Two Wars

Chapter 238 Two Wars

Of course, the young Roy Harper simply didn't want to get his partner's hands dirty.

He later learned that if he hadn't stopped Oliver that night, the live stream of Green Arrow's killing would have been broadcast on the dark web, and a group of thugs and gangsters that Oliver had thrown into prison six months earlier would have been released without charge.

This is American law: to bring a verdict against a criminal, not only is a clear and complete chain of evidence required, but also a clean and honest witness testifying in court.

Some say that complicated procedures and processes nip wrongful convictions in the bud, but in reality, they ultimately help a large number of criminals escape punishment, even though the country no longer has the death penalty.

Roy came to his senses and realized that he had not yet fallen to the bottom.

"Is this what life is like, a revolving lantern? It's far too long!"

"Go away, my foot! You don't think you're that light, do you? Hurry up and grab the rope and get up here."

A slightly irritated shout came from outside the cave.

He would rather the other party hadn't shown any mercy, so he wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of rescuing the person.

Based on everything that had happened before, he guessed that this guy must have a deep relationship with Oliver, but the key point was that Oliver's request did not mention the other party.

He didn't like these kinds of problematic requests.

As he expected, Roy Harper automatically switched to "curious baby mode" after being pulled up.

"Who are you?"

"Why did you save me?!"

"What are their intentions in impersonating Green Arrow?"

Qin Wei didn't give the other party a chance to ask further questions. He silently packed up his equipment, turned around, went downstairs, and slipped into the dark alleys of the slums.

Roy wanted to give chase, but a cold threat echoed from the depths of the alley.

"If you dare to cause any more trouble, I'll kill you!"

Roy's arrow ruined his plan. According to the original script, Will would continue to broadcast his itinerary until he lured all the pursuers who had infiltrated Star City to Oliver's trap and then wiped them out in one fell swoop.

But now he needs to figure out how to get another device that can stream live.

It has to be said that in the cyberpunk setting, the gap between the rich and poor in the world has become outrageous. Just half a day ago, Qin Wei was standing at the top of a high-tech star city, marveling at the greatness of human technology. Now, he is wandering through narrow alleys that are even dirtier and more dilapidated than Gotham's East Side.

These alleys were so narrow that his broad shoulders couldn't even fit through them. He could only turn sideways and wade through the muddy ground soaked with sewage, his uniform covered in wall dust.

On both sides were nearly collapsed, unfinished buildings. From the holes in the windows that echoed with the howling wind, all sorts of indescribable stench invaded the nostrils, along with the sounds of humans.

The sounds of conversation, cursing, and groans.

Qin Wei's mood became inexplicably irritable.

Just then, a shirtless man emerged from the fork in the road and leaned against the wall, blocking his way.

"Want some fun? Join our brain-computer interface activity now, it's only 10 cents a time!" As he spoke, the man shook the tin box in his hand, from which two exposed copper wires extended, with two translucent films attached to their ends.

This is the simplest way to obtain dopamine in this era, using a special power source—a computer.

Mr. Marx once predicted that when contradictions are intensified to an irreconcilable point, the WC classes of the whole world will unite.

But ZB will never sit idly by. In addition to persecution and smear campaigns, they are adept at using various labels to divide people, from creating gender antagonism to LGBT, from region to skin color and race, from race and culture to belief.

Through their deliberate propaganda and hype, it seems as if there are already endless contradictions within the people.

Not to mention the deadly temptation of "pacifiers" that can lead to addiction to pleasure, as can alcohol, drugs, brain-computer interfaces used by the upper class, and computers used by the poor.

Of course, there are countless other simple ways to obtain dopamine far exceeding the investment required, such as high-calorie foods or short videos, and of course—

From the moment our ancestors extracted the first batch of sugarcane, suffocating and rotting in a honey pot has been an inescapable fate for humankind.

"Do you have anything that can connect to the internet for live streaming? I can give you a lot of money." Wei glanced disdainfully at the small box in the man's hand.

"You're not from Star City, are you? Don't tell me I don't have that kind of thing, no one else could have it either! But if you need it, I can introduce you to someone who can break through the restrictions and connect to the upper network."

In Xingcheng, residents of the slums cannot even enjoy internet access. After all, if they were to publish the current situation of the slums online, Xingcheng's carefully cultivated image as a high-tech metropolis would be ruined.

However, Qin Wei was not so easily trusting of others, especially since this naked man kept smiling coldly and his eyes kept darting around.

He decided to teach the other party a lesson first.

"Heh, okay!"

Wei reached out from under his robe, twisted his wrist a few times, and then suddenly grabbed the man's throat.

With just a simple pinch and push, the man was pinned against the wall with his feet dangling in the air, his cheeks instantly turning bright red.

"I'm warning you, don't try anything funny. Taking you down is easier than crushing an ant!"

Seeing the man nod with difficulty, Qin Wei finally let go.

This intimidation tactic did work. After witnessing the other party's methods, the man abandoned his thoughts of killing and robbing. But thinking about it, it makes sense; how could a guy who dares to act alone in the alleys of a slum not have some skills?

The man only regretted that he couldn't control his expression when he heard that the other person had a lot of money.

"Cough—Damn it—where did you come from?!"

"Gotham, now that you know, lead the way."

The man asked casually, but received a shocking answer that instantly cleared his eyes.

In the eyes of these petty thugs in the slums, Gotham was a hellish place where monsters roamed and madmen were as common as dogs. Fortunately, the villains in that hellish place all had a peculiar habit: they didn't like to go out and preferred to stay in their own little corner of the world and engage in crazy infighting.

If all these monsters and demons were to come out, men simply couldn't imagine how much pressure they would face in finding employment.

Of course, there were also some arrogant guys who didn't believe in fate and wanted to make their mark in the crime world of Yale Salon after they had built up their power in their own city. However, most of these people did not have a good outcome.

One of the man's close friends is a perfect example; he went to Gotham and less than a week later, his head was smashed in a package and sent back to Star City.

"Where in Gotham do you hang out?" The man rubbed his hands together with a fawning expression, having been probing Wei's background all along the way.

"The financial district and the diamond district."

"Even though it's not the East District, it's still pretty impressive—by the way, do you know the Inquisition Knight? Gotham's job market has been really bad lately because of him."

"Don't you have internet in your slums?"

Qin Wei paused, and the man trembled.

"I only heard it from others! Malcolm told me!! He's the guy I'm taking you to see!!!"

"Very well, you'd better not let me find out you're lying to me."

"Okay, okay, whatever you say!"

Seeing that Wei's tone had softened, the man breathed a sigh of relief and nodded vigorously while smiling apologetically.

On the other side, Roy unsurprisingly lost track of Qin Wei.

He went through his thoughts again carefully.

-

His formidable close-quarters combat skills are comparable to those of a superhuman. Aside from not knowing how to use a bow and arrow, the guy we just met was even stronger than Green Arrow in his prime.

This guy doesn't need to inherit anyone's title; he can quickly make a name for himself as the Chanyu.

So what was the purpose of his painstaking challenge to Oliver?

It seems I'll need to ask someone for help to figure out who they are.

A name naturally popped into Roy's mind—Malcolm Merlin.

The formidable enemy "Dark Archer" who caused him and Green Arrow a lot of trouble in their early years.

Malcolm was once a member of the League of Assassins and a capable henchman of Lei Xiaogu. However, since he lost both hands while helping the League fight against the Court of Owls twenty years ago, he chose to retire from the life of an assassin and live in the slums of Star City.

After all, the alliance was now defunct in name only, and Lei Xiaogu's mission to "kill Green Arrow and liberate Star City" also fell through.

In recent years, Malcolm has immersed himself in the development and modification of mechanical prosthetics in order to "heal his hands." He has not only mastered mechanical manufacturing technology, but also honed his hacking skills in order to steal advanced technologies from top technology companies.

When Roy shed his "Quickhand" title to operate as "Arsenal," Malcolm crafted this composite bow for him that could transform into a folding stick.

In Malcolm's own words—welcome to the world of villains.

The world is not black and white. After getting blood on his hands, Roy was able to understand some of Malcolm's actions better.

At this moment, he stood on the roof of the unfinished building, looking down at the desolate world full of ravages.

The roots of Xingcheng have rotted away completely.

Meanwhile, Qin Wei followed the man to Malcolm's residence, an underground air-raid shelter.

The room was dimly lit, with an oil lamp hissing. A balding middle-aged man was hunched over a greasy workbench, fiddling with something.

When the man looked up at the sound and took off his thick, gold-plated glasses, Qin Wei discovered that the man actually possessed a pair of gleaming mechanical arms.

"Apart from Roy, we haven't had any customers for a long time. Most of the guys here can't accept the strict conditions I set, even though I can provide services that are unique in the entire Star City."

Muttering to himself, Malcolm took out a metal cigarette case, pulled out a self-rolled cigarette, and lit it.

In this day and age, smoking is a traditional pastime.

Tell me, why did you come to see me?

99

"Give me a device that can connect to the internet."

Only after hearing this did Malcolm raise his head and carefully examine this unfamiliar new customer.

He then gave a sinister laugh and waved away the man who was leading the way.

Now only he and Wei are left in the house.

"I can grant your request."

Unlike the careless Roy, "Black Arrow" recognized the outfit as Oliver's simply by looking at the details of the clothing visible behind the cloak. Recalling the sudden interruption of the live stream earlier, the identity of the guy in front of him was obvious.

"This city has been quite turbulent lately, and there are signs that the flames of war in Gotham may be spreading here."

"I have a feeling that even Xingcheng is about to change."

He exhaled a smoke ring, leaned back in his chair, and squinted at Qin Wei with his eyes swollen from overuse.

"Just say what you want to say, my time is very limited."

What I'm trying to say is very simple —

At this point, Black Arrow paused, seemingly wanting to give Wei some breathing room.

"Interested in liberating Star City, great Knight of Judgment?"

While the two were plotting something in the basement, a major event was happening on the other side of the planet.

Louis packed his bags the moment he received the news.

"Honey, hurry up and help me pack my luggage. The airship will pick me up from the rooftop helipad in ten minutes—" Before he could finish speaking, a whirlwind swept past, and Superman thoughtfully handed Louise a bag full of things.

"Look, what's still missing?"

"Oh, I think nothing is missing, in fact, there's too much."

Louis laughed awkwardly, unzipped his pants, and threw a lot of clothes and cosmetics onto the bed.

"Honey, this isn't a business trip or vacation. This is a follow-up interview that will last at least a month to assess whether Israel's war activities in the Middle East are in accordance with international law."

"Isn't this just a war correspondent?" Clark said with a worried expression.

In fact, on the very night of the Gotham riots, Israel used the pretext of a counter-terrorism exercise to send troops to invade the Palestine area.

Although Israel vehemently denies that a premeditated genocide was the true nature of the war, the advanced internet of the future world has completely exposed their actions to the eyes of people around the world.

Perhaps to endorse Israel, or perhaps because the United States genuinely wanted to investigate the war, the House of Representatives quickly passed a plan to send an investigative journalist team to the Palestine region.

The Daily Planet received a position as an investigative reporter due to its extraordinary relationship with Superman, and Editor-in-Chief Lewis readily accepted the mission.

She was both excited and apprehensive. She was excited because this was her first experience with the military during her journalistic career, but apprehensive because she didn't know if she would be able to obtain a true and credible investigation record due to the deliberate embellishment by both the US and Israel.

Indeed, the tone was set even before the journey began. First, Senator Pope called personally and talked for a long time about various things.

Louis pondered for a long time before realizing that Senator Popper wanted him to act according to the plan given by the military.

After Popper hung up, he received a call from the military, who, after informing Louis of the pick-up time, made a blatant threat.

Clark was washing dishes in the kitchen when he accidentally crushed Jonathan's plate after hearing the phone call.

"So what are you planning to do?"

He didn't actually want to ask that question. Having lived together for so many years, he knew that Louis was a man who was willing to sacrifice everything for the truth.

This is why, after Louis took over as editor-in-chief, Planet Daily received unanimous praise from the public and critics, and its popularity even rivaled that of news industry giants like The New York Times.

But Clark still wanted to hear that sentence; even if it was just for the sake of the family, he hoped that Louis would comply with the country's wishes.

"I will report the facts truthfully, and if necessary, I will even act alone."

"But this is dangerous."

"But you'll definitely protect me, won't you?"

He tiptoed and gently kissed his lover's forehead. Louis then slung his bag over his shoulder and hurried away.

From that moment on, the gears of fate completely went out of control.

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