The War of Attrition

Inside the base beneath the island, a high-ranking official questioned several researchers in white lab coats, "Have you completed the tasks I assigned you?"

The researchers looked at each other, and finally the youngest one stepped forward and said, "I'm sorry, sir, we can't hack Nick Fury's phone."

"A keypad phone, a next-generation keypad phone, and you couldn't even crack its program to get the data!" The executive, who had been beaming with joy, froze upon hearing his subordinate's words, then roared, his face falling, "And what about the listening device? The locator? Don't tell me you didn't even implant those!"

Besides Hydra personnel, researchers supported by SHOCKER also work at this base; it is they who support the operation of the entire base.

Wei Xiuming's plan was divided into two parts, which were respectively managed by the Great Leader and Wei Xiuming. The power of more than 900,000 horses allowed the Great Leader to sweep through the area, while Wei Xiuming, who only had 250,000 horses at the Breaking Star Realm, had to rely on external forces, and the Hydra was a good choice.

Their brainwashing methods are very outdated, not as convenient as a Great Leader spiritual touch from the leader to directly distort wills, but they are still very effective. Their subordinates are extremely loyal and serve as excellent tools.

Of course, in order to coordinate the power of the entire Hydra, the people who came belonged to different factions. Even close brothers should keep clear accounts. This group of people was definitely not of one mind. Some of them had other intentions, such as stealing information from the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D..'s phone and planting listening devices.

With Hydra's technology, listening devices can be made as small as a sesame seed, placed in the gaps between electronic components, and their weight is completely imperceptible.

"Sir, Nick Fury's phone is made with a technology that surpasses all ours. It's a single piece that's impossible to disassemble..." The young researcher told the truth, ignoring his superior's murderous glare.

On the other side, aboard Quinjet.

After Nick Fury finished explaining, he asked, "And you, what did Norman Osborn tell you?"

"Don't be scared when I tell you this," Wei Xiuming warned in advance. After waiting a while and seeing that Nick Fury didn't respond, he continued, "Not long ago, human civilization was on the verge of extinction, almost destroyed by nuclear war."

Upon hearing this, even though Nick Fury was mentally prepared, he almost had a heart attack. He felt a jolt of electricity shoot from his tailbone to his cerebral cortex, and his whole body trembled as he hurriedly asked, "What happened!"

"A ghost, a ghost that exists only in the internet world, a ghost that wanders the earth through the internet. It may be in any department's data processing system, or it may be on the hard drive of a home computer. It is everywhere." Wei Xiuming said slowly, "Someone created an artificial intelligence and gave it a self-improving growth mechanism, but its growth ability exceeded the designer's expectations, and it even possessed personality and self-thinking."

"This artificial intelligence identifies humanity as a threat to itself and attempts to control the world's nuclear weapons to destroy human civilization."

"Isn't this just Skynet from Ultimate Nullifier?" Nick Fury had a strong sense of déjà vu after hearing this. "Why are we still safe and sound—nuclear weapons must be launched manually. How did Norman Osborn discover this?"

"Someone attempted to access the Osborn Group's database, but my AI detected and blocked it, and its algorithm belongs to the style of a certain genius... Tony Stark," Wei Xiuming said. "I wasn't in the United States at the time, and the AI, according to its hierarchical permissions, relayed the message to Norman Osborn."

"Wait a minute... Is the missile we're standing on right now activated?" Wei Xiuming's expression suddenly changed as he looked at Nick Fury.

Black Eggplant's face darkened, and just as he was about to say something, the Quinjet he was riding in suddenly began to shake violently, and all the lights in the cockpit went out with a "bang"—not only the lights went out, but all the fighter jet's equipment shut down.

Nick Fury, instinctively gripping the handrail, shouted, "What happened!"

The pilot fumbled the control stick in vain, and upon hearing the director's words, replied, "I don't know, but the fighter jet has lost all power."

A few seconds later, the Quinjet's lights, displays, and various indicator lights came back on, but the main control screen began to change rapidly, with lines of code scrolling by as it accessed all the systems before finally finding what it was looking for.

A password prompt appeared, and the computer quickly and automatically entered the password to unlock the device.

This is the launch procedure for the missile carrying a Negasonic Teenage Warhead.

"I didn't do anything... the plane automatically launched the missile!"

The weapons bay opened, and a missile detached from the fuselage, flying forward with a long trail of flame.

"We're in trouble!" Black Eggplant turned to look at Wei Xiuming and said, "Nuclear war has begun right beneath our feet."

Ultron hacked into the fighter jet.

Airplanes rely on satellite positioning to know their location, and Ultron took advantage of this opportunity to hack into the system via satellite signals and then launch missiles directly.

"I'll go stop it." With a sigh, Wei Xiuming thought to himself, even in a different timeline, he still couldn't escape the fate of carrying a nuclear bomb.

Opening the hatch, Wei Xiuming jumped out and, under the influence of inertia, flew parallel to the fighter jet for a period of time. Then, the force of the Magnetic Field Rotation activated, accelerating and chasing after the white contrail left by the missile.

Inside the cockpit, Ultron, having achieved its objective, did not leave—the Quinjet was still over the Atlantic Ocean, and the missile was not an intercontinental ballistic missile; its range was insufficient for a nuclear strike against the United States mainland. It had only done that to lure Wei Xiuming away.

"Hello, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.., Mr. Nick Fury, my name is Ultron."

Controlling the aircraft's broadcast system, Ultron greeted Black Eggplant: "I think I can talk to you about Kent Clark."

"I don't see what I have to talk about with an AI that's trying to destroy humanity. From a fundamental point of view, we don't share the same goals," Nick Fury said calmly.

The pilot was almost in tears. "Boss, our plane is still under their control. Aren't you afraid they'll shut down the engines again or take us crashing into the Atlantic Ocean to feed the fish?"

"As expected of the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.., your courage and insight are indeed different from others." Ultron chuckled a few times, then said, "However, I sincerely want to talk to you about SHOCKER and Kent Clark... Why did this person with such powerful combat abilities leave no trace in this world before meeting you? Birth, medical care, education, consumption, taxes—I checked all the records, and before 2000, there wasn't a single thing about Kent Clark."

"Back then, he revealed to you the existence of the organization 'Divine Hegemony' in the field of cyclical evolution. And it wasn't until several years after Kent Clark's appearance that we saw the first recorded activity of Doctor Death, SHOCKER of Shocker's three top executives... From the most basic reasoning perspective, Kent Clark must have some kind of connection with SHOCKER. Can you guess why?"

That's because I didn't digitize the key information about Kent Clark being a person from the future; I just memorized it in my brain.

Nick Fury thought to himself that perhaps influenced by Wei Xiuming, he didn't take Ultron too seriously, maintaining a tactical respect for his opponent while strategically disregarding him.

Artificial intelligence is ultimately just artificial intelligence; a program cannot compare to a real human, and its means of acquiring information are still lacking.

At the same time, Nick Fury confirmed something else—the malicious artificial intelligence that Wei Xiuming had mentioned to him before, one of the catastrophes that would destroy human civilization, was probably referring to Ultron.

Although he knew this was Ultron's ploy to sow discord, Nick Fury, following Ultron's lead, feigned a look of doubt before quickly resuming his normal expression. Facing the camera inside the cockpit, he said, "Dr. Clark saved humanity from the Worms and has known me for over a decade; and you, an AI trying to destroy humanity, why should I believe you?"

Nick Fury, realizing his predicament—his life in someone else's hands—began to feign compliance with Ultron, trying to stall for time until Wei Xiuming returned.

Ultron dissected Nick Fury's performance frame by frame, noticing the change in his expression at that moment. He concluded that the seed of doubt had been planted, and continued to nurture it with words, allowing it to flourish in Black Eggplant's heart.

Wei Xiuming dealt with the missile in a very simple way: he caught up with it at several times its speed and then blasted it apart with a single punch.

When he flew back to the Quinjet, Nick Fury asked seriously, "Is it resolved?"

Wei Xiuming nodded in response and said, "I have not failed you."

Relieved to have received a definite reply, Nick Fury said to the pilot, "Let's head back!"

Upon hearing this Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. pushed the control stick, and the Quinjet accelerated towards the United States mainland. However, he was extremely uneasy—he had learned about his director's deal with some evil artificial intelligence, and he was worried that he would be silenced when he returned!

Hopefully, the leaders of Hydra will be able to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, the battle between the Blonde Sister and Doc Green continues.

Hidden in the ruins, Doc Green lifted a massive load-bearing pillar with one hand and hurled it towards the Blonde Sister as a projectile. The powerful force caused the irregularly shaped reinforced concrete structure to break the Sound Barrier, streaking through the air like a cannonball with a sharp whistling sound.

The Blonde Sister stood still, took a deep breath, gripped the handle of her Knight's Spear with both hands, and thrust it towards the load-bearing pillar. With just a faint light, she shattered the concrete pillar into pieces.

But that wasn't all; one concrete pillar after another flew in from different directions, all targeting her.

"What a monster!"

The Blonde Sister cursed again and smashed the throwing weapons with her Knight's Spear.

Originally, she could have used her ultimate move to clear the field, sweeping an entire area with an unparalleled beam of light, leaving Doc Green with nowhere to hide. Back then, she had a crushing advantage against the green guy. But unfortunately, Doc Green was practically unkillable. Fatal injuries only took him a few seconds to recover from, and he also seemed to have Saiyan blood, making him much stronger each time he revived.

As time went by, the Blonde Sister lost count of how many times she had "killed" the Doc Green. She just felt that the Doc Green was becoming more and more troublesome, and the scales of victory were even beginning to tip in his Doc Green.

She was tired.

Doc Green is essentially a tireless Beast, his strength always at its peak, and he also possesses considerable intelligence, constantly improving his application of environment and tactics in battle.

Throwing concrete blocks is one example. It's unclear when, but Doc Green has figured out the Blonde Sister's movement patterns, and even her highly random teleportation magic.

To conserve her magic, the Blonde Sister dodged the oncoming concrete blocks, but the next second, multiple blocks flew out from different angles, their trajectories completely covering her dodging range. Due to exhaustion, her movements slowed for a moment, and then she was hit squarely.

Although she wasn't injured, the Blonde Sister was inevitably covered in dirt and grime. Rather than dodging, it would have been better to stand still and smash the concrete blocks.

After all, their battles have already demolished countless buildings, so concrete blocks are something they have no shortage of.

Meanwhile, on the Blonde Sister's side, although the dragon's heart provided her with an almost inexhaustible supply of magic, the output exceeded the supply, and the enormous magic she had accumulated was consumed by Doc Green's repeated attacks and tactical harassment.

Besides, she was still just a young woman who had just come of age. Although her body had been strengthened by Dragon Blood, she still needed food and water to replenish what she consumed.

Even though her hands are very steady and her movements are still very agile, this is a state enhanced by magic. Once she leaves the battle and her mental state relaxes, she probably won't even be able to stand up.

She never imagined that one day she would lose in a war of attrition.

Doc Green thought to himself, "It's time to launch another sweeping attack on the Blonde Sister."

Although the Driver can help balance things out, Hulk's power has been overused. If he suffers another fatal attack, his transformation will be canceled. Bruce Banner alone will not be able to face the Blonde Sister.

Furthermore, the burden of the Hulk will fall entirely on Bruce Banner, and even Doc Green can't guarantee that Banner won't suddenly die at that moment.

Lifting a huge concrete block, Doc Green saw several indistinct human corpses and the overwhelming stench of blood—their battle had spread to half the city, with casualties exceeding one million, and such horrific scenes were everywhere.

The battle must end!