Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

[Task complete: complete the restructuring of the King Lion Gang and move its main HQ to Los Angeles. Reward: your PP increased by 3000!]

The arrival of the notification coincided with the arrival of the first guests Tristan Hayes invited to his new mansion.

This was not just a strategy council or a party—it was an event made to celebrate Tristan's establishment in Los Angeles, and to remind his people who they were working for.

Since a lot of Tristan's subordinates were low-life thugs, he didn't insist on sticking to rules of etiquette too much. But he let it know that coming in anything less formal than a suit will be an insult to him.

He was wearing a suit himself—a black one with a yellow shirt. It reminded about his title of King Lion without being too obnoxious. And it wasn't a wig.

The mansion Tristan bought on blood and drug money was large enough to have a separate dining room, large enough to fit a dozen guests easily. A pair of Tristan's men were acting as waiters tonight, preparing and moving in delicious-looking dishes.

Today, all his underbosses were invited: Leon, Martinez, Damien, Vargas, Victor and James. Out of them, only Leon and Martinez acted entirely nonplussed by the atmosphere of wealth surrounding them.

Damien, Victor, and Vargas made a good job of pretending that they weren't affected, while James looked twitchier than usual, which meant he was intimidated.

But nothing in the room was more impressive or intimidating than Tristan himself.

Before this day, Tristan had invested a large part of his points into his skills and attributes, striving to impress people on his side.

A lot of these points went into his charisma and fearsomeness. With 1059 charisma and 1077 fearsomeness, Tristan's aura became even more tangible than before. His presence was so powerful that if he entered a room, people would turn toward him even if they were standing with their backs to the entrance. And then they won't be able to ignore him, never.

However, thanks to the balance between the characteristics, it was easy to keep under control. As long as Tristan minded his body language, he could still be stealthy. And, of course, the amount of pressure he could exude on people was devastating.

But for now, Tristan was showing his good mood to people he greeted.

"Congratulations, Mr. Hayes," Leon said, shaking Tristan's hand. He wasn't wearing his wig anymore—not since he gave it to Tristan. "You have truly done a good job with this place. And I don't mean just the mansion. So let me give you a housewarming gift."

He brought a small box from his pocket and offered it to Tristan. Inside was a golden tie pin with a lion's head on it. The lion had a pair of tiny gemstones for eyes.

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When Tristan looked at them closer, his eyes widened with surprise. His observation skill, which now was 5076, wouldn't lie—those were blue diamonds. Even those small diamonds probably cost at least $10000 each.

Add to that the cost of gold and the jewelry work—it was definitely a custom piece, made to match Tristan's eye color—and it became a quite expensive gift even for Leon. At least after he lost his previous position.

"Those are very impressive diamonds. Thank you, Mr. Clavon."

Leon's eyes widened.

"You have a sharp eye to tell that those are blue diamonds and not another blue gemstone like sapphire. But I should've expected that from you."

He went to sit in his prepared place, and others approached Tristan with their own housewarming gifts. Gifts were as much an expectation as suits.

Damien brought an antique saber, which by his words, was used by an actual, real-life pirate captain. It certainly looked old, at least.

Martinez brought a handgun customized with gold engraving.

Vargas gave Tristan an oil painting of a stormy sea by an obscure Renaissance artist. The painting was still beautiful, even if it didn't cost millions.

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James was the last to offer his gift, looking nervous about it. Of all Tristan's underbosses, he was the least socially adept, and he clearly knew it.

His gift was a carpet. A two on three meters handmade carpet.

"It's what is good for making a house feel like home, boss. Mr. Hayes," James said, gesturing at one of his men who was carrying the thing in. "It's pretty, and expensive—I'm not being cheap on you here, no!"

Tristan smiled.

"Thank you. It will certainly make my bedroom cozier."

This calmed James down, and everybody went to the dinner table.

Tristan asked his man to put all the gifts away, and everybody began eating. The atmosphere was quite comfortable, especially considering that not too long ago some of these people were eager to stab each other.

A few times Victor tried to make a shitty joke at someone's expense, or James was about to give an opinion too honest for being public, but each time a single glance from Tristan was enough to make them swallow their words.

It was worse when people began talking about an inevitable topic among men—women—and Vargas started bragging about his smart and hot girlfriend. Thankfully, he remembered about Tristan's presence in the room before Tristan had to think how to shut him up without making anyone curious about Evelyn.

But eventually, all the food was eaten, and the dishes were taken away. There was some wine to go with it, but not enough to make anyone even a slightest bit drunk.

So that was when Tristan shifted the topic to business.

There were a lot of casual matters to arrange, now that the King Lion Gang had its hands free of police intervention. They could take over more of Los Angeles, explore new avenues of income.

Eventually, Tristan brought up the main topic he wanted to talk about today.

"One last thing, gentlemen… Cuatro Angulos is preparing to make a move against us."

Suddenly, silence fell over the room. Those who knew about the cartel went tense and alert in an instant. Those who didn't became tense and confused.

"I think I heard of them…" Damien muttered. "A large player in the Mexican drug market."

"I hoped they learned their lesson about staying on their side of the border," Martinez said with a frown. "Mr. Hayes, how do you know this?"

Tristan smiled.

"One of my people was watching their communications for me."

Tristan was too busy to do it personally, but he found among his people someone who knew Spanish well enough, and regularly checked that he was still loyal.

He was surprised himself that it took them so long to do something against him again, and that they missed an opportunity when the gang was infighting.

But at that time, Cuatro Angulos itself was at war with another drug cartel. The clash quickly ended with peace talks, though, and soon Angulos returned to preparing their next move.

"What are they planning to do?" Leon asked.

"Well, thanks to the sea trade routes, we've been indirectly buying drugs from Cuatro Angulos Brazil competitors on the American drug market. They can't attack them easily, so they plan to resort to… actual piracy."

Damien grinned.

"Really? Somali-style?"

"More or less. It's not like we can protect the smugglers' ships en route. Eventually, they all will either be dead, or be too scared to trade with us."

"We need ships of our own, then!" Damien exclaimed.

'And here I quietly hoped all that time that piracy theme was just a joke,' Tristan thought.

"That's stupid," Victor said with a glare. "We don't have THAT much funds."

"Yes, and that's why we will stop Cuatro Angulos before they even start their operation. We will attack first. By my estimate, we have two months to do it before the first attacks begin."

"Two months… for an operation like that…" Vargas muttered.

"We can do it!" James sneered. "They won't know what hit 'em. But we will know. It will be a bomb!"

"How will you get a bomb past border security?" Victor asked dryly. "Actually, how will we get the strike team past border security? Who WILL be in the strike team? At least a few people have to know Spanish, or they will be strangled there. Hell, just being white people in Mexico, a lot of our guys will stand out."

"Some of my boys are Mexican. We ain't spitting on anyone."

"A very modern thing to say, James," Damien mocked. "But they will need someone steadier to guide them."

"That doesn't tell me what to do about the bomb," Victor retorted.

Tristan just watched them go with a slight smile on his face.

A machine which he gathered and oiled by himself. It was so satisfying to see it work. He was sure that if he gave them enough time, they would come up with a good plan on their own.

However, the plan had to be not just good, but 100% foolproof; besides, Tristan had other things to add.

"I'm also considering an assassination. It won't bring the cartel down, but it will make the primary operation much easier to carry…"