Chester was a Texan with a thick beard and an exterior as cold as stone, but his heart was warm.
To put it in perspective: if an Foreigner traveling through Texas broke down on the side of the road and happened to run into Chester, he would likely spend the entire time cursing, "Go back to your own country," while simultaneously pulling out his tools from his pickup truck to help them fix the car.
Chester was heading back this time specifically to find a witch mentor for Carrie.
After all...
Locke only provided raw energy. He could conjure a Dark Sphere, winning by sheer volume, but when it came to technique and finesse, he was utterly clueless.
The only thing he had found was a *Voodoo Encyclopedia*, and that was filled with nothing but disgusting, repulsive spells.
Having acknowledged Carrie as his "illegitimate daughter," Chester was clearly planning to take this seriously.
When Locke heard this, he was actually quite surprised.
He knew that Chester and Agatha Harkness had hit a bit of a rough patch and had broken up. The fact that Chester was willing to seek out his ex-girlfriend Agatha for Carrie's sake was... significant.
Frankly, Locke was a bit jealous.
Back when he first heard about their relationship, he had tried all sorts of indirect ways to nudge Chester into reconciling with Agatha, hoping he could tag along and learn witchcraft from her.
Chester had refused without hesitation, lecturing him on the pride of a Texan man.
And now?
Chester's "Texan Gentleman" persona had utterly collapsed.
Locke had wanted to mock him for a moment, but then it clicked: Carrie was borrowing *his* power. If Carrie learned witchcraft from Agatha, as the provider of that power, he would naturally learn it too.
He wouldn't even need to study. The moment Carrie mastered a spell, it would be instantly available to him.
And so, Locke's jealousy vanished.
The next day, with a wide smile, he watched Chester drive out of New York City. Then, donning his sunglasses and assuming his identity as the Peerless Assassin, he arrived at the old textile mill—now the pharmaceutical factory that served as the headquarters for the Brotherhood.
Rosa was still dressed as a medieval female assassin.
When Locke arrived, she looked up, nodded to a nearby assassin, and waited for the room to clear before looking at him. "Bourbon?"
Locke sat on the sofa and nodded.
"Getting ready to open for business, I see."
Ever since the Brotherhood decided to relocate to New York last year, Locke hadn't interfered much beyond agreeing to join. Magneto Lookalike had already headed off to Sokovia, and since Rosa seemed to be Magneto's mistress, Locke had no interest in getting overly involved.
However, just because he didn't ask questions didn't mean he was in the dark.
He had heard of the pharmaceutical company's first product: a healing solution made using the core components of the "Repair Fluid" from the old textile mill.
Rosa opened a nearby safe, took out an elegantly designed small vial, and handed it to Locke. "This is the finished product."
Locke took it.
He raised an eyebrow.
The small vial looked exactly like a medical glass ampoule. Although it was tiny, Locke recognized the name and the logo printed on it.
A red and white umbrella design.
Underneath it was a line of text:
Umbrella Pharmaceutical Company.
Good grief.
Locke looked up at Rosa. "This name..."
Rosa smiled. "It's a good name, isn't it? I spoke with Lynch several times over the phone. Apparently, the name was his daughter's idea. Lynch used the naming of the company as a bit of a lubricant to smooth over his relationship with his son and daughter."
If not for that, Lynch probably wouldn't have been able to win his daughter back even by next year.
Locke's mouth twitched slightly. "No, it's a great name."
Not all Umbrellas were *that* Umbrella.
At the very least... this Umbrella Pharmaceutical Company didn't have a Red Queen.
Yep. Not a big deal.
Besides, even if there were a problem, he wasn't afraid. In the main God space, killing a single zombie counted for points. If a zombie apocalypse actually happened, wouldn't that just be another way to farm points?
Locke thought to himself as he tucked the healing fluid away and turned to the business at hand.
"How did you end up dealing with the King family?"
When Nick Rice came here, he was likely after the *Voodoo Encyclopedia*.
Presumably, Rosa had been in contact with Tyler King—the one who had accepted Locke's encyclopedia for the King family—leaving a trace of its aura behind. Nick Rice must have sensed it and tried to force the location of the book out of Rosa before he fled.
Poor Nick Rice.
Rosa was an assassin who had awakened her ancestral memories. Even if he had sold her soul to Hell, Locke didn't think Nick Rice would have gained the upper hand against her.
However, Locke couldn't fathom what the King family had that the Brotherhood needed.
"The location of the Golden Apple."
"Huh?"
"You know Earl King's auction habits, right?"
"I just deposited something there."
"Alright."
Earl King never searched for items first and then looked for customers. He did the opposite: he would find two customers with a shared demand for a specific item, go out and find that item, and once it was in his hands, tell both parties,
"The thing you want is with me. If you want it, come and bid."
Rosa laughed. "Our purpose in coming to New York was to find the lost Golden Apple. It just so happens the King family says they have a lead, so I need to go and take it."
Locke's eyebrow twitched. "Take?"
Rosa spread her hands.
"We don't exactly have much money."
Even if they did, it was all being poured into their legitimate operations—like propping up this Umbrella Pharmaceutical Company.
Shell companies are easy to start, but they're also easy to investigate. Furthermore, no one opens a shell company in New York City; that's just handing your head to the IRS. Since they planned to settle in New York and had the technology, they might as well do it properly.
Locke had also invested money in the pharmaceutical company.
Not much. Just three million.
Locke nodded, checked his watch, and looked at Rosa.
"Let's wait until my item is sold first before we talk about anything else."
Rosa smiled. "I know."
Locke fell silent, sipping the liquor in his glass.
He didn't care how Rosa planned to get the Golden Apple data; he wasn't interested in the apple itself, especially since he already had a clone of one.
The only thing that interested him was points.
If the King family refused to give Rosa the data, Locke might even help her. After all, he and Rosa were on the same side, while his relationship with Tyler King was purely professional.
Of course, before the transaction was cleared, Locke didn't want any conflict.
After a while, once Rosa had finished the tasks at hand, she looked at Locke, who was already on his third glass.
"I thought you only drank Thunder Bourbon, like that friend of yours."
Locke laughed. "He's not my friend, though everyone seems to think so. And while I enjoy a $100,000 bottle of Thunder Bourbon, I'll drink a $10 bottle of bourbon just as readily."
As long as it was bourbon, it was mostly just a difference in flavor.
Soon.
The car left the pharmaceutical company and headed at a steady pace toward the auction manor, located somewhere in New Jersey.
The King family owned many manors around the world. Every auction changed locations, and customers wouldn't even know the address until the day before it began.
"By the way," Locke asked curiously, "do we know who else is competing for the Golden Apple data?"
Rosa shook her head. "Likely the remnants of the Templars. Although Lynch and I wiped out most of them in London, a small fraction wasn't present."
Locke nodded.
As long as it wasn't HYDRA.
Again, ever since Nick Fury—that grand stirrer of trouble—had been sent by him to meet Mephisto, both HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. had quieted down, keeping to themselves behind closed doors.
Things were peaceful and quiet between them.
This status quo was fine; as long as they didn't interfere with his quest-farming, he didn't care to go into "overpowered protagonist" mode.
In fact, Locke strongly suspected that it wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA that was interested in the Golden Apple, but Nick Fury himself.
Since that troublemaker left, just as Rosa said, the mysterious organizations that used to tail them and hunt for the Golden Apple seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Besides, Locke had a feeling that HYDRA probably already had a Golden Apple and didn't care about others.
Though it was said the Fuhrer's Golden Apple was destroyed by the Tesseract...
That was just one side of the story.
Considering S.H.I.E.L.D.'s high-tech capabilities, Locke always felt that the Fuhrer's Apple hadn't been destroyed. Perhaps HYDRA had known where it was all along. Given the global conflict the Fuhrer started, Locke felt HYDRA likely knew the conditions for using it as well.
And now that HYDRA had the Tesseract, they probably didn't care much for Golden Apples anymore.
What? The Tesseract belonged to Nick Fury?
Don't be ridiculous.
After the Tesseract was unearthed by the scientific expedition, it belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D. and was given to the doctor of Project PEGASUS. Later, it ended up in the belly of a ginger cat. Calculating the timeline, the cat should have spat it out by now.
After all, when Locke sent the troublemaker to report to Hell, there was no ginger cat by his side.
Nick Fury organized a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to secretly study the Tesseract?
Ha.
In that "Snake-Shield" Agency, expecting Nick Fury to pull off secret maneuvers right under HYDRA's nose... who would that be mocking? Mocking Nick Fury for having a supreme IQ, or mocking the "Snake-Shield" for having a brain-dead one?
***
Bonus chapter.
You can support me and read 40 Chapters early on P-atreon.com/Redestro666