Queens, New York City
"Ring-ring-ring-ring-ring-ring!"
As soon as the end-of-class bell rang at Midtown High School, someone in the classroom grabbed his school bag and rushed straight toward the door.
Seeing his good friend trying to slip away again, Carl quickly shouted, "Hey, Kane, you promised yesterday to come play video games with me today!"
"Uh, Carl, what I said yesterday was next time, which means the day after tomorrow."
Kane offered an explanation, then poked his head back in after stepping out the door, adding to Carl, "Definitely next time, Carl."
Cunning Kane, is the 'next time' he mentioned definitely tomorrow?
Carl muttered in complaint. Kane had said the exact same thing last time, and to this day they still hadn't finished clearing that stage together-mind you, that was a game that required two people to beat.
Another classmate in the class walked past Carl with a smile and said, "If you remind Kane every single day, he'll probably make good on that line by next year."
"I swear, Kane must have been triggered. He loves guns more than me, his best friend."
Carl complained, then packed up his things as well, preparing for his one hundred and thirty-fifth solo run at clearing the level. He swore that if he still hadn't beaten it by two hundred tries, no matter what excuse Kane had, Carl would drag Kane along to help him beat this game.
Kane had indeed changed somewhat, and this change had been going on for about three years now.
Right now it was precisely the year 2000, and Kane had transmigrated into this Marvel Universe for three years already. After initially experiencing emotions like surprise, fear, excitement, and dread, Kane had managed to maintain a natural mindset regarding the fact that he had come to the Marvel Universe.
As for how he could be certain this was the Marvel Universe, it was because one year after arriving here, Kane used the assets left behind by his parents to make quite a bit of money. Up until now, Kane still held shares in Stark Industries.
Inheriting an estate in the United States was a very troublesome matter, but fortunately Kane's parents had already noticed their physical condition before passing away, so they hired a lawyer and spent a considerable amount of money to let Kane smoothly inherit an inheritance.
A thirty-four percent stake in a private hospital-this was the most valuable part of the Penter, while the rest consisted of nearly one million dollars in inheritance, three houses, and two private sedans.
If not for the damned estate taxes and hiring a full suite of legal services, the Penter would originally have had over five million dollars in bank deposits.
However, these losses did not matter much. Taking advantage of the development trends of the year 2000, Kane invested six hundred thousand US dollars into the stock market. Although there were some fluctuations up and down at first, basically everything made a massive profit afterward.
The high-tech companies in the Marvel Universe were somewhat different from the companies in the world Kane knew, but that was due to the influence of certain transcendental beings. Leaving aside those transcendental entities, the general direction of technological development in the Marvel Universe remained the same.
Gold, stocks of high-tech companies, petroleum, and so on-leveraging foresight and acquired knowledge allowed Kane to make a lot of money in the stock market.
Ten million dollars in the year 2000 could definitely allow someone to live a financially free life in the United States: luxury villas, a dedicated butler, chauffeured luxury cars, and gourmet meals enjoyed every single day.
With Kane's money-making ability and a 34% stake in a private hospital, it could definitely allow him to maintain this lifestyle until the age of sixty.
Even though Kane wanted to live the life of a wealthy man like that, he did not dare let his guard down in the Marvel Universe, especially in the disaster-prone United States. Without strength and influence, there was a possibility of dying even if he hid underground.
Moreover, his golden finger did not allow Kane to relax either.
This was also the reason why Kane had been extremely busy over the past three years. After transmigrating, perhaps due to fusing with his predecessor, Kane's memory became exceptionally strong, and his powers of concentration were very good, allowing him to quickly master knowledge that would normally have been very difficult for him.
Take right now, for instance: Kane was the top-ranked student in the twelfth grade at Midtown High School, and with his grades and financial resources, he could basically choose any prestigious university he wanted.
Even so, Kane still carved out a lot of time to practice marksmanship at a shooting range in the suburbs. For an ordinary person like him, firearms were probably the fastest way to enhance self-preservation capabilities.
After leaving Midtown High School, Kane rode his motorcycle toward the shooting range. Although he had a driver's license, he still wasn't allowed to drive alone; otherwise, if he ran into the police, they would be more than happy to hand him a ticket, and in serious cases it could even be dangerous.
By the time Kane arrived at this shooting range, someone was already waiting for him at the entrance.
"Hey, Kane, you're still just as punctual."
Welcoming Kane was the coach here, who had earned quite a bit of money from this wealthy patron Kane, which was why he came out to greet him with such enthusiasm; anyone else probably wouldn't have received this treatment.
"What are we shooting today? Straight to moving targets?"
Kane nodded and said, "The same guns as usual, same as always, Jimmy."
Jimmy smiled and said, "No problem, Kane. To be honest, with your current skill level, you could go enter competitions. Even if you couldn't secure the championship, you'd still make the top ten."
This remark from Jimmy was not flattery. Kane hit stationary targets exceptionally well; after practicing for only a year, he already surpassed ninety percent of the people inside the training ground, and his recent practice with moving targets had made his proficiency skyrocket-he was simply a natural gun-handler.
Kane smiled and accepted Jimmy's compliments. He knew what his current level was: he could skillfully operate several types of firearms, but he lacked the experience of shooting living people. Entering a competition was fine, but when it came to saving his own life, it was probably just average.
Even so, being fully armed would still increase his survival rate.
Body armor, grenades, a rocket launcher, and certain restricted classes of firearms-although many of these could not be purchased, Kane had money, which was enough to bypass the law and acquire these things.
Afterward, Kane picked up his gun and began today's training. Whenever he entered his training state, his focus would become extremely intense.
Bang, bang, bang!
Time passed quickly. Kane stopped shooting and caught his breath slightly.
Jimmy, who had been following alongside him, walked up, and while clapping, said to Kane, "Kane, it looks like you've improved again today. Your state is much better than yesterday's."
"Eat more vegetables and go to sleep early, and you can maintain a good state too, Jimmy."
Kane took the bottled water handed over by Jimmy, took a sip, and rested for a moment. Then he turned his head from side to side, saw that there was practically no one around them, and asked Jimmy.
"Jimmy, how did the thing I asked you to look into turn out?"
Hearing this, Jimmy looked around warily and said in a low voice, "Kane, those are all prohibited weapons, and you're supposed to be living in the city proper. If you need security, I can introduce you to a few bodyguards."
"Come on, Jimmy, I have a house in the suburbs too, and I just want to collect some real hardware out of pure fondness; you don't think I'm going off to fight a war, do you? If I had that kind of time, I might as well go make some US dollars."
Kane's final sentence reminded Jimmy, pointing him a path: you can make US dollars just the same.
Jimmy then sighed, took a slip of paper out of his trouser pocket, handed it to Kane, and said in a low voice to him, "Go to this place, and just say you're a friend of Jimmy Black."