As Nick Fury left Pierce's office, he suddenly said to Wei Xiuming, "The members of the World Security Council just listened to your entire briefing."
"I know," Wei Xiuming said. "I sensed a third person's gaze on me. It was probably a camera. When I remembered you telling me to watch what I said, it was easy to figure out. Otherwise, I would have been much more precise with my wording instead of deliberately keeping it simple enough for everyone to understand, even if that meant the logic had a few issues here and there."
Nick Fury suddenly wanted to ask Wei Xiuming what he was thinking, deliberately fanning the flames and stirring up trouble by bringing to light the dirty business that even S.H.I.E.L.D. had been unwilling to touch, and driving a wedge between the five powers behind the Security Council.
"Clark Kent, what was the world like in the era you came from?" Nick Fury took a small device from his pocket and switched it on. "This device distorts sound waves within a certain radius. No one outside can hear us."
As for lip-reading and the like, that wouldn't work on Wei Xiuming. To this day, Nick Fury had never seen him take off his gas mask.
Wei Xiuming wanted to say that he had no idea, since all that stuff about his identity and various threats had been lies. But he still had to give a diplomatic answer. "Mr. Nick Fury, if you had a Time Machine that could take you back to before World War II, would you assassinate Hitler, that warmonger, to stop the war and save the lives of an entire generation of young people?"
Nick Fury thought it over, then said, "I wouldn't. The uncertainty of time is too great. Given the situation at the time, the outbreak of World War II was inevitable. The economic crisis forced countries to find external conflicts to distract from internal ones, and war was the best way to do that. And even if I hadn't intervened, we, the side of justice, would still have won World War II in the end. If I interfered, the outcome would be unknown."
The reason America had been able to rise to power was that it had profited from both world wars, frantically absorbing Europe's gold and technical talent. The flames of either world war had never reached American soil.
"Exactly," Wei Xiuming said. "So how dire must the situation in the future have been for someone to risk breaking the continuity of time and send a perfect weapon, containing the most advanced technology of that era, into the past?"
Nick Fury quietly switched off the sound-muffling device. His expression darkened further. "You might as well tell me that communism has been achieved in the future, that America and the free world it leads have been wrecked by the American president, who's secretly working as an infiltrator, and that you were sent here to speed things up."
"I've never seen you this funny before," Wei Xiuming said noncommittally. Then he asked, "Where are we going now? If you're not busy, I need to get back to my lab and start developing things. Time waits for no one."
Nick Fury said as they reached the elevator, "First, we're going to my office. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Knight System user has been selected. At our current pace, he should arrive about a minute after we get to the office."
"Speaking of that..." Wei Xiuming paused, then said, "It may not be possible for S.H.I.E.L.D. to have a qualified Knight after all. The material essential for making the Knight System has gone missing."
"When?" Nick Fury frowned. S.H.I.E.L.D. was responsible for security at the Osborn Industries complex, which was why he could come and go as he pleased. Even a Quinjet landing there wouldn't cause a panic.
If a theft had happened despite that level of security—and an important material had gone missing—Nick Fury had to wonder if there was a mole.
"What was stolen?"
"The corpse of an Insect," Wei Xiuming said. "Insects are semi-higher-dimensional beings. Their bodies contain something called superluminal particles, which let them move faster than the eye can see without being hindered by resistance or air friction. It's also essential for the Knight System's acceleration, and the user needs it for enhancement."
"After the first Knight System user defeated an Insect, its corpse was urgently recovered so we could use it as a model and extract material for developing future Knight Systems. But we only managed to extract enough for a few units. That night, the corpse vanished from the biological laboratory without a trace. The security team's investigation concluded that whoever took it was too skilled to leave any clues. We had no choice but to swallow the loss."
Nick Fury knew what had happened. He looked at the man standing beside him, who was over two meters tall, and asked, "If we had another Insect corpse now, could we still make one?"
Limited by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s technological capabilities, their research on the Insect hadn't yielded anything useful. They had also passed it to the Skrulls, with whom they had some dealings. The Skrulls concluded that the Insect and Skrulls were structurally very similar, yet displayed different racial traits. They were most likely branches of a common ancestor that had followed different evolutionary paths, like gorillas and Black people.
It was no use to keep it, so he might as well return it to Wei Xiuming and give him another card to play.
Wei Xiuming shook his head. "It's too late, and there's no need. Giving us an Insect now and using it to develop a Knight System would be like tearing the whole project down and starting over. Besides, superluminal particles rapidly dissipate once an Insect dies. We can't count on such a coincidence."
"And with the few users we already have, along with the effective intelligence network formed by the Insect-detection equipment, we have enough to deal with the Insects. It just means the amount of overtime will be inhumane."
Nick Fury said nothing. It was the first time in his life he had ever managed to sabotage himself. The elevator had also reached the floor where his office was, and there were things they couldn't discuss any further.
Not long after the two entered Nick Fury's office, a burly man in combat gear knocked and came in. Nick Fury introduced the two of them. "Dr. Clark Kent, the developer of the Knight System. Brock Rumlow, head of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Rapid Response Team. He's the Knight System user I selected—but an unexpected problem means we'll have to put that on hold."
Wei Xiuming could barely keep from laughing. He could only marvel at how difficult Nick Fury's job was. His predecessor had been a high-ranking member of Hydra, and the man he had selected from who knew how many candidates was also a core member of Hydra.
And it wasn't just anyone—it was Rumlow, better known as Crossbones, the notorious villain who had a love-hate relationship with Captain America in the comics. Nick Fury had even been about to hand him a powerful new ability. The irony was almost too much.
Rumlow, who had prepared himself to become a Knight, was confused. He had no idea what he'd done wrong. He was one of Hydra's most carefully vetted candidates. When he learned that Nick Fury wanted S.H.I.E.L.D. to have a Knight of its own, he had used psychological suggestions and various other means to ensure his file ended up as Nick Fury's final choice. Yet at the last moment, he was told he hadn't made the cut.
"Besides developing a Knight System to fight Insects, I have another option!" Wei Xiuming said.
Then Wei Xiuming moved closer to Rumlow, his eyes gleaming. "Do you have the courage to go beyond the limits of human potential?"
Before you continue