S.H.I.E.L.D.

"To your place?"

The sudden shift in topic left Dr. Connors's weary brain unable to process it for a moment. Once it clicked, he refused without a second thought.

"No, I have my own house here in New York."

Connors's refusal made Dilos feel a bit anxious. "Doctor..."

"I know what you want to say, but those people are targeting me, not you. Staying with me will only put you in danger."

Connors cut Dilos off directly. He looked at Dilos with the gaze of someone looking at a junior, or perhaps an heir. "Dilos, you are still young. You have more potential than I do..."

"Stop, stop, stop, stop..."

Hearing Dr. Connors, whom he respected, speaking as if he were leaving a final testament and about to die, Dilos hurriedly interrupted him.

"Do you even know what you're saying?!"

"Excuse me for interrupting, gentlemen."

Just as the two were about to continue, a man's voice cut in. The man's voice didn't sound particularly young, but it held a slight charisma that easily drew the attention of both Dilos and Connors.

A man in a black suit and black sunglasses walked over, followed by four men dressed identically. The man was of average height, around thirty years old, with dark brown hair that wasn't particularly thick. His slightly high hairline made one wonder if he would be bald in a few years.

When he reached them, he took off his sunglasses, looked at Dr. Connors, and smiled. "Hello, Dr. Connors. I am Agent Phil Coulson, affiliated with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

"Excuse me, you said you are the Strategic... what was it again?"

The long, tongue-twisting name made it difficult for Dr. Connors to catch it the first time, so Phil Coulson repeated it.

"Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

S.H.I.E.L.D... Dilos looked at the agent before him and thought to himself, So they really were monitoring Dr. Connors. But...

"Why don't you just say you're S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Dilos, standing to the side, couldn't help but retort. "Isn't it common sense to use an acronym for a name that long?"

Hearing this, Coulson turned to look at Dilos and smiled. "That's a great suggestion. I'll mention it to my superiors later."

Coulson then turned back to Dr. Connors. "Let me be blunt, Dr. Connors. You are in danger. Those who covet your research will definitely return. This time they stole your results; next time, they will come for you. You are an invaluable talent to the United States and to the entire world, so please accept our protection."

"Accept your protection? Ha, don't you covet my research as well?" Unexpectedly, Dr. Connors gave a blunt, cold laugh. "Actually, you're all the same. One side just has better manners than the other. Besides, how do I know you aren't working together? Waiting until my lab is blown up before coming in to play the good cop."

From the moment this S.H.I.E.L.D. operative arrived, Dilos had kept his abilities active. He could clearly sense that when Dr. Connors so boldly mocked Coulson, the agent—no matter how well he controlled his emotions—felt a flicker of irritation.

However, being a core member, Connors's mockery didn't cause him to change his expression. Coulson maintained his smile, though the four agents behind him lacked his level of control. Dilos's enhanced vision easily peered through their dark sunglasses to see their eyebrows twitching unnaturally.

"Please rest assured, Dr. Connors. Our department is quite formal, and our organization's goal is to protect world peace." Coulson still didn't want to give up on persuading him.

"As long as you aren't a dangerous terrorist and are a law-abiding citizen, we will protect you. We won't force you to say anything you don't want to."

Dilos, listening from the side, felt like rolling his eyes. Honestly, S.H.I.E.L.D. was no different from Hydra these days. Perhaps it had been founded with the intention of protecting the world, but now... Dilos could only describe it with a scoff.

Even if there were people within it who truly cared about protecting the world, they were in the minority.

Dilos didn't let his guard down regarding agents, even someone like Coulson, who seemed like a very upright man in his memories. He had long since opened his telepathy to perceive the other party from all angles.

Although Coulson's words sounded convincing, Dr. Connors still refused. Coulson had no choice but to leave with his agents.

Watching Coulson depart, Dilos felt a temporary sense of relief. He turned to Dr. Connors, intending to resume his attempt to convince the doctor to stay with him. But just as he was about to speak, Coulson's voice reached his ears.

"Deploy Team C to tail Dr. Connors for the next few days to prevent him from being kidnapped. Team B, stand by at the designated location and prepare to provide support at any time."

Dilos felt the voice was so clear, as if it were being spoken right beside his ear. At the same time, he realized that all the surrounding ambient noise had suddenly amplified. The chaotic din gave him a splitting headache, and it took him a long time to recover.

What was that sound? Is it my ears...

He turned his head toward the direction Coulson had left, looking puzzled. The agent and his team were already far away, yet Dilos could still hear Coulson's voice clearly.

"Received, sir. What do we do now?"

"What do we do now?" Coulson's voice carried a hint of helplessness. "We head to the staging area. Did you really think I would say something that stupid? Fine, I have other matters to attend to, things beyond your clearance level. Aside from contacting Teams B and C, your orders are to stand by at the usual spot. Any other questions?"

"No, sir."

As he focused his attention on their conversation, Dilos subconsciously tuned out the surrounding noise and captured their voices precisely. However, once they moved more than a hundred meters away, the sound in Dilos's ears became less distinct and eventually faded away.

As the voices vanished, Dilos realized that the chaotic noise he had heard earlier had also disappeared. This suddenly heightened hearing had, for some reason, returned to normal. He fell into deep thought. He realized that after the serum's modification, the changes to his body seemed far greater than what he had displayed so far.

The appearance of S.H.I.E.L.D. gave Dilos a bad premonition. This world, which was barely peaceful, was about to get very lively. Under these circumstances, he needed to understand his physical changes in greater detail as soon as possible.

"Dilos? Dilos! What are you thinking about?"

Dilos felt someone nudging him. He snapped back to reality, looked at Dr. Connors's worried eyes, and shook his head to indicate he was fine.

"Since you're fine, you should head back."

"Dr. Connors, I..."

Dilos had intended to persuade him further, but remembering what he had overheard from Coulson, he swallowed his words.

Based on his knowledge of Coulson from his past life, the man was decent enough. With him providing a guarantee, Dr. Connors should be relatively safe for the time being.

What Dilos needed to do now was get back and learn more about his own body. Thinking of the strange changes he was experiencing, he felt it was necessary to adjust the X-ray frequency of his super-vision.