Chapter 21: The Night Devil Who Could Not Endure the Loneliness

In the bustling commercial district of New York, a white van adorned with a hamburger poster wobbled along the avenue.

Inside the driver’s cabin.

Luke, with his thin little legs barely reaching the floor, sat perched in the driver’s seat, steering the wheel as he issued commands to Peter Parker, who was crouched beneath the seat.

The car radio blared out the rousing theme from Pirates of the Caribbean, “He’s a Pirate.”

“Three taps on the gas.”

“Aye aye, Captain! Three taps on the gas.”

“Press the clutch, shift to the left gear.”

“Clutch, left gear! Hard port, Captain!”

“Hard port left. Slow down ahead, there’s an old lady crossing the street.”

From the depths of a certain backpack, an octopus muttered, “Run them over! Run them over!!”

Peter Parker replied, “Aye aye, Captain!”

Luke responded, “Approaching the station, slow down and drop anchor!”

Screech—

The van came to a halt, parking neatly outside Stark Tower.

It was time for the weekend hamburger stand with Peter Parker. The little spider relished these outings. To him, they were thrilling and full of fun.

For Luke, this was an indispensable source of cash at the moment. Though the earnings weren’t much, every bit counted—especially since the big iron beast at home was quite the money sink.

Luke and Peter Parker hopped out of the van and expertly set up their hamburger stall.

By now, Stark’s employees were trickling out of the building, heading straight for the van.

“Good afternoon! Luke, Peter. The usual, three burgers, extra tomato.”

“Certainly, sir!”

“Hey kid, I’ll take one too, no cheese, please.”

“Of course, ma’am!”

Lately, Bonina’s Delicious Burgers had become the talk of the nearby office towers, famed for their mouthwatering taste.

Anyone who’d tried even a bite never hesitated to lavish praise. It was, without doubt, the most delicious burger they’d ever tasted.

The only pity was that the van appeared only on Saturdays and Sundays.

Because of this, the office workers were even less resistant to weekend overtime.

HR managers in various companies noticed a peculiar trend: the number of employees requesting weekend shifts suddenly shot up. It left them utterly baffled...

Peter Parker’s favorite tasks assigned by Luke were twofold. First, collecting the money.

Right now, he was happily gathering payments, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

After every day of burger sales, Luke always generously split the profits in half, claiming it was the fruit of their shared labor and that friendship was priceless.

Thus, Peter became the second member of their school, after Luke, to join the ranks of the property-owning class...

The first thing he did was buy himself a brand-new PSP game console. He’d envied Luke’s for ages, but sadly, Luke had sold his.

Peter Parker’s second favorite task was hawking their wares.

Initially, Luke had asked him to shout a few lines to attract customers, but he never expected it would hit Peter’s...well, excitement button.

The little spider’s chatterbox nature finally found a release.

At that moment, Peter Parker was loudly calling out to the street, “Silver scale breastplates, five gold apiece, first come first served...”

Luke, busy making burgers, turned his head, “What the—are you serious? Sounds like something odd slipped in there?”

“Sorry, buddy. Pulled an all-nighter gaming,” Peter laughed, then asked, “Hey, buddy, I keep hearing you say ‘卧槽’—is it Chinese?”

“Yes,” Luke replied, hands never stopping.

“Can you teach me some Chinese, buddy? What does ‘卧槽’ mean?” Peter’s curiosity burned bright—perhaps foreshadowing why he’d someday get bitten by a spider.

Luke answered offhandedly, “It means ‘hello.’”

Peter immediately waved and called out, “卧槽, buddy!”

Luke opened his mouth, speechless...

Well, he had brought this on himself.

After a moment, he managed to say, “Hmm, 卧槽 too.”

Unlike his rapport with Tony Stark, which always hovered at zero, Peter’s favorability was skyrocketing.

A system prompt echoed in Luke’s mind: Peter Parker’s favorability +20

Once he reached 100 points, he could steal one of Spider-Man’s abilities. Currently, he was at 60—a rapid advance.

He believed it wouldn’t be long before he acquired a Spider-Man skill.

The scrapped food truck he’d pilfered from the salvage yard was already repaired in his warehouse, just waiting for a fresh coat of paint.

Luke planned to invite Peter to the warehouse next week to paint the van together, hoping to boost their camaraderie.

That evening, after packing up and heading home, Luke tallied up their income from the last two weeks of burger sales.

Last week, they sold over two hundred burgers, earning $1,500, split evenly between him and Peter.

This week, with tomorrow’s expected sales, they’d make another $1,500.

“One thousand five hundred...doesn’t really buy much, does it?”

Truth be told, since the last windfall, Luke had grown less interested in these small profits from burger sales.

Though he hated to admit it, gambling—however risky—brought in money much faster.

“Ah, I’ve fallen from grace.”

In the past, such thoughts would have marked him as a lost cause.

But for his future in Marvel, Luke no longer resisted any avenue that brought in big cash. After all, it was robbing the gangs—he had no qualms about that.

Lately, though, Hell’s Kitchen was on edge. Ever since that strange melee, the neighborhood’s crime rate had improved noticeably.

Many shady underground spots had shut down. Gang members faded into obscurity. Even the street dealers peddling tainted powder were much fewer.

It seemed an unseen undercurrent was stirring beneath the surface, gathering strength.

Beneath this current, the gang members’ nerves were stretched to the limit. Everyone seemed quiet for now, but Luke sensed that even a spark could ignite Hell’s Kitchen in an instant.

He decided to watch and wait, lying low for a while before stirring things up.

If he acted now, he’d be jumping right into the sights of every lurking player.

Luke chose caution, but others weren’t so patient.

Matt Murdock visited Luke’s foster parents that evening and was invited to stay for dinner by the Foggy couple.

Luke seized the chance to boost his favorability.

Though Matt concealed it well, Luke could still spot a few lingering scars on the blind lawyer’s face.

Clearly, his wounds from the previous encounter hadn’t healed, and given Matt’s ordinary constitution, he must be enduring considerable pain.

After dinner, Matt stayed to talk with Foggy, the pair sitting in the living room and speaking in hushed tones.

Karen was in the kitchen, doing chores.

Luke lingered in the hallway outside, fiddling with a remote-controlled toy car.

The toy car suddenly zoomed into the living room, hovering near Matt and Foggy. Their conversation was perfectly audible to Luke in the hallway.

He wore a discreet earbud in his left ear. The toy car was outfitted with a bug...

“I’m certain that, by following these blind men’s trail, we can find the mastermind behind all this. Last time, we were already very close,” Matt said gravely.

“Don’t you think this is dangerous? They have guns. And they won’t hesitate to use them! We should call the police, Matt,” Foggy whispered.

“No! The cops are all in their pocket. I don’t trust them.”

“Then I’m coming too.”

“That’s not possible.”

“This whole thing was set off because of me. Matt, no matter what you say, I have to go this time...”

The remote-controlled car spun around and left the living room.

“So the blind uncle’s wounds haven’t even healed, and he’s already restless. Typical Daredevil style, I suppose?”

Through the bug, Luke learned: they’d discovered a group of blind men being used to transport tainted powder. Matt and his friends wanted to follow the trail, hoping to uncover the mastermind behind New York’s underground powder trade.

He also picked up their plan of action and the exact timing.

“Blind men smuggling tainted powder?”

Luke quickly realized that Daredevil had stumbled upon Madame Gao’s operation.

“No wonder...so this is the origin of the whole affair,” Luke mused. “Matt has no idea what he’s up against.”

Madame Gao, with her four centuries of life, was not someone Daredevil could handle alone.

And now his foster father Foggy insisted on tagging along.

Luke headed upstairs to his room, sighing, “Looks like I’ll have to step in myself again.”