"Thank you so much for this. Goodbye." After asking a few more questions about the aliens, Fury stood and prepared to leave. He seemed to have forgotten that Shen Fei was a mage.
"Don't be in such a hurry. Since the Director has graced me with his presence, why don't we make a deal?" Shen Fei's words made Fury sit back down at once.
"What deal?" Fury asked in a low voice.
"One piece of intelligence for one hundred kilograms of Vibranium." There was quite a bit of Wakanda's Vibranium circulating outside its borders. Howard had been able to obtain enough to make a shield back then, let alone S.H.I.E.L.D. now.
"Do you know what Vibranium is?" Fury's eyes widened enormously in an instant.
"Of course I do. Otherwise, I wouldn't have made that request." Shen Fei smiled.
"Since you know, then you should know how much that much Vibranium is worth." At current black-market prices, one hundred kilograms of Vibranium was worth one billion dollars. That was only theoretical; if that much truly appeared on the market, it would be worth even more.
"Of course I know, but I believe my information is worth the price." Shen Fei's expression did not change.
"Tell me what the information is first." After a moment of silence, Fury spoke.
"Information about Captain America," Shen Fei said directly.
"What?" That voice did not come from Fury this time, but Coulson. As Captain America's diehard fan, there was no way he could remain unmoved upon hearing this.
"You know where he is?" Fury shifted slightly in his seat and asked in a deep voice.
Captain America was a legend. Even Fury was shaken when he heard that news.
"I didn't expect you to be this kind of person. That's Captain America. You're actually using his remains as bargaining chips." Coulson's gaze toward Shen Fei changed instantly, filling with contempt.
As Captain America's diehard fan, the fact that Coulson had not immediately drawn his gun on Shen Fei over such an insult was already considered restraint.
Melinda and Fury's expressions changed as well.
"Don't look at me like that. I have nothing but respect for Captain America. I only heard this information from someone else. If he finds out the news leaked from me, it'll be difficult to get any more intelligence from them in the future. I have to compensate him with something, and there aren't many things on Earth that they would value." Shen Fei hurriedly explained under the trio's stares.
Just as their expressions softened slightly, Shen Fei suddenly tapped the table before him with a finger. A meaningful smile appeared on his face as he continued, "Besides, who told you Captain America was dead?"
"Captain America is still alive." The bodies of all three, including Fury, could not help trembling with excitement. Even Fury, the king of spies, was no exception.
Melinda was not Captain America's fan, but one should not forget who had brought her up. Melinda had earned such great trust within S.H.I.E.L.D. because Carter had personally raised her.
Everyone knew about Carter's relationship with Captain America.
"This information isn't too expensive for one hundred kilograms of Vibranium, is it?" Seeing that their gazes no longer held contempt, Shen Fei finally breathed a sigh of relief. Lies were not easy to make up.
Yet not all of it had been a lie. Shen Fei had considered telling Fury and Coulson about Captain America for free.
But when he thought about how S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Vibranium would only end up benefiting Hydra otherwise, he came up with the idea of a deal.
Captain America was not supposed to be discovered for several more years. Tony had not even become Iron Man yet. But thinking of Captain America lying in an iceberg all this time, Shen Fei decided to let him come out early and get some air. As for whether it would frighten Hydra, that was none of his concern.
"Fine, I don't want the Vibranium anymore. At worst, I just won't get any more information from them in the future. It isn't like this intelligence is of any use to me anyway. They don't know the exact location, either. They only happened to pass through Antarctica and saw Captain America. You can calculate the area based on his flight path back then. At most, you'll waste some manpower and resources searching." Shen Fei spoke as though he had made up his mind to sacrifice everything.
"Director." Coulson stared at Fury like a lovesick fool.
"I understand. Goodbye." With that, the three immediately returned to Triskelion Headquarters in secret.
"Director." The moment they returned to Fury's office, Coulson impatiently urged him.
"Coulson, calm down. The intelligence hasn't been confirmed yet." Melinda hurriedly grabbed Coulson.
"I'll lead a team there." Unfortunately, Coulson had no intention of listening to her.
"I understand. Have Hill come here." Fury summoned Hill. As a Level Nine agent, Hill was in charge of information processing.
"We found it." Through simulations run by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s supercomputer, Fury's group quickly confirmed the circumstances of Captain America's crash back then and identified the general location.
Howard had searched for Captain America's remains for several years, but in the end, he had only found the Tesseract and not Captain America's body.
It was not that Howard had failed to do his best. The reason they had not found Captain America's crashed plane was, first, the limitations of technology at the time, and second, the glaciers.
Moreover, the Tesseract had been found on the ocean floor. Howard and Carter thus believed Captain America had perished at sea and stopped the search.
The Tesseract, which had fallen into the ocean, could be found, while Captain America could not, because the Tesseract emitted energy. Captain America obviously could not do the same.
Captain America's plane had crashed directly into deep underground ice. Antarctica was so vast that it was practically impossible to search. But after so many years of global warming, the glaciers had thinned, and modern technology had advanced enough to detect deeper underground. That was why Captain America was found later.
Antarctica.
It was currently the period of polar day, which saved Coulson, who had led the team here, quite a bit of trouble.
"Search carefully. You are not allowed to miss even an inch." Coulson loudly ordered the Agents as they began work. These Agents did not know what they were looking for; they only needed to report anything unusual.
Nearly thirty Quinjets and over two hundred Strike Team Agents—those were the resources Fury had authorized for Coulson.
That was no small number of people, but against the vastness of Antarctica, even with a general search area identified, it was still a drop in the ocean. Antarctica was simply too cold, and blizzards frequently interfered.
Thus, two weeks passed without the slightest progress.
By then, most of the Agents were already complaining bitterly, and their searches had begun to grow perfunctory. No matter how strict S.H.I.E.L.D.'s rules were, there was little they could do in this situation. The only one who did not complain was Coulson. From the first day onward, he had personally worked on the front lines.
Although Coulson repeatedly asked Fury to send more personnel, Fury had his own difficulties. Sending so many people and wasting so much time to search for someone confirmed dead placed many restrictions on him, even as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.—questions from the United Nations Security Council and inquiries from Pierce.
Did S.H.I.E.L.D. have too much funding? Was it wasting so much money to search for a dead man? That was the Security Council's reasoning. Of course, they would never put it quite that bluntly. Captain America had been shaped into a hero, after all. If such words got out, did they still want to keep their jobs?
"No way. They still haven't found him? Do they really have to wait until then?" Shen Fei had also received several calls from Coulson. They were not to verify whether the intelligence was true, but to ask Shen Fei to help pinpoint the location. Even narrowing it down a little would help.
But how could Shen Fei possibly do that? If he could, he would have gone to dig Captain America out himself.
Half a month later.
"Coulson, give up. The Director can't withstand the pressure any longer. This intelligence might be fake." Wrapped up tightly against the cold, Melinda stood beside Coulson and earnestly tried to persuade him.
"No. How can we let him keep lying here?" Coulson ignored Melinda and continued searching. The other Agents had become even more lax in their work.
Perhaps heaven did not disappoint those with determination, or perhaps Coulson's faith had moved the gods. The device in Coulson's hand suddenly began flashing red without pause.
"There's something here." Coulson immediately threw aside the device, grabbed a pickaxe nearby, and began smashing at the ice. Melinda immediately stepped forward to help.
"Come over and help!" The surrounding Agents immediately started calling for others.
"We found it!" As the ice broke apart, a plane embedded in the glacier appeared beneath it. It was the very plane in which Captain America and Red Skull had fought their final battle. Coulson remembered its appearance very clearly.
"Captain America!" Coulson rushed into the frozen plane at once and immediately saw Captain America's signature Star Shield, frozen ahead of him.
"Nico, the Security Council has issued its final ultimatum. Have them withdraw. That way, there's still room to maneuver." In Fury's office, Pierce painstakingly tried to persuade Fury.
Pierce did not care in the slightest whether Captain America's remains could be found. So what if they found them? He would only be a dead man.
Just as Fury was about to say something, Hill suddenly walked in from outside. Upon seeing Pierce, she immediately smiled and nodded to him.
"They found him. Captain America is still alive," Hill said excitedly.
"They found him?" Fury closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, appearing to calm his excitement. In truth, he was considering Shen Fei's situation.
The reason Fury had supported Coulson's operation so strongly this time was not solely to find Captain America. Another purpose was to verify whether Shen Fei's intelligence was real.
As the king of spies, Fury would not be so easily stirred.
Upon hearing Hill's words, Pierce's smile stiffened. But after a moment, he regained his composure. "So what if they found him? He's only an old man. And now, perhaps..."
Captain America's significance was not merely symbolic; it also had practical value. After all, he was the first successful enhanced human. Red Skull's enhancement did not count as a success.
Before you continue