Could It Be You Still Want to Reconcile with S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Skye and Lyden finally found the place where Skye had been born, in a small village somewhere in Henan, China, but the village had already been completely abandoned. According to the elderly people nearby, the entire village had been slaughtered overnight back then. No one dared to continue living there, so it had gradually fallen into ruin.

As for who Skye’s parents really were, it was impossible to investigate any further. Whether they were alive or dead, no one knew.

After investigating for some time without finding anything, the two had planned to treat the trip as a vacation. But one day, an African-American woman in a cheongsam suddenly appeared before them.

"You’re saying my father was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Skye asked, her face full of disbelief. "I don’t even know who my father is. How do you know?"

"Skye, your father has never stopped looking for you. But you were hidden by S.H.I.E.L.D. all this time. That’s why Carl only found out recently that you were his daughter."

"Recently?"

"Yes, the day you were wanted for bringing aliens to Earth. Because you were wanted, your information came under the close scrutiny of many organizations, and some confidential information that had originally been hidden beneath the surface was dug up."

"Have you never wondered why you never stayed long with any of the families that adopted you?"

Raina’s words struck Skye like a bolt from the blue, leaving her frozen in place.

As an orphan, she had naturally longed for a happy family. She had always tried her best to please her new parents in every household, remaining obedient and adorable without being annoying, helping with the housework, and caring for her younger siblings. Yet in the end, she had always been returned to the orphanage.

She had always believed that she must have done something wrong, which was why she couldn’t stay long with any family. As the orphanage matron had put it, if one family returned her, perhaps there was something wrong with that family. But if multiple families returned her, then the problem had to be with the child.

Now, however, she had received another answer.

"That’s right. S.H.I.E.L.D. was behind it all. They arranged a revolving process for you, ensuring that you could never stay in one place for long so your father would never be able to find you."

"But when you appeared before all the major organizations in the world because of the aliens, your past traces were partially made public. If you don’t believe me, you can ask the ‘Rising Tide’ organization behind you."

Skye and Lyden were both hackers from Rising Tide, but because they were on the run, they had cut off contact with the outside world. In particular, they had severed contact with Rising Tide, since otherwise it would have been easy for other hackers to pinpoint their location.

But now Skye desperately wanted to know the truth about her origins, so she couldn’t worry about that anymore. She immediately found a secluded place, took out her tablet, contacted people from Rising Tide, and smoothly obtained the relevant information about herself.

Whether Rising Tide was truly that powerful or Hydra had deliberately released the information to cooperate with Raina, the intelligence Skye received was extremely detailed, far beyond her expectations.

It included her parents’ names, the fact that her mother, Jiaying, possessed superpowers and had therefore been captured by S.H.I.E.L.D., how she had been taken away by S.H.I.E.L.D., and how she had been transferred between different families. Every detail was laid out clearly.

Aside from the fact that Jiaying had been dismembered by Whitehall and that Carl had slaughtered an entire village as sacrifices to bring Jiaying back to life, everything else had been recorded.

The outrageous nature of this intelligence left both Skye and Lyden dumbfounded.

"So my origins are actually this bizarre…" Skye muttered with a vacant look, forcing a bitter smile.

"After Carl learned that you were the daughter he had yearned for day and night, he began considering how to save you." Raina watched Skye’s expression from the side. Only after seeing that she seemed to have digested the information did she continue persuading her.

"He doesn’t know that you’ve already fled the United States, so he thought about attracting S.H.I.E.L.D.’s attention to lessen the pressure on you."

"So he…" Skye waved the tablet in her hand, unable to finish her sentence.

The information Rising Tide had provided naturally included everything Carl had done recently—the things that made Skye feel unable to accept them even when she merely looked at the pictures.

"Your enemy is S.H.I.E.L.D. He couldn’t find any other way to attract its attention, so he could only do this." Raina furrowed her brows, looking utterly helpless.

"Before he was captured, he was still worried about you. I came here this time to take you somewhere safe."

"Safe? S.H.I.E.L.D. is a global organization. Where could possibly be safe?" Skye gave a bitter laugh.

"The only people who can stand against S.H.I.E.L.D. are its archenemies." Raina smiled smugly.

"So, to escape S.H.I.E.L.D.’s pursuit, I have to join another terrorist organization?"

Skye resisted this desperate, poison-to-cure-poison approach from the bottom of her heart. She was still thinking about what her master, Zhan Liu, had said. Once she reached the Tenth Heaven, she planned to return to the Martial Arts School, uncover the truth, and clear her name.

However, Raina’s next words became the final straw.

"Skye, there are actually still many incomplete details in the publicly available information. For example, the fate of your mother, Jiaying…" Raina stopped halfway, then stared intently at Skye.

Skye swallowed, a terrible premonition rising in her heart. Her face turned grim. "Her fate? She… she died?"

Raina’s gaze gradually filled with sympathy. She slowly said:

"Your mother, Jiaying, was dismembered by people from S.H.I.E.L.D. Her organs and blood were all taken away."

Skye’s face instantly turned pale. She felt all strength leave her body, and she nearly collapsed to the ground as two clear tears spilled from her eyes.

"H-how could this happen?" Her voice trembled.

"Research on people with superpowers. Don’t all the major organizations do this? You saw the human experiments on Mutants that the media exposed before, didn’t you? Or are you still thinking about reconciling with S.H.I.E.L.D. even now?"

Raina was indeed a skilled persuader. With nothing more than her silver tongue, she had forced Skye into a corner.

"No, of course not! From today onward, S.H.I.E.L.D. and I are sworn enemies!" Skye declared firmly.

"Good." Raina nodded in satisfaction. "Come with me. I know who can help you."

Skye agreed to leave with Raina, but Lyden no longer wanted to go on.

"I’ve always been worried that something would happen to you, so I stayed by your side. But now, you’ve found somewhere that can protect you…" Lyden stammered.

Clearly, he didn’t want to get involved in Skye’s mess anymore. After all, Skye was the one who had a grudge against a behemoth like S.H.I.E.L.D., not him.

Skye nodded sadly. She didn’t want to drag him into her troubles either. After all, once she left, she would become a genuine terrorist. There was no need to make Lyden live a life of constant anxiety alongside her.

She got up and hugged him. "I understand. Thank you for always keeping me company. I’ll miss you."

Lyden hugged her back and gave an awkward smile. "I’m glad you understand. I’m just an ordinary person now. I haven’t even entered the basics of Current Drive, so I really have no business getting involved in your dangerous affairs."

After saying goodbye, Skye and Raina boarded a plane back to the United States.