Exposed

The possibility that Kent Clark was an Earthling was immediately ruled out by the Worms mimicking Obadiah.

Earth's technological level is completely insufficient to send a person into such distant outer space. Given the physical qualities and unique abilities that person displayed, it's impossible for a weak Earthling to possess them. Furthermore, it secretly analyzed the knife that held a spaceship hostage, and its various parameters indicate that it's made of the most powerful alloy in the universe, clearly not something a civilization like Earth, which can't even build a single screw for an interstellar spaceship, could possess.

"Now that I've found my target, my revenge is about to begin!" Obadiah pointed to something beside him and said, "Although Earthlings' technology is very backward, they have an amazing talent for weapons research. This weapon is my confidence."

Following Obadiah's pointing direction, there stood a massive Iron Man suit — the Mark I that Tony Stark had discarded.

As an "upgraded version" that could continue to make money, Tony Stark, who was obsessed with developing a new model of Iron Man suit, handed it over to Obadiah early on, instructing him to have weapons added to it and then name it Mark I 2.0 to fool the military.

However, Obadiah, a Skrulls scientist, immediately recognized the value of the Iron Man suit and kept it to upgrade as part of his private army. Due to the limitations of Earth's basic industrial level and advanced technology, the Iron Man suit modified by Obadiah completely outclassed the Mark III Jaeger in terms of combat power.

In particular, having participated in the entire manufacturing process of the Worms, and being a scientist who studies faster-than-light particles, Obadiah successfully replicated the Mark I Iron Man suit after referencing the structure of the Knight Armor System, giving it the ability to accelerate beyond visual range.

"I named it Iron Monger!"

"What brings the S.H.I.E.L.D. of S. H. I. E. L. D. to see a nobody like me today?" Having ended his training in Kamar-Taj with a tantalizing experience, Wei Xiuming wiped his mouth with a napkin and then put on his gas mask.

"One portion of your income comes from your position as the head of S.H.I.E.L.D..'s central laboratory. Nominally, you're my subordinate, under my command. As the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.., I order you to come with me," Black Eggplant said. "A day ago, Young Master Stark accidentally damaged two F-22 Raptor fighter jets while flying in his toy suit. If it weren't for someone in the military covering for him and holding a press conference saying the two jets crashed due to engine failure, he'd probably be court-martialed."

"Therefore, I need someone intellectually superior to him to put him down, to let him know that there are more brilliant minds in the world than just him, and that humility is essential."

War and reproduction are the fundamental reasons for human technological progress. The technological development before and after World War II was completely different. During the Cold War, the technological strength of the United States and the Soviet Union was basically evenly matched. However, the emergence of the integrated circuit CPU gave the United States a crushing advantage in the field of technology, and the failure of the CCCP was a foregone conclusion.

Black Eggplant's idea was to use Wei Xiuming to spur Tony Stark on to accelerate technological upgrades, while also ensuring timely backups to replenish S.H.I.E.L.D..'s technological reserves.

While the former's technology was ahead of its time, it also meant it was out of touch with the times, with its technological thinking almost incomprehensible. It could only be produced in small batches in a laboratory at any cost. Tony Stark's Mark series Iron Man suit, while also high-end products, were only ahead of their time. Once the underlying principles were understood, they could be easily replicated.

Wei Xiuming shrugged to indicate that he didn't care, and then said, "Wait a moment, I'll upload the system upgrade data package to the network."

"Upgrade pack?" Black Eggplant asked.

"It's a software package for the Worms detection equipment. I didn't go out empty-handed this time," Wei Xiuming explained. "The previous Worms detection device had a rather simple identification method. If the Worms mimic had certain programming skills, it would be easy for them to hack into the detection device and leave a backdoor, allowing them to move freely. This upgrade package is designed to deal with this situation."

With a simple command sent from his phone, Wei Xiuming's quantum computer, "Optimus Prime," in his dormitory was powered on and uploaded a pre-prepared data packet to the network formed by the Worms detection device.

Beneath his gas mask, Wei Xiuming revealed a shark-like grin. "The real show is about to begin."

Wei Xiuming had a complete grasp of the distribution and movement of the Worms. He had kept them within the United States to prevent them from harming other countries. The one that had been disguised as Knight System user was right under his nose, so how could he not know about it?

The one that mimicked Obadiah was a delightful surprise for Wei Xiuming.

After doing all this, Wei Xiuming picked up a pre-prepared briefcase from under the dining table, followed Nick Fury to the parking lot of the Osborn Industries Park, boarded the already-started Quinjet, and headed straight for Tony Stark's villa.

On the plane, Nick Fury's phone suddenly rang, and Coulson's voice came through. "Sir, something's wrong."

Black Eggplant didn't shy away from Wei Xiuming and asked, "What happened?"

Coulson said, "Obadiah, a high-ranking Stark Industries executive, is a Worms cloak. He previously used some unknown method to evade Worms detection devices and remained undetected. Just now, his method failed, the detection devices started sounding the alarm, and the Worms rapid response force received the signal to gather here..."

Black Eggplant is a cautious person. After taking the seat of Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.., he carried out extensive reforms, reorganizing S.H.I.E.L.D.. internally through a segmented management system to prevent lower-level agents from obtaining information beyond their authority and causing leaks.

Even it took Wei Xiuming more than a year to gain his trust. He certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to head straight to Tony Stark's seaside villa when he met him—what if the young master hooked up with another magazine cover girl and didn't come home all night? Wouldn't all his waiting have been for nothing?

Nick Fury, the King of Agents, handles thousands of intelligence reports every minute, so he wouldn't waste his time here. Therefore, he sent his trusted lieutenant Coulson to Stark Industries to find out if the playboy was at home.

But these days, you can't see those high-ranking officials without an appointment. Even Tony Stark's secretary Pepper Potts, made Coulson wait for ages.

Then, as they waited, alarms blared within Stark Industries, and once again Obadiah had been exposed near the Worms detection device.

After a long period of actual combat training, the tactics of the special operations force against the Worms have become quite mature. In particular, since the alarm was issued by Stark Industries, which has close ties with the military, the treatment they receive is definitely different from those in the slums. All the Knight Armorers have been dispatched.