Marvel: The Alchemist Just Wants a Peaceful Life

In the end, all his scheming turned into a helpless sigh. He shook his head and then said to Sherlock.

"Yes, times are changing too fast. The Battle of New York has turned the underworld upside down. The old rules are no longer the rules that everyone agrees on. Even the High Table has begun to split."

At this point, Winston paused slightly, as if he had remembered something, and gave a wry smile before glancing at Zhao Weike beside him before continuing.

"Compared to those unruly newcomers, Anna and Mindy's flamboyant style is actually quite subtle. Fortunately, no matter how unruly those young people are, there are still bottom lines. The mainland hotel's red line has not been crossed yet."

His words openly acknowledged the current predicament faced by the mainland hotel, or rather, he implied that Zhao Weike wanted Anna and Mindy to return. Clearly, Winston is currently lacking "his own people."

Not only that, at the end, Winston even explicitly stated that he was still sticking to his bottom line: the Continental Hotel still had unbreakable rules. As long as these rules remained, even if the Continental Hotel didn't go bankrupt, it would still give him some leverage.

Listening to Winston's 'complaints', Sherlock even started to feel sorry for Winston, after all, what Winston didn't know was that Anna and Mindy might not be returning to the Continental Hotel system for a long time.

Chapter 280 Roundtable Negotiation (Part 2)

Sherlock naturally understood Winston's meaning, but unfortunately, Sherlock did not intend to follow Winston's lead. Instead, he maintained his refined smile, raised his glass to Winston, and then spoke to him.

“I’m so glad that you’re still willing to trust your friends during such a difficult time, Winston. Trust me, I’ve always been very generous to my friends.”

If Sherlock had said something like that to Winston before, Winston would probably have been very happy. After all, he had tried to collaborate with Sherlock several times before, and if Sherlock had agreed, he would now be a sure thing.

Unfortunately, reality doesn't allow for "what ifs," and the current situation at the Continental Hotel in New York is no longer sufficient for Winston to continue his pretense.

The rules that were established by the red line in the mainland hotels are gradually diminishing, being torn apart little by little by the chaotic reality, and even the once high table is beginning to show signs of splitting.

Under such circumstances, if Winston wants to maintain the hotel's superior position, it will have to think ahead about the future.

Now that he has chosen to sit in this box, it means that Winston has made his choice. Now the focus should be on the outcome.

Having thought this through, Winston no longer hesitated, abandoning all the elaborate schemes he had prepared. He looked coldly at the smiling Sherlock opposite him and asked Sherlock the same direct question.

What benefits will I get?

Winston's direct question, abandoning his usual cunning and roundabout approach, startled Sherlock. Even Zhao Weike, who was enjoying his meal nearby, subconsciously stopped what he was doing and looked up in Winston's direction.

Unlike Winston, a cunning old fox, Sherlock made no attempt to hide his true feelings. After being momentarily stunned by Winston's question, Sherlock actually laughed.

After a while, Sherlock took out the vibranium gem, placed it on the table, and slid it directly in front of Winston.

"Consider this a deposit. Trust me, Mr. Winston, I never shortchange my friends."

Seeing the thing that Sherlock had rowed in front of him, even Winston had to take it seriously. As the 'manager' of the Continental Hotel, Winston naturally knew what this thing was.

Even now, with alien weapons and technologies so prevalent, this thing is priceless, and even more so, it's becoming increasingly rare and hard to find.

The reason is simple: this thing in front of us is almost the nemesis of alien energy weapons. Even without those alien weapons, the characteristics and value of this thing are enough to make anyone risk their life for it.

Of course, Winston wasn't stupid; the gleaming S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the vibranium also indicated its origin.

After taking a deep breath, Winston did not touch the priceless object, even though it was right in front of him. Instead, he looked at Sherlock warily and asked him a question.

"So what price will I have to pay?"

It must be said that even Sherlock couldn't help but applaud Winston after seeing his performance. He truly deserves to be called a man who rose from a street thug to become the manager of the Continental Hotel and dominated the position for decades.

That composure to remain calm even when Mount Tai collapses before him was enough to amaze Sherlock.

It's important to understand that this piece of vibranium in front of you is something that can enable anyone to achieve a leap in social class, at least that was true before Wakanda was opened to the public.

It's like having a hundred million in cash in front of you. Anyone would be tempted, even if they could control their greed for various reasons. They would still be unable to resist touching it.

But Winston is able to control himself even though he clearly knows what this thing in front of him is, which is commendable in itself.

Clearly, Winston, despite his undeniable businessman nature, is ultimately a reliable figure.

That's why Sherlock's smile grew even brighter as he spoke to Winston.

"It's very simple. You just need to provide some information about the locations of S.H.I.E.L.D. bases."

But after Sherlock finished stating his demands, Winston's brow furrowed even more deeply, and his eyes flickered as he calculated the gains and losses.

After a long while, Winston shook his head and refused to fall down in front of Sherlock.

“I’m sorry, Sherlock, but if it were just this thing, I wouldn’t risk offending S.H.I.E.L.D. to help you.”

Winston's refusal was both unexpected and reasonable, causing Zhao Weike, who had been eating the whole time, to glance at him sideways. However, Sherlock remained calmly seated, looking at Winston with a smile on his face.

Although Winston appeared to reject Sherlock's proposal on the surface, the fact that he didn't immediately get up and leave already spoke volumes. Sherlock could naturally see that what Winston truly wanted was not a 'deal' but 'security'.

"Of course, Winston, believe me, this is just a deposit, and compared to the real benefits, it's not even worth mentioning."

The question now facing you is whether you want to trust me and take a gamble—to bet that I can provide you and your hotel with a level of 'protection' far beyond what is possible, even a protection that completely transcends and bypasses the existence of 'me' itself.

Sherlock's words were like the devil's whisper, carrying boundless temptation and even directly pointing out the difficulties Winston was currently facing, causing Winston's expression to become extremely complicated.

Like a person struggling in the abyss seeing a glimmer of light, Winston is now gambling on whether this light is an exit or a means for those luring people into the abyss by the monsters hidden in the darkness.

As Sherlock's voice faded, the entire private room gradually became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. For a moment, Winston even felt as if a mountain was pressing down on him.

After hesitating for a long time, Winston glanced at Zhao Weike beside him, then at Sherlock sitting calmly opposite him, leisurely drinking red wine, before gritting his teeth and speaking to Sherlock.

"Alright, Sherlock, you've convinced me. I'll give you the answer you want in three days."

After speaking, Winston stood up and prepared to leave. However, when he reached the front door, he seemed to remember something or perhaps he could no longer suppress his curiosity, so he stopped, turned around, and looked in Sherlock's direction, asking Sherlock a question.

"Could you tell me in advance what exactly your so-called benefits are, just to put my mind at ease about my decision?"

Upon hearing Winston's words, Sherlock merely smiled, raised his glass of red wine to Winston, and then spoke to him.

"Congratulations, Winston, you have become one of the heirs to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s inventory and technology! Within two years, you will receive your rightful 'legacy'!"

"!!!"*2

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, both Winston and Zhao Weike wore expressions of utter astonishment, staring intently at Sherlock's enigmatic smile.

Chapter 281 Those who play with their brains have dirty hearts.

Winston eventually left, taking with him the 'deposit' Sherlock had given him and the vibranium he had left the box.

As Winston walked out of the restaurant, Charon was already waiting for him outside in his Continental Hotel's exclusive Rolls-Royce. Winston glanced back at the restaurant before turning and getting into the back seat of the car.

After the car door closed, Winston's smile vanished without a trace. Charon, sitting in the driver's seat, saw Winston's expression in the rearview mirror and asked him a question while driving.

"Is things not going well, sir?"

Upon hearing Charon's question, Winston immediately tossed the vibranium gem he was holding onto the passenger seat. As Winston's right-hand man, Charon naturally recognized what Winston had thrown.

However, once he confirmed the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on the original stone, Charon wisely kept quiet.

Seeing Charon's appearance, Winston couldn't help but sigh, rubbed his temples with a headache, closed his eyes and leaned back on the headrest before speaking to Charon.

"That little fox Sherlock didn't side with us as I had expected, but instead offered me a condition I couldn't refuse."

The good news is that he wasn't very interested in the 'power' I could offer. The bad news is that although I kept my 'power,' what I gained in return was a more dangerous but also more promising form of 'self-reliance'.

Charon, the future may be even more chaotic than we anticipate.

Upon hearing Winston's words, Charon frowned slightly, but he did not inquire further about the details of Winston and Sherlock's deal, nor did he ask Winston what Sherlock had used to make Winston give up Sherlock as his patron.

After a moment of silence, he looked in the rearview mirror at Winston and asked him a question.

"Sir, what are your plans for this vibranium? Are you using it as leverage to plan for the future?"

"No, Charon, what we need more than the future is our trump card! We need to find a way to weave it together and combine it with our bulletproof suits! Although we must prepare for the worst-case scenario of a chaotic future, the prerequisite is that we must survive."

Upon hearing Charon's question, Winston's eyes snapped open, the light in them seeming to remind Charon of the Winston of decades past. That ruthless yet confident gaze made Charon unconsciously laugh.

"As you wish, sir."

……

Meanwhile, in the restaurant, after Winston left with Sherlock's seemingly nonsensical message, Sherlock relaxed almost without hesitation.

The aura he once exuded, like that of a godfather, vanished in an instant. Especially when Sherlock ripped off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, he revealed a more thuggish side.

Even so, Sherlock still seemed unsatisfied, so he grabbed a wine bottle from the table and shoved it into his mouth, beginning to gulp it down.

Watching Sherlock chug down an entire bottle of wine, even letting out a burp, Zhao Weike, who was still in shock from the news Sherlock brought, instantly adopted a speechless expression.

"No, Sherlock, putting aside how you managed to fool Winston, how did you manage to make a bespoke suit worth hundreds of thousands of dollars look like something a scoundrel would wear? And besides, I remember you didn't like drinking wine at all?"

Seeing Sherlock's appearance, Zhao Weike even had a moment of doubt that Winston might have been fooled by Sherlock, and felt a pang of guilt for having tricked his old friend Winston.

Seeing Zhao Weike's constipated expression, Sherlock rolled his eyes in annoyance, leaned back in his chair without any regard for his image, pointed to the empty wine bottle, and then spoke.

"First of all, it wasn't wine, it was grape juice!"

Secondly, I don't really understand why you guys like suits, which are such restrictive and restrictive of movement!

In the end, I didn't trick that old fox Winston. Or to put it more bluntly, it was that old fox who was setting traps for me, trying to get me onto his chariot called the 'New York Continental Hotel'.

Faced with Sherlock's answer, Zhao Weike had almost rolled his eyes to the sky earlier, especially after Sherlock's statement about hating suits, which prompted the suit-obsessed Zhao Weike to give Sherlock a solid middle finger in response.

When Sherlock explained that Winston had actually set him up all along, rather than Sherlock deceiving Winston, three question marks appeared above Zhao Weike's head.

Seeing Zhao Weike's bewildered expression, Sherlock sighed helplessly before explaining to him.

"Think about it carefully. Winston, that old fox, clearly agreed to my request, indicating that he was on our side, and said he would give me the information in three days. Is it really necessary to confirm what kind of bargaining chips I can offer at the last minute?"

In fact, everything we said before was just empty talk and had no binding force. The real confrontation was on the last condition.

If I'm not mistaken, Winston's initial idea was to tie me to his Continental Hotels, using my identity as an 'alchemist' to provide protection for his hotels, while also relinquishing some 'power' to allow me to publicly withstand external pressure.

But when he realized that I had no interest in his 'power' whatsoever, he probably thought of hedging his bets, trying to maintain a mild relationship and survive in the cracks without offending me or anyone else.

With your connection, I can at least protect the mainland hotel once. In an emergency, I will be his last resort to save his life.

It wasn't until I finally laid out my terms that Winston decided to stand on my side, or rather, on his own.

The SHIELD warehouse and data give him an absolute advantage in the hotel, even an advantage that can influence the High Table's judgment. The vibranium will also become a life-saving trump card, just like the Captain's shield. Strictly speaking, I might even owe him a favor.

In this situation, he not only expanded his 'power' and even gained my friendship, but also increased his trump cards, which is why he finally agreed.

Believe it or not, if I hadn't told him what the bargaining chips were, the information he gave me three days later would have been completely different from the information I received after I told him what the chips were.

As Zhao Weike listened to Sherlock's explanation, his eyes widened more and more. After Sherlock finished speaking, Zhao Weike sighed helplessly and gave Sherlock a disgruntled look.

"I must say, you bunch of people who play mind games have dirty minds! But I'm still curious, what exactly is in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s warehouse that made Winston give up your golden goose?"

Chapter 282 Zhao Weike's Unbelievable Luck

Listening to Zhao Weike's complaints, Sherlock rolled his eyes in annoyance, too lazy to pay attention to Zhao Weike's theory that playing with brains and having dirty hearts. In Sherlock's eyes, he was already as clean and pure as a delicate flower.