What does New York City look like at midnight?
Manhattan's lights dazzling?
Brooklyn brightly lit?
Queens silent as a grave?
Although most New Yorkers have the habit of going home quickly after nightfall, the international metropolis, New York City, has its own unique nightlife.
The bars all over Manhattan are brimming with chaos.
On the empty streets, biker gangs roar past, riding their bikes.
On the road near Morning Side Park.
A luxury sedan stops by the roadside, and not far away, a scantily clad woman standing under the streetlamp smiles seductively, sways her hips to get in the car, and before it even starts, she instinctively bends over.
In the nearby alley, three hippies who came out to mug people, colloquially called robbers, stare wide-eyed, dying with unrest.
Thud!
The fourth one had just run away, but seeing his companions die in an instant, his loyalty compels him to return, thinking he could counterattack, but he follows the same fate, collapsing onto the sewage-covered ground alongside his friends.
The dirty water splashes.
Just as the dirty water is about to splatter Hawk, he steps forward instantly appearing at the alley's exit, his nostrils twitch a bit, then without hesitation, he walks across the road.
Across the road is a six-story building with a weathered exterior.
Standing at the base, Hawk raises his gaze, locking onto a window on the left side of the third floor.
Inside, three people's conversation is clearly audible.
"Shit, fuck, shit!"
"Stop cursing, I just heard Roy is dead."
"...Really?"
"Dead. He has to be. If not dead, if she recovers, finds out her husband is dead, she'll definitely betray us."
"Yeah."
"So what now?"
"What else can we do? Might as well find a chance to shoot, get five hundred thousand, split it among the three of us, it's enough."
"Crazy, opportunity to get a million, why settle for five hundred thousand?"
"You're the crazy one, how can we get a million now?"
"..."
Hawk listens to the muffled discussion of the three inside, a slight smirk forming at the corner of his lips.
Found them!
Hawk smiles slightly, glances at the drooping-headed surveillance nearby, and expressionlessly walks into the six-story apartment building, then directly heads up the stairs to the third floor, finally pausing in front of a door.
The next moment.
Push the door!
Thud!
The door's lock mechanism snaps, and the door swings open from the outside.
The three inside, chatting, smoking, and drinking while discussing their next move, freeze at the sound of the door opening, instinctively stand up from the sofa and turn to look at Hawk entering.
And then...
There was no "then".
Two men, one black and one white, lose their heads. The headless bodies lie on the floor, blood coolly spurting.
The smell of blood quickly spreads.
The only remaining survivor, at this moment, slumped on the ground, looks in terror at the decapitated heads on the floor, still frozen in surprise.
He's trembling with fear, forgetting to scream, and losing control of his bladder.
The trickling sound is all too clear in the otherwise silent room.
Hawk glances at the pale-faced white man slumped on the ground.
"Hold it!"
"Szz!"
The trickling abruptly stops.
The white man's shaky head lifts up to look at Hawk, his bloodless lips trembling.
"Please...don't kill me."
"Name."
Hawk wipes his hands with a towel, glancing expressionlessly at the white man: "Who hired you?"
At these words.
The muddled white man's brain jolts, realizing the situation.
The next second.
A thought pops into his head.
"I can't say!"
"If I don't speak, I might live."
"But if I do, I'm sure to die."
The white man is a criminal, not an idiot.
As a criminal, no one understands better than him what happens when a person loses their value.
Now both his companions are dead, so his value becomes crucial.
So...
In a moment of rapid thinking, the white man takes a deep breath, his face no longer ashen, legs steady, and with newfound confidence comes courage.
Hawk watches the white man, previously trembling, now daring to meet his gaze, standing up, supported by the floor, and appears surprised.
The white man stares at Hawk, sneering.
"Want to know who hired me? Fine, let me go, I'll..."
"Puff!"
Before finishing, the white man suddenly feels the world spinning, right after witnessing a strange sight.
A headless, blood-spurting body standing on the floor.
Wait a minute.
Why does that outfit look so familiar?
As confusion strikes the white man's mind, immense pain floods his consciousness, followed by an unending darkness that devours him.
Thud!
The headless body falls limply to the ground.
Hawk looks at the headless body, shakes his head somewhat speechlessly.
A fool dumb enough for a museum.
One hour later.
Hawk returned to his home on Palm Street.
In the living room.
While dialing a call on the second phone Gwen had given him after Quantico, Hawk was looking at a driver's license in his hand.
Davin Simmons.
It was the idiot who just thought he had the qualification and capability to negotiate terms with him—an idiot stupid enough to be put in a museum.
The call connected quickly.
Anna's voice, with a trace of surprise, came from the other side.
"Hawk!"
"Good evening, Anna, hope I'm not disturbing you."
"Good morning."
In a chateau in Paris, wearing a lace nightgown, Anna smiled as she drew back the bedroom curtains, saying, "It's 7 AM here in Paris."
Hawk suddenly realized and went straight to the point without any small talk.
"Help me look into someone, specifically check his bank account to see if there's a $100,000 transaction. If there is, help me find out the remitter's information."
"No problem. Do you have a name?"
"Davin Simmons, a New Yorker."
Hawk gave the name written on the driver's license he held.
If this Davin Simmons had spoken a bit less in the room just now, Hawk figured he wouldn't have killed him.
But who told him that he heard this Davin Simmons mention downstairs that his employer had already provided a $100,000 action fund?
As long as there's an advance payment, it's fine.
If Davin Simmons didn't speak up, it didn't matter; Hawk could just trace who remitted the money to Davin.
In Paris, Anna jotted down the name with a pen and agreed.
"No problem, I'll arrange for someone to look into it. When do you need it by?"
"As soon as possible."
"Alright, I'll inform you as soon as there's news."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
Anna smiled and only hung up the phone after Hawk ended the call on his side.
After Quantico, the organization internally made an exception to recruit Hawk, and because she was one of the first to connect with him, her status had risen.
Just yesterday, she was wondering what excuse she could use to contact Hawk.
After all, relationships require maintenance.
Being in touch is the basis for relationships; if there's no contact for a long time, even the best relationship would fade.
As a result…
While she was still fretting over how to get in touch with Hawk, he reached out to her first.
This was great.
Anna thought to herself, then glanced at the handwritten name Davin Simmons on her notepad again, picked up her phone, and made another call.
Since Hawk trusted her so much, she could not let him down.
The next day.
Hawk returned to school on the school bus.
Gwen didn't come.
After yesterday's kidnapping incident, not only Gwen but even her two younger brothers had taken a leave to stay home temporarily.
After all, without solving this kidnapping case and finding the reasons behind it, staying at home was relatively safer.
Gwen called in the morning and told Hawk he didn't need to pick her up, also mentioning that George stayed at the Queens precinct all night, busy with this kidnapping attempt case.
But although Gwen wasn't there, someone else showed up.
Mary Jane.
It seemed Mary had been waiting for a while in the parking lot, and when she saw Hawk getting off the school bus, her eyes lit up, and she dragged Peter along to approach him.
Mary's eyes twinkled with a gossipy gleam as she lowered her voice and fired off a series of questions: "Hawk, what happened, kidnapping, real or fake, who did it, do you know?"
Hawk was stunned by this barrage of questions and looked at Peter without speaking, but his meaning was clear.
Your girlfriend, manage her.
Peter offered an embarrassed smile.
His implication was simple.
Between him and Mary, she handled the small matters, he the big ones, but whether or not something was a big matter was up to Mary's judgment.
That's it.
Spider Spirit had completely become a domesticated spider.
Hawk thought to himself and, having no choice, had to step up. He looked at Mary and curiously said, "Didn't you and Peter take a leave of absence at the start of the school year? No work today?"
Right as school began, Mary and Peter had taken a leave of absence.
Mary went to work in a restaurant.
Peter returned to the Horn Daily, making money from his selfies to save for his future college living expenses.
Mary rolled her eyes: "With something this big happening to Gwen, of course, we had to come over."
Hawk nodded and quickly answered the questions Mary had just asked: "Alright then, attempted kidnapping, they haven't found the person yet, Gwen's staying home for now, anything else?"
Mary shook her head.
Hawk smiled slightly: "Okay, then I'll go find the counselor."
Never mind.
First, get a leave of absence, then head to Africa once Gwen's kidnapping case is resolved.
Hawk's leave was granted without any obstacles; the counselor agreed very readily to Hawk's leave request.
With sufficient credits and a university already secured, it's unlikely the counselor would refuse.
Moreover…
The good news didn't end with Hawk's ease in getting a leave of absence.
As Hawk emerged from the counselor's office, his phone beeped with a message.
It was from Anna.
Hawk opened the message, seeing a name Anna had sent, his brow furrowed as a thought crossed his mind.
When you cut the weeds, you must pull out the roots.
Otherwise…
They'll grow back with the spring breeze!
...