The Light of Righteousness

Wakanda’s shameless maneuvering disgusted Kraft.

If they had merely hidden away in some remote corner, claiming their own little plot and building an isolated paradise, that would have been one thing. After all, possessing treasure invited trouble, so keeping things hidden was only natural. Just as Kraft did not want the American government to know the extent of his technological capabilities, there was nothing to criticize about it as a means of self-preservation.

However, not only had they hidden their own good stuff away tightly, they had also pretended to be a disadvantaged group internationally and accepted aid from other countries. And since Vibranium was a resource Kraft needed, they could not blame him for exposing this information.

Of course, Kraft would never take the initiative to expose it himself. The reputation of being a gifted young genius in mechanics was already enough for him; he did not want to reveal his network skills as well.

Thus, after taking a roundabout route, the information on Wakanda was arranged by Kraft to end up in the hands of the Tidal Wave organization.

Sending it to them directly was naturally out of the question. Their slogans sounded nice enough, but Kraft did not believe that sort of thing. Besides, given Tidal Wave’s habit of questioning everything, they might even take it as deliberate provocation.

So Kraft had Angela select several members from Tidal Wave, then discreetly fed them information about Wakanda bit by bit. Once their interest had been piqued and they began investigating on their own, he only needed to lend them a little help from the shadows.

But this would take time to ferment, so Kraft did not sit idle. Instead, he had Angela continue wandering across the internet, gathering information that interested him.

For example, the databases he had previously failed to breach, as well as the true identities of those mysterious factions.

This time, Kraft did not choose a frontal assault. Instead, he snuck into the village and kept the guns quiet.

Angela and Harrow drifted through the databases of every major power like ghosts. Most of the intelligence they found was nothing special. The major powers—especially intelligence agencies like the FBI—mostly stored outdated information in their databases. Other than plans and arrangements that had to be connected to the internet, truly important information was probably stored separately and physically isolated.

However, Kraft found information about Martin Lee in the database of an organization called the Homeland Strategic Defense, Attack, and Logistics Agency.

Mr. Negative, real name Martin Lee. Recipient of the Medal of Freedom. Famous Chinatown philanthropist. Boss of the Demon Gang. Suspected split personality. Possesses special abilities. Arch-enemy of the Magia Gang. Reason unknown…

Kraft gave it a rough scan. The information was quite detailed; even his own name was mentioned. Then he looked at the final line of the file—threat level not high, continued observation recommended.

Clearly, Martin’s past actions that Kraft had never quite understood had paid off at this moment.

"Alright." Kraft rubbed his nose. "Looks like I really was still too inexperienced."

But… had Martin known about the existence of this Homeland-whatever Agency all along? Or had he just happened to run into them?

Kraft recalled Martin’s clumsy first attempts at using a smartphone and decided that Martin and the Demon Gang probably did not possess any formidable intelligence-gathering abilities. Coincidence was more likely. All he could say was that Martin truly was a wily old fox. Without anyone noticing, he had actually eliminated a threat.

Still, the name Demon Gang… it was really hard to put into words.

Kraft once again mocked Martin’s naming sense. Calling it the Yaksha Gang or the Yama Gang would have suited the aura of Chinatown’s underground emperor far better!

While silently criticizing his adoptive father, Kraft did not forget to instruct Angela, "Keep a close watch on information about Mr. Negative. If he is ever in danger, notify me immediately."

Kraft pointed at the figure in the Homeland-whatever Agency’s database, wearing a Mind Demon Mask and an outrageously flashy white suit.

Besides Martin Lee, Kraft also had Angela keep an eye on people he was close to, such as Fatty Liao’s family and Aunt May’s family. After all, dangerous things like Hulk had already appeared, and there were countless reckless idiots within America conducting human experiments in secret every day. It was always good to be prepared.

Since he had not dreamed of anything new lately, and Tidal Wave still needed time to gradually uncover the truth on their own, Kraft spent his idle time between research sessions browsing the databases of these major powers.

It had to be said that the struggles between these major powers were incredibly complicated. Not only did they plant spies within one another, their own internal affairs were far from peaceful as well. Members from different factions fought one another endlessly within the same organization. Sometimes, if he did not have Harrow help him sort out the logic, Kraft could not even understand what they were up to!

Just as Kraft was holed up in his laboratory, happily feasting on all the drama, Tidal Wave’s members finally dug up the truth about Wakanda.

There were two Tidal Wave members who uncovered Wakanda’s secrets. They had almost simultaneously discovered what was really going on inside that "poor little African country," yet their choices could not have been more different.

One of them regarded Tidal Wave’s principles and slogans as sacred doctrine. The moment he obtained the intelligence, he released every piece of evidence in his possession. Not only did he post it online, he also sent copies to major media outlets, the president’s email inbox, the United Nations, and even several African countries.

His actions, however, utterly screwed over the other guy. That person had chosen to sell the information to the American military. Yet no sooner had the transaction been completed than the relevant materials spread everywhere. Worse, as though afraid people would not know, the distributor had explicitly stamped Tidal Wave’s name all over it.

What sort of pursuit the military would launch against that unlucky fellow afterward could be left aside for now. In any case, all of America—more precisely, the entire world—erupted because of this information.

The files were simply too comprehensive. From suspicious details and speculation to data comparisons, photographs, and video evidence, Wakanda—the country clutching a golden rice bowl while begging internationally—had been exposed from top to bottom.

Now nobody could stand it. It would have been one thing if they had refused to share such good stuff, but they had even taken a share from the mouths of countries that were genuinely suffering. Was that even something a human being should do?

The most enraged were probably the Black people in Africa who were likewise waiting for international aid. Among their fellow sufferers sharing thin gruel, there had been a hidden rich landlord. Would they not spit in your face and slap you senseless?

Thus, Wakanda was surrounded by a crowd of Black people with the same skin color as themselves. Only their force field was strong enough to prevent the mob from rushing in and wrecking the place in anger. Still, the land outside the force field had long been covered in foul-smelling garbage dumped there by furious Africans.

In addition, Wakandan prince T’Challa, who was studying at Oxford University, was dug up by Tidal Wave. He then suffered a series of bullying incidents on campus. England’s intelligence agency, MI6, acted decisively and placed T’Challa under house arrest in the name of protecting a foreign dignitary.

Meanwhile, the instigator behind it all had long since withdrawn, hiding both his achievements and his name.

In the movies, Stark was still using a flip phone with a color screen and buttons during this period, which did not really match the overall technological level. That was probably a bug caused by the films’ production era, so I adjusted it here instead of developing a smartphone industry like some Marvel fanfics.