When the level-4 Qing Xin Zhou played, Bucky immediately froze in place. His hands slowly rose to clutch his head, and his face twisted in obvious pain.
Seeing that Bucky had already been affected by the music, Li Congxin bent down on tiptoe and prepared to quietly pick up the Ruyi Bang. He planned to take advantage of the man's mental confusion and land a vicious blow.
"Ah!"
Li Congxin's hand had only just touched the edge of the Ruyi Bang when he suddenly heard Bucky let out a beast-like roar. Startled, he hurriedly rolled to the side. When he looked up again, Bucky had already turned and sprinted away in another direction.
And that direction was exactly where the pistol Li Congxin had kicked away earlier had fallen!
Seeing this, how could Li Congxin dare to delay?
He immediately dashed after him, only to watch helplessly as Bucky's foot stepped right over the pistol on the floor. He had no intention of picking it up at all.
Li Congxin successfully seized the pistol, but by then Bucky had already jumped down the staircase Li Congxin had used to come up, vanishing completely from sight.
Only then did Li Congxin finally let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed that the effects of Qing Xin Zhou had awakened Bucky's sealed memories, plunging him into the negative state of memory confusion. That was why he had fled in such a panic.
Sure enough, no one could defeat me while my BGM was playing!
And if someone could, then I must have been playing the BGM wrong!
To prevent Bucky from coming back and catching him off guard, Li Congxin simply kept the background music of Qing Xin Zhou playing. He stored away the pistol and Ruyi Bang, then turned to look at his greatest haul of the day.
One Winter Soldier who had luckily survived Bucky's wild gunfire!
Judging by his appearance, the other man seemed to be Asian, with yellow skin and closed eyes. As for his hair... uh, he didn't have any hair!
Still, that was enough to prove that this Winter Soldier was definitely no weakling.
A bald head, plus spending several years in a freezer without air-conditioning—this was absolutely the outward appearance of a peerless powerhouse!
Li Congxin casually took a rectangular little box from his clothes and set it on the ground. After backing away two steps, he pressed the button on his wristwatch.
"Whoosh!"
The little box instantly transformed into a huge freezer three meters long and two meters wide.
Li Congxin then found the switch controlling the glass cover and turned it on.
As he watched the glass cover slowly rise, revealing the lucky fellow who was still frozen, a playful smile curled across Li Congxin's lips. "You really are incredibly lucky! You know, this luxurious single bed was originally prepared for Captain America."
Inside a luxurious detached villa in Manhattan, New York, America.
Looking at the bedroom, which was twice as large as the previous one, Li Congxin said helplessly, "Why did we have to move here? Wasn't the old apartment perfectly fine?"
At this, Old Pi snorted coldly. "You feel embarrassed living in my house? Yet when you killed someone before and made me clean up your mess, I didn't see you suffering from any psychological burden."
Li Congxin gave an awkward chuckle and hurriedly defended himself. "I didn't kill anyone! Didn't you say so yourself? The killer ran away on his own. There wasn't even any blood or a murder weapon left at the scene. I'm a good citizen and a victim!"
Old Pi clearly couldn't be bothered arguing with him about this. He changed the subject and said, "I've already asked my old friend Alexander Pierce from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division to investigate that killer you mentioned. They have considerable influence. The investigation may not produce any results, but I don't think anything similar will happen again in the future."
You asked Pierce to investigate Crossbones?
Li Congxin blinked. Was there anything in this world more unreliable than that?
At this moment, Old Pi added, "Pierce may be an old fox, but he would be even less willing to ignore my attitude. Speaking of which, his personality is somewhat like Dr. Zola's back then. He's timid as a mouse. Of course, he's a good mouse, unlike a Hydra remnant like Zola."
Not different at all!
He was obviously Hydra!
Still, after hearing Old Pi say this, Li Congxin was able to set his mind somewhat at ease.
Although Pierce was Hydra, Hydra had several heads, so to speak. Not every Hydra member had Red Skull's iron-blooded style.
Master Lu once said that an organization's style was often determined by the conduct of its first leader.
The Hydra faction within S.H.I.E.L.D. had been developed by Dr. Zola, a former prisoner of war. Therefore, this branch of Hydra had largely inherited his style.
That raised the question: What exactly was Dr. Zola's style?
Setting aside the halo of a genius scientist, Dr. Zola had only one defining trait.
He was a coward!
After being captured by Captain America, Phillip had scared him into wetting himself with only a few drops of blood and a steak. How cowardly did someone have to be for that to happen?
It went without saying what sort of style a team founded by such a person would have!
The current director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Pierce, was a representative of this faction. During his tenure, he seemed never to have done anything major enough for people to remember. Outsiders knew nothing of Hydra—not even of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s existence.
It wasn't until Egghead took office that things like the Avengers came into being.
Looking back over Pierce's Hydra career, he had basically done only two things.
First, he had quietly developed Hydra, infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. so thoroughly and silently that it became riddled with holes.
Second, he had prepared Project Insight, carrying out Dr. Zola's dying wish.
Third... there was nothing else!
Put simply, Pierce's governing style could be summed up in two sentences.
Grow quietly, don't get reckless!
Stay calm. We can win!
His greatest strengths were patience, disguise, and deception.
So, we could affectionately call him Hydra's High Priest stationed in S.H.I.E.L.D.—Pi Llama!
Pi Llama acted with caution and prudence, never taking risks lightly. His previous decision to send Crossbones to attack Li Congxin had been entirely meant to catch him off guard.
Now that Crossbones had been exposed, and Old Pi had emphasized Li Congxin's importance to him, this Pi Llama who firmly followed the principle of "growing quietly" probably wouldn't dare to cause any more trouble in the short term.
With the heavy stone in his heart finally gone, Li Congxin felt that even this new bedroom looked much more pleasing to the eye.
"The files are ready. Come take a look at this."
The person had not yet arrived, but her voice had already come first.
Then Hope suddenly came rushing in from outside and handed one file each to Old Pi and Li Congxin.
Li Congxin took the file from Hope, puzzled. "What is this?"
Old Pi had also taken a file. As he flipped through it, he casually replied, "Didn't you bring back a Winter Soldier before? After you returned, I immediately had someone investigate his background. The answer is in the files we're holding."
Looking down, Li Congxin saw that the first page bore a photograph of that bald Winter Soldier, though he looked somewhat younger than he did now.
When he looked at the profile on the following pages, Li Congxin couldn't help sucking in a cold breath.
Before you continue