The Winter Soldier Suddenly Felt Very Tragic

Phil Coulson.

Maria Hill.

Melinda May.

Natasha Romanov.

It was terrifying. Almost every senior agent and administrator who was anyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. could be found here, without exception.

Undoubtedly, Daniel Whitehall was playing the long game.

Was he planning to avoid all-out war and secretly find opportunities to replace these people, one by one?

Speaking of which…

If these were indeed clones, then perhaps there was also a button hidden in their subconscious, much like the Red Room could activate the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, with a single phrase.

As soon as the time was right, they would raise the banner of rebellion.

Good heavens.

That would allow them to transform S.H.I.E.L.D. into Hydra, subtly and without anyone noticing.

Unfortunately…

Daniel Whitehall had brought about his own downfall.

Just then.

Lake moved in front of Dr. Merrick, raising an eyebrow.

Click!

Lake’s Glock 17 was pressed against Dr. Merrick’s smooth forehead. "Who are you?"

Dr. Merrick’s expression was as nervous as the people before him. "I am Merrick from the Science Experiment Department."

"Are you?"

"Yes, they can vouch for me."

Lake’s gaze fell on the people behind Dr. Merrick. He smiled and pointed to the front of the line. "Are there any you recognize there?"

Dr. Merrick raised both hands with a wry smile. "Director Pierce and the others are at too high a level. How could people like us possibly know them?"

This reason…

Made sense.

Lake narrowed his eyes. The Force was with him, and he trusted its judgment. However, he wasn’t the Black King right now. The Black King killed on instinct, but Lake Edwin preferred evidence. "You say you’re from the Science Experiment Department, so how were you abducted and brought here?"

Dr. Merrick shook his head. "I don’t know. I was just getting off work that day and preparing to go home."

"The address."

"What?"

"You said you were just getting off work and preparing to go home. The address, I need to confirm."

"…"

Dr. Merrick opened his mouth and said, "I didn’t say. My dormitory is in the building. I was going out… Mmph!"

Lake smiled as the Glock 17 was shoved into Dr. Merrick’s mouth. He looked at Dr. Merrick, who was gagging and making muffled sounds as he swallowed the Glock 17, and revealed a cold, sinister smile. "You have good psychological fortitude, but unfortunately, it’s not enough. I’ve found you."

Two soldiers immediately walked over with their guns and apprehended Dr. Merrick.

"…Wait!"

"Wait!"

Dr. Merrick shouted, "I really am Merrick! I work in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Science Experiment Department! My S.H.I.E.L.D. number is… Slap… Mmph…"

Lake slapped him directly, his expressionless face showing no emotion. "It makes no difference to me whether I kill one person or a group. I’m going to kill you, so what?"

Damn it.

Did you think I wouldn’t dare to act just because you claim to be from S.H.I.E.L.D.?

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Lake fired his right hand, blowing apart the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists whose names he couldn’t recall but whom the Force had already judged. He said coldly, "I solve cases based on two things: first, informants, and second, evidence."

General Ross’s voice came through the earpiece. "Did you find evidence?"

"No."

"…"

Lake looked at the S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel whose names he could recall, questioning whether they were real or not. "At least, after I killed them, these people showed expressions of anger, suppressed anger. But these people?"

He paused.

Lake turned to look at the few people who had once again revealed themselves, a smile curving his lips. "I can feel it. They’re showing fear, an immense, unsettling dread."

With that said.

Lake raised his Glock 17 again.

Seeing this, one of them let out a whoosh and turned to run inside.

"Run?"

"Can you outrun bullets?"

"Bang!"

"Boom!"

The person instantly took a shot to the back of the head and dropped dead.

Lake came back to his senses and looked at Merrick, who was being restrained by two soldiers. The corner of his mouth curved slightly. "Clever tactic. I suppose you realized escape was impossible, so you pulled this stunt. Too bad, it won’t work on me."

Dr. Merrick struggled in anger, his inner thoughts filled with jealousy and fear as he declared himself a scientist for S.H.I.E.L.D.

But…

His true colors had already been revealed to Lake.

"Alright!"

Ross on the other side said, "Lake, stop shooting. Escort them all back to the base. What’s real is real, and no amount of faking can hide the flaws."

Lake looked at Dr. Merrick in front of him, then responded with a nod and gestured to the two soldiers.

The next second.

"Bang!"

"Ah!"

Mike bent down, grabbed Dr. Merrick’s shot leg, and dragged him outside. "Keep the others under guard. They’ll be sent to the base."

He had found the person he was looking for.

As for the others?

Lake couldn’t care less.

In a relatively intact room.

"Thump!"

"Ah!"

Lake threw Dr. Merrick against the wall as if he were tossing a shot put. After a scream, he slid down the wall.

"Look at me!"

"…"

Dr. Merrick looked up and met Lake’s eyes.

Within the deep blue, ocean-like depths, the Force Seed suddenly appeared on the calm surface of the blue sea.

It shone brightly.

Perhaps it was a second.

Perhaps it was ten seconds.

When Dr. Merrick came to his senses, Lake had already stood up, his Glock 17 aimed at him.

Terror filled Dr. Merrick’s eyes. "I know…"

"Bang!"

Lake put away his gun and looked at Dr. Merrick, who had been shot in the center of his forehead. The corner of his mouth curved upwards. "You know, and I know too. So, you can die now."

It felt a bit awkward.

Lake thought he was talking to a dead man, and he blinked. But the thought flashed by. He’d rather have an awkward conversation with a dead person than a verbal sparring match with someone who was about to die.

Dead people were better.

At least…

You could say anything to a dead person. As long as they had a breath left, even a 1% chance, there was still a chance Lake could inexplicably become the one who was killed.

Besides.

Lake had already gotten what he wanted from Merrick’s mind.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel outside were clones.

They were cloned under Daniel Whitehall’s instructions, with the purpose, as Lake had speculated, of keeping a contingency plan, just in case it could be used.

And why?

Perhaps Daniel Whitehall felt that Hydra was no longer a monolithic entity. How could he tolerate that? So, he might have considered transforming Hydra from its current parliamentary system into an imperial system.

There was also one more thing.

Lake bent down and retrieved a USB drive from a hidden pocket of Dr. Merrick’s, then stood up and walked out of the office. Following the memories he’d extracted from Dr. Merrick’s mind, he navigated directly through the underground base and soon found Dr. Merrick’s office.

Boom!

Lake directly pushed aside a bookshelf, its glass shattered and books scattered everywhere from the earlier missile attack, revealing a safe behind it.

Open it.

A satellite phone and several stacks of Franklin bills.

Sixty thousand?

Not bad.

Lake raised an eyebrow, pocketed the six stacks of Franklins, closed the safe, and powered on the satellite phone in his hand.

He immediately dialed a number.

The call went unanswered for a long time.

Lake wasn’t discouraged. It wasn’t until the third attempt that it was finally answered.

No one spoke on the other end, but he could hear breathing.

Lake held the phone, a chilling smile on his face. "Daniel Whitehall, it’s your turn next. Congratulations, you’ve received a one-way ticket to hell…"

Click.

Before Lake could finish speaking, the satellite phone was hung up.

Lake chuckled.

Boom!

He squeezed the hand holding the satellite phone with all his might. When he opened his hand, the satellite phone was still a satellite phone, but when Lake let go, it had already turned to dust and vanished without a trace.

At dawn.

Lake returned to the military base by helicopter. As for the cleanup, the Department of Homeland Security in Texas would handle things perfectly, and the Texas FBI had already arrived.

It couldn’t be helped.

After all, there were still many bodies in the underground base.

Horrifying bodies.

In a highly classified warehouse within the military base.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. clones, brought back from the underground cloning base, were transported to this warehouse. At the same time, the real S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury and Special Advisor Alexander Pierce came face-to-face with their respective clones.

The scene was bizarre.

At least, that’s how it appeared to General Ross and General Moses.

At noon.

Tony Stark, led by his white friend Colonel James Rhodes, also arrived at the base.

As for why Stark came here?

It was very simple.

The reason this case reached this point was because Tony Stark discovered that the body that had originally died at the Quantico base was a clone.

Of course.

How the clones were detected had nothing to do with Tony Stark. In Washington D.C., the renowned anthropologist Tempri Braina was rushing to the scene, accompanied by an FBI Special Agent. After all, it was Dr. Tempri Braina who had determined it was a clone based on the human bones.

Flesh and blood can lie, but bones never do.

Tony found Lake in the base’s living quarters.

"How is it?"

"Who are you asking?"

"What do you think."

Lake wiped his face with a towel, shook his head, and looked at Tony Stark. "Down there, I killed five Bucky Barneses. Those five headless bodies I brought back."

Tony Stark was also a bit surprised. "Five?"

Lake nodded. "Clearly, this Daniel Whitehall has turned Bucky Barnes into a standard weapon. They’ve even started mass production."

From this perspective.

Bucky Barnes was truly pitiful.

One person…

had truly transformed himself into the likeness of a weapon.

An extra chapter for one hundred monthly votes. Now at 1100 monthly votes, Xiao Mi has also added eleven extra chapters. How about that? I think you readers are the happiest, aren’t you!