Chapter 25
Alex fell silent.
Jack was actually his high school classmate. Back then, the skinny Black kid had been constantly bullied and discriminated against by taller white students. Alex had casually stopped one such violent incident, beating ten people at once with overwhelming Chinese martial arts. From that day on, Jack had worshipped him and followed his lead without question.
Throughout their three years of high school, Jack stayed safe because he stood behind Alex. In turn, Alex learned from Jack about the chaotic, gang-ridden reality of the Lower District.
Jack was a slippery, cowardly, and scrawny Black kid. When Alex told him he would teach him Chinese kung fu for self-defense and asked him to go undercover in the Lower District gangs — to gather intelligence and help unify the underworld after Alex graduated from university — Jack, who hadn't gotten into college, immediately agreed.
He figured following Alex was far better than selling milk tea or pushing a food cart selling egg pancakes. Plus, having grown up in the Lower District, he already had some familiarity with its dangers. Without thinking too much, he took a few hundred dollars and joined a gang.
Jack remembered Alex's warning: the most important thing in the underworld was loyalty. He fearlessly took bullets and knives for several bosses. Somehow, his luck held — he only ended up with a few shallow scars while the bosses he followed were killed off one after another by rival gangs. This earned him a reputation as a righteous and loyal man in the Lower District.
Whenever anyone mentioned Jack, they would say he was incredibly loyal — the kind of guy who would risk his life for his friends, brothers, and bosses.
Alex's original plan had been to control the white side of society while secretly unifying the black underworld, creating a perfect black-and-white balance. After that, he would gradually withdraw from official police work, use his connections in the First Brotherhood to build a legitimate business empire, earn massive amounts of money, live a life of luxury, and eventually gain enough financial power to do whatever he wanted — including building giant mechs that could fly anywhere.
He had been working hard toward that dream.
What he hadn't expected was for Jack to rise so quickly. Was Jack really that suited for the gangster life?
Alex's initial strategy had clearly been flawed. Pushing Jack into the position of gang boss at this moment might have been someone else using him as a disposable pawn — sending him to the front lines to die.
Right now, Alex couldn't spare the time to help him. If a full-scale gang war broke out with bullets flying everywhere, even with the kung fu Alex had taught him, Jack would most likely end up riddled with holes like a beehive.
Alex immediately instructed Jack to stabilize his gang and avoid any reckless moves. In a few days, if he hadn't caught Multiple and secured his position in the police department, he would transform into a superhero, eliminate Jack's rivals, and either kill or imprison the leadership of the Blood Angels, allowing Jack to take full control.
"Alright then… Boss, I'll wait for you…" Jack replied reluctantly. Without Alex as his backing, he didn't even dare leave the gang headquarters to go to nightclubs anymore. He was terrified of being stabbed or ambushed by rival gangs.
He missed the old days when he was just a low-level lieutenant — he could freely go to nightclubs, play music, and enjoy hip-hop without anyone wanting to kill him.
Being a gang boss came with way too much pressure!
After hanging up, Alex frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. He narrowed his eyes and let out a long sigh. Today really had been full of setbacks. First, Al Swan had scared Multiple away, ruining his very first official mission. Then Jack suddenly announced he had become a gang boss. Both the white path and the black path were proving difficult to balance.
Next, Alex contacted his other two undercover agents. They weren't true "undercovers" in the classic sense — they were more like Jack: people who had chosen to follow Alex because they saw him as a reliable backer and wanted to build something for themselves. The two of them were actually more capable than Jack, but their luck was far worse. They only controlled one or two streets each in the most chaotic parts of the Lower District. They struggled to rise higher and had even been forced to flee when their gangs were wiped out by rivals.
He instructed them to keep an eye out for any trace of Danton Black in the Lower District, then stopped thinking about it.
A few minutes later, Alex's phone began ringing nonstop. His adoptive father Bert and Chief Mark had both learned that he had beaten Al Swan. Bert gave him a harsh scolding, then finally snorted coldly and muttered, "Well done!" before hanging up.
Chief Mark, after reviewing the surveillance from the Information Department, admitted it was his own failure to manage his subordinates properly. He stated that Al Swan would be demoted as a result. The incident had left him furious. He also asked worriedly, "Can you still catch Multiple?"
Recovering the jewelry would ease the pressure from the mayor's office and Wells Fargo, but as long as the metahuman criminal remained free, he could strike again at any time. Eventually, the department's credibility with the people of Central City would be destroyed.
"I still have one more method. It will take a few days to prepare," Alex replied after a moment of thought. He truly refused to let his very first mission end in failure.
"Good. Alex, I'm counting on you this time," the Chief said, his tone unusually gentle. He also promised that no other idiots would interfere again.
After hanging up with the Chief, Alex began working on his plan.
"Sky Net, pull up all available data on Danton Black and Martin Stein. I need every video, recording, and visual file related to Martin Stein."
Sky Net was the half-finished artificial intelligence system Alex had worked on with several computer geniuses. It wasn't true AI — it lacked independent thought or reasoning — but it could efficiently search and retrieve public information for him.
Martin Stein was one of the two individuals who would fuse to become Firestorm. During the nuclear plant explosion, Danton Black had become Multiple while Martin Stein had fused with a student and would eventually become Firestorm.
Alex had not yet seen any sign of Firestorm appearing, and Martin Stein was officially listed as missing by the police.
He needed to set a trap to lure Multiple out.
Half an hour later, Sky Net had gathered all the publicly available information Alex requested. Although the name "Sky Net" sounded impressive, it was actually quite limited — it could only search open internet sources and had no real hacking capability. It was rigid and mechanical. Alex usually treated it as nothing more than a powerful search engine.
At the same time, he used his own hacking skills to breach Stagg Industries' systems and Martin Stein's personal records, uncovering plenty of data that Sky Net couldn't access.
He thoroughly studied the relationship between Martin Stein and Danton Black.
Before the nuclear plant explosion, Martin Stein had reported Danton Black to the police for stealing blueprints and selling experimental equipment. For some unknown reason, Stagg Industries later dropped the charges.
However, even before that, the two men had already been at odds within the company. After the police report, their relationship had become completely hostile.
Alex watched every available video of Martin Stein — childhood photos, pictures of him flirting in high school, university graduation footage, award ceremony videos, public lecture recordings, experimental footage from Stagg Industries, and more. He studied the man's speech patterns, tone, walking gait, distance between steps, medical reports, reactions to high blood pressure and cholesterol, and all his habitual little gestures. He memorized everything.
He spent the entire night and into the morning obsessively studying and imitating an older man's behavior, speech, and mannerisms.
Until morning.
The system's voice suddenly rang out softly:
"Congratulations. You have completed the task!"
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