Clash of Beliefs

After a busy day, Matt Murdock returned to his rundown apartment. He didn't turn on the lights, set his usual guide cane aside, and walked straight into the living room, sitting on the sofa.

In the silent darkness, Matt's senses became even sharper. He didn't need to grope his way forward nervously like other blind people, afraid of tripping over obstacles. His heightened senses allowed the blind lawyer to see a different world.

Matt was abandoned by his mother when he was young and raised by his father, a boxer. Later, his father paid the ultimate price for refusing to throw fights for the mob, leaving him an uncared-for orphan at a young age.

During an accidental incident, young Matt's eyes were exposed to radioactive material, causing him to lose his sight. However, this enhanced his other senses. Later, under the rigorous training of a blind martial arts master, he mastered his super-senses and developed exceptional agility, transforming into a powerful warrior.

Growing up in an orphanage, Matt realized from a young age that rules were needed to govern people's behavior, so he was determined to study law and was eventually admitted to Columbia University. After earning his doctorate in law, he graduated and suddenly realized that the law was merely a tool manipulated by the rich and powerful. Enraged, he donned the red devil suit and became Daredevil of Hell's Kitchen, using violence to uphold justice.

"Kingpin is actually dead?" Matt, sitting in the living room, still found it hard to believe.

Using his lawyer identity, he had investigated Kingpin, the mastermind behind Hell's Kitchen, and uncovered his true identity as the renowned real estate tycoon Wilson Fisk.

This mob boss, who presented himself as a real estate mogul and socialite, had been conducting various illegal businesses in secret: drug trafficking, arms dealing, and even using illegal means for forced demolitions and land grabs. He was truly wicked, a massive tumor on Hell's Kitchen!

Matt had once transformed into Daredevil and attempted to send the mob boss, whose hands were stained with the blood of innocents, to the police station's prison. Unfortunately, reality once again shattered his naive hopes.

At least half the people in the police department had been bought off by him. Even the mayor and the district attorney were seen chatting with him cordially. Not just in Hell's Kitchen, but the entire New York was shrouded in Kingpin's dark influence.

Just as Matt was about to fall into despair, the Black Emperor, who ruled New York's underworld from the shadows, suddenly died!

When he learned the news from the Braille newspaper, he almost couldn't believe it. According to the official police statement, New York's famous real estate tycoon, Mr. Wilson Fisk, was attacked by a group of terrorists on the evening of the 16th and unfortunately died.

It all felt too unreal!

Matt knew the terrifying power Kingpin possessed. He had clashed with the massive bald man and his bodyguard, Bullseye, and had been utterly outmatched, nearly dying at the mob boss's hands. If it hadn't been for the Punisher suddenly appearing and saving him.

Yet, such a powerful and terrifying duo could die in an attack?!

It was neither reasonable nor logical.

"Frank... why are you here?"

With his thoughts in disarray, Matt suddenly seemed to hear an unusual sound and asked, "Why are you here?"

"You're as sharp as ever, Matt."

A tall, burly man climbed through the window via the fire escape, wearing a black T-shirt with a skull print, fully armed, like a walking arsenal.

"I thought you had left Hell's Kitchen." Although Matt couldn't see, his other senses could fully compensate for his eyes.

The burly man, known as the Punisher, chuckled twice. "I don't plan on leaving this chaotic place. Only in Hell's Kitchen are there so many villains, thugs, and bandits!"

Matt frowned. He didn't agree with the Punisher's indiscriminate execution of all criminals; it was too brutal and extreme.

"Hey, Counselor, you know what? That Kingpin guy is dead!" the Punisher said with a hint of regret in his voice. "Someone beat me to it. That damn fatso was always my target."

"State your business, Frank. You wouldn't just show up without a reason."

Matt asked directly. The Punisher, who struck fear into criminals, wasn't one for casual chats.

"Heh heh..." The Punisher chuckled and looked at Daredevil, who was sitting in the darkness. "Matt, haven't you noticed anything unusual?"

"Hmm?"

"Hell's Kitchen is changing! This sin-filled land of drug dealers, mobsters, and hippie punks is undergoing a transformation. With Kingpin's death, everything is different!"

The Punisher removed bullets from his magazine and then put them back one by one. In the darkness, a hint of solemnity appeared on the burly man's face.

This man, more ferocious and violent than criminals, revealed what he had discovered: "I've been watching Kingpin's mobsters for a long time. They've been doing business with the Japanese Hand, trafficking people and drugs. They used children as conduits for drugs, conducting smuggling activities in secret."

"Tonight, I was planning to go and single-handedly dismantle that smuggling factory. But when I got there, I found it empty. I grabbed one of the mob leaders and interrogated him about the whereabouts of those children. Guess what answer I got?"

Matt remained silent. Since the audience wasn't responsive, the Punisher continued alone: "That mob leader, whose arm I broke, said that Kingpin's drug business and smuggling activities have all stopped. Someone has handed over these illicit businesses to the Hand and the Russians."

"Hahahaha! Isn't it funny? After Kingpin died, his subordinates turned over a new leaf!" the Punisher said with a sarcastic laugh.

"Someone orchestrated all of this?"

Matt pondered. Kingpin's death wasn't that simple, and what Frank said was also perplexing.

"I'm very interested in the person who killed Kingpin. I really want to know what they're planning! Are they trying to reform Hell's Kitchen?!" The Punisher clenched his pistol, a fierce smile appearing on his lips.

"Frank, you'd better calm down. Anyone who can kill Kingpin must be formidable."

Matt advised. Because his family was massacred by the mob, Frank harbored intense hatred and animosity towards all criminals, so he never held back. Mobsters targeted by him rarely survived.

"Spare me your lectures, Counselor. If you still believe in the law, how could you become Daredevil? Those rich people, those wicked mobsters, as long as they can afford expensive legal teams, they can exploit all sorts of legal loopholes to escape punishment... The law's righteousness and justice? Bullshit!"

The Punisher said indignantly. He suddenly stood up, his burly physique like a small mountain. "Since the law can't bring those scumbags to justice, I'll do it myself, in a more brutal way!"

Matt remained silent, his heart in constant conflict. He had once believed that the law could bring criminals to justice, but reality was often cruel. As Frank said, in the hands of the rich and the mob, the law became a mere piece of paper.

"...You're too extreme, Frank," Matt said powerlessly.

"Someone is planning a major conspiracy! Matt, Hell's Kitchen is about to undergo a complete transformation. We'll all have to make choices then."

The Punisher left with a cold laugh. He looked at Daredevil, huddled on the sofa, a hint of disdain flashing in his mind. If one doesn't have a firm and strong heart, why wear that red devil suit?