Stealing the Spotlight

In less than a minute, the Mechanical Spiders reached the eighteenth floor, which was the area surrounding the Golden Restaurant.

There were twenty of them in total. Eighteen crawled straight into the Golden Restaurant through the broken windows, while the remaining two continued upward toward the rooftop, where the criminal lying in ambush had destroyed the Armed Helicopter.

Inside the Golden Restaurant, the Masked Leader raised his gun again and searched for a target. Another hour was almost up, which meant another hostage was about to be killed.

"Looks like the NYPD doesn't intend to release anyone. In that case, I'll start by killing a small fish."

The Masked Leader turned his attention to George Stacy, the director of the New York Branch. George immediately clenched his fists. He would never let himself be shot like a helpless lamb without putting up a fight.

But before George could stand, the butt of a gun struck the back of his head. A powerful wave of dizziness washed over him, and he collapsed to the floor, unable even to crawl.

"Don't worry, Commissioner George. I won't kill you for now. But since your colleagues don't take us seriously enough, I can only collect some interest from you."

As he spoke, the Masked Leader walked over and grabbed Gwen Stacy.

"No!! Let her go! If you want to kill someone, kill me!"

George roared and desperately tried to stand, but the blow from the gun had been too heavy. His body was completely out of control. The fact that he had not yet passed out was already a testament to his strength. How could he possibly fight back?"

The dark muzzle pointed at Gwen. Eighteen-year-old Gwen did not scream in fear like an ordinary girl. Instead, as she got to her feet, she quickly snatched up a bottle of wine from the table and smashed it hard against the man's head.

Amid the sound of breaking glass, a gash opened in the Masked Leader's head, and blood poured down his face.

Gwen lifted the hem of her dress and kicked toward his groin, but he blocked the blow with his hand.

With a painful grunt, Gwen was knocked to the floor by another criminal who rushed over and struck her with a gun butt.

"You little brat, you've got quite a bit of nerve. No wonder you're a cop's daughter. Too bad you're still going to die!"

The blow that split his head open had enraged the Masked Leader. He stopped wasting words, raised his gun, and aimed it at Gwen's head.

In an instant, every hair on Gwen's body stood on end. She was still young, and although her mental fortitude was far beyond that of ordinary people, facing death still triggered instinctive fear.

They said that when a person came under too much psychological pressure, their five senses would shut down. Gwen was the exact opposite. Her senses had become exceptionally sharp, allowing her to hear faint sounds that normally went unnoticed. She even saw several silver-white spiders moving at high speed.

"Bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt~~~"

A series of electric shocks rang out. The ten criminals, including the Masked Leader, suddenly emitted blue-white electric arcs from their necks. Their entire bodies convulsed before they collapsed helplessly to the ground.

Gwen instinctively twisted her body to the side, narrowly avoiding the bullet that the Masked Leader unconsciously fired.

After the gunshot, every criminal had fallen. George's dizziness had eased somewhat, and driven by his concern for his daughter, he immediately got up and ran to Gwen.

"Gwen, are you all right? Are you hurt?"

"Dad, I'm fine. The shot missed me. Hurry and see what happened to them. I think I saw several Mechanical Spiders."

As she spoke, the eighteen Mechanical Spiders formed two lines and quickly crawled out through the window. This time, Gwen was not the only one who saw them. George and the nearby hostages saw them as well.

"My God~~ What is that? Alien high-tech robots?"

"Whatever they are, they saved our lives. Those bastards are all dead, right?"

The New York City Mayor ran over to George at that moment. He knew George, so he hurriedly asked what had happened.

"Mayor, those bastards aren't dead. They've only been knocked unconscious by electricity. Those spiders must have been made by Chief Winter."

"Whoever made them, hurry up and tie those bastards up. Everyone else, leave this place immediately."

Although he desperately wanted to be the first one out, the mayor still showed a certain amount of responsibility. Or perhaps putting on a show had become instinctive for him. After confirming that there was no danger, he immediately played the part of a courageous and responsible mayor, encouraging everyone while directing them to leave.

After receiving word that all the criminals had been electrocuted unconscious, Chief Winter personally led a team and charged into the Golden Restaurant. His brave, first-in-line charge was perfectly captured by the cameras of the assembled media.

By this point, Wang Khan had no need to steal Winter's spotlight. He honestly stayed beside the police car and placed the twenty returning Mechanical Spiders into the safe.

Several nearby officers all turned to look at him. Wang Khan smiled at them.

"These spider-shaped police robots would be a huge help to you. If every one of you were equipped with two or three, then even if you were surrounded by a gang, you could still fight your way out. Their appearance would greatly reduce the danger you face while on duty."

After saying this, Wang Khan even took out a Mechanical Spider and introduced its various functions to the officers, acting as a salesman right there at the scene.

Since all the criminals had been electrocuted unconscious, no battle occurred when Winter led his men upstairs. They simply disarmed the criminals and put handcuffs on them.

The mayor praised Winter extensively and also asked about the Mechanical Spiders. Winter naturally could not admit that he had been helpless and had relied entirely on outside assistance.

So he went along with the situation and directly claimed that Wang Khan was an equipment manufacturer for the NYPD. He had been preparing to cooperate with him extensively, and when this incident occurred, he had invited Wang Khan to assist in the operation.

As soon as the New York City Mayor heard this, he immediately ordered the NYPD to pursue further cooperation with Wang Khan. Such useful police equipment had to be widely promoted within the NYPD.

In short, this robbery, which had caused a sensation throughout New York, completely established the reputation of Wang Khan and his spider-shaped intelligent robots. They even received orders.

Just two days later, all the paperwork Wang Khan needed to establish his company had been completed. He had even successfully secured a bank loan totaling ten million USD, which neatly solved the company's shortage of startup capital.

"What did you say? Umbrella Corporation? Some third-rate company no one's ever heard of actually got the NYPD's major contract? Are you messing with me?!"

Justin Hammer shoved his sexy secretary away and roared at the head of sales.

"Boss, that Wang Khan is an internet celebrity now. The Golden Restaurant incident not only let him steal the spotlight, it also earned him the goodwill of the mayor and Chief Winter. Besides, our stun guns haven't actually achieved any technological breakthrough, so..."

"That's enough! Hammer Industries has always been suppressed by that Tony guy. Now that Tony has shut himself away, this should be the perfect opportunity for us to rise. I absolutely will not allow you to fail at a time like this. Go! Use whatever methods you have to deal with Wang Khan. If you can't get it done, don't bother coming back!"

Just as Hammer Industries was preparing to take action against Wang Khan, an important NYPD official arrived at the precision-instrument processing plant Wang Khan had rented. This official was an old acquaintance: Commissioner George Stacy. His daughter Gwen had come along as well.

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