New York (Part 2)

"Contact me if anything comes up." After handling almost everything, before Shen Fei left for New York with his cheap uncle York, he said his goodbyes to Rebecca, Jill, and the others.

Perhaps because of their shared combat experience, Shen Fei had a good relationship with Rebecca, who said to email her if anything happened.

Shen Fei also saw Chris rushing over in a panic; after confirming Claire was fine, Chris finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Let's go." Urged on by York, Shen Fei boarded the plane to New York. Queens, New York, was where this suddenly appeared uncle lived, and the place got Shen Fei a little excited—Spider-Man supposedly lived in this district.

"Too bad Jill didn't agree to join S.H.I.E.L.D. If she had, maybe Chris would have too." From chatting with Rebecca, Shen Fei learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. had also invited Jill, but she turned them down.

Though the disaster in Raccoon City seemed to have been covered up, the problems it caused were just beginning. The current president was sitting on pins and needles; as expected, he'd probably end up resigning in disgrace—who lets something this big happen on their watch?

Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. was secretly stepping up their hunt for Umbrella's high-ranking personnel. Out in the open, major pharmaceutical companies were carving up Umbrella's legacy.

Especially the various miracle drugs—every pharma giant was dead set on getting them. They'd just repackage them and claim their company spent years and fortunes developing them.

Since this world had S.H.I.E.L.D., Umbrella couldn't drag things out like in the original work. After paying massive compensation, Umbrella quickly declared bankruptcy.

It wasn't just Umbrella; several high-ranking military officers in the U.S. were also transferred out of their posts. These were people who had secretly cooperated with Umbrella. The government covered up the truth, but that didn't mean they wouldn't hold those involved accountable—besides, it was a perfect chance to purge rivals, with righteousness on their side.

The military was also sending people to track down Umbrella's top brass, with General Ross reportedly leading the hunt.

Behind the scenes, Hydra was secretly contacting Umbrella's people. The reason S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't made much progress was partly because of them.

But all that had nothing to do with Shen Fei for now. He had arrived in New York and saw the massive Statue of Liberty through the plane's window.

Once inside New York, York's attitude immediately changed, completely dropping his previous friendliness. Shen Fei had expected this and didn't take it to heart.

"Still a small villa, huh." They soon arrived at York's place. Queens wasn't the most developed part of New York, but it wasn't the most chaotic either.

The most chaotic part of New York was undoubtedly Hell's Kitchen, where Kingpin was supposed to be, along with his nemesis Daredevil.

Marvel's New York was a disaster-prone city, home to countless superheroes and just as many super-villains.

"Our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man probably hasn't shown up yet, has he?" Shen Fei had his own reasons for coming to such a dangerous city like New York.

After all, New York had plenty of black tech.

The radioactive spider that created Spider-Man, the Super-Soldier Serum, Stark Group—and crucially, Pym Particles. In the Marvel world, Pym Particles had incredible effects; the Avengers reversed the future thanks to them.

The method for making Pym Particles was known to only one person. Even the brilliant genius Howard Stark couldn't replicate them.

How smart was Howard? Think about it—he was researching anti-gravity back in WWII and created Captain America's shield, which could go toe-to-toe with Thor's Hammer.

Not to mention the new element manufacturing method Howard left for his son.

If someone like that couldn't replicate Pym Particles, you knew how hard it was. But what was extremely difficult for Howard might not be impossible for Shen Fei, with his Op-Op Fruit ability.

Pym Particles, Arc Reactors, Mark Armor Series—with the Op-Op Fruit's power, Shen Fei might even learn their manufacturing methods.

The rich rely on tech, the poor on mutation—that was the general rule of Marvel.

But the rich could also mutate while relying on tech. A prime example was Black Panther, with his Vibranium Armor and Heart-Shaped Herb.

Speaking of which, a lot of things in the Marvel world were tied to the serum injected into Captain America. Dr. Banner turned into the Hulk because of the serum combined with gamma radiation.

It seemed Oscorp, where the Green Goblin was, also had the serum.

"Your room is the one at the end of the hall on the second floor." As soon as they entered the villa, York told Shen Fei to go upstairs with a look of disgust, then pulled out his phone to make a call.

"It's me. I'm back. I'll come by tomorrow."

"I should go to school." The next day, Shen Fei said this to York directly.

"School? I got you a job. Go work hard." York didn't care whether Shen Fei wanted to or not; he dragged him to the car and drove to a desolate-looking street. The walls on both sides were covered in graffiti, and homeless-looking people occasionally emerged from dark alleys.

The car soon stopped in front of what looked like a repair shop. York led Shen Fei to a small door and knocked. A burly man with tattoos covering both arms opened it. After looking at York and Shen Fei, he nodded and led them inside.

Through a dark corridor, they entered a brightly lit room where people were gathered around a rectangular table gambling. Including those standing and watching, there were eight people in total.

"This little guy? Not bad, yeah." A middle-aged man with a scar on his face looked Shen Fei over carefully, nodded with apparent satisfaction, then signaled to a subordinate. The subordinate took a thick stack of cash and walked toward York.

"What is this place, Uncle York?" Shen Fei said, moving to hide behind York, looking scared.

"Damn, did he just sell me out?"

"Cut the crap. Who's your uncle?" York said impatiently, reaching to pull Shen Fei out.

"Don't move." Shen Fei grabbed the gun tucked at York's waist, stepped back two paces, and aimed it forward.

"Kid's got quick reflexes." Shen Fei's move stunned everyone for a second, then they burst out laughing. The reason was simple—the safety was still on.

The only one not laughing was York. Shen Fei's action made him furious.

"Fuck." York moved to snatch the gun from Shen Fei's hand.

Bang.

The gun went off. The bullet passed through York's ear and hit the man behind him in the head. Blood splattered. Everyone froze.

"Don't move. Bullets don't have eyes." Shen Fei's voice was eerily calm. He'd survived Raccoon City—these guys were nothing.

His words stopped a few who were about to act.

Bang. Bang.

Two more shots, and two more people dropped.

"I said don't move." This time, no one ignored him.

"York, you've got some nerve." The scarred middle-aged man stared coldly at York.

"This has nothing to do with me." York shook his head in terror.

"Young brother, looks like this was a misunderstanding. Let's call it here." The scarred middle-aged man's gaze immediately shifted to Shen Fei.

"Misunderstanding? I don't think so." As Shen Fei spoke, his right hand moved, and the gun in his grip fired behind him. A man trying to attack him from the rear had his head blown open and collapsed—a habit from Raccoon City: aim for the head.

After taking that man down, Shen Fei slowly backed away and retrieved another pistol from the body.

"Young brother, what will it take for you to stop?" Four consecutive headshots finally made the scarred middle-aged man realize something was wrong.

"Want me to stop? Simple." Shen Fei said with a cold smirk, then fired both hands in rapid succession, gunning down everyone present. This time, no headshots—all shots hit the chest.

"You all dead—that's enough." Shen Fei said flatly to the corpses.

"Alright, my dear Uncle York, now tell me what's going on." Facing Shen Fei's gun barrel, York spilled everything.

"Didn't expect you to actually be my uncle."

York was indeed the younger brother of Shen Fei's mother, but the man was far from good. From his school days, he'd mixed with underworld elements—drugs, rape, murder—in short, every evil deed. Yet because he was a minor, the law favored him, and he barely served any prison time before getting out, only to become worse from what he learned inside.

After Shen Fei's parents in this world died in an accident, he received a large settlement from the Protector God Company. York should have taken him in back then, but first, he didn't want to, and second, the Umbrella Corporation probably didn't want to let him go either, so Shen Fei stayed at the orphanage.

When the Raccoon City disaster struck and York found out Shen Fei hadn't died, he saw a chance to make money. As for what happened to Shen Fei afterward—selling him to these people. Child trafficking was rampant in this country: whether sold to pedophiles or killed for organs, it was another fortune.

He just never expected to hit a wall this time.

"What a good uncle I have."

"Don't kill me—they forced me into this."

Bang.

This shot hit the right chest—wouldn't kill him right away. Shen Fei hated this kind of person most; how could he let him die so easily?

"Goodbye, my dear uncle." True to the gangster hideout, Shen Fei quickly found plenty of gasoline and splashed it around.

"Just like Marvel's style—barely in New York and already running into this." Watching the roaring flames, Shen Fei left immediately.

Setting the fire was to erase traces. He'd watched plenty of crime scene investigation shows.