Chapter 1686 - Time = Outside of the Law

Titanium Phone Company only had stores in New York, while its factories were all over the place and its headquarters was in Nassau County.

There were very few times when it needed NYPD; at most, it just needed regular law and order.

So, its donations were the least troublesome. Commissioner Nelson had rarely seen such easy money in his life.

Since the money had been given, Luke and Selina's track records no longer had any impact on Dustin and Elsa.

Even if they stopped working as police detectives, it wouldn't impact their old bosses.

It could be said that they had amply fulfilled the initial agreement to come over and help them out.

Luke had another mouthful of wine before he said, "Secondly, it's been two years, and enough time has passed for us to leave the police department."

Selina was confused. "What do you mean?"

Luke said, "It would have been too conspicuous if we hadn't accepted Dustin's invitation, and had run over here ourselves to open a detective agency just as New York started getting 'rowdy'."

Selina immediately understood that he was talking about Batman and Black Cat's appearance, which would very easily match their own whereabouts.

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It was fine if no one investigated, but Luke and Selina were extraordinary fighters, and it was possible that some people would suspect them.

Seeing that Selina understood, Luke continued, "Thirdly, Titanium Phone Company has been developing very quickly in the past two years. We're already among the richest and most powerful people in America. There's no need to worry too much."

Selina couldn't help but recall how Takagi had given Luke a bungalow back then, and how she had envied him.

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Now… she didn't feel anything.

Her and Gold Nugget's private stash alone was enough to buy a mansion worth tens of millions – when she had first arrived in Los Angeles, she had even begrudged needing to pay rent.

As for Luke, he held half the shares in Titanium Phone Company and the phone software company, which were worth more than two hundred billion in total.

In the last two years, Luke had also pushed for Jenny's portion to be increased so that she held 15 to 20% of the shares, increasing her say in the companies.

She now oversaw the rest of the shares and dealt with more than 50 other capital groups for the sake of collective benefits.

As Luke accumulated more and more technology, most of the unimportant short-term patents turned into long-term ones.

Given the size of these two companies, it would be hard for anyone else to swallow them up. There was no need for him to hold on to "outdated" patents.

Both he and Jenny were past the days when they lacked money and had needed power to protect themselves, and had chosen to give up benefits for it.

In fact, it was Jenny who developed the two companies so that they became known as pioneers in various respects.

Otherwise, the companies wouldn't be that important even if they fell into someone else's hands.

In any case, Luke just wanted an online phone network and a media platform.

Even if he was kicked out, he and Jenny would still be at the top of the pyramid.

The shares that were scattered among various capital groups were "bottom assets."

However, the prerequisite for all of this was that the other party had to first undergo the system's evaluation of good and evil.

If there were too many red names or the other party used dirty methods, Luke didn't mind using even dirtier methods to swallow them up.

Mental Hypnosis and Illusion could solve most problems.

A capital group without any red names? From Luke's observations, this was a "rare animal" among these bigwigs.

Thus, there was a 99.99% chance that he could use unconventional methods.

As long as no extreme situations happened, Luke and Jenny would become people "outside of the law" in ten years.

These sorts of people would never appear in the defendant's chair, because basically no lawsuit would fall on their heads.

If something happened to the company, the company administration would take the blame.

If something happened to them personally, a scapegoat would confess the crime of their own accord.

Rich people in America could be pulled out and sentenced in public — like Thompson, who had killed his wife.

However, rich and powerful people were never punished.

What Luke had gotten Jenny to do was switch from purely having wealth to having both wealth and power.

Only in this way could he use power to create more power.

Other people could no longer randomly investigate him just because they were a little suspicious.

To use the most practical example, in five years, even if the FBI and the CIA found any clues and suspected that Luke was a superhero, they could only hand the evidence over to certain bigshots.

These bigshots would then use the evidence to trade benefits with Luke.

Unless it was an irreconcilable grudge, nobody would be stupid enough to expose him.

Hydra's "allies" were real-life examples.

They couldn't take him down without solid evidence, so they could only trade benefits.

The most important thing was benefits.

Luke had never openly confronted the American government, purely because it was unnecessary.

After a few years of development, he would become a player who could use the government's strength to do things for him.

He wasn't under any sort of pressure; why should he fight all of society on his own?

Only an idiot would think that.

From another perspective, Luke's development route was similar to Hydra's.

He would use the cover of the American government to reap benefits for himself, and then throw the blame on the government.

Luke was just an ordinary person, and didn't know anything about integrity.

The one good thing about him was that he had self-awareness.

Time was always on his side.

He was only 21, but had already entered America's upper class. He had basically removed the possibility of other people using the government's strength to hunt him down. How could he not be satisfied?

…

A few days later, Luke invited Dustin, Elsa and Elizabeth over.

At the gathering, he announced his resignation.

The three of them were quite shocked.

In the end, he talked to the three of them separately.

He talked to Dustin and Elsa about future arrangements.

There was no need to discuss future arrangements with Elizabeth – she was rich, and Dustin and Elsa could take care of her.

Their reactions were similar, but also different.

Dustin was the most unaffected; even if he didn't like it, he felt it made sense.

It would be strange for a wealthy person like Luke to remain a minor detective.

But based on what Luke and Selina ate and wore, Dustin could guess that Luke had gotten rich after he started working for Dustin.

It could only be said that Luke had made money too quickly, and Dustin's plans couldn't keep up with the changes.

He even understood that Luke had transferred to New York as a favor to him.

Luke must've already been very rich back then, or he wouldn't have been able to build this five-story building in Clinton.

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Even though this area had been the chaotic Hell's Kitchen back then, the rent for such a huge building was unimaginably high.

So, Dustin was already mentally prepared, and could only wish Luke luck.

Elsa's response was similar.

She knew Luke and Selina ever better than Dustin did — after all, Selina wasn't best friends with Dustin.

Women were more sensitive to price, such as that of perfumes, skincare products, jewelry, clothes and so on.

Selina might be a more "frugal" woman and didn't have a lot of these things, but the quality of these things didn't escape Elsa's notice.