Although he hadn’t known who those shot “special forces” soldiers were before, the moment he saw the “Captain with America’s ass” inside the cargo container, Liam Price instantly formed a bold hypothesis.
“These guys are almost certainly Hydra agents lurking inside SHIELD.
Captain America was probably just dug up from the Arctic Circle by SHIELD, and somehow Hydra intercepted him on the way to be thawed out.
“After all, if SHIELD agents were executing this mission, no matter how much ‘Agent Smith’ pinched pennies, a major operation like transporting Captain America would never rely on a modified cargo truck instead of a dedicated plane.” This hypothesis also neatly explained why these men, upon bumping into a hunting party on the road, didn’t bother to confirm their identities at all and immediately opened fire with the modified truck’s Gatling gun.
“…It must have been the bodyguards’ outfits that triggered it.
They came hunting not only dressed like military personnel but carrying assault rifles too.
The Hydra agents heard gunshots, saw how these guys were dressed, assumed they were being intercepted by SHIELD, and immediately went all out with the Gatling gun.” Once he pieced all this together, Liam Price also realized it was time for him and little Broly to move.
Before that, however, he faced another problem: how should he handle this crime scene, which currently looked like something out of a splatter film?
Leaving it as it was felt a bit inappropriate.
After all, vehicles frequently passed along this highway during the summer.
Whether it caused a car crash or gave someone a heart attack, Philip felt he’d have a guilty conscience.
So, he figured he would first drive the modified cargo truck off the road shoulder and leave Captain America inside the vehicle.
In any case, the truck’s refrigeration system was quite good, and it had plenty of fuel to run continuously for a day or two without issue.
In a day or so, a passing driver was bound to spot the truck.
Besides, no matter how deeply Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD, Philip felt it was impossible that no one had noticed Cap was missing by now.
SHIELD’s people would likely come looking soon and pick up a “wild” Cap by the roadside—though there was a chance Hydra might get here first, the probability wasn’t very high.
The trickier part to handle was the corpses scattered around the scene.
After all, as anyone who frequently kills people would know, killing is easy—it’s disposing of the bodies that usually causes a headache.
Fortunately, while Philip had a sense of responsibility, he wasn’t the type to overthink things or overflow with bleeding-heart saintliness.
He simply thought about finding a clearing in the woods, dragging the Hydra agents’ bodies over, chopping some firewood, siphoning gasoline from the truck’s fuel tank, and setting them ablaze.
He just needed to be careful not to start a wildfire.
As for Nikolai’s bodyguards, after being mowed down by a Gatling gun, piecing them back into intact human shapes was practically impossible.
But that was Nikolai’s problem, and Philip didn’t feel like meddling.
However, he hadn’t expected Nikolai, who had miraculously survived, to give him a pleasant little surprise.
Not only did Nikolai tearfully dig out more US dollars from a bodyguard’s backpack and hand them to Philip—who had just displayed divine prowess by wiping out an entire truckload of men—as a reward for saving his life, but he also slapped his chest and assured him, “Don’t worry, leave everything here to me.” With that, Nikolai pulled a satellite phone from his bag and made an extremely expensive call.
This “expensive” didn’t just refer to the high per-minute satellite rate; more importantly, Nikolai ordered an exceptionally pricey service over the line.
“This is Nikolai.
I’m out in the wild in Alaska.
I’ll send you the GPS coordinates in a moment.
“I need an outdoor ‘room service’ delivery, about a dozen orders…
but I’m short on cash for the ‘meal charge’ right now.
After all, I came out on a hunting trip and didn’t bring enough cash.
Can I use a ‘credit card’?
I’ll settle the ‘credit card’ bill promptly once I’m back.
“Alright, I agree to the service fee on the credit card.
Charge it as you said, calculated at ten percent.
“Also, can I choose rush delivery?
What…
rush delivery in the wilderness costs double the ‘delivery fee’?
Fine, double it is.
Money’s no object, just hurry!” Hearing Nikolai inexplicably order “takeout” over a satellite phone, Philip processed it for a moment before realizing what the man was actually doing.
There was no helping it; before his transmigration, he had been a law-abiding citizen and had only seen this kind of thing in movies.
In this life, transmigrating to Alaska to raise a kid as a stay-at-home dad, let alone watching movies, he hadn’t even bought a television in all these years.
Little Broly was even more clueless.
Hearing Nikolai make the call, the kid directly asked a hilarious question: “Daddy, what’s ‘ordering food’?
When you’re hungry and want to eat, don’t you have to go hunting?” Listening to little Broly’s question, Philip felt a tug at his heartstrings.
The kid was already four years old, yet he’d never even ordered takeout once.
If their family were truly struggling financially, that would be one thing, but the problem was that their financial situation was actually pretty decent.
Including this gig as a hunting guide, Philip had saved nearly 100,000 USD over the past few years, all in hard cash.
Without exaggeration, he was likely wealthier than ninety percent of Americans.
The reason the father and son hadn’t interacted much with modern civilization over the years was partly because little Broly couldn’t properly control his strength back then, and partly because Philip’s subconscious had been playing tricks on him.
Because he knew a thing or two about the Marvel universe, the trouble-averse Philip had always shied away from living in a big city.
However, at this moment, he realized that his subconscious avoidance might be unfair to little Broly.
It was a bit like manufacturing hardship for himself when none existed.
So Philip immediately made up his mind: next, he would take his son and move to the most prosperous metropolis of the modern era, so the kid could learn what city life was all about.
Even if the Marvel universe was “rich in talent and land,” and the Big Apple was crawling with superheroes and supervillains alike, so what?
If everyone else could go, why shouldn’t a super dad raising a Super Saiyan son be able to go?
Philip patted little Broly’s head and told his son, “Broly, in a few days, you can try it yourself and see what ‘ordering food’ means.
It’s actually really easy.” Little Broly nodded in half-comprehension.
Though he still didn’t quite get it, he chose to trust what his dad said.
However, hearing the conversation between father and son, Nikolai’s six-year-old youngest son, Dimitri, once again failed to keep his mouth shut.
“No way, do you guys really think this is ordinary food delivery?
My dad is a high-ranking VIP at the Continental Hotel!
That’s why their people provide round-the-clock service.
Besides, the cost of one ‘meal’ here is probably more than you could make in a lifetime…” “Dimitri!” ×2 Nikolai and Dimitri’s older brother, Sergei, shouted in unison, putting a stop to the youngest son’s attempt to draw aggro toward their family.
Nikolai was beside himself with rage.
They say you can tell what a person will be like at eighty by age eight; at six, you could at least see what he’d be like at forty.
As things stood, this kid was simply irredeemably stupid.
The brat hadn’t grasped his intention at all.
Did this kid really naively believe that he was spending top dollar on the money-grubbing Continental Hotel to dispatch people from the nearest branch to clean up the scene purely out of gratitude to Philip, the “hunting guide,” for saving his life?
Had he not seen how terrifying Philip was?
Single-handedly, armed with only a hunting rifle and a revolver, he had swiftly killed nine elite soldiers of unknown origin without taking a scratch…
This Philip was practically Superman!
If he could rapidly kill nine fully armed soldiers, how much extra effort would it take for Philip to wipe out the three of them, father and sons?
Nikolai’s ultimate purpose in calling the Continental Hotel was actually to buy an “insurance policy” for himself and his two sons.
He wanted Philip to know that he wasn’t some “nobody,” but a “big shot” who could resolve sticky situations with a single phone call.
Nikolai had originally planned it all out: first display his “clout,” then find a way to recruit this god-of-war-like fighter.
He never expected his plan to be ruined by Dimitri.
Just to show off, the kid had completely killed the conversation!
Nikolai felt that after returning home, besides giving this brat a proper lesson with a water-soaked leather whip, he desperately needed to get a paternity test.