"I gave you enough respect," John put down his phone and looked at Wenwu calmly. "I waited for you to deal with those guys yourself."
"But now, those fakes have hurt my people for the second time."
John stared at Wenwu, his voice low and firm. "You make a move, or I will wipe them out."
Wenwu clearly recognized the anger simmering beneath John's calm expression.
This was normal. As a king himself, Wenwu knew how arrogant and powerful the person in front of him was.
The Ten Rings had been investigating the imposters, but those fakes were hiding like mice, proving difficult to track.
John had shown Wenwu respect by waiting. Now, Wenwu had to return it.
This was the nature of their friendship, an exchange between equals.
After hearing John's ultimatum, Wenwu said in a deep voice, "Three days."
"I will look forward to it." John nodded.
No more words were needed; both sides understood what the other was thinking.
Wenwu was also filled with anger, not at John, but at the fake Ten Rings.
They had actually made him lose face in front of his friend.
This was the greatest humiliation Wenwu had suffered in a thousand years.
He stood up and said, "Consider it a favor from me. I will make that actor dance in front of you."
"Not going to see Shang-Chi?" John intertwined his fingers and rested his chin on them, asking lightly, "He might miss his family."
Wenwu stopped, turned back, and shook his head. "I will not disturb his life. This is his choice."
Shang-Chi hated his father.
But Wenwu, who had lost his wife and was hated by his children, how could he be happy?
The door opened, and Wenwu's subordinates and a little girl stood at the doorway.
John's gaze fell on the girl. This was Shang-Chi's younger sister, Xu Xialing.
Wenwu walked straight past. He did not look at his daughter; that face, so similar to his wife's, made him afraid to face her.
After her father walked past, Xu Xialing's expression changed from anticipation to disappointment.
Perhaps in this young child's heart, her father's avoidance of her was a form of dislike.
That broad palm... she reached out her hand, but still did not dare to touch it.
Hattie walked in, unsure when her boss had become connected with these people.
"Ferdinand is hospitalized," John said. "It's just in time for him to take a vacation."
The aftermath of the explosion did not stop.
The Mandarin appeared on national television again.
He admitted that the attack was his doing and simultaneously warned the President again.
John looked at Tony, who now had a murderous look on his face as his home address was broadcast for all to see.
This Iron Man had been consumed by rage.
John held his phone, tapping the screen, and clicked send on a list of names.
***
"Dax, this is the nutritious meal my wife made for you."
In the hotel.
Ray placed a box in front of Dax. He said with sympathy and amusement, "I didn't know your skateboarding skills were so bad."
After the explosion at the dock, Dax had taken three days off, claiming he had injured his bones while skateboarding.
This made Ray laugh, as it was hard to imagine someone like Dax falling off a skateboard.
This excuse had also, coincidentally, helped clear Dax's name.
They had investigated the surveillance footage near the dock on the day of the incident. The Night Ghost had appeared there and was severely injured before being taken away.
That kind of injury could definitely not be healed by three days in the hospital.
Dax returned to the FBI after three days, successfully getting rid of the suspicion and earning Ray's greater trust.
Currently, regarding the mole, they had investigated half of the FBI in New York. Ray had a sudden idea to investigate the investigation team itself, a task he could only handle personally. Dax had been cleared, and several other members were still under review. Ray decided to share this task with Dax.
If Dax accepted, he wouldn't have to continue monitoring Fisk here.
This made Dax reluctant to take the task.
"Alright," Ray heard his unspoken thoughts and didn't force him. He looked at Fisk on the monitor. "I respect your choice."
Just as Dax was about to thank him, his phone vibrated.
He didn't look at it immediately. Instead, after Ray left, he opened his phone and looked at the list that had been sent.
He knew those were the people he could kill.
A bloodthirsty glint appeared on Dax's face. He licked his lips and glanced at the nutritious meal Ray had brought. After a moment of hesitation, he didn't throw it away but put it in a drawer.
At this moment, Fisk's lawyer arrived.
He requested to turn off the cameras; he needed to talk to his employer.
In America, even for someone as notorious as Fisk, as long as a lawyer was called for a conversation, the FBI could not keep the surveillance on and violate privacy.
The lawyer entered the hotel room and brought Fisk good news.
"Now all of New York's attention is focused on the terrorist attack," the lawyer said.
"That's good news." Fisk smiled. "It allows us to go out and get some air."
The FBI thought they had Fisk under control, but they were completely unaware that this hotel was built by Fisk.
He could disappear from this hotel anytime he wanted.
"How is Vanessa?" Fisk was very concerned about Vanessa. Although their date was interrupted, they were still in love.
"She's doing well abroad," the lawyer said. "The police have no evidence to link those matters to her. I arranged for her to go abroad to relax first."
"You did very well." When Fisk mentioned Vanessa, his face was full of tenderness.
This was simply unbelievable for a ruthless underground leader.
Perhaps this was love. It could make a vicious person show a kind side.
Fisk opened a closet door. In a room behind the closet, the FBI's monitoring room and the hotel were themselves being monitored.
Looking at Dax on the screen, he thought about how to make this man his dog.
Fisk, a man who believed that to act without thinking was to remain a common thug for life, was naturally an extremely intelligent person.
He had his eyes on Dax and wanted to turn him, just like he had turned other FBI agents.
***
After Tony impulsively revealed his home address, he regretted it.
Pepper righteously demanded to move out of here with Tony.
To make matters worse, someone who made Tony very awkward arrived at his house.
Maya Hansen.
A scientist and also Tony's former 'good partner' in bed.
Simply put, it was a one-night stand partner of Tony's from thirteen years ago who had shown up at his doorstep.
And at this moment, his current girlfriend, Pepper, was upstairs packing her luggage.
Facing his former lover, Tony chose to play dumb, pretending he didn't know Maya Hansen.
For this, he dared to say his memory was so bad he couldn't even remember what he ate for breakfast.
Jarvis unhelpfully exposed him. "It was gluten-free muffins, sir."
"Got it." Tony was wearing the Mark 42, looking ready for anything.
Fortunately, Maya Hansen wasn't here to rekindle a one-night stand. She had something important to discuss.
Tony couldn't just kick her out, so he had to let her in.
Then, the current girlfriend met the former lover.
Tony disengaged the armor, watching his girlfriend and former lover meet. The scene was so awkward that his toes were practically digging a new underground laboratory.
"Sorry, because Happy is in the hospital, I didn't expect any guests," Pepper said, adopting the stance of the lady of the house.
Tony awkwardly and quietly retorted, "She's not a guest."
Pepper saw through everything. "Then she's a lover. Not bad."
As the girlfriend of a playboy, even though Tony had settled down, Pepper wasn't at all surprised by the appearance of his former lovers.
Tony had a hard time explaining himself. Who hadn't been young and wild?
It wasn't like everyone was a foolish son of the Wick family, still a virgin at thirty.
"No," Maya shrugged. "At most, it was a one-night stand."
Although she said that, the look in her eyes when she looked at Tony wasn't exactly innocent, which still made Pepper extremely jealous.
"Consider it one of your great feats, right?" Pepper gave Tony a death glare.
The meeting of the three was like a noisy triangle, a chaotic argument waiting to happen.
As they argued, it gradually turned into bickering between Tony and Pepper.
Maya felt out of place and looked at the television, just in time to see the live broadcast of a missile sent to Tony by the Mandarin's forces.
An explosion.
The missile landed in the coastal villa.
A deafening roar.
Tony reacted as quickly as possible, sending the armor to envelop Pepper, while he himself was almost hit by a falling pillar.
***********
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