Killing Intent

Mo Fei had not expected Jack and his two companions to have already caught someone's attention. He was now considering Jack's proposal. Jack wanted to buy the factory where he had once worked and run it. After all, he did not know much else; the factory business he had worked in for over twenty years was the only way he could think of to make money.

He wants to bring me in with him. This might be an opportunity. I could first cultivate an agent—or simply make him a partner. I could take a portion of the shares, help them buy the factory, upgrade it, bring in some technology, and then leave them to it. Mo Fei's greatest weakness at the moment was that he had no physical form. He could not carry out any activities in the real world.

Mo Fei wanted a human body, cloned using the genes of superheroes. Neither of those things would be easy to obtain. More importantly, there was the question of how to transfer his thought patterns and memories into that body. That was even harder. At present, the only thing Mo Fei could think of that might accomplish it was the Infinity Stones.

Manpower. I need manpower, and to get manpower, I need a great deal of wealth. I can give it a try, but I still need to leave at least one hundred thousand dollars in that anonymous account in case something goes wrong here and I have no reserve funds. Having reached that conclusion, Mo Fei made up his mind. Still, it would be best to observe them a little longer. Jack was not bad, but Jerry gave Mo Fei a poor impression.

Mo Fei returned to the New York Traffic Monitoring Center. He wanted to see what the three of them were doing now. He found Jerry and Roy, who were still in Brooklyn. One was at the hospital caring for his wife. Roy's wife had finally been admitted to a major hospital and was undergoing a full examination, while Jerry was driving his new car around aimlessly, looking for someone to modify it.

As for Jack, he had already arrived in Los Angeles, California. He had first taken Jennifer to school to pay her tuition, then taken the three children around Los Angeles. They would not return until Jennifer started school.

Mo Fei focused on Jerry. Roy had remained at the hospital, while Jerry was the only one who seemed restless. At the same time, it was hard to find any redeeming qualities in him.

"Hm?" Mo Fei continually used traffic surveillance to watch Jerry, but before long, he discovered a problem. Someone was following Jerry. A tail? Are they police? Mo Fei became vigilant.

About four car lengths behind Jerry's vehicle was a Chevrolet SUV. It had been following him for half an hour, maintaining the same distance the entire time. Someone like Jerry, who had neither counter-surveillance experience nor awareness, would never notice.

The Chevrolet was tailing Jerry so openly, yet Jerry remained completely unaware. He kept nodding along in the car, while the fingers of his left hand tapped against the steering wheel. He was clearly listening to music.

Mo Fei decided to observe a little longer. As Jerry continued on, sometimes turning left and sometimes right, the Chevrolet behind him kept following. Who could it be? The Chevrolet's windows were not down, and the surveillance cameras could not see the driver's face. This won't do.

"Ding, ding..." Jerry was driving when his phone suddenly rang. He picked it up and saw an unfamiliar number. Still, he turned off the music and answered. "Hello?"

"It's me, Ghost!" Mo Fei's voice sounded.

Jerry froze, then asked, "You? What is it?"

"You're being followed!" Mo Fei's words made Jerry's heart leap, and he hurriedly looked into the rearview mirror.

"Watch the road. Don't panic. The black Chevrolet SUV about four car lengths behind you has been following you for a long time. You didn't notice?"

"How was I supposed to notice? Why are they following me?" Jerry asked anxiously. He was truly panicking; a guilty conscience naturally bred fear.

"Relax. They're only following you for now. Did you eat breakfast?" Mo Fei abruptly changed the subject, leaving Jerry confused.

"No. Why are you suddenly asking that?"

"Find somewhere to eat. I can't see who they are while they're in the car. I can only observe them after you stop. Remember, eat somewhere with lots of cameras. Also, don't turn around to look at them, and don't get nervous. I'm here!"

"Okay, okay, I'll do it right away!" Jerry hung up and began looking for a place, keeping his speed unchanged.

Eventually, he arrived at a bustling commercial street with many cameras. Jerry parked his car, got out with his phone, and entered a restaurant. It looked like a decent place from the outside, and there were quite a few surveillance cameras around the nearby shops.

Sure enough, the Chevrolet also stopped. A man and a woman got out. When Mo Fei checked the surrounding surveillance feeds, he was momentarily dumbfounded. Why? Because he recognized the man and woman at once. One was Phil Coulson, and the other was Melinda May. They looked almost exactly like they had in the movies and television series, the only difference being that they were much younger.

Mo Fei panicked. He was not afraid, but worried. He had never expected S.H.I.E.L.D. to appear here—and to be following Jerry, the one he trusted least.

Jerry was alone, with no family to worry about. He did not possess any particularly firm convictions. Jack had three children to care for, so he would not confess. Roy had a wife to care for, as well as a son. Their families were their spiritual pillars, and they would not be easily broken under interrogation.

Police interrogations required a lawyer to be present, but S.H.I.E.L.D. did not. Their authority was enormous.

The two of them entered the restaurant as well. Jerry looked shifty-eyed, occasionally glancing at them from the corner of his eye. That left Mo Fei even more helpless. I absolutely can't let him fall into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands. Otherwise, Jack and Roy are finished. But why did they come here? Mo Fei felt that he had been careless. He had not monitored the police investigation because he believed the police would never find any clues.

He lacked experience, and he did not have a sufficient database. Although Mo Fei's current state made him seem like a god in a virtual world, the same problem remained: he lacked the means of a god. Whenever he wanted to learn something, he had to collect the knowledge himself, and his understanding remained limited to the words on the surface. Even his financial knowledge had been organized for him by Jarvis, and he could not use it flexibly.

Kill him! Such a thought suddenly surfaced in Mo Fei's mind. Yet he was not shocked. Instead, he began considering its feasibility. There was no pity, no cowardice, not the slightest unease in his heart.