Chapter 4855

The local wealthy weren't without thoughts of resistance. They gave a large sum of money to the mercenaries still left in Hampton, hoping they would help resist arrest.

But due to the previously exposed evidence, superheroes with even a little conscience had left. Those with strong consciences even defected on the spot. For example, Spider-Man directly followed the evidence and pressed several culprits there. When S. H. I. E. L. D. arrived, they caught them all in one sweep.

As for those with little moral底线, if it were the FBI coming, they might still be able to bluff their way through. But S. H. I. E. L. D. is professional—they have information on all superpowered beings worldwide, and they have more than one superpowered team under them. Such conscience-lacking superpowered beings wouldn't dare oppose them. Hearing it was S. H. I. E. L. D., they fled overnight, carrying trains on their backs.

On the morning three days before Christmas, the entire Hampton was surrounded by S. H. I. E. L. D. police cars. Even two sky-carriers arrived. The nobles of the Shi'a Empire hid in their houses, trembling.

After all, the Avengers, New York Sanctum, Stark, and even Asgard had come. With such a massive show of force, it looked as if Earth wanted to go out for a stroll again.

However, they weren't acting blindly. Because these people must have prepared. Colluding with superheroes wouldn't work, but colluding with something else wasn't impossible.

Steve stood on the sky-carrier looking down. Hampton was unusually quiet, as if the other side had already given up resistance and surrendered meekly. If not for some messages sent by JARVIS, they would truly have thought these people had no intention of making a last stand.

"How is it?" JARVIS stood before the lab bench in the sky-carrier's laboratory, looking at Dr. Banner.

"The readings are rising," Dr. Banner said. "They've already begun charging the weapons. Expected completion in three minutes."

"Nick!" Stark shouted from behind, "Pull that left ship back a bit. This position is too dangerous now!"

"Can't catch the wolf without risking the cub," Nick said, "Anyway, that ship is already old and nearing retirement. Worst case, we scrap it here and I'll build a new one."

"How's Otto doing?" Dr. Banner asked, "Is the collector in place?"

"Already done," JARVIS said after glancing at the monitor, "Let the Avengers attack. Be sure to emphasize attacking the weak points. Only with enough pressure will they activate their weapons."

"Avengers, assemble!" Steve shouted. The superheroes jumped down and began advancing toward the villa at Hampton's far end. Now everyone was hiding there.

The villa had almost no defensive forces; ordinary guards wouldn't stand a chance against the Avengers. They easily broke in. And in the central hall, a ground-to-air close-defense cannon from the Kree Empire stood there, its muzzle flashing with dangerous light.

"Stop!" a sharp female voice shouted, "Otherwise I'll activate this thing and shoot down your mother ship. All of New York will suffer!"

Steve assessed that cannon. Having been a navigator for so long, he still understood interstellar affairs fairly well. This cannon wasn't a retired civilian item, but standard equipment currently deployed by the Kree Empire—certainly not something ordinary people could obtain.

Supreme Wisdom. He thought in his heart. Last time Supreme Wisdom was tricked by humans into a major loss, and he still hasn't recovered, seizing the opportunity to cause chaos frenziedly.

He knew the woman spoke the truth. Any weapon from the three great empires has tremendous power; if fully charged, one strike could bring down the sky-carrier. Even under the best-case scenario, falling into the sea might trigger a small-scale tsunami, a disaster for New York.

But unfortunately, Supreme Wisdom had long been left behind by JARVIS on the evolutionary path. He hadn't even started acting when JARVIS already detected him. Now, Dr. Otto had already set up an energy collection device above the manor.

Otto's main research project is a miniature nuclear fusion reactor and nuclear weapons. With current human technology, nuclear fusion isn't difficult; the difficulty lies in miniaturization. And miniaturizing the energy storage device is even more Top Priority.

The charging and storage devices Otto developed can already reach microscopic levels. One collector is just the size of an adult's palm, tossed into the manor unnoticed. But when activated, it can instantly drain most of the energy from high-energy devices. This in itself is a very powerful weapon.

With absolute superiority, Steve saw no need to waste words. "Your crimes have been exposed. Any further inappropriate actions will be considered resistance, possibly affecting your sentencing. Those unwilling to resist, put your hands on your heads and squat down. I'll ensure the jury learns your true attitude."

Clearly someone was wavering, but they'd already been dragged along by radicals. Mrs. Afsaneh shouted from behind: "Impossible, we absolutely cannot be caught!"

The Avengers didn't listen to them, charging forward immediately, instantly triggering wails. One person gritted their teeth, stomped their foot, and directly activated the close-defense cannon. Almost instantly, the muzzle flashed with blinding light.

Then that light flickered and went out.

The moment the energy surged out was completely absorbed by the collector. In the lab, Otto wiped his sweat. This thing truly lives up to being standard equipment—throwing down over sixty collectors, all were filled to bursting. The technological level of the three great empires is still impressive.

Discovering their cannon had gone silent, these people were utterly desperate, one by one collapsing to the ground, all captured by the Avengers.

New York State has abolished the death penalty. But coincidentally, about three months ago, the federal government passed the "Earth Security Act," which includes a charge of "Espionage Endangering Earth Security." Violators of this law will be prosecuted by the federal government, and the federal government has not abolished the death penalty. Major criminals prosecuted by the federal government may face federal execution.

That is to say, if these people don't activate that close-defense cannon, no matter how great their past crimes, the most they'll face is life imprisonment without parole. But once the button is pressed, death is certain.

Moreover, the U. S. now basically no longer uses lethal injection for executions. Most federal executions adopt cervical dislocation—placing the person in an execution chamber, then having a mechanical arm twist the neck. It's fast, painless, but more frightening than lethal injection.

Police cars deliberately stopped outside Hampton. When the Avengers escorted the suspects and put them on the police cars, the crowd cheered. Many also wept.

Steve wasn't sure if he saw some familiar faces among them. He thought he did. His peers might still be alive, and back then, many young people in Hampton his age had gone missing. Their siblings might still be searching for them.

Steve thought for a moment, then said: "Go call people. We'll thoroughly search this place."

He originally had little hope, because Hampton is by the sea, and the sea can swallow everything. But facts proved there are still many foolish thieves in this world. Or rather, some people are simply too arrogant. After killing someone, to avoid walking two extra steps, they'd simply toss the corpse into a cellar, unwilling even to go out and dig a hole.

At first, only the Avengers led some S. H. I. E. L. D. agents in the search, but after the first corpse was found, nearby residents joined, especially those from southern Long Island, many of whom also had missing relatives in the north.

Next came the superheroes of all New York, basically putting down their Christmas preparations to come help search Hampton. Every brick, every blade of grass here has been turned over.

To leave a good impression on humanity, the nobles of the Shi'a Empire also joined in. But their methods were more advanced, directly using scanners to see through, uncovering some corpses buried even deeper.

Even bloodstains left decades ago were precisely scanned out. For example, the corner where Sarah was assaulted—all traces were scanned with extreme precision, even including some bodily fluids left by the perpetrators back then. And based on this information, the police arrested even more people outside Hampton.

Correct, some people committed bad deeds here and then moved away, not being caught like the locals who stayed. But the Shi'a Empire's involvement left them nowhere to hide, and in the end, they were all caught.

In two days, just the unearthed remains numbered 127 skeletons, almost none died naturally. This doesn't include those thrown into the sea, nor those beyond the biodegradation time range. The King's Crown is like the crown of thorns on Jesus' head—full of sin, drenched in blood.

This incident caused a global sensation. All worldwide media rushed here to compete in reporting, and many came to recognize kin. Ultimately, over 90 skeletons were identified and returned. Under public pressure, the federal government also did its part in personnel, preparing to build a victims' memorial hall in the Hampton area.

After such an event, humanity—especially those who can afford to buy houses here—will have some taboo about this place, feeling it unlucky, or possibly not wanting to be seen as equally unkind as those before them for being rich. In short, housing once reached a state of having value but no market.

Housing prices fell again and again, and the Shi'a Empire's nobles beautifully snatched bargains. Moreover, people from other interstellar civilizations also seized the opportunity to enter, buying up all the housing here at the bottom.

Their target clients aren't necessarily human, so they inevitably need to renovate the houses. But their renovation equipment and materials can't be brought in, so they use Earth's people and materials, which also provided many job opportunities. Before Christmas, all of Hampton was in full swing with construction, everywhere hearing the clinking of repairs.

On Christmas Eve night, the children received their Christmas gifts—and then, as expected, played interstellar war all night. Not just the children, the adults obviously also became immersed in these special toys. As the old saying goes, when they were young, they didn't have such conditions.

They played straight through until dawn, still wanting more, so they agreed to continue the next day. The house couldn't hold them, so they ran to the front yard plaza to play, just in time to meet the visiting Shi'a Empire nobles.

They naturally also knew this place housed a "Lord of Hampton." After inheriting the greedy opening of Arkham Asylum and thus being thought to bear the surname Arkham, he again lost his true name, now only using "Mr. Hampton" or "Lord Mr." to refer to himself.