Operation Failed

The NYPD was no pushover. They called themselves New York's number one violent organization, and when they got serious, ordinary criminal gangs couldn't stand up to them.

That was why New York had only one Hell's Kitchen, instead of the entire city becoming Hell's Kitchen.

With the mayor taken hostage and hostages being shot, the New York Police Commissioner personally took command. He first sent out his most eloquent negotiator to contact the criminals, though the purpose of that contact was not to persuade them. He knew they could not be persuaded.

The goal was to keep them steady and draw their attention elsewhere—a diversion.

While the negotiator communicated with the Masked Leader, an armed helicopter swiftly approached the building housing the Golden Restaurant.

The high-end commercial building had a rooftop helipad. The NYPD's plan was simple and brutal: send the SWAT Team in from the roof, find suitable sniping positions, then eliminate the criminals simultaneously on command, leaving them no chance to harm the mayor.

In the New York Police Commissioner's view, the mayor, as an important hostage, was not in immediate danger. The criminals certainly would not keep guns pointed at his head every second. At most, he would be tied up.

This was the ideal situation for a sniper kill. As long as the snipers were accurate enough to take them out with one shot, the mayor would be safe.

As for the other hostages, frankly, the NYPD did not care nearly as much. If killing the criminals and rescuing the hostages were ranked in priority, killing the criminals would absolutely come first.

The plan proceeded smoothly. The negotiator successfully contacted the Masked Leader, and the two shouted at each other across a corridor. At the same time, the armed helicopter carrying more than ten SWAT officers had quietly approached the rooftop and was about to land.

But at that moment, a Rocket suddenly shot out from the side and streaked toward the helicopter.

The armed helicopter pilot was skilled. The instant he spotted the Rocket, he yanked the controls hard and avoided it.

However, when the Rocket looped around in midair and came speeding back, the pilot was dumbfounded.

"Fuck!!"

"Boom!"

The heat-seeking Rocket struck the helicopter head-on, blasting it into a ball of fire before it crashed heavily to the ground.

An even louder explosion followed. Four Media Vans, along with several reporters and cameramen, were killed outright in the blast, throwing the scene into chaos.

Watching the massive explosion in the distance, Wang Khan, who had parked on another street, knew his chance had come.

He extended his left hand out the car window. A silver-white Mechanical Spider with eight long legs swiftly crawled onto his finger, then leaped nimbly onto the building wall five meters away. Its legs scuttled rapidly as it disappeared among the buildings.

At the same time, Wang Khan took out his laptop. A fast-moving first-person view was displayed on its screen, filmed through the Mechanical Spider's eyes.

Inside an NYPD Communications Van in a corner beneath the Golden Restaurant, all video feeds were hijacked at the same time.

Chief Winter, who had been staring at the monitors, froze for a moment before roaring as he demanded to know what had happened.

"Director, our video feeds have been hijacked."

"Damn it! Was it those criminals? Restore them, now!"

Winter was furious. His carefully designed plan had fallen apart, and worse still, Rockets with heat-seeking capabilities were not something ordinary criminals could obtain. Those were genuine military weapons. That meant these criminals had channels for acquiring military arms, and might even have military connections.

Criminals with such backing could not be handled by his SWAT Team unless heavy weapons were deployed.

But the New York City Mayor had been taken hostage, tying his hands. He did not dare use heavy weapons at all. This was practically an unsolvable situation.

As for snipers, they might have been worth trying if there were only one or two criminals. But there were ten, perhaps even more. Combined with the restaurant's complicated layout, it would be difficult to lock onto every criminal at once.

If even one criminal slipped through the net, the New York City Mayor's head would definitely explode. And when that happened, his career as NYPD director would be over.

No matter who became the next New York City Mayor, they would never keep a Police Commissioner who had caused the previous mayor to get his head blown off. Otherwise, if they were ever taken hostage themselves, would that not mean their own head was at risk too?

Just as the director was overwhelmed with frustration, he noticed that the video showed the commercial building housing the Golden Restaurant. The image kept shifting, as though a drone were rapidly ascending while hugging the exterior wall.

"There's a drone outside the building?"

"No, Director. We haven't detected one. And the hackers who hijacked our signal are extremely skilled. We probably can't regain control anytime soon unless we cut the network."

Chief Winter glared at his useless subordinates, then waved a hand.

"Watch what this guy is up to first. Keep working. If word gets out that even the police network was breached, the department will be a complete laughingstock."

His subordinates continued trying to fight back and even began seeking outside help, while the surveillance feed had already reached the eighteenth floor and smoothly entered the Golden Restaurant.

This surprised Winter. Their earlier surveillance footage had all been filmed from nearby buildings at long range. Because of the distance, they could only see near the windows and had no way of knowing what was happening inside the restaurant.

Now, this feed allowed him to clearly understand the situation at the scene.

"Stop fighting it for now. Come check whether this footage is real and whether it could have been fabricated."

Several technicians hurried over to verify it, only to discover that it was live footage from the scene, not a recording.

"Could this person not be with the criminals? Is he helping us?"

"Whoever he is, this is a rare opportunity. Get the Field Operations Leader here immediately."

By then, the Mechanical Spider had crawled in through the window the masked criminals had smashed earlier when they threw out a corpse. Using its tiny size and the restaurant's tables and chairs as cover, it quickly pinpointed every criminal's location.

The Mechanical Spider then crawled back out through the window and continued climbing toward the rooftop.

Just as it left, Gwen unexpectedly spotted it. The little girl quickly nudged her father. George was experienced enough not to react immediately. Only after a second did he casually turn to look at his daughter.

Gwen was clever too, signaling George with her eyes. George slightly turned his head toward the window and happened to see the Mechanical Spider crawling out and rapidly moving upward.

George was stunned. Could this be some high-tech weapon belonging to the criminals? But on second thought, that did not seem right. They already had the situation under control. There was no need for them to sneak around.

"Could it be some new secret weapon headquarters bought from Hammer Industries? But is Hammer Industries really this capable? Don't tell me it's another Stark Industries knockoff."

Thinking of Hammer Industries' past reputation, George felt that his personal safety had not the slightest guarantee.

Through the Mechanical Spider's camera, Wang Khan not only located every criminal in the restaurant, but also found another one hidden in the rooftop stairwell. It was this criminal who had launched the Rocket that destroyed the armed helicopter.

"Eleven people in total, all equipped with military-grade high-powered weapons. No wonder the NYPD can't beat them. The two sides' firepower isn't even in the same league."

Muttering to himself, Wang Khan picked up the silver-white suitcase from the passenger seat, opened the car door, and strode toward the scene.