Manhattan, Sky Apartments.
After entrusting the matters of the repair firm to the landlord Sean and leaving him with sufficient funds for repairs, Russell drove his own Porsche 911 back home.
Although he would pass by the American Museum of Natural History where Diana worked on his way home, Russell didn't plan to pick her up after work.
Firstly, Diana had her own car.
Secondly, Diana didn't like the idea of Russell picking her up after work.
When they had just become a couple but hadn't started living together, Russell had picked up Diana a few times.
But Diana always felt that this would trouble Russell.
Therefore, Diana, who had a strong independent streak, had a serious conversation with Russell about this issue.
Since then, unless they had already made plans to go out in the evening, both Russell and Diana would drive back to the apartment separately.
Upon returning to the apartment, Russell first took a comfortable hot bath, changed out of clothes that hadn't touched any blood or dust, cleaned himself up, and patiently waited for Diana's return.
Whether the clothes were dirty or not wasn't the main concern.
The key was that after killing someone, Russell always felt like he had some invisible bloodstains on him.
Although this was just a psychological effect, whenever possible, he would quickly change out of the clothes he wore while committing the act and dispose of them.
Because of this small habit, he ended up spending more money on clothes than even Diana did.
His wardrobe at home was now displaying an unusual scene where his clothes took up most of the space.
After freshening up, he whistled his way to the kitchen and began preparing dinner for the night.
Most of the time, Diana was the one who prepared dinner.
But occasionally, he would step into the kitchen to change up the flavors.
The culinary culture of the "Drifting Nation" was somewhat lacking, and after eating it for a while, it was easy to get tired of it.
The knife skills he had developed in close combat were just as useful in the kitchen.
Russell prepared dinner with a joyful mood.
Just as he was about to finish cooking the usual four dishes and a soup, Diana returned home.
Due to his continuous planting of ideas, Diana not only developed a liking for his family culture , but she also learned how to cook many home-cooked dishes herself.
Today, Diana was wearing a brown leather jacket on the outside, paired with a black deep V-neck T-shirt that highlighted her eye-catching cleavage.
She wore black jeans on her lower half, perfectly showcasing her long, slender legs and well-rounded, perky buttocks.
The high-heeled boots on her feet made her already 175 cm (around 5'9") height appear even more erect and full of vigor.
Fortunately, Russell was tall enough; otherwise, he might not have dared to walk alongside Diana in her high heels.
As soon as Diana entered the door, she caught the scent of the delicious food wafting through the air.
A touch of warmth in their ordinary life!
This was something Diana cherished.
"Welcome home!"
Back before he crossed over, Russell had often imagined ideal scenes of cohabitation or married life.
For instance, coming home after a busy day of work to find a gentle and lovely girlfriend (wife) waiting for him at home.
She would be simmering soup in the kitchen, having prepared dinner, while relaxing on the living room couch reading a book or playing with the cat.
Upon his return, she would warmly greet him, offer a passionate hug, and then they'd share their day.
Unfortunately!
This scene he had never experienced before his crossed over.
On the contrary, it was only after he came to this world that he actually lived out this kind of scene from his fantasies.
The only difference was that there was no cat at home, and the one welcoming him back wasn't a gentle and lovely girlfriend but a strong and charismatic leading lady.
Although it deviated a bit from his fantasy, he was still content.
Diana flashed a gentle smile, quickly walked up, and gave Russell a hug.
After enjoying a satisfying meal and leaving the dishwashing, which could most easily affect their relationship, to the dishwasher, Russell and Diana sat on the living room couch, leaning against each other, sharing their respective experiences.
Diana's sharing was always about ordinary and mundane things.
Such as the interesting incidents that happened at the museum today, encounters with amusing visitors, or the "antiques" that required study.
Although Diana only shared trivial matters, Russell always listened attentively.
When he wasn't on an assignment, he also shared some minor details with Diana.
But when he was on an assignment, he would discuss the task with her.
The reason he discussed assignments with Diana was because he had heard of a fellow assassin's "tragic" experience.
This colleague wasn't from the Continental Hotel; he belonged to a different assassin organization. His name was John Smith.
His wife was Jane Smith, who was also an assassin but belonged to another assassin organization.
More importantly, Jane's organization was a sworn enemy of John's organization.
It was precisely because they never shared their true work experiences that they discovered each other's true identities after being married for five or six years.
But by that time, it was too late, and they nearly killed each other. Their respective organizations even decided to join forces to eliminate them.
Although they ultimately managed to kill the assassins sent by their organizations and wiped out their organizations, their lives were still inevitably affected.
Russell wasn't concerned that the Continental Hotel would send assassins after him; he just didn't want his relationship with Diana to be affected unnecessarily due to his concealed profession.
He was content with Diana as his girlfriend and had no intention of breaking up.
"I've heard of the Brotherhood as well. Will there be any trouble if you just wipe them out like that?" Diana asked.
Although Diana had disguised herself as an ordinary person before, she wasn't an ordinary person by any means.
Not being a superhero in New York didn't mean she knew nothing about the city's underground world.
Moreover, she had Russell, her live-in boyfriend who was both a detective and an assassin.
"There won't be any major trouble. The Brotherhood has always been an outlier in the assassin world, and my reputation for being domineering in the industry has been established for quite some time. At most, some people might think I went a bit overboard," Russell said confidently.
He wasn't worried about the Brotherhood causing him trouble. Compared to them, he was more concerned about the Punisher, who was lurking somewhere unknown.
According to the Cross, the Punisher was after him.
At that time, he happened to be absent from the office, so the Cross became the Punisher's target.
Both he and the Cross were assassins, and both were targets of the Punisher's attacks during this period.
"How do you plan to deal with the Punisher?" Diana shifted into a different position, resting her head on Russell's thigh, and asked slowly.
"I'll find an opportunity to take him out. He's like a timed bomb! If we leave him alone, the next time he might just show up with a rocket launcher and blast our home," Russell said.
The Punisher wasn't a purely evil person, but he couldn't be considered good either.
In a sense, he and Russell were similar types of people, both choosing to use violence against violence.
However, Russell was better than him in one aspect: he wasn't as extreme. He wouldn't go as far as to say that anyone accused of a crime must die.
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