S.H.I.E.L.D. Intrudes Again

Lake frowned, looking at the locals who were talking.

Black suits.

Black sunglasses?

Men in black?

Lake felt a bit dazed, listening to their conversation. It seemed like they were describing the Men in Black.

The locals’ table.

"Black suits, they must be government agents. Those guys love to act cool like that."

"Definitely not."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Heh heh."

The local who broke the news chuckled as his companions grew interested. He then said, "Did you forget that my wife’s brother’s uncle’s son works at our police station?"

His companions: "…"

The local continued to spill the beans, saying that the day after the explosion at Viktor’s estate in the suburbs, a group of men in black suits entered their local police station. Their chief then came out and instructed all officers to follow the orders of the leader in the black suit.

And also.

"It’s rumored that hundreds of bodies were found at the explosion site, but all these bodies were bagged, no autopsies were performed, and they were immediately transported to a small airport outside the city, loaded onto a plane, and flown away."

"Haven’t you noticed how many planes have been flying over these days?"

"…"

The local’s story was quite sensational, but upon hearing about hundreds of bodies, the others instinctively thought he was exaggerating again.

Hundreds?

How many people were there in Budapest in total?

And besides…

If hundreds of people had really died, wouldn’t their families have noticed? It seemed impossible.

So, a companion who was already impatient with this stale topic simply waved his hand, crudely interrupting the informant’s continuous speech and issuing an ultimatum: if they talked about this outdated topic again, they would break off their friendship.

The informant opened his mouth. He had gone to great lengths to get this information from his wife’s brother’s uncle’s son. He had originally wanted to share it with them, but now it had turned out like this?

I’m telling the truth!

The informant looked somewhat bewildered. As the bell above the coffee shop door chimed with a new customer entering, the informant suddenly froze slightly. Then, he made a slight hissing sound towards his companions and subtly whispered towards a man in a suit and a stunningly beautiful woman entering the doorway, "Look at the door. That man, I’ve seen him from a distance these past few days. He and that woman were present at the explosion site in the suburban estate."

His companions all looked up.

Lake also felt a surge of curiosity and looked towards the entrance.

The next second.

Lake understood.

Alright.

It wasn’t just the Men in Black who liked to wear black. There was also a workshop-style organization, similar to the Men in Black but without a name, that had always favored wearing black.

Homeland Strategic Defense Attack and Logistics Support Bureau.

AKA!

S.H.I.E.L.D.

If it was S.H.I.E.L.D., then it made perfect sense.

S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t have federal investigative authority. Russia and China only provided funding and had no intention of allowing S.H.I.E.L.D. into their borders. Therefore, the only places S.H.I.E.L.D. could be active were Europe and Africa.

Alexander Corvinus had some unclear connection with S.H.I.E.L.D. in London, so S.H.I.E.L.D.’s presence there was perfectly reasonable.

Coulson and Natasha entered the coffee shop. After scanning the room, their gazes immediately fell on Lake, who was watching them from not too far away.

The two of them walked closer.

A group of local police officers followed closely behind them and immediately addressed the customers and the owner in the coffee shop, "This is an investigation. Everyone out, out!"

The police officers were imposing.

Soon.

Everyone in the coffee shop, including the owner, was ushered out. Immediately after, the local police officers also walked out of the coffee shop expressionlessly.

Coulson smiled and extended his hand to Lake, "Mr. Black King."

Lake glanced at the hand Coulson offered in friendship but didn’t take it. "Is there something you need?"

Coulson didn’t mind. He changed his handshake gesture into one of retrieving something and took out his identification from his pocket. "Homeland Strategic Defense Attack and Logistics Support Bureau, Senior Agent, Phil Coulson."

Lake’s gaze shifted from Coulson to Natasha, who looked at him with a hint of hostility. "Miss, have we met before?"

Natasha stated a date expressionlessly.

That date.

It was the day Lake personally killed his ex-girlfriend Maureen.

Lake heard this and said, "Oh, I remember. You were standing right next to my target back then."

Natasha said in a deep voice, "So, you admit you assassinated our agents?"

Lake chuckled, "Where’s the evidence? Do you have any?"

"What you just said."

"Sorry, I’ve always enjoyed lying."

"I have a question."

"Please, go ahead."

"Who paid you to do this?"

"Haha."

Lake laughed twice and stopped looking at Natasha, turning directly to Coulson with a smile. "You guys traveled all the way from the Federation just to ask me about this?"

Coulson glanced at Natasha, giving her a look, then said to Lake, "Mr. Black King, we’re here about the explosion at Viktor’s manor in the suburbs a few days ago."

Lake tilted his head. "Explosion at a suburban manor? Sorry, I’ve never been there. I’m afraid I can’t help you much."

With that said.

Lake stood up directly. The Little Cotton-padded Jacket, who had been watching without interjecting, also stood up.

The police officers guarding the door stopped Lake and then looked at Coulson.

Coulson nodded.

The officers let them pass.

Lake glanced back at Coulson without making any move and left the coffee shop with his Little Cotton-padded Jacket.

Inside the coffee shop.

Natasha frowned, turned, and looked at Lake and Katherine leaving outside. "You’re just going to let him go?"

Coulson sighed. "Natasha, if the intelligence is true, we wouldn’t be able to stop him even if we wanted to. But at least we’ve confirmed one thing."

"What?"

"This Black King is indeed here."

"…"

On the train to the ancient castle.

Lake propped his chin with one hand, his gaze thoughtful.

The Black King’s presence here wasn’t a secret, but he hadn’t been to Viktor’s manor. Even if S.H.I.E.L.D. knew he was here, there was no reason for them to be so certain he was connected to the explosion at Viktor’s manor.

Besides, Viktor’s manor had exploded directly, destroying ninety-nine percent of everything inside, including books and secrets about vampires.

The Security Council already knew about the existence of vampires and werewolves and tacitly allowed these two prominent supernatural races to live on Earth, as long as they maintained their secrecy. Therefore, even if the books were taken, the Security Council could only help them keep them hidden.

After all…

Compared to vampires and werewolves, the Security Council was actually the most afraid of them being exposed. Just the fact of immortality, even for a race that could only survive by avoiding sunlight, was enough to drive many people mad.

After all, even in the human world, night owls were quite numerous.

But that wasn’t the point.

Little Cotton-padded Jacket, Katherine, sat opposite him. Seeing Lake in thought, she asked curiously, "Daddy, who were those two people just now?"

Lake snapped back to attention and smiled. "Bad guys."

Katherine blinked.

Lake said to his Little Cotton-padded Jacket, "In the future, if you see them, or people with the same aura, don’t talk to them. If they bother you, kill them directly, understand?"

Katherine nodded seriously. "Understood, Daddy."

Lake smiled.

Compared to S.H.I.E.L.D., Lake preferred dealing with Hydra. At the very least, Hydra respected him. So far, if Hydra’s respect were converted into money, it would be exactly one hundred and two million.

See.

This was true respect, respect that could be seen with the naked eye.

And S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Heh.

They were embezzling wildly, and then they were kidnapping others with the same dream and morality as the freelance agents.

Bah.

Back at the ancient castle.

Katherine pulled a bunch of shopping bags from her Fourth-Dimensional Pocket, blinked with a hint of excitement, and headed towards the basement, preparing to show off to her foolish younger brother.

Lake grabbed Emilia’s satellite phone.

He directly dialed List’s satellite phone.

Soon.

The call connected.

Lake got straight to the point, "Coulson and Natasha just found me. What’s going on?"

List, on the other end of the line, clearly froze. He thought Lake was calling to hold him accountable and quickly said, "Mr. Black King, I swear to God, we absolutely did not betray you."

Lake chuckled, realizing his words had come out wrong. He said, "I know it wasn’t you. I wanted to ask if you’ve received any news."

List replied, "Can you give me some time, Mr. Black King?"

Lake said okay, agreeing to call back in two hours, and then hung up the phone.

Emilia walked out of the study.

"What’s wrong?"

"A rather troublesome organization just entered the game."

Emilia blinked slightly, then looked at Lake with a mix of amusement and disbelief. "There’s a troublesome organization for you?"

Lake shrugged. "Even when you beat a dog, you have to consider its owner, especially when that dog has five owners behind it."

Five people raising one dog.

No, that wasn’t quite right.

It was more like two families were jointly raising it, two were co-raising it, and one was raising it domestically.

China and Russia funded it, jointly raising it.

France and Britain funded it, with a portion of the dog being with them.

America…

America was the actual owner of S.H.I.E.L.D. After all, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s headquarters, much like the dog’s main body, was within federal territory. Naturally, it was considered the federal family’s pet dog.

Emilia thought for a moment and looked at Lake. "That Homeland Strategic Defense… what bureau?"

Lake raised an eyebrow at Emilia. He had initially wanted to ask how Emilia knew, but the words changed on his tongue. "Have you dealt with them?"

The previous few chapters have been revised. Everyone can take a look back.