Crisis Before

Nick Fury stared at the Tesseract at the center of the metal apparatus. Deep down, he had always regarded the small cube as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s foundational cornerstones.

During World War II, Hydra’s leader, Red Skull, had obtained it from a church in Norway. Legend said the Tesseract was the most precious gem in Odin’s vault, possessing incredible and wondrous power.

Red Skull Schmidt used it to develop energy weapons, nearly driving the Allied Forces into defeat after defeat on the battlefield. Had Captain America not led the Howling Commandos in destroying Hydra’s stronghold in one fell swoop, creating an opportunity for victory in the war, the wheels of history might have thundered down another path.

Later, Captain America Steve Rogers crashed his plane into a glacier, while Howard Stark salvaged the Tesseract from the deep sea and entrusted it to the Scientific Strategic Corps, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s predecessor. It remained there until Nick Fury took over as director and resolved to restart the Tesseract research program.

"Did you see what activated the Tesseract?"

The Black director remained skeptical of Dr. Selvig’s explanation. S.H.I.E.L.D. had kept the cube for years, and this strange phenomenon had never occurred before. According to the computer’s calculations, the interference and radiation emitted by the Tesseract were steadily rising and would soon break past their highest peak.

In Dr. Selvig’s judgment, this was not a good sign. Worse still, they had yet to find any effective way to shut it down. All they could do was observe and wait.

"No one has entered or left. The doctor is in the clear."

Hawkeye Barton, who had been watching everything from above, slid down the rope. He was part of the security force for this research center and was also responsible for monitoring everyone.

Ever suspicious, Nick Fury could not simply entrust the Tesseract to others without concern. Deep down, he vaguely sensed a surging undercurrent hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D.—the lingering ghost of the Third Reich, an old enemy from the last century.

After its defeat in World War II, Hydra had splintered apart. Some of its people fled to the thriving Red Empire, where they hid for years until the Former Soviet Union collapsed with a crash. At the time, S.H.I.E.L.D., still the Scientific Strategic Corps, absorbed the Third Reich’s advanced technology and accumulated strength, but it also exposed a massive weakness.

Even since the Black director took office, devoting himself to dividing access levels and enforcing harsh secrecy measures, he seemed unable to shake those ever-present Nazi remnants.

"If there’s a problem, it definitely isn’t on our end, sir," Barton said seriously. "Dr. Selvig said the Tesseract is a gateway to the other side. What if that door works both ways?"

His capable subordinate’s words caught Fury’s attention. He had only wanted to use the Tesseract, drawing upon limitless energy to create cutting-edge technology, just as Red Skull Schmidt had once done. Yet he had overlooked the risks involved.

The Black director touched his eyepatch. He would never forget the bitter lesson from that secret invasion. Not only had S.H.I.E.L.D. suffered severe losses, it had also lost a dependable comrade—a brave and fearless heroine.

"Dr. Selvig, do everything you can to shut down the Tesseract!" Fury ordered loudly. Then he turned to Hawkeye Barton. "Speed up the evacuation. If it’s still like this in forty minutes, destroy it!"

The Black director looked at the Tesseract without the slightest hesitation in his eyes. He could not allow it to draw some unknown and powerful enemy here. Long before he became S.H.I.E.L.D.’s director, Fury had known that Earth was not the only brilliant civilization in this vast universe, nor was humanity the only living race.

But before Nick Fury could react, the Tesseract’s energy broke through its peak. A burst of dazzling blue light erupted, and the entire underground base began to shake.

A vortex-like spatial passage expanded open. Powerful fluctuations swept outward like spreading ripples, and the faint figure of someone kneeling on one knee emerged within it.

Stark Mansion.

Tony, who had been hunched over the workbench improving "Ultron," let out a long breath and raised his hands to stretch. Sitting for so long had left his body feeling as though it had rusted.

After he and Reed had spent days and nights continuously adding to and refining it, Tony had finally designed an almost perfect artificial intelligence program framework, using his intelligent butler Jarvis as the template and the Red Queen provided by Sean as a reference.

In Tony’s vision, Ultron would possess unparalleled computing power, connected to the networked world across this planet. It would be able to gather information from the internet at all times and absorb more knowledge—in simple terms, it would possess the same learning ability as humans. It would not only understand, but also apply what it learned.

For artificial intelligence, this was undoubtedly a tremendous breakthrough. Normally, AI could only judge through mechanical patterns of thought and could not possess the same genuine perception as humans. That was why the Turing Test came into being.

As early as the last century, Alan Turing, the father of artificial intelligence, had first proposed the concept of "machine thinking." In 1950, he published the landmark paper, "Can Computers Think?" and later put forward the famous Turing Test.

One person asked questions of a computer, while another person who did not know the truth tried to determine from the answers whether they came from a human or a computer. If the computer was not identified, that meant it had passed the Turing Test.

The process seemed simple, but no matter how powerful the computer’s programming might be, it always lacked human understanding. Under constant questioning, its flaws would gradually reveal themselves, especially when faced with creative questions or ones requiring genuine comprehension.

For example: "The cat sat on the blanket because it was warm—what was warm?" In this sentence, ordinary artificial intelligence would fall into a logical trap because it could not accurately identify pronouns or connect the cat, the blanket, and warmth together.

What Stark wanted to do was create an artificial intelligence that truly possessed the capacity for thought—one that could not only answer such basic questions, but also form independent thoughts of its own.

Rubbing his sore eyes, Tony leaned back in his chair and studied the dense virtual projections with the appreciative gaze of an artist. A staggering volume of information formed a vast stream of data, gradually sketching out a blurry face.

It was the most perfect creation that existed in Stark’s mind.

Ultron.

He and Reed wanted an artificial intelligence that had broken free from the complex calculations of zeroes and ones, shattered mechanical thought, and could truly think like a human.

Thus, beyond building the computational framework, the two world-class geniuses also had to weave a meticulous and complex "logic net," allowing Ultron to gradually evolve self-awareness through unceasing data calculations.

"You will be a shield that protects the world."

Tony murmured softly, his gaze gradually softening as though he were looking at his own child.

If he had to describe it more precisely, it was a newborn created jointly by him and Dr. Richards.

Although Ultron possessed only a simple prototype, like a toddling infant, Tony firmly believed that it would need only a short time to gradually grow up and then carry out the mission it was meant to fulfill.

"Good night."

Tony waved his hand. Countless virtual projections vanished, the laboratory lights went out, and only a computer at the center continued calculating data without pause.

In the darkness, the computer’s red indicator blinked on and off like a blinking eye.