Hydra’s Additional Order

Nick Fury didn’t know that Lake had accepted an order from Hydra to kill Agent One, Victoria Knowles, the one he doted on and who was constantly involved in a cat-and-mouse game with him.

Alexander Pierce wouldn’t tell Nick Fury either.

The reason was simple.

Victoria Knowles had already been captured by Nick Fury. If Alexander Pierce wanted Victoria Knowles to honor her agreement and go to New York, he needed to get Nick Fury out of the way. Only then could he deliberately allow Victoria Knowles to escape.

Moreover.

After hanging up the phone, Alexander Pierce’s gaze flickered slightly upon hearing that Nick Fury was once again so fond of Agent Eighty-Three, Megan Walsh.

Had this damn Black Egghead changed his affections?

Or was it that he felt the Agent One he already had was no longer novel, and thus had shifted his target to Agent Eighty-Three?

This wouldn’t do!

The next day.

Still at night.

Lake sat in the Continental Bar, feeling a bit bored.

He used to think it was incredibly cool to have his own booth in this bar full of assassins, and to receive admiring glances from rookie killers.

But…

After three consecutive days, Lake was getting tired of it.

However, considering the politeness of give and take, Lake felt that since Hydra had come the previous two times after just one phone call, he couldn’t just refuse Hydra’s invitation today.

Respect was mutual.

Lake always believed this, so he came tonight.

List seemed to always arrive right on time.

After shaking hands with List, Lake joked with him, with whom he had met for three consecutive days and smoothly transitioned from casual acquaintances to regular friends, "Are you afraid of being seen by someone if you come earlier?"

List replied, "I came from Texas, just got off the plane."

Lake was impressed. "That’s very thoughtful."

Flying from Texas to New York to talk every day, then flying back, good heavens, List must have a ton of frequent flyer miles. Maybe he could borrow his points card next time to upgrade his seat?

Lake had never flown first class. Besides his annual trip to Europe, he flew on transport planes during his military service. After leaving, his flights were always on budget airlines.

Even Betty sometimes thought Lake was too stingy.

But…

Lake wasn’t really stingy. He wished he could be extravagant, but he couldn’t. To get rich, he needed to increase his strength, and to increase his strength, he needed to spend money on draws. Sometimes, a draw that yielded nothing could make Lake’s mood explode for at least a week.

Looking at List, whose hair was graying, Lake felt a pang of sympathy and, to further their business relationship, said, "After this job is done, I’ll consider spending money at the Continental Hotel to buy a phone. That way, we can communicate by phone for future matters, which would be more convenient."

Big clients deserved big client treatment.

Not now.

The assassin-exclusive phones sold by the Continental Hotel each cost two hundred thousand US dollars. They looked like Nokias from the 90s, but the Continental Hotel guaranteed that each phone had a dedicated line. If a killer’s identity was exposed because of the phone, the Continental Hotel would provide a death benefit of at least twenty million US dollars.

Uh…

That’s for their next of kin, of course, because under normal circumstances, any killer found through an assassin’s phone was one hundred percent already dead.

List, knowing Lake’s style, got straight to business. "I wonder if Mr. Black King accepts additional orders?"

Lake raised an eyebrow. "Additional?"

List nodded and handed Lake the prepared documents. "It’s this."

Lake opened the documents in front of him.

He raised an eyebrow.

It looked familiar.

The next second.

Lake remembered. Wasn’t this the female student he saw at Midtown High School, who left a deep impression on him just by her appearance?

…A female assassin.

And a rookie assassin who had just started out.

Why would Hydra want to kill her?

Lake mumbled to himself, then looked up at List and asked directly, "Is she in New York?"

"Yes."

List nodded, then glanced at Lake’s expression before tentatively saying, "Your intelligence network should know her current location."

Lake looked up at List.

List smiled slightly and twitched his right leg. Although the Continental Hotel prohibited killing, if their guess about Lake’s identity was correct, then even if Lake killed him right there, the Continental Hotel wouldn’t be able to do anything to him, because this guy was practically immortal.

However.

List’s worry was unnecessary.

Lake saw a flicker of nervousness on List’s face and smiled, shaking his head. "Don’t be so tense. You know my intelligence network, and I know yours. It’s fair."

After all, his Black King persona was now completely separate from his public persona as Lake.

It didn’t matter.

Right now, no one could possibly suspect he was the same person as the Black King. The fact that people knew about the connection between them was also something Lake had intentionally allowed; it was no big deal.

Lake nodded and closed the file. "How much?"

List said, "The same as the previous target, one million US dollars."

Mom, I’ve met a big client.

Damn it.

If I’d known Hydra was this generous, why would I have bothered with side jobs? I was an idiot, an idiot. I should have cooperated with Hydra for mutual benefit from the start.

What?

You don’t want to get involved in Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s mess?

Lake isn’t involved.

Hydra pays to kill people, and Lake simply does it. What kind of involvement is that? This is purely a business transaction, strictly professional, with no personal connection whatsoever.

Lake was overjoyed.

Two million dollars incoming.

Good heavens.

This time, that damn lottery should finally give me an SSR, right?

After all, this is from Tencent.

…Wait.

Lake suddenly felt a pang of guilt. He only knew this cheat system required in-game purchases, and he inferred the lottery was from Tencent based on his first purchase to get stronger.

But what if it’s not?

What if it’s from NetEase?

Tencent’s pay-to-win: You spend money, you’re my daddy. Pay-to-win makes you stronger.

NetEase’s pay-to-win?

You spend money, I’m still your daddy, but pay-to-win only has a chance to make you stronger?

…No way.

It has to be Tencent. After all, I’m associated with Tencent, not NetEase. False alarm, false alarm.

Lake took a deep breath internally, then calmly nodded. "If this job meets my criteria, I’ll take it. If I take it, I’ll handle it directly. After all, it’s not easy for you to come all the way from Texas."

After speaking.

Lake stood up, shook hands with List, dropped three gold coins on the table, and left immediately.

Damn monopolies!

After returning, Lake searched everywhere but found no one who recognized the Continental gold coins he had. Those who could afford them offered very low prices, and coins worth five hundred thousand US dollars were bought back for a mere two hundred thousand.

The Continental Hotel did buy them back, but they deducted taxes for the buyback and also taxed the exchange for money.

If it weren’t for this being the only platform available, with no other options, Lake would have flipped the table long ago.

I hate monopolies!