Pym Group

It was midnight in New York.

Aside from the Black Prison Group, which remained brightly lit, New York City beyond the Manhattan District still seemed illuminated, yet there was barely anyone to be seen on the streets.

Those roaming the streets now were either members of violent gangs or people intending to commit crimes. No one else dared to venture out in the middle of the night.

From time to time, sharp gunshots could even be heard.

Even with Black Prison's presence, the nights in Queens were only slightly better than before. Perhaps the Black Prison Group's existence gave people some courage.

But even so, staying indoors at night had long become a habit for the people of this city.

The Brandon Group in the Manhattan District was still brightly lit. There were even quite a few people entering and leaving through the front entrance, a sight that was not uncommon in Manhattan.

Leo looked at Brandon Group Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the Manhattan District. His entire body streaked through the air as a flash of golden light. Before many people could react, they watched helplessly as that golden light entered the building.

The sudden sight threw the entire Brandon Group into considerable turmoil, and a large number of guards sprang into action.

Yet the disturbance did not last long before the entire Brandon Group strangely returned to calm.

Among the crowd that had just been thrown into a panic, a middle-aged man in a crisp suit calmly made his way toward his office.

Though he had been about to leave the company and go home when the sudden alarm startled him.

Once he understood what had happened, however, he decisively lifted the alarm and returned to his office alone.

Of course, for self-defense, he still kept his bulletproof vest and handgun on him.

Standing outside his office, Brandon had never felt so nervous.

Before he could push open the door, it opened on its own. A figure stood before the enormous floor-to-ceiling window in his office.

The figure was not particularly tall, and compared to Brandon's six-foot-three frame, he even seemed somewhat short.

Yet the faint pressure he gave off made Brandon's legs tremble.

"Come in. Long time no see, Mr. Brandon."

Leo said without turning his head.

Voss Brandon slowly walked inside, then gently placed the handgun behind him on the desk. Before Leo, firearms had no meaning whatsoever.

This was the second time Voss Brandon had met Leo, but far too much had happened between this meeting and the last.

The last time, Leo had merely been an unknown nobody who had displayed incomprehensibly powerful abilities before him.

Even those abilities had filled Voss Brandon with fear and astonishment at the time. It was precisely because of that that the Brandon Group had been willing to cooperate with Black Prison and Leo.

After all, the partnership could bring profits to the Brandon Group, while the power Leo had displayed merely showed that the two sides held sufficiently equal standing.

But now, Leo had long since gone from an obscure youth to the world-renowned Golden Legend.

In the battle against the alien invasion of New York, he had displayed power so terrifying that it shocked everyone.

That was right. Voss Brandon had long suspected Leo's identity.

But he did not dare reveal it in the slightest. While every country in the world was searching for Golden Legend's true identity, if he were the first to reveal that information, would that not be inviting others to target him?

Thus, Voss had kept that suspicion buried deep in his heart, not daring to disclose it.

After that battle, his support for the Black Prison Group had also become increasingly generous. Black Prison's ability to develop so quickly, becoming the absolute ruler of Queens in merely two or three years, was inseparable from the Brandon Group's support.

And Leo had become an existence fully capable of crushing the Brandon Group.

Perhaps in Voss's mind before, Leo had merely been a powerful enhanced individual, but he had not feared him too greatly.

After all, many powerful enhanced individuals had appeared before, yet they possessed little ability to resist in the face of national-level power.

But the current Leo, the Golden Legend, truly was a legendary existence—an absolute powerhouse on Earth whose international deterrence was no less than that of a great power.

Such overwhelming strength, powerful enough to disrupt Earth's balance, terrified many people.

Voss Brandon was naturally among them.

So even though Leo was not deliberately exerting pressure at the moment, Voss Brandon still trembled when he saw him.

"Long time no see, Mr. Leo."

"No need to be so formal. Just call me Leo. Where's Walker? How is he doing? Which university did he go to?"

Leo smiled, turning around to look at Voss Brandon as he spoke.

Walker was Voss's son and one of Leo's classmates during his brief high school years. Though they had not been particularly close, that was how the two sides had come to know each other.

"He went off to Princeton University. That kid has never taken his studies seriously. I don't expect him to achieve anything in technology. Once he finishes college, he'll come back to work."

Voss smiled ingratiatingly at the youth before him, who looked a year younger than his own son.

"That makes sense. With your family's means, even if Walker were more wasteful, it would be hard for him to spend it all. There isn't much for you to worry about."

Leo replied with a smile.

"Not exactly. Walker is quite talented in certain areas. He just doesn't like studying very much."

After speaking for a while, Voss's nervousness eased somewhat.

"I heard from Zost that you had something to discuss with me? What could it be that even you can't handle?"

Only then did Leo get to the point.

"It wasn't unsolvable. There were just some things I wanted to ask about. After all, they concern the Brandon Group's future development, so I have to take them seriously."

Leo was somewhat curious when he heard Voss's answer. He had not expected this to be the reason Voss had called him here.

"Leo, have you heard of the Pym Group? They've been making some major moves lately. They're also a tech company, and we usually have business partnerships with them, but recently, something has changed."

"They've been developing a new product recently—a revolution in weaponry. If it's real, it will have an enormous impact on our company."

"That guy Cross is a little crazy. I know that much. Pym Company is indeed extremely powerful in this field, so I have no choice but to be cautious."

"Cross has even boasted that he wants to acquire us. I don't believe it, but there does seem to be a problem."

"Our people can't infiltrate them, so I wanted to ask whether you know anything about this. I only want an answer. If you don't know either, then that's fine."

Voss looked at Leo as he spoke, his tone somewhat respectful.