Mission: Impossible

Comparing the electricity bills of each workshop, Carter quickly discovered that the extra thirty percent in power consumption had no identifiable source, as if someone had stolen it.

But Carter knew very well that, given the security measures at the processing plant, electricity theft was simply impossible. Besides, that thirty percent amounted to over a hundred thousand dollars in electric bills.

"There must be a problem, but I can't act rashly, much less contact Coulson."

Carter knew that if her suspicions were true, then with the network capabilities Umbrella Corporation had demonstrated, suspicious individuals would be easily discovered in an environment like the processing plant, where surveillance was everywhere.

If she contacted Coulson, he would definitely activate other agents within the company to investigate. That would greatly increase the chance of exposure.

"I have to verify this myself. The more people who know, the greater the chance of exposure. I need to come up with a reasonable excuse."

While Carter began putting her agent skills to work, Wang Khan was staring blankly at the three large shipping containers before him.

"I say, Red Queen, I told you to buy raw materials for building aircraft. Why did you go ahead and buy me three planes?"

Speechless, Wang Khan walked into one of the containers. Inside lay an F22 fighter jet from the United States. Though it had been scrapped, with even the marks of explosions and fire visible on its body, it was still a fighter jet currently in service with the U.S. military. Red Queen had actually managed to get her hands on one, and Wang Khan began to admire her capabilities.

At the same time, he was dumbfounded by the underground weapons trade in the United States. They even dared to sell something like this. It was absolutely insane. No wonder the United States kept imploding later on. Even without an alien invasion, they could start fighting among themselves. There was a reason for that.

"Guardian, I placed this order only after thoroughly analyzing your requirements. If we only bought raw materials and had you build a Quinjet from scratch, it would take at least half a year to complete."

"But if we use active-service fighter jets as a framework and carry out secondary modifications and upgrades, the construction period can likely be cut by more than half."

Wang Khan entered the other two containers. They also held aircraft wreckage, but they were not military fighters—they were civilian private planes. Apart from its wings and tail, one of them had an exceptionally intact fuselage. It could practically be used as it was.

"I suppose that makes sense. Fine, have someone move all of these into the secret processing workshop. Don't let those moles in the company notice."

"Understood."

That night, the three scrapped aircraft were delivered into the secret processing workshop. The people used were not from Umbrella Corporation; they were paid afterward and sent on their way. They did not even know they were transporting aircraft, including an F22, so there were no issues with confidentiality.

Once the three aircraft arrived, Wang Khan immediately began his grand aircraft-building endeavor.

Umbrella Corporation was extremely busy these days, but he, the Chairman and Chief Scientist, was quite free.

The manufacture of Smart Spiders now had dedicated processing machinery. The workers only needed to handle some miscellaneous tasks, while the fully automated production lines took care of everything else.

As for software, with Red Queen acting as a watchdog over the network, nobody could steal it. Thus, Wang Khan had been taking it easy lately.

While Wang Khan used this rare period of free time to hole up in the secret workshop and build aircraft, Sharon Carter began to act.

Maria Mason, an administrative secretary at Umbrella Corporation, was considered Sharon Carter's direct subordinate.

She was sexy and fiery-looking, clearly the sort of woman who wanted to rise to prominence through her looks and body.

And judging by her bold behavior since joining the company, she fit that type perfectly. But Carter knew that Maria was a highly skilled corporate spy. Her work involved stealing core technologies from high-tech companies and then reselling them at high prices for enormous profits.

In a world like Marvel, where some black technology emerged every so often, such corporate spies still had plenty of opportunities.

Of course, once caught, the consequences were extremely severe.

At best, they would be thrown in prison for decades. At worst, they might be beaten to death on the spot. It was a high-risk, high-reward profession.

Maria Mason had joined Umbrella Corporation, and needless to say, her target was the Spider-Sense System of the Smart Spider.

Through S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence network, Carter had learned that the Spider-Sense System was currently being priced at 200 million dollars on the black market.

Even more enticing was the fact that it was merely a computer program. Once stolen, most weapons and robot manufacturers on the market could produce Smart Spider robots of the same quality in a short time. That made it even more sought after.

Core technology like this, which was easy to sell and convenient to carry, was the favorite of corporate spies.

Yet after several months at the company, Maria had not found a single opportunity. Whether she offered her body or employed every espionage method at her disposal, she could not get past Red Queen. After all, before Ultron was born, Red Queen was the god of the digital world. Even Tony Stark's Jarvis was no match for her.

Just as Maria was preparing herself for a prolonged battle, Carter called her into the office near the end of the workday and assigned her a few trivial matters.

Halfway through the instructions, Carter suddenly had something to attend to and needed to leave for a while. Maria was allowed to wait in the office and did not need to leave immediately.

It had been nothing unusual, but while Maria idly looked around the president's secretary's office, she unexpectedly spotted a document still open on the computer.

As a professional spy, Maria had solid fundamentals. With only a glance, she roughly understood the contents of the document.

"An unexplained increase in electricity costs? Someone stealing power? Impossible, right? Wait... this is a good opportunity for me!"

Maria instantly came up with a plan. She then read the document from beginning to end again and even used the miniature camera hidden in her watch to photograph it.

Cautious as she was, she did not directly use the computer to make a copy.

After finishing all that, Maria returned to her original seat, picked up a fashion magazine, and calmly began reading.

Three to five minutes later, Carter hurried back. After giving Maria a few more instructions, she sent her away.

After Maria left, Carter took out another laptop and opened a video file. It showed the exact scene of Maria secretly reading the document on the computer and photographing it.

"The fish has taken the bait. Now don't disappoint me. Make good use of the gifts your body gave you, my beautiful spy."

Three updates today. An extra update will be posted this afternoon. Thanks to the brothers who sent tips.