As a senior DEA agent, Norman Stansfield had received a lot of complaints.
Excessive use of force wasn’t rare for DEA agents.
A DEA agent without such complaints was definitely a fake.
But there had been several disputes between Norman and NYPD, because his team had “accidentally killed” the family members of drug dealers.
Thus, Luke stopping him today had been the umpteenth time.
Generally speaking, Norman Stansfield wasn’t a big deal, but the DEA behind him wasn’t easy to deal with.
NYPD’s pissing contest with the DEA didn’t end there.
Luke understood why.
Just like how the DEA couldn’t demand NYPD to hand over their officers, NYPD couldn’t demand that the DEA hand over Norman.
Unless the culprits were caught red-handed, the higher-ups played a game of compromise. It was impossible for two big law enforcement units to fall out over one or two subordinates.
Luke had resisted the urge to kill Norman and the others because he didn’t want to poke the hornet’s nest.
He just noted this Norman in his little black notebook, but put him at the very top of the list.
He had no patience for such scum.
As he mulled over the issue of Norman, he returned to the laboratory.
As Selina and Gold Nugget ate, Selina could still sense the displeasure in Luke’s expression. “What happened?”
Luke didn’t hide anything. He told her about how Norman’s DEA had charged into a drug dealer’s house and killed his family.
Selina stopped. “This person killed kids?”
Luke nodded. “The trafficker’s daughter was only sixteen, and his son was four.”
“The DEA doesn’t even care?” Selina suddenly felt that the burger in her hands was tasteless.
Luke said, “The family won’t bother since they’re already dead – that’s probably what he thinks.”
Selina was silent and just looked at him.
Luke glanced at her. “What are you thinking? We are good NYPD detectives.”
Selina blinked. “So?”
Luke picked up a cheese fry and stuffed it into his mouth. “So, whatever the New York vigilantes, inspired by Batman, want to do is none of our business.”
Selina nodded in satisfaction and took a big bite of her burger. “I think the legend of Knee Breaker can also appear in New York.”
Luke shook his head. “No.”
Selina: “Huh?”
Luke said, “Go look for Sponge for resources on studying torture. She’ll give you everything you want: to injure but not kill someone, seriously injure and kill someone, or to kill someone slowly – it’s all there. It’s always good to learn more.”
Selina was surprised. “Why didn’t you mention this before?”
Luke finished another burger. “I didn’t want you to dirty your hands with those scumbags.”
Selina gave an “oh” and continued eating.
After lunch, Luke got busy.
After preparing for half an hour, he lay down on the bed in the medical room and activated all kinds of monitoring and life support equipment. With a thought, the mental number on the system panel jumped to 40.
Almost instantly, it felt like electricity was shooting through his head before it quickly turned into a more complicated feeling.
Luke, who was giving himself this “electroshock therapy,” felt as if his head had become a huge battery that was discharging electricity.
HIs head felt numb and painful, and tears came out of Luke’s eyes after a while.
It wasn’t because he was scared, but because he had lost control of his tear glands from the intense stimulation.
Luke finally cried out, “Arghhh, it really is still so dangerous!”
With Elementary Self-Healing to protect him, he had already done all sorts of tests on his body. If it were anyone else, it might have been considered self-harm.
Luke, who usually came out of a case completely unscathed, had actually been through a lot of fights. He had taken a lot of bullets, and chose to turn them into tests of their various calibers and functions.
This kind of bittersweet feeling absolutely wasn’t something that an ordinary person would ever experience.
But the pain from gun and knife wounds were simpler. What Luke was experiencing now was “compounded” pain.
A few minutes later, an even odder and more uncomfortable phase began.
As his mind grew stronger, Luke’s consciousness, which had always been stable and clear, gradually turned blurry. All sorts of small fragments of consciousness appeared and disappeared just as quickly, making his head feel like it was a carnival playground.
His memories were no longer clear here.
It was a dream, yet not. He was in a mess right now. His consciousness seemed to have fallen into a kaleidoscope which was spinning wildly and which he couldn’t escape.
It felt like a nightmare.
Only the monitoring equipment in the medical room stood silent guard, ensuring that his life wouldn’t be in danger.
An hour later, Luke suddenly woke up from this chaotic and torturous state.
Almost instantly, his chaotic consciousness returned to normal, as if someone had pressed a button.
“Fck, it’s finally over!” He subconsciously shook his head to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming before he said, “Osiris, how’s my body?”
“Sir, on one occasion, your brain temperature was abnormally high. I used a physical cooling technique to control it. All other vitals remained within a bearable range.” A calm male voice came through the microphone on the side.
Osiris was an existence that had nothing to do with the other AIs.
Most of the time, it only existed in a few computers in Luke’s inventory. Its main task was to analyze Luke, Selina and Gold Nugget’s physical stats.
When combined with Luke’s modified medical mechanical arm, it could be used as a surgeon or a nurse.
Of course, Osiris didn’t have any fieldwork experience; this doctor role was more risky.
Luke didn’t say anything else. He closed his eyes and felt the familiar sensation of leveling up.
The strongest effect which the system had was on transforming the brain, and it was also the most difficult one to endure.
The transformation would happen over a few days, but it was already no longer unbearable.
On the contrary, Luke’s mind was clearer than ever.
After feeling it out for a moment, he couldn’t help but laugh. “I didn’t suffer for nothing.”
Without any huge gains, most people would stay away from the pain of leveling up.
But the greater the pain, the more obvious the benefits.
After a simple test, Luke confirmed that Elementary Telekinesis and Elementary Annihilation had been enhanced exponentially.
He didn’t have a test subject for Mental Communication, but Luke could sense that operating it was a lot easier and it had become significantly more practical.
He didn’t want to move for the time being, and lazed in bed as he had Osiris raise the upper half of the bed before he pulled up his data from earlier for a look.
The most dangerous thing about this level-up was when his brain temperature increased rapidly at one point.
But Osiris used ice to cool him down, so he was naturally safe.