[This Chapter Is Sponsored by Michael Darkblade! Everyone, please thank him in the comment!]
(TL: What a guy! Early Sponsorship!)
In Queens early in the morning, inside a deserted apartment, a beautiful woman dressed in a sports hoodie and track pants, her hair tied in a burgundy ponytail, walked in as the sound of keys turning echoed.
After closing the door, she approached the fridge, casually placing the keys on top of it, and opened the fridge to grab and drink a bottle of milk.
Having finished her drink, she tossed the plastic bottle into a nearby trash can and then sat down on the sofa.
Just then, the telephone rang.
The woman picked up the phone and answered it casually.
"Coulson~~"
Hearing the woman speak first, the person on the other end immediately confirmed his surroundings and said, "In the past few days, he went to a gold store in Queens and bought two kilograms of silver, then proceeded to a store named 'sg' to have six weapons custom-made."
"Four standard cruciform swords and two kukri machetes."
"The materials are quite ordinary, but the weapons' outer layer will be coated with silver powder."
"What do you think, Natasha?"
The woman, officially known as Natasha, with the surname Jenny, frowned slightly upon hearing Coulson's investigation: "Silver weapons? Aren't those specifically designed to counteract vampires?"
"But where do vampires even exist in this world? Could these just be intended as collectibles?"
Natasha, being a spy and an agent, understood some of the unknown aspects of the world better than ordinary people. However, she had never even heard of vampires as a creature.
So, what was the target of her observation doing with these silver weapons?
Was it merely for fun? Or did the person actually discover vampires?
Is it possible?
Natasha was unsure.
"Besides these, what else has he been up to recently?"
"These past few days, he has roamed all over New York, aimlessly, but at night, his main destinations were bars and nightclubs, though he's too young to enter."
Coulson replied precisely.
"It's rather strange."
"Indeed, it is strange. If he is the target you believe him to be, then his actions must have specific reasons."
Natasha discerned a deeper meaning in Coulson's words.
However, with each encounter, she became increasingly certain that the so-called 'Rainy Night Butcher' was this Asian boy named John Shaw, whose experiences, traits, and changes all matched the profile and criteria for the Rainy Night Butcher.
Could a person who is extremely rational, strong, and growing suddenly engage in such inexplicable actions?
It couldn't be that he had killed so many that he went mad and became a lunatic immersed in his own world, could it?
While possible, it seemed unlikely, at least Natasha trusted her judgment, and from her several conversations with the boy, she could sense a kind of confidence and rationality in his eyes and demeanor.
Despite his sunny and optimistic appearance, such traits could not be concealed.
An Asian who had faced setbacks and lived in a city like New York, displaying such confidence, spoke volumes.
A mad genius good at disguising himself, Natasha had seen such types before, but no matter how much one disguised, any refined talk, confidence, arrogance, decadence, or various emotions, there was a terrifying madness that could devour everything.
This boy was definitely not a lunatic.
His actions, then, were worth pondering.
"How do you feel about your recent interactions with him?"
Coulson then shifted the topic.
Natasha gave an answer that was both surprising and unsurprising to Coulson.
"Dangerous, extremely dangerous."
"Under his optimistic exterior lies a highly restless heart, and he is like a sleeping beast that, once awakened, will raise its claws and shred everything in its path."
"He is terrifying in the literal sense, Coulson. Every minute and second I spend with him, I feel terrified and have the urge to flee."
Natasha sighed, her expression complex, recalling that she even felt palpitations.
There was silence on the other end, as if shocked by Natasha's words.
"I've never heard you give such an evaluation of anyone else, Natasha."
"He's too dangerous, and too keen. I feel that he is starting to suspect me."
Natasha felt troubled by such a dangerous mission target.
Years of experience had honed her ability to read people and her almost supernatural intuition.
She always felt that the other party truly had the ability to read people's hearts.
To the extent that she even abandoned the idea of tracking his movements directly, instead faithfully playing the role of this private doctor, Jenny, and tracking John Shaw's actions only through surveillance cameras.
Using human trackers was too easy for the other party to notice. Given the Rainy Night Butcher's abilities and meticulous mind, it would be very difficult to continue tracking him if he really wanted to keep killing.
Unless they stopped pretending and deployed agents to monitor him closely.
However, Natasha's task was to observe and make contact, not to confront him.
"So, what do you plan to do next?"
Coulson asked after a moment of contemplation.
Natasha paused for a while, then said, "Continue to observe and make contact. He has not confirmed my identity yet, just suspecting. Before the director issues an order, if I feel endangered, I will withdraw."
"Good luck, Natasha."
After hanging up the phone, Natasha stood up and walked to the window, looking through the glass toward the third floor of an apartment building on the left front, where John Shaw resided.
"What on earth happened to you."
"What are you really looking for? Do you just purely hate those gangsters?"
Natasha's eyes shimmered as she silently murmured in her heart.