Lane Group Tower, Safe House.
On the main screen, the satellite afterglow image of the "Prism Dome's" destruction had just faded, and a new coordinate point was being marked. This was TCRI's large biopharmaceutical complex in Pennsylvania—not an illegal factory or a secret lab, but a legitimate, massive facility, and one of TCRI's showcase factories.
Hawk's fingers tapped the keyboard, planning the next strike.
This strike would be carried out by Hawk himself!
The target and executor of the mission varied depending on the strategic objective. Hitting TCRI's secret labs was solely to steal their research findings and all data, while striking their overt factories was about making money and reaping the harvest.
At 11:00 PM that evening, it only took Hawk ten minutes to fly from New York to Pennsylvania; the distance was very short for him.
He halted high above the outskirts of a remote small city in Pennsylvania.
He observed the large factory complex situated outside the city. The factory was ablaze with light—its vast production areas, R&D center, and warehousing logistics connected, resembling a city that never slept. This was one of the vital pillars of TCRI's public business and a major cover and money-laundering channel for their massive illegal revenue.
"The stock even went up a bit," Hawk noted, looking at TCRI's closing stock price on his phone. He nodded with satisfaction.
The fact that Shredder had built TCRI to its current scale indicated the company had genuine technical prowess, not to mention the added advantage of alien technology. Their operations happened to fill a gap in the Lane Group's biotech sector.
As the saying goes: High-end commercial warfare often uses the most primitive methods.
Fortune favors the bold, the timid starve.
Life and death don't matter; if you've got a problem, settle it.
Just then, an encrypted communication request chimed in his micro bone-conduction headset.
"Emilia." Hawk frowned slightly but answered immediately.
"Hawk, I couldn't reach you all afternoon," Emilia's voice carried a hint of anxiety through the encrypted channel. "The situation today is off. Based on your intelligence, I heavily shorted TCRI's stock, but the paper loss is already close to ten million dollars!"
Hawk was still observing the factory. He had anticipated the loss; under TCRI's current actual circumstances, shorting the stock would inevitably lead to a loss, barring any unexpected event. But as a qualified capitalist, he had to go through the motions. His voice was as steady as ever: "Explain."
"Market confidence is much stronger than we estimated," Emilia spoke quickly. "Frankly, the financial negatives you provided are relatively trivial. Conversely, they just announced 'positive results' from a Phase II clinical trial for a new immune enhancer. The stock price rose instead of falling. The short pressure is huge."
Hawk was unconcerned. "Only ten million dollars. Relax, Emilia. We're a long way from a margin call."
Emilia: "..."
Are all rich people this reckless?
It's only ten million dollars...
"My dear young master, look, can you tell me your investment logic? I'll help you reconcile it." Emilia suddenly wondered if Hawk had found a new favorite. Is there a new beautiful professor at Columbia?
She worried he was trying to find an excuse to fire her, clearing the way for someone else. If the fifty million dollars was lost, Hawk would only face public criticism, but she... would she be fitted with cement shoes and sunk into the Hudson River?
"Emilia, it's fine," Hawk said patiently. "I'll be direct: I have insider information. TCRI is going to have a very bad night. I'm going to eat this piece of meat, so don't be a Cassandra."
"Insider information? Bad night tonight?" Emilia hesitated.
Hawk, high in the sky, glanced at his watch and added, "It's 11:30 PM now. Bad luck time will be between midnight and 1:00 AM."
Emilia, on the other end, twitched her lips, finding it ridiculous. "That precise?" If anyone else had said that, she would have simply smiled; the market was full of people claiming insider knowledge. But these words came from Hawk. Considering Hawk's identity...
"Then... aren't you worried about the SEC coming after you?"
"The SEC?" Hawk sounded amused. "My dear Miss Emilia, how many divisions does the SEC have?"
Emilia: "..." Right. The life of the elite is something she clearly doesn't fully understand.
"I said, relax. It will drop so fast you won't have time to close the position—you'll just watch the account surge. Maintain your short position, and even... add leverage. Get ready to reap the harvest."
The communication fell silent for a few seconds. Emilia took a deep breath, as if trying to draw strength from Hawk's absolute confidence. "...You better be right, Hawk."
"I never make mistakes about this."
After ending the call, his focus returned to the Pennsylvania factory below. This time, his original plan for a meticulous deployment was scrapped. That way was too slow, too gentle, and not nearly impactful enough!
What he wanted was a catastrophe that would make the world hold its breath on the midnight news! A hellfire capable of instantly evaporating half of TCRI's market value!
A more brutal, visually shocking plan formed in his mind.
Time: 00:30.
Hawk's gaze on the Pennsylvania factory cross-referenced the previously acquired blueprints. After confirming the strike point one last time, his figure suddenly ascended, rocketing straight toward the sky...
The moonlight and the city lights spread out beneath him. The TCRI factory looked like a precise sandbox model. Hawk's body momentarily paused in the air, then plunged downward like a meteorite!
His superhuman body tore through the air, emitting a dull, piercing shriek!
The target was the factory's core: a cluster of massive bioreactors and the adjacent high-hazard chemical storage tank area!
He precisely avoided the peripheral office areas and personnel dormitories—heavy casualties among non-combatants would attract unnecessary, deep investigations—and focused the destructive force on the production core.
The moment he neared the factory building—BOOM!!!
Hawk's Level 1 Flight can only reach subsonic speeds in level flight, but accelerating downwards with gravity, he could reach Mach 3!
Hawk, in a violent Mach 3 descent, slammed through the tough outer alloy roof like a human armor-piercing projectile! The massive shockwave instantly shattered all glass within a hundred-meter radius, and twisted metal fragments scattered outward like a storm!
The surveillance cameras violently shook at that exact moment, capturing a blurry figure, enveloped in dust and sparks, smashing into the factory interior.
Hawk, landing in the core area, his feet crunching on the warped metal floor, sent sparks flying. The piercing alarms finally blared hysterically, and panicked figures flashed in the distance.
"The capitalist has come to collect."
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