Mission Accomplished

"Huff... huff... huff... My Lord, I need to see the Baron!"

Squinting, Li Chuan spotted Dr. List approaching with a stun baton and immediately feigned waking up with heavy gasps.

If he didn't wake up and got zapped, his transformation technique would be forcibly undone.

"Hades, speak up—what the hell happened?"

As Li Chuan sat up on the hospital bed inside the medical room, Baron Strucker pushed the door open and strode in with two subordinates.

Li Chuan swept his gaze across them and quickly made a judgment based on Hades' description of their appearances.

The leader in the black leather coat with a monocle had to be Baron Strucker, the base's top commander. The old man holding the stun baton beside him was likely Dr. List, the second-in-command.

As for the unusually muscular man behind Strucker on the left, he was the Hydra squad captain in charge of special operations—probably the one who led the team to kidnap Dr. Smith. The tall, thin middle-aged man on the right was the commander of the entire base's defense system.

"Perfect, the whole top brass is here in one spot!"

Li Chuan felt a surge of satisfaction inwardly, but on the surface, he pretended to glance at the commander with a terrified look before replying to Baron Strucker:

"My Lord, could you ask the others to step out first?"

"Hades, what are you getting at?"

The commander, unsettled by Li Chuan's glance, felt a vague sense of dread and his tone turned icy.

Baron Strucker, after a moment's thought, ordered:

"Everyone out!"

"My Lord, what about your safety?"

The Hydra captain's face showed a hint of concern.

"What, you think Hades could be a threat to me?"

Baron Strucker's expression chilled instantly.

Hades' terrified look at the commander earlier, combined with the words "traitor" and "danger" he'd muttered before passing out, sparked some unpleasant suspicions in Strucker's mind.

As for whether being alone with Hades was dangerous—ridiculous. His body might not be enhanced yet, but he wasn't someone an ordinary person could get close to. Someone like Hades, unarmed and winded after a few steps, could be killed with one hand.

"Yes, My Lord!"

Hearing the cold edge in Baron Strucker's voice, the Hydra captain dared not argue. He quickly withdrew from the medical room with the commander and Dr. List, pulling the window curtains shut and turning off all surveillance equipment on his way out.

"Spit it out. It's just us now—what's going on?"

Baron Strucker fixed a stern gaze on Li Chuan, still sitting on the bed.

"Well, My Lord Baron," Li Chuan said, pretending to rise as he answered, while channeling chakra throughout his body. His muscles suddenly tensed, and he lunged at Baron Strucker with speed faster than a cheetah.

"Time for you to die."

"You—"

Baron Strucker's pupils contracted, his mouth barely opening before Li Chuan twisted his head a full three hundred and sixty degrees. He was dead beyond dead.

Li Chuan pulled the pistol from Baron Strucker's waist, tossed the corpse under the hospital bed, and activated his transformation technique again, taking on Strucker's appearance. He walked toward the medical room door.

"Bang!"

He shoved the door open and, without a word, raised the gun and shot the commander in the head, blowing it apart instantly.

"My Lord Baron, what... what's this about?"

Seeing Baron Strucker step out and immediately put a bullet in the base's defense commander, Dr. List and the Hydra captain were dumbfounded.

"Will is a traitor, working for Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. A wave of S.H.I.E.L.D. and FBI agents will attack the base any minute now. Blas, take over the defense system immediately. Dr. List, come with me."

Li Chuan gave them no time to think, issuing combat orders with a brief explanation.

"But—"

The Hydra captain, Blas, clearly hesitated.

A colleague of nearly ten years was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent? And weren't most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s people actually Hydra operatives? Hadn't Nick Fury been clueless about Hydra's existence?

"You want to be a traitor too?"

Li Chuan swung the gun toward the Hydra captain, who flinched in terror and dared not question further:

"Hail Hydra, My Lord. I'll take over the defense system and prepare for battle right away."

Without a moment's delay, he turned and hurried toward the operations command room.

"You two, stand guard at the door and protect Hades. No one enters without my orders—not even Blas."

Ordering two Hydra agents to stand watch at the medical room door to prevent the discovery of the real Baron Strucker's body, Li Chuan led Dr. List toward the base's laboratory.

"The base can't be held. Download all the data, activate the self-destruct, and prepare to evacuate to another location."

Through interrogating Hades, Li Chuan knew that nearly every Hydra base had a self-destruct device, designed so that once the base was breached, all data could be destroyed and the attacking enemies caught in the blast.

The self-destruct button for the Sokovia Hydra base was known only to Baron Strucker and Dr. List, and only they had the authority to activate it.

"What about Dr. Smith, the one Lord Garrett requested?"

Dr. List asked.

Though he was the second-in-command of the base, Dr. List didn't involve himself in Hydra's internal spy and agent operations. He only took orders from Baron Strucker, focusing on research experiments involving superhumans.

So when he saw Baron Stryker blow the Commander's head off with a single shot, he was stunned, but he didn't overthink it like the Hydra Captain did.

"Bring him along."

Li Chuan replied without hesitation.

His primary goal in coming here was to rescue Dr. Smith.

"Yes, my lord."

Dr. List nodded.

Five minutes later, Li Chuan, accompanied by the bewildered Dr. Smith and Dr. List clutching a briefcase, boarded the helicopter on the rooftop that Baron Stryker used for travel. It slowly lifted off and flew away from the base.

"Boom!"

A moment later, a deafening explosion erupted behind and below the helicopter. Under the effect of the self-destruct device, the entire base and everyone inside were sent skyward.

"My lord, the base is gone."

Dr. List watched the blazing inferno of the base, a trace of reluctance on his face. After living there for over a decade, he couldn't help but feel some attachment.

"A real man never looks back at an explosion."

Li Chuan smiled dismissively. His attention was now entirely on the notification sound ringing in his ears.

"Mission to rescue Dr. Smith complete!

Mission to kill Baron Strucker complete!

Mission to destroy the Sokovia Hydra base complete!

Mission rewards have been delivered to the mission item storage space. Please check at your convenience."