[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman":3,"chapter-marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-chapter-509":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Marvel: A Lazy-Ass Superman",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1722015,2198,"Chapter 509 509: The Videotape Appears","marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-chapter-509",509,"\u003Cp>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For 40 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Patreon - Twilight_scribe1\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jack Reacher noticed that the support drone Little Duck was moving differently now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially the warning light on the square upper body—it had changed from red back to green.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reacher greeted it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You're back? Earlier I tried talking to this machine, but it only gave simple mechanical replies. That's when I realized you'd stepped away for a while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hope you don't mind me borrowing your first-aid kit. I only mentioned it, and that little spherical robot brought everything out.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Through Little Duck's electronic voice, Henry replied:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Don't worry. Tools are meant to be used. Your injuries aren't serious, are they?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The strength those vampires had was incredible for their size,\" Reacher said. \"But still within what I can handle.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at this man—easily classified among the toughest of humans—Henry knew there was no need to worry much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now that the principal had returned, Reacher finished tending his wounds more quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After packing up the first-aid kit, the remaining items—including trash—were collected by BB-2. The small robot then retreated into the hidden second-level space.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Duck floated forward and addressed the former Military Police Special Investigations captain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Then please explain the progress of your investigation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Since we're speaking over communications, any names or sensitive people involved do not need to be spoken directly. Just tell me roughly how far you've gotten.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Depending on the situation, I may not be the only one listening. To save your time, I need to judge whether the concerned party should also be informed. You understand.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reacher frowned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Wouldn't it make more sense for me to report to you, and then you relay it to that person?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Duck shook left and right in a very human-like gesture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No, no, no. You don't think that person is too arrogant to deal with you directly, do you?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's not that. I only handle miscellaneous matters. But I can't predict what details he would want to know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So when you've gathered enough intelligence and feel ready to report, naturally you should speak to him directly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Unless the reason you came to me today was because you ran into difficulties and needed someone to assist you. That falls within my scope of work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Of course, only the parts I can solve. If it exceeds my capability, I still have to notify him.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reacher nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment of consideration, Henry added:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Besides, because of my relationship with that person—and with the subject of the investigation—I'm not really a suitable middleman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It takes a neutral third party like you, someone completely uninvolved, to restrain some of his irrational behavior.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At the very least, for a stranger's sake, he probably won't say anything too harsh.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whether that spoiled rich kid would actually restrain himself, Henry had no idea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What he did know was that if he wanted to avoid being yelled at, the best strategy was naturally to trick someone else into handling it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since they were speaking over communications, both men tacitly avoided mentioning certain names directly, instead speaking in vague terms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing the explanation, Reacher frowned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This complicated?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you investigated the relationship between those two people, then you should understand.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I do.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reacher stopped dwelling on it and continued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fine. Then I'll begin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The investigation really has hit a bottleneck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What happened back then was not the accident everyone believes it was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It was deliberate. Planned. Human action.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Whether the target was a person or an object, I still can't say for certain.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry's attention sharpened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But I found the culprit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"More accurately—I know who the culprit is.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The problem is that continuing the investigation creates many obstacles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"One of them is authority. I don't have clearance to investigate certain records.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And I suspect this kind of sensitive data usually has tripwire mechanisms attached.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"In other words, whether or not I find anything, simply accessing the records could alert certain people.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If there's a cleanup protocol behind it, it would definitely trigger.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reacher's expression remained calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I was careful. I never directly touched anything that could lead investigators back to me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But I can't be certain I erased every trace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I can't be sure no one can still find me.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He paused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"When I ran into those vampires, I actually thought it was the other side tracking me down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But after reviewing the circumstances—and how the vampires behaved—it was probably just coincidence.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry was speechless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You knew trouble might already be following you, and you still stopped to save someone?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"At first I thought the situation would be easy to handle,\" Reacher said plainly. \"Who knew I'd run into opponents like that?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And that's why you didn't want to meet the police?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Correct.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You came here secretly too?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I created several breaks in my trail during travel. Following me wouldn't be easy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But after the vampire incident, I can't be sure whether the victim saw my face.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Mm.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having grasped the situation, Henry no longer pursued whether Reacher's trail had been compromised.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, he returned to the real issue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You said you found the culprit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Do you have evidence?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reacher reached into the backpack he never let out of his sight and pulled out a videotape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, he said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is the traffic footage from the crash.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Far away on the airplane, Henry stared wide-eyed at the image transmitted through his glasses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jack Reacher had actually obtained the tape.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry asked immediately:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The investigating authorities said no video footage from the accident existed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How did you get it?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Did it come from inside that agency?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reacher explained:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The existence of this tape cannot be found in official records.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Because at the time of the incident, the road surveillance system in that area was undergoing an upgrade and replacement process.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He continued:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"According to my investigation, that stretch of road was upgraded in December—from the original videotape system to a digital imaging system—and the work was officially approved.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But the new system was highly unstable in its early phase.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It often failed to transmit footage or properly save recordings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That is why no crash footage officially exists.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Though I can't rule out the possibility that footage was deliberately deleted afterward.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry prompted, \"But…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reacher nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"But the acceptance process for the upgrade was corrupt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The contractor had not actually finished replacing all systems on that road segment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"They only completed part of it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And the old system had not been fully removed yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Its recording function was still active.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He set the tape on the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The company had financial problems. To receive payment on schedule, they bribed the inspectors to falsify acceptance records.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And by regulation, road footage had to be retained for one month.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Within that month, the contractor finished the upgrade using the newly received funds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The old system's recordings had not yet reached the overwrite deadline, so this tape survived by pure luck.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reacher looked at Henry through the drone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Only the workers involved knew this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That's why no one else knew the tape existed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Even though Howard Stark's fatal crash was major news, they kept quiet to protect themselves.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>🎉 Power Stone Goal Announcement! 🎉\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I'll release one bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones we hit!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Let me know what should I do\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your support means everything—let's crush these goals together! Keep voting, and let the stones pile up! 🚀\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\u003C\u002Fp>",1235,"2026-06-06T15:31:35.574Z",1,"novelbin.me","d8a84765f84c7efba8968c5a6037f1e956852cac6bd631a9f0383507a6e0850e","marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-chapter-510","marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-chapter-508",556,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmarvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-cover.jpg"]