Li Chuan had originally wanted to pick someone among his subordinates who looked a little more refined to work part-time as his secretary.
But there was no helping it. They were all experts at killing and fighting, yet when it came to secretarial work like handling documents and arranging schedules, they were completely useless.
Ironically, Xiao Liu, who looked the fiercest among them, was exceptionally talented in that regard. He was no worse than a real secretary and was extremely patient in his work.
Actually, that was fine too. At least, any minor characters who wanted to make a move against him would be intimidated just by seeing Xiao Liu following behind him every day and would not dare act.
"Come on, hurry up! I want to see our new home already."
Wanda interrupted her brother and husband's conversation and excitedly walked ahead.
Li Chuan and Pietro, meanwhile, carried bags and boxes of all sizes as they helplessly followed behind her.
"I'm saying, sis, did you really need to bring so much stuff? Didn't Chuan say Jack had already bought everything we'd need here?"
Pietro had a backpack on his back and dragged a suitcase with one hand, his face full of confusion.
Since Li Chuan had told him everything had been arranged in advance, he had only brought a backpack containing some important belongings and left everything else behind.
"You wouldn't understand. A lot of these are things that hold memories for Chuan and me—gifts we gave each other for holidays, photos, souvenirs, and so on. We had to bring them."
Wanda stopped, then turned around and saw Li Chuan carrying so many things in both hands. She immediately went back, distressed, and took some from him.
Pietro felt as though two knives had instantly stabbed into his heart.
"Good thing I don't live in the same house as you two. Looks like I need to find a girlfriend soon!"
At that moment, four strong security guards suddenly appeared and blocked the trio's path. Pietro instinctively released his suitcase and shielded Li Chuan and Wanda behind him.
"Is something wrong?"
The leading guard grinned.
"I'm the security captain of this residential complex. You're new residents, right?"
"Yes, we just moved in today."
Li Chuan replied with a smile.
"Welcome to the complex. We provide free moving services for new residents. Just leave your things to us."
The security captain waved his hand, and the three guards behind him immediately stepped forward enthusiastically and took all of their luggage.
"Then thank you."
Pietro and Wanda were stunned. At the same time, they inwardly sighed that the service in this complex was truly excellent.
Thus, with the enthusiastic help of the complex's security guards, all the luggage was quickly delivered to the two adjacent houses Li Chuan had purchased.
But just as the guards were preparing to leave, Li Chuan quietly gave the security captain an instruction.
"Xiao San, send someone to investigate Obadiah Stane, a shareholder of Stark Industries."
That was right. The security captain was naturally one of Li Chuan's subordinates as well.
The difficult part of the mission to rescue Dr. Ethan was not the terrorists. With Li Chuan's current strength, dealing with them would not be particularly difficult.
The real difficulty was finding their location.
Li Chuan only remembered that the terrorists' base seemed to be somewhere in a desert, but he had no idea where exactly it was.
However, while he did not know, one person definitely did: Obadiah Stane, a shareholder of Stark Industries.
Because it was Stane who had hired the terrorists to kill Tony Stark and seize control of Stark Industries.
He simply had not expected the terrorists to violate their agreement. Not only had they failed to kill Tony, they had instead wanted to use him to manufacture weapons for them.
In the early hours of the morning, while Li Chuan and Wanda slept in each other's arms in their new home, an uninvited guest arrived outside the gates of the residential complex.
Grant Ward, a Level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and an expert in operations and weapons, had been sent to a detention center as a teenager after attempting to burn his brother and parents to death. Later discovered by John Garrett, he had been personally trained into one of the most elite double agents.
Two days earlier, he had received Garrett's mission: secretly abduct Li Chuan, chairman of Li Group, and obtain the formula for the Power Pill from him in order to improve the Deathlok Program.
Originally, he had planned to make his move directly in Sokovia. But after investigating, he discovered that Li Chuan intended to settle in New York with his wife, so he immediately changed the operation site to New York.
The Li family had been entrenched in Sokovia for many years, and under Li Chuan's leadership, it had now reached the height of its power. Silently abducting such a wealthy man from Sokovia was not actually easy.
More importantly, the explosion at Hydra Base in Sokovia had caused a major stir and had yet to fully die down. Hydra's local intelligence network was still paralyzed as well.
New York was different. Whether it was S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence or Hydra's intelligence network, he could make use of both and formulate a perfect operational plan.
Just like now—before Li Chuan had even arrived in New York to move in, Ward had already obtained the residential complex where he lived and his exact apartment number.
Although Ward did not understand why Li Chuan had chosen an ordinary residential building rather than a villa, tonight was currently the best opportunity.
After checking all his tools, Grant started the car and drove toward the entrance of the complex.
His plan was simple: enter the complex, park the car, go upstairs, pick the lock and infiltrate the apartment, knock Li Chuan unconscious and stuff him into a suitcase, then bring him downstairs, load him into the car, and take him to a Hydra Base to interrogate him with a hypnosis device.
If everything went smoothly, he might even be able to return Li Chuan before dawn. At most, Li Chuan would wake up the next day with a slight headache.
"Something's wrong. Those two guards aren't in the intelligence report!"
After successfully entering the complex using a forged access card prepared in advance, Grant glanced at the two guards dozing in the guard booth, and his pupils instantly contracted.
He had memorized the information on this complex's security personnel yesterday: four middle-aged men and two elderly men. He knew their names, rough histories, and backgrounds inside and out.
Yet the two guards before him, whose physiques alone looked terrifyingly powerful, were not in the files at all.
"Is this a coincidence, or does it have something to do with Li Chuan?"
Grant leaned toward the latter. The guards had changed on the exact day Li Chuan moved in; the odds of that being a coincidence were too low. Still, he did not abandon the mission because of it.
Even if the security guards had been replaced by people arranged by Li Chuan, it was not a major problem.
Being physically strong did not mean one had high combat ability. As a top operations expert, Grant could take down more than a dozen ordinary large men barehanded. If he had weapons, there was even less to discuss.
Besides, he was not going to fight them head-on. He was only infiltrating, and he would do his best not to let those guards notice him.
As Grant's car turned toward the parking lot, the two guards who had been dozing in the guard booth immediately stood up, picked up their walkie-talkies, and reported.
"Third Brother, a nonresident has entered the complex. Black Chevrolet, license plate EVJ4329."
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