Secret Agent Artifacts: Den Den Mushi and Life Card

S.P.E.A.R., Ring Fortress.

Zheng Xian, the director, walked to the bookshelf in his office. Following a pattern, he pulled out different books, and the bookshelf slid open to reveal a metal door.

A camera on the metal door emitted light, scanning Zheng Xian's iris. A metal plate then popped out, with an indented handprint on it.

Zheng Xian placed his right hand on it, feeling a slight sting as the metal plate collected a drop of his blood.

Moments later, after a successful match with the genetic factors in the database, the metal door opened.

Behind the door was a spiral staircase descending about fifteen to sixteen meters. All the way down, the stairs were sensing Zheng Xian's weight and gait rhythm. If the results didn't match, the downward passage would completely seal, and dense lasers would shoot from the walls.

After descending the stairs, Zheng Xian arrived before two massive vault doors. Flanking the doors stood two giants nearly seven meters tall, with slender legs and robust bodies, wearing bear-ear hats on their heads.

These were the "Pacifiers" that Lin Hao had replicated using Vegapunk's technology—pure automatons, devoid of emotion.

Not only were their combat skills astonishing, but they could also fire lasers.

A place guarded by two "Pacifiers" could only be of extreme importance.

Sensing footsteps, the "Pacifiers" at the entrance raised their heads and scanned Zheng Xian again. After confirming his identity, they turned and pushed open the ten-ton metal doors on each side for him.

Beyond the doors was a warehouse entirely encased in metal, equipped with its own drive system and independent power supply. If necessary, it could detach entirely from the Ring Fortress to preserve its contents.

Having passed all the tests, Zheng Xian finally reached his destination. Inside the spacious vault were rows upon rows of metal shelves, holding the identity data of S.P.E.A.R.'s 150,000 agents.

In addition to the paper files, each agent's file was accompanied by a square glass case. The case was divided into two layers. The lower layer contained fingernails and hair, while the upper layer held a white piece of paper, with many of them constantly turning.

The endless white papers were some pristine and flawless, while others showed signs of burning, with the severely damaged ones even half-consumed, filling the glass cases with ash.

If an outsider were to witness this scene, they would surely be astonished.

Because, no matter how one looked at it, the amount of oxygen in the sealed glass cases was insufficient to sustain such prolonged burning.

Most miraculously, parts of the white papers that had clearly finished burning were slowly recovering.

Zheng Xian continued without pause, familiar with the way to a particular metal shelf.

Looking at the paper in the glass case that had turned entirely to ash, Zheng Xian took out a grayish-white snail and dialed by voice: "12138, Great Demon Lord."

The Den Den Mushi emitted its unique bio-electric waves, traveling at extreme speed through the Ring Fortress and across the ocean, reaching the seaside manor in San Francisco.

Lin Hao also had a grayish-white snail by his side. Sensing the waves from its counterpart, he immediately raised his head, and two beams of light shot from his eyeballs, projecting onto the wall.

"Cheng Yi's Life Card has been completely burned, with no signs of recovery," Zheng Xian said, pointing the snail in his hand at the glass case to capture the image before turning to himself.

"If your technology is sound, then he should already be dead."

"Unless the death goddess of this universe personally intervened to shield it, or he went to another parallel dimension, my technology cannot be broken." This was the confidence born from inheriting Vegapunk's memories and the "Brain-Brain Fruit" ability.

The Life Card and Den Den Mushi technology were both from the world of pirates. In this Marvel world, apart from Lin Hao, no one had even heard of them, let alone cracked them.

Due to the communication needs between agents, the secret of the Den Den Mushi was known to many within the entire S.P.E.A.R. system.

Every overseas branch had a Den Den Mushi disguised as an ordinary snail in the possession of its person in charge, as did some special informants.

Within the ring-shaped headquarters, there was also a highly classified communications department responsible for managing, monitoring, and distributing the Den Den Mushi, as well as collecting and organizing the intelligence received.

For better camouflage, Lin Hao had specifically removed the original buttons and receiver of the Den Den Mushi, converting them entirely to voice control. They could be used for voice calls, direct video calls, and even as video recorders, transmitting captured footage directly back to headquarters.

The modified Den Den Mushi was a relatively large, ordinary snail with normal snail biological characteristics, making it very convenient for agents to carry. Those unaware of the Den Den Mushi's secret would never guess its purpose.

The Den Den Mushi used unique bio-electric waves to transmit information, which could not be intercepted or blocked by existing technology. It also possessed strong anti-interference capabilities, functioning normally even in the bizarre natural environments of the pirate world, let alone on Earth.

This was one of Lin Hao's significant contributions to S.P.E.A.R., with the Life Card being another major contribution.

Unlike the Den Den Mushi, which was widely distributed, the secret of the Life Card was known to only four people worldwide: Lin Hao, Zheng Xian, Zheng Xian's direct superior, and Zheng Xian's former superior.

These four individuals were absolutely incapable of betrayal, as they could not gain any greater benefit by betraying their current positions.

The value of the Life Card to an agent organization was self-evident. In addition to tracking agents' locations, it could also provide real-time feedback on their life status.

Once the Life Card showed signs of burning, it indicated that the agent was in danger. Once it was completely burned, it meant the agent had died.

This technology would completely thwart any plans by opposing organizations to infiltrate with "impostors" and could even be used to send false intelligence, dealing a heavy blow to the enemy.

These two technologies were truly divine tools for agents.

While promoting the Den Den Mushi, Lin Hao demonstrated the function of the Life Card to Zheng Xian and proposed a plan to create Life Cards for all agents. After Zheng Xian reported to his direct superior, the plan was approved.

Thus, under the guise of physical examinations, S.P.E.A.R. collected fingernails and hair from all agents, including overseas agents and undercover personnel. Lin Hao personally undertook the task, spending many years to create these 150,000 Life Cards.

Upon completion, the Life Cards were stored in this sealed warehouse beneath Zheng Xian's office, a location known only to those four individuals.

The agent files stored here were the most comprehensive and accurate. The other archive located in the headquarters fortress was merely a public facade. Although the content of its data was also real, it lacked much crucial intelligence.

In other words, even Cheng Yi, the former head of the Americas branch, was unaware of the Life Card technology at headquarters, so how could he have guarded against it?

Several months ago, Zheng Xian received a video call from Cheng Yi, which was in the final moments before Cheng Yi's death. He briefly reported the severe damage sustained by the Americas branch overnight before destroying his Den Den Mushi.

Zheng Xian did not witness Cheng Yi's death. It wasn't until he immediately descended to this warehouse that he personally saw Cheng Yi's Life Card instantly burn to ashes.

After all, the Cheng Yi seen in the video could have been fake, potentially a Skrull who had arrived on Earth in the 1990s and been recruited by "Black Nick Fury," or Cheng Yi himself could have committed treason.

Only after personally witnessing Cheng Yi's Life Card burn to ashes and receiving repeated assurances from Lin Hao that the Life Card technology had no loopholes did Zheng Xian confirm Cheng Yi's death and rule out the possibility of treason.

The severe blow to S.P.E.A.R.'s Americas branch overnight, with the death of its director, was a rare defeat in Zheng Xian's decades-long career as an agent.

No matter how capable Nick Fury was, without the help of an inside informant, he could not have achieved such results.

Therefore, after arriving in America, Lin Hao did not immediately contact the surviving agents who had narrowly escaped the disaster but was busy establishing his own network.

His caution was very necessary, as he had personally seen "Cheng Yi" walk into that bar the previous night.

Seeking collection, recommendations, and continued reading~