Agent May

Given Peggy Carter's mortal enmity with Hydra, it was obvious that this blonde beauty had been sent by Fury to keep an eye on her. Daisy had expected as much; she just hadn't expected them to send the descendant of a decorated hero to carry out a surveillance assignment.

Little did she know, the blonde beauty's thoughts were much the same. This civilian woman had definitely been sent to monitor her!

As the descendant of a decorated hero, her status was high, but she also faced plenty of hidden blades and open attacks. The higher-ups did not want Peggy Carter's descendants entering S.H.I.E.L.D. This aunt and niece were nearly seventy years apart in age—was the Carter family really so lacking in people? No! Their family had many members. Previously, direct descendants of the Carter family had tried to enter S.H.I.E.L.D., but without exception, they had all been brought down by one incident or another.

It was only after Peggy Carter reached the age of ninety and the connections she had built in her day were exhausted that Sharon Carter was able to enter S.H.I.E.L.D. this year, in the same batch as Daisy.

Sharon Carter quickly suppressed her displeasure. She was already used to it.

Since childhood, there had been an endless stream of household staff, neighbors, schoolteachers, and people assigned to watch her. One more or one less made no difference to her.

Still, Daisy caught the flash of hostility that had appeared on her face. She could not quite understand where it had come from.

The two soon finished their sparring match. Their enthusiasm remained unchanged, and they still appeared as harmonious as they had at the beginning.

They chatted and laughed all the way back to their rooms in the elevator. They nodded, smiled, and said goodbye at their doors, and Daisy's face was about to freeze from smiling.

"Women's friendships really are unreliable..." she muttered inwardly. After watching Sharon enter her room, she turned and headed back toward the elevator. This time, she was definitely going to get a good meal.

Sharon Carter, who had been pressed against the door listening, heard Daisy's footsteps gradually fade away and became even more convinced of Daisy's mission: she was there to monitor her, and she was surely going to report to her superior now!

The blonde beauty sighed, unsure whether coming to S.H.I.E.L.D. this time had been the right decision.

Daisy had no idea that she had caused a misunderstanding for her fake bestie. She entered the cafeteria, piled up a heap of fried chicken wings and drumsticks, and hid off to one side to eat.

To make herself seem a little more ladylike, she also got a plate of donuts, something gifted people especially loved to eat.

When few people were around, she ate chicken drumsticks. When there were many people around, she ate donuts.

Partway through, she got another five pieces of cake, fifteen chocolates, and a large bowl of mashed potatoes.

The trainees passing by occasionally could all see the beauty. The foreigners found watching a beautiful woman eat quite pleasing to the eye, but they did not know that this beauty spent a full hour eating in the cafeteria!

"Awesome!" A huge amount of food entered her body, passed through her digestive system, and delivered energy to her cells. That joy from the depths of her heart was completely beyond words. Only one word could describe it: awesome.

Just as she was preparing to return to her room, she heard someone nearby ask, "Binge eating can easily cause gastrointestinal problems. Aren't you eating a little too much?"

She had noticed the newcomer long ago and simply had not cared. Was eating a lot some kind of crime?

A Chinese diaspora woman in a black combat uniform walked up to her and studied her curiously.

She was a familiar stranger. Daisy extended her hand and introduced herself. "Daisy Johnson."

The other woman swiftly glanced at her hand. Seeing that there was no grease from food on it, she finally offered her own. "I'm Melinda May. Do you speak Chinese?" The final question was asked in Chinese.

Hearing the other woman's Chinese left Daisy speechless. These descendants of immigrants all spoke with that distorted Minnan accent. Madam Gao was like that, and so was Agent May.

If she spoke fluent Mandarin now, it would be far too suspicious. Fortunately, she had considered this before coming here. Imitating the way foreigners spoke Chinese, she stretched out her tongue, pulled her back teeth inward with effort, and used English-style pronunciation to say laboriously, "A little."

With this level of Chinese in her previous life, she would have been considered severely mentally disabled and could have applied for disability benefits.

Agent May was delighted that she could "speak" Chinese and kept praising her for not forgetting her roots.

"Fury thinks highly of you. He sees great potential in you," Melinda said frankly in English, no longer tormenting her with Chinese.

Daisy could not sing her own praises, so she could only say that she still had much to learn.

"Finished eating?"

"Finished..."

"Come to the training room. Let me see what you can do." With that, she headed for the training room alone. Daisy felt that turning around and returning to her room would be inappropriate, so she could only follow.

The two casually chose a ring.

"What martial arts do you know?"

"Karate."

"What else?"

"...Nothing else."

Agent May's brows furrowed. "Karate is so basic. Come, attack me. Let me show you what real kung fu looks like."

Did real kung fu exist in this world? Daisy knew that it did. The sacred lands of K'un-Lun and Penglai both truly existed. Only the people there could claim to understand kung fu, such as Madam Gao, who had been exiled and had lived for four hundred years.

At most, Agent May was simply quite skilled at fighting.

Still, Daisy did not underestimate her. Although she knew she could not win, she assumed a Karate opening stance. "Watch out."

She took a step forward to close the distance, then launched a fierce straight punch at Melinda's face. Her opponent reacted quickly, tilting her head aside to evade the punch. Her right hand seized Daisy's wrist while her foot hooked at Daisy's leg.

Daisy reacted quickly as well. Her right foot traced half an arc, evading the leg hook as she reached out to grab the other woman's arm.

"Not bad. Looks like you've trained hard." As Agent May spoke, she observed Daisy's movements. Footwork was an extremely important part of fighting. Without footwork, no matter how skilled one's hands were, it was useless.

After only two exchanges, she had developed a trace of interest in this Chinese diaspora woman Fury had specifically emphasized.

She used a tiger-form move from Xing Yi Quan, brushing aside Daisy's attack with her left hand before thrusting out her palm.

Daisy tried to circle around from the side, but to her surprise, as Agent May shifted her footing, the palm strike seemed to follow her like a shadow. She could only raise her arm high to block it.

At the same time, she shifted her center of gravity back and launched a side kick straight at Melinda's abdomen.

"Flashy." There was a hint of contempt in her voice as she simply stepped back twice, evading both the kick and Daisy's follow-up spinning back kick.

"See? Moves like that are useless except for looking cool. You should learn more profound techniques." She spoke with the air of someone disappointed that iron had not become steel.

Of course Daisy knew that Karate instruction was a mixed bag. She had defeated that instructor after studying for only a week, which showed just how mediocre he was. But she had not had many options at the time. Now that Melinda seemed friendly, she immediately began learning seriously.

Agent May had almost no teaching experience. She could train herself extremely well, but teaching others was a completely different matter. Much of it was combat experience that others could only grasp through insight, and even she could not articulate any particularly brilliant theories.

Fortunately, Daisy had some foundation and was fairly smart. Full and satisfied, she was in better condition than ever before.

The two half-trained and half-taught, and Daisy learned quite a few fighting techniques.