The Black Swan Behind

232 The Beast Empire

The men nodded slowly.

“Actually, we’re still investigating it,” Nicko replied.

“Most importantly, you should always be careful and don’t wander outside at night. You also don’t need to find out about this matter because it might be very dangerous.” Calvin said.

Ian took a piece of used receipt paper from his shirt pocket. “Anyone brings a pen?”

“Me,” Poppy gave a pen with a sparkling star decoration at the top.

Ian took the pen and wrote something on the back of the cigarette receipt. When he was done, he handed Poppy the paper along with the pen he borrowed. “This is my and Troy’s phone number. You can call us if anything dangerous or odd happens.”

Poppy stared at the paper with two phone numbers that Ian had written down. “Well, thank you. But this is a bit...”

“Please don’t get us wrong. We’re serious about this. You have no idea how dangerous it is out there.” Troy cut off Poppy’s words.

Even a Troy Roner who never wanted to have anything to do with women was willing to give his personal number to the girls. Jita Kyoei indeed took the matter very seriously.

.....

“Well.. Thanks for worrying about us.” Emma said.

“Remember. You shouldn’t hesitate to contact us if anything happens. You are our friends. So, we don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” Nicko reminded.

“We know,” Emma smiled at the sweet man.

“Okay then. Enjoy your lunch.” Ian said before leaving.

“Thanks again,” Poppy said to the men who were leaving their table. Troy just raised his hand as he walked.

“They must know something. Are we one step behind?” Kathy asked straight away once the men had walked quite far.

“We are new players in this dark world, Kathy. We still have a lot to learn here.” Emma answered.

“I’ll also find out about this matter. That means it’s obvious that they are after girls.” Rachel said.

“We have to find the Beast Empire first. Only then can we stop this crime. It’s still not certain that the Beast Empire is the culprit, right?” Emma said.

“Do we need to lure them out?” Poppy asked.

“You mean in disguise?” Kathy could immediately guess what was going through Poppy’s head.

The cute-faced girl nodded. “I think it’s the only way to find out where the girls are being taken. I’m thinking they might end up in a prostitution area.” She explained, based on her experience.

“The target is young women. What else is most relevant to that?” Rachel nodded in agreement at Poppy’s estimate.

“Isn’t that too dangerous?” Emma asked doubtfully. “We don’t know what kind of group they are yet, do we?”

“Then should we wait until another girl becomes the next victim? What about Crystal’s fate?” Poppy asked.

Emma paused. “Looks like we have to go back to patrolling every night,”

***

It had been a long time since Emma had listened to the 37.1 AM radio broadcast. Usually, she listened to the radio broadcast alone. But now, three other people listened to it with her.

“I didn’t know there was this kind of radio broadcast,” Poppy said.

“Calvin Lee listens to this too. All this time, we slept without knowing some people were fighting to protect the city like this.” Kathy said as she was busy in front of her laptop.

Poppy and Kathy were at the Black Swan base, while Emma and Rachel were patrolling with their motorbikes as Black.

“That Beast Empire.. Their members very often go on Jen Marrie Street. Do you know that place?” Kathy asked Poppy.

“I do. I’ve been to that place and Emma had too.” Poppy answered straight away. She got up from where she was sitting and was sitting next to Kathy. “They often come down that street?”

Kathy nodded. “These are the social media posts of some Beast Empire men. Lately, they’ve been there more often. What kind of place is that actually?”

“I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time, in fact. But I saw a lot of casinos there that seemed illegal. There also..” Poppy frowned and continued, “a lot of women entertainers.”

“Could it be.. that they are related to that street?” Kathy muttered.

“We should tell Emma about this. Maybe we should keep an eye on that street.”

“Okay. I’ll find out about Jen Marie Street then.” Kathy’s eyes widened as she stared at her laptop screen, “The street even has its own social media. They have good marketing techniques, dammit!”

“Wouldn’t that make it very easy for them to be caught by the police?” Poppy asked.

“Nonsense. I’m sure even the cops would come there to entertain themselves.” Kathy replied.

After waiting for several hours, Emma and Rachel returned from their work. The two motorbikes entered the back of Poppy’s studio building quickly, then parked in a small vacant lot that actually meant to be a garden.

“Damn.. My back,” Emma held her waist which felt sore from riding the motorbike for too long.

Poppy and Kathy rushed downstairs to open the back door for Emma and Rachel to enter. While working as Black, they would all go in and out of the back door so as not to arouse suspicion.

“Are you all right?” Poppy asked directly as soon as she faced her two friends who had just returned.

Emma nodded. “There’s been some fighting.”

“Was it?” Kathy raised her eyebrows.

“On the way, I ran into Calvin. He seems to be on patrol too.” Rachel said as she took off the mask that made the hair around her forehead sweat wet.

“Calvin has started moving again. We have to be careful not to let him follow us here.” Emma said.

“I found a new lead, guys. I’ll show you upstairs.” Kathy said as she walked ahead of her three friends to walk up the stairs.

The four girls ended up on the third floor. Emma and Rachel immediately sat on the queen-sized bed which was placed on the floor for them to sleep.

“Earlier, I had thwarted a girl kidnapping. There were more than two kidnappers. They hid the car on the other side of the road. Meanwhile, two men would hide in a dark alley. I beat the two men before they could catch their target.” Emma said. Then she let out a long sigh. “Those men had Beast Empire emblem on their clothes.”

“So now it’s clear that the Beast Empire is the culprit. In this case, you should see this,” Kathy said before walking towards the table under the large window.

Kathy took her laptop and sat next to her friends on the bed. She opened the pictures that had been taken from the social media of the Beast Empire members and explained what she had found.

“Jen Marie Street,” Emma murmured. “That street is truly a disaster.”

“If Jen Marrie does have prostitution, at least there’s evidence of it on its social media.” Rachel said.

But Kathy shook her head. “They don’t show it at all. On their social media, they only explain where their casinos and bars are. But I’m sure the women’s thing is behind that all.”

“Looks like we’ll have to check Jen Marie Street in person. I’ll figure out the way.” Emma muttered.

***

“Black got in our way.” Said a man whose face was battered.

“So he now dared to nudge the Beast Empire, huh?” The lips, that framed the rows of gold ornate teeth, moved.

“Should we stop our movement for some while? It seems that it greatly affects the movement of the shadow heroes. They were not seen wandering around anymore after one of the Deadly Square groups fell. But now they are.” Juan said.

“That’s not necessary, Juan. They just don’t know what the Beast Empire is. And they would never want to face Derric Hubbert.” The man with golden teeth smiled broadly.

Beast Empire.

One of The Deadly Square groups. The group was founded by Derric Hubbert – A women player man. He was the real image of a wild, dangerous-for-women monster.

Derric founded Beast Empire about five years ago when he was still in high school. He was the son of a prostitute woman. Derric, who grew up in a bad environment and was never cared for by his mother, ended up being a dangerous guy.

Since the first grade of high school, he had lived alone. Every night, he would take a different girl into his tiny house that was just a room in a shabby flat. His addiction to women’s bodies was like a drug addict.

To Derric, all women were only objects of sex. Women were created to satisfy the lusts of men. The level of women was much lower than men. They could be paid with money. They were weak creatures that would obey with just a single blow. Women had no power. Forever, they would rely on men.

As time went on, Derric’s mindset became more and more severe. He was a young man who was squeezed by economic difficulties. It made him think of something that would cost him a lot of money.

Derric’s mother made the living by selling her body. It made Derric think that any woman could do what her mother did.

It all started with the night when Derric asked his girlfriend to sell her own body to a masher. At first, Derric’s girlfriend refused. But Derric insisted and ended up hitting her. He also threatened to hurt her more if she didn’t comply. Just as simple as that, Derric started doing his small business.

From his own girlfriend, until he started trapping other girls. They were the girls who had the same life as him. Yes, they were people who didn’t have a family that cared for them. They were the abandoned youths who live in a dark, poverty world.

Worse yet, Derric began to invite some of his male friends to join his small business. They work together to trap the girls until the bunch of scumbags formed a group they named Beast Empire.