Guess What Movie This Is (Ninth Bonus Chapter for 2,800 Monthly Tickets, Please Subscribe in Full!!!)

Academic Prodigy!

There was no doubt that this was describing George Stacy’s eldest daughter, Gwen Stacy. She had led the way from elementary school onward, perfectly illustrating the saying that knowledge was money.

In George’s own words, he had worked hard to save ten thousand dollars for Gwen’s education back then. In the end, he had not spent a single penny of it. In fact, he had even diverted Gwen’s education fund to pay for his two sons’ tuition.

It was not until Tony Stark donated two hundred million dollars that George finally filled that gap. Then, along with the twenty thousand dollars, it all became future wedding funds instead of Gwen’s education fund.

Oh, right.

Wedding funds.

Speaking of which, if Skye got married in the future, I seemed to be the one who would have to pay for the wedding and honeymoon.

MMP!

The next day.

It was the weekend.

To Lake’s surprise, Skye usually stayed home in her pajamas on weekends. Today, however, when Lake went downstairs, he saw that Skye had already changed her clothes.

"Did I remember wrong? It isn’t the weekend today?"

"It is the weekend."

"Hm?"

Skye yawned and explained to Lake, "Precisely because it’s the weekend, I’m planning to go downstairs and see Alexis. She’s troubled."

Lake smiled. "Troubled?"

Skye nodded. "She said she’ll probably need to say something important at the graduation ceremony, but she can’t think of anything important she could say."

Something important?

Simply put, she needed to give them the kind of inspirational speech people called chicken soup.

After all, she couldn’t stand in front of a crowd of underclassmen, say something like "thank you," and then leave, could she? Midtown High School’s outstanding graduate needed to give her juniors a bowl of heartwarming chicken soup at the very end.

Lake smiled.

They left the apartment.

The elevator stopped downstairs. Skye greeted Cassel outside the elevator, then switched places with him.

"Yo!"

Looking at Cassel as he entered the elevator, Lake smiled. "Beckett has another case?"

Cassel said, "When has New York ever gone a day without a murder?"

Lake nodded. That was true. In the entire previous year, never mind one day—even on average, a body was discovered somewhere in New York City every twenty hours.

And yesterday was no exception.

In the underground garage, Lake said goodbye to Cassel. Then they drove away one after the other.

At the Department of Homeland Security.

Lake stepped out of the elevator, and Tiffany was already waiting for him nearby.

"Sir, the information concerning Councilman Braken has been placed in your office."

"Mm."

Seeing Lake head straight for his office, Tiffany hurriedly reminded him, "Sir, Secretary Kelly asked you to go directly to the conference room when you arrived."

Lake was just about to nod when he stopped. He turned to look at Tiffany. "The conference room? The Secretary is here?"

Tiffany pointed toward the conference room, where all the blinds had been pulled down.

Inside the conference room.

After Lake pushed open the door, he saw Secretary Kelly sitting in a chair and watching the news on the large screen. He smiled slightly. "Secretary, you should have said something in advance. I could have sent someone to pick you up at the airport."

There was no need for him to go personally.

They were old acquaintances. Too much courtesy would only make them seem distant.

Secretary Kelly chuckled. Looking at Lake as he pulled out a chair and sat down, he said, "This was only decided last night. It’s fairly important. As it happened, I also had something to take care of in New York, so I decided to explain it to you in person."

Lake nodded. "Go ahead."

Secretary Kelly looked at Lake and said directly, "Mr. President has already contacted the Pope at the Vatican. If nothing unexpected happens, Mr. President will come to Long Island, New York, with the Pope at the end of this year."

The President and the Pope?

Lake frowned. "Is this because of the recent demon incident?"

Secretary Kelly nodded.

The story on Long Island could not be kept secret. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s coordinated operation had directly wiped out an entire block in Brooklyn. At this point, no one would believe them if they suddenly claimed it had all been for a movie.

New York City had attracted the attention of demons. That could also be interpreted as the Federation having attracted the attention of demons. This was not a good thing.

And when it came to dealing with demons, who was more professional than the Vatican? The Federation had gone to the Vatican to seek cooperation.

So.

Mr. President had directly called the Pope at the Vatican last night. No one knew what they had discussed. In any case, the President would appear in New York with the Pope at the end of the year and personally pray for the victims of this incident, using the Pope’s actions to show that God still watched over the great United States.

Lake said, "Mr. President played this move beautifully."

With the Pope coming to New York, who would dare say that New York was a city blessed by demons? Who would dare say that God no longer watched over the United States?

Secretary Kelly nodded. "The Secret Service will be sending people to New York during this period to conduct a preliminary security risk assessment. Once they arrive, you’ll be responsible for making the arrangements. Use the 2S confidentiality level."

Lake said, "Understood."

After Secretary Kelly finished speaking, he did not seem intent on giving any further instructions. Instead, he brought up another matter, picked up the remote, and turned up the volume.

There was no doubt that the television was broadcasting news reports about how, after Councilman Braken’s speech yesterday, the various outlets seemed to have turned their guns toward the Department of Homeland Security.

Lake Edwin, the director, had borne the brunt of it.

Secretary Kelly shook his head. "This Braken has big ambitions. There’s still a year to go, yet he’s already so impatient."

Lake echoed him. "It’s not really impatience. A state legislator can run for office too, but he has to cover both bases. Even if he can’t win, becoming a senator wouldn’t be bad."

The Federation cared about approval ratings.

Obviously.

Braken’s entire operation was aimed at building support. The next presidential election would not be held for another two years, but with high approval ratings, he had a good chance of becoming a senator this year.

Washington was not concerned with personal vendettas. It was all business.

If provoking you benefited me, I would provoke you. If you did not benefit me, then forget provoking you—I would not even know who you were.

On the television.

A Washington television station had even displayed the front-page headline of today’s Sun. It had been written by Rachel, and it was obvious that she had taken Lake’s side and written a rebuttal.

Secretary Kelly asked, "What are you planning to do?"

Lake pointed outside the conference room. "The Supervisory Bureau is now legal in New York State. It’s time for it to make an appearance. Public opinion should be suppressed with public opinion."

In any case, he had the power to flip the table whenever he wanted.

He might as well have some fun.

After dealing with the Black Heart Demon, he happened to have nothing else on his hands.

While Lake and Secretary Kelly were talking, New York’s media reporters had already arrived one after another at the press hall of the New York Homeland Building.

After a while.

At ten o’clock that morning, Caroline, the spokesperson for the New York Homeland Building, stepped onto the press platform.

There were only two announcements.

First, the reason this suspected demon case had been resolved so smoothly was entirely because of the intervention of Senior Special Agent Saga from the special department of the Department of Homeland Security. His actions had successfully brought the situation under control.

Second, regarding the more than two hundred Black men who had been taken away and turned into dried corpses, the Department of Homeland Security would not comment. However, the existing evidence and footage from the time proved that those people had willingly sacrificed themselves for the suspected demon. The Department of Homeland Security respected every citizen’s freedom, including freedom of religion.

After she finished speaking.

Caroline looked at the reporters raising their hands below. Her cold, beautiful face remained expressionless. "This is a news briefing. Senior Special Agent Saga was recruited by our Department of Homeland Security director, Lake Edwin, and arrived at the scene immediately after the incident to maintain order. In light of the current public opinion in New York City, Director Edwin held this press conference. I’ve been instructed by Director Edwin to reiterate once again that the Department of Homeland Security has protected, is protecting, and will continue to protect the people of New York State who need our protection."

After she finished speaking.

Caroline ignored the various shouts from below, walked straight off the stage, and disappeared into the press hall.

That afternoon.

The Sun, where Rachel worked, published another full-page written interview with Senior Special Agent Saga of the Department of Homeland Security’s New York State branch.

As for the interview’s contents?

In any case, it did not explicitly say that he was a demon. After all, this was a technological society, not a theological one. Even if everyone in New York City knew that thing was a demon, the authorities certainly could not say so.

In official terms, the so-called suspected demon could not yet be ruled out as having transformed into such a bizarre life-form for some other reason, subsequently losing his mind and committing such insane acts.

The matter was still under investigation. If the investigation produced results, the authorities would issue a briefing at the first opportunity.

As for how long "the first opportunity" would take, who knew?

Perhaps by 2012. By then, even aliens would have appeared, so having a hell would seem perfectly normal.

Time was the best medicine.

Indeed.

After only a month had passed, when June 10 arrived, the news about demons wreaking havoc in New York and dried-corpse people had faded away. Never mind the demon—the news about Saga, who had only appeared for a fleeting moment, had also completely lost its heat.

Once again occupying the headlines was still that chairman of Stark Industries, Tony Stark.

There was nothing to be done about it.

He was rich, handsome, and the technology-created superhero Iron Man. Most importantly, New Yorkers often saw Iron Man flying through the skies over New York City.

No professional news reporter would abandon Iron Man to report on a demon whose story had already gone cold, or Saga, who had not appeared a second time to this day.

During this period, Lake shifted his attention to investigating Howard Stark, Maria Stark, and that egghead genius, Da Vinci.

The information Red Queen had collected from every corner of the internet alone was almost enough to fill one hundred gigabytes, and that was after compressing it as much as possible.

Good grief, folks, you’re all too awesome! You suddenly gave me another 400 monthly tickets. As promised, one bonus chapter for every 100 monthly tickets—I always keep my word.

Just like yesterday, nine updates, totaling 27,000 words. Plenty to eat! If you haven’t subscribed in full, please do so. Thank you, thank you!!!!