Chapter 4359: Justice League: Assembly (14)

They arrived on the second floor and knocked on the door. A slightly tired and somewhat chubby black auntie opened the door for them. Seeing the two of them, she let out a cry of surprise, threw herself at them one by one, and hugged them.

"My god, why did you come at this time! Come in quickly, it's not safe here."

"It's okay. You know, Victor has changed a lot."

The two walked into the house one after the other. The decoration of this house was actually quite good; although it was a bit old, one could see the glorious scenes of the past. Victor walked over and teased the little baby in the baby basket in the living room. The black auntie was already crying.

"Yes, the heating subsidy is gone. This house is as cold as an ice cellar. If I hadn't been able to light the fireplace for warmth, I might have already frozen to death. That firewood is also very expensive. If it weren't for you, where would the money come from... We really wouldn't have made it through this winter..."

Derry pulled a few bills from the stack of money, handed them to the black auntie, and said: "Christmas is coming soon, take this to buy something good to eat."

"My god, may God bless you forever."

"Don't worry too much, everything will pass."

But the black auntie seemed to have suddenly opened the floodgates of her emotions, sitting on the sofa and crying uncontrollably. While crying, she mumbled vaguely: "Back then, they all said that... At the time, I didn't want to move out of the original neighborhood at all. It was Harmon who said this place would become a bustling city center in the future, and that buying a house now came with all sorts of subsidies, and we could even be exempt from property taxes for over a decade. I thought about our small house at the time, it wasn't enough for our family of four, and I thought if we could add some money to buy this big house, it would be fine. Who knew..."

The two stayed at the black auntie's house for a long time, until her emotions gradually calmed down. After leaving, Victor looked back at Derry and said: "You haven't told me the story of this community yet."

"Nothing to tell, same old routine," Derry sighed and said. "Trick black middle-class people with a little spare money into buying houses, offer all kinds of preferential policies, and make most people tempted. Once they buy the house, it's fine for a while, but soon the property management will take the money and run, and no security or police will be willing to take on this community anymore. In the end, all the criminals in the city will gather here, and then it's all over."

"Oh, right, after the property management was gone, no one maintained the elevators, and soon they couldn't be used. The elderly couldn't get back to their own homes at all and soon became homeless. Young people, after working all day, had no energy to climb up either. Those who were lucky could rent a house; those who weren't ended up on the streets. That's why they wanted to build high-rises."

Victor was silent for a moment, and the two climbed together to the highest floor that was still occupied. After opening the door, a very strong black man looked at them once and let them in.

"Those two kids are here again," the black man said to the people in the room.

The people living in this room were all strong middle-aged men. The room was filled with a mixture of smoke, alcohol, and marijuana smells, but the room wasn't particularly messy; it was clear someone had cleaned it up.

A younger black woman walked out and said: "You guys sit down first, I'll go pour you a cup of coffee."

"No need," Derry took out the money and said, "There isn't much this time, it's all for you. By the way, when we were coming here, two police officers gave us trouble."

The black man sitting in the very middle rolled his eyes and said: "What did they look like?"

"A fat man with a scar under his left eye; a thin woman with a hooked nose and a sharp, monkey-like face."

"Puff and Achuli. That pair is notoriously difficult to deal with. How did you get away?"

Derry pointed at Victor. The black boss rolled his eyes again, his gaze lingering on the mechanical eye with red light flickering under the hoodie, and then said: "Alright, with this freak around, no wonder you guys can get money."

"I'll say it again, this is for the kids. Christmas is coming soon, this is the last time this year."

"Of course, I understand," the black boss took the money and said, "I know you guys didn't get the money from crime. Your clothes, your style, your speech—none of you are street people."

Derry looked at Victor with some uncertainty. Victor said: "I'm a freak, robbing a bank is easier than taking a piss."

The black boss suddenly stared at him, and only after a while did he withdraw his gaze and say: "You're too young. They have plenty of ways to deal with freaks like you. You'd better be careful. If you get caught by them, no one can save you."

The two came out of the building together. Derry spread his hands and said: "Don't mind him, that guy just has a nasty way of speaking, but he's actually a decent person. Of all the black communities around, only this one has the most students, which proves he manages it quite well."

Victor nodded and said: "Thanks. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't know where to find these people."

Derry put his arm around his shoulder and said: "Don't be like that, we're good brothers. We used to ride the field together, and now we can still get along just fine. Alright, I'll see you off here, I have to go."

Victor watched his retreating back, and only after a long while did he withdraw his gaze and walk back in the same posture, wearing his hoodie with his hands in his pockets.

But he didn't go straight home; instead, he came to the nearest bank. First, he looked up, and all the surveillance cameras on the entire street where the bank was located went dark one by one. Then, the ATM started spitting out money continuously. He just walked over, collected the money on the ground, put it in his pocket, and then returned home.

He tossed the money into the laundry basket, fell onto the sofa, took a sip of an energy drink, turned over on the sofa, grabbed a jacket from the back of the chair to cover himself, and just like that, fell asleep.

But he hadn't slept for long when, in the middle of the night, Victor suddenly heard a noise downstairs. He sat up from the sofa, didn't go to open the door, but instead carefully went to the balcony and took a look down.

A black man was standing downstairs gesturing to him. Victor couldn't understand the gesture, but the other person pointed to the other end of the street. Victor's eyes flashed, and the cameras at the other end of the street all turned in one direction—a team of heavily armed police officers was crouching at the street corner.

Victor understood and gave a reassuring gesture to the black man downstairs. He knew that was the gang coming to report the news; although it was of no use to him, the feeling of returning a favor was good.

The black man soon ran out of sight. Victor looked around the street; people should have all been asleep by now. So he jumped directly from the balcony and stood in the middle of the road.

Suddenly, the police car lights all turned on, all the sirens let out sharp wails, various ghost-like screams came from the walkie-talkies, and all the police officers were so scared they retreated repeatedly. During this, one unprofessional officer turned off the safety, and after being startled, his finger pressed directly on the trigger, and with a "bang," it misfired. Immediately following that was "bang, bang, bang, crackle," and all the police officers rolled into a ball.

The lights in the apartment building soon turned on. When Victor walked back to his room, he heard all the neighbors cursing: some were calling the police station to complain, some were directly using connections to demand the police be fired, and others were contacting the homeowners' association to change security.

He walked back to his sofa and sat down, preparing to continue sleeping. But just at this moment, the phone nearby rang. He picked it up and answered, and a voice came from inside: "Hello, Victor Stone, we are the A. R. G. U. S. that manages super-powered individuals..." Victor hung up the phone.

"Hello, Victor Stone, I think we need to talk." A voice appeared on the TV. Victor snapped his fingers, and the TV went dark directly.

"Victor Stone, we have no malice, we just want to ask you for a favor." A voice came from the tape recorder again.

Victor didn't move at all, until the phone rang from deep within the room. Victor frowned deeply, walked toward that room, and carefully pushed open the door—this was his mother's room, and the old phone his mother left behind was placed on the table just like that.

Ever since the day of the car accident, he hadn't dared to touch any of his mother's belongings. He thought this phone was broken, but at this moment, it was ringing. He had no choice but to pick up the phone and answer it.

The other person said: "Sorry, we can only contact you in this way because we really need help. Listen, Victor, Superman moved the Capitol to Metropolis, which will seriously affect this election. The opposition party is already making a scene demanding a recount. We must get the Capitol back to where it belongs as soon as possible. A. R. G. U. S. has formed a team, and we hope you can join..."

"I'll consider it," Victor thought for a moment and said, "There are police looking for me. Help me deal with them, otherwise, I won't help you."

"Of course, of course, we can help you with any trouble. Please be sure to reply to us as soon as possible; this matter cannot be delayed any longer."

After hanging up the phone, Schiller sighed. The female agent who was originally standing behind him had changed to sitting down. As for why the target of the call changed from John Jones to Victor Stone, it was of course because a call was made this morning, and all they got was a "GET OUT!!!!!" that echoed across the East Coast.

"The other party's resistance is too strong, I can't help it either," Schiller spread his hands and said, "The people we found before didn't have families, they were unattached, it was really too hard to persuade them. But it doesn't matter, next time we'll find someone with a weakness, this time it will definitely work."

The female agent monitoring him always felt something was wrong, but she carefully thought about Schiller's actions and didn't find anything out of line. He was diligently contacting super-powered individuals, and his tactics for persuasion were also very normal, nothing more than "we can help you solve your trouble" or "think about your family"—agents all said this when working.

And after monitoring for so long, she hadn't found him contacting anyone in private. All his actions were within a reasonable range, and there was simply no fault to pick, one could even say he was doing better than Amanda.

After failing to persuade John Jones, Schiller suggested finding a person named Victor Stone. This guy was a bio-engineered cyborg with a steel body. Although not as powerful as Superman, he should be able to lift the Capitol.

Soon, they found Victor Stone's residence through the internal system. After crouching near the neighborhood for half a day, they finally waited for Victor to leave. Schiller personally led the team to search his residence.

"He lost his mother in a car accident," the A. R. G. U. S. agent responsible for investigating background information said, "He himself seems to have been severely injured. Insurance covered part of it, and he covered the rest himself."

And at this time, Schiller pushed open the door to the innermost bedroom and immediately saw the phone placed on the table. He put on gloves, picked up the phone, and said: "Technical department, come over and take a look. See if this phone can still be used, and what the phone number is. We'll call this phone in a while. This might evoke his nostalgia for his relatives." ===== CHAPTER 4360 =====