Chapter 75: Stone of Misfortune

"When a man learns to love, he must bear the risk of hatred"

- Madara Uchiha (Naruto)

...

Soon, a man's voice could be heard from behind the door.

"Who told you about this place?"

Ignatius squinted his eyes and replied, "My boss is Oswald Cobblepot."

"Oh? Penguin sent you? Why didn't he come himself?"

The man inside the room continued to ask.

"He's busy right now and doesn't have time to come personally."

"How do I know if what you're telling the truth? I don't know you unless you can prove your identity."

Facing the man's doubt, Ignatius remained calm and pulled an ordinary-looking Rubik's Cube out of his pocket. He then said, "My boss told me to give this to the person in the house. Can you see it behind the door?"

There was no peephole on the door and no visible gaps, and there were no surveillance cameras around the house.

Ignatius was highly unsure if the man inside could actually see the Rubik's Cube in his hand.

In addition, he wasn't sure if the Rubik's Cube Penguin gave him was actually useful because it appeared to be a regular Rubik's Cube that one could buy from any toy store.

There wasn't even a special symbol on it.

It didn't seem right to use something like this as proof of identity.

But Ignatius had no other choice because that's what Penguin had said.

"You brought the Rubik's Cube; that's good. Now you can come inside, Penguin's boy."

Who knew that the man inside the room could actually see the Rubik's Cube in Ignatius' hand and even spoke to let him in.

A dimly lit room was revealed when the door in front of him opened on its own.

The room was very small, only ten square meters, and Ignatius could see everything at a glance.

There was only a table and no other furniture inside, not even a bed or a chair.

On the table were seven or eight monitors connected to devices that looked like servers.

It's worth mentioning that Ignatius didn't see the man who was speaking just now.

Ignatius walked into the room cautiously, and the door closed automatically.

Sizzle—Sizzle—

At this moment, the center monitor on the table suddenly lit up, and a man with glasses appeared on the screen.

"Are you the Calculator?"

Ignatius looked at the screen and asked

"I heard that you built the world's largest supervillain information network, especially providing information or services to supervillains."

Just like superheroes have the Justice League, supervillains have quietly formed a similar secret society.

However, the structure of the secret society is much worse than that of the Justice League, which is well organized and often works together.

It's hard to figure out who is in charge of the Secret Society of Supervillains.

There are strong candidates such as Lex Luthor from Metropolis, the Joker from Gotham, the Demon's Head of the League of Assassins, the 50,000-year-old Vandal Savage, and the Black Adam from Khandaq.

It's hard to say who is the strongest.

But when it comes to the real center of the Secret Society, the one that connects almost all supervillains, there is only one person.

Noah Kuttler, known as the Calculator

He is one of the top hacking experts on Earth and has established a secret and vast information network worldwide.

Normally, supervillains prefer to stay in their own cities to commit crimes, but there are times when they need help or rare items.

But they are supervillains, and if they sneak into other cities, they will most likely be rejected by the local supervillains.

So who on Earth would help them?

The Calculator says, "I will!"

When the time is right, supervillains can use the Calculator's information network to trade secretly with other supervillains or buy information or items directly from the Calculator.

Even in terms of price, it's not too expensive. If the information is wrong, they can get their money back in full.

The main idea is fairness and mutual support.

"Well, it seems like I am indeed in this business. So why did Penguin send you here? He can't possibly just want to meet me, right?"

Calculator smiled, and his voice was the same as the voice that came from the room earlier.

'It seems like he is communicating with someone far from another location, maybe not even in Gotham. That's why the token is just an ordinary Rubik's cube, because once he realizes that it's someone else coming in, he can disconnect the contact anytime... No, this server probably has a self-destruction program to completely avoid reverse tracking.'

Ignatius thought to himself.

He asked, "Mr. Calculator, our boss needs something—an item that brings misfortune, a deadly curse, and the appearance of a special gem."

"Why would the Penguin want such an evil thing... Oh, I see."

The Calculator was initially puzzled by Ignatius's request but quickly seemed to understand the reason behind it.

However, he didn't reveal what he understood.

"Let me think... Ah, not long ago, Felix Faust found a deep blue stone from some ancient temple. He called it the Stone of Misfortune, saying it had immense evil power and could bring deadly disasters to the person who owned it."

Felix Faust was a very famous ancient sorcerer among supervillains and had strong powers.

"Felix said the stone was useless to him, so he decided to sell it. But I guess he might be worried about getting cursed himself, hahaha."

The Calculator laughed heartily.

"So how can I get this so-called 'Stone of Misfortune'? A dark magician probably doesn't need dollars, right?"

Ignatius asked in confusion.

"This happens all the time, but it's fine. I've collected a lot of strange things over the years, and among them is something that Felix needs right now. Just give me enough money, and I'll give it to you."

Calculator explained.

Middleman.

After listening to the Calculator's explanation, the term "middleman" popped into Ignatius' mind.

"How much?"

Ignatius asked.

"It's not expensive. As a favor to the Penguin, I'll give you a thirty percent discount. Just fifteen million dollars will be enough."

This price for a real 'Stone of Misfortune' is not expensive, and it can even be considered quite cheap.

After all, even a diamond with nothing but a larger size can be sold for one hundred million dollars.

For gemstones like this, which genuinely possess magical powers, they are basically priceless and cannot be bought no matter how much money you have.

Ignatius didn't hesitate for too long and agreed to the deal on the spot. After all, he didn't have to pay for it himself.

A mere fifteen million dollars would be just a drop in the bucket for Penguin's assets.

...

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