Chapter 1669: Touching Down In Sapporo, and Freeloading Partner
After seeing his brother off, Luke started a new round of harvesting.
Things were starting to calm down in America, and there were fewer opportunities to fish in troubled waters. However, there were âbig fruitsâ still hiding in Japan.
To be more precise, the SHIELD branch in Japan had been turned into an empty shell by Hydra.
This group of Hydra members had gone into hiding, changed their appearances and identities, and then gathered under the banner of another shell company.
For the people of this branch, doing this was worthwhile.
They had embezzled billions of dollars from SHIELD alone, and had moved a lot of other priceless resources.
But that was also good news for Luke.
That was because they were no longer SHIELD, and had nothing to do with the American government or the CIA.
If Luke had killed them earlier, he would have to deal with an intense investigation by the American government, and even Chinaâs interest would be piqued.
The disappearance of a bunch of principal opponents would be a cause for celebration for China.
Now, if these people went missing again, only Hydra would care, and the police in Japan would probably deem it âcollective travelâ and decline to file a case.
So, why was it so safe on paper in Japan, and murder cases even rarer?
They muddled through the cases and perfunctorily deemed them either a suicide or an accident.
A certain Japanese show had pointed this out, and even the Japanese populace were shocked.
Luke didnât care about Japanâs societal issues, just like how he didnât care about the American legislative system.
He only needed to confirm that no one would know if 300 Hydra members died.
That would make things very easy for Luke.
âŠ
When he went to Japan this time, he got off a plane at Sapporoâs New Chitose Airport.
Sapporo was located on the northernmost of Japanâs four islands, Hokkaido. It was very ârefinedâ compared with Tokyo.
It had a population of almost two million, and was the heart of the Sapporo Metropolitan Area.
The Hydra members in Japanâs SHIELD branch that had collectively fled⊠naturally werenât here.
However, Sapporo was an international tourist destination, and more than ten million tourists from all over the world visited this place every year.
That was what the Hydra group was counting on. Most of them were in Sapporo and went about daily life with their new identities.
Their base, on the other hand, was located in the mountains to the south of the city. In the name of building an onsen, it was easy to transport construction materials and personnel here.
In truth, the very simple marketing for this onsen had only been for show.
If an ordinary person went to this onsen, they would probably get lost.
After all, phone map navigation wasnât widespread yet in Japan, so it was very possible to get lost.
Once phone maps became a thing, basically nobody would come to this onsen.
After all, diagonally down was Sapporoâs most famous Jozankei Onsen, while further to the left was Otaruâs Asarigawa Onsen. Who would come to Hydraâs nest?
âShall we go to Jozankei first? I want to go to the hot spring.â A voice rang out next to Luke.
âIt definitely isnât the hot spring you want to immerse in.â Driving a rental car, Luke roasted Ivan, who was in the passenger seat.
Ivan yawned. âI think it might be jet lag; I need to relax.â
Luke said, âDonât worry. With your face right now, youâll have plenty of opportunities to mooch off a woman.â
Ivan lay supine in his seat. âAre you saying that they have to pay for my services?â
Luke said, âThatâs right. You can do it, bro.â
âOkay. How about we go together?â
Luke finally glanced at him. âI have integrity.â
Elena snorted. âBullsh*t! Master Bruce is the one with integrity, not us.â
Luke smiled but didnât say anything.
He would be going on a killing spree during this trip, so it was Big Dipper who was undertaking this mission.
It was for that reason that the only person to accept this job was Ivan.
Some were busy, some were going to school, some werenât interested in hanging out with Big Dipper, and who knew what the rest thought.
Luke wasnât disappointed.
The more people there were, the bigger the room for error.
Fewer people might mean missing out on some targets, but that wasnât a big deal.
If it wasnât for the fact that Ivan had been upgraded to a 1-star teammate a few days ago, Luke wouldnât have brought him along.
But considering that it was very likely that this guy was using the mission as an excuse to come out and play, Luke didnât refuse.
Other people could move freely and had money and time, and could travel whenever they wanted.
The world was so big that one could go anywhere.
It was just that Ivan knew that Batman would definitely watch him very closely if he went traveling alone.
When he heard that Luke was coming to Japan for a week or two, he had been tempted.
He had never been to Japan before, and it had sounded interesting after he read comments online about it.
He had had enough of the bars in Nassau County. Naturally, he had come to Japan to sample some of its specialties, like the onsen and so on.
Luke knew what the guy was thinking. Before they came, he had given Ivan a new ID. When they reached the city center, he told him to get out of the car.
The operation would take a while, and he still had to prep for it.
In the meantime, Ivan could do whatever he wanted.
This guy had too much money and nowhere to spend it. Now, he even had a handsome face which he could live off of.
The face on the new ID was something Ivan had requested himself â it was of a handsome man in his thirties.
Watching the car drive off, Ivan suddenly let out a breath. âHmph, donât think I donât know that youâre all on the same side.â
Batman hadnât said anything when Ivan and Big Dipper came out on this mission.
Big Dipper had even dumped him in Sapporo to go play by himself.
Were Batman and Big Dipper idiots? Who would believe that?
It was precisely because it was Big Dipperâs mission that Batman was so reassured.
The Bat Squad had never revealed their real identities to each other, but after numerous missions, they knew each otherâs personalities.
The father and daughter, or uncle and niece, were actually very nice.
Pink Bear was amusing, and Black Bear was taciturn and honest, at least in the team.
The ninjas were purely obedient kids.
Black Cat looked friendly, but that was actually only to the minors like Pink Bear and the Ninja Squad.
Hammersmith, Lady Deathstrike and Iron Cage King were all vicious people who didnât talk much, but it was fine as long as they werenât provoked.
Deadpool was a lunatic; Ivan just treated him like air and kept his distance.
Tony was an egoist and a âlifelong enemy.â
Big Dipper was a little like Deadpool, but had a poisonous tongue.
Apart from Batman, however, he was the one person Ivan was the most wary of.
Every time there was a battle, Big Dipper would be the quickest and most efficient at killing the enemy.
He didnât have Batmanâs âno killing rule,â and he wasnât as crazy as Deadpool.
Conversely, he was as indifferent to human life as Deadpool, and as precise and efficient as Batman. He was the perfect killing machine.