Doom Seeks Help

"Also, other SHOCKER executives usually operate alongside Doctor Death. The other executive's job is to analyze and gather intelligence on the official forces' weapons, personnel, and tactical villains—you're not planning any offensive actions against Doctor Death, are you? If you're about to, I advise you to stop. As a powerless civilian employee, the Great Leader takes Doctor Death's security very seriously. Unless your Avengers team is fully assembled, your men are simply no match for him."

"If everyone were wearing Tony Stark's Iron Man suit or my Knight Armor System, we could put up a fight. Otherwise, with S.H.I.E.L.D..'s current firepower, going in would be a free kill, just giving them experience points—you're not really going to act rashly, are you?"

Hearing Wei Xiuming's slightly distorted question on the other end of the phone, Nick Fury momentarily forgot why he had called in the first place, and his brows furrowed so deeply they almost formed a knot.

"You're not really going to send people to try and capture Doctor Death, are you?!"

Hearing that the Black Eggplant hadn't said a word for a while, Wei Xiuming pressed him further.

Nick Fury narrowed his one eye slightly and asked, "How's your mission there? Is it going smoothly? Your earthquake monitoring device has been a great help to them. They should be very friendly towards you; after all, they're a civilization that remembers to repay kindness and grudges."

"To be honest, this country is much more amazing than I knew—is it really a backward third-world country?" Wei Xiuming didn't press further when Black Eggplant abruptly changed the subject, and replied, "I should have thought of that. It's a member of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council; it certainly can't be as backward as the news propaganda portrays it. Keeping the people ignorant is a common tactic used by the United States government."

"The Worms problem has been solved with their help. All that's left is the cleanup work, like disposing of the corpses. In a few days, we can return to the United States through legitimate channels." Wei Xiuming said, then added with a touch of sarcasm, "If we don't hurry up and set off, they'll master the technology for the geological stress detection device."

"After all, they repelled the Island Nation's invasion in just three months, making them the belligerent nation to end the war the fastest."

After exchanging a few trivial words, Nick Fury hung up the phone, curled his right index finger, and pressed the side of his knuckle against his brow.

He began to regret it.

The real reason for the mission's failure was the distrust of Wei Xiuming. If he had called the future soldier for advice instead of keeping it from him when Coulson reported on Doctor Death, things wouldn't have turned out so badly. Not only did they gain nothing, but they also lost a lot of manpower, including Coulson, one of their most capable lieutenants.

He sowed this bitter fruit himself, and now he is tasting it.

However, he had been working with Wei Xiuming in private for many years, and his wariness of him should have been dispelled after the other party's "predictions" were repeatedly confirmed. He shouldn't be so suspicious—when did he become so suspicious?

With his eyes closed, Nick Fury leaned back in his chair, seemingly resting, but in reality, he was reviewing his experiences over the past period and examining what was amiss.

"Hydra".

The word surfaced in Black Eggplant's mind, along with the hidden forces and various individuals it represented. "I know Alexander Pierce's capabilities. He couldn't remove him from within S.H.I.E.L.D.. for decades, all he could do was quietly gather information. But when this responsibility was handed over to me, the cleanup operation only encountered minor setbacks and wasn't nearly as difficult as expected."

"This precisely illustrates the point—just as I had a team of psychologists analyze and create a mental model of Kent Clark to analyze whether he was lying; Hydra has been parasitizing S.H.I.E.L.D.. for a long time, and they certainly wouldn't miss the opportunity to do the same to me. Knowing that they've been exposed, they're quietly interfering with my judgment through various means."

Nick Fury glanced out the window, raised his left hand to check his watch, and then silently calculated the time on Wei Xiuming's end according to the time difference.

"Shouldn't it be midnight in that country at this time?"

Reasons such as the vast territory also fail to hold water.

"You really have no sense of timing!"

After hanging up the phone, Wei Xiuming wanted to crush the phone to vent his anger, but he managed to control himself.

The place he's hiding in now isn't a base of the Divine Spear Bureau, nor is it his residence; it's not even within China's borders, but has long since entered Eastern Europe.

Earlier.

Wei Xiuming had handed over all the technical data for the two Super Soldier Program to the staff of the Divine Spear Bureau. The upgrade and modification of the Destroyer Armor had also been completed. After that, he stopped caring about anything else—just like in university, where professors are responsible for guiding the general direction, unlike in primary and secondary schools where they break down and explain every single knowledge point to the students in great detail.

The details of the knowledge points all depend on students' self-study. Textbooks and libraries are both sources of knowledge, and they will not be stingy with their resources.

These are the best students in the world, and their greatest strength lies in surpassing their teachers. The two projects were merely a starting point to broaden their horizons, and the expanded way of thinking they gained from them is more valuable than the two Super Soldier Program.

Just like a group of skilled craftsmen constantly figuring out how to make crossbows more accurate and able to shoot more arrows faster, one day someone suddenly gave them the design blueprints for muzzle-loading cannons and breech-loading rifles, and personally guided them to manufacture the first batch of products.

With free time, Wei Xiuming became quite leisurely, spending his days wandering around and sampling local delicacies. The Divine Spear Bureau had dedicated guides and a substantial special fund to cover his expenses.

One day at noon, while Wei Xiuming was enjoying a state banquet specially prepared for important foreign guests, his cell phone, which had been undisturbed for a long time, suddenly rang—the caller was an unfamiliar number.

Few people know his phone number, but they are all important figures or hidden agents he has casually planted.

After the call connected, the other party introduced himself first, "Doctor Death, I am Doom, Victor Doom, the one who represented Mr. Victor in your transaction with you at the docks. You gave me a business card then, saying you admired me greatly and wanted me to work for you."

"Yes, yes, I remember who you are." Wei Xiuming controlled his vocal cords and replied in the tone of Doctor Death, "I remember you rejected me back then."

Wei Xiuming was very interested in this guy who shared the same name and background as Doctor Doom and Lord Doom. He had given him his business card on a whim, but he never expected that the guy would contact him now.

Having lost contact for a long time, Wei Xiuming assumed that the guy had long since died in the operation to eradicate vampires.

"Doctor Death, I'm more than willing to serve you... Please save me!"