As night fell, Bai Jing tinkered with three cards and dismantled a pile of wires, studying the problem of making a phone charging cable.
His phone's charging cable used a Type-C connector, which would not be released until 2013. There was simply nothing like it on the market yet.
And after sitting for a day, his phone was nearly out of power.
It only had 79% left!
What about his own charger?
It was plugged into the power strip by his bed. Who brought a charger when they went out to buy breakfast?
Bai Jing did not understand circuitry either, but he had scanning. Whenever he hit a snag, he simply scanned it, directly observing the flow of current and the effects of voltage on wires at a microscopic level. Then he made adjustments bit by bit, swapped wires, and studied the circuit.
There was even a Columbia Electrical Engineering textbook beside him!
"I suddenly realized that this ability of mine is perfect for scientific research!" Bai Jing scratched his head, wondering if he ought to pursue a PhD or something.
After all, people like Iron Man, Hulk, and Doctor Strange all had five or six titles whenever they opened their mouths.
Besides, he would eventually need to steal—ah, no, obtain Iron Man's technical data. What if he scanned it and could not understand it?
"My brain is still this good. It'd be a waste not to study!" Bai Jing stroked his chin and seriously considered the decision.
Many people who entered society regretted not studying harder when they were young. Bai Jing was no exception.
If he had studied hard back then, maybe he could have gotten into a better university. After graduating, he would not have ended up at the bottom of society, too afraid to date, too afraid to get sick, unable to afford a home, and filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment whenever he saw news about Huawei offering high salaries to recruit mathematical geniuses.
Reading, researching, letting his thoughts wander—he seemed to have done a great many things, yet also nothing at all.
When Bai Jing finally wanted to sleep, he checked the time. It was already four in the morning.
"Looks like I'm still safe..." Bai Jing felt that since no one had come to assassinate him after all this time, perhaps no one would.
He only had two enemies: Kingpin and Roxxon Corporation?
But Roxxon Corporation did not necessarily have to kill him. After all, companies preferred negotiation and reason. If they sent assassins at the slightest disagreement, who would ever cooperate with them?
That only left Kingpin. But Bullseye was already dead, and Bai Jing truly did not know what other famous people Kingpin had under his command.
"Whatever!" Bai Jing decisively closed his eyes.
He truly could not stay awake any longer.
At the same time, Matt Murdock, whose blindness did not hinder him in the slightest when hunting down criminals, had just gotten off work.
Matt Murdock had been blind since childhood. Dressed in red leather and wearing his mask improperly, he had lost his sight, but in exchange, his hearing, sense of smell, touch, and taste had all been greatly enhanced.
With those four senses alone, he could perceive everything in this world even more clearly than an ordinary person.
And because he possessed formidable strength and a righteous heart, his nights were always busy—busy fighting robbers, rapists, drug dealers, human traffickers, and every form of injustice.
Unfortunately, despite working tirelessly for half his life, he had achieved little. Hell's Kitchen remained exactly as it had always been.
In truth, Hell's Kitchen would be in much better shape ten years later, but that would not be thanks to them.
It would be because the economic downturn drove capitalists to put their money into real estate, and Hell's Kitchen, an area that had barely been developed, caught their attention.
Rising housing prices made it unaffordable for the middle class, while higher rent made it impossible even for Broadway dream-chasers to live there. As the bottom-feeders and Broadway drifters left, the gangs lost their breeding ground. Hell's Kitchen's public security actually improved as a result.
When he was still half a block away from his law office, Matt Murdock stopped and silently faced forward.
In truth, he could not see anything, but he heard a car parked outside his office. Three people were inside, all slumped over asleep.
"Gangsters? What are they doing here?" Matt Murdock frowned, wondering if his identity had been exposed.
But if it had been exposed, his office would have been smashed to pieces already instead of remaining intact.
So they were probably here for something else.
Without making a sound, he leaped onto a rooftop, returned to his residence, changed out of his superhero uniform, put on pajamas, and lay down on his bed.
He closed his eyes and fell asleep in less than five minutes.
Three and a half hours later, he woke precisely with his 7:30 alarm.
After years of training, he could enter deep sleep whenever he wished. Though he worked as a lawyer by day and carried out justice at night, sleeping only three and a half hours each day, three and a half hours of deep sleep was more effective than an ordinary person's highly inefficient eight hours.
That was true top-tier time management.
He got up and took off his pajamas.
Bare-chested, he did fifty squats and fifty push-ups in the training room.
He showered and got dressed.
Then came breakfast.
He cracked four eggs into a bowl, added salt, and stirred them.
He fried them in lard until golden, rolled them into a wrap, added vegetable powder, and ate it slowly, one small bite at a time.
After briefly tidying his hair, he went downstairs and opened the door.
A Latin American man stood outside, his face wreathed in smiles as he waited.
"Attorney Matt Murdock, our boss would like to see you!" he said with a beaming smile.
"Is it a legal matter? You can consult me here or contact me by phone!" Matt Murdock said. "I have many clients to serve, and I cannot leave whenever I please!"
"Uh..." The Latin American man wore a bitter smile. Considering the consequences of disturbing that person, the blind lawyer before him was still easier to deal with.
"You should come with us. The office can close for a day. We guarantee you won't suffer too much of a loss!" the Latin American man said.
Matt fell silent.
Thinking about it, he had dealt with countless gangs, but this was the first time he had encountered one that spoke so politely.
Besides, he could not refuse. Theoretically speaking, a frail blind lawyer could not possibly refuse an invitation from three burly gang members.
Moreover, those men had arrived at four in the morning, yet they had waited until now. The discipline that displayed made him uneasy.
"All right!" Matt nodded. Just as he turned around, someone had already fetched his cane from inside the office, helped him shut the door, and flipped the sign on the door to say Closed Today.
"Shall we go?" the Latin American man asked softly.
Matt nodded, got into the car, and listened as it started moving.
Though his eyes were closed, it was as if a virtual image of Hell's Kitchen existed in his mind.
The car traveled along Eleventh Avenue, going from Fifty-Fourth Street to Fifty-Third Street, then to Fifty-Second Street.
"The Tehran family? No. The Irish family? No. Not the Rednecks either. Don't tell me it's Gray Rat..."
The car stopped outside Gray Rat's headquarters!
"It really is Gray Rat!" Matt got out of the car in surprise. Hearing the deliberately hushed voices nearby, he understood what was happening in an instant.
These people were actually gathering up drugs, preparing to burn them all in one fire?
Gray Rat's Bront Brothers had been wiped out, and a new leader had taken over?
This new leader was asian? And he had even subdued the Viper Gang?
He had decreed that drugs were no longer to be sold?
And this new leader appeared to possess immense authority. Dozens of people were moving things, yet none of them dared make a sound?
He followed several people upstairs and into the hall, then sat on the sofa at the Latin American man's direction.
"Our boss is still asleep. Could you wait a moment?" the man asked politely.
"Of course!" Matt Murdock was a lawyer right now. He could not exactly leap to his feet and shout Great Might Heavenly Dragon.
Besides, he had become interested in Gray Rat's new boss!
Who was this person? What did he want?
Why had he invited me?
Though Matt did not entirely approve of this person's actions, he had a strange feeling that perhaps they were on the same path!
Maybe he was a young newcomer?
I wanted to write more, but National Day is coming up in a few days!
I'll definitely be too lazy to write during National Day, so I might as well stockpile the National Day chapters over the next few days.
Then I can enjoy National Day to the fullest, play around, watch competitions, and so on.
Before you continue