Chapter 144: Mr. Li's Dilemma

Since Peter isn't Spider-Man, Martin Li had a reason to reconnect and reassess the situation. In many versions, he is Spider-Man's arch-enemy, a rival of Kingpin, and occasionally, an enemy of the Osborn Corporation.

Martin's rise in "finance" began eight years ago, during the last boom in the U.S. housing market, around the same time as the founding of United Construction.

In New York, being involved in "finance" and "real estate" almost always means being tied to organized crime.

Considering that he had become a hot potato, and now Martin was approaching him like this, it seemed that the financier's situation wasn't great either.

Martin said warmly, "Since we share a similar surname, I'll call you by your first name if you don't mind."

"Of course not."

"You have strong technical abilities but were caught in an unfortunate disaster due to an intern. I deeply regret that. If it's convenient, I'd like to know what your plans are moving forward."

"At present, the side effects of the Lizard Serum cannot be eliminated, but that doesn't mean there aren't other applications. I'll continue to invest in the research."

"But you need money," Martin interjected, finding his angle. "Forgive me, but today's court mentioned only $2.34 million, though the final losses could double that."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"You're a competitor to the Osborn Corporation, and you've taken the lead—they wouldn't mind tripping you up a little, and neither would the government."

This was nonsense—Leo immediately realized that Martin was trying to pit him against the Osborn Corporation.

Because Osborn wouldn't even need to trip him up; the city government would "bill" Leo on their own.

Leo nodded slightly. "Indeed, like cleaning up discrepancies in the accounts."

Martin smiled. "It seems you understand. I'll be direct—the environment isn't great, and we're all in the same boat. Do you think this technology can make money? I'm willing to invest."

"It can, and it will make a lot of money—I'm willing to offer 10% of the company's shares, on the condition that you cover our compensation costs."

"That's not enough."

Leo continued, "Then how about this—Lab 3 is under investigation, and we're consultants for the NYPD."

Martin nodded. "The Osborn-sponsored lab—that's something to exploit. But it's not enough yet; the case isn't closed."

Not enough? Leo thought for a moment and said, "Martin, you might not grasp what I mean by 'a lot of money.' Let's sign an agreement. Within the next three weeks, I'll deliver 1,000 units of whole blood. If I fail, I'll pay a penalty—you name the price."

Martin was stunned.

At the very least, 1 unit of blood is what a person can donate at once, meaning Leo needed to find 1,000 blood donors in three weeks.

The current market price for one unit of blood is around $300, so Leo would need to provide at least $300,000 worth of blood in three weeks!

And blood is different from other medical supplies—once in motion, the price would likely exceed that—

The issue was, Leo only had a shabby lab under him.

"If that's the case…" Martin stopped mid-thought and looked up to see Leo's calm demeanor.

He had a unique ability—a sensitivity to people's emotions and even the power to manipulate them.

Just as he was about to test the waters, he instinctively felt it was best not to.

"Well, I was hoping for more benefits, but since you're so honest, I can't let myself fall behind. But I'm curious—aren't you going to negotiate for better terms?"

At this moment, the atmosphere truly relaxed—for the first time, both parties were close to reaching a cooperative agreement.

Seeing that Martin didn't push too far, Leo felt Martin was indeed a worthy ally to have.

So he spoke, "A compensation of several hundred thousand dollars is already significant. Moreover, it's not just about the money; it's about your influence in Chinatown.

Since we're already in agreement, let me be direct—I think offering 10% of the shares is generous, for both of us.

If you want more, I'll refuse outright.

My situation may seem tough, but the growth potential is enormous. Once I publicize this, there will be no shortage of collaborators.

As for finance, Martin, let me be blunt—without further industry support, your financial empire has reached its limit.

With the subprime mortgage crisis receding, your room to maneuver will only shrink."

This statement might seem contradictory—why would Martin's business shrink as the subprime crisis fades? It's due to the layout of his industries.

Martin's profits aren't high; they rely on scale.

His empire is based on several Chinatowns and Asian communities, where order is maintained through a combination of sweatshops and gang control.

Sweatshops create jobs and provide a slight political advantage, but the profits are pitiful, so they rely on gangs for control—or rather, gang control is the foundation of the sweatshops' operations.

This order is maintained through two city council members in the 150-person New York City Council, both closely tied to Martin.

However, as the financial crisis fades and high-tech industries begin to grow, others' assets will increase faster than his, which is effectively a loss for him.

His assets are shrinking.

Leo had already gone through all the relevant corporate annual reports and concluded that Martin was in a tight spot—

Martin had two options: either expand into high-tech industries or swallow other gangs to violently grow his territory.

But he couldn't beat Kingpin in the latter, and without high-tech companies to bring him along, he couldn't do the former. The reasons are somewhat similar—he's a minority, and within the minority, one of the easiest to push around.

If he hadn't brought other Asians with him and had superpowers, building such a financial and criminal organization would have been nearly impossible.

Leo's words were vague, leaving Martin unsure—was he referring to his entire financial empire?

Before he could react, Leo continued, "We're natural allies, Martin—you need to recognize that.

Just as you offer me more than just money, I provide more than just biotech—I also run a company that significantly lowers security costs."

Another seemingly contradictory statement.

Leo had checked the gun ownership rate, crime rate, and drug violation statistics in Chinatown, and they were actually low.

Meanwhile, financial companies, real estate firms, and banks had a much higher risk of problems—in terms of crime targets and industry layout, Martin and Kingpin clearly had different approaches.

Both needed people to maintain their empires, but Kingpin relied on providing shady services to the powerful above, brutally suppressing those below, and sharing the spoils with his own men—money was everything.

Martin relied more on his superpowers, allowing him to target the wealthy and competitors, while having no real allies and his subordinates were all foot soldiers.

He didn't need a vast criminal industry to ensure "employment" for criminals, and transitions would happen more swiftly.

"This is indeed a good thing," Martin said meaningfully. "You are deeper than you seem, but after the incident, you still chose to maintain contact with Peter Parker, this troublemaker, even hiring him. Why?"

"There are many reasons—you could say I believe that the benefits he can bring in the future outweigh the losses from this incident."

"My lawyer also asked why I didn't just cut ties with him entirely, then drop all the attention and spotlight."

That was also Martin's real question—how could a boss tolerate a mistake that big from a teenage kid? Any other boss would have fired him.

Leo, being familiar with such situations, understood their doubts. He continued explaining: "But on second thought, first of all, I'm one of the sponsors of the lab, and I tacitly allowed Peter to become an intern. So if he made a mistake, I'm partly responsible, and I don't want to be seen as an irresponsible person."

If a company had a problem and you simply pushed the blame onto an intern or contractor, it would seem too irresponsible and dismissive.

Given the choice, Leo was reluctant to revert to such tactics.

"If something goes wrong, you ditch this person; if something else goes wrong, you ditch another person—each time, cutting someone off.

Are you doing this just to protect your assets, to build yourself a fancy vault and sit on it all day, admiring your wealth? I'm not that kind of jerk.

Peter made a mistake, but he stood up and took responsibility. He's capable of bearing the consequences, learned his lesson, and now has the chance to help the NYPD uncover the truth behind a real homicide, to redeem himself.

I believe he can become a better person. My partners believe in him, and the court believes that after proper education, he can improve. In short, I hope this trend towards betterment becomes a reality."

"You choose to believe in your people, and you hope good things happen, to put it simply," Martin summarized.

"Yes, I hope good things come true."

After hearing this, Martin laughed—a genuine laugh, not mocking but appreciating Leo's words, which seemed sincere, almost too sincere to be real.

He took a glass and some red wine from the car's minibar and, while pouring, said, "My parents used to comfort me when I was a child, telling me that when I grew up, good things would come true.

But by the time I made money, they were gone."

"I'm truly sorry."

"My eternal regret—we should have met a few years earlier. There's a saying from my hometown."

"'Better to have met late than never.'" Leo smiled, accepting the glass.

Martin looked surprised, "I thought you were a native-born American."

"I enjoy learning, and that includes learning about other excellent cultures—by the way, I'm not really into wine. Next time, we should have tea."

"I'll remember that—the tea from my hometown is excellent. I'll let you try it next time."

They raised their glasses, and Martin said, "Then let's work together and make good things come true."

After finishing their drinks, the car arrived at Hell's Kitchen.

As Leo was getting out of the car, Martin's hand suddenly turned black and white—

He hadn't intended to use his powers, but he found it hard to believe that someone who hoped for good things to come true could have such deep schemes—if he had to be blunt, Leo seemed full of contradictions to him.

People with good intentions often made naive mistakes, while those who were cunning and experienced never said or did such things.

At least, that's how Martin saw it, which is why he wanted to understand Leo a little more.

His instincts told him not to tamper with Leo's moral compass too much, but learning a little more seemed harmless enough.

This kind of energy would let Martin sense Leo's buried negative emotions and get a glimpse of his inner thoughts without causing a full-blown reversal of his morality.

The moment the negative energy made contact with Leo, Martin's face drastically changed, and he physically jumped, startling the driver.

Martin glanced at Leo nervously through the rearview mirror, afraid that the negative energy would cause a bigger reaction—but Leo didn't seem affected.

"...It's fine, keep driving."

[New company registered: International Gene Cooperation Co.]

[Research Project 1: Synthetic Blood]

[Progress: 80%]

[New personnel added to the biology lab, with new research projects]

[Name: Peter Parker (on probation)]

[Specialty: Cross-species genetics, bio-programming (in training), bio-mechanical engineering (in training), biomaterials (in training)]

[Research Project 2: Corpse study (cancerous mutation, immature lizard serum injection)]

[Current lab under public pressure, additional PR efforts underway]

[Tech product interaction: Negative energy]

[Extremist thoughts brought by negative energy greatly reduced]

[Negative energy dissipated.]

Leo remained unfazed—watching the car drive away, he thought to himself that Martin couldn't resist using his powers after all.

But he had expected Martin to reverse his morality entirely and pry into his mind. For some reason, Martin had only brushed him lightly.

Maybe Martin was still in the early stages of his powers, not yet fully skilled?

Leo figured this was a good test anyway to see if the negative energy, technically a technological product, had any effect on him.

The answer: almost none.

Behind him, Leo heard the sound of web-shooters, signaling Gwen's arrival.

He turned to see the girl in a white suit clinging to the wall.

"What's up?"

"Uh, a lot actually—first of all, I wanted to thank you for not giving up on Peter. He's going to get better."

"If I remember right, didn't you say you weren't close?"

"We aren't! I'm just commending you for setting the right example for the city!"

Leo watched Gwen jump in frustration and thought to himself that she was still too hot-headed. Why was she so quick to get worked up?

Gwen continued, "Not that, I mean that day, you—"

"Don't ask. Even if you do, I won't answer. I didn't pry into your true identity, did I? If I were you, I'd focus on the Lab 3 case.

Solving that case will help reduce Peter's sentence. Don't you think?"

"Of course I know that—but why should I focus on helping someone I barely know..."

"To set a good example for the city."

Gwen froze. The two large eyes on her suit shifted slightly as she swung down to face Leo.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're really annoying?"

"Nope—I'm just being honest. How is that annoying?" Leo raised his hands. "Anything else? I'm pretty swamped right now."

"Nothing else." Gwen shot a web and perched on a streetlamp. "I'm busy too, you think I'm not?"

"I never said that. You should get yourself a voice modulator, seriously."

"I don't need your advice!"

With that, Gwen swung away on her web, leaving Leo amused—it felt like teasing a neighbor's bratty teenage daughter.

As he watched her swing away, Leo remembered how many fanfics in his past life liked pairing Gwen with different characters, making her some sort of multiverse wife.

But Leo genuinely had no such thoughts about Gwen—mentally, he was a grown adult. Dating a college or even high school student? That's just creepy.

At the very least, it should be someone like V, a real adult.

Why was he even thinking about this?

Leo shook his head.

[Unstable energy about to erupt.]

(TN: Here is the last bonus chapter I'm gonna go enjoy my break next chapter we return to the cyberpunk world see you guys on monday PS Please give reviews and power stone for my motivation Thank you)