Duva Is Worth the Price!

Dum Dum Dugan sorted through the shared memory archives in his head, found the information uploaded by who knew which hundredth clone, and honestly said, "As far as I know, he doesn't belong to anyone. In every action he's taken, I couldn't find any trace of interference from other forces."

"Very good. Then let's reanalyze this report you gave me. You spent a week confirming that the biggest suspicious point about a man who can use unknown means to create biological weapons, openly trade with Blade, and attack vampires is... that compared to cooked food, he might prefer raw meat?"

Dum Dum Dugan forced a smile onto his face. "If I said that wasn't my conclusion, would you believe me?"

He knew it was the kind of answer only someone whose head had been caught in a door could come up with.

"I believe you. I have even more reason to suspect that the one standing in front of me and brushing me off isn't your level-ten original body, but a clone whose actual competence is below even that of a level-two agent." Fury stared at Dum Dum Dugan before him.

The guy could not even be bothered to offer the speculation that "the cute animals he controls like raw food."

Running into a clone unwilling to work was merely bad luck. Running into a reporter unwilling to think on top of that was truly terrifying.

Dum Dum Dugan lowered his head and thought for a moment, probably considering how to fool Fury into believing that flawed memory from the shared archive in his brain.

"All right, I more or less know what's going on. Tell your original body that he can try pulling his attention back from... whatever it is, a little."

"Understood, but I can't guarantee that the original body will review the information I upload in time."

The veins on Fury's forehead throbbed. Good thing he had also been injected with a weakened version of the Super Serum, or he would have suffered a cerebral hemorrhage by now.

"Then, based on the intelligence we have and the information Blade provided, this man can be worked with, but he can't be trusted for now. He's the owner of a legitimate company and exploited a loophole in the law, claiming he was conducting biological experiments and was about to develop a miracle drug to cure mutants... Who approved an application with a reason like that?" Fury asked.

The more he thought about it, the more idiotic it seemed.

Dum Dum Dugan scratched his temple, trying hard to gather useful memories as he pondered what lie he could make up to prove that he was a capable clone.

"Because there have been many people lately using similar excuses to scam government funding."

A man approached. As a man who had apparently received thousands of protagonists, he carried an innate calmness as he walked, approaching with a strange smile on his face.

Coulson said, "Compared to those con artists, as a graduate of the University of Zurich's genetics program, he could at least produce several solid papers to decorate his credentials. As it turned out, he failed to get the money and only obtained a piece of land as an experimental site. But interestingly, there really is a funding transfer to Weyland Biochemical Company in the government's accounts."

"Parasites! Disgraceful!" Fury slammed his fist onto the table. Possessing superhuman strength, he was so enraged that he knocked the table over with one blow. "Who's the highest-ranking person in charge of this? How could he tolerate something like this?"

"Colonel Stryker."

"Oh."

Silence fell for a while.

Dum Dum Dugan tapped his head and said, "I just reviewed a memory. The clone assigned to monitor the target reported a robbery at a cooked-food warehouse. It seems the other side spent all his money and had no choice but to resort to direct methods. Most importantly, he took advantage of the opportunity to rob back the money he had paid the clone. Maybe he intends to pay it again next time he buys food."

"I roughly understand what you mean. A man so keen on eating raw meat raided your cooked-food warehouse. Listen to that—what a terrifying major crime. He can't even tell raw food from cooked food anymore." Fury glared fixedly at Dum Dum Dugan.

Dum Dum Dugan's expression stiffened.

Coulson said, "Blade traded with him three times and only gave him two hundred thousand dollars in total. Unfortunately, Blade is unwilling to hand over that creature's blood to us, so we have no opportunity to study it. Still, even if we got it, we couldn't study it. That corrosive blood can erode even ultra-high-grade alloys. The design concept itself should be aimed at preventing reverse-engineering genetic decoding. Even the blood Duva provided had been diluted."

Coulson still did not know much about the characteristics of the xenomorphs. Even if he truly managed to create artificial xenomorphs using genetic fragments, they would not obey him. Turning around and wreaking havoc in S.H.I.E.L.D. would be inevitable.

"Blade is a powerful warrior, but not the best agent. He has his own principles. Once he gets stubborn, there's nothing you can do about him. Fine, send someone to provide another two hundred thousand dollars in funding to your clone."

Fury completed the approval with a generous wave of his hand, then instructed, "Remember to issue an invoice for two hundred million, then send it to the Permanent Five and make them transfer the money quickly."

"Chief, I don't think they'll believe it. A strange scientist who can only deal with a few vampires even when fighting for his life simply isn't worth two hundred million." Dum Dum Dugan keenly spotted the truth and loyally reminded him.

"Impossible. He can create such a powerful new organism of unknown origin, one that can even defeat vampires. He's worth it." Fury looked utterly certain, though what he truly thought in his heart was another matter.

In Fury's view, aside from being novel, Duva's achievement only had potential value on the level of biotechnology. Perhaps after several years, or even decades, of accumulation and an earth-shattering breakthrough in biotechnology, Duva would then be worth Fury's focused support.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. under his control possessed countless secret pieces of information related to humanity's survival, as well as quite a few extraordinary powers.

The ocean floor, Kunlun, the moon, mages, demons, Celestials, icebergs, Black Dragon, aliens...

Therefore, the current Duva was not yet worth Fury personally stepping in.

"Continue monitoring him. Focus on evaluating his mental state, confirm whether his character is stable and trustworthy, and then decide what to do."

Actually withdrawing the surveillance was impossible. Duva's abilities were not as simple as spitting fire or spraying water. They had reached a level where he could easily commit major crimes, so he was bound to remain under observation.

Because in this world, those who were extremely dangerous were not necessarily only people with extraordinary powers. They also included those with extraordinary intelligence.

"Coulson, tell me about your side." Fury quickly put Duva's matter out of his mind. Spending several minutes discussing Duva had already been an exceptional gesture. Other matters were more important.

Coulson's smile gradually faded. "It's not good. After his father died, Banner hid for a while. He's been found now and is being hunted across the globe."