A Love That Can Kill (Happy New Year, Good Health!)

In summary.

If this was S.H.I.E.L.D., then it would make sense and be explainable.

S.H.I.E.L.D. has the capability, and there's a reason for it.

As everyone knows, S.H.I.E.L.D. is a secret organization, but look at Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. in the later stages.

Hydra is full of talented individuals.

S.H.I.E.L.D. has only a handful of people.

In the later stages, how many of the most capable fighters were actually from S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Iron Man? He's a capitalist first and foremost.

Thor? He's the son of a god.

Black Widow? She was originally from the Soviet Red Room, and joined S.H.I.E.L.D. because of Hawkeye and having no other choice.

Hawkeye? I don't know much about him, but he learned his skills from ninjas. Unless the big bosses at S.H.I.E.L.D. have a Japanese person, he wasn't trained by S.H.I.E.L.D.

And then?

Mockingbird Barbara Morse?

Phil Coulson?

Only these two can be considered to have come from S.H.I.E.L.D.

After that, there's no one else.

On the other hand, Hydra, although they don't have many prominent figures, every single one they do have was trained by Hydra themselves, and they were trained using S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources.

So...

Sometimes, it's not scary for an organization to be stupid. What's scary is when an organization is incredibly stupid but thinks it's incredibly smart.

The organization's internal talent production mechanism is broken, and instead of fixing it, they plan to poach people from outside.

Heh.

If that's the case, then why did you build a S.H.I.E.L.D. academy? Was it built for Hydra, or did you think S.H.I.E.L.D. was so powerful and invincible that you wanted to build a monument to boost morale?

Therefore.

If all of this was a test by S.H.I.E.L.D., and they planned to socially kill Lake using this method, forcing him to change his name and join S.H.I.E.L.D. to be at their beck and call, then everything would make sense.

An ordinary Lake might not be worth recruiting for S.H.I.E.L.D.

But a Lake who single-handedly wiped out The Assistance is worth it.

It's just...

I hope it wasn't you!

After returning to his apartment in Starlight Tower, Lake took out a glass of Bourbon, downed it fiercely, narrowed his eyes, and said this expressionlessly.

He started dating Maureen before the incident with The Assistance, so even though Maureen's shadow was all over this event, Lake still held a sliver of hope that Maureen wasn't the mastermind.

What if it was?

Lake sneered. There was one thing he hated the most: being schemed against. Whoever schemes against him dies.

Without exception!

In the afternoon!

Lying on the sofa, resting with his eyes closed, Lake opened his eyes.

"Use!"

"Replication Card!"

"Please select the card you wish to replicate!"

"Select Replication Tracking Card."

"Replication successful!"

"Use Tracking Card!"

"Using, please enter the target's name or visualize their appearance."

"Maureen Hand!"

"...Tracking successful, target's current location, New York City..."

Manhattan.

Upper East Side.

Lenox Hill Hospital Street.

Lake, wearing sunglasses, sat in a coffee shop on the street corner, sipping a freshly ordered coffee. His peripheral vision was fixed on a nondescript building diagonally across the street.

Lenox Tower.

The exterior walls of this building were almost peeling off, and several scaffolding poles were erected outside. Anyone who didn't know would think it was a dangerous building under repair.

Who would have thought that this ordinary-looking building hid the most mysterious special agent organization to date.

The lights of the city began to glow.

It was likely as dusk settled that two people emerged from the building across the way.

One with red hair.

One with black hair.

Black Widow, Natasha Romanov!

Lake raised an eyebrow and shook his head inwardly. He had intended from the very beginning not to deal with these law enforcement agencies, which preached justice but were corrupt at heart. Yet, here he was, entangled with them in such a muddled way.

Was this the fate of a protagonist?

But…

He didn't have the treatment of a protagonist.

The thought of his previous four consecutive gacha pulls made his heart ache. As he always said, a hundred thousand dollars might just be enough for a fried dough stick in 3030, but here, Lake would need at least a month to earn it through legitimate means.

The roar of an engine.

Like a streak of red light, it appeared on the streets of New York City, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Lake stood up and walked towards a blue family car parked nearby.

He got in.

Started the engine.

Lake drove with a blank expression, watching a fast-moving red dot appear on the New York map, following him at a leisurely pace.

An hour later.

The fiery red sports car stopped in front of a high-end Western restaurant in New York City.

Lake, parked two blocks away, stopped his car and chuckled.

The last supper?

In the Western restaurant on the fifteenth floor.

After ordering, Natasha said to Maureen opposite her, "Our plane takes off in an hour."

Maureen replied, "I bear the main responsibility for this mission; I didn't investigate thoroughly enough."

The operation had been a complete failure.

As the planner of this operation, Maureen was required by Three Feathers to report back to headquarters.

Everything had seemed to be under control. In fact, S.H.I.E.L.D. had developed an interest in recruiting Lake after reviewing his service records and his New York Police Department file, which was why they had specifically arranged for Maureen to approach him.

This plan had been meticulously laid out: once public opinion was stirred up by this incident, Lake would suffer social death. Then, S.H.I.E.L.D. would step in to take him in. With S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources, changing his name and identity wouldn't be difficult. If handled well, within five years, S.H.I.E.L.D. would have a capable agent.

But the assassin, Black King, had appeared unexpectedly.

And…

His relationship with Lake seemed significant.

This was something Maureen and even S.H.I.E.L.D. had not anticipated. Black King's appearance had completely disrupted Maureen and the others' plans, forcing them to react to events as they unfolded.

Who knew Black King would be faster than them, opting for the simplest and most brutal method of "killing to stop calculation."

Initially, Maureen and S.H.I.E.L.D. suspected Lake was this Black King. However, the first time, numerous people in the bar served as witnesses, and the second time, Maureen saw it with her own eyes. The facts proved that Lake and Black King were two different people.

Furthermore, after that, Lake proposed to break up.

This mission had thus completely collapsed and come to an end.

Just then.

A cute little child brushed past a man in a suit. A moment later, the child walked to the left of Maureen and Natasha. The child looked at Natasha, then turned to Maureen, handing her a phone: "Sister, someone asked me to give you this phone."

Maureen was slightly taken aback.

After a moment.

Maureen watched the child leave the hotel and frowned as the phone in her hand rang. She looked at Natasha opposite her.

Natasha scanned the surroundings, especially the building opposite the window.

There were no buildings that offered a superior vantage point or could be used for surveillance.

Maureen answered the phone.

"Hello!"

"..."