Although S.H.I.E.L.D. has some prejudice against superpowered individuals, setting fire to a building isn't their style.
Relatively speaking, it's more like something Hydra would do.
Of course, this is just Russell's current guess.
He's not 100% sure whether Hydra was behind it.
After entering the hotel lobby, he went straight to Charon at the front desk, took out a gold coin, and placed it in front of him.
"I want to know who exactly burned down my office?"
Russell stated directly.
As a direct assassin of the Continental Hotel, Charon was well aware of his identity on the surface.
Not only Charon knew, but anyone slightly familiar with him knew that he ran a detective agency called the Octopus Monster, such as colleagues like Perkins.
"Alright, Mr. Bradley!"
Charon, dressed neatly and looking very much like a butler, took the gold coin and quickly replied.
Russell nodded, turned around, and sat down in the lobby's waiting area, patiently waiting.
As a service hotel for assassins under the High Table, the Continental Hotel naturally included intelligence gathering.
Of course, some special intelligence required purchasing from specialized intelligence brokers.
But just finding out who burned down his office, such a minor matter, could be figured out by the hotel's own intelligence network.
Less than ten minutes after Russell sat down, the well-dressed Charon walked over with a piece of paper with names written on it.
"Sir, this is the information you requested."
Charon handed the paper to Russell.
Russell took the paper and glanced at it, his brows furrowing.
Not S.H.I.E.L.D.!
Not Hydra!
But two code names he was not unfamiliar with.
Cross, and, The Punisher!
"What exactly happened?"
Russell asked Charon.
"They encountered each other at the office, and after a fierce battle, both sides left, and your office caught fire."
Charon quickly explained.
They fought in my office, and then my office burned down?
Who did my office offend to deserve this?
Russell suppressed his dissatisfaction, took out four gold coins from his pocket, and handed them to Charon.
"I want to know the whereabouts of the two of them?"
Looking at the four gold coins Russell offered, Charon didn't take them immediately, pausing for a few seconds before taking two of them.
"Two are enough, sir. The other person you're looking for is right here."
After taking the two gold coins, Charon pointed towards the hotel entrance.
Following Charon's Pointing direction, Russell saw Cross, who seemed somewhat out of place with the hotel's style.
Cross!
The Brotherhood's ace assassin!
An ordinary-looking middle-aged man.
The moment he saw Cross, the system, which usually had little presence, suddenly popped up a message that only he could see.
"Reward: Destiny Assassin; Status: Not Activated; Activation Condition: Complete Cross's commission; Activation Effect: Upon activation, master Gun Kata and gain the ability to autonomously control adrenaline."
Uh...
The system had presented another reward with an activation condition, and it was a reward he hadn't seen before.
If it were before, Russell would have been quite happy.
But now, he wasn't feeling very happy.
The activation condition for this reward called "Destiny Assassin" was to complete Cross's commission.
Although the system didn't explicitly say so, considering Cross had just defected from the Brotherhood, it wasn't hard to guess what his commission would be.
Seeing Russell sitting in the hotel lobby, Cross quickly walked over and sat down opposite him.
"Sorry, your office caught fire. I will compensate you for all your losses."
After sitting down, Cross spoke first.
"No, you can't compensate!"
Russell's office was rented, and the office furniture inside was just bought from IKEA, not worth much money.
The only valuable things were the tens of thousands of cash and more than twenty gold coins issued by the High Table that he kept in the safe.
But what he had lost now was not these superficial things, but his reputation.
In the assassin world, quite a few people knew his real name, and quite a few people knew he ran a detective agency.
But until today, he was still living well.
There was a very important reason for this.
That was the very overbearing image he had built for himself outside.
Don't mess with the Traveler!
People will die!
And not only will you die, but your family, friends, neighbors, and even your neighbor's dog will be sent to meet God.
For this, he was even strongly condemned by a dog-loving colleague.
Speaking of this dog-loving colleague, Russell still missed him a little.
He learned many practical shooting and combat techniques from this dog-loving colleague.
For example, taking down three people with a pencil...
However, unfortunately, this dog-loving colleague retired and went home to get married last year, causing him to lose a great learning (stealing skills) subject.
Mainstream American society has a natural aversion, or rather, discrimination, towards Chinese people.
This is even more true in the underground world that worships the law of blood and violence.
When he first transmigrated to this world, Russell experienced many unpleasant things.
When he first started in the business, for the same task, the reward he could get was always a bit less than others.
After experiencing this unfair treatment and invisible discrimination two or three times, he woke up!
To hell with being friendly!
To hell with being polite!
I'm an assassin who risks my life for money. Whoever dares to deduct my life-risking money, I will take their life!
When he showed his fangs and displayed a style of killing without a word, the whole world instantly became beautiful.
The unfair treatment and discrimination he had suffered because of his skin color disappeared!
Of course, when he showed his edge, there were still some people who didn't believe in evil and thought he was just bluffing, trying to use force to tell him who really called the shots in this country.
But after he packed these people up and took them away, and incidentally packed up their family and friends as well, not many people doubted this point.
The Traveler was the assassin code name he gave himself.
But among other colleagues, his assassin code name had a few small prefixes.
For example, the Crazy Traveler, the Tyrannical Traveler, the Bloodthirsty Traveler...
Cross might be able to compensate him for his property losses, but he couldn't compensate for the loss of his reputation.
When this matter spread, and Cross was still alive and kicking, it wouldn't be long before he could say goodbye to his current peaceful life.
"I can compensate you for your losses, all of them!"
Cross was well aware of the losses Russell had suffered, but he still gave a firm answer.
"We'll settle the compensation later. Tell me, what do you want from me?"
PS: Please collect...