The next day.
Hawk woke up early, got dressed, put on his shoulder bag, and then left with the documents Mrs. Snow had given him to catch the subway.
He had originally planned to take the bus.
As is well known,
New York City's subway is indescribable.
Unfortunately, Hawk discovered that there was no direct bus from his new apartment to the Osborn Biological Industry Building; if he took the bus, he would need to transfer three times.
Considering that, it would be better to take the subway.
At the very least, if you have no morals, you can ride the subway for free.
In a word:
You can jump the turnstiles at the subway entrance, and even if you don't skip the fare, the transportation cost is cheaper than taking the bus.
So, Hawk simply decided to take the subway.
It's just that…
He regretted it as soon as he got on the subway.
Stinky!
Too stinky.
The various colorful smells that swarmed from all directions made Hawk almost instantly seal off his sense of smell.
But if it were merely the unpleasant smell, that would be one thing.
There were also many people causing a ruckus in the carriage.
There was a hippie wailing like a ghost with a guitar, fantasizing about becoming a great musician one day.
And not far away, there was a Black woman who looked exactly like a tank from any angle, with a golden python wrapped around her neck.
Heaven knows how she managed to bring that thing in.
But that wasn't the point.
As is well known, if you were to list the places in New York City where pickpockets are most frequently encountered, then subway carriages would definitely be high on the list.
Sure enough, a dark-skinned young Black man wearing a hood set his sights on Hawk.
His intuition told him that Hawk was a subway rookie.
A so-called subway rookie refers to passengers who don't often take the subway, who don't understand the dangers of subway carriages and the unpredictability of human hearts.
These types of passengers may not be very rich, but they are definitely the easiest prey to get, so they are defined as subway rookies by their fellow thieves.
Soon,
The young Black man, pretending to adjust his earphones, swayed his head and hummed a song to himself as he came up behind Hawk.
The next second,
The moment the young Black man lowered his right hand, which had been adjusting his earphones, a small folding knife instantly appeared, intending to slash at the shoulder bag Hawk was carrying on his back.
Just then,
Hawk, with his back to the young Black man, suddenly seemed to lose his footing, stumbled, and abruptly retreated a few steps backward.
The young Black man, who was standing behind Hawk and about to make his move, did not anticipate this scene. With Hawk's bump, the blade of the folding knife, which he had just taken out and hadn't yet adjusted his posture, directly changed direction and, with a 'thump,' pierced through the young Black man's wrist.
"Ah!"
The young Black man instantly let out a miserable scream, his eyes wide, and he gasped as he looked at the folding knife embedded in his wrist.
Blood dripped from the wound on his wrist onto the carriage floor with a 'plop, plop' sound.
The people around the carriage were startled by the young Black man's scream, then quickly averted their gaze after seeing the color of the skin of the young Black man whose wrist was pierced.
The subway happened to pull into the station.
The surrounding passengers all rose in unison and left the carriage.
No one gasped.
No one cared, and no one went up to ask if the young Black man needed medical attention or anything.
Hawk also followed the disembarking crowd out of the carriage.
From beginning to end, he never turned his head to look at the young Black man.
After exiting the carriage, Hawk felt the two or three resentful gazes directed at his back from behind, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly upward.
He was already merciful enough.
If this weren't the subway, but some desolate wilderness or a small alley without surveillance cameras, he would have scattered the ashes of the young Black man who tried to steal from him.
Didn't they see that he was covered in cheap goods, totaling no more than fifty U.S. dollars?
He was already so poor, and they still tried to steal from him?
Is there still justice?
Is there still law?
Is there still…
"Gwen?"
As Hawk exited the subway station, still feeling indignant about almost being pickpocketed on the subway and generally dissatisfied, he saw Gwen standing not far away, right below the Osborn Biological Industry Building, seemingly waiting for someone.
Gwen, who was looking around at the entrance, suddenly caught sight of Hawk across the street. Her eyes lit up, and she raised her right hand towards Hawk, quickly waving to signal him.
Waiting for me?
Hawk was slightly taken aback, then quickly crossed the road during a gap in the traffic.
The Battle of New York was half a month ago, and now, half a month later, Manhattan even shows no signs of the alien invasion that once occurred here.
This is the charm of money.
The Battle of New York ended in the morning, and the repair work for damaged buildings in Manhattan, especially Wall Street, began at noon.
At that time, the outer wall of the Osborn Biological Industry Building also suffered heavy damage.
But now, there is no sign that the Osborn Industrial Building was ever penetrated by the Chitauri during the Battle of New York.
Hawk looked up at the Osborn Biological Building, which soared into the clouds like the Stark Industries Building five blocks away, then withdrew his gaze and looked at Gwen, who seemed to be waiting for him at the entrance.
"Are you waiting for me?"
"Of course."
Unlike her school outfit, today Gwen had her hair in a high ponytail and wore a white lab coat, the standard attire for researchers, as she said with a smile, "If I didn't wait for you here, how would I find out your secret?"
Upon hearing this, Hawk shook his head, somewhat dumbfounded.
"I have no secrets."
"No, you do, and I'll find them out."
Gwen said with a serious expression, then her serious little face returned to a smiling expression as she said to Hawk, "Alright, I'm not teasing you anymore. This morning, Mrs. Snow called me. She forgot you don't have a phone and you don't have an Osborn access card, so she was worried you wouldn't even be able to get into Osborn's main entrance. So she specifically called me and asked me to take you in to find that…"
Gwen paused here and looked at Hawk: "Oh, what was the name of the person you're looking for?"
"Max Dillon!"
Hawk stated the name of the future supervillain Electro, who was currently a super-transparent engineer.
Gwen's expression showed realization.
"Right, him. Let's go, I'll take you to the Bio-Electric Engineering Department."
"Okay."
Hawk did not refuse.
Gwen then put her hands in her pockets, flipped her ponytail, and turned gracefully, leading Hawk to the card access point. After entering, she spoke a few words to the security guard nearby.
The security guard looked at Hawk in the direction Gwen pointed, then nodded and manually opened the gate.
Gwen thanked the security guard after Hawk entered.
Before long,
Gwen, familiar with the way, led Hawk to the Bio-Electric Engineering Department on the first floor of the annex building.
…
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