Duva Proved Fury Had a Keen Eye (Four-Thousand-Word Chapter)

Duva Proved Fury Had a Keen Eye (Four-Thousand-Word Chapter)

The vampires had fallen on hard times.

Ordinarily, major organizations around the world had participated, to varying degrees, in campaigns to wipe out vampires. The vampires therefore understood their place in the food chain and generally did not dare act too arrogantly.

Perhaps Frost, who had wanted to become the "Blood God" before Blade killed him, had made too much of a spectacle of things, drawing everyone's attention back to vampires.

The vampires racked their brains but still could not understand it. There were so many organizations in the world—why the hell had Duva set his sights on them?

New York beneath the night sky was a place where prosperity and crime were tangled together.

In certain quiet alleys, strange black shadows constantly flashed past in silence.

Occasionally, a drunk looking for a place to relieve himself would rub his eyes, thinking he had seen something wrong.

Ordinary people were ignored, but the vampires could not escape.

Bang! The doors were torn open by brute force. Xenomorphs rushed inside one after another, violently cleansing vampire hideouts one by one.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

"Not the Daywalker? What the hell are these things?!"

"Xenomorphs! These damn things are Xenomorphs! Run!"

"Run my ass! Do you know how much these things are worth on the black market? Their price has been driven up to tens of millions of dollars!"

"Get them! Get them! Catch just one and we can retire!"

The scene descended into chaos. Most vampires turned and fled, while a small number stared fixedly at the Xenomorphs, feverishly pulling out weapons in an attempt to capture them.

Bang bang bang! Rat-a-tat-tat! "Idiots, watch your fire! What if you kill them? Corpses aren't worth anything!"

"Hmph, these Xenomorphs are strange. They aren't even killing those idiots who run away, just chopping off their limbs..."

Some vampires who considered themselves strong even grinned viciously and tossed aside their guns, intending to take on the Xenomorphs barehanded with their superior physiques.

Xenomorphs had long since become known across the world. Any force with even a little standing knew of their existence. Moreover, none of the Xenomorphs that appeared were Abomination Xenomorphs, which only further fueled their madness.

But even the most beautiful vision required strength to support it.

Before the mechanical, ruthless Xenomorph squads, the complex building layouts became bloody slaughterhouses in an instant.

The Xenomorphs moved like terrifying ghosts, appearing and vanishing throughout every corner of the area. Their coordination was flawless. From the very beginning, without any communication at all, they carried out tactical cooperation as though it had been calculated countless times by a computer.

Granted, Xenomorphs were not invulnerable. Firearms could inflict a certain degree of damage on ordinary Xenomorphs, but such losses were entirely acceptable.

Do not forget that the vampires were using ordinary twenty-first-century Earth firearms, not the various weapons from decades in the future used against Xenomorphs in movies or comics.

A vampire hefted a Single-soldier Rocket Launcher and was about to fire at a Xenomorph slaughtering people in the crowd.

The next second, however, a sharp blade severed both his hands.

"You're making things difficult for me. If too many vampires die, I won't be able to explain myself."

Elektra landed lightly on the ground, and not a single Xenomorph attacked her.

The vampires immediately swung their guns toward her and opened fire.

Clang clang clang! Elektra used only a single blade, whipping up countless afterimages as she precisely knocked away every bullet, displaying superhuman prowess.

"Damn it, who is this woman? Why aren't the Xenomorphs attacking her?!"

Amid the chaos, vampires howled, cursed, and begged as they fell in droves like wheat before a scythe. The red blood within these creatures that lived by drinking human blood now sprayed out like waterfalls, splashing everywhere and painting a breathtaking scene.

Elektra showed no mercy. She had never liked vampires to begin with, and led the Xenomorphs in harvesting them again and again.

Even more astonishingly, the overwhelming majority of vampires attacked by the Xenomorphs did not die.

The Xenomorphs cut out their tongues and transported them like cargo. Some strung several vampires together on their tails like candied hawthorns, while others simply grabbed several of them by their collars and hauled them away in one go.

Through New York City, scarlet blood formed a long trail.

Pairs of eyes watched this scene in silence.

"Another hideout was destroyed. I went to take a look—there were severed limbs everywhere. A few unlucky bastards' corpses were left behind too. Tsk tsk."

"Who was that chick? She was absurdly strong. A mutant? A mutant who joined Duva?"

"Hmm, it seems Xenomorphs can only parasitize living creatures? That's critical intelligence. Next, we need to determine how the parasite grows after entering the body, whether it can be surgically removed, and whether a superhuman with powerful regeneration could survive after a Xenomorph burst from their chest..."

Any normal human had no favorable impression of vampires. Those things were nothing more than parasites living off humanity.

Now that the vampires had encountered an even more terrifying species and were about to face the fate of being parasitized, everyone watching felt a strange sense of absurdity.

They were just worthless vampires. It did not matter how many died. But had Duva's methods become this crude and direct now? He had no scruples at all, too lazy even to keep up appearances?

"I remember that idiot Blonsky was parasitized, right? Then he died? He had strength like Hulk and must have had powerful regeneration, yet he still died."

"Blonsky might have been killed in the end. That does not prove super regeneration is useless."

In a world where superhumans were nothing unusual, there were naturally plenty of clever people making logical deductions based on the Xenomorphs' traits.

A creature that could gain its host's power through parasitism and was suspected of being even stronger than its host was simply too fascinating. Its impact on some ambitious individuals was unprecedented.

Who would have thought such a creature could exist? Yet now it did.

So where was the upper limit of this mysterious creature's abilities? And... where had it come from? Had that man called Duva truly created it himself? At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Fury faced the five screens before him, representing the five most powerful people in humanity.

"Nick Fury, you have done very well."

The five people were full of praise for Director Fury.

One of them said, "When you submitted that two-hundred-million-dollar bill earlier, I thought you were making some lowbrow joke. You wanted two hundred million to deal with an ordinary young man and the toys around him? We even suspected you were using this chance to swindle funding."

Another took over, praising him. "The facts have proven, Fury, that you are still the finest agent in the world, with the sharpest instincts! That man is completely worth the price!"

"So, Fury, when will you bring him into S.H.I.E.L.D.? After he kills every vampire in the world?"

"Killing them all is unrealistic. What we want to know is, how efficient are Xenomorphs at reproducing? How do they reproduce? What is their social structure? Is there a role like an ant queen dedicated to reproduction? Can we control these Xenomorphs the way Duva does?"

Fury: "..."

Motherfucker!

How could he have anticipated that Duva would cause worldwide upheaval in such a short time with such "simple" actions? Nor could he have imagined that Xenomorphs possessed such terrifying racial abilities and growth potential, along with such an unheard-of, insane method of expansion...

At that moment, Fury fully displayed the professional composure of a spymaster. His expression remained unchanged, his face calm as though everything had long been under control and he had anticipated this outcome. He said solemnly, "It is nothing. This is simply what I should do. However, if we are to begin a new phase of operations against him, I will need more funding."

After the meeting ended, Fury summoned his subordinates and gave orders. "Dum Dum Dugan, report the latest situation."

"I successfully infiltrated Kamar-Taj..."

"Not that." Fury directly interrupted Dum Dum Dugan. "Besides, it was one of your lucky clone bodies that joined Kamar-Taj. His success is not your success. And I highly suspect that your so-called 'infiltration' was clearly the work of that Sorcerer Supreme again."

Dum Dum Dugan repeatedly shook his head. "At least that proves the Sorcerer Supreme recognized my talent, doesn't it?"

"Are you sure? Why did you fail after trying for so many years before, unable even to find the gates of Kamar-Taj, yet now you keep succeeding? One gets in every so often. Do you really think she does not know your identity? If so, I would have to doubt her identity instead. Or could it be that someone as formidable as her, who has guarded Earth for centuries, is about to die and suddenly developed a conscience, deciding to take in disciples far and wide?"

"Maybe I successfully awakened the genes needed to learn magic—magic affinity or something."

"You should wash your brain with ice water from the Himalayan Mountains. Although we have not truly cracked the mysteries of magic, it is very likely that there is no such damned thing as affinity. You do not need to absorb nonsense like wind elements and earth elements from the air into your body."

"Boss, not cracking it only proves one thing—there isn't enough money! You can approve a more generous budget for me, and I will complete this important task. As long as the money keeps flowing, I could even take this question directly to the Sorcerer Supreme herself."

Fury stared coldly at the Dum Dum Dugan before him. He was certain this thing, which knew nothing about certain sensitive information, was not the Level Ten original body. That meant Dum Dum Dugan's original body had skipped work again.

Had the original body entered Kamar-Taj and begun diligently studying magic under Ancient One? If that were truly the case, Fury would not feel gratified, much less delighted that his subordinate was so capable. He would only think Dum Dum Dugan had lost his mind and ought to be eliminated when the opportunity arose.

A Level Ten S.H.I.E.L.D. agent entrusted with global responsibilities joining Kamar-Taj to learn magic was idiotic behavior in Fury's eyes.

Kamar-Taj's strength lay in Ancient One and her few personal disciples, in its endless powerful spells and mystical artifacts, in its innumerable Mystic Side intelligence reports and magic array nodes spanning the globe—not in those cheap magic apprentices!

Over the years, had there been few magic users who learned some magic from Kamar-Taj before returning to human society? Or had any of those who joined and later left Kamar-Taj mastered magic that could be taught and passed down? Or had any of them run around the streets carrying mystical artifacts? S.H.I.E.L.D. did not lack magic users at all!

If they truly wanted recruits, they could certainly gather a group from all over the world—though Black Magic Users with unclear motives and tightly organized backgrounds would definitely be mixed in.

Oh, if there were truly a reason Fury could accept, it would be that Dum Dum Dugan was a once-in-a-century magical genius, talented enough to make the Sorcerer Supreme personally receive him and teach him hand in hand.

To make Fury believe that possibility, he would rather believe Duva would announce tomorrow that he had developed a miracle cure for mutants—just like the reason Duva had given when applying for government subsidies while establishing Weyland.

Dum Dum Dugan was as usual, only responsible for asking for money. No one knew how much funding he swallowed every year. It was enough to make one's head spin.

Of the two hundred million in funding they had obtained from the Permanent Five, Dum Dum Dugan had already devoured one-third!

"Dum Dum Dugan, my patience has limits. The next time I ask you, you had better give me a truly valuable answer—after staying busy every year and spending countless sums, what results have you actually achieved?"

"Understood, Boss. I will hold a brain-cloud conference with the other clones."

Dum Dum Dugan's expression turned serious as well. After a pause, he said, "I have indeed discovered something regarding Duva. I have roughly calculated the Xenomorphs' egg-laying efficiency. The number of new Xenomorphs per day definitely does not exceed five! He captured many vampires, but he is not using all of them for parasitism. He also needs to stockpile meat..."

No one present changed expression. They had seen all manner of madness: cultists worshipping Cosmic Demon Gods or Hell Demons, performing sacrifices, and the like. What Duva was doing barely counted as a scene. Besides, vampires did not count as humans at all. Vampires were allowed to prey on humans everywhere, but humans could not prey on vampires?

"Duva's total force should not exceed twenty," Dum Dum Dugan said.

Fury glanced at him. "If he allowed you to calculate this much, then your calculation must fall within the range he intended you to calculate. I do not believe Duva would honestly expose his own strength like this."

"Perhaps Xenomorphs have a higher reproductive rate. Even now, we have not been able to find a single juvenile Xenomorph or egg, and we cannot determine how long this creature's growth stage can last. Duva has been extremely cautious. He has never let the Xenomorphs move out carrying Xenomorph Eggs. He would rather go to the trouble of crippling vampires and taking them back."

In other words, Duva likely had a batch of eggs he had deliberately not hatched, or Facehuggers that had not yet parasitized anyone. Perhaps he would use them at a critical moment? "Find some vampires Duva may have marked as targets and implant surveillance devices on them," Fury ordered. "We must also be prepared to deploy at any time. We absolutely cannot allow him to grow beyond our control like this."

More than a dozen Xenomorphs were not difficult to handle, aside from the one born from parasitizing Abomination. Powerful firearms could deal with the rest.

But if their numbers increased, it would become a disaster. S.H.I.E.L.D. could not tolerate such an uncontrolled force—or rather, species—escaping its control.

This had nothing to do with Fury's or any other agent's personal character or desire for power. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s very mandate determined that they had to think and act this way.

If they did not, it would mean they lacked even the most basic professional standards.

"We have a problem." Dum Dum Dugan's expression suddenly changed as he tapped his head.

"I already know. A T0 Level dangerous individual has flown across the ocean to the outskirts of New York with several iron boxes." Fury's expression became terrifying.

Brothers and sisters, please keep reading! That's not too much to ask, right?~