American variety show: The Godfather, the Peace Ambassador, what the heck?

Chapter 16, Third SSR Card

Stu Shepard is an entertainment publicist and middleman in the American entertainment industry. His job is to promote celebrities and contact media outlets and magazines. He is best known for his ability to get something for nothing, maneuvering between celebrities and the media with a string of lies. He also had an extramarital affair with a minor celebrity.

But this time, he was "punished".

He was trapped in a phone booth when a stranger aimed a sniper rifle at him and forced him to confess to his wife about his affair and to the public that he was a fraud, or else he would be killed.

At this moment, Steve was covered in sweat. The killer's voice came through the phone: "Do you know about the German pervert who was killed on 38th Street ten days ago? He thought he was an artist and wouldn't admit that he was a pedophile. Believe me, he had many chances to escape if he had confessed everything to the public, but he didn't, so I killed him."

This is a naked threat.

The murderer then mentioned another victim, a stockbroker who manipulated the market by selling stocks at high prices, causing the stock market to crash and trapping retail investors to their deaths.

The murderer said, "If he had been willing to repent and share the money with everyone back then, perhaps the outcome would have been different."

He was responsible for both of those previous sniping incidents.

This was a rather extreme and arrogant murderer who liked to punish others with extreme measures and used death threats to force strangers to reveal their private information in public.

But he was indeed very clever, good at hiding and scheming. In the original story, he fooled everyone. He even had time to show off in front of the victim and then calmly left right under the noses of the police, keeping his "merit and fame" hidden.

Luca and Matilda stood outside the crowd to join in the fun.

Because of the distance, the two could not hear what Shi was saying to the murderer at all; they could only see his tense and fearful face.

"So many police officers."

Matilda looked around. "Luca, I see Officer Mills."

She pointed to David Mills, who was standing next to the police car.

Matilda had seen her father at the crime scene when he was murdered last time.

This guy actually got involved in this case. Luca was a little surprised, and then glanced at William Somerset by the police car.

Besides those two guys, Luca even met Ricky Roberts.

In addition, there was a white police officer with almost bald hair—John McLean.

This is an amazing SSR super rare card with five skills!

[Character Card: John McLean]

John: SSR

[Source: Die Hard series]

[Skills: Misfortunes Never Come Singly, Ventilation Duct Raid, Barefoot Warrior, Die Hard, Heroism]

[Bond: Strangers]

Upon seeing these familiar-looking figures, Luca exclaimed, "Wow!"
Alright, alright, such a small sniper case has brought out all of you rare cards?

What right does the murderer have? Aren't you afraid of being beaten to a pulp and having your bones crushed and scattered to the winds?
That said, the NYPD really does have a lot of talented people.

Especially John McKellen, the SSR card. Putting everything else aside, just looking at his skill "Misfortunes Never Come Alone" tells you that this guy is definitely not simple.

This guy has a "Conan" personality; wherever he goes, something big happens. He went to Los Angeles to visit his wife, but was attacked by robbers who blew up a building. Then, when he picked up someone at the Washington airport, he encountered a terrorist attack and blew up a plane.

The key point is that these things originally had nothing to do with him. The criminals had nothing to do with him. It was just a coincidence that he happened to be there. As a police officer, he couldn't just ignore it.

Even his wife complained about why these unlucky things always happened to them.

Luca finally understood where the skill "Misfortunes Never Come Alone" came from.

I, Luca, would rather jump off the Empire State Building and die than learn this damn skill.

But the other skills look pretty good. After all, it's an SSR card with many skills. Excluding the "misfortunes come in pairs" mechanic, it still has four skills.

Luca is definitely going to be friends with this guy.

However, he needs to learn a skill before he can make contact.

Currently, Luca and Matilda's bond has reached the level of close friends, allowing them to learn the skills "Dexterity" and "Harmless Disguise".

The former increases the efficiency of learning assassin skills, while the latter can reduce the target's alertness.

After a moment's thought, Luca learned the second one.

The harmless disguise has a wider range of uses. It can lower the target's alert level when you come into contact with them, which is a great skill for making friends. Combined with the [Shameless] skill, it should make dealing with the police much easier.

[Would you like to spend 50 skill fragments to exchange for "Harmless Disguise"?]

【whether】

Yes!
[Exchange successful, skill added] [Harmless Disguise: When approaching a target disguised as a harmless person (student, delivery person, etc.), the target's alertness level decreases by 20%]

[Remaining Skill Fragments: 14]

New skill acquired.

At this moment, several police officers were gathered together, discussing countermeasures with other officers and their superiors.

William, the veteran detective, walked over from the phone booth with a megaphone and shared his observations with everyone: "It's highly likely that Stu is under threat, and the person on the other end of the phone is the real mastermind!"

David exclaimed excitedly, "Somerset, is this case related to the previous sniper murders? Apart from the drug dealer in the Bronx, the other two cases both occurred on the streets near Times Square, and the victims were on the phone when they died. They must be connected to today's case!"

“Most likely,” William nodded. “Right now, let’s handle this case first. Get the technicians here quickly; I need to know who was on the phone with Stu.”

“We can investigate, but we need to get a permit first,” Rich Roberts insisted, emphasizing the rules and procedures.

David, his temper flaring, snapped, "Screw you! We can't give up just because of technical issues."

He's a hot-tempered policeman who dares to kick down a door and conduct a forced search even without a warrant.

William: "Listen, tracing the source of a phone call isn't illegal, right?"

“As long as we don’t listen to the conversations.” John McLean said this with a speechless expression.

He had only come to Times Square to buy a gift and then go see his child—his marriage was in trouble and he had lost custody of his child, and he wanted to salvage the situation.

But unexpectedly, a murder occurred shortly after arriving at Times Square.

Why am I so unlucky? Everything I do seems to go wrong.

McLean is so annoyed; he always seems to run into these kinds of problems.

Hurry up and catch that damn murderer, don't waste your rest time.

Soon, technicians arrived at the scene and used a roadside telecommunications box to trace the source of the signal in an attempt to determine the location of the perpetrator.

However, the murderer had already installed encryption devices in advance.

It cannot be cracked in a short period of time.

Even the most skilled police officers were at a loss when faced with this frustrating situation.

The killer never showed up; the only clue was the phone location tracking, but that couldn't be cracked in such a short time.

"We are currently unable to track or eavesdrop on their calls, as they are encrypted."

Richie brought some bad news: "The technicians need more time to process it."

“I knew something was wrong with this case.” William said, then looked at David. “Mills, how’s it going on your end? Have the SWAT teams finished checking the surrounding buildings?”

The fact that the killer was able to snipe Stu indicates that the distance wasn't too far and there were no obstacles in between.

David pointed to the surrounding skyscrapers and said, "Look at yourself, how tall and densely packed those capitalists have built. How could they possibly investigate them all in a short time?"

"I'll personally lead the search."

McClain, eager to see her child, volunteered to go.

The other police officers felt a sudden chill run down their spines. They had almost forgotten about the nemesis, McClain. Wherever this guy appeared, something big was bound to happen—either a building would be blown up or a plane would be blown up.
William felt they should play it safe. "I think we should call for backup and bring in police from other areas. I have a feeling something big is going to happen here."

The other police officers nodded, agreeing that it made a lot of sense.

McLean: "."

Shit! Don't look at me like that, okay? I just happened to be here to buy a gift, don't make it seem like this case happened because of me.

Just then, a technician ran over and said, "Sir, we've found the location. The phone number and address are for a room at the Barclays Hotel."

Police officers: “???”

Wasn't it not working quite right just now? So fast?
William: "Did you find the room number?"

Technician: "604, that's the second row of windows on the street corner. The SWAT team is preparing to attack!"

"Tell them to seal all doors, windows, emergency exits, and all possible exits!"

"Okay," the technician added, "By the way, a kind citizen just helped us solve a technical problem; he's the one who helped us find the room number."

Police officers: “???”

Generous crab gift! There are actually kind-hearted citizens in New York?

(End of this chapter)