Hearing the certainty in Jason's tone, Chief George looked again at the newspaper in his hand, then asked Jason, "Mr. Jason, you ntioned that the victim contributed articles to the Daily Bugle. What kind of articles did he mainly publish?"
At this point, Jason had an embarrassed expression. Rubbing his hands, he said, "I won't lie to you, Chief George, there were so disagreents between Hugie and . As a result, we ended our collaboration half a year ago because I disagreed with so views he expressed in his submissions."
Jason pulled George over to a quieter corner of the cri scene, away from the passing bystanders. Still, he lowered his voice and said,
"Hugie originally covered political campaign profiles. He'd been in the political news industry for over a decade. However, one day he approached , saying he found so of my published articles about Spider-Man in the Daily Bugle interesting."
"We spent an afternoon chatting and found many similarities in our views about superheroes. Therefore, I invited him to write an article about superheroes for the Daily Bugle."
"Surprisingly, he also focused on Spider-Man and wrote a sequel to 'Hugie Reveals Spider-Man's Dirty Secrets'. He brought it to my office and hoped I could feature it on the front page of the Daily Bugle."
"His first installnt focused on how Spider-Man disrupts the existing law enforcent order, causing trouble for police and panic amongst the public. I thought it was an excellent perspective. So we polished the article together and published it in the Daily Bugle."
George nodded in agreent and said, "Spider-Man sure gets involved in a lot of this chaos. Sotis our police officers are conducting their duties according to regulations, and he descends from the sky just to play the hero."
"During Spider-Man's early days, one of my officers caught a thief. He was waiting for his colleagues to transport both the thief and the victimized store owner back to the station for statents."
"The thief was trying to struggle free, and our officer was about to subdue him. But then Spider-Man swooped in and knocked the thief out with a single punch."
"The thief's nasal bone was broken, and he was admitted to the hospital. After being discharged, he accused the police of using excessive force. Of course, he could only lodge a complaint against the police because Spider-Man was masked and unidentifiable."
"That's exactly the point I was about to make." Jason emphasized, "No matter what fancy attire he wears, if he hides behind a mask, it ans he is trying to evade responsibility for his actions."
As if struck by a thought, George patted Jason on the shoulder and said, "The true danger of Spider-Man to society lies in the precedent he sets. Appearing masked, while seemingly doing good deeds, actually sends a ssage to the public that as long as they hide their faces, they can do whatever they want."
"Spider-Man might have done so good things, but what if others follow suit and misuse this principle to do bad things? What if everyone thinks that as long as they hide their face, they will not be held accountable for their actions? Then how many more victims, like your girlfriend, will there be?"
"I've always believed that the deterrent power of police lies in deterring those who wish to challenge the boundaries of societal order. We might not be able to cover every case, but when deterrents are present, offenders would think twice before disrupting order because of fear."
"However, if soone steps outside these boundaries, claiming that the police have no authority over them, the deterrent effect of the police is weakened."
"Potential criminals who are still undecided may think that, by following Spider-Man's example of hiding their faces, the police will leave them alone. The consequences of social disorder caused by this are far greater than a few good deeds by Spider-Man--This is my opinion of all superheroes."
Jason gave a deep sigh, then took out a notebook and pen from his trench coat pocket. "Chief George, can I quote your words in our 'Mysterious Personality Interview' section next week? Don't worry, your na won't appear."
"If you wish." George patted Jason's arm again. "Let's discuss the victim a bit more. Since you two initially agreed, why did you part ways?"
Jason glanced down at the newspaper George was holding. Understanding his intention, George handed it over. Looking at certain remarks, Jason said,
"In the first three exposés, Hugie discussed societal and philosophical dangers posed by superheroes. I thought these discussions were beneficial, offering the public a rational perspective on superheroes."
"However, in the fourth piece, Hugie alleged that Spider-Man frequently visited adult entertainnt venues, casinos, and underground boxing ring in Hell's Kitchen during his early days. Therefore, Hugie portrayed Spider-Man as a patron of prostitution, a gambler, possibly even controlling underground fighters for personal gain, and further speculated that he might be involved in drug use and criminal organizations."
Upon hearing this, Chief George frowned almost imperceptibly. Observing his expression, Jason knew that the seasoned detective had arrived at the correct judgnt. As expected George said,
"Based on my experience dealing with criminals over the years, Spider-Man doesn't seem to have any vice. It's not about his superpowers that give him such a robust appearance. If you've really seen as many gamblers and clients of prostitutes as I have, you'd know that Spider-Man and they are completely different."
Jason nodded and said, "I thought the sa, so I tactfully proposed this part of the speculation. There was no substantial evidence to support it, so we couldn't publish it temporarily. Hugie was very dissatisfied."
"After two days, he suddenly found and said that he had found evidence. He let listen to a recording from a black market boxing gym in Hell's Kitchen. One of the waitstaff there said that Spider-Man started out there. Apparently, he was a black boxer."
"Chief George, you probably know better than what kind of people black boxers are. Hugie seed to have gotten a terribly precious treasure, insisting on releasing this recording, and then publishing his speculations in the newspaper."
George's expression imdiately turned serious, whereas Jason stroked his chin and said, "I noticed a problem at that ti: where did Hugie get these clues?"
"I feel ashad, but I have been paying attention to Spider-Man since he first ca into prominence in New York. Hell's Kitchen is full of different types of people, not sothing that minor characters like us can understand. The mysterious background and identity of Spider-Man, who erged from there, but Hugie was able to turn up crucial clues there in just two days."
"My intuition told sothing was off, so I tactfully declined his publication request. As a result, Hugie understood that the evidence was not enough, which is why it did not sway ."
"Two days later, he ca up with evidence that Spider-Man had appeared in the New York Sewer, and it was very detailed and professional. He even got a hold of the spider silk samples that were left behind."
"I was stunned at the ti. I don't need to say how complex New York's sewer network is. When the underground network was being renovated, dozens of reporters from the Daily Bugle went down there and didn't make a single splash—can Hugie perform bilocation?
"Being able to produce such evidence in such a short ti proves that he is not a simple news editor. Either he has enough manpower to carry out a carpet search, or he has been plotting for a long ti and has already obtained many clues about Spider-Man and only now has he given them to ."
"I increasingly felt that sothing was wrong, so I proposed to end cooperation with him completely. Hugie seed very angry, so I had to soothe his emotions first and then sent him away."
"Unexpectedly, not a week passed when he found new partners. Not only one, but about six or seven newspapers and more than a dozen online dia. They began to publicize all over the evidence that Hugie found."
"The death of the first generation Spider-Man was dug up and specially written about, so of the outrageous behaviors of Spider-Man II were magnified by the dia again, and the real identity and address of the existing third-generation Spider-Man began to be dug up."
"The more noise there was, the more outrageous the rumors beca. So of the news published in regular newspapers was false news that had been passed down several hands. So of the news about Spider-Man that the Daily Bugle had reported earlier was also distorted, or quoted out of context. I quickly asked the editors to issue clarifications."
"On several occasions, I published articles explaining the real anings of those earlier pieces, and incidentally released reliable evidence from my hands, such as how he started out very young so it was unlikely he had illegitimate children, how healthy his body was, how regular his schedule was, how unlikely his chances of drug use were, etc. But..."
Jason hesitated for a mont, George could see that he had reservations, so he took Jason into an empty room next to the cri scene, closed the door, and said, "Say whatever it is, Mr. Jason. If the situation is serious, I can apply for witness protection for you."
Jason pushed his glasses up, shook his head and said, "It's not that serious, but within a week of my clarification articles being published, I found that my house might have been searched, and I noticed people following on my way to work..."
George's brow imdiately furrowed. Jason, seemingly aware of what he wanted to ask, said, "There's no use in calling the police. The other side is quite professional, and they don't seem like news practitioners who want to investigate and gather evidence. They are more like..."
"Law enforcent officials?"
Jason nodded and said, "Of course this is my personal speculation, but I've been in this industry for so many years and I know many people, I imdiately realized that I might have gotten involved in big trouble, so I imdiately put out the fire and took a vacation on the West Coast, and the Daily Bugle was also temporarily suspended."
"So you say that Spider-Man might be the pri suspect in the Hugie murder case..."
"He might be retaliating." Jason looked towards the door, lowered his voice even further, and said, "Because I've dealt with Spider-Man so much, I know that he is not the kind of fool who only knows how to throw punches—he is incredibly smart."
"Hugie and his people behind him organized large-scale sar campaigns against Spider-Man. I could even sense the signs, so there is no way he could not perceive that. Do you think a young and aggressive young hero could stand soone slandering him like this?"
George's brow furrowed deeply.
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