Max had leapt off the railing without a second of hesitation, his mind and heart full of absolute conviction. Even as his body was suspended in the air, plummeting toward the churning white crests of the sea below, time seemed to slow down. As he looked into the vast waves, a flurry of thoughts raced through his mind, a rapid-fire review of the choices and failures that had led him to this exact moment. He had to justify this choice, not just to his companions, but to himself.
'When I died as Maximus, the leader of the White Tiger gang, I learned the most bitter lesson of all,' Max thought, the wind whistling past his ears. 'I learned that no matter what the cost, no matter how much pride you have to swallow, you need to survive. A dead man isn't able to do anything. A corpse cannot seek revenge, it cannot protect its people, and it certainly cannot rebuild an empire.'
