I Want to Meet Them Too

The destroyer was not very fast.

It took a full three days to travel from the east coast of the United States to the waters near San Juan, where it anchored in international waters two hundred nautical miles from the shoreline.

This was an exceptionally capable mainstay warship. After S.H.I.E.L.D.’s modifications, it had powerful radar-stealth capabilities. Combined with its special status as S.H.I.E.L.D. property, as long as they were careful, it would not draw the attention of the United States military—

S.H.I.E.L.D. had not fallen yet. Its golden nameplate was still useful, so they might as well use it rather than let it go to waste.

A Quinjet flew in from afar and hovered in midair. Coulson climbed down with more than a dozen S.H.I.E.L.D. special operatives, walked up to Old Wang, cleared his throat, and wore his usual kindly smile. "Master Wang, your actions seem… somewhat inappropriate?"

Melinda, who was piloting the aircraft, twitched at the corner of her mouth.

Master Wang, although I had always admired and respected you, and had even wanted to become your disciple, I still had to say…

This was taking advantage of a crisis!

The great tree that was S.H.I.E.L.D. was about to fall. No one knew how much longer it could hold on, and the situation was terrible.

Even the operation to purge Hydra had been suspended. The United Nations had dispatched peacekeeping forces, while governments everywhere were demanding that S.H.I.E.L.D. release the relevant information and send people to deal with Hydra—

The meaning was simple:

S.H.I.E.L.D., stay out of the Hydra matter. We don’t trust you!

Who knew how many Hydra agents were still inside S.H.I.E.L.D.? What if they sent S.H.I.E.L.D. to purge Hydra and let them escape?

The director had been dragged into meetings by the Security Council every day. He had not showered in three days and scratched his head so much it was practically polished smooth. And you were still adding to his troubles. Did you have no shame?

"I worked hard to seize this. Was I supposed to hand it over to you? Besides, your director has already tacitly agreed."

Old Wang chuckled. "Giving it to you is fine too. This broken ship is worth about one billion dollars. I won’t ask for much. Eight hundred million will do."

One billion was the factory price, and this thing was almost ready for retirement… Coulson grumbled inwardly before saying helplessly, "The director said that if you want it, you can have it. But S.H.I.E.L.D. is desperately short of people right now. As for the crew…"

Taking the ship was one thing, but demanding that S.H.I.E.L.D. provide the crew too? Master Wang, you were going too far. Absolutely impossible!

How could such a large ship be operated without anyone aboard?

Master Wang, you had the ability to get the ship here, but could you operate it alone too?

"You don’t need to worry about that, Coulson."

Old Wang waved his hand. Fine if they would not provide them. He had not held out much hope anyway. This master had his own methods.

He thought for a moment before asking, "Is the situation really that bad?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is facing dissolution."

As Egghead’s most trusted subordinate, Coulson had a good grasp of the situation. He looked deeply worried. "Governments around the world are applying pressure. The Security Council has been holding meetings to demand accountability. Even the president and the Secretary of State have stepped in. Ms. Carter has stepped in too."

He shook his head. It was useless.

Hydra was even more terrifying than anyone had imagined.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had bases in more than a hundred countries around the world. Large branches had thousands of personnel, while even small branches had dozens.

Other than a very small number of secret bases, most of them had been built with assistance from their host governments and were under those governments’ supervision. Even many S.H.I.E.L.D. employees had been sent by various governments. Their backgrounds were complicated, and the implications were too broad.

And aside from technical staff and low-ranking personnel, who working for S.H.I.E.L.D. did not have connections?

Quite a few had joined simply to pad their resumes!

At the same time, riots had broken out at almost every base. The losses were still impossible to calculate. Some bases had been occupied by Hydra, then destroyed as Hydra retreated. Those inside who did not belong to Hydra had either been taken hostage or killed.

Too many people had died. S.H.I.E.L.D. had now been pushed into the eye of the storm. Only the director himself knew how much pressure he was under!

S.H.I.E.L.D. had existed for decades, and there had always been dissent outside it.

Some people in power did not want S.H.I.E.L.D. to exist, and now they had the perfect excuse to make trouble.

Others did not get along with the director and would love to see him suffer.

Under these circumstances, even Ms. Carter, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s founder, was powerless. She could not get a word in.

Even the president and the Secretary of State had grievances against S.H.I.E.L.D. They were considering whether to vote in favor of dissolving it.

The situation was complicated. Things were terrible.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was truly in trouble!

"Do you need help?" Old Wang smiled faintly.

Huh?

Coulson froze.

Master Wang, were you joking?

Even the director could not resolve this. How could you help?

"It’s actually not as troublesome as you think."

Old Wang had once been part of the upper ranks himself, so he understood how power worked. "There should be quite a few governments that support S.H.I.E.L.D. And to put it bluntly, the ones who can truly decide whether S.H.I.E.L.D. lives or dies are not the United Nations at all, but several major powers. Am I right?"

Coulson nodded in agreement.

The United Nations was like a small company with only a hundred or so employees. Small countries were ordinary employees with little say.

Several major powers stood at the center of the United Nations, forming one small clique after another and one organization after another. The situation looked complicated, but once the layers were peeled away, it was simple:

The boss had the final say.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. incident seemed huge, with thousands dead or injured and losses in the hundreds of billions.

But the main victims were actually the United States and Western Europe. In several eastern and northern countries where power was more centralized, Hydra’s infiltration had been weak and the losses were not severe.

The smaller countries had suffered even less. Some might have lost only a few people and tens of millions in property, while others had suffered no losses at all.

To them, it was a minor matter.

Behind the whole affair was a game between nations, mainly between major powers, to see whether they could profit from the incident. The smaller countries merely had to raise their hands.

As long as the leadership of those major powers was won over, the matter could be settled.

Egghead was certainly an extraordinary figure who had a voice even in global affairs.

After causing such a massive disaster, S.H.I.E.L.D. had remained outwardly stable. His efforts could not be ignored.

But they were not enough.

His abilities were naturally formidable, but winning over the leadership of several major countries would be difficult.

Old Wang had a way.

As long as someone was human, they had weaknesses. And most people in this world shared the same weakness:

Death.

The reason Egghead was so frightening was that he held too many secrets and thus knew too many people’s weaknesses. Even if S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, probably no one would dare do much to him.

But that was still not enough.

Even the cleverest housewife could not cook without rice. What Old Wang needed to do now was give Egghead a handful of rice, let him cook it into a meal, then feed it spoonful by spoonful into the bellies of those important figures.

"Do you remember the Hand’s Dragon Bone?" Old Wang asked.

Dragon Bone?

Coulson’s face was full of question marks.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had always practiced compartmentalized management. Different members might possess different intelligence about the same mission. The purpose was to ensure that no one could know everything and prevent leaks.

It had to be said that this measure had caused Hydra’s infiltration considerable trouble, though it had also reduced the success rate of many missions.

The Hand operation had mainly been handled by Black Widow and Hawkeye. Coulson had been rescuing Tony in Afghanistan at the time and knew nothing about it.

One look at Coulson’s expression told Old Wang everything. He smiled and said, "I don’t want to break your rules… I’ll discuss this with your director personally, if he has time."

"I think he’ll make time."

Coulson had excellent professional discipline. He never asked what he should not ask. Pointing at Garrett, who was lying on the deck sunbathing, he said, "Master Wang, the director hopes to take him away, along with these Hydra agents. Sitwell too, of course."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t have mature Brain Mapping or Memory Upload technology. Are you sure your interrogation methods can make them reveal all their intelligence? Aren’t you afraid they’ll hide something?" Old Wang said meaningfully.

Coulson wore his kindly smile again. "Master Wang, what do you mean?"

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s interrogation methods were undoubtedly among the best in the world. They would work well on a spineless person like Sitwell, but whether they could break a tough man like Garrett was hard to say.

Garrett had begun as a field agent and undergone the strictest anti-interrogation training. He knew S.H.I.E.L.D.’s methods too well, so they would have little effect.

"I’ll give you a copy of their memories." Old Wang was concise.

"Then what do you want in return?" After dealing with him so many times, Coulson understood the man standing before him very well.

"That has nothing to do with you, Coulson. I’ll talk to your director." Old Wang smiled.

"Fine."

Coulson spread his hands helplessly. "I hope our next meeting will be at Triskelion Headquarters. Don’t forget, you’re still S.H.I.E.L.D.’s special consultant… even though you’ve never worked a day."

Melinda flew away in the aircraft. Another Quinjet soon arrived and hovered overhead.

"Wang, Stark Industries’ stock price has surged. It’s already up thirty-seven points and should return to where it was a year ago within days! At the current rate, Stark Industries’ market value could exceed five hundred billion within a year and might become the first company in the world worth one trillion within three years!"

Skye jumped down from the aircraft with delight written all over her face. She rushed over to Old Wang and waved all ten fingers. "We can make at least seven hundred million, and that’s only at present value, not counting the future!"

Was seven hundred million a lot? It could not even buy a destroyer… Old Wang nodded, then asked, "How are things over there?"

Fitz climbed down the rope ladder and hurriedly said, "Boss, all of Zola’s data has been transferred to hard drives, and the database has been completely destroyed… It cannot be restored on a physical level."

On a physical level?

Old Wang did not quite understand.

"Yesterday, Agent Romanoff went over there, and she and Skye reached an agreement over who would take custody of Zola."

Fitz secretly glanced at Skye and said cautiously, "During the process, Skye shattered the entire database… Agent Romanoff was fairly nimble. Of course, the main reason was that Skye held back, so she didn’t die."

Old Wang gave Skye an approving look and raised a thumb. She had not embarrassed him.

Skye immediately smiled, then her expression darkened. "Wang, over the past three days, I hacked into the S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite connected to Zola and found some information related to Project Insight. Hydra actually planned to kill tens of millions of people around the world. They’re insane!"

"Does that count as insanity?" Old Wang smiled and shook his head.

Hydra only intended to kill tens of millions. Compared to Umbrella Corporation’s Extinction Plan, the elite theory promoted by certain mysterious organizations, or Thanos’s half-and-half plan, it was practically as gentle and soft as the hand of a sixteen-year-old girl.

One general’s success was built upon ten thousand bones. Compared to Purple Sweet Potato Head, Pierce was still too kind, not ruthless enough.

They really were not on the same level.

"Keep in touch with Fury and help him deal with Hydra."

Old Wang gave the order, then said, "Take these people to The Laboratory in batches… Fitz, you should know what to do."

"Uh… I don’t know," Fitz answered honestly.

"…Bring them back first, then we’ll talk." Old Wang suddenly felt a little worried about Fitz, and a little curious too.

What exactly had attracted Simmons to such an honest, straightforward man…

The group soon returned to The Laboratory. Everyone, including Sitwell and Garrett, would undergo Brain Mapping, Memory Upload, and then brainwashing in batches over the coming period.

They were capable people. It would be wasteful to throw them away.

The best way to eliminate an enemy was to turn that enemy into one of your own.

The Laboratory’s brainwashing methods were far more sophisticated than Hydra’s. They began directly with memories. Although there was an extremely small chance of something going wrong, the probability was low, so there was little risk.

Old Wang had no plans to entrust them with anything important. They would still be responsible for that destroyer. Even if something went wrong, at most he would lose one ship.

A few hundred million dollars did not matter to Old Wang.

Just as he finished dealing with everything at hand, Egghead called.

"Master Wang."

Egghead’s voice sounded weary. "You want me to use the Dragon Bone to win over the high-ranking officials of various countries and have them support S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Something better than Dragon Bone."

Old Wang was in the Biochemistry Laboratory, idly turning a syringe in his hand as he spoke. "Simmons has developed an injection. A single dose can resurrect someone. It also works on living people, strengthening their bodies to a certain extent, restoring vitality, and extending their lifespan."

"How much?" Egghead had expected this and immediately asked.

Old Wang looked at Simmons.

"It’s hard to say. It depends on the individual."

Simmons hurriedly set down the Red Dragon Fluid Reagent in her hand and answered, "At least ten years, at most fifty… but reaching that level is basically impossible. Only kung fu masters who have cultivated True Qi can gain that much extra lifespan. The active ingredients in the Dragon Bone seem to produce some kind of unusual reaction with True Qi. We’re still researching the specifics."

That was enough! Egghead braced both hands against his desk, calculated carefully, and said in a deep voice, "Master Wang, I want one hundred doses!"

Resurrection and lifespan extension were not the same thing.

The Tahiti Project had been underway for several months, and the researchers had submitted a report.

Human lifespans were limited. The Kree were the same.

The Kree tissue extract could indeed possibly create a highly unusual serum that would resurrect those who had not been dead for long. Because Kree lived longer than humans, it could even extend the resurrected person’s lifespan to some extent, though not by much—at most around ten years.

It was useless for those who had died naturally.

Master Wang’s injection could not only resurrect the dead, but also extend lifespans by at least ten years. It would drive the entire world mad.

Once someone reached a certain position, they rarely died by accident. The upper ranks of every country generally lived into their eighties or nineties, and there were plenty of centenarians. The Tahiti Project was useless to them.

But Master Wang’s injection was useful.

Extremely useful.

Egghead knew very well that as long as he had one hundred doses, he could settle everything.

Not everyone would yield before death, but as long as even a small fraction did, it would be enough.

"The Dragon Bone is limited," Old Wang reminded him.

But you definitely have plenty of it. I sent people to inspect that place back then. Did you think I was blind when there were traces that large…? Egghead remained expressionless. "Tell me. What do you want?"

"It’s nothing much."

Old Wang smiled. "I want to meet the people you plan to win over too."