Chapter 35: Rise in Fortune

From the moment the Spalletta family was wiped out, the Hogg Union officially took over Derk Street.

In just three days, under the leadership of the Accountant, they had largely absorbed the Spalletta family's assets and recruited a wave of new members.

The Hogg Union's numbers successfully rose to fifty, and the territory under their control more than doubled.

"Not bad. Expanding one's power does increase fortune,"

In the most luxurious villa on Derk Street, Qingshui sat on a sofa, eyes seemingly closed in contemplation, though in reality, his attention had shifted to his system panel.

When he first entered the DC universe, the progress bar read 17.3%. Over time, it had slowly risen to 17.9%.

After taking control of the Cole Gang, this number spiked to 19.8% in just two days.

It didn't seem like much, but Cole Gang's turf, Hog Street, was just one of many ordinary slums in Gotham.

And now, after destroying the Spalletta family, it had climbed to 20.8%.

"I still need to proceed gradually. If I move too fast, I'll attract Batman's attention."

Qingshui wasn't afraid of Batman, but he didn't want to be forced into a confrontation.

Even if Batman couldn't defeat him, the trouble he could cause would still be enough to disrupt his expansion efforts.

Moreover, the Hogg Union now needed time to digest the Spalletta family's assets. The quality of the recruits also didn't meet Qingshui's standards.

"Since that's the case, I'll focus on learning during this period—and training the gang members. I don't expect them to rival a proper military force, but at least they should resemble an elite gang."

Qingshui had never trained troops before, but he could simplify some of the non-chakra-based techniques taught at the Ninja Academy to instruct them.

In addition, he could combine these with regular military training methods. On that front, he could ask Aman for guidance, or worst-case, pay to hire retired officers to train them.

As for whether his men would be disgruntled by this, Qingshui didn't care.

The fear he'd instilled with Black Gold was more than enough. He'd also offer bonuses to those who performed well—carrot and stick.

After paying Penguin a cut of the $700,000 left by the Spalletta family, about $150,000 went to bonuses for his men. The remaining $500,000, combined with the protection fees and shop taxes from two streets, was enough to maintain operations and training.

The surplus would be saved for future Black Gold upgrades.

With that settled, Qingshui picked up a book on mechanical engineering by Silas Stone.

…

"Wind Style: Gale Spiral Dance!"

Streams of air twisted violently in the puppet base's training yard, kicking up sand and dust.

Qingshui had now mastered the Gale Spiral Dance technique.

"Good. Time to experiment—accelerate airflow using Gale Spiral Dance, feed it into the pneumatic device, and pressurize using the principle behind Gale Palm."

He cautiously manipulated the Fatty puppet with his chakra threads.

Since he couldn't form hand seals, he couldn't cast the jutsu directly with his body.

But that wasn't necessary. He only needed to replicate part of the effects of the two Wind Style jutsu in a localized area via chakra threads.

Even the slightest increase in the air pump's charge speed or output would count as a success.

Air rushed eagerly into the pump. Under the action of the pistons and Wind-style chakra, it rapidly compressed. Finally, the air valve opened.

The high pressure converted into mechanical energy, launching the Fatty puppet's fist forward. It struck a large boulder.

The rock shattered, and the impact kicked up a cloud of dust, catching Sasori's attention in the room next door.

"That guy's puppet punch jutsu just got stronger again."

Sasori observed for a moment, then turned back to continue modifying the Black Ant and Salamander.

"Air compression time has gone from 10.3 seconds per pump to 7.4 seconds. Output force is unknown, but increased. Next time, I could have a clone study how to build a barometer to monitor pressure changes and apply calculations using the data."

Qingshui walked up to the Fatty puppet and disassembled its arm for inspection.

"The air cylinder has minor deformation. I'll need better materials next time. Also, I need to redesign the structure with a multi-stage valve system to redistribute pressure more effectively—strengthening the high-pressure chamber and allowing precise control over striking force…"

He checked while editing the schematics on his system panel.

Despite the improvements, Fatty Puppet's overall rating didn't increase.

Because the changes only enhanced its durability and control. The true limiting factor wasn't the puppet—but Qingshui, the puppeteer.

"I should still have enough money for materials. There was some left from before, and I got a share from that S-rank mission last time. While I'm at it, I'll upgrade Little Boy too."

The next day—on the final day of the holiday—Qingshui used his contacts in the Puppet Corps to easily acquire the materials he needed and began upgrading Fatty and Little Boy.

Fatty's upgrade went by the book. Little Boy's was much simpler.

This puppet had always followed an extreme design philosophy: aside from necessary weapons, all upgrades focused solely on speed.

Deep modification was difficult because the lightweight materials used in Little Boy's build made the overall structure fragile.

To modify it, he'd either have to rebuild the whole puppet from scratch or make only small tweaks.

But Qingshui had an idea:

Springs.

A common component in industrial machines—and occasionally in puppets for triggering mechanisms.

Qingshui planned to install springs in Little Boy's feet and leg joints. When the puppet performed actions using chakra threads, the springs would store energy.

Since Little Boy was so light, he didn't need to worry about the springs deforming from prolonged stress.

The only requirement was to find a metal both strong and flexible enough.

Fortunately, while the Sand Village was poor, the Land of Wind was rich in minerals—and with the Third Kazekage acting as a walking ore detector, the Puppet Corps had plenty of suitable metals in stock.

(End of Chapter)