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 sa ti as the founding of United Construction.
In New York, being involved in "finance" and "real estate" almost always ans being tied to organized cri.
Considering that he had beco a hot potato, and now Martin was approaching him like this, it seed that the financier's situation wasn't great either.
Martin said warmly, "Since we share a similar surna, I'll call you by your first na 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 an there aren't other applications. I'll continue to invest in the research."
"But you need money," Martin interjected, finding his angle. "Forgive , but today's court ntioned 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 governnt."
This was nonsense—Leo imdiately realized that Martin was trying to pit him against the Osborn Corporation.
Because Osborn wouldn't even need to trip him up; the city governnt 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 environnt isn't great, and we're all in the sa 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 sothing to exploit. But it's not enough yet; the case isn't closed."
Not enough? Leo thought for a mont and said, "Martin, you might not grasp what I an by 'a lot of money.' Let's sign an agreent. Within the next three weeks, I'll deliver 1,000 units of whole blood. If I fail, I'll pay a penalty—you na the price."
Martin was stunned.
At the very least, 1 unit of blood is what a person can donate at once, aning 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 dical 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 deanor.
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 mont, the atmosphere truly relaxed—for the first ti, both parties were close to reaching a cooperative agreent.
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 agreent, let 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 be blunt—without further industry support, your financial empire has reached its limit.
With the subpri mortgage crisis receding, your room to maneuver will only shrink."
This statent might seem contradictory—why would Martin's business shrink as the subpri 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 mbers 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 forr. The reasons are sowhat 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 more than just money, I provide more than just biotech—I also run a company that significantly lowers security costs."
Another seemingly contradictory statent.
Leo had checked the gun ownership rate, cri rate, and drug violation statistics in Chinatown, and they were actually low.
anwhile, financial companies, real estate firms, and banks had a much higher risk of problems—in terms of cri 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 n—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 "employnt" for criminals, and transitions would happen more swiftly.
"This is indeed a good thing," Martin said aningfully. "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 beco 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 bla onto an intern or contractor, it would seem too irresponsible and dismissive.
Given the choice, Leo was reluctant to revert to such tactics.
"If sothing goes wrong, you ditch this person; if sothing else goes wrong, you ditch another person—each ti, cutting soone 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 beco 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 betternt becos 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 co true."
After hearing this, Martin laughed—a genuine laugh, not mocking but appreciating Leo's words, which seed sincere, almost too sincere to be real.
He took a glass and so red wine from the car's minibar and, while pouring, said, "My parents used to comfort when I was a child, telling that when I grew up, good things would co true.
But by the ti I made money, they were gone."
"I'm truly sorry."
"My eternal regret—we should have t a few years earlier. There's a saying from my hotown."
"'Better to have t late than never.'" Leo smiled, accepting the glass.
Martin looked surprised, "I thought you were a native-born Arican."
"I enjoy learning, and that includes learning about other excellent cultures—by the way, I'm not really into wine. Next ti, we should have tea."
"I'll rember that—the tea from my hotown is excellent. I'll let you try it next ti."
They raised their glasses, and Martin said, "Then let's work together and make good things co 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 soone who hoped for good things to co true could have such deep sches—if he had to be blunt, Leo seed 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 seed 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 mont 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]
[Na: Peter Parker (on probation)]
[Specialty: Cross-species genetics, bio-programming (in training), bio-chanical 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 so 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 rember right, didn't you say you weren't close?"
"We aren't! I'm just comnding 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 an 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 soone 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 rembered how many fanfics in his past life liked pairing Gwen with different characters, making her so sort of multiverse wife.
But Leo genuinely had no such thoughts about Gwen—ntally, he was a grown adult. Dating a college or even high school student? That's just creepy.
At the very least, it should be soone 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)
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