"This is Mr.... John Stillman?"
Howard, who spent a lot of time in the Pentagon and occasionally attended White House parties, recognized the man in the photo right away.
The other party was the right-hand man beside the President, John Stillman, who was the chief of staff of the White House.
The seat he held was known as the 'Second President' and the 'Gatekeeper of the White House', and he was arguably one of the politicians closest to the center of power in Washington, DC.
"Who is the other guy? And a man -- is there a problem with Stillman's sexual orientation? That's big news!"
Howard was always gifted with the ability to think of everything with the lower half of his body.
"But in politics, it shouldn't be much. As far as I know, Hoover from the FBI is bisexual."
"Luke, you know, those powerful people, who call themselves high-class, are actually very dirty."
"Please don't take yourself out of the picture when you're using mean words to satirize them."
Glancing at Howard, who was losing focus, Luke got up and walked over to the liquor cabinet and took out one of the high-end whiskeys that came from the Stark residence.
"As the boss of Stark Industries, an arms tycoon with a deep background ... Howard, don't forget, you're also a member of the upper class that's full of dirty people."
"And, in a way, you're still the centerpiece!"
Clink, clink, clink!
The ice cubes hit the wall of the glass and made a crisp sound.
The amber liquid was poured into the glass, rippling out in a circle.
"Would you like a drink?"
Luke asked, turning his head.
"Entertaining me with my own things, you're a real businessman! No wonder the budget committee gets a headache when they see you!"
Howard's mouth was unforgiving, but his body was honest. He reached out and took the glass of whisky.
"Then again, what made you pay attention to Stillman?"
Iron Man's father had some doubts. In his impression, Superman wasn't interested in politics, especially politicians who 'play' politics.
Otherwise, before, when the President revealed his intention of pulling him in, he wouldn't have had to refuse so quickly.
Luke took a sip of the cold liquid, his eyes flashed, and whispered, "According to the theory of six degrees of separation, the distance between you and any stranger you want to contact is no more than six people."
"That is, you can theoretically meet every stranger in the world through at most six mediators."
Howard narrowed his eyes and pouted, "It sounds like nonsense, but it's really interesting. It's a logical trap because no one knows who the six strangers are, and it lacks the conditions to specify the target, so it can go around by force."
He raised his chin and commented.
"Howard, why can't you ever stay focused?"
Luke shook his head helplessly, pointed his finger at another man in the photo, and said, "I just wanted to say that if you want to find out a person's true identity and political stance, you can start from his social circle, who he knows and who he is closely related to, which to some extent represents his class and position."
"On the surface, John Stillman is the President's confidant, the Gatekeeper of the White House, and the privileged number two in Washington. But he met a vampire privately, and the two spent a lot of time together."
"A vampire?"
Howard's voice rose a few degrees.
He was very impressed with this.
"Yes. According to the investigation from S.H.I.E.L.D., the person who met with Stillman was called Gitano."
Luke pushed the data on the desk and meaningfully said, "The pure-blood descendant of Dracula. He is also one of the rulers of the vampire council in North America."
"It may sound unbelievable, but those nocturnal creatures who walk in the darkness and are afraid to look into the sunlight have a similar social system and power structure as humans."
"The Vampire Council is probably the equivalent of the White House Cabinet, with great power and the ability to mobilize the family's resources at any time."
"The White House's Chief of Staff is colluding with the Vampire Council ...?"
It seemed that Howard was able to discover a little bit of meaning to it.
"I heard you say that vampires boast of being a long-lived race, and that humans are probably just a fleeting part of a long life in their eyes."
"So, Stillman wants to live longer?"
When he thought about it, the most tempting chip that vampires would have for humans was legendary immortality.
Anyone who feared death hoped that the cruel passage of time could be merciful to them.
"Not entirely true. Vampires also age, but much slower than human beings, far from achieving complete immortality."
Luke corrected Howard's misconception and then continued, "As for Stillman's private contact with the Vampire Council, I thought it was an exchange of interests at first, just like you."
"But with the in-depth investigation by the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I found that it wasn't that simple."
Having said that, Luke paused, looked at Howard, who was aroused by interest, smiled, and asked, "Have you ever heard of the Familiar Clan?"
"Some kind of underground group that worships vampires?"
Howard thought for a few seconds. He thought about the literal meaning and gave the correct answer.
"This is true of the former. Human beings are very complex creatures, and sometimes they need a specific image as spiritual support."
Luke raised his glass, stared at the amber liquid, and faintly said, "The emptier you are, the more you need spiritual support -- but this is within the normal scope of faith, which is a matter of personal freedom, and there's nothing wrong with it."
"When it comes to worship, that's another matter."
"In this world, people worship money, worship the phallus, and the most common form is worshiping idols -- there are all kinds."
"People like to attach a strong desire, or need, to something specific."
"The Familiar Clan are a group of people who seek immortality, agelessness, youthful bodies, and vibrant vitality... Later, they slowly developed into vampire worshippers who want to become vampires and even consider themselves slaves of vampires and humans as inferior creatures."
"Oh, short-sighted sad people."
Howard's face showed contempt.
With his knowledge and pride, he naturally despised these people.
To be more precise, he thought that because their hearts weren't strong enough, they gave up thinking for themselves and gave this power to others -- they could all be classified as fools.
Of course--
Except for personal faith, which wasn't about worship.
Howard himself wasn't a devout Christian.
"I didn't realize that Stillman was a familiar and secretly worshipped vampire. He graduated from Duke University's law department. I thought that studying law should've made him more rational than normal people."
"Before I met you, I thought MIT geniuses were probably the kind of nerds who couldn't get close to women, and I thought scientists were always serious and rigid."
Luke's rebuttal left Howard speechless.
He tried a hundred times to be mean and poisonous, but it didn't seem to have any effect in front of the other party.
"Stillman began contacting the Vampire Council after I left Washington. Before that, he didn't show the slightest sign of abnormality."
Luke turned to Vampire Council Gitano's information, which was relatively simple and not at all as detailed as the White House's Chief of Staff, John -Stillman.
From this point, they could see that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents might be enough to deal with ordinary people.
But they weren't enough to deal with vampires.
"In fact, it's not just Stillman. From the information, I have on hand and from the results of the investigation, it appears that perhaps a third of the members of Congress are either familiars or have close ties to them."
Luke stated a shocking fact.
This was the upper level of the pyramid of power in the country, which was almost completely infiltrated by vampires.
Aware of the seriousness, Howard finally withdrew his cynical and frivolous expression.
"The vampires in North America seem to be developing better than those in Europe."
He took a sip of whisky and expressed his doubts.
"The two sides are different. The pure-blood descendants of Dracula have more unity. They are closely connected with human society, while the situation in Europe is rather chaotic."
Luke gave a brief introduction.
"In addition, the New York Sanctum hasn't done much to combat the darkness, which has given the Vampire Council a chance to linger on."
Over the years, the penetration of pureblood descendants into business and politics had been significant.
At its peak, half of the top executives of the major financial institutions on Wall Street were familiars.
That's why the Wall Street elites were called 'bloodsuckers'.
There was nothing wrong with interpreting it that way.
"Howard, remember Kang the Conqueror I mentioned before?"
Closing the documents in his hand, a sharp light swept through Luke's eyes.
Howard, sitting opposite, frowned and asked, "The guy who can travel through time and space, posing as historical figures everywhere?"
"That's right. At first, I thought that if Kang wanted to choose a leader with high status and power, he would probably focus on the Soviet Union."
Luke tapped his finger on the side of his glass and whispered, "If he does so, and turns himself into that guy in the Kremlin, even if he wants to start World War III, it might not be difficult for him."
"But, after I returned to New York and Washington, D.C., I saw the Chief of Staff colluding with the Vampire Council and seeing the reclusive President ... I couldn't help but come up with another thought."
"What if Kang wasn't in the Soviet Union, but -- in the White House?"
....
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