The Dawn Trail in the World of American Comics

The top floor of the Iceberg Bar was lively after nightfall.

The new owner, Charles, was hosting a party here to welcome his "distant friends" and introduce the bar's industry and operation model to the soon-to-be "new manager," Jack Sparrow.

Speaking of which, ever since Kite Man took over the Iceberg Bar, he had been having a streak of bad luck.

The bar was supposed to have completed its renovation and be ready to open.

However, just as the renovation was completed, the Assassin League attacked Gotham, causing the bar to once again enter a "war-damaged state," and now it had to be renovated again.

And coincidentally, Captain Jack, the newly recruited member of the K Squad, possessed the powerful talent of "super charm" and should make good use of it.

Kite Man had no previous experience in management and operation, and now that he had money, he planned to take time out to fight for custody of his son with his ex-wife. Naturally, he was happy to have a sociable and trustworthy friend take over behind the scenes.

As for Jack, he and his two female friends were newcomers who needed time to adapt to modern life.

Moreover, this was in the "simple and honest" Gotham City. Before officially going on a mission, Mason felt it was appropriate for the three of them to stay at the Iceberg Bar and take care of logistics.

Today, Mason had spent the day with Harley Quinn and her best friend, Poison Ivy, who were "18th-century friends." They were now each holding a microphone and singing and dancing.

Everyone was happy.

Including Mason, who was not here, but was very relaxed.

While everyone else was enjoying themselves, Mason was in the nearby office, closing the door to the world. He had just sent out his completed K Squad work report.

As a mega-organization spanning countless parallel worlds, the Starry Sky Society had an independent and mysterious postal system internally, which could deliver messages and even items across worlds.

But this "organizational benefit" could only be used by the team leader.

After sending the letter, Mason did not indulge himself. He assembled his "new toy" right there in Kite Man's office, taking out a large box about the height of a person from his suitcase.

On a mechanical stand inside the box was the "Anti-Superman Battle Armor" that Mason had brought back from the Batcave.

This thing was worn out and obviously hadn't been repaired by the master since the last "heated exchange" with Superman. Its posture was so miserable that it could be sent directly to a museum.

Most of its functions were also damaged, only maintaining its overall integrity. Even the eyes of the black, heavy mechanical helmet had a clear fist mark torn open.

From this scar, one could see how intense Batman and Superman's "first meeting" had been.

Mason, with the rigorous attitude of an engineer, first inspected the damage to this set of battle armor as a whole. After a preliminary examination, the specific information label of this thing also popped up:

Bat Battle Armor · Anti-Superman Series Prototype

Quality: Epic Engineering/Forging Item · Supreme Craftsmanship

Features: Severely Damaged · Super Defense · Super Strength · Propulsion Flight · Super Precision Combat Assistance · Bat Fire Control System · Deadly Weapon Slot [Empty]

Creator: Bruce Wayne

Item Description: When hit by this thing, Superman actually feels quite painful, but he grits his teeth and doesn't say anything...

Tip: The power system of this battle armor and the internal suspension system are relatively intact. After replacing the external armor and reloading the weapons, it can restore combat readiness.

Operating this battle armor requires Engineering Level 3, and further upgrades to the battle armor require Engineering Level 5.

When Mason saw this prompt, he raised an eyebrow. With his current knowledge of engineering, he could already use this set of battle armor, but he had to repair it first.

Just by looking at its damage, he knew it was a big project.

Mason thought for a moment, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and took out the retro flip phone that Afuo had given him from among the lights of Gotham City. He dialed a number and put it to his ear.

After about ten seconds, the call was connected, and a deep voice sounded from the other side:

"Who is this?"

"Mr. Lucius, it's Mason."

Mason didn't waste any time and went straight to the point:

"I want to discuss a deal with you, not involving any business matters, just a conversation between two engineers. I need a batch of fire control chips for a certain type of intelligent individual weapon, and your laboratory has the ability to develop it. In fact, you just need to modify and downgrade the fire control chips you used on the Batmobile."

"Well, this is a very unreasonable request, Mason."

On the other end of the phone, Mr. Lucius Fox was currently testing the effectiveness of an industrial printer in his newly built secret base.

He put the sophisticated earphones in his ears and casually turned on the recording function, operating the complex equipment skillfully while speaking."You are asking me to sell you the most advanced technology from Wayne Industries' military department, which hasn't even been put into production. But considering your personal relationship with the actual owner of this company, we can still discuss it.

I haven't found any other competitor's individual weapon design that requires such a complex fire control chip, and I am very interested in it.

So I hope we can meet.

What I mean is, I need to see the design in your hands."

"No problem."

Mason nodded and said:

"But I have a small request. You cannot disclose this design to anyone else, of course, you can use it as an experimental weapon loaded onto the Bat Suit's weapon system.

In fact, besides this small fire control chip, I have some other requirements in these high-precision fields. It would be even better if we can achieve long-term cooperation between the two engineers.

Here's the deal.

I will go to your house in two hours and bring the drawings and prototypes of my developed smart pistol. Please bring what I need."

After reaching an agreement with the other party, Mason returned to his desk and took out some special steel from his luggage and began shaping it with magic fire.

The precise shaping at Level 2 of flame manipulation saved him the trouble of using molds, and he smoothly turned those weak magic ore from another world into components of some firearms.

Soon, Mason assembled three star combat rifles that lacked fire control chips.

He glanced at the prompt for the third level of engineering proficiency and, upon realizing that he hadn't leveled up yet, he patiently continued to make these advanced pistols and the accompanying magical engineering pistol bullets...

Occasionally, he also made a few upgraded flying bombs.

After obtaining the blueprints of the Bat Drone from the Bat Cave, the destructive power and mobility of Mason's explosive little gadgets were significantly improved.

Finally, in the moment when the ninth star combat pistol was assembled, a prompt appeared in front of Mason's eyes:

Successfully completed a fine-quality, outstanding craftsmanship engineering creation, engineering proficiency increased by X40, currently at Level 4.

Engineering bomb advanced branch blueprint unlocked.

Engineering auxiliary item blueprint unlocked.

Character trait [Skilled Engineer] upgraded to [Gun Engineer: Speed and quality of weapon engineering creation improved]

A stack of blueprints instantly appeared on the semi-transparent screen in front of Mason, especially those engineering auxiliary items made his head spin.

Among them were some quite unscientific "black technology."

For example, the two that Mason was carefully examining...

"'World Enlarger and Reducer' and 'Gravity Well'?"

The young man rubbed his chin and looked at the two things in front of him that were very unscientific in every sense. He was very interested but glanced at the requirement of engineering Level 5 to manufacture them and calmed down.

He shifted his attention to the Anti-Superman Battle Armor in front of him, waiting for modification and repair.

The improvement in engineering level suddenly gave him a bold idea. Batman had already proven with facts that this set of armor couldn't deal with Superman, so it was a failed design.

Perhaps he should redesign and manufacture it according to his own needs?

After all, it was the first set of mechanical battle armor that a 17-year-old could obtain in this stage of life. It was not unreasonable for him to want to make it better and cooler, right?

The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, so he began to plan to create a set of blueprints.

A few minutes later, Mason put away the nine star combat pistols and a pile of explosives and bullets he had made, and prepared to go and meet Mr. Lucius.

Although his engineering skills were extensive, they were not without flaws.

He had already noticed that his knowledge was lacking in the field of high-precision technology. In fact, just by looking at the unlocking of the "World Enlarger," he knew that this magical knowledge did not conform to the physical laws of this world.

It was essentially a kind of "magical technology."

It seemed that he needed to find some external "suppliers" for chips and electronic systems.

---

While Mason was planning a major upgrade to his weapons and equipment, in the distant Star Fortress, Mr. Hunter had just returned to his quaint and quiet office with his battle knife and saw the letters placed on the table at a glance.

This made the great mentor raise an eyebrow.

In this field where he no longer needed to disguise himself as a man, Mr. Hunter took off his cloak and mask.

As she swung her silver long hair, she picked up a handkerchief to wipe off the blood stains on her blood-red battle knife. From the blood drops flowing from the blade, it seemed that she had just completed a dangerous hunt.

"Mason Cooper?"Lady Hunter picked up the letter on the table and squinted at the signature. She was unsure of the reason behind this guy's letter. Only after she opened it did she realize it was a work report...

It was written in a realistic style, divided into three parts, detailing all the actions of Team K over the past month.

This included resource plundering in the Caribbean world and long-term strategic planning, while also fulfilling the duty of monitoring the base world, truthfully describing the crises occurring in Gotham City and the entire world.

The last part detailed the contact between Team K and the Six-Headed Serpent Squad.

On the surface, there seemed to be no problem.

It was just a work summary from a low-level employee to a superior. The writing format was very standard, the wording was plain and unadorned, and most importantly, the content was detailed and not at all watered down.

But who was Lady Hunter?

Her position as one of the three mentors of the Star Alliance proved that she was not only powerful but also extremely intelligent. Therefore, after reading it for the first time, she felt that there was more to Mason's report than met the eye.

After making herself a cup of coffee and taking off her combat boots to relax in her chair, she read the report carefully again.

Especially the second and third parts.

Soon, Lady Hunter tasted the subtlety.

"On the surface, it seems that Sandstorm, the captain of the Six-Headed Serpent Squad, misjudged information due to cooperation with local natives, leading to an intelligence leak, which directly caused the annihilation of four advanced exploration teams.

But in reality, Mason subtly pointed out in the report the key role that Team K played."

Lady Hunter took a sip of her steaming bitter coffee, rubbing her cheek, she thought:

"If I dare to guess, I can come to a shocking conclusion. The one who leaked the information was not Sandstorm's native partner, but most likely Mason himself.

This cunning and cold-blooded guy sold out the four advanced exploration teams of the Star Alliance to the Justice League of his world, in exchange for his entry into the highest power circle of that world.

Especially the part where he described helping Sandstorm escape.

It seems to clear suspicion, but in fact, it tells me that he left a 'tail' for this matter, so, is this actually asking me for the next step?

No!

It's more than that."

Lady Hunter put down the work report in her hand.

She reached out to play with her hair tips, and after a few seconds of contemplation, she said softly:

"Is he testing me? He wants to confirm my identity through my reply. It seems that he already knows that Old K is not absolutely loyal to the Star Alliance.

And one more thing."

She picked up Mason's work report again, carefully reading the details of Team K's actions in the Caribbean world, and as expected, she found important information that was glossed over in just a few words:

"Team K encountered friends in the Caribbean world?"

Lady Hunter looked at this line, and she probably understood what Mason wanted to express.

They met Old K's former "friends" in Old K's exclusive exploration world, and Old K had reported this matter to her before his last mission.

That is to say, Mason already knew about the existence of the "Quintet", and this guy was using this matter to test whether she was a member of the small organization hidden in the Star Alliance.

"Cunning little guy!"

Lady Hunter snorted.

Annoyed, she crumpled the work report, which was like an abacus bead about to burst onto her face, into a ball and threw it into the trash can next to her. She didn't like dealing with these bastards who had hundreds of thoughts with just a glance...

But now she had to give Mason a reply.

Unfortunately, the rookie didn't know that being a mentor, she was "monitored" much more than a C-level personnel like him.

She was far from being as free as him.

She had to think of a way to stabilize him first.

After thinking about it, Lady Hunter made a decision, pulled open the drawer, took out a piece of letter paper, wrote a few strokes on it, then summoned the messenger of the Star Alliance to send the reply.

After doing all this, she didn't idle, since Mason had shown his hand to her, then this matter indeed needed a proper solution.

Thinking of the upcoming internal trade meeting, Lady Hunter quickly made a decision.

She closed her eyes and called her two companions in the soul link, her tone turning cold:

"Swordsman! It's been several days since the incident, and your subordinate has caused such a big mess, yet you haven't given us an explanation? Are you planning to pretend that the loss of twenty-seven B-level personnel never happened?"

"Shut up! I'm investigating!"

A slightly irritable female voice responded, saying:

"You don't need to interfere."

"You? Investigating? Don't make me laugh."

Search tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w for the original.

Lady Hunter retorted mercilessly."Your brain and 'investigation' are completely contradictory. I think it's better to leave this matter to a more astute 'sorcerer' to handle."

"No time!"

Another gloomy male voice responded:

"You should know that an important moment is approaching. I don't have time to deal with such trivial matters."

"Is it a small matter to have fifteen percent of the high-ranking personnel reimbursed at once? Although they are all cannon fodder in the hands of Fate, they shouldn't be wasted like this!"

Mr. Hunter sneered at this and took a sip of coffee, saying:

"Enough with the nonsense, you two. I have found some clues. There are hidden secrets behind this matter, possibly involving a traitor... That's right.

There is a traitor in our organization!

Once again.

It seems like this kind of thing will never stop."

On the other side, when Mason returned to the Iceberg Bar with a box of mini fire control chips in satisfaction, the first thing he saw on the desk was a reply letter.

It was signed by Mr. Hunter.

His heart suddenly tightened. He didn't expect that guy's reply to come so quickly!

Mason picked up the envelope and opened it, feeling a sense of anticipation.

He really wanted to know how that mysterious Mr. Hunter would respond to him. Is she really his friend? Or is the letter a notification of the imminent arrival of the execution squad?

With these thoughts in mind, Mason looked at the paper.

There was no reply, no confirmation, no threats or reprimands.

On the large sheet of paper, there was only one word:

"Read."

From the delicate strokes of this word, Mason could even imagine the malicious smile on Mr. Hunter's face when he wrote it.

She understood and responded to Mason's probing, but at the same time, she didn't answer at all.

"Damn it!"

Mason, who was full of anticipation but felt like he had been played, angrily tore the paper into shreds and threw it into the sky.

Damn it!

Encountered a rival.

This is a high-level game!

Handsome dog Frank.