New Business Arrives

Alexander Pierce kept a solemn expression on the surface, reached out to pat Nick Fury on the shoulder, and said:

"Fury, don't worry. Even if something really happens, I'll still support you."

Nick Fury's expression remained unpleasant, but he still forced out a faint smile and thanked Pierce:

"Thank you for your trust, Pierce."

At that moment, Garrett, the Level Eight agent who had remained silent until now, suddenly spoke:

"Director, if we ask that Lucifer for help, could he possibly cure Director Carter?"

Nick Fury's eyes instantly lit up. If there was a chance to resolve this matter early, he had no desire to face the backlash from people within the agency.

He looked at Maria Hill and said:

"We can give it a try. Go speak with him."

Maria nodded without hesitation and immediately turned to leave.

Watching this, Pierce nodded to himself in satisfaction.

Peggy's accident had been orchestrated by him from the start.

Given Peggy's current age, this was the perfect opportunity to use the incident to test certain things.

At the same time, the entire affair would leave no trace of his involvement, allowing him to remain perfectly hidden behind the scenes.

At that moment, soft lighting filled the living room of Lu Xi's villa.

Lu Xi sat on the plush sofa, deep in thought.

He had discovered that ordinary background passersby simply could not trigger a reaction from his authority.

It seemed that if he wanted to grow stronger through collecting souls, he needed the souls of certain key figures.

Judging by the difference in brilliance he sensed between Tony's and Pepper's souls,

the value of a soul seemed to be positively correlated with that person's importance in the Marvel Universe.

This happened to align with the worldline convergence theory the Ancient One had once mentioned.

To put it in a more straightforward way, if the Marvel Universe were visualized as a movie again,

take Iron Man 1 as an example. Supporting characters like Happy the driver and Doctor Yinsen—

even if their scenes were removed entirely, the plot might develop a few minor hiccups and bugs, but the main storyline would remain largely unaffected.

But if Pepper Potts's scenes, or even Tony Stark's own scenes, were removed, then the movie would become completely unwatchable.

In Lu Xi's understanding, a person's importance to the plot was basically equivalent to the value of their soul.

As he thought this, he began selecting, one by one in his mind, the targets whose souls he would collect in the future.

Before he knew it, evening had fallen.

Maria Hill arrived in front of the villa and watched as the gates slowly opened on their own.

She had already learned from the intelligence reports that the gates here opened automatically.

So she showed no surprise and simply walked in with a calm expression.

When Maria reached the entrance of the villa, she saw Lucifer holding a feather and gesturing for Wanda and Pietro to try touching it.

Lu Xi had just painfully plucked out another feather.

He had thought that since Daisy had transformed because of the feather, perhaps Wanda and Pietro might also have a chance to transform.

However, the result was obvious. It was completely useless.

Seeing this, Maria politely spoke:

"Lord Lucifer, hello."

Hearing her voice, Lu Xi put away the feather, looked up at her, and smiled.

"It's you. Why didn't that Coulson from last time come?"

The two had met once at the suburban base. Lu Xi's attitude toward this beautiful agent was fairly good.

Maria answered with a smile:

"He has something to deal with recently and has gone elsewhere on assignment."

Lu Xi nodded and said:

"Alright. So what is it this time?"

Maria's features were relatively soft, without the overly sharp look common among most white women, which suited his Eastern aesthetic quite well.

Besides, a beautiful woman was far more pleasing to look at than bald Coulson.

Maria's expression grew slightly restrained, and her face became serious as she said:

"We have a very important person whose life is in critical danger. We would like to ask you to save her."

Lu Xi raised an eyebrow and said teasingly:

"What can you offer this time? You should know you still haven't settled what you owed me last time."

Maria said sincerely:

"What do you want, sir? As long as we can do it, we'll arrange it immediately."

Lu Xi pondered briefly. Previously, he had felt that he lacked nothing, so he had asked S.H.I.E.L.D. for a condition akin to a blank check.

But now that he had confirmed collecting souls as his goal, he had something specific to demand.

Lu Xi looked intently at Maria and said:

"What if I want the souls of some people in your S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Maria's expression changed instantly, and she asked in disbelief:

"What did you say? Are you serious, sir?"

Lu Xi remained calm and said evenly:

"You can trade me ownership of your souls. After you die naturally, your souls will belong to me. That should be easy enough to understand, right?"

Maria's thoughts churned violently. Her first instinct was to reject this... utterly absurd request outright.

However, her instincts as an agent forced her to suppress her inner resistance. She intended to gather more information first.

Thus, she frowned faintly without giving anything away and asked:

"Lord Lucifer, could you explain in detail what form this so-called soul transaction would take?"

The corners of Lu Xi's mouth lifted slightly. With a gentle wave of his hand, a flash of light appeared in midair, and a scroll radiating a mysterious aura slowly emerged.

"The terms of the transaction are as you see."

Lu Xi raised a hand and pointed at the contract, speaking unhurriedly:

"This contract will not affect your lives in the present world in any way."

"It merely changes where your souls go after your lives come to an end."

Maria stared fixedly at the contract, caution visible in her eyes as she silently memorized every detail it contained.

Then she shook her head slightly and said helplessly:

"Lord Lucifer, most members of S.H.I.E.L.D. have their own beliefs and their own understanding of where they will go after death."

"I'm afraid a transaction like yours would be difficult for everyone to accept."

Lu Xi shrugged indifferently, a faint smile on his face.

"It's fine. I won't force you. Everything will be entirely voluntary."

Maria looked troubled and said earnestly:

"Sir, a transaction on this level is far beyond my authority. It isn't something I can decide."

Lu Xi nodded, his tone carrying a trace of amusement.

"You can go back and report it to your superiors. Take your time discussing it. I'm not in a hurry."

Maria bit her lip, and a flicker of urgency crossed her face.

"But... that important person's life is hanging by a thread. There's no time to wait any longer. Could you please change the condition this once?"

"Of course, we will definitely give you an answer regarding the soul transaction afterward."

Lu Xi was slightly stunned by her words, genuinely surprised.

He had proposed this condition knowing full well that they would most likely refuse.

After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. was ultimately just an intelligence agency. Everyone was simply working a job.

Who would be willing to sell their soul just because of work?

So he had only treated it as groundwork, giving the people of S.H.I.E.L.D. time to prepare themselves mentally.

He had never expected that they would actually consider it. That immediately stirred his intense curiosity.

Just who was so important that they could even consider such an outrageous demand?