69novels Page 16
Page 16
She pointed at Eunfi, then at Hawke in his pajamas, her face full of pure curiosity.
The air solidified instantly.
Gu Ziyun rolled her eyes and covered her face.
Eun-bi's cheeks instantly turned as red as if they were about to bleed, her eyes darting around in a panic, wishing she could disappear on the spot.
Hock paused, then looked at Shen Shiya expressionlessly.
"Let's watch a movie," Hawke broke the silence first.
"Yes! A movie! A horror movie! It scared us so much we couldn't sleep!" Eun-fi immediately chimed in, trying to salvage the awkward situation, "It's a very long movie..."
Shen Shiya tilted her head, looking at this and then at that, her eyes filled with doubt, "Really? I don't believe it."
The three men's obviously unnatural reactions made her feel that things were definitely not that simple, but seeing Mr. Hawke's unquestionable demeanor, she swallowed back her questions for the time being, only muttering under her breath, "What kind of movie is so scary... that it can make people tired..."
Hawke ignored Shen Shiya's grumbling, put down his coffee cup, and walked straight to his master bedroom, as if the awkward moment had never happened.
"Wash up and change your clothes. You have class today."
Columbia University.
Economics Department Lecture Hall.
On the podium, the old professor was passionately explaining the "law of diminishing marginal utility."
"So, can anyone tell me why diamonds are more expensive than water, but water's total utility is far greater than that of diamonds?" The professor pushed up his glasses.
A silence.
“Because of scarcity and marginal value,” a deep, pleasant voice rang out.
Whoosh! All eyes turned to the back row of the classroom, near the window.
Hawke Lane rested his chin on one hand, looking relaxed.
"Bingo!" The professor's eyes lit up. "Ryan, tell me more?"
Hawke spoke eloquently, with clear logic and precise word choice, making dry theories sound like insider information from Wall Street.
Only his voice and the suppressed gasps of the girls filled the classroom.
"Wow... Senior Hawke is so handsome... and his voice is so nice too..."
"Right, right? I came to this class specifically to see Hawke!"
"I heard he and Professor Emilia..."
"Shh! Don't talk nonsense! He's actually dating Emily from the cheerleading squad, isn't he? Someone saw him picking her up in a sports car last time!"
“Jenny, the most beautiful girl in the art academy, who is also an amazing dancer, has come to see Hawke!”
"That Olivia from the student council is giving him weird looks! She's the mayor's daughter, she's definitely the one with the best chance! Is this man cursed? A harvester? When will he come and harvest me too?!"
"I heard that the new girls in the Economics Department all transferred here because of Hawke, and they're all campus beauties!"
Among them, the two, Kobayashi Miu, a rookie agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and an Asian academic star, and Katherine Miller, a sports sweetheart, also glanced at Hawke from time to time in the classroom, trying to find something.
28. Fury: We are humanity's last line of defense! [Requesting flowers]
After exchanging a glance, the two decided that Catherine would make the first move.
But to her surprise, as soon as the bell rang and Hawke had just finished packing her things, a figure pounced on her even faster.
"Hawk!" The blonde, blue-eyed, and incredibly hot cheerleader Emily Chen hopped up to him like a happy little bird and affectionately took his arm. "We have rehearsal this afternoon, come watch me?" She blinked her curled eyelashes, her voice sweet as honey.
This scene left Catherine, who hadn't even gotten close, speechless.
Before Hawke could speak, a soft cough came from the side.
Student council president Olivia Dunn, carrying a folder, wore a sharp business suit and exuded a cool and aloof aura.
She adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses, her gaze sweeping over Emily's arm linked with Hawke's. Her tone was businesslike, yet carried a subtle sharpness: "Hawk, my father would like to discuss the sponsorship details for the annual New York charity gala with you in person. Are you available this afternoon?"
Olivia Duncan, daughter of New York City Mayor Elliott Duncan.
Emily immediately pouted and hugged Hawke even tighter: "I asked him out first!"
Olivia's eyes flashed behind her glasses: "Business comes first, Chen."
Hawke, sandwiched in the middle, had a faint smile on his lips, like a spectator watching a play.
He raised his hand, and his slender fingers subtly pinched Emily's waist, causing her to let out a soft cry and instantly soften her tone.
At the same time, he looked at Olivia with a hint of amusement: "Of course we have to give Mayor Duncan face. No problem this afternoon."
Olivia smiled with satisfaction, glanced at Emily, turned and left, her high heels clicking loudly.
"Hmph!" Emily huffed. "Then let's go to the usual place tonight!" With that, she stomped her foot and ran off.
Hawke shook his head. Just as he stepped out of the teaching building, his phone rang. It was a message from Professor Emilia: "Hawk, I accept your invitation to become the CEO of Lane Capital. I will soon submit my resignation to the college. Also, regarding the dynamic game model you proposed last time, would it be convenient for us to come to my office after class to discuss it? I have some details I'd like to ask you."
A small flame emoji followed the text.
Hawke raised an eyebrow and tapped his finger on the screen: It's an honor.
send.
at the same time.
The Tri-Wing Building, Nick Fury's office.
Outside the thick bulletproof glass window, the morning light in Washington, D.C. was blinding, but it couldn't penetrate the lingering gloom in Nick Fury's single eye.
An invisible tension and a chilling silence filled the office, far more oppressive than the explosion of the previous night.
Fury stood with his back to the door, like a silent black statue, in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window. His gaze seemed to pierce through time and space, fixed on the orange-red mushroom cloud that had been repeatedly broadcast in the news last night over Manhattan, a symbol of his shame.
His fingers tightened unconsciously, and the muscles on his dark face were taut like steel.
You've been fooled!
This is a blatant provocation!
The moment he, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., declared protection to Alexander Pierce and even to the entire intelligence community, Hawke Lane shattered his promise, along with the Bates family, into dust with a spectacular explosion.
This is not a failure, it's a slap in the face, loud enough for the whole world to hear.
“Hill.” His voice was hoarse.
“Sir.” Maria Hill appeared immediately behind him, her expression equally grim, holding a report she had just received.
"Casualties confirmed?"
"Seven core members of the Bates family, three senior executives of Bates Capital, and four field agents we were responsible for escorting... all have been confirmed dead in the explosion."
Hill's tone was flat, but his eyes held a deep anger and self-reproach. "The scene was precisely destroyed by high-energy explosives, leaving no valuable traces. It was as clean as a textbook, but Hawke's whereabouts throughout the day can be traced, so it shouldn't have been done by him personally."
Fury slowly turned around: "With the Ryan family's power, finding a few professionals wouldn't be difficult, but to do it without leaving a trace right under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nose is indeed not easy."
He walked to the huge holographic console, swiped his finger across it quickly, and brought up the identifiers of several highly classified projects around the world: "Activate highest priority surveillance, target: Hawk Lane, 'King', internal codename: 'Traveler'."
Collect all records, videos, photos, and witness testimonies related to the King's battles in Brooklyn and elsewhere, and submit them to S.H.I.E.L.D. for analysis and archiving!
All relevant intelligence, regardless of rank, should be reported directly to me.
To activate the 'Sky Sword Bureau's' pre-emptive communication channel, I need their support in near-Earth orbit for any superscalar energy bursts, especially fluctuations with frequencies similar to the Busan explosion.
He paused, his eyes growing even deeper. "Furthermore, the research findings and data from the 'Witch Project' should be immediately corroborated with the existing Super Soldier Project to accelerate the progress of human trials."
Hill quickly jotted down the instructions, but his tone was hesitant: "Understood. But Chief, do we really have no way to deal with Hawke Lane?"
Fury looked up at Hill and replied without hesitation, "Yes, that's how realistic the world is. Even though we are the most powerful intelligence agency in the world, there are still quite a few things we can't handle!"
"His father, John Lane, was like Howard Stark back in the day; he could come and go from the White House at any time..."
"Remember the human experiments the Osborn Group was conducting that we investigated before?"
"And there's also the major disaster caused by the biological experiments conducted by the Roxon Energy Group!"
"In the end, they all just fizzled out!"
"Even if we find evidence against Hockley, the most likely outcome will be the execution of a scapegoat who is terminally ill and willing to trade his last few days of life for hundreds of thousands of dollars."
"But in any case, I hope you remember that we will always be humanity's last line of defense, bearing the great responsibility of protecting humanity, and this will never change!"
Hill's gaze was firm, as if he were about to die, and he immediately stood at attention: "Yes, sir!"
“But there’s one more thing,” Hill said again, looking at Fury, “about Pierce…”
Upon hearing this name, Fury seemed to deflate instantly, his lips twitching violently. He could only wave his hand helplessly and say, "Prepare for a storm."
As soon as he finished speaking, as if to confirm his words, the highly encrypted dedicated line on Fury's desk emitted a sharp, continuous, alarm-like beeping sound.
The name "Alexander Pierce" flashed glaringly on the screen.
Fury took a deep breath, all emotions vanishing from his face instantly, leaving only an unfathomable indifference.
He gestured for Hill to keep the communications listening, then pressed the answer button.
"Nick Fury!!!"
The voice coming from the other end of the phone was not rational, but the roar of a wounded, enraged, and completely out-of-control beast. The voice was hoarse and distorted, with a crackling noise like high-voltage electricity, obviously coming through some unstable encrypted channel, and possibly even accompanied by background noise of smashing communication equipment.
"What the hell did you do?! You promised me! You made me a promise! A promise as worthless as dog shit!!"
29. Alexander Pierce in a fit of rage [Requesting flowers]
Pierce's voice trembled with extreme anger and disbelief, each word sounding like poison:
"The Bates family! Right under the 'protection' of your fucking S.H.I.E.L.D. agents! Less than a few hundred meters from you! Blown into the air! By that madman! Right before your eyes! Nick! Nick Fury! Answer me! How do you explain this?! Is this your 'safe house relocation agreement'? Relocated to hell?!"
Fury listened quietly, and even during the brief pauses when Pierce was struggling to breathe, he could hear the other man's heavy, almost collapsing breathing.
He did not immediately refute or defend himself.
When Pierce's roar was temporarily interrupted by violent coughing, Fury spoke in a calm tone:
"Alexander, calm down."
“Calm down?!” Pierce’s voice suddenly rose, almost cracking. “You want me to calm down?! Let me tell you, I don’t care about the Bates’ lives! But I made a promise to Bates, and I care about my promise! And now, my reputation has vanished along with the Bates family! Right under your nose! Nick! Tell me, is this all a show you orchestrated? To steal the ‘witch’ information I gave you?! Are you in cahoots with that madman?!”
Just then, Fury's mind flashed back to Hawk Lane's casual yet malicious words of advice amidst the dust and smoke of the explosion.