Chapter 1134: Long-Lost Little Brother, and Going on Patrol

Little could compare with the actions of these half-grown kids who were determined to change their fate.

It was hard for anyone who didn’t live in the slums to imagine their hardships.

This was especially true of the black community. Most of them lived in dire straits; trying to pull themselves out was hard.

Even Matt and Foggy couldn’t compare. They were white, after all.

Luke’s life before he turned eighteen was ordinary at most, but it wasn’t hard at all.

Robert, Catherine and Drax had provided the three children with education and meticulous care.

As for the dozen or so kids in the renovation team, if their fathers weren’t dead, they were better off not having any (whether because their fathers were in prison or didn’t care).

They grew up with their mothers, which was characteristic for them.

It was for that reason that both Selina and Foggy had been surprised by Luke’s charity fund, but they had no objections.

In good spirits, Luke and Selina went to Dustin’s office in the police department.

This wasn’t a scheduled meeting, but Dustin had called them to come in.

Being able to take it easy most days meant that they had to give support whenever it was required.

When they entered the office, Dustin, who was focused on the files, didn’t even raise his head. He simply pointed, and Selina immediately closed the door.

After working together for so long, a small gesture was all that was required to get things done.

However, Luke, who was in a good mood, was feeling a little cheeky today. He asked, “Boss, do you have a cousin called Justin Hammer?”

Hearing that, Dustin stopped flipping through the files and tossed them onto the table. He raised his head. “He’s my cousin. Did he piss you off? No problem. You can deal with him however you like.”

Luke: “…”

Selina: “…”

They remembered what Selina had said when they were watching the news before, and how Luke said that she was brainless, but now…

Selina immediately glanced at Luke to see if his face hurt from being slapped.

Luke didn’t feel embarrassed at all. Instead, he gave Dustin a strange look. “Boss, you never said that you have relatives like that?”

Dustin chuckled but looked neither pleased nor angry or jealous. He simply said casually, “That’s because it’s a distant relationship; we share a grandfather three generations back.”

Dustin and Justin shared the same great-great-grandfather.

Looking at their faces, Dustin said casually, “Since my father’s time, my family has had nothing to do with them. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Luke and Selina understood.

If they hadn’t asked, Dustin would never have brought it up, because he didn’t care about that side of the family.

But since Luke had asked, he wouldn’t lie.

It could only be said that Dustin and Luke were no longer purely just allies or friends, which was why Dustin was so candid.

Dustin switched topics and got down to business. “Tony Stark is in New York. You know that, right?”

He didn’t need them to answer, before he said, “He’s holding the second Stark Expo. The official opening ceremony is in three days, so we’ve received a familiar assignment. You understand, right?”

Luke rolled his eyes. “Patrol the venue?”

Dustin said, “Given your outstanding performance at the L.A. Expo last time, you’re responsible for patrolling the venue again before the opening ceremony, and you’re in charge of communication between the Detective Bureau and Stark Industries’ security. Is there a problem?”

Luke: “…No problem.”

As the saying went, train soldiers for a thousand days in order to deploy them for one moment. Dustin had let them off for more than a month; it was their duty to get to work now.

After all, it was Stark Industries! After all, a certain pair had connections to Stark!

Actually, the three of them were aware of the situation.

After Luke and Selina were classified as “strategic weapons” that couldn’t be used so easily, their efficiency at cracking cases had dropped significantly. In L.A., they had been in the top three. Here, they weren’t even in the top five.

In terms of pure numbers, they were among the best in the Detective Bureau in terms of handling cases, and just slightly worse than John McClane, who was at the very top. There were also four or five other teams on the same level.

Because that was enough.

Although the two of them had a good relationship with their colleagues in the police department, they were too young, after all, and were outsiders. They would only make the old detectives uncomfortable if they were too diligent.

They didn’t need to be promoted yet, and being too diligent would only reduce the chances of other people being promoted, which would affect the good office atmosphere.

Luke and Selina also needed their own time to improve their strength, and were able to spend a third of the time other people took to get things done, so nobody could criticize them.

Because of that, they were actually very free; taking on something as time-consuming as patrol also wouldn’t affect the Detective Bureau too much.

Luke and Selina quickly accepted the assignment and left.

Driving out of HQ, Luke and Selina went to Flushing, Queens, where the Stark Expo would be held.

Tony had actually announced the start of the Stark Expo when he dropped from the sky a few nights ago, but the area was still under construction.

The Stark Expo was different from the previous one in Los Angeles.

Tony’s father held the first and only expo here in 1974.

Now, Tony was holding a second one.

Secondly, the products exhibited at the Stark Expo were from high-tech enterprises from all over the world; this was a world-class stage.

This was a technological version of the world martial arts conference in wuxia novels, where everyone relied on their skills to fight for attention.

The expo would run for a year, and the exhibits would be adjusted accordingly.

Not every company had enough products for the expo. After a year on display, new companies and new products would start showing up.

The venue even had an area for “independents.”

As long as they passed the checks by the expo’s administrative department, individual inventors could also put their own unique gadgets on display on this world stage.

On their way there, Luke and Selina decided that they would take a look at the independent inventors when they were free; who knew, they might run into some interesting inventions.

There was a lot of technology that was of no value to inventors because it was very hard to turn them into reality. Without anything tangible to show for it, they wouldn’t have any money to continue researching, which made it even harder to produce anything.

Luke felt that if he could fish out just one or two good items, this patrol assignment would be worth it.

For the next two days, Luke and Selina constantly roamed the expo’s venue, and even just ate lunch in their car.

After lunch, Luke and Selina took advantage of whatever free time they had to look at the independent vendors and enjoy the bustle.