Leaving the building, Charlie was still thinking about what had just happened and couldn't help but say,
"Are we just leaving like this? What if Mike Gray recovers and seeks revenge?"
"He won't recover."
Charlie frowned, a little confused.
Luke chuckled, "Ilya Fiel was once a special forces member. All the skills he learned were for killing. To make him even more effective in combat, I added something to his body that makes people go crazy."
"Don't worry! They won't find it. Even if they do, there's no evidence."
Charlie swallowed, glanced left and right, and whispered, "This is too crazy. Mike Gray is a high-ranking FBI official, a member of the power center. If we take him out, what about the other high-ranking officials..."
Luke glanced at him and said indifferently,
"When the old man taught Chinese, he mentioned a phrase: 'Knock on the mountain to shake the tiger.' Do you remember?"
Charlie thought back, then awkwardly scratched his hair.
Luke was speechless. This guy was an idiot.
"'Knock on the mountain to shake the tiger' means to appropriately display power to instill awe in the enemy, so they don't act recklessly."
"Melissa's situation is more troublesome than imagined. They've already sensed it. The killer is likely you, me, or Linda Danvers, but they have no evidence and haven't found the body. In desperation, they resorted to dirty tricks. Think about it, why did they dare to use underhanded methods against you?"
Charlie's expression gradually turned grim.
Luke sneered, "As the highest investigative agency in the United States, the FBI has immense power. Those who work there inevitably develop arrogance. The higher their position, the greater their arrogance. Take Mike Gray, for example. In his eyes, you're just an insignificant small fry, and so am I. When they can't find evidence, they'll use some tricks to arrest those small figures, use torture to force them to talk. Mike Gray has done this before, and he will do it again."
"So, he must die!"
"Only when he dies will the other high-ranking officials be shaken, realizing that this guy in front of them isn't some stray cat or dog, but a man-eating tiger. People can easily manipulate stray cats and dogs, but if they try the same methods against a tiger, they're asking for death."
"Mike Gray's life is the warning I'm sending them. If they want to come after me, no problem, show me actual evidence. If they dare to use dirty tricks again, I'll send them to meet Jesus."
Charlie's body trembled. He thought, 'The young master has indeed changed.' His words were full of power and dominance, something he rarely saw before. But then he thought again and was still uneasy, saying with unconcealed worry,
"Mike Gray is an FBI high-ranking official after all, with many connections. What if..."
"Foolish!"
Luke's face was cold, and he reprimanded him unceremoniously, "Do you think the current government is still the hegemon it was decades ago? Times have changed, and the future will only be more brutal.
Just look at their actions to understand why crime rates in major cities are skyrocketing. Our President isn't a good person either. Corruption, bribery, embezzlement, and those kinds of habits..."
At this point, a strong look of disgust flashed in his eyes. Corruption and bribery were one thing—which president doesn't line their pockets—but the key was that he was colluding with the dark web, using human organs for cult rituals.
Luke couldn't understand. Were the politicians from both parties blind? How could they let such a person into the White House?
Charlie couldn't suppress his curiosity and whispered,
"What kind of habits?"
Luke glared at him, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."
Charlie immediately shut his mouth, his eyes darting back and forth, clearly very curious about the President's special habits.
Luke continued, "Thanks to the tireless efforts of those above, the FBI has also become a camp for the incompetent, with internal factions and endless infighting. They try every possible way to expose each other's dirt. Mike Gray was one of them, but the weakest. Now that he's dead, who will take over the hot potatoes of Metropolis and Gotham?"
Charlie looked thoughtful, seemingly understanding something.
"In short, what happened today stays between us. Don't mention it to outsiders."
"Understood, boss. I know what to do."
"Good that you understand."
The two arrived at a French restaurant where Linda was already inside. Seeing the alien violent woman whom he hadn't seen in a long time, Charlie's calves couldn't help but tremble. He sat down in a chair a little further away from her, lowered his head, and obediently ate his meal.
Coward!
The girl looked at him with disdain, then her gaze lingered on Luke. She raised her right hand, her fingertips moving a couple of times as if asking for something. Luke took out a bank card and placed it in her hand, then asked casually,
"What are your plans for the future?"
"Haven't decided yet."
Luke asked the waiter for a French steak and at the same time said, "Do you want to come work at the company?"
"No, I'm not interested in ShowMe, and I definitely won't be your secretary."
"Not ShowMe, it's another company."
Hearing this, Charlie, who was eating, looked up and said in surprise,
"A new company!"
"Just registered this morning, a new energy company called Bluebird. The other is a military-industrial enterprise, including aerospace technology and new energy applications. I gave it a special name—Tesla."
Linda's heart stirred, "You're going to build spaceships?"
Luke laughed heartily, "I'd love to build spaceships too, but unfortunately, the technology isn't there yet. Earth's current technology can at most research drones and electric vehicles. We're still a hundred thousand miles away from building spaceships."
Charlie put down his fork and asked somewhat nervously,
"Boss, are you really going to open a new company?"
"It's already decided."
"Then what about ShowMe?"
Luke glanced at him and said in a calm tone, "I heard you've done quite well this past month."
"No, no!"
Charlie waved his hands repeatedly, very modestly, "I just increased the total number of users to 21 million, raised the daily active ratio to 90%, hacked two rival companies that kept causing trouble, found out the mole who wanted to leak information, expanded the user base from students to white-collar workers, and incidentally embarrassed the Sequoia Group, and so on and so forth. These are all minor things, not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."
Luke: "..."
Linda: "..."
"Keep showing off, and be careful not to get yourself into trouble again. Let's see who saves you then."
Charlie became even more modest, "I did everything according to your requirements. If anyone's showing off, it's you. If it weren't for the planning document you left, ShowMe wouldn't have developed to this scale. It's just the fundraising..." He paused, put away his smile, and his expression became serious,
"The company's traffic is climbing every day, and the rented servers are simply not enough. Zach and I discussed it, and we think it's time to build a data center. A small data center won't meet the requirements; only a large one will do. Building a large data center requires a lot of money."
He didn't say anything further, but his meaning was clear.
Luke put down his wine glass, "Who has contacted you?"
"Presidents of major banks, investment consultants, internet giants like Sequoia, Softbank, and Qingke, as well as large enterprises like Wayne Enterprises and LuthorCorp, have all expressed interest in ShowMe."
Luke sneered, "It seems that fundraising is unavoidable."
Charlie didn't know how to respond and could only remain silent.