Lake’s Real Job

The next day.

Lake walked down the stairs, wiping water droplets from his hair, and greeted Skye, who was opening takeout boxes at the bar.

Skye looked up and replied.

Lake walked over and sat on a high stool. "What are you eating?"

Skye smiled mysteriously and took out… from the takeout box.

Two cups of soy milk.

Two youtiao.

Two ma qiu.

…What the heck?

Lake blinked at the breakfast, so distinctly Chinese, and looked at Skye. "Wait, how long did I sleep?"

Skye asked curiously, "What do you mean?"

Lake pointed to the breakfast on the bar. "Where did this come from?"

"Downstairs."

Skye tossed the packaging towards the trash can nearby and said, "At the intersection of this street. It used to be a pizza place. When Alexis and I came back from our morning run today, it had changed to this. Alexis bought the same thing as me."

Lake grabbed a cup of soy milk and took a sip.

The taste…

It wasn’t exactly the taste from his memory, but it wasn’t too far off either. It was within the realm of acceptable.

But Skye?

After taking a sip, Skye’s expression instantly turned strange. She gagged a couple of times and looked at the soy milk. "What the heck is this drink? The taste is really…"

Lake chuckled. "There’s sugar in the kitchen. Add more, and try it."

Skye looked up suspiciously. "You’ve tried it?"

Lake shrugged, then asked curiously, "You haven’t tried it, so why did you decide to eat this today?"

Skye shrugged. "I don’t know. Maybe because I’m half Chinese, I felt like this was my food too. And I’ve never tried it before, so I bought some to taste?"

Lake nodded.

That reason was impeccable.

After a while.

Skye took a sip of the soy milk with five spoonfuls of sugar added, her eyes lit up, and she looked at Lake. "I can drink this now."

Lake smiled. "If you don’t like it, don’t drink it. Why force yourself? We’re not lacking the money for a cup of soy milk."

Skye lowered her head and drank the soy milk with five spoonfuls of sugar added, remaining silent.

Lake didn’t say anything further.

Skye’s thoughts were easy to guess. Only those who have truly experienced hunger know the preciousness of food. And only such people wouldn’t discard food, even if it didn’t suit their taste.

That was a good quality.

"By the way."

Skye bit into a ma qiu that Lake had let her have and said to Lake, who had already reached for the liquor cabinet, "Aren’t you going to call your friend?"

Lake froze slightly.

Skye shrugged. "You know, the friend you were talking to last night after you and Cassel got drunk. You said you’d call that friend to see if they had any advanced technology."

Lake raised an eyebrow.

The memory of drinking last night resurfaced in his mind. It seemed that after the third bottle of wine, Lake and Cassel had both been telling Owen to think of a way, to see if their resources could find any pharmaceutical companies or anything else that was researching some kind of special medicine.

After remembering, Lake thanked Skye, locked the liquor cabinet again, and walked towards the door. "I’m going to work. Call me if you need anything."

Skye waved goodbye to Lake, who was grabbing his coat and heading out. Then, she quickly finished the ma qiu in her hand, tidied up, and prepared to return to her room.

A few days ago, she had found a very skilled teacher online who was willing to teach her computer skills for free.

New York Homeland Building.

Lake’s rank had been promoted, so naturally, his office location had also changed.

"Sir."

"Happy New Year, Tiffany."

After greeting Tiffany, his junior from Yale and his assistant, Lake walked into his office, opened his computer, and took out a satellite phone sold by The Continental Hotel, then directly dialed his old friend List.

"Happy New Year, Mr. List."

"…Happy New Year, Mr. Black King."

After exchanging New Year’s greetings, Lake got straight to the point. "It’s like this, Mr. List. I have a friend, whose friend was recently diagnosed with a lung tumor. They asked me to inquire if there are any treatment methods, and I immediately thought of your organization."

A friend?

Lake looked a bit stunned. "Mr. Black King, I don’t think this matter is difficult for you."

You’re the king of the Immortal Royal Family, and the Immortal Queen even bore you two children. You’re immortal, how could a mere lung cancer possibly defeat you?

Lake smiled. "Mr. List, my friend is a friend I confide in, and there’s still a gap in our perspectives. This is a last resort, but not a necessary one."

List understood. "Alright, Mr. Black King. Allow me to inquire. I’ll inform you immediately if I get any news, is that okay?"

Lake said thank you.

He hung up the phone.

Lake didn’t not consider Cassel and Owen true friends, but sometimes, it wasn’t a good thing to lead them into a world they were unfamiliar with.

Just as Lake had said, turning them into vampires directly was a one-time, perfect solution, but it wasn’t the only option. At the very least, if he led them into another world, would their emotions remain so pure and unadorned?

After a while.

His assistant, Tiffany, knocked and entered. "Sir, it’s time for the meeting."

Lake nodded, stood up, and left his office.

Operations Center.

As Lake and his assistant Tiffany walked in, the Director of the New York State Department of Homeland Security and his assistant had already arrived. Upon seeing Lake enter, they nodded in greeting and then directly said, "Let’s begin."

A homeland agent sitting at the control console directly connected to Langley. The large screen instantly lit up, but the background of the screen wasn’t Langley headquarters, but a military base in the Middle East.

A female Langley agent appeared on the big screen.

"Good morning, Agent Knoll."

"Good morning, Director Carmen, Deputy Director Edwin."

Lake flipped through the documents in his hand; the conversation was handled by Director Carmen beside him.

The Director of Homeland Security is responsible for homeland security. Anything that could threaten federal security falls within the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security. Of course, it’s better to prevent terrorist attacks from happening on federal soil than to deal with them after they occur.

Therefore, the Department of Homeland Security cooperates with Langley, which collects intelligence and operates abroad.

Just like now.

This female Langley agent, Knoll, who is stationed at a military base in the Middle East responsible for intelligence gathering in the region, intercepted a piece of information that could potentially be a terrorist threat targeting New York.

To be precise.

This message had been circulating even before Lake was promoted. However, at that time, it was merely a rumor. For the past year, the New York State Department of Homeland Security had been cooperating with Agent Knoll to analyze this information.

So-called terrorist operations aren’t something you can just do on a whim.

Do you really think the numerous law enforcement agencies in the Federation are just for show?

While explosives can be bought within the Federation, they are all under strict control. Even explosives on the black market are monitored.

If you want to rob a bank or something, that’s fine. That’s the business of local police departments and the FBI.

But if you use these explosives for some terrorist action?

Heh.

Sorry.

The Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will ensure you’re caught red-handed the day before you finish buying them and prepare to act.

Therefore, explosives intended for terrorist attacks against the Federation can only be smuggled in from abroad.

This alone has blocked ninety-eight percent of terrorists. If you want to transport explosives in, especially to New York, even Kingpin, the big boss of Hell’s Kitchen, would directly dump your corpse at the bottom of the Hudson River.

After the September incident in ’01, even the unrepentant Kingpin was extremely cooperative with the enraged New York law enforcement community in pursuing the terrorists hidden throughout New York.

Frankly speaking, there are no more capable terrorists left in New York. As for the remaining ones, if you’re from the Middle East, heh, you’d buy a gun on the black market and report yourself.

Not report to the NYPD, but report to Kingpin.

One has to admit that Kingpin has absolute control over the underworld of New York. Otherwise, when Lake was with the NYPD, he and George and Beckett wouldn’t have been so busy for so long without finding an opportunity to eliminate Kingpin.

Now?

Lake has let go of that. Even if Kingpin were eliminated, the huge market that would be vacated would produce another Kingpin. There’s no point. Doing good deeds for the people also depends on the occasion.

Getting off track.

Back to the main topic.

Agent Knoll on the big screen took the documents handed to her by someone beside her and said excitedly to Director Carmen and Lake, "In last night’s operation, we made substantial progress and arrested Hassan Raham!"

Lake looked at Director Carmen beside him and asked, "Where did this Hassan Raham come from?"

Director Carmen, fifty years old this year, said, "He was apprehended while you were on vacation in the Special Administrative Region. Agent Knoll will explain the specifics."

Lake looked at Agent Knoll on the big screen, appearing ready to listen attentively.

Agent Knoll nodded. "Deputy Director Edwin, we tracked and located Hassan Raham after listening for about five months. We knew nothing about this person before; his real identity is the sixth-in-command of [Freedom Glory]."

Lake suddenly understood.

Freedom Glory is an organization subordinate to some country, and it’s also the organization that has been identified after more than a year of investigation as having plans for terrorist activities targeting New York.

But…

The sixth-in-command?

That position is too low, what does he do in that organization, logistics?

But even with that thought, the sixth-in-command is still a big fish.

Lake directly asked, "How long will it take them to crack his mouth open?"