The Eye of the Storm and a New Beginning

Lin Xiao looked into Su Ying's eyes. Reflected there were not only his own image, but also the lamplight, the simulated dawn beyond the window, and an expectation he had to answer. Silence congealed in the air like a thin layer of ice. He set down his coffee cup, the sound of ceramic touching the table unusually clear in the quiet. Then he took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the underground space's distinctive air, mixed with metal and ozone. His fingers tapped lightly against the tabletop, slow and steady. The "sun" outside the window finally "rose," false golden light streaming through the simulated glass and falling across the scattered documents, edging the yellowed pages and dense handwriting with warmth. Lin Xiao spoke, his voice low, yet every word landed like a carefully considered move on a chessboard.

"I was planning for an opportunity."

He reached out and shut off the screen displaying the Fletcher Key's contents. The blue glow vanished at once, leaving only the warm yellow light of the lamp and the false morning glow outside. The shadows shifted again, making Lin Xiao's features appear more sharply defined amid the interplay of light and dark, his gaze profound.

"An opportunity for people like us not to have to choose between madness and rigidity." He paused, his gaze never leaving Su Ying. "Not to be forced into loyalty to a deranged organization that wants to cleanse the world through violence and rebuild some so-called 'order,' and not to be bound to a so-called 'guardian' agency that has long since rotted from within, grown bureaucratically rigid, and become hopelessly inefficient."

Su Ying's breathing caught slightly. She said nothing, merely listened in silence, her body maintaining that relaxed posture ready for action at any moment. Yet the scrutiny in her eyes deepened.

Lin Xiao rose and walked to the simulated window. The "sky" outside was a flawless azure, with several "clouds" drifting slowly past. Everything looked so real, and was so false. With his back to Su Ying, his voice echoed through the room.

"I didn't join Hydra voluntarily. You probably guessed that." He said, "But neither was I entirely forced into it. I... learned some things a long time ago. Through certain channels, from people who no longer exist."

This was both truth and lie. The truth was that the original owner of this body had indeed been dragged into it against his will; the lie lay in how "a long time ago" and "channels" were defined. Lin Xiao chose a vague but plausible explanation—a mole struggling within the dual systems of Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D., who had accidentally come into contact with certain dark truths and thus begun plotting his own path.

"I knew about Hydra's internal divisions, Pierce and his people's true ambitions, and the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. had long been infiltrated until it was riddled with holes." Lin Xiao turned around to face Su Ying again. "Fletcher's Key merely confirmed it and provided more details. But I've known the essential truth for a long time."

He returned to the table, his fingers brushing across the documents. The rough texture of the paper traveled to his fingertips.

"So from the beginning, when I removed White and reorganized this base, it wasn't to climb higher, nor was it to pledge allegiance to any faction." Lin Xiao's voice grew low and resolute. "It was to establish a foothold. A place where we could act according to our own will, protect things worth protecting, and build a more reasonable order."

Su Ying finally spoke, her voice calm. "Who is 'we'?"

"You, me, and those who share our beliefs." Lin Xiao met her eyes directly. "Those tired of being forced to answer a multiple-choice question between madness and rigidity. Those who truly believe that guardianship should mean protecting lives and defending freedom, not control, purges, or bureaucratic procedures."

The room was quiet for several seconds. The low hum of the ventilation system became especially clear. Lamplight fell over Lin Xiao's face, illuminating that rare, almost obsessive determination in his eyes.

Su Ying slowly walked to the table and picked up a document. It was an early discussion record on Project Insight, mentioning the Zola Algorithm and three Helicarriers. Her fingers brushed over the printed words, the pads feeling the faintly raised texture of toner.

"These things..." she murmured. "If they're all real..."

"They're all real," Lin Xiao cut in. "The Zola Algorithm already exists. It's an artificial intelligence capable of predicting 'threats'—judging whether someone might pose a future threat to Hydra's 'new order' based on their past actions, social relationships, and even genetic information. And the three Helicarriers are under construction. Once airborne, they will carry hundreds of precision-guided missiles and 'eliminate' every threat identified by the algorithm on a global scale."

He paused, allowing the weight of those words to sink into the air.

"That means anyone who opposes Hydra, anyone capable of independent thought, anyone who might one day stand up and resist—will be flagged by the algorithm. Then one day, missiles falling from the sky will end their lives. No trial. No evidence. Just one line of code."

Su Ying's fingers tightened, leaving faint wrinkles along the edge of the paper. Her face looked somewhat pale beneath the light.

"And this." Lin Xiao pulled another document from the stack. It was a maintenance record concerning the Winter Soldier. "Bucky Barnes, Captain America's best friend and a hero of World War II. He was captured by Hydra, brainwashed, and transformed into a killing tool without memories or will. For seventy years, he carried out dozens of assassinations. His targets included politicians, scientists, activists... anyone who might obstruct Hydra's plans."

He pushed the document in front of Su Ying. There were photographs—a man with a metal arm, empty-eyed, standing amid the snow. There were also maintenance logs, detailing the chemical formulas used in each brainwashing procedure and the neural shock parameters. Cold words described inhuman torture.

Su Ying's breathing grew heavier. She put down the documents, her fingers trembling faintly. It was not fear, but anger. That pure, burning anger Lin Xiao had seen many times in her eyes—when she confronted injustice, atrocities, and acts that trampled upon the dignity of life.

"These..." Her voice was hoarse. "These are what you intend to fight?"

"These must be stopped," Lin Xiao said. "But stopping them alone isn't enough. Because even if we destroy Project Insight, kill Pierce, and wipe out Hydra, the problem will still remain. S.H.I.E.L.D. has proven that a massive bureaucracy can easily be infiltrated and corrupted. The Avengers... they're powerful, but they respond to crises rather than preventing them. And they're too visible. Political pressure, public opinion, internal conflicts—those things all limit their ability to act."

He walked to the other side of the room, where a world map hung on the wall. It was not an ordinary map, but a special version marked with the coordinates of Hydra's global safehouse network. Dense red dots covered every continent.

"We need another kind of force." Lin Xiao's finger traced across the map. "A force that acts in the shadows. One that doesn't rely on government authorization, isn't constrained by bureaucratic procedures, and isn't hindered by public scrutiny. A force that can discover threats in advance and eliminate them, protect people official agencies cannot protect, and stop disasters before they happen."

He turned around to face Su Ying.

"I call it the Continental Hotel."

Su Ying lifted her head. Her expression had changed—from scrutiny to understanding, then to a steadily gathering resolve. She walked to the map and looked at the red coordinate points.

"These safehouses..."

"They're part of the Fletcher Key," Lin Xiao said. "The coordinates, entry codes, and supply inventories for three hundred and twenty-seven Hydra safehouses worldwide. Some have been abandoned, while others are still in use. If we can take control of some of them, we can build a global network. Intelligence collection sites, operational bases, safehouses, medical stations, supply points—all the infrastructure we need."

He pointed to several locations on the map. "Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas... We can establish regional centers, each responsible for monitoring unusual activity in its area. Superpowered individuals awakening, dangerous technology leaks, extraterrestrial objects falling to Earth, terrorist operations—every event that could trigger a disaster can be detected in advance, and we can intervene when necessary."

"What will the standard for intervention be?" Su Ying asked. Her voice had regained its calm, but beneath that calm lay power waiting to erupt.

"Protecting the innocent, preventing mass casualties, and maintaining basic order," Lin Xiao said. "The specific rules still need to be drafted, but the core principle is simple: we are not law enforcers, nor are we judges. We are guardians. The prerequisite for our actions is that a real threat exists and official forces are unable or unwilling to handle it."

He paused, then added, "And we only deal with extraordinary threats. Ordinary crimes go to the police, international conflicts go to the United Nations. We focus only on incidents capable of causing catastrophic consequences, incidents beyond conventional response capabilities."

Su Ying silently studied the map. Her fingers tapped unconsciously against the table, in a rhythm similar to Lin Xiao's earlier tapping. The "sunlight" outside moved farther across the room, and the patch of light shifted from the pile of documents to the edge of the map.

"What do you need me to do?" she finally asked.

Lin Xiao walked up to her. They stood close enough that he could smell the faint scent of shampoo in her hair, mingled with the lingering trace of sweat from training. The lamplight shone in from the side, casting long shadows beneath her lashes.

"I need your trust," he said. "Your combat ability, your judgment, your loyalty. I need you to serve as the commander of the Continental Hotel's operations division, responsible for planning and carrying out all field missions. I need you to train recruits, establish standard operating procedures, and ensure every operation is efficient, precise, and causes minimal collateral damage."

He drew in a breath.

"But more than that, I need you as my partner. To remind me when my judgment is wrong, to pull me back when I go too far, and to stand beside me when I need you."

Su Ying looked at him. Under the lamplight, her eyes resembled deep brown amber, clear and unfathomable. Time seemed to freeze. The room contained nothing but the steady hum of the ventilation system and their even breathing.

Then she held out her hand.

Not for a handshake. Her palm was open and facing upward, an invitation.

Lin Xiao looked at her hand. Her fingers were slender, with thin calluses at the joints from years of training and several faint scars across her palm—the marks of knives, bullets, and countless battles. Yet this hand was steady and strong, just like the woman herself.

He reached out and took her hand. Their palms met, warmth passing between them. Su Ying's hand was smaller than his, but her grip was powerful. When her fingers tightened, he could feel the strength forged through relentless training.

"I trust your judgment," Su Ying said, her voice steady and firm. "And I'm willing to fight for this 'opportunity.' If the Continental Hotel can truly become the kind of force you described—a force that genuinely protects from the shadows, rather than another organization seeking to control the world—then I'm willing to devote everything I have to it."

She paused, her fingers applying faint pressure.

"But, Lin Xiao."

Her gaze burned as she looked straight into his eyes.

"The next time you have a plan that risks your life, don't always think about carrying it alone. We're partners. That means sharing risks, sharing information, sharing responsibility. You plan the overall strategy, and I execute the details, but only on one condition—I know what the overall strategy is."

A warm current rose from Lin Xiao's chest and flowed through his limbs. It was not merely gratitude, but something deeper—a sense of belonging born from being understood, trusted, and chosen. In this world filled with lies and betrayal, on this journey where he had carried heavy memories and responsibilities alone, there was finally someone willing to stand beside him, not for profit, not out of fear, but because of conviction.

"I promise you," he said, his voice somewhat low. "From today onward, there will be no secrets—at least, no secrets about operations and plans. I'll tell you everything you need to know, everything that could affect your judgment. We're partners."

Su Ying nodded. She was still holding his hand and did not let go. The warmth of their palms continued to pass between them like a silent oath.

Just then—

The door was violently shoved open.

It was not pushed open after a knock. It was nearly rammed open. The door slammed into the wall with a dull crash. Light from the corridor flooded the room, casting a bright patch across the floor.

Nightingale stood in the doorway, her face paler than Lin Xiao had ever seen it. She was breathing rapidly, her chest heaving violently, fine beads of sweat covering her forehead. Her eyes were wide, her pupils constricted, filled with shock and... fear.

Lin Xiao and Su Ying released each other's hands at the same time and turned around. Su Ying instantly shifted into a combat stance, her right hand already reaching behind her waist—where she usually kept her pistol. Lin Xiao stepped forward, placing himself between Su Ying and the door. Though he knew Nightingale posed no threat, instinct had still driven him to do so.

Nightingale did not look at Su Ying. Her eyes were fixed on Lin Xiao, her lips trembling. Several times, she tried to speak, but no sound came out.

"Calm down," Lin Xiao said, his voice steady but commanding. "Take a deep breath. Tell me what happened."

Nightingale drew in a sharp breath and let it out again. Her fingers clutched the doorframe tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"Boss..." Her voice was hoarse. "Our encrypted channel... was forcibly accessed by an external signal just now."

Lin Xiao's pupils contracted slightly.

"Forcibly accessed?" Su Ying asked, her voice taut. "Didn't you say that channel had seven layers of encryption, physical isolation, and was theoretically impossible to access externally?"

"It... it can't be cracked." Nightingale's voice trembled. "They didn't crack it. They used a highest-level authorization command to 'knock' their way in. It was like... like you have the channel's highest administrative access. You don't need to crack the password. You just enter a command, and the system opens the door for you."

The room fell into dead silence.

A chill crawled up Lin Xiao's spine. A highest-level authorization command—this meant the other party not only knew of the channel's existence, but also possessed its original design privileges. But how was that possible? He had personally designed this channel, and Nightingale had built it with her own hands. In theory, only the two of them possessed full access.

"What is the signal source marked as?" Lin Xiao asked. His voice remained calm, but Su Ying could hear the tension beneath it.

Nightingale swallowed. Her throat bobbed, and sweat ran down her temple.

"New York. Stark Tower."

The air seemed to freeze.

Stark Tower. Tony Stark. Iron Man.

Lin Xiao's mind raced. How could Stark know about this channel? How could he possess a highest-level authorization command? Unless... unless there was some kind of backdoor built into the channel's encryption protocol, a backdoor even Nightingale did not know about. Or perhaps Stark's artificial intelligence, JARVIS, had evolved to the point where it could reverse-engineer the original permissions of any encryption system.

No, impossible. Lin Xiao immediately dismissed the thought. The channel's design had drawn upon encryption concepts from the future memories he possessed. In theory, it should have been at least five years ahead of this era. No matter how much of a genius Stark was, he could not possibly do that in such a short time—

"What did they leave behind?" Su Ying asked, interrupting Lin Xiao's thoughts.

Nightingale looked at her, terror still lingering in her eyes.

"One sentence," she said. "Just one sentence. 'We need to talk about the Extremis Virus.'"

The Extremis Virus.

Lin Xiao's heart gave a violent jolt.

He knew that name. In the original timeline, the Extremis Virus was a biological enhancement technology developed by Dr. Killian of A.I.M. It could heal injuries and repair genetic defects, but its side effects were extremely unstable, and users could self-destruct. Stark had once been drawn into the related incident, while his ex-girlfriend Maya Hansen had been one of the virus's researchers.

But what time was it now? Early 2012. According to the original timeline, the Extremis Virus incident should not have happened until 2013. How could Stark already know about it? And why had he come looking for him?

Countless questions churned through his mind. Yet Lin Xiao forced himself to calm down. He walked up to Nightingale and placed both hands on her shoulders. Her body was trembling slightly.

"Listen," Lin Xiao said, his voice steady and powerful. "Take a deep breath. You did well by notifying me immediately. Now, I need you to do three things."

Nightingale looked at him, and her gaze gradually focused.

"First, immediately physically disconnect that channel from every device. Pull the cables, shut down the servers, and make sure it is completely offline. Second, check all backup systems for abnormal access records. Third, activate the backup communications protocol. Use the quantum-encrypted channel we tested last week and wait for my instructions."

Nightingale nodded hard and turned to run.

"Wait." Lin Xiao stopped her. "They only sent that sentence? No other information? No demand for a reply? No deadline?"

"No." Nightingale shook her head. "Only that one sentence. They disconnected after sending it. The channel is now... locked. I tried shutting it down, but the system displayed, 'Authorization conflict. Operation denied.'"

Lin Xiao frowned. Authorization conflict—this meant the other party had not merely entered; they had also left behind some kind of control program preventing them from shutting down the channel.

"I understand," he said. "Do as I said. Stay calm. Don't panic. Su Ying, go with her and make sure the operation is secure."

Su Ying looked at Lin Xiao. There was concern in her eyes, but even more trust. She nodded and quickly left the room with Nightingale.

The door closed.

The room fell silent again. But it was no longer the peaceful silence from before. It was taut, filled with the unknown threat of what might come next.

Lin Xiao walked to the window. The "sky" outside remained azure, and the "sunlight" was still brilliant. Yet its falseness now seemed especially glaring. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts settle.

Stark. The Extremis Virus. The highest-level authorization command.

The three fragments of information spun through his mind, slowly forming a vague picture.

Perhaps Stark had discovered the Extremis Virus through some means—maybe JARVIS's global surveillance network, perhaps intelligence sharing from S.H.I.E.L.D., perhaps some other channel. He might have already realized the danger of this technology and wanted to stop it. But why seek him out? Why did he know about this encrypted channel?

The only explanation was that, while investigating the Extremis Virus, Stark had followed clues related to this channel. Perhaps Nightingale had left traces online. Perhaps they had accidentally exposed something while handling intelligence. Or perhaps... some information in the Fletcher Key had triggered Stark's alert system.

Lin Xiao opened his eyes.

Whatever the reason, the fact had already happened. Stark had come knocking. And he had done so in a way that displayed absolute technological superiority—a highest-level authorization command that was both a warning and a demonstration.

"We need to talk."

There was no hostility in those words themselves. Stark had left room for communication. But the word "need" implied that this was urgent, important.

Lin Xiao returned to the table and looked at the scattered documents and map. Only minutes ago, he had laid out the Continental Hotel's vision to Su Ying and established a new foundation of trust. A few minutes later, an unpredictable variable from one of the world's greatest geniuses had forced its way into his plans.

The eye of the storm.

The phrase suddenly came to him. In meteorology, the eye of a storm was the calmest area at the center of a typhoon, while the fiercest winds and rain raged around it. He was standing in the eye of the storm now—the Continental Hotel's plan had only just begun, and his trust with Su Ying had only just solidified. Everything seemed to be moving in a better direction.

But the storm had already arrived.

Stark was the first gust of wind.

Lin Xiao picked up his coffee cup. The coffee had gone cold, and a thin layer of oil had formed on its surface. He took a sip. The bitter liquid slid down his throat and brought clarity.

He needed to respond. But not immediately. He needed time to think, to gather more information, to judge Stark's true intentions and boundaries.

More importantly, he needed to ensure the Continental Hotel's foundation would not be shaken by this unexpected development.

There was a gentle knock on the door.

"Come in."

Su Ying pushed the door open. She closed it behind her and walked to Lin Xiao. Her face had returned to calm, but her eyes remained sharp.

"Nightingale is handling it," she said. "The channel has been physically isolated, and the backup system is active. She's still checking for data leaks."

Lin Xiao nodded.

"What do you think?" Su Ying asked.

Lin Xiao was silent for several seconds.

"An opportunity," he said. "And a threat."

"Stark..."

"Tony Stark is one of the smartest men in this world, and one of the most unpredictable," Lin Xiao said. "He may have come looking for us because the Extremis Virus truly poses a serious threat we don't know about. Or perhaps he discovered our existence and wants to probe our capabilities. Or... both."

Su Ying walked to the map, her finger unconsciously touching the location of New York.

"If he wants to talk, how do we do it?" she asked. "Face-to-face, or through that channel again?"

"Not face-to-face." Lin Xiao answered at once. "Too dangerous. We aren't ready to directly engage someone at that level. But we can't refuse outright either—if Stark can forcibly access our channel, then he has the ability to find us. Refusal would only escalate the conflict."

He walked to the table and opened a new terminal. The screen lit up, blue light reflecting across his face.

"We need a middle ground," Lin Xiao said. "A way to respond to Stark while protecting our identities. A way to... show our value without revealing our hand."

His fingers moved over the keyboard, bringing up a file. It contained early research notes on the Extremis Virus—not obtained from the Fletcher Key, but compiled from his own memories. It contained the virus's basic principles, potential risks, and the names of several key researchers.

"Stark wants to talk about the Extremis Virus," Lin Xiao said. "Then we'll give him some information about it. Enough to draw his attention, enough to prove we know something, but not enough to reveal how much we know or how we know it."

Su Ying walked to his side and read the text on the screen.

"You're going to contact him first?"

"No." Lin Xiao shook his head. "We'll make him contact us again. Give him some bait, let him know we have something he needs. Then, when he 'knocks' again, we'll set the terms and method of negotiation."

He saved the file, encrypted it, then looked at Su Ying.

"This is risky," Su Ying said.

"Yes," Lin Xiao admitted. "But every opportunity comes with risk. Stark could be an enemy, or he could be an ally—or at least a collaborator to some extent. We need to determine which, and judgment requires information. This contact is an opportunity to gain that information."

Su Ying was silent for a moment before nodding.

"What do you need me to do?"

Lin Xiao looked at her. Lamplight shone over her face, illuminating that familiar, resolute light in her eyes. It was the light of a warrior, the light of a guardian, the light he was willing to trust.

"I need you to be ready," he said. "Ready for every possible outcome. If Stark is an enemy, we need plans for retreat and counterattack. If he is a potential collaborator, we need strategies for negotiation and cooperation. If..."

He paused.

"If this contact triggers a greater storm, we need to make sure the Continental Hotel's foundation can withstand it."

Su Ying extended her hand and gripped his again. This time, it was not an invitation, but confirmation.

"We're partners," she said. "When the storm comes, we face it together."

Lin Xiao tightened his hold on her hand. The warmth in their palms remained steady and firm.

Outside, the "sunlight" began to "set." A false dusk was approaching, followed by a false night. But in this deeply buried base, in this room where trust had just been established, the real challenge had only just begun.

The eye of the storm was calm.

But the storm had arrived.

And they had to be ready to meet it.

Volume Two: Alliances and Rivalries · Shadows Take Shape. The timeline advances to around Captain America's awakening. Using his squad leader authority and information advantage, Lin Xiao begins taking the initiative. He skillfully drives a wedge between Hydra's Radical Faction and Conservative Faction, using one side to eliminate obstacles on the other. At the same time, he intercepts the early deal between Whiplash Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer, gaining his first pot of gold and partial Arc Reactor technical data. Lin Xiao faces his first major dilemma: should he deal with Killian ahead of time?