Du Mu walked out of Nick Fury's office.
After talking it over with him at length, Nick Fury finally believed that Du Mu had no intention of leaving S.H.I.E.L.D.
Du Mu had also taken the opportunity to make a request: from now on, unless a mission was particularly difficult, they should stop assigning him low-value tasks. He'd already outgrown those!
Then he was rewarded with a day off.
There were no high-difficulty missions available at S.H.I.E.L.D. for the moment. The higher-level missions had all been snapped up by other agents.
Nick Fury simply gave Du Mu a day off to let him rest, lest the "sales champion" wear himself out.
"This game is impossible to play. Even the NPCs are this competitive!"
Du Mu grumbled as he wandered through the hallway.
Come to think of it, he'd never properly explored S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters. Every time he came here, he went straight to Nick Fury's office. He hadn't even uncovered the whole map of S.H.I.E.L.D.
This was the perfect chance to explore the map and see if there were any hidden Easter eggs.
After all, some game developers loved stuffing treasure chests into every corner of the map, making players go to absurd lengths to find them. That had driven Du Mu crazy back in the day.
No sooner said than done!
Du Mu opened the mini-map and headed toward an unexplored area of S.H.I.E.L.D.
He had to admit, S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters was enormous. Du Mu had been wandering for over an hour and still hadn't uncovered the entire map.
Soon, he arrived at the door of an office. The map showed an unexplored patch of darkness inside.
Not many people at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters had their own private offices, and they were usually important figures. They had to be at least Level 8 agents, far beyond the reach of a Level 5 agent like Du Mu.
But Du Mu clearly had no qualms. He pushed the door open and walked right in.
Inside, Du Mu saw a blond old man in a suit sitting behind the desk, with a bald man wearing glasses standing across from him. It seemed he was giving some kind of report.
The two men were clearly startled by Du Mu's sudden entrance.
The bald man with glasses quickly recovered and regarded Du Mu warily. "Who are you? How did you get in? Why didn't the office security system trigger an alarm?"
So many questions!
Du Mu suspected he'd triggered some kind of plot event. "I'm Du Mu. I don't need to explain how I got in, do I? As for why the alarm didn't go off, that's simple. I hacked the system."
The bald man with glasses: "?"
How could you say that so brazenly?
"You..."
"Enough, Agent Sitwell. Leave us. I have something to discuss with Agent Du Mu."
The blond old man abruptly cut Sitwell off.
"Mr. Pierce, but he..."
"It's fine. I'll handle it."
"...Understood."
Sitwell gave Du Mu a long look, then left the office.
"Have a seat."
Pierce gave Du Mu a very friendly smile.
Du Mu didn't stand on ceremony. He plopped down opposite Pierce, casually twirling a wallet in his hand.
"What's this...?"
Pierce looked puzzled.
"Oh, this? My wallet."
As he spoke, Du Mu took all the cash out of the wallet and stuffed it into his pocket, then tossed the wallet into the trash can by his feet.
Pierce had sharp eyes. He clearly saw a driver's license slide out of the wallet. The photo was of Sitwell, who had just left.
Pierce: "..."
What a pickpocket!
And what a petty man. Sitwell had only glared at him, and Du Mu had stolen his wallet.
Pierce formed an initial assessment of Du Mu and said frankly, "I know who you are, Agent Du Mu."
"Oh? You've heard of me?" Du Mu perked up.
"Of course. You're highly capable. It took you only two months to rise from a graduate to a Level 5 agent. That's a first in S.H.I.E.L.D. history." Pierce praised him.
"Flattery will get you everywhere."
Du Mu's opinion of Pierce improved considerably. There weren't many NPCs with such good judgment.
"But that's not all I know."
A meaningful smile appeared on Pierce's face.
Du Mu hated riddlers most of all, but since Pierce had complimented him, he played along and asked, "What else do you know?"
"Of course..."
Pierce leaned forward and whispered into Du Mu's ear, barely audible. "Hail Hydra!"
Du Mu's eyes widened as he stared at Pierce in disbelief.
"You... You..."
Pierce nodded in satisfaction. It seemed Du Mu had understood perfectly. "That's right. I am..."
"What are you talking about?"
Du Mu finally finished his question.
Pierce: "..."
Could you stop pausing for dramatic effect?
Pierce's expression darkened, and he decided to lay his cards on the table. "You still don't understand? I'm Hydra!"
"And I'm your superior!"
Only then did Du Mu understand. He immediately stood up and replied solemnly, "Sorry, sir! I didn't recognize you just now!"
That's right!
The identity Du Mu had chosen at the beginning was that of a Hydra spy!
According to the system, he was a secret agent planted inside S.H.I.E.L.D.
His mission was simple: keep his identity hidden and never let anyone discover it, especially that black-hearted egghead.
Aside from that, he could still accept S.H.I.E.L.D. missions as usual and collect the rewards.
"It's all right. It's understandable that you didn't know. For the sake of the organization's security, none of the inactive Hydra members know about one another until their identities are confirmed."
At this point, Pierce looked at Du Mu with exasperation. "If you hadn't barged in here today, I wouldn't have activated you, my sleeper agent."
Du Mu had stumbled into this by pure chance, running into another one of his top-level superiors.
"Still, your caution deserves praise. Even if someone says 'Hail Hydra' to you, you can't admit it on the spot. You handled that very well."
"Uh, thank you for the praise, sir."
Du Mu scratched his head, feeling a little guilty.
Could he tell Pierce he'd been a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent for so long that he'd nearly forgotten about Hydra?
No, that was the highest level of cover. Even he'd forgotten his true identity. Who could possibly discover it?
Thinking it over, Du Mu immediately felt like he was back on top.
Pierce's expression turned serious. "Now that you've been activated, don't waste the opportunity. I happen to have a mission that needs another operative, and I think you're a good fit."
"What mission?"
Du Mu immediately perked up.
If he couldn't compete at S.H.I.E.L.D., there was no reason he couldn't compete at Hydra.
"This is a long-term assignment. I need you to keep a close eye on Nick Fury. If he gives you any special assignments, or if you notice anything unusual about his movements, report it to me immediately."
[NPC Alexander Pierce has issued you a new mission] [Mission: Hail Hydra] [Objective: Report the details of Nick Fury's assignments to Pierce in a timely manner] [Reward: Depends on the degree of completion and the value of the intelligence]
"Mission guaranteed, sir!"
Du Mu stood at attention and responded.