I am Giovanni

Chapter 60: Cutting the Roots

Under the relentless assault, Akira Matsumoto was dizzy, his expensive suit soaked with sweat. He frantically pressed his hand on the switch for the secret passage.

"Beedrill," Giovanni said, his voice quiet.

His partner instantly appeared in front of Akira. It waved one of its massive stingers.

Pfft.

Blood splattered two feet high. Akira let out a pig-like shriek, his face completely devoid of color. His hand had been neatly severed at the wrist. He fell miserably to the ground, clutching the bleeding stump and screaming incessantly. His wife and child were already terrified, a foul stench now permeating the room.

Facing the emissaries of death that was Beedrill and Giovanni, Akira begged for mercy. "Wait! Spare my family! I'm willing to offer all my assets to you!"

Giovanni's voice was incomparably cold. "If you had known this would happen, why did you defy us? Now, you have lost the right to negotiate. If I kill you, everything you own will be ours anyway. Your blood will serve as a warning to others."

Akira felt even weaker upon hearing this. Did he regret it? He regretted it so much his intestines felt like they were turning green. If he had known he was provoking such a madman, he never would have dared.

He endured the pain and began to kowtow to Giovanni, begging for mercy. "Please... have mercy... please! I will bear the mistakes I made. Please, just spare my wife and child."

Giovanni glanced indifferently at the woman holding the child, then simply waved his hand. "Kill them," he instructed Beedrill, his voice devoid of all emotion. "Leave no one."

Beedrill acted the moment the command was given. With a few swift swings of its stingers, the room was soaked in blood. The bodies of two adults and one child lay in a pool of it, their heads separated from their bodies.

"A family," Giovanni muttered to the empty room, "should be together."

He had commanded it, and the three corpses lay before him, their fate orchestrated by his will. If not for the duress of the selection, this was the first time he had actively chosen to kill. When did I become someone who wouldn't even blink an eye? He wondered.

He sat on a nearby sofa, picked up a cigarette from the table, and lit it. He lifted a corner of his Meowth mask and took a light puff, the acrid smoke swirling between his fingers.

A moment later, footsteps came from downstairs. Beedrill was about to move, but Giovanni waved a hand, telling it to stand down. He didn't believe Archer's team would be so sloppy.

Sure enough, it was Archer and his five subordinates. Their clothes were stained with blood.

When they saw Giovanni sitting majestically on the sofa with the blood-soaked Beedrill hovering behind him, they were stunned.

Their faces changed even more when they saw the four corpses on the ground— killing was a common occurrence for them, but when it came to young children, even they would find it difficult.

To see this boy, who was just a teenager himself, be so ruthless... and that Beedrill... its aura was far too strong. It was clearly just a Beedrill, yet it gave off a feeling that made them afraid to even look at it directly.

This child is no ordinary person.

Giovanni glanced at them indifferently, and they all involuntarily lowered their heads. He extinguished the cigarette, then pointed casually with his chin. "Clean it up. This guy should have a lot of good stuff. That spot on the wall is a secret passage. You can open it with the hand I severed. Its on the floor."

Before Archer could even speak, the five grunts, including Karl, naturally replied, "Yes, sir!" They were about to start, but then remembered Archer was still standing there. "Captain, this..." one of them asked nervously.

"What are you standing around for?" Archer said directly. "Get to work. You're not allowed to hide anything for yourselves; all mission items must be handed over. You should be clear on this."

They all nodded and hurriedly got to work. Once they started moving, Archer slowly walked over to Giovanni.

"Do these mission gains need to be handed over?" Giovanni asked.

"Yes," Archer nodded. "But normally, unless it's something specifically recorded in the mission, everything else is kept for oneself."

"That's unreasonable," Giovanni said, stroking his chin. "Since it's obtained from a mission, acquired after risking one's life, it should rightfully belong to the squad. Why even bother going on missions?"

Archer was stunned, not expecting Giovanni to think this way. "This is the organization's current rule," he replied.

"Then the rule will be changed," Giovanni said casually. "The subordinates will have more trust in the organization, a greater sense of belonging."

"If it's you, Boss," Archer replied respectfully, "it's definitely possible."

The grunts, though busy, could not help but overhear the conversation. Seeing their captain standing respectfully while the masked boy sat on the sofa, they all inwardly confirmed his high status. Karl's heart pounded; he remembered his earlier disrespect.

Indeed, many things were found in Akira Matsumoto's house, but according to the rules, all of it had to be handed over. Not that it mattered to Giovanni. He couldn't exchange any of it for points. He was part of a separate group, sent to gain experience. This small mission was nothing to him.

However, it did make him think. The mission parameters were not clear enough, and the system was flawed.

After returning to the base, he went to find Madame Boss. He spoke to her about establishing a tiered system for missions—from E-rank to S-rank—where corresponding mission levels would earn corresponding points.

This would be more efficient for both handling missions and distributing rewards. He didn't mention the issue of keeping mission spoils; that was a rule he wasn't planning to touch yet.

Originally, he just wanted to mention it. If she didn't agree, so be it. He didn't expect her to actually agree. She quickly implemented his decision, even having her staff improve and enrich the system.

Her decisiveness left him speechless— no wonder she could build an organization like Team Rocket from the ground up.

She deserved to be the Boss.