Criminal, or Hero

"That makes sense. The Hand and the Mafia took the lion's share, leaving scraps. It keeps the smaller players from getting resentful, and it makes them fight amongst themselves. Why not?"

Frank nodded slightly. "As expected, you're still the best at schemes and tricks."

Hong Fei's expression twitched.

"San Pao, how's Fisk Industries doing?"

Frank's face darkened. "Not great. They sent out an obituary and have been keeping a low profile."

"Kingpin didn't have any heirs, did he?"

"No, so I'm guessing they're in a huge internal struggle right now. What, you want to jump in?"

Hong Fei shook his head. "Absolutely not. We need to stay far away. Impatience leads to a ruined plan."

Frank continued, "The Mafia didn't get much out of this. The Hand's appetite is too big. I suspect they'll have a conflict in the future, and I want to accelerate that."

Hearing this, Hong Fei raised an eyebrow. "You want to pretend to be someone else and deliberately stir up trouble?"

"Exactly."

"Reckless!"

Looking at Frank's defiant expression, Hong Fei said, "Do you think they're stupid? Don't you remember what the situation is like outside? The gangs only come out at night. There are so many police and National Guard during the day. Why haven't the Hand and the Mafia erupted into direct conflict? Believe me, if those armored vehicles weren't rampaging through the streets, they would have already blown each other's brains out!

What you need to do now isn't to provoke them, but to wait quietly for the right moment. And if you have time, collect information on both sides. Things like 'you slept with his wife' or 'he stole your girlfriend.' Get some solid evidence. When the dust settles outside, you can quietly slip these things under their pillows.

I don't believe those guys, who came from the underworld, can tolerate even this. Oh, and remember to find people whose status is neither too high nor too low. Those too high might have reservations, and those too low are useless. It's best to find those with bad tempers and impulsive personalities. When they get angry, it'll be the end of the world. Then they won't have a choice but to fight."

Frank's eyes twitched as he listened. After a long pause, he managed to say, "You really are insidious."

"Get lost!"

The next day.

Early in the morning, Hong Fei got up first and went to the rooftop to practice some punches. However, things were different now. It used to take him half an hour to break a sweat, but this morning it took him over an hour.

The comprehensive improvement in his physical fitness was obvious.

After showering and changing into a clean set of casual clothes, Hong Fei headed to the bookstore to wait for May.

At 7:50 AM, May arrived ten minutes early.

"Welcome!" Hong Fei stood up to greet her.

May, dressed in a black professional suit, smiled humbly. "Boss, I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation."

"Of course. I believe in your abilities."

Hong Fei handed May a set of keys and a folder of documents. "Here are the keys to all the rooms in this building and the rental contracts, along with some miscellaneous files. Managing and running the bookstore is your main job. All the rooms upstairs, except for the very top floor, are rented out to others. I'll be moving out in a while, and I'll leave this place to you. Oh, and if you have time, please arrange for someone to clean the rooms."

May looked surprised. "You're moving out?"

"That's right. I'm planning to do some other business."

Whether it was an illusion or not, Hong Fei felt as if May had let out a sigh of relief.

After a brief handover, Hong Fei returned to the top floor, his mood also easing.

It wasn't easy to close down the bookstore, as it was the legacy left by his parents. Even when the previous Hong Fei had been struggling, he hadn't changed the bookstore into something else, and Master Hong, who had taken over, saw no need to do so.

Moreover, the value of the building itself was limited, but what was buried downstairs was immeasurable by money.

To be honest, Master Hong also wanted to live for thousands or tens of thousands of years.

In the following days, Hong Fei spent all his time practicing martial arts, except for eating and sleeping.

His suddenly strengthened body needed to adapt gradually. He needed to control his strength, grasp his speed, and understand his endurance limits. Only a body that was truly and completely mastered truly belonged to him.

A body that completely belonged to him would allow Hong Fei to better exert his combat power, explore his deeper potential and limits, and attempt to break through on that foundation.

Of course, it would be even better if he had some powerful Skill Cards.

How could a Master Hong, who didn't resist firearms and artillery, and even actively used them, give up on Skill Cards that only he could see and use?

The search for the perpetrator who fired the cannons on the outskirts of New York was still in full swing.

As long as the politicians kept spewing rhetoric, the joint military and police forces, who had already scoured the mountains, would not be withdrawn.

The mortars had been confiscated as evidence, and the intensity of the search and crackdown on black market arms sales had abruptly increased. However, Frank had done a clean job. Even if they found the sellers, they wouldn't be able to trace it back to Hong Fei and Frank.

As time passed, people gradually forgot about the incident. Most of those still shouting were ambitious individuals who wanted to use it as an excuse to bring down their enemies and climb to higher positions.

During this period, Hong Fei noticed that Tony had been flying around in the sky multiple times, even disregarding the time of day and ascending into the sky in broad daylight.

The militants in the Middle East had suffered attacks from an unknown enemy, and the military had lost a fighter jet during an exercise. These were not major news until this day.

While cleaning up the debris left by the shelling, the police accidentally caused a collapse. After the injured were found, a hidden underground factory was also exposed.

When a large amount of raw materials, tools, and finished products were laid out before them, the whole of New York was abuzz.

The famous spice merchant and great philanthropist was actually a drug dealer in secret?

A few days later, the police, having confirmed Kingpin's identity, publicly released all his evidence. The people of New York then realized that the truth was far more complex than they had anticipated.

Fisk Industries was taken over by the police, and the sight of hundreds of people lining up to be taken to jail was spectacular.

After Kingpin's identity was exposed, some people's rhetoric gradually subsided. Previously, they had called Kingpin a good citizen and demanded a thorough investigation by the government. Now, of course, they hadn't given up, but they needed time to find a better excuse.

However, the subsequent turn of events gradually became strange.

"Is the person who bombarded Fisk a criminal or a hero?"

Once this topic was brought up, discussions surged like a tide.

"Of course, he's a criminal. Regardless of his intentions, since his actions have violated the law, he must face legal judgment."

"He must be a criminal. I suspect it was a feud between him and Fisk, maybe he wanted to steal Fisk's business?"

"Criminal or hero, I don't care. I just want to know how he thought of using a cannon to bombard someone. That's so cool!"

"Exactly, super cool! I don't even want to look at my gun anymore, it's completely boring."

"I think he's a hero! Before the police announced it, who knew this great philanthropist was also a major criminal? In fact, if he hadn't died, the police would never have known his identity and would never have discovered such a den of iniquity. So I think he wanted to send Fisk and those damn drugs to hell together!"

"Undoubtedly a hero. When the order of this world is eroded by darkness, people can only temporarily leave the light and enter the darkness to truly drive out those hidden vermin."