Chapter 3940

It was very quiet in the basement. Frank Castle, the Punisher, opened his eyes abruptly. His head was throbbing; he remembered being ambushed from behind. That damned killer had an accomplice, and he had been far too careless.

A sound suddenly came from near the door. He instinctively reached for a weapon, but discovered that the compound bow and gun he had been carrying were gone, so he had no choice but to tense his muscles. To his surprise, however, the person who walked in was a slightly thin, black-haired young man.

When he turned around, the Punisher was stunned for a moment, because the other person had a pair of very clear blue eyes that looked nothing like those of a killer; he looked more like a pampered young master from a wealthy family.

"Hello, sir. Are you alright?"

Only then did the Punisher realize that his head was wrapped in bandages. He touched the back of his head lightly and found it a bit painful, but he didn't feel any bleeding, nor did he feel any dizziness, which meant his injury wasn't serious.

"I'm very sorry for bringing you here in this way, but we really didn't mean to kidnap you," the young man opposite explained. "It's a bit complicated to explain. You can eat these things first, and we'll talk slowly."

The other person handed over some food. The Punisher took it with his hand while staring unblinkingly at the young man, asking him, "What is your name?"

"You can just call me Bruce." The other person sat down on the chair to the right of the small table beside the bed, dumped all the food he had bought out of the supermarket shopping bag onto the table to pick and choose, took a sandwich and a carton of milk, and began to eat on his own.

Watching him eat, the Punisher was even more certain: this guy must be a young master from a rich family. These fast foods bought from a cheap supermarket were the greatest hardships he had ever endured in his life.

"Alright, Bruce." The Punisher tried to take the initiative, and he said, "Was it you who attacked me from behind that day?"

"That's right. But I must tell you, there was a reason for it. We didn't want to kill you, we just wanted to control you, so we had no choice but to use this method. Fortunately, I controlled my strength quite well, right?"

"Why did you do this?" the Punisher asked. "You don't look like lackeys for a gang. That gray-eyed guy is a professional killer, and you look like..."

"What about me?"

The Punisher flipped his hands, seemingly unable to think of how to describe it for a moment, and after a pause, he said: "You look like the kind of unlucky guy in a spy movie who gets caught up in a bloodbath just because he happened to pass by a crime scene. Forgive me, were your parents killed by some mysterious organization?"

Bruce coughed violently. The Punisher stretched out his hands and said, "Sorry, I absolutely didn't mean to poke at your wounds."

"Well, my parents did die in a murder."

"Were they big tycoons?"

"Globally famous."

"Are you here to track down the real culprit?"

"You could say that." Bruce wiped his mouth and said, "This is exactly what I want to tell you. I know you have a grudge against the New York gang boss Jigsaw, and you might be looking for trouble with him recently. We knocked you out and brought you here just to keep you from going."

"Why do that?"

"The agent killed Kingpin's men on Jigsaw's turf. This could provoke a fight between the two of them, and Manhattan will soon be in chaos, which will bring the Manfredi family into the fray. Our target is them."

"That group of Italians? The Mafia is indeed capable of every evil. However, who is the agent you mentioned?"

"That's the gray-eyed guy; you've seen him."

"Is he from a law enforcement agency?"

"Perhaps he once was, but now he's just a killer." Bruce took another bite of his sandwich and said, "We came here to investigate something."

"What thing?" The Punisher tore open the packaging of the food in his hand, raised his eyelids, and glanced at Bruce.

"Do you know Norton Experimental Science?"

"What?"

"An experimental project invested in by the Manfredi family. Have you heard of any trouble caused by that place?"

The Punisher actually recalled it seriously, thought for a moment, and said: "The Manfredi family was driven out of Manhattan long ago. I have been operating in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and I am not very familiar with other parts of New York."

"Alright, then how is your relationship with the Avengers?"

"I work alone and basically don't deal with them."

Bruce sighed, looking a bit worried. The Punisher looked at him and continued to ask: "What does this have to do with the Avengers?"

"This matter is too complicated to explain." Bruce appeared to have a headache, and he said, "In short, we suspect that an experimental project invested in by the Manfredi family had an accident, and the serious consequences produced led to a rift in the Avengers."

"Then what do you want?"

"We want to know if this accident exists and what exactly happened." Bruce sighed deeply again and said, "But we discovered through previous news reports that this matter might also have something to do with Hydra."

"That doesn't sound good," the Punisher said. "What exactly do you mean by the serious consequences caused by the experimental accident you mentioned?"

"There's no way to draw a conclusion yet. However, if it really exists, this experimental accident might have made an electronic life form stronger and more terrifying."

"Electronic life form? Did it attack the Avengers?"

"Possibly." Bruce nodded and said, "So have you felt anything in Manhattan and Brooklyn?"

The Punisher did not respond; he just fell into memory. After a long while, he took a bite of his sandwich and said: "Is the location of the experimental project you want to investigate on Long Island?"

A flash of brilliance crossed Bruce's eyes. He coughed a few times and said with feigned surprise: "How did you know?!"

He chewed the food in his mouth forcefully, drank two mouthfuls of water to swallow it all, stood up, and said: "You know something, right?"

"To be precise, it's not me." The Punisher shook his head and said, "You should go ask Spider-Man about this."

"Spider-Man? Why would he know anything?"

"About two months ago, which was just when autumn began, you know, that was the peak tourist season, but a major power outage occurred on Long Island. Many vacation villas and hotels lost power, which seriously affected the tourism revenue for that quarter, and even the local councilors came out to apologize."

"My God, that's a big deal. Then what exactly caused the power outage?"

"Electro." The Punisher said, "At least the official explanation given was that Electro was causing trouble on Long Island, and Spider-Man had a big battle with him to deal with him, which eventually triggered the major power outage."

"Hearing you say that, it seems you don't quite believe it?"

"Pfft." The Punisher snorted from his nose and said, "Electro is an electrician, and Spider-Man is also a wage earner; why would the two of them run to the Long Island vacation villa area? A glass of sparkling wine there could cost them a day's wages. Even if they ran into each other there, they would absolutely not fight there."

Bruce opened his mouth, speechless at this kind of reasoning. Seeing his expression, the Punisher sneered and said: "Yeah, you're a rich kid whose main task in life is to travel between top vacation spots around the world. If nothing had happened to your family, you should be lying on a lounge chair on a Long Island beach sunbathing right now, right?"

"I wouldn't crowd with others; I always go to our family's private beach." Bruce curled his lips and said.

The Punisher raised his eyebrows: "It seems you are even richer than I imagined."

"That's all in the past, let's not mention it. If it wasn't Electro who did it, could it be the accident we want to investigate?"

"I'm not clear about this; you can only go find Spider-Man. Only he knows best whether Electro did it. If he says no, then nine times out of ten there's an inside story."

Bruce immediately picked up his phone and sent a text message to Schiller. He typed very fast. The Punisher looked at his profile and said: "Did he save you?"

"Uh..." Bruce raised his head, his expression blank; in fact, his brain had indeed crashed for a few seconds. He said: "No, why would you think that?"

"If that's not the case, how did you two become partners?"

"We two are not partners. If I have to say it, because we want to investigate the same thing, we formed a team temporarily."

"He doesn't look like someone who would form a temporary team with just anyone. I can only tell you that he is more professional than you imagine." The Punisher stood up, sat on the chair opposite the small table, and looked at Bruce carefully, saying, "You must be useful for something."

"Of course." Bruce didn't deny it either, and he said, "I say I'm a detective, do you believe it?"

"You have a useful brain." The Punisher nodded and said.

Bruce was a bit surprised. He looked at the Punisher and asked: "Shouldn't you think I'm useless and then say the agent is blind?"

"Because you are not useless. At least you got the information you wanted from me. Although I don't resist telling you, I am actually a person who is easily angered. You chose the only way to survive, which is enough to prove that you are smart."

"What should I say? Thanks for the compliment?" Bruce rolled his eyes and said.

"And you are also very courageous." The Punisher suddenly laughed and said, "You are the first person who gave me a sap and dared to appear in front of me immediately after I woke up. You don't know how surprised I was the moment you walked in."

"You won't kill me." Bruce was still looking down at his messages, and he said, "You are a soldier, a former professional soldier, served in the Marine Corps from around 2000 to 2005, performed excellently during your service, won many medals, and even served as an instructor. However, you encountered some bad things after retiring, and then you were determined to fight violence with violence, and have always been at odds with New York gangs, who all view you as a thorn in their side."

"It seems your talent lies in this area." The Punisher didn't show surprise at this, and he said, "And you don't seem to oppose this approach of mine."

Bruce showed a kind of confusion again; he looked at the Punisher and said: "Oppose what approach of yours?"

"Most superheroes are unwilling to associate with me." The Punisher paused and then said, "They think I am too cruel, have no humanitarian spirit towards criminals, and kill too many people, with blood-stained hands, and they walk around me when they see me."

"Oh, you mean this. But I'm already past the age of debating whether to kill people or not." Bruce continued to look down and type, saying, "Does it matter to you if I kill people, and does it matter to me if you kill people?"

The Punisher seemed to be amused again by his feigned mature attitude. He said: "Past this age? You talk as if you're very old. You should only be in your early 20s, right?"

Bruce raised his head and smiled at him, saying: "I'm almost 30."

"Then you look quite young."

"They all say that. Do you know why I look young?"

"Why?"

"People who struggle love to look old. Stop struggling with trivial matters like whether to kill people or not, and you can do it too."

The Punisher laughed out loud.