Careful Not to Break Him

The call connected, and Old Wang spoke first. "Sorry, the number you have dialed cannot be reached at the moment. Please do not call again."

Egghead: "…"

A string of black question marks seemed to pop up across Egghead’s face. He truly did not want to waste words with that master who had none of a master’s bearing, so he said directly, "Master Wang, I want Whitehall. Name your price."

This guy got the news fast. Don’t tell me a Quinjet has been circling overhead the whole time… Old Wang decisively refused. "Priceless."

Egghead froze for a moment. He had not expected Old Wang to refuse so bluntly. But why?

Because he did not know that Whitehall had once dissected Skye’s mother, he simply could not understand it. Little Fatty Wang, you should at least hear my offer first. That’s no way to do business!

After thinking it over, he decided not to waste time and quoted a price directly. "One billion dollars."

One billion?

Old Wang sucked in a breath. These rich bastards really had money!

If Whitehall had not been too important and needed to be handed over to Skye, he really would have wanted to sell the guy.

"This is non-negotiable." Old Wang refused again.

Egghead frowned.

One billion dollars was already the limit of what he could offer. This year’s budget was nearly exhausted; he would have to get Pierce to figure out a way to secure more later.

Little Fatty Wang refused to sell no matter what. Was there some hidden reason he did not know about?

The unequal information made him very uncomfortable.

He had always controlled the big picture, using S.H.I.E.L.D.’s intelligence network to seize the informational high ground. Yet after encountering Little Fatty Wang, he had been passive at every turn. How could there be someone in this world who knew even more secrets than he did?

He sighed.

Once Little Fatty Wang made a decision, it was difficult to change his mind, though not entirely impossible.

Once I find the people I need to find, let’s see if you don’t come begging me.

"I want all the other spoils of war, including the Hydra members who surrendered."

Egghead tapped the desk. "I’ll send someone to negotiate with you."

"Bye-bye!" Old Wang hung up.

Whitehall’s driving skills were decent, and the two soon returned to the ground.

The battlefield was a field of ruins. Hydra had suffered heavy casualties. The survivors knelt in a row with their hands clasped over their heads—fewer than twenty in total—with Skye guarding them.

When Old Wang had used Soul Split to chase Whitehall earlier, his physical body had continued fighting. More than half of these people had been killed by him.

A smaller portion had been killed by Skye.

After these past days of training and development, Quake’s strength was beyond doubt. Dealing with ordinary people like these was no challenge for her.

Not everyone in Hydra was fanatically loyal. Many had surrendered the moment they saw things going badly. Unfortunately, Skye’s control over her Inhuman ability was still not precise enough, and she had not held back her attacks. Otherwise, at least fifty would have remained.

What displeased Old Wang was that there was now something extra at the scene.

A Quinjet.

Watching Coulson and Melinda emerge from the hatch, Old Wang gave a heavy snort.

Egghead, you really have been spying on me the whole time!

There was nothing he could do.

The Quinjet flew too high, and its high-definition cameras were too clear. They had been watching from the sky, and he truly had no way to notice them. In the end, he was still too weak.

"Master Wang, we meet again."

Coulson approached with a beaming smile, followed by over twenty covert agents. "I’m sorry, but the battle was already over by the time we arrived."

Melinda walked over as well, the smile on her face clearly much more sincere. "Master Wang, thank you for your gift."

She was referring to a small bottle of Essence Wine.

Last time, she had personally flown over to deliver equipment. While Old Wang had given Egghead a small piece of Dragon Bone in return, he had also gifted her a small bottle of erguotou with a drop of Essence Wine in it as payment for her trouble.

After drinking the Essence Wine, her constitution had strengthened considerably. Her thirty-five-year-old body was healthier than when she had been twenty-five, and both her strength and reflexes had improved. Her gratitude toward Old Wang was naturally beyond words.

"We share the same blood. No need to be so polite."

Though he was not from this world, Old Wang still felt a sense of closeness toward Chinese people and those of Chinese descent.

A stranger alone in a foreign land—and he had been one for decades. That kind of loneliness was not something ordinary people could understand.

After casually exchanging pleasantries, Old Wang looked at Coulson. "Other than the Jericho Missiles and Sonic Cannons, you can take everything else. Give me the price list along with the money. These Hydra people are one million dollars each. That’s not asking too much, is it?"

"Not at all, not at all," Coulson replied quickly.

The cost of training and equipping these people alone exceeded one million dollars, not to mention the Hydra secrets stored in their heads. With severe interrogation, they would surely be able to expose plenty of others.

Master Wang was far more reasonable than the director had said.

Coulson did not quite understand why the director had such deep prejudice against Master Wang. Before leaving, he had even told Coulson to be wary of him and push the price down as much as possible during negotiations. Yet the man had practically let them name their own price.

In Melinda’s words, it was judging Iron Fist’s heart by Egghead’s own rotten guts. Excessive.

"Master Wang, the Jericho Missiles and Sonic Cannons…" Coulson asked tentatively.

Those were valuable items. All the other weapons combined might not even be worth as much as those.

The Sonic Cannons in particular—General Ross had only bought two to deal with the Hulk, and S.H.I.E.L.D. truly did not have any in stock at present.

"Not for sale."

Old Wang took out his phone, snapped some photos, and sent them directly to Tony Stark.

A minute later, a text message popped up. "Where did these come from?"

Old Wang replied, "Hydra."

A full two minutes passed before the second message arrived. "I owe you one."

Old Wang smiled.

Faced with such ironclad evidence, Tony should already have made his decision. The original plot would inevitably change, and a good show was about to begin.

Obadiah was old and cunning, but Tony was no pushover either. In terms of intelligence and methods alone, he was streets ahead of Obadiah. Besides, by Old Wang’s reckoning, Mark 2 should be making its debut soon.

Knowing the future was certainly a good thing, but since he had come to this world, how could he remain an inconsequential spectator? Not to mention that ten years from now, there was still a snap waiting for him.

"Whitehall?"

Seeing Whitehall step down from the plane, Skye walked over with an expression that looked remarkably calm.

"Miss Skye, I’m very interested in your ability. You obtained it from the Obelisk, didn’t you? I have some research on the Obelisk that you don’t know about. I think I can help you stabilize and strengthen this ability. Perhaps one day, you could destroy an entire city, such as San Juan or New York."

Whitehall did his best to display his knowledge and talent, his face piled high with smiles.

Though he was more interested in Skye’s body and wished to dissect her into slices, under the current circumstances, his research clearly had to remain at a gentler stage—for example, collecting tissue fluid or drawing blood.

Iron Fist was difficult to deal with, but he could absolutely start with the people around him.

Not to kill her, but to win her favor.

"I’m interested in you too."

A smile appeared on Skye’s face as well, though it was somewhat cold. "Perhaps I should cut you into three hundred and sixty pieces, like the legendary Lingchi?"

Whitehall’s smile stiffened.

This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go!

What exactly had gone wrong?

"Agent Coulson, please send a few people to help me transport the Jericho Missiles and Sonic Cannons to The Laboratory."

"Skye, Whitehall shouldn’t die by your hand. Someone hates him even more than you do."

"Of course, you can torture him however you like. The Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty should be online. I’ll have Fitz make some instruments of torture for you. Just don’t play him to death."

Old Wang casually found an SUV and took Skye and Whitehall back to The Laboratory.