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Chapter 204 Ulysses Klaue
TL: Kyous
A week ago, New York State had just experienced its first heavy snowfall. At this moment, on the wild plains north of New York City, partially melted ice crystals could still be seen among the grass and bushes even though it was midday.
Naturally, the roads with cars coming and going were the places where the snow melted the fastest. The accumulated snow on the road had already been crushed and melted by the wheel of cars, and the resulting water washed away the dust, leaving the road surface spick and span.
At that moment, a gray SUV was speeding along the black, shiny asphalt road, heading northeast.
The driver was a black man with bronze-colored skin and short dark brown hair. He had a headband tied around his forehead and appeared very muscular, wearing only a short-sleeved shirt despite the cold winter weather. His biceps bulged like brinks, and the sunlight shining through the car window made them appear shiny and reflective.
In the back seat of the car were two passengers, one large and one small.
Upon closer inspection, the child in the car was actually the missing Erik, while the adult passenger was a white man with a distinctive nose, black hair, and a full beard. He wore a yellow down jacket that partially covered his left neck, revealing a strange and indistinct scar.
The adult said to Erik with a smile, “Hey Erik, no need to be nervous. Your old man must have told you about me. My name is Ulysses Klaue, but you can just call me Uncle Klaue. I was your old man’s loyal partner back in the day.”
Ulysses had introduced himself to Erik in this way before, but Erik remained tight-lipped and silent. Opening his mouth, he took a deep breath, feeling somewhat helpless.
But once he exhaled, he patiently continued, “Erik, I really do care about you, you know? After I heard about your old man’s passing, I went to your place to find you, but you had already moved out. It took me more than a year to track you down and find out you’re living in New York now. So here I am!”
Finally, Erik spoke. Placing his hands together on his lap, he said expressionlessly, “Why did you kidnap me?”
“It’s not…” Ulysses tilted his head and looked at Erik, “How is this a kidnapping?! Your old man knew that there was a great risk involved in our plan. He told me before that if anything happened to him, I should take care of you. I came to find you today to fulfill your old man’s request and ensure your safety.”
“I’m doing fine right now,” Erik replied with a blank expression.
“Yeah, you’re doing pretty fine for yourself. You have food and clothing, and you’re even attending a great school. I even heard you met a pretty girl there.” Ulysses had quietly investigated Erik for a while and was very familiar with his current life.
“But Leo Erwin, that rich man who adopted you, I don’t even know him, and neither did your old man. How did you meet him and why are you following him?”
Remaining silent, Erik still wore a stoic expression.
Ulysses frowned. He had searched for Erik for two years and it wasn’t just to fulfill N’Jobu’s request. Since N’Jobu’s death, he had been unable to access any more Vibranium channels and his Vibranium savings were dwindling with each passing day. So, he was naturally very anxious.
Thus, he set his sights on N’Jobu’s son, Erik, with the intention of raising him to adulthood and then slowly plotting to access the Vibranium in Wakanda.
However, before he could make a move, Leo had taken Erik away ahead of time, leaving him empty-handed. But he didn’t give up and just half a month ago, he managed to track down Erik’s whereabouts. Yet he didn’t act recklessly. For the past two weeks, he had been silently gathering information about Erik, relying on his intelligence and network of contacts.
He learned that Erik was adopted by a wealthy businessman named Leo Erwin. And just how wealthy was this businessman? It could be described that he dominated half of the emerging electronic industry in the United States, with even a trend towards expanding overseas.
Initially, when he first received this news, he was fuming and planning to not only take Erik away but also extort a large sum of money from the wealthy businessman named Leo Erwin. Nonetheless, after conducting more investigations, he immediately gave up on this idea.
Because he discovered that this wealthy businessman not only miraculously quelled the chaos in Hell’s Kitchen, but also shortly after starting his company in New York City, the former American mafia boss, Kingpin, died mysteriously.
As a man involved in the black market arms trade, Ulysses had substantial business dealings with Kingpin and he knew how dangerous and ruthless Kingpin was. If there was even the slightest connection between Kingpin’s death and Erwin, then this wealthy businessman who adopted Erik would be a vicious wolf and even more brutal than Kingpin.
Other than that, he also found out that the organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D. which was affiliated with the United Nations had been keeping a close eye on Erwin Tech Company over the past year. It seemed that this wealthy businessman named Leo Erwin had a very deep background, and was involved in too many things.
After successfully stealing the Vibranium and managing to evade capture by Wakanda for so many years, Ulysses’ success was largely due to his cautious and careful nature. Based on the various suspicious factors he had discovered, he ultimately decided to secretly kidnap Erik instead of risking any confrontation with that wealthy businessman lest he invited a disaster.
And thus, that was how things ended up the way they were at the moment.
Originally, everything was going smoothly according to Ulysses’ plan. However, now that Erik had been successfully kidnapped, this kid was even more stubborn than his father. He didn’t speak a word all the way and had just uttered a few sentences earlier before becoming silent again.
As thoughts raced through his mind, Ulysses had no choice but to continue trying to coax Erik
“Hey Erik, you know I’m your old man’s partner, right? Check out this mark on my neck. It’s from the first time we worked together, smuggling Vibranium out of Wakanda. We got caught by some guards and that’s how I got this scar of humiliation.”
Sitting on Erik’s left side, Ulysses turned to Erik and pulled the collar of his down jacket to show him the scar.
“Prince N’Jobu must have taught you the language and writing of Wakanda, right? Well, take a look at this mark. It means ‘thief’ in Wakanda and this is the proof that I worked with your old man. And, there is still some Vibranium left in my shipyard. Think about it, without your old man’s help, there’s no way I could have gotten my hands on that stuff. So, I really am your old man’s partner.”
In reality, this was just a way for Ulysses to justify himself.
He had been involved with the mafia since he was young and through his efforts, he had been conducting business as an illegal arms dealer along the African coast.
By a stroke of luck, he learned that Wakanda seemed to be hiding a huge treasure. At that time, he led a few of his men and planned to sneak into Wakanda quietly to steal the treasure. But before he could truly infiltrate Wakanda and even find the real entrance, they were discovered by the Wakanda’s guards and captured.
It was due to this that he met N’Jobu, who was in charge of guarding the place at that moment. N’Jobu had his considerations at that time and he came up with a solution that eventually convinced the King of Wakanda to release Ulysses and his men. Of course, the branding on their necks was their deserved punishment.
Later on, N’Jobu was sent to the United States to work as a spy. There, he witnessed the backwardness and misery not only in Africa but also in America and the entire world. This experience gave him the great idea of sharing Wakanda’s Vibranium technology to benefit Africa and even the entire world.
Ultimately, he sought out Ulysses and they began working together toward this goal.
Nevertheless, Ulysses believed that N’Jobu wouldn’t tell Erik about these old stories because he protected his son too well. This made it easy for Ulysses to lie to Erik and use these stories to get closer to him and gain his favor and trust.
After Ulysses revealed the information about Wakanda, Erik spoke again, but in anger this time, “You think I don’t know you, Ulysses Klaue? You were my dad’s so-called partner, but all you did was betray him! Stealing the Vibranium only for your selfish gains! You completely forgot about my dad’s dreams and ideals! That’s why my father found another partner, my Uncle Erwin, who eventually adopted me. Don’t even try to deceive me with your lies and sweet talk!”
As Ulysses listened to Erik’s words, he initially believed that N’Jobu had gone against his usual behavior and revealed everything to his son. But as he heard the second half of Erik’s words, he realized that was probably all nonsense made up by that wealthy businessman named Leo Erwin.
For the moment, he couldn’t figure out how that wealthy businessman knew about his cooperation with N’Jobu. But he knew that the most important thing now was to make Erik trust him and suspect Leo.
Hence, Ulysses angrily replied, “Bulls*it! Where did you get the idea that I forgot about Prince N’Jobu’s dreams?! As soon as I got my hands on the first batch of Vibranium from Wakanda, I immediately reached out to the most brilliant scientist in the entire United States, Howard Stark, to study it! But he told me that the amount of Vibranium I brought to him wasn’t enough to make a significant technological breakthrough. That’s why I had to go back to Wakanda and get more Vibranium, and your old man was fully aware of and even agreed to everything I did!”
Seeing Erik’s expression wavering with a hint of doubt in his eyes, Ulysses took the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot, “As for this Uncle Erwin of yours, who the hell is he? Let me tell you with all honesty, your old man never sought a second partner. From the beginning to the end, Prince N’Jobu’s partner was only me!”
Pointing at his own nose, Ulysses emphasized, “Only me, Ulysses Klaue!”
“Is that so?”
All of a sudden, an unfamiliar voice to Ulysses but familiar to Erik came from the front seat of the car.
Ulysses and the burly driver were startled to find that there was someone sitting in the empty passenger seat, wearing a piece of sleek black armor.