dmims Chapter 71 The Captain America Memorial Hall is Robbed
Chapter 71 The Captain America Memorial Hall is Robbed
Chapter 71 The Captain America Memorial Hall is Robbed
"Good news, Lee Eun!"
Brock excitedly pushed open the office door, his hat nowhere to be seen, a few strands of gray hair scattered on his forehead.
Li En had only seen him with this disheveled appearance a handful of times since she met him.
Li En sat in the chair, waiting for him to continue.
"You always have such a long face."
Brock braced his hands on the edge of the table, a smile playing on his lips.
"Global United Investment Company donated one million to the school, the Russian mafia donated five hundred thousand, the Triads donated five hundred thousand, and the remaining miscellaneous small gangs contributed eight hundred thousand."
He stopped, deliberately took a breath, and gave a mysterious smile.
"These are not the main issues."
Brock squinted, the murky look in his eyes, which had been stained with whiskey for many years, had somehow faded away.
After a month of abstaining from alcohol, his pupils regained their light.
"Stop keeping me in suspense." Li En placed the newspaper on the table.
"The Chinese gang, the Green Dragon Gang, is willing to provide low-priced ingredients and source them through our port's legitimate channels."
As Brock spoke, his voice involuntarily rose.
"The key point is that they can provide chefs, a large number of chefs."
"The Green Dragon Gang is the cradle of chefs for all Chinese restaurants in New York. The General Tso's Chicken you usually order is most likely cooked by someone from their family."
Li En was stunned for a moment.
This art style was indeed not what he expected.
The gangs in Hell's Kitchen include those that sell drugs, those that smuggle weapons, and those that traffic people.
Suddenly, a Chinese gang that trains chefs appeared.
Is it the Green Dragon Gang or the New Oriental Culinary School?
Brock noticed the confusion on his face, rubbed his hands together, and suppressed his smile.
"Back then, those Chinese were sold as pigs, doing the hardest work, receiving the lowest wages, and having the lowest social status."
"After all these years, they have built their own gang. Compared with the other gangs, the Green Dragon Gang is much more law-abiding, but it is also tough and fearless."
He paused noticeably halfway through his sentence, his gaze quickly sweeping over Li En's mixed-race face.
Li En nodded.
He knew all too well how much suffering the Chinese who crossed the ocean to come to New York in their early years had endured.
That group was different from those who voluntarily go to the United States today; most of them were forced to leave their homeland.
The same group of Asian children I saw in the shipping containers at the port before.
"But the Green Dragon Gang's real strengths are their underground boxers and thugs," Brock shrugged. "They later discovered that running a Chinese restaurant was more profitable, so they switched to that business."
"Isn't this a good thing?" Li En stared at the lingering hesitation on his face.
"The leader of the Green Dragon Gang wants to see you."
Brock finally blurted out the words that had been stuck in his throat.
"What you and Frank did is a sword hanging over the heads of the entire Hell's Kitchen gang."
"Simply paying protection money or donating a few sums of money isn't enough to put their minds at ease."
He had lived in this neighborhood for most of his life and had never seen such formidable characters as Lee En and Frank.
Port case, warehouse case, Amick Group, Mexican gang, Anvil Security Company.
Frank alone wiped out the entire security team composed of veterans.
"Okay, let's set a time. Things are progressing quickly at the school, and it's better to discuss some things in person."
Li En readily agreed, then immediately changed the subject.
"The mayor's poll numbers aren't high, so we need to be careful."
Brock grinned, revealing two rows of teeth stained yellow with coffee and tar.
"Don't worry, mayors come and go, but the police station remains the same."
"Any mayor who dares to set foot in Hell's Kitchen is asking for death."
Lee Eun got up, left the office, walked down the corridor, and pushed open the door to Barron Studios.
Barron was hunched over his computer.
After his work schedule was adjusted, he spent his mornings at the police station and his afternoons at the school's cybersecurity lab, essentially working two jobs a day.
I've never heard him complain once.
"Barron, can you handle the security at the Captain America Memorial?"
Li En walked behind him and put her hand on his shoulder.
"You know what, the security level there is ridiculously high, even tougher than the Osborn Group."
Barron pushed his glasses up his nose; the screen was covered in dense code.
Since Li En returned and proposed this goal, he has been attacking for five days and four nights, but he still hasn't been able to break through the enemy's defense system.
Li En had a general idea of what was going on.
The memorial appears to be an exhibition hall for tourists, but the staff inside are all agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The security level will naturally be high.
That day, after leaving the Osborn Group, I passed a used bookstore on the street corner and saw several Captain America comics on the stall.
He suddenly remembered that the shield was made of vibranium.
The vibranium needed for the blueprint upgrade is embedded behind the bulletproof glass in the very center of the memorial hall.
However, the memorial is located at the Smithsonian Place in Washington, D.C., and the journey there and back takes a considerable amount of time.
He needs someone who can remotely hack into the security system.
"Still no solution?" Li En frowned.
"No, I've thought of a way. It's just a bit risky." Barron never admits defeat in his field.
He turned his head and met Li En's gaze.
"First, have someone trigger the alarm so I can fully understand the operating logic of the security system."
"Is triggering just the alarm enough?"
"Yes, but I have to be there." Barron nodded.
"Let's go, let's set off now."
Li En turned and left.
Barron frantically stuffed his laptop into his backpack, then threw in a few external devices, nearly causing the zipper to burst.
A black SUV drove out of the police station parking lot.
Barron sat in the passenger seat, his knees resting on his backpack, his fingers still typing on the keyboard.
"Take a nap first." Li En gripped the steering wheel with one hand, glancing at the dark circles under Barron's eyes out of the corner of his eye. "He hasn't slept for days."
"No————"
"We have four hours to Washington. This is a one-time opportunity; we can't afford to fail."
If S.H.I.E.L.D. senses that someone is eyeing the vibranium shield, they will immediately move it to a place where no one can touch it.
Barron understood, closed his laptop, leaned back in his chair, and drifted off to sleep.
"Wake up."
Barron opened his eyes; the streets outside the car window were completely unfamiliar.
"arrive?"
"Okay." Li En turned off the engine and parked the car on the side of the road, two streets away from the memorial hall.
The two walked into the café opposite the memorial and chose a window seat. Through the glass, they could see the main entrance of the Smithsonian exhibition hall.
"How do I create chaos?" Baron put his backpack down at his feet.
"It's very simple."
Li En got up and went to the restroom.
He never came back.
A few minutes later, Barron saw a figure wearing a black mask and dressed entirely in black through the coffee shop's floor-to-ceiling windows.
The man, holding a shotgun, strode toward the main entrance of the memorial hall.
Barron opened his mouth, then quickly stuffed the laptop back into his backpack, grabbed the bag, and disappeared into the alley next to the memorial.
"You said to trigger an alarm, not to rob me! If you had said you were going to rob me, why did you bring me here in the first place?!"
Li En's steady voice came through the headphones.
"Who said I was going to rob anything? I'm just taking some small items."
Li En stood in the center of the exhibition hall, raised his gun, and fired a shot at the ceiling.
The blast of shotgun shells echoed under the high dome, followed by the siren blaring through the air, and red lights spinning wildly along the edge of the ceiling.
"Attention everyone! The robbery is about to begin!"
All the visitors in the exhibition hall were stunned into silence.
The uniformed staff members were also stunned, and they exchanged a few glances.
Everyone's eyes seemed to say the same thing: What's so great about robbing this dump?
Li En flipped open the flap of his backpack with one hand, revealing neatly stacked hand grenades inside.
"Everyone squat down, no tricks."
Several agents who had already reached for their waists saw the row of grenades and silently released their fingers.
Li Enchao nodded to them, walked to the display case next to him that showed Captain America's old uniform, and placed his palm on it.
The thoughts of everyone present converged spontaneously.
This person is a die-hard fan of Captain America.
Li En tried to store the entire display case into the space warehouse, but failed.
The display case base is welded directly into the concrete foundation, making it impossible to store items.
He glanced at the thickness of the outer glass again. It was possible to pry it open with a knife, but it would take too much time.
This is just an old outfit. The shield in the center of the exhibition hall, embedded in a bulletproof glass cover, requires the safety device to be disarmed before you can reach it.
Meanwhile, in the S.H.I.E.L.D. office.
Coulson was standing in front of Nick Fury's desk, holding an evaluation report of the Avengers program in his hand.
Fury sat in his chair, his one eye scanning the data stream on the screen.
The landline rang.
Fury pressed the speakerphone button.
"explain."
The voice on the other end of the line was urgent and tense: "Sir, there's an armed robbery happening at the Smithsonian exhibit."
Fury's single eye moved off the screen.
"OMG, what did you say? Someone's robbing the Captain America memorial? Are you kidding me?!"
"The target is unclear—initially, the on-site investigators judged that it might be a fanatical fan."
"Support is on its way!" Fury slapped the plane, then turned to see Coulson's face turn pale.
"Don't worry, Coulson, all the staff over there are our field staff."
"I know, sir," Coulson said, his lips pressed together. "But that's the captain's equipment. If he wakes up—"
Fury's face darkened as well.
The security level of the memorial hall was not originally this high.
However, the Avengers program has recently been officially launched, and they have dug Steve Rogers out of the ice and are thawing him.
The intention behind sending people to strengthen security at the memorial hall was to allow the captain to see the old objects that had accompanied him when he woke up.
And that vibranium shield.
"OMG Fuck! Shield!"
Fury jumped up from his chair.
"Coulson, you go there yourself. The shield must not be lost."
"Yes, sir!"
Coulson turned and rushed out of the office.
In the memorial hall lobby, the alarm had been sounding for nearly twenty minutes.
Police cars were parked outside, their red and blue lights casting flickering light on the glass curtain wall of the exhibition hall.
"Barron, not ready yet?"
"Almost there—give it to me again—" The keyboard sounds in the headphones suddenly stopped, and Baron's voice, strained to speak, boomed out, "Done! Defense deactivated!"
"Go wait in the car."
After Li En finished speaking, he pulled out a grenade from his waist, pressed down the safety plate with his thumb, hooked the pull ring with his index finger, and pulled it off.
"Fuck! Everyone get down!"
The agent's screams were swallowed by the smoke.
No explosion occurred.
A thick cloud of gray smoke billowed from the grenade, filling the entire exhibition hall in a few breaths, compressing the field of vision to the point where one could not even see one's own fingers.
Li En had already moved the moment the smoke exploded.
He rushed to the bulletproof glass display case in the center of the exhibition hall, pulled out a knife, and pried the blade outwards by wedging it into the gap at the edge of the glass.
The safety device had been remotely deactivated by Barron, and the blade made no sound when it touched the glass.
Without Baron, the shield would automatically drop into the vault beneath the floor the moment the blade touched the glass.
The glass was pried open.
He reached in, his fingertips touching the cold metal surface of the shield.
The shield vanished into thin air the next second.
He pulled out a suit he had stored in advance from the storage space and ran towards the door while putting it on.
Visitors and staff in the exhibition hall were rushing towards the exit, their hurried footsteps and coughs creating a chaotic scene.
"Fuck! Smoke grenade!"
The police officers guarding the door finally realized what was happening and rushed inside, covering their mouths and noses.
The crowd squeezed past them, and everyone looked pretty much the same in the grayish-white smoke.
They hunched over, heads down, desperately squeezing towards the direction of fresh air.
Li En kept her head down and mingled in the crowd. Her steps were the same as those of every panicked tourist around her, swept out of the gate and disappeared around the street corner.
When Coulson arrived, the exhaust fans in the exhibition hall were drawing out the last wisps of smoke.
He walked through the hall, his pace quickening, until he suddenly stopped in the center of the exhibition hall.
The bulletproof glass display case was tilted to one side, the glass had been pried open, and the case was empty.
He stared at the empty cabinet, his lips moving as he squeezed out a sentence through clenched teeth.
"Son of the Beach".
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