Chapter 25: That's Your Rule
Jack didn't dare to withhold anything and recounted the whole situation from beginning to end.
Whether it was Russell or the mysterious figure behind the anonymous call, neither were entities that Jack or his Rising Tide organization could afford to antagonize.
While the Rising Tide organization had a certain reputation in the hacker community, ultimately, they were just a group of keyboard-tapping hackers.
Compared to real intelligence agencies, especially those with official backgrounds, their hacking skills were barely passable.
In just one or two minutes, Jack had laid out the full details of the situation.
Upon receiving the payment from Russell, the Rising Tide organization began investigating the anonymous call. Initially, they didn't encounter any problems and gradually uncovered various proxies and disguised IPs used by the anonymous caller.
However, just as they were about to pinpoint the true location of the anonymous call, something unexpected occurred.
The Rising Tide organization, who made their living in the underground world through hacking, encountered a counter-invasion.
Even worse, they failed to resist the counter-invasion.
The subsequent events were straightforward.
The opposing party breached their firewall and traced their location.
Right when Jack and the others were planning to make a quick escape to lie low somewhere else, the opposing party contacted them proactively, making a small request.
To contact Russell and inform him about the meeting was the request they made.
And thus, the scene from a while ago unfolded.
After listening to Jack's account, Russell didn't respond immediately. He took a moment to contemplate.
In terms of hacking skills, the mysterious person behind the anonymous call, or the mysterious organization, was clearly superior to the Rising Tide organization.
Being able to counter-invade when invaded and succeed was not something that regular hackers or intelligence agencies could achieve.
It was worth noting that the Rising Tide organization wasn't a small group formed by a few ordinary hackers; they specialized in uncovering classified government information.
They believed that the government violated citizens' right to information by concealing various unknown classified information.
And their goal was to dig out these hidden secrets and let every citizen know about them.
Although they occasionally took part-time jobs in the underground world to make ends meet, their main job was still unearthing various classified information that the government had not disclosed.
Russell hadn't interacted with the Rising Tide organization before.
However, that didn't mean he was unfamiliar with them.
Leaving aside other matters, he had a significant understanding of Skye, the genius hacker in the Rising Tide organization.
Although the mysterious person behind the anonymous call hadn't revealed any identity-related information yet, Russell could almost confirm that it was S.H.I.E.L.D.
There weren't many organizations that could make the Rising Tide organization suffer a loss, and the one that operated in a secretive manner was undoubtedly S.H.I.E.L.D.
If it were S.H.I.E.L.D., they would be more straightforward.
For instance, they could directly apprehend him and lock him up in a specialized prison for super-powered criminals, such as the Raft or the Cube.
"Send me the time and location for the meeting."
"And refund my money!"
Russell spoke to Jack.
"Understood, sir!"
Jack on the other end of the call didn't hesitate and immediately sent the meeting time and location, as well as refunded the $50,000 payment Russell had made.
Within seconds, Russell received the meeting information and the notification of the refund.
After ending the call, he looked at the meeting information Jack had sent.
Tonight at nine o'clock, a French restaurant in Manhattan.
They sure know how to pick the place!
The chosen French restaurant for the meeting was quite famous.
Although it had only been in business for a few years, its reputation was far from small, and it wasn't easy to secure a reservation there.
Russell had been to that restaurant for a date with Diana before.
It was their one-year anniversary date.
He had spent several days and used some personal connections to finally secure a reservation for that special day.
He couldn't quite remember what they had eaten that night.
The only thing he recalled about that date was how unusually passionate Diana had been.
Because of Diana's enthusiasm that night, he had to pay a visit to the Porsche dealership the next day to fix the broken passenger seat, door, and rear window.
After reading the information Jack sent, Russell sent a message to Diana, who was at work. He informed her that he would be working late and wouldn't be coming home for dinner.
Of course, he hadn't forgotten to let her know that he had dealt with the Punisher.
At the Natural History Museum of United States, fourth floor, Bird-Dinosaur Hall.
Diana, dressed in a white women's suit, stood in front of the enormous skeleton of a Quetzalcoatlus. Her jet-black hair was elegantly styled into a somewhat daring fashion, and she was reading the message Russell had just sent.
Standing beside her was a black man wearing a black trench coat, an eye patch over his left eye, and not a single hair on his head.
This man exuded an aura that said "Stay away," and his entire demeanor was far from friendly.
This man was none other than the current director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury.
Nick Fury stood quietly to the side. After Diana finished replying to the message, he spoke slowly, "Miss Prince, your man has been a bit restless lately. It's not quite in line with the agreement we initially made."
"And what if he has? Are you planning to apprehend him?"
Diana put away her phone, turned to look at Nick Fury, and spoke calmly.
"He's been a bit excessive, and if he continues this way, we'll have to follow protocol," Nick Fury continued.
"That's your rule, not mine."
"If you want to take action against him, be prepared to deal with the consequences!"
Diana's tone was cold as she retorted Nick Fury.
Seeing Diana show no intention of backing down, Nick Fury's already dark face grew even darker.
Diana wasn't an ordinary person; S.H.I.E.L.D. had known that four years ago.
To be precise, S.H.I.E.L.D. had known on the second day Diana arrived in this world.
Unlike others at the agency, Nick Fury didn't treat Diana as a super-powered individual who had suddenly awakened; he regarded her as an extraterrestrial visitor.
Although Diana's appearance was strikingly similar to that of an Earth human, she was in essence different.
Nick Fury knew that extraterrestrials who looked just like Earth humans weren't nonexistent.
Decades ago, he had come across numerous extraterrestrials who had the same appearance as Earth humans.
Among them was a powerful lady who was originally human but later gained extraterrestrial heritage.
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