Shiller heard his voice, Deathstroke didn't look back, but took some vegetables and fried eggs with a pair of tongs, then walked straight to his seat. Shiller followed him and sat across from him.
"I've always been curious, how do you masked mercenaries eat?" Shiller asked, eying Deathstroke's face. Then he saw Deathstroke lift up half his mask from a gap at his neckline, revealing his mouth, and put a steak into it.
Judging from his exposed chin, his appearance was very young, but he was unsure if, like in the backstory of the comic, he was already married with children.
"Are you here for a mission? Who is the target this time?" Shiller continued eating the food on his plate, saying, "We are well acquainted now, don't tell me I'm the target again?"
"Not you," Deathstroke answered very simply. He was not a man of many words, exactly opposite to his cousin, still his words and actions revealed a lot to Shiller.
First, this time Deathstroke was indeed here for a mission; second, the mission target was not Shiller; third, the mission target must be in the hotel.
Because Deathstroke's plate had very little food, not even enough for his height and weight— far less than breakfast—this indicated that he was going to swing into action very soon, so he was careful to not eat too much and risk hindering his movement.
And from his attire and gear, he seemed fully prepared and didn't care about the strange looks the tourists threw at him. It implied that he was not here for investigation, this might be his last visit here, and he did not worry about exposure.
Shiller only saw this meeting as a coincidence until ten minutes later when his hotel room door was kicked open, and a figure with a black and yellow striped suit rushed in, pulling out the longsword on his back.
Across the ruins of the door, both were struck motionless. Shiller sighed, hands on his waist, saying, "It's been quite a while, don't you realise you can't kill me? Do I have to show you again?"
Shiller shattered into gray mist with a "bang", then started changing shapes in mid-air. Deathstroke watched his performance, planting his sword on the ground, waiting until Shiller returned to his human form before asking, "Where is he?"
"I guess you're asking about Oliver Queen. A certain shareholder from Quin Group hired you to kill the resurrected Oliver. So it seems like his butler has betrayed him...."
"However, sadly he is not here anymore. You're one step late. He went to play superhero with another guy you can't kill either." Shiller shook his head and sighed as he looked at the remnants of the door.
"Who's that?" Deathstroke asked.
"You might not know him even if I told you. Green Lantern Hal, some guy who emits green light all over." Shiller replied.
"What are his abilities?" Deathstroke continued.
"Many, flying, teleportation, super strength, instantaneous healing, and moreover, currently his energy is particularly abundant. He could fight you till kingdom come, and if he can't beat you, he would call for support. As long as he makes a call, immediately there would be hundreds of Christmas elves glowing green who will start dancing at your doorstep…."
"The mission is over." Deathstroke remarked very calmly, "The previous employer can't afford this price."
"Perhaps, they won't always stay together, and you can wait until they split to strike." Shiller suggested.
"This is an urgent order. The employer requires me to kill him within three days, or else the deal is off. The target's price has changed, the transaction is stopped, but the deposit is non-refundable. Goodbye."
After saying that, Deathstroke left. His every move was telling a story about how professional a top-tier mercenary can be. But similarly, the price of hiring him was sky-high. Someone within the Quin Group was willing to pay this hefty price to hire Deathstroke, meaning they were extremely eager to put Oliver in a deadly situation.
Initially, Shiller wasn't interested in the dirty trades that were going on behind the scenes. However, after Deathstroke departed, a few waves of assassins came right afterwards.
Although they were not as professional as Deathstroke, because of their unprofessionalism, when they found out Oliver was not there, they decided to take on Shiller.
Despite the end result being that they all contributed to oceanic cycles, Shiller was still annoyed. These flies were disturbing his vacation.
So, on a still warm morning on the West Coast, Shiller called Bruce, he asked, "Do you know about the Quin Group?"
Bruce looked at Aisha who sat beside him at the dining table, with wide eyes, waiting for him to feed her, and replied, "Of course, they are quite famous on the West Coast, especially in the semiconductor industry, they can compete with Wayne Enterprises…."
"They seem to be acting rather unusual recently, find out about these oddities and tell me. You'll get 2 extra points in the final exam."
"No, professor, I've been really busy recently, I don't have much time, and you can ask Lex for the matters related to business. He's free, he fights with Clark everyday."
"Listen, Bruce, the reason I didn't ask Lex is that 2 points don't mean much to him. 90 points plus 2 points makes no difference. What I mean is, 58 plus 2 will get you a passing grade."
"But I won't get…."
"If you don't get these 2 points, you would definitely score 58."
This was an overt threat, but after glancing at Aisha who was still waiting for her meal at the dining table, Bruce let out a sigh and said, "Alright, I'll give you the data in half an hour."
After Bruce ended the call, he lifted Aisha, patted her back, and said, "I have some important work to do now, you'll have to eat on your own."
Aisha was about to cry again, but Alfred lifted her. Bruce successfully left the dining table and started investigating the Quin Group.
He wasn't sure why Shiller suddenly took an interest in the Quin Group, yet remembering Oliver, who he rescued from the deserted island, he assumed that it might have something to do with this heir to the Quin Group.
Soon after, Shiller received the data on the Quin Group. All other information seemed normal except for a particularly conspicuous project.
After the abolition of capital controls in 1989, a large amount of foreign capital, including speculative short-term capital, flooded into Mexico, and the Quinn Group's investment was part of it.
The data stated that the Quin Group aimed to relocate certain semiconductor factories to Mexico. For the constructions, they made over 50 investments, including but not limited to land purchasing, raw material procurement, industrial mergers and acquisitions, and employment.
In the data provided by Bruce, some very secretive information was revealed. For instance, the Quin Group was not just interested in their public industries. They were also interested in some industries that required less investment but generated larger returns, such as growing drug ingredients.
It was well-known that Mexico had some indigenous crops, like marijuana and poppy. These industries were deeply ingrained in the lives of Mexicans, and these plants were crops that many local Mexicans depended on for survival.
At the same time, the yield from large-scale farms operated by the oligarchs was astonishing. This was also why Mexico overtook Colombia in the drug and drug ingredient industry in just over a decade.
The climate here is suitable, labor costs are low, and with certain countries fueling the industry, it has already become a pillar industry for this country. And of course, the excessive profits would naturally attract many bloodthirsty crocodiles.
Of course, Mexico's drug industry didn't just start to develop recently, and therefore, the Quin Group's collaboration with them also didn't start recently. According to the data, as early as 20 years ago, the Quin Group had been cooperating with some local companies in Mexico in the maritime industry.
The geographical advantages of the West Coast provided the best assistance for this profitable pathway. The input was less, the output was fast, the risk was low. These continuous incomes laid a solid foundation for the development of the Quin Group.
In this data, a name was mentioned, a drug production and distribution organization that the Quin Group has been in touch with — the "Guadalajara".
"Guadalajara?"
Standing at the bow of the ship, Hal awkwardly read out this word. He said, "I'm sure I heard it right. The guys on the other ship just now said this."
"This must be a Spanish word, so it sounds awkward for us. But at least we figured out the real name of this organization, which is a good start." Oliver, who was standing next to Hal, responded.
The sea in front of them rippled, and Arthur jumped out of the water. Hal grabbed his arm and pulled him onto the boat. Arthur wiped the water off his face and said:
"Just now, I went down to ask some fishes in the nearby area. They said that around 4 p.m. every Tuesday, two boats similar to the one we saw before will pass by here. As long as we can manage to capture one, we can find out where their base is from them."
"Their base must be in Mexico. The question is, which province?"
"It should be in Badilaguato," Oliver confidently said, "On our way here, I did some research. Badilaguato is the place in Mexico with the most developed maritime industry, possessing exceptional conditions. If Guadalajara, as alleged, is a powerful drug trafficking organization, they would definitely regard this place as their main base."
"So we'll wait for their ship to come, and then ask the exact location of their base from them," Hal formulated the action plan.
The three men waited on the ship until Tuesday afternoon. For them, dealing with the drug trafficker's cargo ship was a piece of cake. Hal led the charge, Arthur was responsible for rocking the ship with seawater, and Oliver was sniping from their own boat. In no time, the three men had subdued almost all of the drug traffickers on the ship.
Hal landed on the deck and grabbed a survivor he had left deliberately. He asked, "Where is your base? Who is your boss?"
However, the crew member had already been scared out of his wits. To him, Hal, who was emanating green light, was absolutely the demon recorded in the Bible. He kept waving his arms and screaming, spewing out a series of Spanish words, none of which Hal could understand.
Having activated the translation feature of his Green Lantern Ring, a barrage of curses came at him, the general idea was that the crew member was cursing Hal as a demon. Hal interrogated him for quite some time, but he remained silent. Reluctantly, Hal threw him into the sea.
After boarding the boat, Oliver said, "It's no use asking these crewmen. We need to find the captain or first mate, or some people doing clerical work. These people are more rational and can negotiate terms with us."
Indeed, just as he said, although the captain was dead, the first mate was still alive. He kept pleading for mercy and poured out all the information he knew.
Among all the information he provided, in addition to confirming that indeed, the base of the Guadalajara organization was in Badilaguato, another name repeatedly appeared. Hal and Oliver confirmed that this man was the leader of the Guadalajara organization.
His name was — "Miguel Felix Gallardo."