Wanjie Hotel: Iron Man is not allowed to charge

Chapter 174 Damn Loki, what are you up to now? (7K votes needed)
Index's singing was not interrupted by the other party's disturbance, and powerful holy light continued to descend from the sky and fall into Nino's coffin.

John and his companions stood up from the long bench and looked warily at the person entering through the door.

There stood a fat man at the main entrance, smiling at everyone in the church.

Wen Ming did not get up, but continued to comfort the widow in his arms.

"Please leave. We have booked the entire St. Milhay Cathedral for the day."

John walked up to the other person and looked down at him.

"Don't worry, we've booked the whole place for you too."

The fat man pointed out the window with his thumb. John turned his head and glanced at the scene. He saw dozens of gunmen standing in a row outside, some of them even carrying rocket launchers on their shoulders. Further away, there was a pickup truck parked with a heavy machine gun mounted on it.

With such a setup, no one would doubt it if you said this wasn't the United States, but some war zone in the desert.

However, the fat man didn't see any panic on John's face, but rather composure: "Final warning, please leave the church."

The fat man was somewhat surprised: "I really don't know where you get your confidence from. Do you know how many people our Black River Society has prepared to ambush and kill Wen Ming this time?"

"The Black River Society?"

John sneered, "Looks like you didn't kill enough people the last few times."

The fat man snorted, "So you're admitting that you were responsible for the deaths at the Red River Building and the deaths of Wang Da, Wang Er, and Wang San?"

John raised a hand and beckoned, and Yuan Bao walked briskly from the first row to John's side: "All networks have been cut off, all their communication devices have been hacked, and his recording has been completely deleted."

Do they need to backlink to their boss?
He's watching everything remotely right now.

The fat man looked at the robotic leopard in front of him with surprise and suspicion: "What do you mean? No, you're an AI? How can there be such a powerful AI?"

"Cut it off completely, leaving no trace."

John reprimanded coldly, "Don't be so reckless in the future. What did I teach you before?"

Yuan Bao immediately lowered his head obediently: "I know I was wrong, and I have cut off all external contact."

"Let's talk outside, don't disturb the funeral inside!"

After confirming that no one could film anything here, John's right hand shot out like lightning, grabbed the fat man in front of him by the neck, lifted him up with one hand, and quickly walked out of the church.

He was accompanied by Qinghou, Yuanbao, and Selena.

Qinghou frowned as she looked at the thirty-odd people outside who were pointing guns at them: "We didn't go looking for them, and they came to us on their own."

"Leave no one behind!"

John knocked the fat man unconscious with a chop to the neck, then transformed into a blur and rushed into the crowd. His target was three men armed with rocket launchers.

Selena was just as fast as John, if not faster. With a light leap, she landed behind a burly man holding a rocket launcher in the crowd. With a "snap," she snapped the man's neck with her bare hands.

Yuan Bao was even faster, transforming into a black lightning bolt as he pounced on the furthest pickup truck, knocking the machine gunner inside flying more than ten meters away, killing him instantly.

With a flash, Qinghou transformed into a stream of azure-gold data, quickly disappearing from the fat man's phone, and reappearing in the crowd of attackers the next second.

"Fire!"

Upon seeing this, the thirty-odd men outside immediately raised their guns to prepare to fire. However, the three men and the leopard were too fast. As soon as the group raised their guns, more than a dozen men had already fallen to the ground.

They frantically searched for the enemy, only to find that the enemy was right there in the crowd, using their own comrades' bodies as shields at any moment. If they fired indiscriminately, their comrades would be injured immediately.

This made them hesitant to act, and for a moment they didn't know what to do.

In that brief moment of hesitation, the remaining dozen or so people were all killed.

The whole thing happened in just a few seconds, and not a single person survived.

From beginning to end, not a single person was able to fire a single shot.

"Hurry up and pack!"

At Qinghou's command, Marcus, Max, and the others rushed out and dumped all the corpses on the ground onto the pickup truck.

When there was simply no more room to pile them up, John quickly got into his car, drove it a hundred meters away, and soon returned in an empty car.

In just a few minutes, all thirty-odd corpses disappeared.

"Throw these empty cars over too."

After giving some instructions, Qinghou turned around and returned to the fat man's side.

"Zi-"

A beam of white light swept across, and the fat man slowly woke up from his coma. His eyes were somewhat dazed, and for a moment he couldn't remember where he was.

A dozen seconds later, he finally realized what was happening. When he looked at the open space outside, his eyes widened in shock: "Where are my men?"

"All dead."

Qinghou squatted down in front of the fat man, her beautiful face beaming with the sweetest smile: "If you don't tell the truth, you'll end up like them."

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

The fat man muttered to himself, wanting to get up and properly search for his men. Qinghou didn't stop him, letting him look around outside the church.

However, the fat man looked around but didn't see anything.

He didn't even see a single bullet hole in the walls and doors of the Cathedral of Milne.

The fat man panicked; he simply couldn't believe that his perfect ambush had failed.

"It's the last chance. It's okay if you don't tell me. Anyway, I've already located your boss's location. I'm very happy that he actually came to the metropolis."

Qinghou said with a grin, "Doesn't he know that the metropolis is now our territory?"

The fat man turned ashen-faced and collapsed to his knees, pleading, "Don't kill me, don't kill me, I'll tell you everything."

"Marcus, it's up to you."

With a casual wave of her hand, Qinghou snapped the fat man's limbs in two with a series of cracking sounds.

"Ah - um -"

Just as the fat man was about to scream in agony, Marcus swiftly stuffed the fat man's tie into his mouth: "This pain is just an appetizer."

Confess honestly, or you'll regret being born.

The fat man nodded frantically; he had finally witnessed just how ruthless these people were.

He had only one thought in his mind at that moment:
Wang Da, Wang Er, Wang San, I shouldn't have laughed at your incompetence.

……

After Index's hymn ended, the church returned to silence.

Helen and Sarah supported Malena on either side as they arrived at the coffin. Malena took out a vinyl record and placed it inside the coffin. She took one last look at her husband before leaving in tears.

John and Max stepped forward and sealed the coffin. Wen Ming stood up and personally lifted Nino's coffin with the others, an act that deeply moved Malena.

The group arrived at the pre-dug grave and slowly lowered the coffin into it.

Instead of leaving the backfilling work to the cemetery staff, Wen Ming and the others picked up shovels and filled the area with soil.

With each shovel stroke, Wen Ming gained a deeper understanding of life.

Life is unpredictable; no one knows who will be the next to die.

It could be a time traveler, it could be one of your employees, or it could even be yourself.

We must remain stable!

I was a bit reckless when I picked up Thor's hammer yesterday.

It's really not right to expose a portion of your capabilities just for a mere tenfold increase in power output.

Why not just sit back and wait for the Transformers series to end?
We must reflect on this.

After the grave was restored to its original state, Wenming handed the shovel to Max, who was standing nearby, and then said goodbye to Nino's gravestone.

Rest in peace.

……

"On the way back, we'll take a detour."

After the funeral, Wen Ming got into his luxury car and looked at Perkins in front of him: "Let's go pay a visit to the new boss of the Black River Society."

"Okay, boss."

Perkins glanced at the back seat and wisely closed the partition.

The ninth brother chuckled from the passenger seat, "Sister Perkins has really high emotional intelligence now."

"My emotional intelligence has always been very high."

Perkins smirked smugly, then stepped on the gas, and the Rice Phantom drove off the cemetery first.

The long convoy sped towards the Honghe Building. Wen Ming had no interest in looking at the scenery outside the window; instead, he held Malena in his arms and kept comforting her, saying, "Everything will pass."

"Boss, I want to kill Red Skull with my own hands."

Malena raised her tear-streaked face, a black veil draped in front of her, adding to the widow's allure.

"We need to retrieve the Space Stone first, so that he won't be transported to Vormir and become the guide of the Soul Stone, just like in the original story."

Wen Ming did not refuse Malena's request, but quickly explained to her what she should do: "You must be injected with the Super Soldier Serum, but your fighting and shooting skills are too poor. You need to train these skills properly so that you can defeat Red Skull."

"I'm fine with anything. I'll do whatever you ask me to do."

Malena clenched her fists, her eyes filled with a burning desire for revenge.

Wen Ming gently patted her back: "Don't worry, I will support you in whatever you want to do. I will send Qinghou, Yuanbao, Yuanlong, and Yuanying to help you. I guarantee you will be able to kill Red Skull with one shot."

As for Red Skull's mission—to be the guide of the Soul Gem—Wen Ming didn't care at all.

That position only requires two lines of dialogue; anyone could do it.

It's been so many years since the Endgame, and Red Skull was freed after guiding Thanos to obtain the Soul Stone. But the writers have run out of ideas and haven't given Red Skull any further storylines. It's estimated that the investors have already abandoned this minor boss.

Wen Ming had no interest in hiring such an ugly employee with such great ambition.

Marlena was deeply moved and hugged Wen Ming tightly around the waist: "Boss, you're so good to me."

"That's because you're my designated secretary."

Wen Ming said casually, "You'll have to be a good boy and serve me tea and water from now on."

"Okay, I'll do whatever you tell me to do."

Malena solemnly promised again: "I will be your little secretary for the rest of my life."

……

A fire reduced the Honghe Building to ruins. Although it was not completely destroyed, it still cost the Honghe Group a large sum of money to clean up the ruins.

The Honghe Building is currently undergoing renovations, and it's bustling with activity everywhere.

We have to renovate; the stock price keeps falling.

When the convoy arrived at the foot of the Honghe Building, Qinghou's voice came from the speakers: "Boss, he escaped in a helicopter. It just took off. Should I do what I did last time?"

"No need to rush, haven't you already hacked into his phone and left a tracking program?"

Wen Ming was not surprised to hear that the other party had escaped.

Only a fool would stay here.

“Yes, I had successfully hacked into his and his bodyguard’s phones before Yuan Bao cut off the network connection.”

"Then let's come over tonight, that will be more convenient."

Wen Ming looked out the car window at the newly renovated Honghe Building and laughed, "The renovation must have cost a lot of money."

Qinghou chuckled and said, "We can't have come all this way for nothing. Wait for me for a minute."

One minute later, thick black smoke billowed from the newly renovated Honghe Building, and countless renovation workers rushed down from the building. By the time they reached the ground, the entire Honghe Building had once again burst into flames.

The convoy returned to the Iron Hotel, and everyone went back to their posts. Wenming did not go to see Loki, but instead took Malena back to her room.

"The boss really cares about this married woman."

During lunch, Selena quietly put eye drops on Sarah.

Sarah shook her head and said, "I'm not a wife anymore, I'm a widow."

Selena was puzzled as to why Sarah was never jealous.
She then looked at Rebecca beside her: "How long has it been since your boss visited your lab?"

Rebecca was engrossed in eating her steak when she heard Selena's words and paused for a moment before replying, "It hasn't been that long, has it?"

"I think the boss is completely infatuated with Malena."

Selena raised her voice, trying to lure Sarah and Rebecca into a chaotic scene, but neither of them paid any attention. Instead, they talked about the attack that morning. "We were thinking of asking the boss to go shopping together to help Malena cheer up, but now, not only us, the boss can't even go out, right?"

"The boss is so pitiful. I feel even more pitiful than us. He can only stay in the hotel every day and has no entertainment of his own."

"How about we go with you tonight? Let's just take down that Honghe Group as soon as possible."

……

Selena was completely speechless.

The scene of carnage was completely unwatchable.

Forget it, let's wait for Ada Wong to arrive. That jealous woman will be in for a good show if she's stirred up.

Just as she was about to lower her head to continue eating her steak, the combat power detector she was wearing on her glasses suddenly issued a warning. Selena reluctantly put down her knife and fork: "That damn Loki, why can't he just let me have a proper meal?"

Sarah urged, "Hurry up, that cunning guy, if we're not careful, he'll cause trouble just like Lex."

Selena got up, put on her high heels, and took the elevator to the second-floor gym.

She walked straight up to a handsome man who was chatting up a single woman practicing squats: "Loki, did you pay for your gym membership?"

"Of course I paid!"

The handsome man's expression changed. He hadn't expected that he would be discovered by the other party less than 3 minutes after entering the gym, and that he had already changed his appearance.

What is going on here?

"You paid with counterfeit money? You still owe Charon a $100 tip!"

Selena didn't hesitate to expose him: "Charon should have warned you not to chat with other guests before you officially check in. This is a five-star hotel."

A single woman who was practicing squats heard that Loki owed his employees a $100 tip and had even paid for it with counterfeit money at the gym. She immediately stood up in disgust and walked away, saying, "I thought you were the real Tom. Turns out you're just a penniless wretch."

Seeing her storm off, Loki was utterly humiliated. He growled at Selena, "I am a god, how dare you be so disrespectful to me?"

"Even God has to pay."

Selena scoffed, "And because of you, I missed my lunch break, so you need to pay me overtime!"

Overtime pay?

Loki laughed in exasperation: "Is this lousy hotel all it cares about, money?!"

"Yes, it's very expensive to stay here. My room costs $500 a night, and meals are extra."

My monthly salary isn't even enough to cover my room rate. I have to go to other universes to work and do missions in order to afford a five-star hotel.

Now I have to ask the shop owner for credit even to buy a dress.

Selena scoffed, "Where do you think this is? You might not even have a room to come in later, my colleague from 18 years in the future."

When Loki heard the word "18 years" again, he finally realized that this hotel might be more mysterious than he had imagined: "Do I have to find Thor to check in and know my fate?"

"Correct."

Selena nodded and said, "Because you're too cunning, the boss made this requirement specifically to protect your stupid brother."

"Stupid brother?"

Hearing Wen Ming also call Thor a fool, Loki finally stopped being angry and said with a smile, "I'll go find him right now."

"Yes, I remember. You owe me and Charon $100 each for overtime pay."

Selena pointed to her eyes with two slender fingers, then to Loki: "Don't try to renege on your promise."

Loki's smile froze instantly, and he stormed out in a rage: "Next time you come, I'll smash you both with a mountain of gold."

Selena happily waved goodbye to him.

"A warm welcome."

……

Wen Ming slept until four o'clock in the afternoon before getting up and returning to his office.

Bruce had been waiting for a long time: "Wenming, Arthur has robbed a bank."

"I know."

"you know?"

Batman was furious: "Did you provide him with weapons? His crimes are escalating."

"Yes, I also provide bank robbery planning services."

Wen Ming was very frank and said without any concealment: "This is one of the services that the Metaverse Store can provide. If the tenant has a request, I can provide it as long as they can afford it."

Moreover, even if I don't provide it, other tenants will provide it to him, and they might even be hired by him to rob banks.

Batman glared at Wen Ming: "I thought you only cared about justice."

What is justice?

Wen Ming poured Batman a cup of tea, gesturing for him to sit down and talk: "If Lex had arrived at the hotel before you and asked me for help, should I have received him or not?"

Bruce was taken aback and was about to say something when Wen Ming continued, "In the Transformers universe, none of the righteous Autobots have come, but the villainous Decepticons have. Do you think I should kick them out?"

Bruce was silent.

Wen Ming continued, "The only time traveler I didn't treat fairly was Lilith. She is the Demon King of the Supernatural universe. The reason I didn't treat her properly wasn't because she was a demon, but because she kept things from me and had ulterior motives."

As the owner of the Iron Hotel, I don't need to guard against villainous bosses from various universes, but rather against everyone who covets and tries to destroy the hotel.

For example, tonight I will take my men to wipe out that damned new leader of the Black River Society, because he plans to kill me and all my friends at today's funeral.

I told you before that I am neither a referee nor a judge, and I have no right to judge anything that happens in your universe.

All I can do is help you with my strength when you ask me for help.

If you have money, pay me with gold.

If you don't have the money, just put it on credit.

Wenming's frankness plunged Bruce into deep thought.

Wenming had reminded himself before that he could punish Arthur in his own way for whatever Arthur did, instead of repeatedly asking Wenming to act as his judge.

The issue is.

“I don’t want Arthur to go down the path depicted in comics or movies. You know, he’s a good person at heart and has always wanted to be one!”

Bruce clutched his head in anguish. For the first time, he felt that things were not going exactly as he had anticipated, and were even gradually going off track.

"Don't worry, I trust Arthur."

Wen Ming tapped the table, reminding Bruce to drink his tea: "Arthur may do some outrageous things, but all his intentions are good."

You can try to arrest him and send him to prison so he can reflect on his actions for a while, but you also need to be prepared.

The day Arthur was arrested and imprisoned, and the day he was stabbed by his fellow inmates, was the day he had to choose between dying or coming to the hotel.

He will lose either his life or his freedom forever.

Bruce picked up his teacup, and in the rising steam, a look of confusion and pain flashed in his eyes.

If captured, Arthur will either die or lose his freedom forever.

If they don't arrest him, Arthur will continue to commit crimes.

Such a future left him with no choice but to decide what to do.

Wen Ming changed the subject: "Have you found Mr. Freeze?"

"found it."

Bruce said instinctively.

"He will be a good helper to you, what about the scarecrow?"

“I have him under surveillance, and I will arrest him on the spot when he commits another crime.”

Where is Wonder Woman?

"We haven't been able to get in touch with her yet. Her identity is currently well hidden, but it shouldn't be a big problem."

Where is the Flash?

"He had just been admitted to university and had not yet experienced the explosion at the STAR laboratory particle accelerator."

Where is Aquaman?

"I've found the fishing village, and I'm waiting... How do you know so much about my plan?"

Bruce finally snapped out of his reverie. He looked at Wen Ming, who had a mischievous grin on his face, and felt a pang of guilt for telling Wen Ming everything.

When did I start to be so unguarded around Wen Ming?
"Looks like you're much faster than Tony. He just killed a few Hydra agents."

Wen Ming stood up with a smile: "Look, you have a lot of things to do, why are you only focusing on Arthur?"
Perhaps one day in the future, Arthur will become a great help to you in your fight against Darkseid.

“I’d rather he stay a clown than go through this kind of danger.”

Bruce shook his head, denying Wen Ming's statement.

Wen Ming patted his shoulder earnestly: "How do you know that the life you want to give Arthur is the life he wants?"

Bruce returned to his own universe, filled with deep self-doubt.

After seeing Batman off, Wen Ming will meet with Arthur and Harley.

The Joker and Harley Quinn laughed and hugged Wen Ming: "Boss, I killed the Scarecrow."

"What? So fast?"

Wen Ming looked at Arthur in surprise, and Arthur laughed and said, "Just now, while you were chatting with Bruce."

Wen Ming was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled and said, "You two are quite clever."

Harley said with a grin, "As long as Bruce is here with you, boss, we can get a lot done."

Arthur nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, everything from now on must be done when Bruce comes to the Iron Hotel."

Wen Ming poured cold water on their enthusiasm: "If you do this, you'll only get the clever Bruce to set a trap for you."

The two men immediately stiffened and wiped the smiles off their faces: "Boss, we understand."

"Warfare is based on deception. Don't let your actions follow a fixed pattern. Only by using deception and real tactics can you play the game better with Bruce."

Wen Ming patted the two men on the shoulders and said, "Be careful, Bruce is determined to catch you."

Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out a small gadget: "This is a jammer I had Bulma customize. With this, even if Bruce spreads surveillance cameras all over Gotham City, he won't be able to find us."

Wen Ming frowned: "Foolish. With a jammer, isn't it like lighting a lamp in the dark, clearly telling Bruce where you are?"

"Huh? What should we do then?"

Arthur was dumbfounded.

Wen Ming reminded him, "You can make two kinds of jammers: one to disable the surveillance and the other to automatically overwrite the footage. And next time you need to do something, find some decoys and have them carry the first type of jammer. This way, you can lure the tiger away from the mountain and keep Bruce busy."

You don't even need to spend money on bait; just throw the signal jammers onto cars and bicycles on the main road.

Arthur's eyes suddenly lit up: "Boss, I've got it! I feel like I'm slowly getting the hang of it."

Playing games with Bruce can no longer be as simple as teasing a child.

"That's more like it. I'll have Qinghou help you compile some better methods and tricks. Since you're going to play hide-and-seek with Bruce, you have to study hard and make yourself smarter. It's always good to learn more."

Also, you should quickly learn those spells. Only with magic can I be at ease about your safety.

Wen Ming patiently guided Arthur, providing him with a reading list including books such as "How to Become a Superhero," "The Road to Superheroes," "The Way to Redemption," and "How to Teach a Man to Fish," among others, for him to study when he returned home. He also gave the two of them the Book of Spells and told them to go back to their rooms to study it.

Since the stand-up comedy master training program has failed, let's train the clown to become the Clown Man.

Wen Ming secretly resolved that he absolutely could not fail again this time.

Arthur and Harley were overjoyed and happily returned to Arthur's room.

"Harley, the boss truly lives up to his reputation as the beacon of our Golden Dawn. Today he taught me an amazing method, and we must follow his teachings to bring dawn to Gotham!"

Arthur happily raised his hands and embraced the sun outside the window.

Harley nodded vigorously and said, "Yes, we, the Golden Dawn, are righteous. Bruce is too stubborn. Let's guide him into the embrace of God!"

Arthur gazed at the crimson sunset outside, his heart filled with boundless joy.

"I want to bring happiness to everyone in the DC Universe!"

(End of this chapter)