Chapter 7 Daredevil Returns Empty-Handed

On his way back to the apartment, Schiller could clearly feel someone following him. The improved vision brought by spider sense allowed him to see that someone seemed to be watching him from the opposite side of the apartment building.

The apartment building opposite was a full glass structure. There was a small window pane inside that reflected light differently from other places, so Schiller could sense it keenly.

He chose to open a clinic in Hell's Kitchen, not without purpose. After a few days of observation, he had basically figured out the work and rest routines of the residents in the apartment building.

Most of the people living here are office workers and elite white-collar workers. Most of them are single, have very regular working hours, and have a fixed circle of friends.

Living among such a crowd, it is too easy for agents to find flaws.

Hell's Kitchen is different. Although it is the largest slum gang gathering place in Manhattan, New York, and even the United States, it has a high population density, a large flow of people, and a large number of strangers. In addition, large and small gangs are nested and entrenched. It is really the most suitable place for outsiders like Schiller who are bent on fishing in troubled waters.

Although life in a high-end apartment is comfortable, it is not necessarily as free as Hell's Kitchen. Schiller believed that if he stayed in the apartment for a few more days, at least four or five of his neighbors would become SHIELD agents. There would be all kinds of people whose origins were unclear, trying every means to get close to him and get some information, which might be his own or Stark's. This was the way SHIELD did things. They didn't care whether you needed privacy or not.

And Hell's Kitchen was slightly different from Gotham. Although there were countless gangs of all sizes in Hell's Kitchen, it was less dangerous than Gotham.

There were more poor people, gamblers and drug addicts there. There were no scarecrows and clowns, and no big villains to be named.

Most of the people there were still ordinary people. Although guns and drugs were rampant, the victims were more ordinary people, not special people with superpowers.

Schiller planned to make it his first base in Marvel.

Stark was very efficient. Not long after, he found a way to encourage some congressmen to transfer a hospital quota to Hell's Kitchen.

Some congressmen took this opportunity to publicize their kindness. New York claims that it will not give up any of its citizens, but they never expected that this hospital could really be opened. You know, that place is Hell's Kitchen. Even the devil will be cooked if he goes there.

Open a hospital there? Don't be ridiculous. Unless the hospital can be built like a concentration camp, with tanks and cannons piled up at the door, and the doctors and nurses inside all carrying machine guns, there might be some hope, otherwise all the medicines there will be snatched away overnight.

But no matter how the congressmen don't believe it, and no matter how numb the people in Hell's Kitchen are, a small psychological clinic was still established in Hell's Kitchen.

As the most famous and largest slum in Manhattan, the eight blocks here are just a nickname.

In fact, the area here is much wider than the eight blocks. There are dozens of streets of all sizes, and there are about hundreds of gangs intertwined here.

Some people say that the boss of Hell's Kitchen is Kingpin, but in fact it is not the case. In fact, Kingpin's business scope is far beyond Hell's Kitchen. The entire eastern United States and even the East Coast have his criminal industry chain.

His business is all over the United States. Hell's Kitchen may involve some of his drug industry and smuggling business, but he actually neither lives here nor keeps an eye on it all the time.

Daredevil, who was born in Hell's Kitchen, is his mortal enemy, but they have hardly ever set up a battlefield in Hell's Kitchen. Spider-Man, who has fought with Kingpin several times, is still just an ignorant high school student at this time.

Kingpin's ambition is far more than just unifying Hell's Kitchen, and he doesn't care about the chaos in Hell's Kitchen. Because there are all kinds of gunfights, robberies, kidnappings, fights and missing persons cases here every day, and it's nothing to cause some trouble.

Therefore, when Kingpin, who was far away in San Francisco, heard that several of his men had gone insane in Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan, he just thought they were taking too many drugs and didn't take it to heart at all.

In Hell's Kitchen, a terrible rumor gradually spread - they heard that in the psychological clinic opened at the end of Mary Street, Ninth Alley, there lived a terrible strange doctor. All the gang members who came to collect protection fees or extortion from him ran out in fear and went crazy.

When this incident first started, several well-known gang leaders did not believe in evil and led their men in. But not long after, they were like encountering a monster. They started fighting with the air frantically, struggling, screaming, running away, crying, as if they were possessed by some ghost.

This incident caused quite a stir. Almost the entire Mary Street heard about it, and the rumor spread quickly.

One person told ten people, ten told a hundred people, and everyone heard that Ninth Alley must not be visited. There was a terrible curse there that would make you see the most fearful things in your heart, and you would be scared to death.

Later, Schiller, who lived there, began to go out and move around. Everyone heard that he was the owner of the clinic who lived in Ninth End Alley. Then people knew that he was not a ghost, but a weird psychiatrist.

According to Schiller's explanation, the gang leaders had done too many bad things, and he just gave them some friendly psychological counseling.

As for why they were crazy about gains and losses? Maybe it was because evil would be punished.

It would be a pity if the people in Hell's Kitchen believed his words. For those who live here, it is their consensus that evil will be rewarded.

No one born in Hell's Kitchen would feel guilty. It is normal to commit crimes here, and criminals are the majority here. Guilty? What kind of conscience do you expect from a person who has been selling guns and drugs, fighting, threatening, extorting and gambling since he was a teenager? How can such a person feel guilty? And he will feel guilty to the point of going crazy?

Everyone who heard about this thought that Schiller was a black magician, so he could curse those people.

And Schiller would not explain. The fear gas brought from DC is really useful. Although it is only the initial version, it is still very effective against some ordinary people without superpowers.

When he found that he could shuttle between the two worlds by holding things in his hands, he had the idea of ​​​​being a trader.

Although the power systems of Marvel and DC are different, there are indeed many things that can be sold to each other, and of course there are many things that can be exchanged to deal with the enemies of both sides.

For example, if Schiller used fear gas in Gotham, once the news spread, Jonathan would see the symptoms of those patients and he would definitely think that it was his fear gas.

But in Marvel, how could Jonathan know the situation of Marvel? Schiller naturally didn't have to pay any copyright fees.

Since this terrifying rumor came out, there will be almost no gangsters to trouble Schiller.

Of course, the consequence of getting along with this group of criminals is that a superhero came to the door.

On a slightly cold night in Manhattan, Schiller had just made a cup of hot coffee. He closed and locked the door of the clinic, ready to end a day of slacking off, have a good sleep, and continue to harass Stark tomorrow.

Just as he put the coffee cup on the table, he heard a crisp sound from the door, and then he turned around. In the dim light, he saw a tall man in a red tights standing outside the door.

Schiller turned around and picked up the coffee cup, saying: "You seem to be a little late, Mr. Daredevil."

"Do you know me, doctor?" Daredevil said.

"Of course I know you, Daredevil. You are famous in Hell's Kitchen." Schiller said.

"But you seem to have been here for a short time." Daredevil said.

"But I am more familiar with your other identity, Lawyer Matt."

Daredevil was obviously shocked. He didn't know how Schiller saw his true identity.

Schiller said before he asked: "You have achieved outstanding results in Columbia University, and your career path after graduation is also very smooth. Not only did you become a good lawyer, but you also opened your own law firm. Matt, can you tell me why you want to become Daredevil? Isn't the sense of pride that lawyers bring you in upholding justice enough?"

"Lawyer, uphold justice..." Daredevil snorted coldly, and said: "Maybe you think so, yes, most people think so, think that lawyers should speak up for justice and defend the disadvantaged, but in fact..."

"In fact? Do you think lawyers shouldn't do this?"

"Of course they should, I mean..."

"You think you can't do it as a lawyer? So you want to take another way, but what you can't do as a lawyer, can you do it by wearing a ridiculous tight suit and a mask?"

Daredevil said angrily: "My decision has nothing to do with you!"

"You know? Your tone just now sounds very much like a rebellious little boy." Schiller said.

Daredevil realized that he had fallen into Schiller's language trap since he entered the door. The rhythm of the conversation had been led by Schiller, which not only exposed his true identity, but also touched his inner sensitivity. He took a deep breath, calmed down, and said: "I have to admit that you are a good psychologist and are very good at using some tricks in the conversation. But I still have to ask, who are you? What is your purpose in coming to Hell's Kitchen? Why are those people crazy?"

"You have too many questions, and I can only answer one tonight. Obviously, I have worked all day and am very tired. You can't disturb my rest. After all, I am not a gang member and I have not broken the law." Schiller said.

"But you made those gang members crazy."

"You have no evidence."

"The police need evidence."

"Do you think you are nobler than the police?"

"Don't beat around the bush with me." Daredevil said.

"If you listen to me carefully, you will know where I come from and how I know your identity."

Daredevil felt a headache. He didn't like dealing with these cunning opponents, which made him have to stay highly focused at all times. Due to the shock in his heart just now, he had completely forgotten the conversation he had with Schiller when he first arrived. Now he was asked to recall it, and his mind was blank.

But if he couldn't answer, it would make him look stupid, so he kept silent.

"It seems that you have forgotten our conversation a minute ago. I really don't know. Becoming a superhero, you can actually not have a good memory." Schiller sneered.

Daredevil was secretly annoyed, and he vowed to remember every word Schiller said in the future.

"Two years ago, I taught at Columbia University. I saw the list of outstanding graduates, and your name was on it, Matt. When you filled out your graduation destination, you said you would open a law firm, also in Kansas. Although I am a professor of psychology, I know your former teacher, and he talked to me about it. You did realize your dream."

"Don't change the subject. What I want to know is, how do you know that Daredevil is Matt?"

"You may not remember that when you first started on this path, you wore the black and yellow clothes your father wore when he competed. After I came to Hell's Kitchen, I watched underground boxing matches. Coincidentally, the boss there seemed to have never changed the style of boxers' clothes in order to save costs."

"I understand that Daredevil may have been born here, and he must have a relationship with underground black market boxers. After investigation, the gang members you killed were all related to your father's death. And after finding out your father's identity, it is not difficult to know yours."

"Why did you investigate me? Are you guilty?" Matt asked.

"Nothing, but if you want to rent a house, you have to know who the landlord is and what he does. It's best to get along with him."

"I'm not the landlord here." Daredevil snorted.

"Oh, really? Then it seems that I found the wrong person. I should go to Kingpin. But I seem to have made an enemy with him. I vaguely remember that among the gang members who came to visit me, someone mentioned that his boss was Kingpin."

"Kingpin? Do you have any news about Kingpin?"

"Some. Just consider it as my rent for you. I heard from one of his men that their boss is very impatient with a kid named Daredevil. He plans to find someone to kill you, so you'd better be careful recently."

Finally, Daredevil hurried back to his base.

It was not until he went back that he realized that none of his goals tonight had been achieved.

He neither found out who Schiller was, nor warned him to be more obedient, nor did he find out whether he had any relationship with those gangs.

I don't know what method he used to drive those people crazy.

Matt patted his head. He suddenly felt that Schiller's analogy was right. He was like renting a house to an unknown tenant who paid the rent first. This made it impossible for him to take coercive measures to make him move out in a short period of time. He could only let him swagger around in Hell's Kitchen.