Coercive Buyout

Late at night, Justin Hammer's phone suddenly rang like crazy at maximum volume, practically as loud as an alarm clock.

Hammer shoved the young model off him with a stream of curses, snatched up his phone irritably, and answered without even looking at it.

"Whoever you are, if you don't give me a good reason, I'll make sure you die horribly!"

"Boss, something terrible happened! Our servers were hacked, and everything on them was copied!"

"What?! What the hell are you people paid for?"

After cursing, Hammer suddenly realized something.

"Wait, that's not right. Weren't you supposed to attack Umbrella Corporation's servers tonight? How did our servers get breached instead? Don't tell me you idiots picked the wrong target?"

Hammer was certainly carefree. Knowing his men were carrying out a major operation that night, he had still dared to bring a young model home for the night. It had to be said that, when it came to imitating Tony Stark, he had taken things to the extreme. Even the model in his bed had once dated Tony.

"Boss, the Hackers' operation failed. The NYPD has already mobilized to arrest them."

"A bunch of useless trash... Wait, if those Hackers were all arrested, then who breached our servers? Hold on, my private server is fine, right?"

Hammer finally thought of the crucial issue, but the answer made cold sweat instantly break out across his body.

"Boss, your private server was hacked too, and it was hit the hardest. Not only was all its content copied, but before leaving, they physically destroyed the entire server. Everything on it is gone now!"

"Oh no, no, no!"

Hammer dashed out barefoot. In just ten minutes, he made it from his mansion to Hammer's computer center.

When he saw his private server still billowing black smoke, his entire body felt as though it had fallen into an ice cellar, chilled to the bone.

"Why did this happen? My server was never connected to the outside network. How did the Hackers get in? Could there be an insider?!"

No matter how powerful a hacker was, they could only infiltrate someone else's server through network cables or wireless signals. Therefore, theoretically, as long as a server was not connected to the outside network, hackers could do nothing.

This was practically common knowledge among all executives. Just like in the Iron Man movie, when Tony wanted evidence that Obadiah was dealing black-market weapons, he had still needed Pepper Potts to risk infiltrating the CEO's office.

"Boss, this may not have been an inside job. Look over there."

Hammer turned toward the ventilation duct in the server room. It was now open, making his face darken. He grabbed his assistant by the collar.

"Are you saying someone crawled in through that tiny ventilation duct and then hacked my server? Do you think this is a movie? James Bond or Now You See Me? Who could crawl through such a tiny ventilation duct... Fuck, those damned spiders!"

Hammer's reaction was not slow. He immediately thought of the Mechanical Spiders. Combined with the fact that they had just launched a hacker attack against Umbrella Corporation, the other side had every reason to strike back by hacking them.

Just then, Hammer's phone rang again. This time, however, it was not a call. Someone had sent him a file.

Hammer opened it, and his expression changed instantly.

"Boss, what happened now?"

"Shut up! Get out! All of you, get out! Including the security guards! Now!"

Hammer drove everyone out, including the security personnel. Once only he remained in the computer room, he dialed a number.

"Wang Khan, your methods are certainly impressive."

"Mr. Hammer, I think you have the wrong person. I'm not Wang Khan, just an unknown hacker trying to make a little money. Don't mistake me for someone else."

"Hmph. Do you take me for a three-year-old?"

"Believe it or not, I'm not Wang Khan. Now, down to business. If you want the things from your server back, bring your company's legal team tomorrow and sell me your robot processing plant in New Jersey. I did the math. Five million USD should be a fair price."

Hammer nearly had his nose bent out of shape from anger when he heard that.

"Are you insane? The land alone is worth thirty million, and with all the equipment in the factory, its total value exceeds one hundred million USD. You're offering me only five million?"

"Hehe, I'm only willing to pay five million. Whether you agree is your problem. Also, I'll only wait three days. If this deal is not completed after three days, the contents of your server will be sent unchanged to the FBI's complaint mailbox. By then, I imagine you'll be losing far more than just one factory."

"Fuck! You bastard!"

"Remember, you only have three days to think it over. One second past the deadline, the emails will be sent to the FBI. Consider it carefully."

With that, the call was disconnected. Hammer was consumed by rage and smashed his phone into electronic trash.

While Hammer was raging helplessly, the omnipotent S.H.I.E.L.D. also learned that Hammer's servers had been hacked and immediately suspected that Wang Khan from Umbrella Corporation was responsible.

"This Wang Khan is truly meticulous. Not only did he launch a beautiful counterattack online, but he also struck straight at the heart of the enemy."

Nick Fury became even more suspicious that Wang Khan belonged to S.P.E.A.R., which made him deeply displeased.

S.P.E.A.R. was the eastern equivalent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Though the two organizations cooperated in some areas, they were more often competitors and had always stayed out of each other's territory. Yet now, S.P.E.A.R. had driven a nail into the United States itself and apparently intended to climb into the upper ranks. This had crossed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s bottom line.

Unfortunately, S.H.I.E.L.D. was not the only organization that called the shots in the United States. Departments such as the FBI and CIA stood on equal footing with it. In this regard, it was far inferior to S.P.E.A.R.'s standing in the East. Sometimes, Nick Fury even envied S.P.E.A.R.'s Director, Zheng Xian.

Thinking of Zheng Xian, Fury called him.

"Director Fury, why are you contacting me at this hour? If I calculated correctly, it should be the middle of the night over there, shouldn't it?"

A cheerful voice came through the phone. At first listen, it sounded like a kind old man working at a reception desk, but Fury knew that Zheng Xian on the other end was an old fox no less formidable than himself.

"Director Zheng, it has been a long time since we spoke. Nothing major has happened in the East recently, has it?"

"Thanks to you, as long as the West doesn't cause trouble, the East will remain peaceful and prosperous."

After exchanging a pile of meaningless pleasantries, Fury shifted the topic to Wang Khan.

"This Chinese-American genius is quite remarkable. The Smart Spider robots he invented have exceptional potential for intelligence work. I heard his parents are currently in the East. How much do you know about them, Director Zheng?"

"Oh, Wang Khan, the newly risen tech tycoon in New York? He is a fine young man. Our people are preparing to contact him as well. Oh, Director Fury, don't misunderstand. We merely want to purchase some Smart Spiders. As for his parents, we easterners have a tradition of returning home in glory. Besides, they never joined United States citizenship in the first place, so naturally there is no issue with them returning home."

Hearing this, Fury grew even more suspicious. However, without evidence, he could not make any major moves.

Besides, he had great confidence in Agent 13's abilities. He believed that before long, all the core technology behind the Smart Spider robots would be sitting on his desk.

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