As a transmigrator who had preliminary mastery over supernatural power, his methods for making fast cash naturally wouldn’t be strictly law-abiding.
Perhaps that was why Marvel had so many supervillains?
Morris Chow’s initial idea followed similar lines.
However, as an upstanding youth who had received nine years of compulsory education and deeply despised gambling and drugs, Morris Chow still had moral boundaries.
Ordinary people’s money was hard-earned.
If he wanted fast cash, the rampant American street gangs naturally became his top choice.
Speaking of gangs, Marvel fans would naturally think of the famous Hell’s Kitchen first.
Yet Flushing (Queens), just a dozen kilometers away from Hell’s Kitchen (Midtown Manhattan West), was hardly peaceful in the Marvel universe either.
There were plenty of small Japanese and Korean gangs here, along with a few Chinese ones.
However, compared to the lawless chaos of Hell’s Kitchen, the gangs here were mere small-time players, unable to reach the big leagues, and basic order was still maintained by the NYPD.
Morris Chow’s first target was a well-known local gang: The Hand.
Yes, that wasn’t a typo—it was indeed called The Hand.
It differed by only a single character from the famous Hand of the Marvel universe, but first-time visitors to Flushing could easily confuse the two.
And strictly speaking, this gang could be considered one of The Hand’s peripheral low-level affiliates.
This gang served as The Hand’s downstream contact in Flushing, operating as a local drug distributor while dabbling in bars, nightlife, and prostitution.
They naturally raked in plenty of money.
Though they were mere small fry compared to their suppliers in The Hand, for Morris Chow, who urgently needed startup capital, it would be enough to cover his early expenses!
There were three reasons why Morris Chow chose to target such a small gang.
First: It was a Little Japan gang!
Second: The gang was a small target with few members and weak overall strength.
Third: While meeting the above two criteria, it was also the shadiest and wealthiest gang in the immediate area.
The boss of this small gang was named Kuji Tanaka, a rich second-generation kid from Little Japan.
He was already quite wealthy himself and had stayed in America after getting a decent degree.
Relying on family connections, he opened a bar and two karate dojos in Flushing.
Business was decent, but it paled in comparison to his family’s wealth.
To make more money, Tanaka started engaging in illegal business.
Thanks to his bar and two dojos, he quickly used his financial advantage to recruit dozens of skilled goons.
His lair was right above his bar.
It was easy to find, so Morris Chow didn’t even need to gather intelligence.
“Sigh, if only I had a Rogue’s Stealth skill!”
Morris Chow just wanted to get cash, so he found himself missing the Rogue class he used to play—Stealth, Lockpicking, Pickpocketing, and so on.
If he had those skills, he wouldn’t need to make a big scene; taking money from Tanaka’s place would be as easy as retrieving something from his own home.
“Hey, I almost forgot!
My Hunter pet has a stealth skill too!”
Morris Chow slapped his forehead as he suddenly remembered the Tiger King pet his Hunter usually used…
Although the Tiger King was an in-game pet, he could tame and raise a real-world feline in reality!
He wondered if leveling up a pet in reality would be difficult.
After all, learning the Stealth skill had a level requirement!
No sooner said than done.
Morris Chow quickly headed out to the nearest pet store.
Soon, a tiger-striped Chinese dragon cat caught his eye.
It was a half-grown kitten—lively and not shy at all.
When Morris reached out to tease it, the little guy extended its paws to swat at him.
He couldn’t help it; the moment he set eyes on the cat, he felt an instant sense of warmth and familiarity.
Without another word, Morris Chow bought the cat and carried it straight home.
Closing the bedroom door, he tethered the cat with a leash.
Standing a few meters away, he activated the Hunter’s signature skill: Tame Beast.
Just like in the game, the moment the skill was triggered, the kitten bared its fierce side and lunged at Morris.
Precisely because Morris didn’t want to get scratched, he had taken the precaution of tying it up beforehand.
Tame Beast worked remarkably well in reality.
Morris soon felt a preliminary connection form between himself and the kitten.
Grabbing a few liquid cat treat sticks given by the pet store, he spent three to five minutes feeding the kitten, and it quickly grew comfortable with him.
At the same time, Morris actually gained a portable pet slot in reality!
Just like his built-in inventory bag, it appeared out of nowhere.
Morris didn’t know if this counted as game rules bleeding into reality, but he didn’t dwell on it—it just made things more convenient.
Additionally, the cat’s attribute panel appeared in his mind; no floating stat window hovered over the kitten’s head. Get faster updates on g.com.
Morris gave the cat a simple name: Mimi.
Mimi’s stats were extremely low.
Although its level showed as Level 1, it virtually lacked any combat capability.
After thinking it over, Morris took Mimi back to the pet store and bought about a dozen white mice.
He wanted to see if Mimi could gain experience and level up through kills.
If not, he would have to try other animals.
After all, Tame Beast was a Hunter’s signature skill; it would be a shame if pets couldn’t level up in reality.
Returning home, Morris placed several white mice in the same cage with Mimi and commanded it to eat whenever it was hungry.
Upon receiving this command, Mimi’s happiness stat dropped significantly.
Good lord, was this little Mimi trying to be a couch-potato cat?
That wouldn’t do.
Morris issued a compulsory command.
Reluctant as it was, Mimi unsheathed its little claws against the mice.
After a playful “battle,” all the white mice lay dead.
Morris observed that as the mice died, the experience bar on Mimi’s pet panel in his mind nudged forward.
“As long as it can level up, that’s great.
But with this little experience, having Mimi learn Stealth is going to take forever!
If only I could bring Mimi into the game to power-level!”
Thinking this to himself, Morris looked forward to seeing if his Golden Finger would respond.
If the Golden Finger gave a prompt, it meant there was a way to bring real-world pets into the game to level.
Of course, if there was no response, it meant Mimi couldn’t be brought into the game, leaving him to train it slowly in reality.
Fortunately, his Golden Finger provided an answer.
The method was simple: once Mimi’s loyalty reached max level, Morris could bring it into the game.
Morris checked the loyalty indicator on the pet panel.
Not bad—without him noticing, the pet’s loyalty had already reached Rank 2.
It seemed that just like in the game, raising pet loyalty wasn’t difficult!
(In World of Warcraft, pet loyalty is divided into six ranks, starting at Rank 1 upon capture, with Rank 6 being the highest.
As long as happiness remains maxed out, loyalty increases quickly.)