Transformation

Manhattan Avenue.

A blonde, blue-eyed white woman stood with a slip of paper in her hand, looking around.

"Hello. Do you need any help?"

A woman with shoulder-length red hair and a loose, long dress greeted Alice.

The redhead was, of course, Natasha.

Thanks to the reinforcements Ah Xing had mentioned requesting,

Nick Fury had asked his former superior, Pierce, to find a way to grant him access to New York's surveillance footage.

Only after compromises and exchanges with several parties had Nick Fury gained surveillance access to parts of New York.

If they still failed to detect the reinforcements, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance access would soon expire.

Persistence paid off.

There you are at last!

"I'm Natasha. Nice to meet you."

"Alice."

Alice studied Natasha carefully, her brow furrowing slightly.

Natasha's heart skipped a beat.

Was being an agent really this hard these days?

Couldn't anything go right?

Did everyone have to suspect me?

Could everyone spot something wrong?

Alice was Jiang Xiang's avatar card, not a Character Card.

Before taking on her form, Jiang Xiang had made thorough preparations.

Those included her background, personality, and so on.

Natasha smiled. "You look like you're trying to find somewhere. Do you need any help?"

As one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents, Natasha tried to change the subject.

Alice said, "Thank you. Could you tell me how to get to Chinatown?"

"..."

Alice's brow gradually relaxed.

Natasha replied, "Follow that road, then turn... How about this? I happen to be heading somewhere nearby. I'll take you there."

The wariness on Alice's face intensified.

Not good!

Natasha knew the other woman's suspicions had deepened.

As an agent, she had indeed made a rookie mistake.

Judging by Alice's behavior, she had seemed inexperienced. Natasha had thought changing the subject would be enough to lower her guard, but she had miscalculated.

Natasha sighed. "If you don't mind, let's go over here and talk."

S.H.I.E.L.D. cleared out a café and invited Alice to sit down.

In an overlooked corner, inside a dim, dilapidated room,

the Wraith Yinshenger finally received that letter.

Perhaps it was because the stamp itself was a supernatural item, or perhaps Yinshenger had only needed a catalyst.

Its consciousness began to take shape.

Birth...

Human...

Name...

"My name is Tewal!"

An indistinct growl echoed softly through the dilapidated church.

It proclaimed the true birth of the Wraith Tewal.

An endless stream of cars clogged the lanes, while crowds gathered beside the traffic lights, waiting for permission to cross.

A truck carrying exhibits slowly pulled up outside a museum hosting an exhibition.

"Be careful! These collectibles are expensive!"

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

"If you break one, you couldn't pay it off in your whole lifetime!"

The supervisor never stopped talking, keeping the movers alert with constant warnings and curses. How very "considerate" of him!

Clang-

Accidents always arrived right on cue.

"Motherfucker! Who dropped that?"

The supervisor hurried over and looked at the shield exhibit on the ground.

Fortunately, the exhibit had a protective casing. Despite the fall, it had escaped damage.

"Watch what you're doing! One more accident and you lose this month's entire paycheck!"

"Yes, sir. Yes."

In the distance, Kaitou Kid's avatar wore an inscrutable smile, seemingly gazing at the museum, or perhaps reminiscing about the past.

No one noticed the faint image shimmering on the shield, resembling a rooster brimming with fighting spirit.

In the original cartoon, the Rooster Talisman had been embedded in the very center of the shield.

But that was too conspicuous. Jiang Xiang had experimented with new ways of using the item and eventually discovered that he could distribute some of the talisman's power to other objects.

So Jiang Xiang decided to transfer all the unsealed power of the Rooster Talisman into that shield.

With that, the preparations were essentially complete. It was time to bring everyone to the theater!

"Director, we have news."

Natasha strode into Nick Fury's office.

Nick Fury had both hands braced on his desk. The screen in front of him seemed to be playing a video.

"The reinforcements Ah Xing mentioned?"

"Yes!"

Natasha had compiled the information she had extracted from Alice, both openly and subtly, and handed it to Nick Fury.

Nick Fury initially accepted the file envelope with composure.

His gaze sharpened as he scrutinized every segment of their conversation.

From time to time, he asked Natasha, who had been there, for clarification.

"Alice struck me as someone who's only just stepped out into the world.

"She has all the caution she should, but she clearly hasn't interacted with many different kinds of people.

"I'd say she's still at a very innocent, naïve stage.

"But she doesn't seem weak in combat."

The mere fact that the Containment Foundation had not trained Alice into a cold-blooded killer sent Natasha's opinion of it soaring.

"How skilled is she?"

As a spymaster assessing an ordinary agent, Nick Fury cared little about anything else. Ability mattered most to him.

"We haven't sparred, so it's hard to say. I can't size up someone's true abilities with a single glance."

Natasha shrugged helplessly.

"A physical manifestation of an ancient demon's chi? That's what Ah Xing is looking for?"

Natasha nodded.

An agent's instincts kept Nick Fury from fully trusting this account of demonic chi. After all, it was only one side of the story.

Besides, according to their earlier intelligence, the magician Mr. Cheng would apparently receive the item from Ah Xing's mission.

In other words, this chi might be an object related to magic, or something like a Wraith that required a mage to keep it under control.

In fact, from an agent's perspective, Nick Fury valued Ah Xing more than Old Man.

In the West, magic was always associated with bloodlines and family traditions.

Nick Fury therefore felt that Old Man's magic probably was not something an ordinary person could learn.

And judging by the materials he used to cast spells, Nick Fury found it hard to imagine Old Man's magic as sophisticated or mysterious.

Animal organs, saliva, and different parts of various plants...

He could actually cast magic with that jumble of stuff?

But the kung fu Ah Xing had demonstrated was different.

Ah Xing's strength, speed, and physical resilience...

Nick Fury coveted them all.

[From S.H.I.E.L.D... Total +120]

"Aiya, finally finished dealing with everything today. Old Man is exhausted. Frank, hot tea!"

"Yes, sir."

The tall, burly Frank played his role as a helper admirably.

Old Man took a small sip from his teacup, then picked up the sealed jar.

He sensed the Wraith inside.

Old Man felt that it seemed a little more aware.

Eradicate them!

It was wailing, but Old Man would not pity it just because its consciousness had become a little clearer.

To Old Man, a Wraith was a Wraith, especially one that had killed people.

Its sins were grievous!

It deserved destruction!

He believed he had never made a mistake when destroying Wraiths.

But.

Clearly, something had gone wrong this time.