I Wouldn't Betray You Even If the Contract Were Broken

Three months later!

Of the 216 soldiers who underwent conversion, a success rate of one in ten, exactly 20 survived and actually received the Winter Soldier designation.

They possess peak human physical abilities, with super strength, speed, endurance, and reaction time, but this is only the foundation. To become Super Soldier, there is still much to learn.

They need to be proficient in combat skills, espionage knowledge, and various cold and hot weapons. To put it bluntly, everyone needs to be an all-rounder to meet the standard.

Under the full command of Bucky, the Winter Soldier -0, and with two veteran Winter Soldier in charge, the 20 rookie Winter Soldier began their hellish training.

Because their physical abilities have reached the limits of human potential, these 20 Winter Soldier possess astonishing memory and learning speed, and will soon become a powerful fighting force.

In the training room, Russell, Natasha, Bucky were positioned in three corners of the ring, about to begin an all-out fighting match.

Beside the arena, a masked figure stood in a corner, his presence barely noticeable; without visual confirmation, one would never realize there was someone there.

Jason!

During the injection of the Super Soldier Serum, many soldiers died. Russell selected the strongest corpse and summoned him.

In the Transformers universe, everything that flies in the sky and runs on the ground is either Decepticon or Autobots, and there are even aircraft carriers at sea—it's not a suitable place for Jason to appear. It's been a long time since Russell has seen him, and he misses him a bit.

Although Jason doesn't speak, wears a mask to conceal his face, and maintains only one expression throughout, Russell trusts him the most out of all the Enslavement Contract.

As long as Jason was around, Russell felt confident entrusting his back to him, not because Jason was particularly strong, but because of habit; Russell was used to using Jason as a shield.

Jason: (._.)

After a brief standoff, Natasha and Bucky simultaneously attacked Russell, choosing to strike their strongest opponent first.

Russell, unarmed, easily prevailed against two opponents. With his current strength, fighting them was simply a case of a large-scale stomp on weaklings. There were two reasons for this: first, to emphasize the boss's authority, as fists are the most authoritative weapon; second, to use weaker Character Card to gain melee experience, which was useless to keep sitting idle and too wasteful to exchange for Wealth Points, making it perfect for friendly matches.

Russell didn't mean anything by it, and neither did Bucky and Natasha. It was just that the boss was indulging in his wicked humor and wanted to beat them up for fun.

Ten minutes later, Russell ended the fight with satisfaction, leaving the two of them panting and recovering their strength.

"How's the intelligence on Wakanda?"

Natasha frowned. "There are deep conflicts between the tribes, but they are also very xenophobic, making it difficult to plant spies. Our people can only operate on the periphery, and our intelligence gathering work is not ideal."

Hydra's influence in Africa is limited, and many of its intelligence networks were established during World War II, consisting of wartime collaborators. However, the countries where these informants reside have never had contact with Wakanda, rendering their intelligence completely useless.

"No one disguised themselves and infiltrated?"

"Yes, but it failed." Natasha said speechlessly, "Every household in Wakanda keeps livestock and Beast. They can identify spies by smell. It's a very primitive method, but it works surprisingly well."

Russell frowned immediately. "We've been exposed?"

"No, our people pretended to be America intelligence agencies, Wakanda didn't dare to make a move, so they let them go."

Russell thought for a moment before saying, "Continue the investigation, keep impersonating America, it doesn't matter if the actions are a bit more blatant."

"Yes, sir!"

"What about the number of soldiers?" Russell was very dissatisfied with the number of Winter Soldier. Including Bucky, there were only 23 men. His goal was to reach the stars, and this number was far too small.

Admittedly, Russell could build a robot production line to mass-produce NS-series robots and program them into combat capabilities. However, robots are too inflexible and can only be used as cannon fodder. Humans are needed as commanders to effectively direct them in battle.

Having experienced the world of I, Robot, Russell never considered developing strong artificial intelligence, like Ultron; that would be pure suicide.

"World War II just ended, and we recruited many retired soldiers who wanted to fight, forming numerous peripheral forces under the guise of mercenaries. However, it's been too short; they're not qualified to be injected with the Super Soldier Serum and still need time to be brainwashed," Bucky replied coldly. Hydra prioritizes secrecy in all its development plans, and new recruits don't yet know who they're serving, so they're not trustworthy for the time being.

Russell nodded. He could force these people to pledge allegiance through Enslavement, but he couldn't handle too many people. Many of the contracts were given to the supervisors of the various Hydra branch bases. The previous 20 Winter Soldier, whose souls Enslavement to increase the success rate during the enhancement process, were then directly released from their contracts.

"Boss, I do know a place that has outstanding elite soldiers." Natasha smiled, but her eyes were cold. "The Red Room has many excellent agents there, and they are very useful as weapons. As for loyalty, you don't need to worry about it. I know about their brainwashing methods."

"Red Room..."

Central Siberia Plateau!

A military restricted area marked by a danger barrier is nestled among larch-covered mountains, a desolate wasteland for miles around. The cold has prevented outside exploration and left those inside with no hope of escape.

The Red Room was the KGB's training facility for highly skilled spies. Natasha learned her assassination and other espionage skills here. According to her, the Red Room had more than one base, but this was the most important, and many finished products would graduate from here.

Five military trucks, under the cover of night, arrived at the fully enclosed military base, cut through the barbed wire, and drove in.

There's no need to worry about being discovered, because there isn't even a telephone line here, and supply trucks only come and go once a week. There's plenty of time for Russell to pack up all the agents here and take them away.

Russell was initially reluctant, since women are inherently weaker than men in combat, and even if they were successfully enhanced, they would not be able to surpass male Super Soldier, making it not cost-effective.

But Natasha's persuasive skills eventually won Russell over, and under her influence, Russell reluctantly agreed.

It just so happened that the 20 Winter Soldier had just completed their training, so we treated it as a real combat exercise to see the training results and whether there were any areas for improvement.

The military restricted area was quite large. Halfway through the journey, Russell saw several pointed wooden houses in the moonlight, dark and imposing, resembling a church-like hospital or school.

At that moment, Natasha suddenly called for the truck to stop. She got out of the truck alone and directed the soldiers to start digging in the snow beside the truck.

Russell got out of the car. "What's wrong? Is it a trap?"

"No, this is far more cruel than a trap..."

As Natasha finished speaking, the objects hidden in the snow gradually came into view: corpses, three naked female corpses.

Three bodies lay piled on top of each other. Two of them bore gunshot wounds and appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old with curvaceous figures. Their eyes were wide open, and their faces still bore the marks of terror. Due to being frozen stiff, they looked extremely eerie.

The last body showed no visible wounds, but its age was shockingly young—only thirteen or fourteen years old. Like a flower bud about to bloom, it hadn't even begun to blossom before being mercilessly crushed.

The atmosphere was a bit oppressive. Russell glanced at the scene silently and got back into the car. The soldiers, seeing Bucky's dejection, buried the three bodies back in the snow. After they returned one by one, only Natasha remained standing there in silence.

She remained silent, her expressionless face like a statue. After a long while, she sighed and returned to the car to sit next to Russell.

"I suddenly feel like I'm doing a good thing by coming here today." Russell crossed his arms and leaned closer to the silent Natasha, indicating that he could lend her his shoulder.

Natasha rolled her eyes at Russell, ignoring the shoulder he offered. "Boss, you have too high an opinion of yourself. Your chances of survival with you are only one in ten."

"Don't say that. Maybe I'll soften my heart and hire some clerical staff."

Natasha shook her head. "It's no use. The fate of those who come here is already sealed. So, you don't need to be soft-hearted. At least a one in ten chance of survival offers hope, but here there is only despair!"

"That sounds weird. Are you thanking me?"

"Yes, although I have no choice in the matter, I enjoy my life now..." Natasha suddenly smiled and said, "Boss, you can try. I will not betray you even if the contract is broken."

"Hehe, you're overthinking it!"

Military trucks drove up to the front of the church, fifty soldiers quickly formed a squad, thirty regular soldiers with machine guns surrounded it, and the remaining 20 Winter Soldier broke in.

There were no specific tactics planned; whether they went in teams or went it alone, it was all up to the Winter Soldier to make their own decisions.

To be honest, a lineup of twenty Super Soldier is already considered a tactic!

Natasha suggested, "Boss, would you like to go to the monitoring room and take a look?"

"What are you looking at? Do you think they can cause any trouble?"

Natasha smiled mysteriously, "Of course, this completely enclosed military restricted area is a hunting ground. Everyone living here is a hunter, and who knows, the Winter Soldier might become the prey."

Hearing Natasha's confidence, Russell became interested and led Bucky into one of the pointed-roof houses.

This was the garrison's quarters. Just as they arrived at the entrance, Jason, covered in blood, came out. Without a doubt, everyone inside was dead.

There were no corpses in the silent corridor, only bloodstains on the ground around the corner. Jason had lurked in the darkness, ending their lives before they could even make a sound.

In the monitoring room, Bucky pushed aside the two corpses, a man and a woman, dressed in Soviet military uniforms, making room for the still-warm chair. Russell glanced at it but didn't sit down; his gaze swept across the monitor screen, where the Winter Soldier had already appeared.