Little Spider Takes a Master

What exactly did Master Wang want?

On the other end of the phone, Egghead instinctively sensed that something was off.

Was he trying to use Egghead’s connections to win over those high-ranking officials, making it easier for him to engage in shady dealings later?

That was perfectly normal. The question was, what exactly did that guy want to deal in, what position would he use, and how many people would be involved?

One hundred injections, one hundred lives—adding up to at least a thousand years of lifespan. If they were given to the powerful people who desperately needed them, it would not be difficult to trade them for an entire Stark Industries.

Such an expensive sponsorship, just in exchange for a chance to build connections… Egghead felt that the moment he agreed, he would be boarding a pirate ship, the kind he could never get off.

But there was no other choice. After spending so many years in S.H.I.E.L.D., he had never encountered such a major crisis. S.H.I.E.L.D. could not possibly collapse in his hands.

Given the current situation, even if S.H.I.E.L.D. kept its name, it would not be able to keep its status. Its authority might be cut, or it might be downgraded into something like the S.H.I.E.L.D. Office or S.H.I.E.L.D. Division.

Egghead thought it over and decided that whether it was civet coffee or civet crap, he had to swallow it in one gulp and clean it all up. It was not like he had never done this before. He was experienced.

"Fine."

Egghead said gravely, "Send the injections over first. Once the situation stabilizes, I’ll take you to meet them."

This guy was pretty confident… Old Wang smiled. "You’ll have them in three days."

"Alright." Egghead did not think that was slow.

Leaving aside the fact that anything produced by The Laboratory would certainly not be manufactured very efficiently, as the previous Secondary Adamantium had already proven, three days was beyond his expectations. He had thought it would take at least a week or even half a month.

Even once the injections arrived, they could not immediately be delivered to those people.

The leaders of various countries were not so easy to meet. He also needed to prepare thoroughly, investigate those people carefully, and see who was worth winning over and who could be won over. That would take time—a great deal of time.

He understood political stalling and compromise very well. No matter what happened, the S.H.I.E.L.D. affair would drag on for months. There was plenty of time.

After hanging up, Egghead let out a sigh of relief.

Master Wang was as reliable as an angel, appearing just when he needed him. Not only was he timely, he was useful.

First, he had dealt with The Hand. Then he had dealt with Hydra. He was a great contributor to saving S.H.I.E.L.D.

Someone like that was truly suited to be an Avenger. Egghead decided to personally write a report and conduct a detailed, thorough analysis of Master Wang, making it a beautiful report.

Although Master Wang had already refused and was most likely unwilling to join the Avengers Initiative, there should be no problem adding the title "S.H.I.E.L.D.-Avengers Initiative Consultant" before his name. It could serve as a kind of bond.

Master Wang was highly capable, had performed exceptionally, and was rather dependable in every respect.

With him around, the Avengers Initiative’s planning documents would look better and would be more likely to persuade the Security Council. It would also help maintain internal stability within the Initiative—

There was no second Master Wang in the entire world. A consultant strong enough in every aspect would make the members more convinced. Even if they were not convinced, he could beat them into submission. How wonderful.

Silently making calculations, Egghead pulled up files on the leadership of governments around the world and began a detailed analysis, preparing for some shady dealings.

Sitwell and Garrett were both under fifty, young and with relatively little memory. A few hours later, the Brain Mapping and Memory Upload were complete.

These two were Pierce’s capable subordinates and Level 8 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. They knew far too many secrets of both Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. Although Old Wang had neither the time nor interest to watch everything one by one, he still had Fitz preserve it all.

It would definitely be useful.

Egghead had secret bases, so of course Hydra had them too.

Through the two of them, they should be able to obtain quite a few resources, as well as many highly capable people.

No guns, no cannons—the enemy would build them for us.

No people? The enemy would help train them for us too!

Then came the brainwashing.

Other people’s brainwashing usually relied on hypnosis or bioelectric stimulation, using certain phrases or sentences as triggers. It was superficial, troublesome to perform, and prone to problems.

Brainwashing based on Brain Mapping directly altered things at the biological level, making it more reliable.

Although Fitz had repeatedly stressed that the brain was complex and that memories could not be completely erased or altered, that they were buried deep within cells and genes, and that memories might reappear and rewrite themselves as the brain repaired itself—

The possibility was extremely small, and they could always brainwash them again to reinforce it.

Even someone as strong-willed as the Winter Soldier had found it difficult to escape control after being brainwashed. Sitwell and Garrett were nowhere near his level, and Hydra’s brainwashing was inferior to Fitz’s.

With one side declining and the other rising, Old Wang naturally had nothing to worry about.

Brainwashing was technical work. It took time.

Old Wang was in no hurry. Right now, he was more concerned about other people and matters—

Such as the little guy in front of him.

"Your name is Peter, Peter Parker? Your uncle is Ben? And you have a very beautiful Aunt May?"

Old Wang looked the little boy up and down. So this was what Spider-Man looked like in middle school?

"How do you know? Well, that’s normal. After all, you’re the Immortal Iron Fist."

Little Peter often followed the news and read newspapers, so he knew a great deal about recent major events. Earlier, he had run to Feuerstein Base with Gabe and, relying on his silver tongue, had coaxed plenty of information out of Gabe’s mouth—mainly because Gabe could not stand his endless chatter. He knew that the kind-looking big brother before him was actually the legendary Immortal Iron Fist.

Because of Captain America, Americans basically all had a hero complex. Little Peter often fantasized about becoming a Super Hero, punching terrorist organizations and kicking criminal gangs. Unfortunately, he was rather small and physically average, the sort who got bullied at school—

Just like Captain America once had.

The reason he knew Gabe was that Gabe had stepped in when he was bullied again.

Peter had actually wanted to learn kung fu from Gabe, but he had never had the chance to ask.

Now that he had met a true kung fu master, Peter could not hold it in any longer. He widened his eyes, his gaze full of yearning. "C-can I become your disciple?"

"Learning kung fu is hard," Old Wang said with a smile. Becoming Spider-Man’s teacher and stealing Iron Man’s role—he had no reason to refuse.

"I can endure hardship!" Little Peter hurriedly declared.

"Alright, then."

Old Wang looked at Gabe. "You’re classmates. From now on, you’ll teach him. Start with the basics."

The basics?

A huge stack of old books, even harder to understand than A Brief History of Time, instantly appeared in Gabe’s mind. He looked at Peter with a little pity, making Peter somewhat uneasy. "Come with me."

The Azeroth Specialties Shop had been destroyed, and Old Wang had no plans to rebuild it.

Gabe and Robbie were temporarily living in The Laboratory. They each had their own rooms and also served as security guards. Gabe had even volunteered to intern at the Physical Engineering Laboratory.

Although it was a little too difficult for him, his intelligence was there. He could broaden his horizons first, which would give him a higher starting point.

The two kids quickly arrived at Gabe’s room.

Gabe pulled out the suitcase that had been delivered only two hours ago, took out several dozen old books and about the same number of notebooks, then shoved them all at Peter. "These are the basics."

Peter froze.

Wasn’t he supposed to learn kung fu? Why did he have to read books?

He randomly picked one up and opened it. Inside were Chinese characters he did not recognize at all, along with illustrations that looked familiar at first glance but became completely incomprehensible upon closer inspection.

There were dots scattered all over the pages, as well as all sorts of connecting lines.

Beside the printed Chinese characters were all kinds of annotations and revisions. Although he could not read Chinese, aesthetics had nothing to do with language or writing. No matter how he looked at them, those annotations were ugly—hideously ugly, like earthworms.

"The boss said he read all of these when he was young. They’re mostly traditional Chinese medicine works."

Gabe shrugged. "The annotations and revisions were all done by the boss. The originals had mistakes and omissions. Some of these notes are the boss’s, while some are mine… actually, they’re translations. I’ve only translated less than half of them."

Peter swallowed.

To learn kung fu, he had to study traditional Chinese medicine. If things went badly, he might even have to learn Chinese. It gave him the feeling that a Super Hero first had to be a top student.

Although he was already an outstanding student, the kind whose grades and intelligence crushed the student in second place, seeing such a huge stack of books before him still made ten-year-old Peter hesitate.

Is it still too late to change my mind?

The moment the thought appeared, Peter rejected it.

"There’s nothing I, Peter, can’t learn!"

"If I want to become a Super Hero, I can’t back down!"

He clenched his fists, filled with fighting spirit.