Shuka's Trail

In a small roadside diner, Wei Xiuming, wearing a modified gas mask, was engrossed in a book on Human Anatomy. As a basic introductory guide, the book was detailed, concise, and coherent, complete with color illustrations. For its $81.4 price, it was quite a bargain.

Besides Wei Xiuming, the diner was empty. Men in Black Suits wearing Sunglasses guarded both the front and back entrances, their "stay away" aura making it clear from a distance that the establishment was temporarily off-limits.

Even the waitstaff and cooks had been ushered into the back kitchen, watched over by specialists to prevent them from overhearing anything they shouldn't. A gentle middle-aged man was in charge of them. Unlike the fierce guards at the door, he was full of warmth and dispelled the group's wariness with just a few words, chatting and laughing with them. The cooks even made him a special breakfast.

"Jingle."

The opening of the door set off the bell, and a tall, bald Black man walked in. He was an absolute devotee of the color black, dressed in a black tight-fitting combat suit, covered by a black leather coat, and even his eyepatch was black.

The Black man walked straight to the seat opposite Wei Xiuming and glanced at the cover of the book in his hand. "Reading a book like this before a meal, your tastes are truly unique."

"The knowledge in my mind is too advanced; I need to start from the basics to organize it. Moreover, the atmospheric environment of my era is vastly different from this one, causing changes in human physiology. Even I need a specially made respirator to breathe normally." Wei Xiuming closed the book and extended his hand to the Black man. "My name is Clark Kent, experimental subject code X-03-01B. I've come to this era due to Project X, which aims to save the universe and humanity."

"I am a Gene-Modded Human, developed in an Artificial Amniotic Membrane and forcibly matured through medication. I possess a stronger physique and learning ability than ordinary people. After mastering the necessary techniques and data, I am sent to various time points via a Time Machine to save Humanity's Reason through my own strength or knowledge..."

After arriving on Earth, Wei Xiuming, using his advanced technology, found traces of S.H.I.E.L.D. from the internet and, following their hidden network, established contact with the then-director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury.

After all, as an outsider, he had no tax or medical records. His displayed professional knowledge spanned areas like computers, communications, human genetics, and weapons research and development. He shouldn't be an unknown nobody. To make a significant impact, he needed to rely on a trustworthy organization.

He had to thank the original host's background and that ship of Skrulls. The original host's superpowers allowed him to capture the spaceship and even obtain a USB Drive from the Infinite Flow Male Protagonist.

That USB Drive contained a vast amount of data, including not only the X Gene research data stolen from the base but also items the other party had previously collected from various timelines. For example, there was the Mechanical Exoskeleton and Nanobots technology from G.I. Joe. Although most of it couldn't be utilized due to different universal rules, the conceptual direction it provided was very useful.

Furthermore, with his enhanced neural responses, Wei Xiuming's learning and comprehension abilities had improved severalfold. In this state, he could learn a year's worth of university knowledge from his previous life in just one day.

With this cheat, all the technology the Skrulls possessed, as well as what they had plundered from other civilizations, benefited him. His research into higher dimensions was applied to the Skrulls, leading to the birth of the Xenomorphs.

It had to be said that the Skrulls' mimicry talent was too strong. Although they only had one spaceship, the technology stored in their database came from multiple civilizations. This was the fundamental reason for their development as interstellar refugees.

Different civilizations developed their technology differently. Differences in the starting points of fundamental physics led to vastly different final outcomes. Some people from different civilizations couldn't even understand each other. The Skrulls, relying on their racial talent to learn from and complement each other across civilizations, managed to avoid complete annihilation. In fact, one larger faction had even developed a weapon capable of defeating a weakened Galactus.

As for his own identity, as long as the logic held up, he could just keep bluffing. Nick Fury had no way to verify it by traveling to the future.

Nick Fury ignored Wei Xiuming's outstretched hand. "I admit your technical skills in computer networks are superb, breaking through our network defenses and causing the word 'HELLO' to appear on my office computer. But this doesn't prove anything you've said. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s duty is to protect the world's safety. If there really was an organization inheriting the legacy of the Third Reich, we would have found traces of them."

In reality, Nick Fury was holding something back. The message Wei Xiuming sent him initially contained not only the greeting word and the hint about the Third Reich but also another passage:

"In S.H.I.E.L.D. internal documents from the era I lived in, there are two accounts of how Nick Fury lost his left eye. First, he was a Vietnam War soldier injured by a grenade, losing 95% of his vision in his left eye. The eyeball was surgically removed and replaced with a prosthetic. Second, he was scratched by a cat while playing with it, blinding his left eye."

It was this passage that prompted today's meeting. Otherwise, why would the king of agents deign to meet a nobody without even a legal identity? In fanfiction, protagonists showing a little superpower would attract Coulson, Black Widow, and occasionally Agent May, but that was just wishful thinking.

Would a global organization send an Level 8 agent because an unknown individual possessed abilities they shouldn't have?

"Shocker." Wei Xiuming retracted his hand. "You can also call them Shuka, just like how the 'Department of Homeland Defense Counterattack and Logistics Support Bureau' can be shortened to S.H.I.E.L.D."

Wei Xiuming picked up the pencil and order pad left by the waiter and quickly sketched a badge. It was a great eagle with outstretched wings, its talons gripping the Earth.

This was the symbol of Shuka, and also a variation of the Third Reich's national emblem. Its strong visual cue made Nick Fury's expression grow solemn—the badge was rather crude, like something a villain in a low-budget movie would use.

Although the Führer failed the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts twice, he was still an art student. The person inheriting his legacy would use something like this, likely enraging him enough to bring him back from the dead.

"Shuka is an organization founded by inheriting the legacy of the Third Reich. They excel in human modification technology, essentially a form of Super Soldier," Wei Xiuming said. "Through technology that was almost god-like at the time, they could mix the characteristics of plants and animals into human cells, and through brainwashing and control, create monsters comparable to tanks."

"But the Führer was a stubborn man. Just as he only accepted assault rifles called 'assault rifles' and not the assault rifle itself, even as his empire headed for doom, he didn't adopt those Super Soldiers who would lose their human form, which instead benefited later generations."

"This possibility is extremely low!" Nick Fury interrupted Wei Xiuming's narration. As someone who had the most contact with the hidden world, he knew more than the public imagined.

The most mature human enhancement technology in this world was the Super Soldier Serum. Only Captain America was successful in the experiments, and Red Skull could barely count as one. But the technology used for both enhancements came entirely from Dr. Erskine; there was no possibility of a higher success rate from a second source.

Furthermore, Nick Fury put himself in Hitler's shoes. If such technology existed, after the defeat at Stalingrad, he would certainly not hesitate to mass-produce these Super Soldiers. Even if it couldn't turn the tide of the war, it could at least annoy the enemy.