Chapter 253: A Distant Relative You'd Never Expect

The new year had arrived; Henry lay on the sofa in his rental, basking in the winter sun. He felt like doing almost nothing, just pretending to be useless.

Little tiger Kitty (Note: male tiger), after being fed for this small half-year, had grown more than double in size. Previously only as long as a forearm plus a hand, now stretched out, it was nearly catching up to Henry's height.

Kitty was also sprawled on the large cat tree bathed in sunlight, two legs on the side hanging outside the frame, basking in the warm sun.

Because Kryptonian physiology feared neither cold nor heat, Henry paid little special attention to heating equipment. However, the house contained quite a few computer devices that disliked excessive heat, so the summer air conditioning ran uninterrupted.

Raising a tiger, this situation hadn't changed much. Anyway, the beast came with its own fur for warmth, unlike humans.

Kitty certainly wouldn't protest this arrangement; whenever it could bask in the sun, it would stay quietly under the sun for a while, sparing the poor BB.

Speaking of which, the tiger translator had made considerable progress; at least Kitty could understand limited commands and act according to Henry's sharp thoughts. For instance, the classics: sit, shake hands, spin, as well as stop and come.

As for mealtime, that needed no teaching. Smelling the scent of meat, Kitty knew to sit properly before its food bowl. After being swatted by Henry a few times, it became very rule-abiding and wouldn't touch anything on the dining table.

Although the black clinic had reopened, Henry's enthusiasm was not as high as before. Previously, he had hoped to diagnose more difficult and miscellaneous diseases like a medical center, increasing his own clinical diagnostic experience.

But with the Continental Hotel system as the main source of clients, most came with knife and gunshot wounds. Pure surgical treatment held no real attraction for a Kryptonian.

So now Henry's attitude was more like maintaining the clinic's operation in a half-alive, half-dead state until he found his next job.

He had looked up the Continental Hotel's exit mechanism. Basically, if a service provider didn't want to continue, they just stopped; there were no restrictions on exiting.

The reason John Wick of the Baba Yaga had to undertake an 'impossible mission' to seek an exit opportunity was because he wanted to exit the Russian mob, not the Continental Hotel.

Whether ancient or modern, Chinese or foreign, all gangs were the same: entering was easy, leaving was hard. Putting aside those empty reasons, a very realistic situation was that anyone who had been in a gang would know some internal secrets to some extent.

If people could come and go freely, what would happen if those who left told these secrets to the police or rival gangs, thereby causing losses to the gang? So it was better to raise the threshold for leaving and bind people to the gang internally.

The Continental Hotel had no such problem; for free agents and contract killers, it was merely a platform. As long as the other party hadn't touched deep-level secrets, there was certainly no need to restrict their freedom.

Moreover, the identity of the Fixer had already attracted the FBI's attention. Previously, after killing an agent, the FBI, as expected, had failed to trace back to the Fixer. At least things had been quite calm lately; no one had come to cause trouble.

But this didn't mean the Fixer was worry-free; after all, he was already on the FBI's radar. Any time, any agent, any wrong turn of a nerve, and they might come knocking to cause trouble again.

So during this period, the Fixer at the black clinic was much more low-key. And with Andrew Saxon's unfortunate example preceding, those black bosses were more willing to seek treatment through the hospital system's channels rather than finding an unlicensed quack who would call the police.

It was just that, as a result, those with criminal records and wanted by the police were even more afraid to approach the black clinic.

Because they all feared the Fixer would charge an astronomical life-saving fee and then call the police to arrest them. So even fewer people were willing to seek out the black clinic.

Henry, however, was quite happy to be more relaxed; after all, saving people had never been his main goal.

He had thought this afternoon would pass in pretending to be useless, when little tiger Kitty suddenly let out a low growl. The translation software connecting BB and the brainwave sensor transmitted a mechanical voice through the speaker.

: Someone.

This was one of Henry's recent achievements. Although his own brain, once it collected enough templates, could translate the tiger's meaning by comparing its sounds, Henry still set up a speaker so Kitty could speak human language through the machine.

Not long after the speaker transmitted Kitty's meaning, the doorbell rang. Henry reluctantly struggled to his feet and walked to the door. Although there was no peephole on the door, he could see the person through his X-ray vision.

The one pressing the doorbell was Old Gary; he twisted and turned awkwardly in front of the door, as if ready to bolt and run at any moment.

Henry opened the door and greeted: "Hello, Gary."

The startled landlord, Mr., waved his hand flirtatiously and said: "Hello, Henry." Then he poked his head toward the big 'cat' on the cat tree inside to greet: "Hello, Kitty."

"Roar."

: Hello.

After exchanging greetings, Old Gary pulled Henry out and closed the door. He said: "That was a tiger roar just now, wasn't it? You still told me you were raising a tabby cat."

"You heard wrong, Gary. My cat's meow is quite special; its throat is hoarse." A certain Kryptonian spoke nonsense with eyes open.

"But it's so big."

"That's just fat."

"... Anyway, don't let your little cat bite anyone; I will definitely call the police to handle it."

"OK, OK. Just tell me, what are you here to do?" Henry quickly changed the subject.

Old Gary said: "Let's put it this way. A distant relative of my ex-wife has come to Los Angeles for sightseeing; she hopes to find someone to show her around, especially Hollywood.

"She said she might develop her career in Hollywood, just like you did when you first came to Los Angeles. I think you two should have common topics, and you have a car, and you are very free.

"Are you interested in taking this job? Although the pay isn't very generous, I can pay for your gasoline and meals out. Just don't pick those restaurants that are so expensive they kill people and specifically scam tourists."

"Ex-wife's... distant relative? With this relationship, are you secretly telling me to take the person to South Central and then dump them by the roadside for someone to teach them a lesson?" Henry asked in a lowered voice.

"Nothing like that." Old Gary waved his hand and said: "I have a very good relationship with her family, except with that woman. And speaking of it, they are also my children's family. Since they are visiting Los Angeles, even if I don't accompany them the whole time, I will try my best to help them."

"Oh, well." Henry didn't refuse Old Gary's request. This male landlord, whose female-style dressing was ahead of its time, had helped him quite a bit; treating it as returning a favor, he should help out. So he asked: "Who is the other party?"

"Barbara Morse."

: Wait a minute, that name sounds a bit familiar...

"A girl?" And only now did Henry realize Old Gary had been using 'she' all along.

His face became quite strange; Henry asked: "Are you really willing to hand a girl, your ex-wife's distant relative, into my hands? Is it really not that you want me to unleash my bestial nature and do something immoral?"

Based on the fact that 'Barbara' was also an American common name and the surname 'Morse' wasn't particularly special, Henry didn't think this distant relative was the one from S. H. I. E. L. D.

But handing a girl over to a tenant—how big was his heart, or how much did he trust himself?

Old Gary, however, laughed indifferently: "I have seen that girl. She was a gymnastics champion in high school; although she has no relevant experience, her skills are good, and she looks very capable of fighting. Moreover, she is very smart and is studying at Georgia Tech.

"I suggested that if she wants to develop in Hollywood, she could take the route of an action movie star. No one has walked this path well yet. With her appearance, she has a chance."

... Well, the flavor matches. Comrade Barbara Morse, a former gymnastics champion. Now, is it too late to refuse?

(End of Chapter)