Carl picked up his wineglass and walked over to the window.
By the bright moonlight, he slowly surveyed the base that had just been baptized by war.
Occupy it or destroy it?
The answer had long been obvious.
Although Carl, who had gotten rich overnight after taking over Warp Group, had no interest in the scraps left in this base.
If viewed from the perspective of long-term development, however.
Then the base before him held an entirely different kind of significance.
After all, Carl's current sphere of influence was limited to Sokovia.
Calling it a tiny patch of land would not have been an exaggeration.
Moreover, because of its abundant oil reserves, many neighboring countries and certain major organizations had long been eyeing it greedily.
The Hydra base in the Caucasus Mountains, meanwhile, sat right on the boundary between Eurasia and stretched between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
Its geographical location was extraordinarily important!
It was a natural strategic stronghold, ideal for both offense and defense.
Otherwise, Hydra would not have built a base here in the first place.
However, unlike the Sokovia Base, which focused on weapons research.
The Caucasus Base did not contain any research facilities.
Its function was relatively simple: storing weapons and equipment, while serving as a bridgehead for rapidly deploying forces in the surrounding region.
Carl could take this opportunity to develop it into Warp Group's first overseas military base, putting his eggs in different baskets.
Using it as a foothold, he could gradually expand his sphere of influence overseas!
Starting with nothing, building bases entirely by taking them!!!
Good. It was happily decided, then.
Carl took out his phone and called the head of Warp Group's security department.
After giving him the coordinates, Carl told him to immediately dispatch a hundred-man squad to garrison the place.
The only problem was.
When it came to selecting a base commander, Carl had no particularly good options for the moment.
Well, the truth was that he had no suitable candidates at all!
He had sent Wanda to study magic under The Ancient One, and he had no idea when she would complete her training.
Pietro was handling the Summit Base's daily operations and had no time to spare.
As for Zemo, the all-purpose steward Carl had recruited.
Not only did he have to manage Warp Group's vast commercial empire on Carl's behalf every day.
He also had to remain constantly vigilant against those outsiders coveting Sokovia's resources.
Now, he had even gone to the United Nations General Assembly headquarters in Vienna to carry out a mission.
He was busy enough to trip over his own feet...
The three people Carl trusted most were all too occupied to split themselves in two!
Even so, Carl was not about to settle for just anyone.
After all, this was Warp Group's first overseas base for external expansion.
It was extraordinarily important in both practical and symbolic terms.
Besides, it might face retaliation from Hydra in the future.
So he absolutely could not appoint just anyone as base commander and call it a day.
"Ugh... this is the common problem with rapid expansion!"
Carl complained inwardly.
In fact, this kind of situation was extremely common in the sales industry as well.
Whenever businesses and channels expanded, there would inevitably be the awkward problem of a talent shortage.
The solution was simple and brutal.
Offer high salaries to recruit talent!
"Looks like once I deal with this Hydra threat, I'll have to make time to recruit some capable people..."
"After all, only then will I have time to enjoy life to the fullest!!"
In his previous life, Carl had been so blessed by the 996 and 007 work schedules that he had not even had time to get a girlfriend.
On countless lonely nights, he could only seek comfort for his exhausted body and mind from voluptuous masseuses.
Now that he had finally become the boss, he naturally needed the proper mindset of a boss. Otherwise, how could he live up to himself?
Carl declared: From now on, aside from beautiful women, I don't want to do anything else!!!
Vienna.
Inside a presidential suite at a hotel by the Danube River.
Zemo and several members of the Echo Scorpion Squad were gathered around a laptop, watching a video that had just been sent over from headquarters.
In the video, Carl faced the capture attempt of several hundred people all by himself.
There were even six superpowered individuals among them.
Yet in the end, every single one of them had died by his hand.
After watching the video, Zemo and the special forces soldiers were left with nothing but shock.
"Boss is way too strong, isn't he?!"
A special forces soldier with fervent eyes could not help but exclaim.
Once the conversation started, the others began chattering away as well.
"This is simply unbelievable. That was six superpowered individuals and several hundred fully armed soldiers!"
"Forget everything else—the Werewolf alone would be a nightmare for us.
Even with heavy-firepower support, I doubt any ground squad could have escaped his hands alive."
"Exactly. It's obvious Hydra went all out this time, but unfortunately for them, the person they ran into was Boss Carl!"
"And that's not all..."
Zemo glanced at the expectant crowd and said with a smile, "Boss also captured one of Hydra's secret bases in the Caucasus region."
Hiss!!!
Boss is awesome!!!
The group immediately began howling excitedly, as if they had accomplished such a feat themselves.
Without question, soldiers were the group that admired strength the most.
That was why they naturally felt admiration and identification toward a powerful man like Carl, one who possessed overwhelming strength and acted with absolute dominance.
Combined with Carl's feat of wiping out two of Hydra's elite forces in succession.
He had practically become a god of war in the hearts of these soldiers.
Even Zemo, their commander, was no exception.
"Sir, we just received word from the airport. Hydra's people have taken the bait!!"
At that moment, a soldier in civilian clothing entered and reported.
A glint of killing intent flashed through Zemo's eyes.
Looking out at the dazzling night view along the Danube River, he murmured:
"Looks like Boss was right again. Pure slaughter is useless against Hydra."
"That means all that remains is tomorrow's United Nations meeting..."
"If everything goes smoothly, Sokovia will never again suffer interference from any outside force!!"
Aboard a private jet headed somewhere in California.
Baron Strucker, who had been resting with his eyes closed, was suddenly interrupted by the noisy ringing of a phone.
The moment he answered it, before he could even lose his temper, an extremely panicked, even terrified voice came from the other end.
"Baron, after multiple verifications, the capture squad we sent to Sokovia has been completely wiped out!!"
Baron Strucker's expression instantly turned incredibly ugly.
Yet he seemed to cling to a sliver of hope as he stubbornly asked, "What about those superpowered individuals?"
"...They're all dead too!!!"
Is anyone even reading this? It's my first time writing, and I'm panicking. My follow-up readership is still dropping. Did I not write something well enough... 555, my resolve is about to collapse!
Before you continue