“I wasn’t joking with you just now.”
Blacksmith said calmly, her tone giving away no hint of anger or joy.
“The Network truly cannot produce that much cash right now.”
“Before the Flash appeared in Central City, the Network’s business was booming.
But ever since that scarlet speedster showed up, everything has changed.”
“The Network’s current revenue isn’t even half of what it used to be, and it’s still shrinking.
Over these past few years, times have been hard for many of us.”
Yuri was surprised.
Going by Blacksmith’s words, the Flash had ruined their business?
Even if what Blacksmith said was true, half of their revenue was still over twenty million dollars.
That was no small sum.
“The Network isn’t just me.
I support over six hundred people under my wing—merchants, doctors, hackers, scientists, assassins, and soldiers.
They risk their lives for the prosperity of the Network, and I cannot mistreat them.”
Blacksmith was practically showing him her ledgers.
Yuri had imagined many scenarios, such as Blacksmith suddenly flipping the table and calling in a horde of Network assassins to kill him and steal the files.
He had never expected Blacksmith to sit down and discuss the Network’s financial issues with him.
“More than half of the money the Network earns each year is distributed to the crew.
What’s left isn’t much, and once we launder the dirty cash, it’s even less.
I really can’t give you the five million you want right now.”
Blacksmith crossed her legs and folded her arms, her posture professional.
“So what are you suggesting?” Yuri asked, unable to fully grasp her intentions.
“Two million in clean cash.
That is my absolute limit.
If you don’t accept, then the deal is off.”
Blacksmith stated her bottom line directly.
“I hope to use peaceful means so we can both get what we want, but that doesn’t mean I’m afraid of using force.”
“Accept my offer.
It’s best for both of us.”
Yuri did some quick math—actually, there was no need to calculate at all. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
He was basically getting two million dollars out of thin air.
What more could he ask for?
Yet, the way things were unfolding still felt highly unusual to Yuri.
“Why didn’t you just make a move on me?
To be honest, I didn’t hold high hopes that you would actually pay.”
Without getting a clear answer, Yuri would always have doubts.
“From the very first moment I saw you, I knew you wouldn’t be easy to threaten.
To forcibly take the files back from you would cost us far more than two million in cash,” Blacksmith replied matter-of-factly.
“I’m not the kind of fool who risks our own assets just for pride.
I’m a businesswoman, and as you said, business is about fair exchange.”
“Oh?
You can see right through my strength?” Yuri remained impassive on the outside, but inside, he was startled.
“I’ve run the Network for fifteen years by relying on this.” Blacksmith pointed to her head.
“McCulloch said you can turn invisible, and that he couldn’t determine your location at all.”
“But that’s an absolute impossibility.
The essence of invisibility is the bending of light, and Mirror Master is exceptionally sensitive to any changes in reflected light.
If your ability were physical invisibility, you wouldn’t have been able to trick McCulloch’s eyes.”
Ghostfreak’s invisibility could generally be categorized into two forms.
One was his natural invisible protoplasmic outer layer—a classic optical camouflage that bent light to achieve invisibility while also protecting him from sunburn.
The other was intangibility, phasing his body to pass through physical objects.
In this state, Ghostfreak existed without a physical form.
Back then, in order to search for McCulloch inside the mirror, Yuri had to constantly phase back and forth, meaning he was in his intangible state.
Naturally, McCulloch couldn’t see through that.
“Since your superpower isn’t optical invisibility, that means your threat level rises exponentially.”
“Other abilities capable of achieving invisibility include high-speed movement, phase shifting, size reduction, quantum stealth, spatial teleportation, and…
magic.”
“No matter which of those is your ability, it’s not something we can deal with easily.”
Yuri was stunned.
What she said was true, but wasn’t this a bit too logical?
Dropping terms like phase shifting, quantum, and magic right off the bat—how did an obscure villain like her get access to this kind of information?
He remembered watching Marvel movies in his past life, where both heroes and villains usually only knew about their own little tricks.
There were never any true know-it-alls.
What about a certain Director? Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
He only thought he knew everything…
Yet here in Central City, Blacksmith had deduced that he was a formidable threat based solely on two clues: “invisibility” and “Mirror Master couldn’t see through it.”
If even a lesser-known villain like Blacksmith possessed this level of intelligence, what about the truly famous figures?
Lex Luthor, Batman, Brainiac…
those god-tier tacticians Yuri had heard of despite never reading the DC comics—how terrifying would they be?
Was it possible they could crack the secrets of the Omnitrix?
At this moment, Yuri’s mindset completely shifted.
This world wasn’t as simple as he had imagined.
When the number of registered metahumans reached over thirteen million, all the American movies and TV shows he had watched lost their reference value.
Metahumans weren’t antisocial loners without social circles.
They had their own information networks, their own personal circles, and their own meeting places—both legal and criminal.
If Blacksmith were just an underground black market boss in Central City, she absolutely wouldn’t have such a deep understanding of invisibility-type powers.
In other words, if she understood invisibility so well, what about other types of abilities?
How deep did Blacksmith’s information network run?
If cities guarded by powerful heroes were like this, would cities without them really be any safer?
If they were safer, why did the Justice League constantly deploy to various places?
For tourism?
What would be the point of establishing the D.E.O., A.R.G.U.S., Spyral, or Checkmate?
Yuri’s plan of relocating to Blue Valley began to waver.
Since transmigrating, Yuri’s sense of unease had never been as intense as it was today.
He only wanted to live a peaceful life, but peace was already a luxury.
Therefore, Yuri had to increase his strength as quickly as possible!
Fortunately, the Omnitrix only required one thing to increase his power: constantly acquiring new DNA samples.
Yuri would harvest every single sample he could get his hands on in Central City and Keystone City, and only then would he go to Blue Valley!
Having made up his mind, Yuri made a swift decision and agreed to Blacksmith’s offer.
Two million dollars—no point in turning down free money.
Since Blacksmith had empty hands, she obviously wasn’t carrying that much cash on her, and it wasn’t convenient for Yuri to leave the Flash Museum with stacks of money either.
Thus, the two parties agreed on a drop-off location and staggered their departure times.
Blacksmith would hide the cash there first, and then Yuri would deliver the files.