the next day.
early morning.
Lake was drinking coffee and reading the newspaper at the dining table. After a few days of eating soy milk and fried dough sticks, Skye chose the traditional Federal breakfast.
After all, she was already accustomed to the breakfast in the Federation. Soy milk and fried dough sticks were a must-have for the people of the East, but for Skye, they were just snacks that she would try when she was interested.
Skye drank her milk, thought for a moment, then looked up at Lake: "That..."
Lake didn't even look up: "What?"
Skye shook her head first, then looked at Lake cautiously: "Lake, the adoptive mother you mentioned yesterday was... Sever, not Rachel, right?"
Lake said, "Of course not. Believe me, Rachel's computer skills are just as bad as mine. No, they're better than mine."
There was no way he could come up with a news report that didn't require typeset in half an hour, but Rachel could.
Skye's mouth formed an O shape: "Two people?"
Lake seemed to have thought of something. He put down the newspaper, looked at Skye who was sitting opposite him, and said with a smile, "What do you want to say, Skye?"
Skye still shook her head, then organized her words and looked at Lake: "Um...you and Rachel, are you okay?"
Lake thought for a moment and said, "My career is booming and I just got back from vacation, so it's pretty good."
Skye saw Lake still pretending to be confused, sighed, and finally held back from pointing it out, saying cryptically, "Lake, you're not an Arab or a Mormon, are you?"
Lake raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Skye, I will seriously consider the two suggestions you gave me."
yes.
Why didn't I think of changing nationality?
Lake looked at his watch, finished the coffee in the cup, stood up and pulled up his coat, and before leaving, he thanked Skye.
Skye's mouth dropped open.
By the time Skye came to her senses, Lake had already left home.
Waterfake?
What have I done?
Skye couldn't help but close her eyes and slapped her forehead. If she knew some Eastern idioms, they would be "in cahoots with each other" or "to make plans".
Now that's better.
Skye felt that if her master asked about it in the future, she would have no choice but to help Lake keep it secret.
Oh my god, what have I done?
Skye wailed. Even the milk, which originally had a milky fragrance, no longer had any appeal at this moment. All of a sudden, after Lake's thank you, he lost his appetite instantly.
Lake has a good appetite.
even...
On the way back to the Land and Resources Building, I drove a specially customized Porsche Cayenne with bulletproof windows and a unique silver license plate LKNB to Chinatown, packed a box of sweet tofu pudding, and then returned to the Land and Resources Building.
In the autopsy room.
Olivia, who looks cute and fair, and doesn't look like a vampire at all, has a blank expression on her face and glares at Lake with her arms folded.
She is very angry.
Besides, she had reason to be angry.
Usually, when she was not needed, Lake would occasionally come to talk to her and bring a bowl of tofu pudding, but it was salty. She told him many times that she liked sweet food, but Lake remained unmoved and insisted on buying salty food.
But when you need it, look at today's tofu pudding. It's sweet, and the added sugar probably takes up half of the tofu pudding.
But that's not the point.
The point is, in Olivia's opinion, Lake is a typical scumbag. When he doesn't need her, he simply ignores her opinions. But when he needs her, he is very caring and willing to follow her advice.
That's not right.
What am I?
A tool?
Lake smiled and handed over the tofu pudding in his hand: "Liv, this is sweet."
Olivia snorted arrogantly: "No."
Lake leaned closer and said, "Smell it, it's sweet. I bought a bag of white sugar and a bag of brown sugar specially."
Olivia's nose twitched, and she closed her eyes and turned her face to the side: "No, I like salty food now."
Lake's mouth twitched: "Stop it."
The reason why he bought salty tofu pudding for Olivia before was very simple. Lake was a salty party, and those who liked sweet food were heretics. He hoped to use this method to make Olivia defect from the sweet party camp.
As for today?
Today was purely an accident. The man selling tofu pudding said that he had run out of salty diced radish and would have to wait. Lake had no choice but to pack up a bowl of sweet tofu pudding.
After a long time of coaxing.
Olivia reluctantly took the tofu pudding, put it to her nose, took a deep breath, and a hint of joy appeared on her face. Then she frowned again and carefully placed the tofu pudding on her desk. She pointed at the body that was as frozen as an iron lump and said to Lake: "Don't even think about it. I won't touch that thing."
Said.
Olivia pointed to her mouth, which was painted with the latest lipstick, and said, "Look, these are my teeth. They are the teeth I rely on for survival, not some metal crusher. Besides, this thing has been touched by someone else."
Lake handed the documents in his hand to Olivia: "These are all autopsy reports."
Olivia took over, walked to her seat, sat down, and opened the autopsy report in her hand.
After a while.
Olivia closed the file and looked at Lake curiously: "This autopsy report is not right."
Lake shrugged. "That's what I want to find out. Someone told me that something detected inside was only two or three years old, which doesn't match the age of this body."
Olivia walked to the corpse, put on gloves, fiddled with the corpse's head, then looked up at Lake.
Next second.
With a snap.
He directly opened the corpse's head, revealing the empty skull inside.
"Where's the brain?"
"Here."
Lake walked out of the room, bent down, brought back a plastic bag, and took out the brain soaked in formalin.
Olivia was stunned.
His face suddenly turned dark.
"don't want!"
"Please."
"don't want."
Olivia glared at Lake angrily and said, "Don't even think about it. Would you eat expired tofu pudding soaked in formalin? I really want to bite you in the neck."
This bastard.
Do you really treat her as a tool?
All right.
Although she has lived well under Lake's protection over the years, this is not a reason to treat her as a tool.
Lake touched his chin: "What should we do then?"
Olivia said angrily: "How should I know? And who is this guy?"
There were no names on the autopsy report.
Lake said casually, "Bucky Barnes."
Olivia was stunned for a moment: "Who?"
Lake said, "Bucky Barnes, though, is probably a clone."
Olivia: "…"
As a pure-blooded Federation member, just as everyone has heard of the deeds of Captain America Steve Rogers, it is obvious that Olivia has also heard of Captain America's good friend Bucky Barnes.
But...
Olivia walked over to the body and looked at it carefully: "This is different from what was shown in the documentary."
Lake shrugged and said, "If you shave off the beard and add hair, it's still very close. Interested?"
Olivia came back to her senses, looked at Lake, and rolled her eyes: "That's not true. A brain soaked in formalin is like mustard in a salad."
Lake said, "I'll find you ten brains next month?"
Olivia rolled her eyes.
Lake thought for a moment: "The brains of ten beautiful young girls?"
Olivia thought about it for a moment and looked at Lake: "Really, when?"
Lake shrugged. "As soon as I get any information, I'll bring the body back. I promise."
There are many people in New York, so the probability of people dying, especially beautiful girls, is also very high. After all, New York is extremely unsafe at night.
Olivia lowered her head and thought about it.
After a while.
Olivia walked over, took the glass jar that Lake had placed beside her, and said to a lounge she had isolated: "No one is allowed in."
Lake raised his hand. "I respect your privacy, Liv."
Just like Lake didn't ask questions after he knew that Olivia was a zombie and needed to eat brains to maintain her humanity, Lake was even less interested in how Olivia ate brains.
Maybe...
When Hannibal comes to New York to commit a crime and is caught, Olivia and Hannibal may have something in common.
Lake stood there and looked around, then decided to leave and return to his office.
Around noon.
Lake received a call from Olivia.
Go downstairs.
Olivia said to Lake who came in with a somewhat grim expression: "Whose brain did you give me?"
Lake frowned: "What happened to this corpse?"
"This isn't it."
"What?"
Olivia made a retching face. "This is the brain of a homeless person. God, damn my memory! I can clearly remember how this guy ate the rotten food in the garbage dump. Oh my god, I'm going to vomit."
Said.
Olivia stood up and ran into her lounge, holding her trash can and retching.
Lake looked at Bucky Barnes' body on the autopsy table with a subtle expression.
Brain and body not in sync?
Was it switched?
Who did it.
Lake touched his chin, took out his phone and called Tony Stark.
"Hello."
"What's wrong?"
"Were you present during the autopsy?"
"…He's not here. What's wrong?"
"The brain is not original."
"What's the meaning?"
"It means someone has swapped his brain with someone else's."
"…"
Tony Stark, who was in his office on the top floor of Stark Industries, put down his glass, walked to the French window, and said, "Are you sure?"
Lake listened to Olivia, who was still retching in the lounge, and hummed, "Who was responsible for the autopsy at the time? Or, in other words, who removed the brain?"
Tony Stark: "..."