Nick Fury, the Great Con Man

After sending the furious editor-in-chief Jameson away, Nick Fury turned to Tony. "Why are you still here?"

"I'm waiting for you to thank me for not exposing your fake identity." Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Then thank you! This is my real identity. I can have dozens of similarly real identities, in all kinds of professions."

Nick did not look embarrassed in the slightest. He stared intently at Tony, as if he could make Tony back down with his gaze.

But Tony's thick skin was no thinner than Nick's. His butt seemed glued to the chair, and he did not move an inch.

"So? Are you planning to con my junior apprentice into joining your boy band too?"

"You brothers can study and work together. What a wonderful arrangement."

"No, it's not wonderful at all. Peter's still a child. He hasn't even graduated high school. Be careful, or I'll report you for using child labor."

"Then you'll have to find out where our department is first. Otherwise, the court won't know where to send the summons."

"I will."

Seeing that he could not drive Tony away, Nick had no choice but to start conning Peter in front of him. The problem was that Peter was not Spider-Man right now, nor had he been poisoned by the idea that "with great power comes great responsibility."

Peter only wanted to live like an ordinary person: go to school, date, work, get married, and live a happy life.

From that perspective, he and Clark Kent were quite similar.

Nick wasted a great deal of breath before finally getting Peter to agree to become a part-time consultant like his idol, Mr. Stark.

Nick left completely satisfied. Not only had he recruited another powerful fighter for his "Avengers," he had also learned some good news from that fighter.

Peter was pursuing his junior fellow disciple, Sharon Carter, and had flown into a rage and fought because his gift had been destroyed.

This was information he had not obtained from Agent 13.

Why had she not reported it?

Was it because she felt the matter was too trivial to mention?

Or was it because... she had fallen for him?

Nick liked agents with attachments. That meant they had weaknesses that could be exploited, and they were easier to control.

This clue was worth following up on. Nick decided to have Coulson pay more attention to his "niece."

Of course, this was still a minor matter. The most important thing was to stop the military from doing something stupid.

The earlier incident with the Hulk had brought heavy criticism upon the military, and General Ross, who was in charge of the matter, had also come under considerable pressure.

But the sudden appearance of Thor Peter Parker had given the situation a turning point.

If the conscription system had not already been abolished, General Ross would probably have personally rushed to the hospital and forcibly enlisted Peter.

Even so, the military was still extremely eager to get its hands on Peter's abilities.

Likewise, the relationship between Peter Parker and Tony Stark, as well as the otherworldly person Zhan Liu behind them, had also surfaced.

In fact, the military had already witnessed Tony's abilities in Afghanistan. But his opponents at the time had been too weak: they were merely a group of terrorists whom ordinary soldiers and conventional weapons could easily crush. As a result, Tony's true strength had not been apparent.

Therefore, after taking Tony's identity and social connections into consideration, the military had temporarily shelved its designs on Zhan Liu and his martial arts school.

But Peter's appearance as Thor made it impossible for the military to restrain its greed any longer.

Peter's records were crystal clear. A casual search was enough to find everything.

He was an ordinary high school student who had merely practiced "Ultimate Limit Qigong," yet a few months later, he was able to fight toe-to-toe with a terrifying monster like the Hulk. Although he had ultimately lost, that was still impressive enough.

Thus, after a group of generals held a meeting, they decided to bring Zhan Liu, this otherworldly person, under their control.

This was something S.H.I.E.L.D. could not allow. And not only would S.H.I.E.L.D. refuse—it was also unacceptable to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick had not told anyone about the earlier Time Reversal incident, nor had he left any record of it in the files. Therefore, S.H.I.E.L.D. only knew that Nick did not permit anyone to provoke Zhan Liu casually; they had no idea what was special about him.

But now that Peter had appeared, organizations of all sizes would investigate him. Peter's absurdly simple background immediately exposed Zhan Liu as well.

S.H.I.E.L.D. was promptly ordered through Councilman Pierce: Zhan Liu belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick was suffering in silence. He had no way to explain to Pierce that Zhan Liu was a thorny character who should not be provoked. Besides, given the current situation, even if S.H.I.E.L.D. did nothing, the military and the other organizations would never let Zhan Liu off.

Therefore, to prevent Zhan Liu from going on a killing spree, he had to bring Zhan Liu under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s banner, even if only nominally.

At least until they obtained the ability to counter Zhan Liu, he had to do this.

He had always known the location of the Sorcerer Supreme's New York Sanctum, but he had never been able to find it. The cameras he had arranged nearby seemed completely useless; they had not captured a single person.

Of course, he did not know that the sorcerers used portals to travel. They did not use the main entrance or the streets, so no matter how many cameras there were, they would be useless.

"Generals, you should all know the scope of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s authority. All matters involving extraterrestrials are handled by S.H.I.E.L.D."

Facing the group of generals on the other end of the video call, Nick began to boast shamelessly.

"According to the information I just sent you, you should all understand that Zhan Liu and his martial arts school have always been under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance. Moreover, thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hard work, this otherworldly person harbors no ill will toward Earth."

But the generals present were all seasoned operators. How could they be fooled by a few words?

"Nick, you should know how important this man's abilities are to the Federation. To put it bluntly, this is too large a slice of cake for your organization to eat alone."

Nick, however, had been prepared for this. He was an old political operator himself, and he knew exactly how to deal with politicians.

"Of course. In fact, S.H.I.E.L.D. never intended to keep it all for itself. S.H.I.E.L.D. permits you and the organizations behind you to send soldiers to the martial arts school to become disciples. S.H.I.E.L.D. promises not to create any obstacles during this process. As long as Zhan Liu is willing to teach the martial arts, anyone can learn."

"However, considering Zhan Liu's limited energy, too many disciples would affect the quality of his teaching. Therefore, each organization is limited to one person, and that person must first be registered with S.H.I.E.L.D."

The generals did not yet know that Zhan Liu's presence accelerated cultivation, so they did not think there was anything wrong with these terms. Once they learned the martial arts, could they not simply spread them throughout the entire military?

Nick, meanwhile, had used the information gap to con the generals thoroughly.

As for secretly spreading the martial arts in violation of the school rules, surely without Zhan Liu's Magnetic Field Acceleration, it might take several years before even one person managed to enter the field.

By the time the news leaked, several years would have passed. By then, perhaps S.H.I.E.L.D. would have found a way to restrain Zhan Liu.

If all else failed, when Zhan Liu made his move, they could suppress those generals and help Zhan Liu purge the sect.