The Hidden Strike

The moment midnight arrived, Hammer Industries' hacker team launched an attack on Umbrella Corporation's servers.

For a time, streams of data surged in through every channel, while the server housing Red Queen emitted a deafening roar.

"Guardian, they've made their move."

"Don't crush them all at once. Let them taste a little sweetness first, and leak part of the Spider-Bots' structural designs to them."

"Understood."

At that moment, Wang Khan was driving to Brooklyn, New York, and stopped beside an outdoor basketball court.

Two hundred meters from the basketball court where he was, a nondescript old street had a dark-blue van parked beside it. Light flashed inside the vehicle, clearly indicating that someone was there.

"Guardian, two men inside the apartment building fifty meters from the van are watching the girl named Skye."

A street-side camera turned on its own toward the apartment building and focused on a window on the fifth floor. The surveillance feed immediately appeared on Wang Khan's tablet.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Those sewer rats really are everywhere. Follow the plan and block all surveillance signals in the area."

"Understood."

In an instant, the surveillance signals across five nearby streets were all hacked, leaving them blind.

Wang Khan got out of the car and walked toward the blue van.

At the same time, several Mechanical Spiders rushed out ahead of him, crossed the two-hundred-meter distance, and climbed up the apartment building where the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were stationed.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents monitoring Skye had yet to notice anything unusual. They had grown accustomed to similar surveillance missions, which had greatly lowered their vigilance. As a result, the Mechanical Spiders had already climbed onto their shoulders before they finally reacted.

"Enemy attack!"

"Pfft, pfft."

Needles filled with deadly poison shot from the Mechanical Spiders and precisely struck the two agents' major arteries.

The poison rapidly entered their hearts with their blood. Within seconds, it claimed their lives.

"Vital signs have disappeared. The targets are dead."

Through the Mechanical Spiders' sensors, Red Queen confirmed their deaths.

"Guardian, should we leave Hydra's mark behind?"

"Red Queen, don't underestimate S.H.I.E.L.D. Although I described this organization as rats in a stinking ditch, it remains very powerful, and there are plenty of wise people within it. First, check whether those two agents have identification on them."

Red Queen controlled the Mechanical Spiders as they searched the bodies, and sure enough, they found S.H.I.E.L.D. identification.

"Excellent. The identification is enough. S.H.I.E.L.D. has many enemies in this world, but few people would dare kill them so openly. With Nick Fury's intelligence, he should be able to figure something out. There's no need to overdo it."

Red Queen seemed to understand and yet not understand. When it came to comprehending human nature, this artificial intelligence still fell somewhat short of Ultron.

Ignoring Red Queen's cleanup work, Wang Khan had already arrived outside the blue van. Hearing the rapid tapping of a keyboard inside, he reached out, and a Mechanical Spider smashed through the window and jumped in.

Inside the van, a girl with obvious mixed-race features looked over in terror.

She immediately reached for the baseball bat beside her to defend herself, but no matter how fast she was, she couldn't match the Mechanical Spider.

A blinding electric arc lit up at the back of her neck. Skye only had time to cry out in pain before she was electrocuted unconscious.

"The World Destroyer is in hand. Let me see just how advanced the Inhumans' genetic modification technology really is."

Wang Khan opened the van door, picked up Skye, and turned toward his own car.

Two minutes after he left, Skye's blue van suddenly caught fire. It quickly turned into a fireball, destroying everything inside.

While Wang Khan was openly drawing attention here and secretly carrying out his real plan, S.H.I.E.L.D. was still focused on the cyberwar between Hammer Industries and Umbrella Corporation.

"Director, Umbrella seems to be struggling. Some of its core technology has already been stolen. Should we intervene?"

"Wait a little longer. I have a feeling something's wrong. Umbrella's resistance seems far too weak."

As an old schemer, Nick Fury instinctively sensed that something was amiss.

Sure enough, the moment he finished speaking, Umbrella's counterattack began.

First, it took three minutes to completely destroy every stream of invading data. Then, taking advantage of the momentum, it counterattacked and directly crushed the invading hackers.

Coulson was left staring in stunned disbelief. Just then, his phone rang, and after answering it, his shocked expression deepened.

"Were the hackers' identities exposed?"

Nick Fury turned and asked. Coulson nodded slightly.

"I just received word from an NYPD contact. Umbrella Corporation reported the personal information of twelve local hackers all at once. Three of them belong to Rising Tide, including Skye. Director, it looks like Wang Khan isn't just a genius in biology and machine manufacturing. He also possesses formidable computer skills."

Fury sat in his chair and leaned back slightly.

"No matter how capable a genius is, there are limits. Wang Khan was clearly prepared for today's cyberattack. Could he really be from S.P.E.A.R.?"

"Coulson, put Agent 13 into deep-shadow status. From now on, she is to communicate only with you through a single line. Don't contact her unless it's something serious."

"Understood."

Coulson went to make the arrangements. Fury folded his hands and rested them on the desk, carefully considering the possibility that Wang Khan came from S.P.E.A.R.

But less than a minute after leaving, Coulson rushed back in.

"Director, something's happened! The two agents I sent to monitor Skye have gone missing. I'm afraid something happened to them."

"Send people over immediately. No! Go yourself, and bring Barton too!"

When he heard that the Director had sent Hawkeye, Coulson realized that something major had happened and hurried to the scene.

"Tonight really has been one disaster after another."

Fury rubbed his aching temples and sighed over the night's unrest, but he had no idea that this was only the beginning.

Wang Khan drove to a high-end biological laboratory. He had rented it after receiving the New York Police Department's final payment, and it cost USD 500,000 a month.

Wang Khan had originally planned to build one himself, but a high-end laboratory like this cost tens of millions just to construct, not counting the price of the land. For now, he could only rent one.

After placing the still-unconscious Skye inside a specially designed isolation room, he heard Red Queen's voice.

"Hammer Industries' servers have been breached, including Justin Hammer's private server. Guardian, await your orders."

Wang Khan locked the isolation room and issued his command.

"Do it! I want Justin Hammer to understand the consequences of offending me!"