Chapter 4832

"Avengers?" he said.

"Long time no see, Frank. Give Matt and Deadpool my regards." Greedy stepped forward, looking at him and said, "This is no longer Dracula's manor. He emigrated a few days ago and sold the house to me."

When he saw Greedy, the man called Frank's expression eased slightly. He silently put his gun back in its holster, then said, "Dracula emigrated? Where did he go?"

"The Hsia Empire." Greedy paused for a moment before continuing, "You should also know, he won't last long."

"He told me he had a solution," Frank's face darkened again, "I never thought his solution would be to summon you here. But you haven't solved any problems."

"So you fired at us without a word, then barged into someone else's house—what problem did you solve?" Steve showed no patience for him. He took the shield from Bucky's hands, walked around the sofa, and stared directly into Frank's eyes, asking, "Captain Castle? Are you with the Marines?"

"Captain America?" Frank sized up Steve from head to toe. Of course, this wasn't their first meeting, but they weren't exactly familiar either.

"You better give me an explanation." Steve tapped his shield, his patience truly running thin. And he was even the most even-tempered Captain America in the multiverse—swap in another universe's, and he'd have already swung his shield by now.

"Someone told me Hampton had another incident, so I came to cause trouble for Dracula, because he told me he could fix it."

"So the one maintaining Hampton's order is you?" Stark narrowed his eyes and said, "What's your connection to this place?"

"Is Hampton's abnormality related to you guys?" Frank completely ignored him, instead looking toward Greedy.

"You should know, Hampton's abnormality has nothing to do with outsiders. If Dracula agreed to let you solve it, then we might really be his solution."

"Then how do you plan to solve it?"

"You are our solution."

Frank took a deep breath: "If I could solve it, I wouldn't need to rely on Dracula."

"I'm more curious—how did you get involved in this?" Arrogance suddenly spoke up, "What's your connection to Hampton?"

Frank slowly turned his head, because he recognized Arrogance's voice as similar to Greedy's, but the tone was completely different, so he wanted to see who was speaking. But the instant he saw Arrogance, his hand on the gun holster tightened again.

"Who are you?" Frank asked him.

"Shiler." Arrogance replied.

Frank's gaze lingered between Greedy and Shiler for a moment, then settled on Shiler: "You look like some of them, but you're far more dangerous."

Greedy knew Frank was referring to Hampton's elite. Hampton's atmosphere really is somewhat like Gotham's, so it's normal for Arrogance to resemble its upper class.

With a "whoosh," the red-and-blue shield grazed Frank's ear and embedded itself in the wall. Frank ducked to avoid Captain America's punch, not backing down with a sweeping leg kick. Steve dodged nimbly, while Bucky stepped in from the side, kicking Frank to the ground.

Frank hit the ground, drew his gun, and aimed—just as the bullet flew out, a figure flashed in front of it, reached out, and pinched the bullet. A flash of magical flame light, and ash drifted away like smoke through his fingers.

"Enough." Strange looked at them impassively and said, "Keep fighting and I'll throw you all out."

Obviously, whether it's Steve or Frank, they're the type who can't do much against magic. They called a temporary truce, but the atmosphere remained extremely tense.

"For Murdoch's lawyer's sake." Greedy had to step in to mediate, "Let us all explain what's really going on."

Steve glanced at Greedy's expression and immediately understood—dragging this guy out shouldn't have been in Greedy's expectations. Or rather, no one would have thought Frank Castle would also have ties to Hampton.

But after a moment's thought, if it weren't for the maintenance-of-order guillotine hanging so heavily and sharply over Hampton's head, these upper-class folks wouldn't be so restrained. Frank's unreasonable, extreme violence, if swung at the weaker, would indeed look excessive; but if aimed at these lawless, bottomless scoundrels with money, it wouldn't seem so radical.

Thinking this, Steve's expression softened. He let out a light sigh, stepped forward, extended a hand, and said, "Long heard of your name, Punisher."

Frank sized him up from head to toe, though his face remained tense, he still extended his hand and shook: "You're not bad either, Captain America."

They could finally sit down and talk. Natasha was still lying on the sofa—she'd actually been awake for a while, just too lazy to get involved. She glanced back at the Punisher, sat up, and made room for him.

Several people sat down on the sofa. Greedy fetched a few cans of ice beer. Frank took one, opened it, and gulped a big mouthful, then said, "I do care about Hampton's affairs, but only for revenge."

The Punisher and Daredevil are good friends, and Greedy and Daredevil's relationship is also good, so he and the Punisher are on decent terms. Just, Frank's temperament isn't great, so they two can only manage to talk.

Frank Castle became the Punisher because he once witnessed mob lynchings, his family was silenced, and he swore to avenge them, and to exterminate crime with the strictest means.

I never expected his revenge journey would actually pass through Hampton. Hampton has no mobs, and its people had long since shaken off the era of primitive capital accumulation through remote mob control for profit—the latest being the Civil War era, when they already had some family wealth, not seeming related to the Punisher's family feud.

"Back then, the federal judge who acquitted the mob was from the Hely family, whose manor is in East Hampton."

Stark's motion paused: "No wonder, over the past nearly twenty years, seven or eight of their family members have died in accidents—was it all you?"

"If I wanted to kill them, it wouldn't be an accident." Frank said, "I'd nail them to the pillory, then execute them, so they'd know how wrong their decision was."

"So you came to Hampton because you set your sights on the Hely family?"

"Exactly," Frank said, "I initially really did want to kill them, but it's not easy—requires years of stakeout and meticulous planning. I spent half a year investigating everything here, then discovered this place is more complicated than I thought."

"Did you discover the ghost thing?" Stark asked.

"Kind of," Frank took another sip of ice beer, "To investigate here, you need a base. The forest behind this house on the mountain is the only undeveloped wilderness—I pitched a tent there. Aside from eating and sleeping, I've been staking out that family."

"But soon, I saw some shadows in the forest. At first I didn't think they were ghosts, just figured I was too tired, but soon I realized, this place really is off. Because the Hely family's second-youngest daughter, in front of me, flew six stories high, then just fell and died."

"At the time I suspected superpowered criminals—say, mutants or something. But what truly made me realize this place is off was Dracula taking another family's child who was also on the scene. When I broke into his manor, he was about to suck that child's blood."

"The Hely family are my enemies, but this child isn't. I attacked Dracula, but he subdued me. He told me he was doing this to save Hampton. I didn't believe him, but Dracula let that child go… then his whole family died one after another within a month. His parents drowned, that child was impaled through the chest by rebar at a construction site. These accidents were extremely abnormal, and don't look like what superpowered beings would do."

"I began seriously considering whether Dracula wasn't just making excuses for his own crimes. I conducted many investigations and even ran experiments. The evidence shows this is just a cursed land."

"During my investigation, many locals got to know me—in a not-so-friendly way. Dracula seemed to think I could become a deterrent to ease his workload, so he promised to help me retaliate against the Hely family, and I occasionally help him deal with those over-the-top troublemakers."

"Two months ago, during my last patrol, I noticed the atmosphere here felt off. I went to find Dracula, but he said he could handle it. Then I got word from Hampton—just a police informant contacting me, saying Hampton was completely done."

"How did he contact you?" Steve asked, frowning, "There shouldn't be any phone signal here."

"I don't know, he called me." The Punisher said, "Just now—about ten or so minutes ago."

Greedy looked at Steve and said, "The police definitely already put out the news of Augustus turning himself in—this really would help people fight hallucinations, possibly it's this give-and-take that weakened the ghost seal."

Coulson had already pulled out his phone, then found communications were indeed restored, caller ID showing normal. But this isn't actually good news, because if these people start calling for help, contacting the military or FBI, or triggering media, then things here will definitely blow up, and by then it'll be impossible to contain.

"What did you see when you came?" Stark asked.

"There were a few FBI planes flying this way." Frank paused before saying, "But they seem unable to get in. This place's abnormality only happens to those who know part of the truth."

Greedy understood—just like Peter before, who knew nothing about this place, couldn't break the seal to enter Hampton. Frank can enter because he knows a lot.

These rich people seeking outside help definitely won't use honest reasons. They also fear social death if things blow up, so they'd just use excuses like power cuts to call people, but those called wouldn't be able to get in anyway.

Even if they were willing to go all out and say the haunting stuff out loud, they absolutely couldn't tell others why Hampton is haunted, or what wicked things they themselves did. Not knowing that, support can only ever be locked outside the door.

"Serves them right." Bucky sighed.

"Don't lie to me, Frank," Greedy simply outlined his plan, then said, "The problem now is these people are just too weak—they'll likely be killed by ghosts before they even break down emotionally. We need a leader to organize them, give them emotional reliance and support, at least hold out until the banquet begins."

"I won't help these inhuman scumbags." Frank obviously knew a lot too, he coldly refused.

"Don't rush. Perhaps you've heard the principle of killing by destroying the heart. First give them hope, then let them fall into deeper despair—that's the best revenge against them, isn't it?"

Seeing Frank's expression waver, Greed added fuel to the fire: "I guarantee you, after this banquet, there will be no more Hales in the world."

"I'll do it myself."

"Deal."