Gwen Stacy sat in the bleachers beside the training ground, watching Peter Parker exercise below. After the Lizard’s rampage on the Brooklyn Bridge, Oscorp immediately took over the cross-species genetics project, sealing the lab and taking all the research data.
The interns were reassigned to other trivial projects and were almost forcibly made to sign confidentiality agreements. Dr. Connors had disappeared entirely.
Gwen suspected that the Lizard was an experiment with the lizard serum. Oscorp had conducted human trials without FDA approval, which was a reckless disregard for human life.
But entities as powerful as Oscorp were beyond the reach of ordinary people like them. Even though her father was the NYPD Commissioner, any attempt to intervene could result in a mysterious “suicide.”
People who opposed these corporations often met untimely deaths—crushed at the gym, heart attacks, or accidental suffocation with plastic bags.
Survivors of the Brooklyn Bridge incident were either hiding in their cars or had fled far away; no one saw where the Lizard went.
“Ninety-seven… ninety-eight… ninety-nine… one hundred!”
After running ten kilometers, Peter Parker completed one hundred squats, drawing the attention of many.
“Next up, one hundred push-ups!”
He got down on the ground and began doing push-ups with perfect form.
Gwen Stacy couldn’t hold back any longer. She walked down from the bleachers and stood before Peter Parker. For the past three days, he had become a fitness fanatic, heading to the training ground for high-intensity workouts after classes.
“What happened, Peter? You’ve changed so much lately.” Gwen placed a water bottle in front of him. “I’m really worried about you!”
She had investigated and found that none of Peter Parker’s relatives were involved in the Brooklyn Bridge incident.
Peter stopped doing push-ups and stood up.
“I was on the bridge when the Lizard attacked.”
Gwen’s pupils contracted.
“Your name isn’t on the witness list.”
Peter shook his head.
“I ran away before they could register my identity. Gwen, I watched that monster throw cars full of people into the icy East River. Their screams echoed in my ears. I tried to stop the monster, but I wasn’t strong enough. I nearly got killed.”
“Gwen, I want to become stronger. Next time, I don’t want to be a bystander. I don’t want to feel so powerless, unable to do anything.”
Peter’s eyes reddened as he spoke. He was just an ordinary high school student, and death had seemed distant. That was the first time he saw so many lives lost in an instant.
Gwen’s heart softened, and she hugged Peter.
“It’s okay. You did your best.”
She finally realized that the hero witnesses mentioned trying to stop the Lizard was Peter Parker.
“A hundred and fifty-three people survived because of you. You saved them.”
Peter felt a pleasant scent enveloping him, and the soft body made him a bit flustered.
“But does this training really help?” Gwen asked, blushing as she let go.
“Of course! A super-powerful expert taught me this. I’ve been training for three days, and I already feel much stronger!” Peter said excitedly. He could feel a constant flow of strength from deep within his body. He had become familiar with his new powers in just three days, and his limits had significantly increased. If he faced the Lizard again, he wouldn’t be as powerless as before.
The metal crate was opened, revealing stacks of brand-new dollar bills inside.
“Your way of making money is unbelievable,” Alejandro said, scratching his head, and feeling a bit helpless.
“Over a hundred million dollars… Even in Bolivia, you couldn’t make that much quickly, let alone for an illegitimate child. I can help you launder some of it, but you need other investment methods. Investing only in the farm isn’t enough. Your income sources are too limited. You need more industries to gradually integrate this suspicious money and pay taxes.”
Broly brought Alejandro from Bolivia to the farm to handle the newly acquired hundred million dollars.
Traditional money-laundering methods, such as running restaurants, arcades, or car washes, would take forever to clean such a large sum.
The most effective methods were making movies through shadow contracts and inflated production costs, potentially cleaning thirty to forty million dollars with a single film.
Investing in art was similar. The crude way was to buy famous paintings at low prices and then auction them through an “anonymous consignor,” repurchasing them at significantly higher prices.
More subtly, one could select marketable artworks, buying them for tens of thousands of dollars each. By manipulating the market and fake transactions, the prices could be driven up several times. The paintings could then be used for money laundering.
Although these methods took a long time, they were very covert, with almost no risk. Sometimes, it even tricked others into unknowingly participating.
In this scenario, the artworks’ authenticity didn’t matter; sometimes, fakes were even more effective.
However, intermediaries for money laundering were often untrustworthy. Without strong backing, they would dare to steal anyone’s money. Without exposing his true power, Broly couldn’t trust them with this money. If his identity as Clark Kent was compromised, it would no longer be safe.
“Let’s use the money to buy a machine shop first. Cade is a great inventor. We might make a fortune, and maybe we won’t need to launder this hundred million at all,” Broly said, encouragingly patting Cade’s shoulder.
“Boss!”
Cade was touched by his words.
Become a Patron read up to 30 chapter ahead public release ^_^
Please join Discord Server so we can talk ^_^
