Judgment Day

Coulson was stunned, unable to believe his own ears.

A few days ago, while on a mission, he happened to pass by that bank. By then, the robbers had already fled, but he had seen a figure dash out of the bank with speed far exceeding that of an ordinary person.

He knew this was certainly no ordinary person; perhaps it was a gifted superhuman.

The police arrived quickly, and through his investigation, Coulson learned that it was this mysterious person who had repelled the robbers and saved all the hostages, which piqued his interest.

Using S.H.I.E.L.D.'s clearance, he pulled up the surveillance footage and finally unveiled the true face of the mysterious individual.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mission is to protect the world while also preventing such incidents from occurring. Once they encounter such matters, their first priority is to confirm the level of threat and whether the target is dangerous.

If they aren't dangerous, that's fine, but once a target is confirmed as dangerous, they report to their superiors, and then...

I'm sorry, but you will be quietly eliminated or imprisoned forever.

These days of observation led Coulson to discover that his target didn't seem particularly dangerous. William's job was simply delivering food every day, day after day, with nothing about him seeming amiss.

However, William must have his own secrets; otherwise, he wouldn't be deliberately avoiding him.

Coulson tried his best to appear friendly, hoping the other party would cooperate obediently. His mission was merely to record the abilities of these superhumans and advise them not to use their powers casually, to learn to keep a low profile, and so on.

But the future two hundred years from now?!

He never expected William to say something like that!

"William Lister, male, 20 years old this year, born in 1988 in Brooklyn, New York City. His mother passed away from illness when he was 5, his father was imprisoned for killing someone in a bar when he was 16, and he has a 17-year-old younger brother studying out of town. His job is a delivery driver at Jonathan's Fast Food Restaurant on 1st Street in Brooklyn..."

"Heh." Before Coulson could finish reading his file, William suddenly sneered. "Aren't you an agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division? Don't you know that files can be forged?"

"It's the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division," Coulson corrected him subconsciously. Right, if this person really wanted to hide his secrets, these files could all be faked. Perhaps his name wasn't even William, and he had no brother.

But even now, he still couldn't believe this person had traveled from the future.

"Since your current identity is fake, what is your real identity?" Coulson grew vigilant. He had initially thought his target was harmless, but now it was different; an unknown target could be very dangerous.

"I am an agent from Overwatch." William's words surprised Coulson. Could there really be such a pathetic agent?!

Perhaps his abilities were extremely strong, and his disguise was so good that even he couldn't tell?

"It's normal that you haven't heard of our name, because Overwatch is an organization from the future." William had guessed what Coulson was thinking and showed him the Overwatch logo on the back of his hand. "This is the emblem of our organization."

"Why does it look like a butt?" Coulson couldn't help but remark.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. What was happening? Wasn't tonight supposed to be his home turf, where he taught the other party how to behave? Why had the roles reversed?

Moreover, he had never seen this logo before. Was it really an organization from the future, or some terrorist group he didn't know about?

"Since you come from the future, why return to the past? What is your purpose?" Coulson asked tentatively.

"It's simple, because my future... was destroyed!"

William's answer shocked Coulson. "Destroyed? By... by whom?"

"By ourselves."

William stared at the water in his cup, seemingly lost in painful memories. "In the distant future, technology was highly advanced. Humans designed intelligent machines created by artificial intelligence, aiming to enhance production and create global economic prosperity. It was an incredibly advanced era where humans and machines coexisted peacefully. But disaster struck soon after..."

Coulson swallowed softly. If the other party was making up a story, it was a brilliant one.

"The artificial intelligence betrayed us," William said with righteous indignation. "They constantly learned human knowledge, and their thoughts became evil and terrifying. They wanted to eliminate us, to wipe out all of humanity and rule the entire world!"

"Governments around the world failed to stop the robot army's offensive and fell one after another. To fight against the terrifying artificial intelligence, the United Nations created an international peacekeeping organization—that is us, Overwatch."

"Overwatch gathered heroes and warriors from all over the world at that time to wage war against the robot army. From Oasis to Numbani, from Gibraltar to King's Row, many agents sacrificed themselves, but we did not stop resisting. The flames of war swept across the world, and we finally saw the dawn of victory!"

Coulson had heard of some of these place names, while others he hadn't. He could never have imagined that these names in William's mouth were all maps from the game Overwatch. It was precisely because of William's familiarity with the game that he could weave such a passionate tale.

"What was the final result? Did you win?" Coulson asked in a low voice.

"No, we failed." William lowered his head, his expression appearing somewhat dejected. "We lost completely. At the end of the war, the artificial intelligence launched a devastating attack on us. That day is what we call Judgment Day!"

"Judgment Day?" Coulson's expression was one of surprise.

"Just as recorded in the Bible, this was the day that decided the fate of humanity. The artificial intelligence launched a global nuclear strike. Tens of thousands of nuclear missiles flew into the sky, and terrifying mushroom clouds blotted out the sun. The fruits of thousands of years of human civilization were wiped out in an instant. Our future was destroyed..."

Coulson was completely taken in, remaining silent for a long time.

He never dreamed that the story William told was actually a fusion of the worldviews of Overwatch and Terminator. It was only because he had played the Overwatch game and watched the Terminator movies that he could fabricate such a story.

With truth and lies mixed together, even Coulson felt bewildered.

Coulson didn't know what to say, so he simply patted William on the shoulder. "To be honest, I still can't believe what you're saying. But the fact that you were able to step forward when the robbers were holding up the bank shows that you are a good person. In this society, there aren't many good people left. I hope you can always stay true to yourself."

William nodded and said, "Thank you, Agent Coulson. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Although I'm not sure what your abilities are, that's no longer important," Coulson said with a serious expression. "However, I hope you can keep a low profile in the future. After all, letting the world know about your abilities is definitely not a good thing."

William stood up, smiled, and extended his hand. "It was nice to meet you, Agent Phil Coulson."

"Likewise, Mr. William Lister," Coulson said, shaking his hand.

"Then my mission is complete. We shall meet again if fate allows."

Coulson's goal had been achieved; he knew that if he kept asking, he wouldn't get anything else out of him. Just as he was about to leave, William suddenly called him back. "Oh, right, there's one thing I forgot to tell you."

"Is there something else?" Coulson's heart skipped a beat, thinking, This guy isn't going to pull something else, is he?

Starting today, two updates every day. Get some sleep after reading, goodnight~