New York (Part 1)

"Join S.H.I.E.L.D.? No thanks. I'm afraid if I join, I'll either end up as Hydra or a corpse before long." Watching Coulson's retreating back, Shen Fei shook his head inwardly.

He knew exactly what S.H.I.E.L.D. was like inside, especially the Operations Division of the so-called S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy that Coulson had invited him to join—it was a disaster zone within the organization.

Among all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s departments, the Strike Team had the most Hydra members. The number of agents truly loyal to S.H.I.E.L.D. there could be counted on one hand. The only reason loyal agents still existed in the Operations Division was that Hydra feared turning the entire division into their own people would increase the risk of exposure. Otherwise, the whole Strike Team might have been Hydra members.

Compared to the Strike Team, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s other departments were a bit better off.

If Coulson had said he wanted Shen Fei to join S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Science and Technology Division, Shen Fei might have agreed. For one thing, the Science and Technology Division had the fewest Hydra members, and for another, it generally didn't require external missions—safe.

On top of that, the people there were the most likely to come into contact with the Tesseract. That was the Space Stone, after all. He was extremely curious about it, and more importantly, Shen Fei wanted to see if the Op-Op Fruit had any effect on the Space Stone.

How powerful were the Infinity Stones? Just look at Captain Marvel and the Scarlet Witch. Both were ordinary people, but under the power of the Stones, they instantly became beings on par with Thor.

"Thinking about this now is a bit far off." After a moment, Shen Fei cast aside his fantasies about the Infinity Stones. For now, they were completely out of his reach.

"Since they recruited Rebecca into S.H.I.E.L.D., I wonder if they've gone after Jill, Chris, and Leon too. If Chris and Leon really get brought into S.H.I.E.L.D., that would be interesting." Thinking about Chris and Leon being recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D., Shen Fei couldn't help but smile.

If Chris and Leon joined S.H.I.E.L.D., they'd definitely end up in the Operations Division's Strike Team. That would make Alexander Pierce spit blood.

Chris was a teammate-killer. If Chris ran enough missions for S.H.I.E.L.D., the Strike Team might empty out. One day, Pierce would look at the casualty report and see all the dead were his own people. In a panic, he might think Fury had discovered them and started a purge, leading to an early exposure.

As for Leon, a vehicle-killer. Pierce's Helicarriers for Project Insight? Leon might just touch one casually, and it would self-destruct before even taking off.

"Thinking about it, it's actually possible. Too bad I'm not S.H.I.E.L.D. high command, or I'd really recruit those two."

Boom.

Just as Shen Fei was lost in these random thoughts, a deafening roar startled him. He turned around and saw a massive mushroom cloud rising above the mountains.

"A nuke, just like that." The giant mushroom cloud made Shen Fei instantly recognize what it was.

After the devastation of Raccoon City and the viral data were sent to the higher-ups, the proposal to nuke Raccoon City was quickly approved.

The nuclear explosion stirred up many people. Those rescued at the temporary base stared at the huge mushroom cloud, tears streaming down many faces. It was their home, where they had lived for so long. This sudden, unwarranted disaster had cost everyone there many loved ones.

After the initial panic subsided, the survivors quickly gathered together and began demanding answers from the government.

This incident was clearly abnormal. Everyone who survived had seen zombies with their own eyes, and many had watched their own family members turn into them.

"An anomaly caused by a nuclear power plant leak." The official explanation came quickly. Hearing it, Shen Fei almost burst out laughing.

Even the nuclear explosion was blamed on the power plant. Ordinary people, of course, wouldn't know that the explosion was from a government-launched nuclear weapon.

To facilitate its experiments, Umbrella Corporation had built a nuclear power plant on the outskirts of Raccoon City. It had been a great boon for the city's residents, with very low electricity bills, but now the power plant was the scapegoat.

A city destroyed by a biochemical virus, or a city destroyed by a nuclear power plant leak—which was easier for people to accept? Definitely the latter.

The government would never let the truth about Raccoon City come out. The consequences were too severe; if things went wrong, the government might even collapse.

The government wasn't afraid people wouldn't believe this explanation. There was a precedent: the Chernobyl incident, where monsters were also rumored to have appeared.

In the original work, even the president was assassinated for trying to reveal the truth about Raccoon City, which led to another biochemical virus leak.

"Sister Rebecca, are you joining S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Meeting Rebecca again, Shen Fei asked directly. This wasn't a slip of the tongue; S.H.I.E.L.D. had been used as a shorthand for years.

The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division was the full name, while S.H.I.E.L.D. was the internal term. After all, the full name was too long and inconvenient.

Although the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division had long planned to rename itself S.H.I.E.L.D., various reasons had prevented it. Since it was an organization jointly established by the five major powers, a name change required unanimous approval from all of them.

It was a small matter, but precisely because it was small, handling it was a huge hassle.

"That's right. What about you? Coulson should have talked to you, right?" Rebecca said.

"I'm not interested in becoming an agent." Shen Fei replied.

"Me neither." Rebecca said with a smile.

Rebecca hadn't wanted to join S.H.I.E.L.D. at first, but Coulson's offer was just too good. She had joined STARS to train herself and never planned to stay long.

As a genius, especially in biology, Rebecca preferred being in a laboratory.

And when it came to lab equipment, probably no organization on Earth could match S.H.I.E.L.D.'s advanced gear. More importantly, S.H.I.E.L.D. had ample funding.

For a fresh graduate like Rebecca, even a genius, going to another research institute meant at least a few years of grinding to get ahead. Seniority-based promotion happened in every country.

In the original work, Rebecca's situation was pretty much like that.

But if she joined S.H.I.E.L.D., she could immediately become one of the lead researchers, studying the biochemical virus confiscated from Umbrella Corporation.

And S.H.I.E.L.D.'s predecessor was the Strategic Scientific Reserve. Under all these conditions, Rebecca couldn't resist.

If Shen Fei hadn't known the truth, he might have fallen for Coulson's tempting offers too. Coulson had a unique talent for persuasion; it wasn't without reason that he maintained good relationships with all the Avengers.

In Shen Fei's opinion, Coulson would have been the best candidate for a second Captain America—if he hadn't died back then.

"Turning down Coulson makes my next step a real problem." With Raccoon City destroyed, the people from the orphanage had all survived but would definitely be scattered.

Orphanages in other cities wouldn't be as good as the one Umbrella Corporation had built.

"I should have grabbed some cash." Shen Fei muttered, looking toward Raccoon City. He'd only focused on surviving and hadn't thought about much else.

As the temporary base was opened up, news of what happened in Raccoon City spread worldwide. Journalists from everywhere flocked in.

While mainstream newspapers and news outlets lamented it as another major disaster, a few papers reported the truth about Raccoon City.

But that truth was quickly drowned out by so-called expert commentary and various rumors.

Wild theories like aliens invading Earth or aliens conducting experiments on the planet ran rampant.

After that, Umbrella Corporation became the defendant in the U.S. Supreme Court. Who could blame them? The Nuclear Power Plant was built by Umbrella Corporation, so when something went wrong, Umbrella naturally had to take responsibility.

Of course, that wasn't Umbrella's only charge. Many people wanted to use this opportunity to expose the truth about Raccoon City. They accused Umbrella of also researching biological weapons, which caused the destruction of Raccoon City.

Umbrella Corporation's stock price instantly plummeted to rock bottom.

Because all the evidence was buried in the nuclear explosion, the survivors of Raccoon City alone couldn't prove that Umbrella researched biological weapons. Coupled with Umbrella's powerful Legal Team, the lawsuit accusing Umbrella of developing biological weapons quickly lost due to insufficient evidence. This case was never winnable anyway, since the government was also covering up the truth in that regard.

As for the Nuclear Power Plant malfunction, Umbrella admitted it might have been due to poor management that led to the current situation, and for that, Umbrella was willing to compensate.

With large sums of money thrown out, the vast majority of survivors immediately fell for the greenbacks of Franklin. It had to be said, many people were very pragmatic.

Under such circumstances, the remaining few, though they never compromised, could no longer stir up any trouble.

Originally, Shen Fei could have gotten a large sum of money—enough to get him through the best university until graduation. But what Shen Fei didn't expect was that an Uncle suddenly appeared out of nowhere, taking custody of Shen Fei and also taking the money.

Shen Fei had no idea about this suddenly appearing Uncle; there was no memory of him at all. But government workers proved that this really was Shen Fei's Uncle.

As soon as this Uncle appeared, he brought his personal lawyer to Umbrella Corporation, and the compensation money for Shen Fei was directly doubled. Of course, it seemed none of that money would go to Shen Fei.

"How interesting. Let me see what you're up to." Toward this suddenly appearing Uncle, Shen Fei remained silent the whole time, quietly watching him, because this so-called Uncle lived in New York.

Raccoon City was located in Colorado. If nothing unexpected happened, Shen Fei would only live here. But this Uncle's appearance gave him the possibility of going to New York.