Closing the Net and Receiving an Award

Daisy had no idea the Director had labeled her a suicidal female lead. She was still waiting for him to make a decision.

"We'll move tomorrow. I'll assign people to protect Miss Johnson then." Director George took her fairly seriously.

Daisy had little faith in New York cops, who were always extras that died three at a time in every episode. She made a request. "Could I get a gun permit? Having a gun would help me protect myself."

To the NYPD Director, it was a trivial matter, and he readily agreed.

He told her the permit would be mailed to her in a week and specially authorized her to carry a gun in the meantime.

The next day, Daisy did not use any protection detail. She hid in the shadows and observed.

This was not an arrest of Spider-Man. Spider-Man did not kill people, so the Director could sit in a squad car and make a show of his presence.

Drug dealers were all ruthless people. The Director remained directly in the rear, calling it command and coordination.

The police forces in Hell's Kitchen and Midtown West were not mobilized. The Black patrol officer who had reported the crucial lead had also taken leave to rest at home. The Director drew officers from other precincts, deploying five hundred police around the target to await the operation.

Night soon fell, and the blind man transporting the drugs stumbled out once more.

"Take him down!" Director George shouted the order.

A blind man had no ability to resist two fierce officers. They opened his bag and searched it, finding three bags of genuine "laundry detergent."

With the evidence beyond dispute, the Director breathed a sigh of relief and gave the order for a full assault!

The snipers took out the guards at the entrance first. The remaining officers kicked open the doors and charged inside.

The interior was enormous. Six rows of people stood within sight—more than a hundred Chinese diaspora men and women working before three sheet-metal tables, their expressions numb as they cleaned, weighed, and packaged the goods. Gang members carrying automatic weapons stood around them, watching.

The officers' footsteps alerted the guards. They appeared well trained and immediately opened fire at the entrance.

Gunshots rang out one after another. Officers were struck and fell from time to time, but as the main force entered, the gang members were shot dead one after another.

The thunderous gunfire startled the blind people. Panicked, they ran around like headless flies.

The officers worked hard to maintain order. Some escorted the blind people out, while the rest began clearing out the remaining gang members.

Director George commanded the entire NYPD and had ample manpower. He opened three fronts at once, taking down Madam Gao's production factory and two lower-level distribution points.

More than seven thousand pounds of drugs were found at the scenes, while over one hundred and thirty gang members were killed or arrested across the three battlefields.

Unfortunately, Madam Gao had escaped, and no trace of her was found at the scenes.

But weak-willed people could be found anywhere. Several gang members gave up her name and cooperated with police sketch artists to produce a half-length portrait that bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to her.

A citywide manhunt was launched! No matter how much dirty money the officers beneath them had taken, no matter what deals the senators had made with the gangs, they had to preserve their public image in public. Everyone was clamoring for the arrest of the ringleader.

The rescue of more than a hundred blind people at the scene caused a complete media frenzy. Very few had been born blind; most had been fed drugs afterward or had their eyeballs directly damaged.

The media reported endlessly on such a horrifyingly brutal incident. For a time, calls to care for vulnerable groups and eliminate racial discrimination rose once more.

Large numbers of blind, mute, and deaf people were discovered by city residents.

Matt Murdock, who was not yet Daredevil and was still studying law at university, was utterly bewildered by the enthusiasm of his teachers and fellow students.

Stick, the blind old man who had been hiding in New York while preparing to declare war on The Hand, was also discovered by well-meaning citizens. The old man was startled when a crowd surrounded him and nearly drew his blade. Only afterward did he realize he had overthought it. Amid the commotion, he was sent to a nursing home, where idle people came every day to fuss over him. It took the old man a full five days to find an opportunity when no one was around and escape on his own.

Daisy saw Director George again half a month later.

"This is your gun permit. Their leader is still at large, so be careful. But only I know your name, so don't worry. And this is the NYPD's reward for you—one hundred thousand dollars." Director George handed her the gun permit and a bank card.

The middle-aged man looked a little embarrassed, seemingly guilty about letting the mastermind escape.

Daisy had no complaints about that. It would have been a fantasy if the NYPD could defeat The Hand. An old fox like Madam Gao was far too cautious. That was both a strength and a weakness. Four hundred years had long since drained away her courage. The slightest disturbance could affect her judgment. Unless she was fully prepared, she would not return to New York.

She happily mooched dinner at the Director's house before saying goodbye and heading home.

On the way home, Blackie, who was always well informed, called her and told her about an issue she had not considered before.

"The school isn't being demolished anymore?" Daisy was a little surprised.

Blackie said, "I heard United Construction Company's funding chain broke, so they paid the penalty for breach of contract this afternoon. They're undergoing asset liquidation now."

Blackie was happy that she would not need to transfer schools, but Daisy was a little stunned.

What funding chain breaking! Old Mrs. Gao had clearly fled. With the citywide manhunt, the gangs were terrified and had all pulled back. For the next several years, no one would care about that dump called Hell's Kitchen. History had taken a turn and returned to its original course.

The school board members waiting for demolition compensation must be crying their eyes out right now, she thought maliciously.

She did not plan to attend school anymore, unless those teachers could teach her how to use Vibration powers.

Now that she had some spare money, she naturally needed to invest and start a business so she would not have to live so tightly.

Investing in real estate and waiting for United Construction Company to come demolish the properties would originally have been a good idea. Unfortunately, those people had shamefully backed down. Buying property now would be idiotic. Based on Daisy's analysis, this world would also experience a subprime mortgage crisis, probably next year, in 2007.

Stockpiling houses at this time meant having more money than sense.

She could only do something that required more brainpower, like starting a company!

Although she did not possess her predecessor's hacker mindset, she had forward-looking vision and solid foundational knowledge.

A project quickly came to mind.

Big data analysis!

The theory of big data would not be proposed until 2008, and practical applications would take another two years.

This was not difficult to do. The key lay in the idea itself. Anyone with normal intelligence would understand it upon hearing it.

Use meticulous, almost harsh data analysis to process all kinds of data.

The whole process was crude and straightforward, without much technical content. All she needed was to write a set of algorithms and mechanically collect, analyze, and process information.

Daisy acted as soon as she decided. She submitted an application to suspend her studies and began making arrangements at a feverish pace.

To commemorate her predecessor, she named the company "Skye Data Analysis Co., Ltd."