"Do you really think that?" Frank looked at Hong Fei's posted comment, his eyes thoughtful.
Hong Fei replied solemnly, "Of course. Entering the darkness is so we can better drive it away. We're the same."
Frank nodded.
Hong Fei asked, "Has the search on the mountain been called off?"
"It has. Those useless idiots didn't even find where we went out to sea." Frank's expression was full of disdain.
"Mm, you did an excellent job this time. Keep it up. Also, be careful when you go out lately. It's best not to go causing trouble. I think someone has their eye on me."
Frank's gaze immediately sharpened. "What happened?"
Hong Fei gave a faint laugh.
"Don't worry. They're just a bunch of people with nothing better to do. It's not a big problem."
Since the day before yesterday, someone had been sitting in the building across the street, watching him around the clock without doing anything else. They had even pretended to be a customer and visited the bookstore.
And after seeing that unfamiliar face, Hong Fei had completely lost interest in them.
Beating up someone like that would not even make them drop a Skill Card.
They were not worth it.
Besides, they had come too late. They could not even get a warm bite of shit. So this surveillance was most likely just a whim, with its roots still in the fact that he and Tony had been kidnapped together.
Hearing Hong Fei say that, Frank did not ask any further questions. However, he clearly would not abandon his grand plan to crack down on the Mafia because of it. "I'll be careful to stay hidden, but the Mafia and The Hand have started clashing recently. An opportunity like this can't be missed."
For nearly a month, the search had yielded nothing. Instead, the public had grown increasingly resentful of the military police roaming the streets without restraint every day. Under those circumstances, the National Guard could only withdraw into a limited number of important areas, such as buildings housing government agencies.
Once the military police withdrew, the gangs emerged.
"Anyway, being careful never hurts. Don't let anyone set you up, or I'll have to come save you."
Frank snorted coldly, then turned and left with arrogant pride.
Hong Fei continued reading the comments for a while, the smile on his face growing ever more inscrutable.
After a long while, he put down his tablet and lay back on the sofa. Activating the Shinigami Eye, he watched a giant dragon dance around him, putting him in an even better mood.
In the building across the street, the agent hidden behind the curtains yawned listlessly, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.
Wiping the corners of his eyes, he sighed as he stared at the camera, completely unable to understand why he had been assigned to watch an ordinary person.
From what he knew, ever since hiring employees, Hong Fei had barely left the building in front of him. What was there to watch about such a homebody?
A beep sounded in his earpiece, and he instantly perked up.
"Anything?"
"Reporting, ma'am, nothing for the moment. The target has not left the building recently. Every day, he eats, sleeps, and plays games."
Hill frowned slightly at the report. Watching Hong Fei had been Fury's order, but the New York Branch had a great deal of work to handle. Moreover, she had made a major discovery shortly after beginning surveillance on Tony, so the monitoring of Hong Fei had begun somewhat later.
Naturally, she agreed with Fury's reasoning. After all, it would not have been difficult for the armed men to put another bullet in Hong Fei when they abandoned him. But suspecting Hong Fei of being involved just because of that seemed like overthinking it.
This was all thanks to Hong Fei's incredibly clear past. Everything could be traced, and there were no changes or suspicious points. Because Master Hong had perfectly inherited Hong Fei's body and memories, he had also strictly followed the course of Hong Fei's former life for a time before gradually making changes.
For example, the old Hong Fei had gone abroad traveling and embarked on adventures more than once.
After thinking for a moment, Hill said, "Come back tomorrow afternoon and give me a report."
"Yes, ma'am!" The agent immediately perked up.
The next afternoon.
Hong Fei caught sight of the curtains suddenly being pulled open in the window across the street, and he shook his head with a laugh.
This time, Tony had inadvertently done him a favor. The previous night, someone had finally captured the Iron Man suit's full appearance and uploaded it online.
In the video, the red-and-gold suit swept through the Middle East, displaying tremendous power. Not only did it save a group of civilians, it also directly blew up the armed men's weapons depot.
To make matters worse, someone later filmed the suit entering Stark Tower.
That was practically conclusive proof.
The problem was that no one had initially considered the possibility that there was a living person inside the suit. Instead, most people guessed that it was a new weapon developed by Tony Stark.
An artificial intelligence combat robot.
What a stupid name.
So today's news had exploded once again.
The doorbell rang. When Hong Fei opened the door and saw Number One, his face immediately broke into a broad smile.
"Boss, everything has been done as you instructed. The manor now belongs to you, Gonggong Laboratory has been registered, and Ms. Helen Zhao agreed to meet with you the night after tomorrow."
"Very good. Wait for me downstairs. I'll pack up and come down!"
Turning around, Hong Fei slowly paced through the room, selecting the items he needed to take with him one by one. In the end, apart from a few sets of clothes and several bottles of compounded ointment, he had nothing else. He did not even fill a single suitcase.
After going downstairs, May politely asked, "Boss, are you moving away?"
"That's right. From this moment on, this place is yours. Oh, remember to tell Peter that I'll come see him once a week. Of course, you can bring Peter over too. I'm living a little far away this time, so it wouldn't be safe for him to come alone."
May nodded slightly and watched Hong Fei get into the car.
After a journey of around forty minutes, Hong Fei arrived at the large manor he had previously seen only in photographs.
At the entrance, Hong Fei got out of the car on his own initiative. "Go in first. I'll take a walk around."
The entire manor was enclosed by a stone wall over three meters high. A small house stood beside the iron gate, while a straight road inside stretched all the way to the main building. Lush green lawns on both sides were filled with blooming flowers, and a hundred meters away lay woodland and other terrain.
Hong Fei followed the wall for a full circuit, and the small lake, woods, and other features he had seen in the photographs came into view one by one.
Hong Fei had no intention of considering how he might enjoy being close to nature here in the future.
All he could see in his mind were hidden sentry posts, bunkers, traps, and an underground base.
The manor's main building stood on a flat area at its center. It covered three thousand square meters and featured a typical European architectural style.
An area of less than two standard football pitches could not be called especially luxurious, but this place had the advantage of retaining its natural terrain rather than leveling everything into uniform flatness. Dense woods surrounded the manor, and there were no other residences anywhere else on the mountain.
Number One had already opened the main doors and was waiting for him. Hong Fei entered, but the luxurious furnishings and decorations failed to draw his attention as he headed straight up to the top-floor balcony.
More than half of New York lay spread out beneath his eyes.
"All of you move here as well. Prepare to renovate the underground space. Also, notify Number Four and Number Five. Have them bring back everyone they recruited."
Thanks to "Chen Zhixing" for 5,000 points, "World Security Council" for 20,000 points, and "Seven Emotions Severed" for 300 points in donations!
Today is actually Mid-Autumn Festival. I got the date completely mixed up. Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone! And while I'm at it, please send some monthly and recommendation votes.
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