New Clue

Chapter 192: New Clue

"So, you’ve already taken care of Osborn and his Crime Syndicate?"

"More or less. I left some things behind to divert Red Skull’s attention."

At that, Old Barton narrowed his eyes slightly. For the first time, he began to seriously scrutinize the man before him.

With more than a decade of experience as a hero, Old Barton considered himself a fairly good judge of character. Yet when he looked at Zhang Ye, he was surprised to find that he could not see through this young man at all.

He seemed to possess extraordinary experience and focus, qualities that heroes fresh out of the gate and untempered by society’s harshness did not have. He was also exceptionally good at concealing himself. Silently eliminating several villains without Red Skull noticing was no easy feat.

Most importantly, Zhang Ye had always known what he wanted. Though Hawkeye still could not determine Zhang Ye’s true intentions, Hawkeye knew his goal was clear. He had his own plan, and nothing that happened would make him change it.

That feeling gave Barton a sense of unease. It was not that he feared Zhang Ye would do something bad. On the contrary, Zhang Ye was too calm, too "ruthless," and that instinctively repelled Hawkeye.

Hawkeye knew people like that all too well. Zhang Ye gave him exactly the same feeling Nick Fury had back then.

To deal with Doctor Doom’s nation, Latveria, funding other supervillains, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury had secretly organized Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and other heroes into a special team.

Since S.H.I.E.L.D. could not interfere with another nation’s government, Nick Fury deceived those heroes and ordered them to overthrow Latveria’s regime. Afterward, Nick Fury erased their memories of the operation, concealing his terrifying actions.

Nick Fury might have had countless reasons to justify what he did, but in truth, his actions were no different from those of the supervillains.

It was like Ozymandias from Watchmen. To save one group of people, he sacrificed another. There was no right or wrong in it, but it could never be called something a "hero" would do.

Old Barton stared blankly at Zhang Ye for a long time before finally forcing down the mess of thoughts in his mind.

This world was already terrible enough. Since he was powerless to change it, he had no reason to judge Zhang Ye from some supposed moral high ground. Perhaps this world needed someone like Zhang Ye to rebuild it.

"Then, Nefaria’s side… Never mind, it looks like I don’t need to ask. If you cleaned up even Osborn’s Crime Syndicate, then those mobsters probably amounted to nothing in front of you."

Old Barton smiled and continued. "So, did you get what you wanted?"

"I did absorb some energy, but it is still far from enough to meet my needs. I suspect only powerful figures like Red Skull and Doom have things that can meet my requirements. But that isn’t important. I have something you need to see."

Zhang Ye answered calmly, then changed the subject and took a bat-shaped dart from his clothes.

"I found this by accident. I now suspect that there may be far more than just our group of transmigrators in this world. A few stowaways from other worlds may have arrived here too."

Hearing that, Old Barton’s expression turned much more serious. He took the Batarang and examined it carefully, rubbing its surface with his fingers as if judging its material.

Without interrupting Old Barton, Zhang Ye continued. "I received intelligence about this before. There were rumors that its owner appeared in Doctor Connors’s territory three years ago. It was a man, and people even mistook him for a vampire."

"I seem to remember something. You can tell from a piece of equipment alone that someone doesn’t belong to this universe. Looks like you know him well. Who is this guy?" Hawkeye asked curiously.

"Not one of us. He is most likely a hero from another world. Without meeting him, I cannot determine his identity, and that is what worries me most," Zhang Ye said evenly.

"True. We don’t know how he came to this world. That means somewhere we don’t know about, there is a passage that can connect the barriers between two universes, and it may not have been closed. If someone finds it, then…"

"Have you heard any similar rumors before?" Zhang Ye asked.

"Yeah." Old Hawkeye thought for a moment before beginning his account.

"The information came from one of my employers. While doing business, he once passed through Lizardmen territory. He heard that a ‘hero’ who specialized in hunting Lizardmen had appeared there. After killing them, that guy would even gnaw on their flesh, leaving his face covered in blood."

"Are you sure?"

Zhang Ye frowned. This clue did not match any Batman he knew. Had he been wrong? Was this Batman not a good person at all?

Or perhaps that Batman was already dead, and his equipment had merely been inherited by something else.

"In the wasteland era, information is scarce. Most of it is just rumors passed from person to person, so I don’t know the specifics. But what I do know is that over the years, many people have called themselves ‘heroes,’ and they have shelters of their own."

"You mean the Avengers?" Zhang Ye guessed.

At that, Old Hawkeye closed his mouth and looked at Zhang Ye with a smile.

"Don’t look at me like that. The fact that I found you means I have my own intelligence channels. Of course I know there are still surviving Avengers in this wasteland."

With that, Zhang Ye glanced at Barton again. "What I’m more curious about is this: since you know too, why don’t you go find them?"

"There’s no need. I’m a remnant of the old days. Baron Zemo knows I exist. He deliberately spared me back then.

"For all these years, I’ve been under Baron Zemo’s surveillance. He wants to watch me make a fool of myself. If I broke free of his restrictions and joined the Avengers, I’d bring trouble to those young people.

"This world needs young people like them. If they are to change everything happening here, they need enough time to grow.

"An old man like me can only draw away some unnecessary attention for them, or eliminate as many enemies as possible."

"You’ve really made peace with it."

Zhang Ye smiled and shook his head.

"But you have a point. If the owner of the Batarang is still alive, then he or she must have hidden very well all these years. If they joined an organization, that possibility is indeed quite high."