I'll Solo It!
Three days later.
Lower Manhattan New York, New York City.
A dilapidated coffee shop where even the signboard is rickety.
Three men were sitting around a corner booth.
A blonde waitress carrying a tray walked over in high heels.
She had originally planned to use the opportunity of pouring coffee to strike up a conversation with the handsome Chinese-American man in the black suit.
But as soon as I got close to the table, I felt a tightness in my chest and difficulty breathing.
The man sitting to the side, wearing an old top hat, merely tilted his head slightly, revealing only one eye.
That one glance sent chills down the waiter's spine; he trembled and eventually turned and left.
Beside him, Sing Sing's eyes twitched.
This second brother, taking a vacation is like he's deep behind enemy lines. No wonder you'll stay single forever.
He picked up his glass, took a sip to hide his embarrassment, and looked at the bald man opposite him. "Where have you been these past few days? Didn't you say you were coming to North America to investigate semiconductors? How come you're investigating Manhattan?"
Ling Lingwu rubbed his shiny bald head. "Inspection my ass! I've been cleaning up your mess for three days straight!"
He pulled a stack of documents from his pocket. "That underground base in Los Angeles, that son of a bitch Mueller blew it up with his own explosives."
"The scene was burned to the ground, leaving not a single hair behind! If I hadn't promptly blacked out all the surveillance cameras in the surrounding neighborhood, you'd be on the Los Angeles Police Department's front page by now!"
Sing Sing pressed further, "Then the trail went cold?"
"Do you think I'm just wasting my time doing criminal investigation?"
Ling Lingwu lowered his voice, a hint of smugness in it. "Pork boy, do you know how much I suffered to dig up this dirt?"
"I paid a janitor at New York City Hall $500 to piece the documents out of the shredder!"
"Those politicians aren't human at all; they clone Mutants organs and extract genes, selling them all openly with price tags!"
"I followed the clues and even personally went to the Port of Brooklyn, where I managed to pry those researchers out of the shipping containers."
"Those guys had been starving in the container for three days. When they saw me, they were like they'd seen their own father, crying their eyes out!"
Sing Sing was somewhat surprised.
The fifth brother is usually very particular about evidence and procedures, so why was he so efficient this time?
"Didn't you teach them any tricks?"
"Do we really need to resort to such tactics?" Ling Lingwu chuckled. "There's a bespectacled manager inside who's planning to spout some nonsense about the spirit of United States law."
"I read him the food standards from the labor camp. I told him he'd be going to the Hague to testify, with food and lodging provided, and guards watching over him all day. If he refused, I'd strip him naked and throw him into Hell's Kitchen, the territory of the mafia, so he could experience the power of American-style ikai."
"Those guys were crying and begging to board the ship, afraid that if they were a step too slow, Silver Peak would use his dirty tricks to get rid of them."
"I've already arranged for people to be put on a cargo ship overnight and sent directly to the International Criminal Court."
"Violations of humanitarian principles, transnational human experimentation... Once this bombshell explodes, the politicians protecting Silver Peak will be the first to tear each other apart, a dog-eat-dog world!"
Sing Sing laughed.
The bald guy's move was ruthless; it cut off Silver Peak's political escape route, leaving only a cycle of double-crossing.
"The Algorithm Component is not in Mueller's hands."
Sing Sing recalled Mueller's testimony in the basement, "The Algorithm Component is in the hands of the board's senior management. If the data is forcibly cracked, the files of the twelve—no, the remaining eleven—laboratories will be automatically destroyed."
Ling Lingwu had also considered this and nodded. "That's why I told you not to be impulsive. If you go and tear down the New York branch now, those guys on the board will catch wind of it and pack their bags and run away. What will we use to save the remaining Mutants then?"
As they were talking, Ling Lingwu took out a hand-drawn sketch from his pocket and spread it out on the table.
"This is a detailed architectural plan of Silver Peak 'New York branch. From the ventilation ducts to the sewers, even the orientation of the toilet in their chairman's office is clearly marked."
Just as Sing Sing was about to reach for it, a hand wearing a black leather glove pressed down on the drawing.
"Xiao Wu, I've taken the blueprints. You continue to investigate their Algorithm Component and board member list. As for the New York branch... I can go alone."
Upon hearing this, Old Zhou's anger flared up instantly.
He suffered a major setback in Los Angeles; not only was his KPI snatched away, but his informant, Slug, also died right in front of him.
He'd been holding his anger in for three whole days, and he was just waiting to vent it on the New York branch!
So you, the second brother, think you can solo it with just a casual remark?
"Hey! Second brother, what do you mean? Stealing the kill?" Sing Sing glared, "This kill has to be mine!"
"Xiao Qi, you're not calm. Getting angry will leave you vulnerable."
Sing Sing snorted while biting his cigarette:
"I'm furious! What if that spatial elementalist called the Vanisher suddenly appears behind you and attacks you?"
"Second brother, don't underestimate them. They have high-frequency sonic weapons specifically designed to deal with Mutants. Even though we don't have the X-Gene, those things can still give people a headache."
"Sonic weapon? As long as I fire faster than they press the switch, they won't have a chance to make a sound."
Sing Sing was taken aback.
Holy crap.
He really managed to pull off that act!
"The New York branch is in Midtown Manhattan, an entire building. How are you going to get there? Climbing stairs floor by floor? Do you think it's like beating an arcade game?"
"No," the bald man interrupted, "Midtown Manhattan is Silver Peak's publicly registered headquarters; the Brooklyn Shipyard is the real underground testing ground."
"Their security system is so-so; the backup power supply box is in the garage on the second basement level. I only need three pounds of C4 to blind the entire building."
"Then I'll go in from the top floor and clean up the trash from top to bottom. Also, Wenxi made me a pair of wolf claws inspired by Wolverine. I'm very happy with them."
Sing Sing's head was buzzing.
C4?!
Do you think this is a counterinsurgency war in the Middle East?
"Second brother, we're here to enforce the law, not to carry out a terrorist attack!"
Caught in the middle, Ling Lingwu saw the two about to start fighting and quickly reached out to stop them. "Alright, alright! Stop arguing! Yanzi, take it easy. Lao Wang said to try not to cause a diplomatic incident, keep a low profile, understand?"
"Pork Boy, stop arguing. Have you settled those Mutants we brought back from Los Angeles? We don't want them to get their hideout wiped out again; that would be a waste of time!"
Sing Sing took a deep breath, and reason told him that the bald guy and the second brother were right.
Right now, all I can think about is chopping the people of Silver Peak into mincemeat.
"OK."
Sing Sing picked up the cold coffee and downed it in one gulp. "The lab is yours. I'll draw their fire first and then make my escape. The rest is up to you."
Ling Ling'er nodded, his tone still low:
You can rest assured that I'll handle things well.