Ling Ridge.

Li Wei opened the door for them.

"You did it?"

As soon as they were inside, Don Quixote asked, "What the hell happened in there?"

"I... I don’t know. The power went out, it was pitch black," Jose said, still shaken. "Then... then I rushed into the office—God be praised, the office door wasn’t even locked."

"Get to the point! The point!" Don Quixote was about to be driven mad by him. "Did you find the ledger?"

"The ledger... right," Jose said, emptying his jacket onto the table. "The ledger..."

Some scattered USD, a few thousand dollars’ worth.

Two pornographic books, probably what Leto used to pass the time.

And a thick, black leather ledger with worn edges, lying quietly before the two of them.

"Holy shit..." Don Quixote’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. "You actually got the ledger?" 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"God was with me," Jose said, burying his face in his hands and sobbing. "It’s a miracle from the Lord!"

"Let me see... It’s in Italian," Don Quixote said, opening the ledger, "but I know Spanish, so I can basically understand it. Good! Good! Good!"

"This doesn’t just have loansharking and casino records, it even has details on drugs," he said as he read. "If I hand this over to the IRS or the FBI, all hell will break loose!"

"Then why don’t we just hand it over?" Jose asked cautiously. "I mean... wouldn’t that be safer for us?"

Don Quixote shot Jose a glance. "An FBI investigation can take months, even up to a year. Can we afford to wait that long? Besides, what if they’re in collusion? This operation was risky enough. Thank God it somehow succeeded. From now on, we’re not taking any more risks."

’Thank God?’ Li Wei thought smugly. ’You should be thanking Li Wei.’

[Mission: Unfinished Business Complete]

[Mission Reward: Agility +0.1]

[Don Quixote is very satisfied with the results Jose obtained]

[Bonus Reward: Strength +0.1]

...

Early Saturday morning, Don Quixote, his eyes bloodshot from staying up all night, told Li Wei the fantastic news.

"I’ve already sorted through this ledger! And I’ve made a backup!" He slapped the ledger in his hand, making a loud THWACK. "I borrowed 500 USD from Susan for Jose so he and his wife can lay low for a while. And I have some good news for you."

"What good news?" Li Wei asked indistinctly while brushing his teeth. "What did you find in the ledger?"

"Turns out that guy Leto is a capo in the Gambino Family," Don Quixote said, unable to hide his smugness. "He’s a fourth-tier member of the Gambino Family, and the building I had my eye on happens to be managed under his name—it’s like God himself is helping me! What do you think will happen when the Gambino Family finds out Leto lost their ledger?"