Hydra, Hail!

At the entrance to the training room.

Allen fidgeted with the hem of his clothes and said pitifully, "You feel great doing it so many times every day, but I can't take it anymore."

Nyssa's face darkened, and a cold smile appeared.

He was finally backing down in the face of difficulty. Her harsh training over the past few days had not been wasted.

"Stop talking nonsense. Get inside."

"Aw."

Allen reluctantly followed her into the training room.

Bang...

"Ah!"

Defeat in battle. Experience Points +5.

Bang...

"Yah!"

Defeat in battle. Experience Points +5.

Sufficient experience. Current Rogue level: Lv. 10.

Bang...

"Oh!"

Defeat in battle. Experience Points +5. Learned skill: Shadow Stealth.

Shadow Stealth: Actively enter an invisible state. Automatically exit invisibility upon entering combat or being attacked.

After enduring two hours of beatings, Allen lay on the floor and said with an expression that said just as I expected, "See? I told you I couldn't take it."

"Training is over for today."

Nyssa had long grown accustomed to Allen's tough talk.

If he ever truly gave in one day, she might wonder whether he was really himself.

"Don't leave. Come back and fight another eight hundred rounds."

Hearing that, Nyssa abruptly turned around, intending to loosen Allen's bones some more.

However, Allen lay perfectly straight with his eyes shut, playing dead.

Once Nyssa left the training room, Allen attempted a kip-up... failed, then another... failed, and another... failed. He honestly sat up and examined the newly unlocked skill on his panel.

Shadow Stealth was one of the Rogue's core skills.

Simply put, it meant sneaking up beside an enemy and launching a surprise attack.

"What's the principle behind invisibility?"

Allen rubbed his chin and pondered, "Optical camouflage? Psychological misdirection? Or spatial distortion?"

He activated invisibility.

His body turned gray, like a ghost adrift beyond the world.

He openly walked through the base, flashing an international hand gesture at the base's martial artists from afar.

Sure enough, after becoming Translucent, he could shamelessly do all kinds of sneaky things in broad daylight.

He slipped into Ra's al Ghul's room.

This area was explicitly off-limits to members.

For a spirited young man, the more someone told him not to do something, the more he had to do it. Curiosity killed the cat, after all.

"Wow, the boss's urinal is really luxurious."

Allen looked at the lush green pool before him, reached down to undo his belt, and a stream of water flowed out, raising dense bubbles across the surface.

If Ra's al Ghul witnessed this, he would probably destroy the pool on the spot and permanently abandon this training base.

This was the League of Assassins' core secret: the Lazarus Pit.

It could heal injuries, extend life, and resurrect the dead.

There was more than one pool in the world with similar effects, and most of them were controlled by the League of Assassins.

In truth, the pool contained a special liquid metal known as Serpent's Blood.

Furthermore, the Lazarus Pits currently controlled by the League of Assassins all contained impure Serpent's Blood. Repeated use could cause mental instability. After a long period of research, Ra's al Ghul had finally found a solution.

By using the relic of unknown origin known as the Blade of Redemption to kill himself, then reviving through Serpent's Blood, he could not only recover completely but also regain his youth.

As a result, the Ninja Master had lived for hundreds of years.

Putting away his tool of the trade, Allen felt refreshed.

Creak!

Someone came in just then.

The newcomer wore the standard martial artist's uniform, with only his eyes exposed. His face was impossible to make out, but his entire bearing screamed sneakiness.

After entering the room and looking around to make sure it was safe, he took out a metal container and began filling it with liquid from the pool.

"Someone's stealing my piss!"

Allen inwardly admired him. Even I, a lunatic, think he's crazier than I am.

While the martial artist filled his container, Allen raised both hands and began a series of mental activities.

"Little Left, guess whether he stole it to drink. If he didn't, reward me once."

"Little Right, bet that he'll use it as a topical treatment. If you're wrong, reward me twice."

"You two are so naughty. I guess he'll use it to rinse his mouth. If I'm wrong, you'll each reward me once."

Zorn filled three test tubes with Serpent's Blood and carefully hid them against his body.

As a Level Five S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, his true identity was that of a Hydra spy. Through a series of channels, he had finally infiltrated the League of Assassins. After several years undercover, he had at last been assigned to Snow Mountain Base as a training instructor.

Information related to Serpent's Blood had recently been unlocked. Its origins could be traced back to World War II, when it had been one of the main ingredients in the serum created by the mad scientist Allen.

Compared to the Winter Soldier serum from the same period, the Winter Soldier soldiers were inferior to Captain America Steve in overall combat ability because they lacked Serpent's Blood to neutralize and stabilize the formula.

Therefore, Hydra had decided to restart the serum project.

Zorn remained as calm as ever. Thanks to his instructor status, he faced fewer restrictions on his movements. With a casual excuse, he left the base, completely unaware that an invisible tail was following behind him.

After constantly observing his surroundings and confirming that nothing was amiss, he headed toward the place where he had hidden his telegraph machine.

Beep beep~ beep~ beep...

Beep~ beep beep~ beep...

Beep~ beep~ beep beep...

Strings of Morse code transmitted information outward through radio waves.

Zorn could not help saying excitedly, "Based on the organization's merit calculations, I might be among the first to become a super-soldier. I hear the serum can extend one's lifespan. That's truly something to look forward to."

"Don't worry. The organization will never let anyone down. Even a sheet of toilet paper has its use."

Who was that!?

He whirled around and discovered in shock that Allen's head was less than five centimeters away, hovering near his left shoulder. His eyes, brimming with wisdom, were curiously studying the telegraph machine.

When had he gotten close?

How had I possibly failed to notice him!?

He immediately executed a tactical backward leap, opening the distance between them.

Zorn's hand had already reached for his saber. His identity absolutely could not be exposed. Otherwise, he would surely draw the League of Assassins' pursuit. Given the Ninja Master's emphasis on Serpent's Blood, he might even launch frenzied retaliation against Hydra.

Just as his thumb pressed against the guard, preparing to use a quick-draw strike for a surprise attack and kill Allen in one blow.

Smack...

Allen snapped to attention and raised his right hand at a forty-five-degree angle.

"Hydra, hail!"

(｀ω*)

Zorn: "..."

A fellow agent?

How did I not know?

The sudden, bizarre turn of events left Zorn's mind struggling to catch up.

"Cut off one head, and two more shall grow in its place," Allen said in solemn nonsense. "The organization has already grown impatient. They were worried you might fail, so they specifically sent me to provide backup whenever necessary."

"..."

It sounded perfectly reasonable, leaving Zorn with no rebuttal.

He knew Hydra's methods very well. Once one Hydra spy was discovered, there would inevitably be a second, a third... Their infiltration would already be riddled through every level.

Moreover, they did not know one another, making them impossible to purge completely.

Allen maintained his utterly serious expression from beginning to end, and Zorn was already seventy or eighty percent convinced.

After the war, Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and successfully vanished from sight. Whenever they carried out missions outside, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents served as their cover.

And when he imagined someone disguising himself as a lunatic to infiltrate the League of Assassins, it truly was a brilliant move.

"Remember, we have never interacted, and we know nothing about Hydra. I have other missions as well. I don't need to tell you what you should do, do I?"

"Mm."