Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4534 - 3617: Edge of Tomorrow (26)

Gotham Diamond Street. 8:30AM.

Accompanied by the slight vibration of the coffee machine, a rich aroma of fruitwood and hazelnut wafted through the air. The sound of high heels clicked nearer as fingers with red nail polish picked up the cup filled with coffee.

"Good morning, Nelson."

"Good morning, ma'am. Stayed up all night watching the market again?"

"Don't mention it." The blonde woman took a sip of coffee and shook her head, "Ever since that damned Bra...Brainiac, or whatever it is?"

"Brainiac."

"That's right, Brainiac. Ever since he restricted trading, it's been almost impossible to do short-term stocks. My two crews have been losing 30% a day. If this continues, I really don't know how to explain it to the boss."

The man who came over to get coffee said, "This is all just temporary. Don't forget, the boss has a stake in the two largest stocks, just like the president. He won't sit idly by."

"Yes, the boss certainly has ways. After all, last time we managed to turn the tables by creating a gas safety accident. But this time, I'm a bit worried; it's hard to fool the cunning artificial intelligence with the boss's plan."

"If we use the same method as before, it definitely won't work. That guy has invaded all private phones and computers unless we stop using electronic devices; otherwise, he'll surely find out. But our boss has found helpers this time."

"Helpers? You mean another artificial intelligence?"

"I don't know about that. But I heard they are quite confident; we might see results as soon as this week."

"Just hope it doesn't cause too much of a commotion. You have no idea, last time's gas safety accident, plus the kindergarten food poisoning case, drove Wells and Han Jinkinson back home exhausted. I can't afford to lose any more people."

The woman clicked away in her high heels. The man took out his phone, answered a call, and walked toward the boss's office with his coffee.

"Boss, I'm here." He knocked and entered. His boss was sitting in a chair reading handwritten documents.

"We have to find a way to short Sirisen Materials before this week is over, or we'll be too late. Have you accomplished the task I gave you?"

"Don't worry. It's the same operative from the New Ger Street ground collapse case. The stuff has already been mixed into the latest batch of dragon bone materials and sent in; they should make a move tonight." freewebnσvel.cøm

The boss slapped the table vigorously, "That damn Brainiac's monitoring is too strict, the president can't act. But if the trading restrictions continue, our funds will be in trouble by the end of the month."

"This time, I want to kill two birds with one stone, first short Sirisen, and then make Brainiac regret it. I must let them know who calls the shots on Diamond Street!"

Shortly after, the man left the office and returned to his own, only to find it in disarray.

"What happened? Everyone back to their workstations. Just because trading is restricted doesn't mean you don't work?"

"No, the security just called saying there's an intruder." Said someone standing by the window.

"It's not those kids' parents again, is it?" The man squinted and said, "Security is really something, can't even handle a few ordinary people. Call Cage, have him throw those punks out."

Suddenly, he noticed the employee he had just spoken to showing a look of terror. The man didn't understand why and was about to say something when he felt a shadow appear behind him.

He turned his head and saw a black and yellow figure appear in front of him.

"Bang!"

Gotham Diamond Street, 8:20AM.

The delivery guy, carrying takeout coffee, came out and saw a hand wearing a black glove reaching out from the passenger seat of a truck, and he froze.

He took a deep breath to quell the unease in his heart and handed the coffee over. A roll of US dollars was thrown out of the window.

Deathstroke withdrew his gaze from the fleeing delivery man's back and took a deep drag on his cigarette. Through the intercom came Harley's slightly static-filled voice, "The target's car has already reached the underground parking lot, about 10 minutes from reaching the target location. How are your preparations?"

"I still have 5 minutes to enjoy my coffee." Deathstroke blew over the hot coffee and said.

The driver's side door opened, Waylon carried out a steaming breakfast, handed one to Deathstroke, and kept one for himself. After tearing open the wrapping paper and taking a bite, he said while chewing, "This place's pancakes are quite good, you should try it."

Deathstroke took a bite of the pancake as well, nodding while eating. He finished it in a few bites, gulped down the coffee, and glanced at his watch: "It's now 8:25 AM."

Two short swords were sheathed on his back, and the M1911 was holstered at his waist. "Click," the M4A1 carbine was loaded.

The car door opened, and as he looked past the dark tactical boots, the metallic words "Gotasco Securities" flashed with a golden light on the front door.

The security guard in the booth turned his head and saw the coffee cup rolling across the ground by the door in the wind. He stood up and opened the door, only to have a gun barrel thrust against his forehead in the next second.

The barrel slid from the forehead down to the back of the neck, and then to the back. The security guard trembled, raising his hands, "Don't, don't kill me, I'm just a worker..."

"Elevator card." The low, hoarse voice processed through the voice modulator sounded.

"I, I'll give it to you, just don't kill me..." The security guard shakily reached for his pocket.

"Bang!"

The muffled sound of the silenced gun was very low, and the rush hour employees were completely unaware, walking towards the door in scattered groups.

Retrieving the elevator card from the figure lying on the ground, the shadow quickly disappeared into the bushes.

A few minutes later, a truck pulled up beside the side door, and two figures got out.

"Tsk tsk tsk." Shiller looked at the corpse on the ground and couldn't help but marvel, "Truly clean and efficient."

Victor, lacking experience in this area, said, "Deathstroke's gun skills are so good, why not just shoot in the head?"

"If I told you someone once survived a bullet to the head, you might find it absurd. But it's true. The lungs are different, especially when the bullet enters the lungs from the back, death comes quickly and silently."

"Alright, you guys are the professionals."

Victor and Shiller moved the corpse onto a nearby handcart, loosely covering it with a cardboard box, and pushed it out.

"In America, as long as you carry a ladder or a handcart, you can go in and out of any public place. Everyone will treat you like air."

Shiller and Victor walked straight out the side door, encountering employees entering the company from the side door, but no one gave them a second glance.

Even though Shiller and Victor were somewhat well-known, and dressed in suits, far from looking like movers, they still attracted no attention.

a corpse was moved back into the truck. Shiller stood in the cool shadow of the truck and said, "Although there are only three targets, I think Deathstroke is going to go on a killing spree. It's going to be a busy day today."

"It's good to have a change of pace once in a while." Victor packed the corpse into a body bag, then said, "Call Jonathan and ask him if he's ready. We can make a trip over first, so the corpse doesn't stay in the car too long and make it dirty."

"Hello, Jonathan?" Shiller spoke into the phone, "Are you ready on your end?"

Holding his phone, Jonathan turned around, and Jack was still pouring large barrels of chemical reagents into the pool.

"Almost done. You're finished on your side already? Isn't that a bit too fast? ... Okay, got it. I assure you once you arrive, you can handle it right away."

Hanging up the phone, Jonathan walked to the instrument, glanced at the readings, then came to the large chemical pool, took out a frozen pig's trotter, and tossed it into the pool.

With a "sizzle," white smoke rose, and the flesh and bones disappeared without a trace in an instant.

"This is some potent stuff." Jack rubbed his hands, grinning as he said, "If Batman were here, I'd definitely take a dip in it."

"Why you and not throw him in?"

"If he falls in, he'll die! You idiot!"

"You're the idiot, and a madman at that!"

"Hello? Hello!" Harley's voice came through the communicator. Jonathan turned around, picked up the communicator, and said, "I'm here, what's up?"

"Professor, they're heading your way, get ready as soon as possible. Over."

Harley turned off the communicator and walked back to the computer. Cobblepot was staring at the monitor, shaking his head with admiration: "This guy is so violent."

Harley sat down beside him, took a big sip of icy soda, looked at the swathes of red on the monitor, sniffed, and said, "He's got nothing left to lose. He was already the world's number one mercenary, then made a name with one shot. It's no surprise he'd make a big splash again this time."

"I think you all should tone it down a bit." Brainiac said, "As the evil AI invading the Earth in your words, I've killed fewer people since I arrived on Earth than you have today."

"Isn't that normal? Even if you rule Earth for ten thousand years, you can't kill more compatriots than we have in the past ten thousand years. That's just how humans are, you'll get used to it."

"What puzzles me is that you don't even care about the backgrounds of the people I ask you to kill. Aren't you afraid of accidentally killing good people?"

"Good people?!" Harley seemed to hear a colossal joke, she sneered and said, "You mean there are good people on Diamond Street?! Oh my God, your discovery is akin to Einstein discovering relativity! Why don't they award you a Nobel Prize?"

"Apparently, you're not that intelligent." Cobblepot also said, "Gothamites often say that if the Soviet Union nuked Diamond Street, the only innocents would be the rats in the sewer nearby."

"So you knew that." Brainiac said, "Then why have you allowed them to exist for so long?"

"Of course, because Gotham used to have worse things than them, but now..."

Finally, the gunfire on Diamond Street ceased.

The securities company was already a sea of blood, but strangely, Gotham's usually swift police cars had yet to arrive. No sound of sirens anywhere. Neighboring companies could clearly hear the gunfire, but no one stood up. The entire Diamond Street was as silent as death.

Until noon, at 12:00, police cars finally arrived, tardy as they were. Gordon stood outside the cordon, cursing loudly:

"Brainiac! This is what the fuck you planned with the downtown blackout?!"

"Commissioner, please believe me, the blackout was just an accident..."

"To fucking kill these pieces of shit, you cut power to the entire Gotham City Center for four hours?!" Gordon shouted into the phone, "Do you know how much money was lost?! And you still call this artificial intelligence, you should rename it artificial stupidity!!!"