The Old Server's Encrypted Dead Letter, the Darkness of Multiversal Project Insight

The Data Pad hovered in front of Lynn, its pale blue light reflecting off his expressionless face.

The air in the conference room, which had just begun to relax, froze again. It was even more oppressive and heavy than before the meeting started.

The department heads who were about to leave froze. They exchanged glances, their eyes finally settling on Lynn, filled with inquiry and unease.

Hela's hand was now resting on the hilt of her sword at her waist.

Ravonna sat at the end of the table, her back even straighter, like an outsider, or perhaps observing a sudden turn of events.

Lynn shifted his gaze from the Data Pad and swept it across the entire room.

The meeting has ended.

His voice was calm, without any discernible emotional fluctuation.

"Department heads, in accordance with the resolution just now, go back and implement your work. There is no need for you to linger here."

This order effectively suppressed the curiosity and voyeuristic desires of most people.

The leaders didn't dare ask any more questions, bowed their heads in agreement, and then quickly left the meeting hall, their footsteps sounding somewhat hurried in the empty hall.

Soon, only Lynn, Gwen Stacy, Hela, Wanda, and Ravonna standing at the door remained in the hall.

And then there was the Technician, pale-faced and barely able to stand.

Ravonna didn't move. As a specially appointed advisor attending the meeting, she couldn't leave unless the Director told her to. That was the rule.

Lynn's gaze finally settled on her.

"Rensler, you can go back to your office now. Director Gwen will send you a preliminary framework for the coordination office's preparatory procedures later."

"Yes, Director."

Without the slightest hesitation, Ravonna bowed slightly, turned, and left. The crisp, rhythmic sound of her high heels clicking on the floor quickly faded into the doorway.

Now, only a few core members remain.

Lynn waved his hand, and the heavy bone doors of the conference hall closed silently, isolating everything inside and outside.

He then looked at the Data Pad again.

"Wanda, say it."

"Intercepted during the final low-level scan before physically formatting the S-7 Data Center," Wanda's voice remained cold, but her pace was slightly faster than usual, "A one-time, high-strength encrypted packet that self-destructed its source within 0.03 seconds of being sent. The destination was an unknown coordinate deep within the void."

How many were intercepted?

"One hundred percent." Wanda's answer carried an absolute confidence in her technology. "I nested Chaos Data Lure Protocol within the destruction program. Any unauthorized external information flow will be copied first."

Lynn nodded.

He looked at the Technician who was almost curled up in a ball.

Which group are you in?

"Director... Director, this is Robbie Reyes from Data Purification Team Three." The Technician's voice trembled.

"You did a great job," Lynn said. "Identifying the problem, reporting it promptly, and not acting on your own initiative—that's a huge achievement. I'll have Director Wanda put that on your performance review this month."

"Thank you, Director!" Robbie Reyes's face instantly regained color.

"Now, copy all the operation logs and environment parameters from that time to Director Wanda, then go back and rest. Keep what happened today to yourself. I don't want a sixth person besides the people in this room to know. Understand?"

"Understood! Absolutely understood!" Robbie Reyes nodded repeatedly, almost fleeing as he completed the data handover, and then quickly left the conference room.

Lynn's gaze returned to the Data Pad.

The deciphered gibberish looked like a twisted venomous snake.

"Ke'er," Lynn uttered the name slowly.

"It's him," Gwen Stacy interjected, her expression grave. "This encryption method is from the same source as the Highest Access Privileges private channel he used in the Battleworld. It's just more covert and more decisive."

"A dead man, after we've reduced his bones to ashes, can still send a letter from his grave," Hela sneered. "Looks like our previous 'cleaning' wasn't thorough enough."

No one answered Hela's question.

Everyone knows this isn't a matter of whether it's swept clean or not.

This means that Ke'er had already made preparations for his death long before they even targeted him, or even earlier.

He anticipated his failure and his death.

His death was, in itself, part of a plan.

"What's in the letter?" Lynn asked Wanda.

Wanda didn't answer, she just raised her hand and pointed in the air.

The garbled text on the Data Pad began to recombine and rearrange, eventually forming a short but alarming instruction.

[Insight - Multiverse- 838 - Launch]

[Primary target for elimination: Negative Zone Management Committee]

[Secondary elimination target: ' Variant ' with awakened memories across all Timeline]

The conference room was deathly silent.

Project Insight.

A name long buried in the old files of S.H.I.E.L.D.. A mad plan by Hydra to use three Helicarrier to target and eliminate "potential threats" around the world.

Now, this plan has been given the prefix "Multiverse".

Its target is no longer a particular country or organization.

It was them.

It is the entire Negative Zone.

And... all the women who "woke up" from their respective Timeline because of Lynn's simulation.

"He wasn't crying for help," Gwen Stacy said in a low voice, a hint of coldness in it. "He was issuing orders. His death was the trigger that set this plan in motion."

"How could a remnant of Hydra have such power?" Hela frowned, feeling not fear, but anger at the challenge to her authority. "What makes him think that such a plan could threaten us?"

"He didn't rely on himself," Lynn said, pointing to the number "838" in the command.

"These are coordinates. A number for a universe."

"Ke'er sent the activation command to a receiver in another universe, one we don't yet know about."

In Lynn's mind, countless clues were rapidly connecting.

Ke'er's Hydra identity, the shady deals among TVA executives, the messy accounts in the Battleworld, the abnormal energy of the Age of Ultron...

All of this is just an appearance.

Beneath these intricate webs of vested interests lies a deeper, darker underlying story.

Ke'er was never just a pawn. He was a Messenger, a martyr who used his own death to deliver the ultimate message.

He is loyal to a much larger HYDRA that spans the Multiverse.

"Wanda, is it possible to track down the specific parameters of that Earth-838?" Lynn asked.

"It's difficult," Wanda shook her head. "Information transmission in the depths of the void suffers from severe decay and distortion. I can only determine its approximate quadrant, but I cannot establish stable beacons."

"In other words, we don't know who the enemy is, where they are, or how they will 'eliminate' us," Gwen Stacy concluded, looking at Lynn. "We've become a sitting duck."

Lynn did not speak.

He turned off the Data Pad.

The conference hall fell into darkness again, with only the faint light from the dome outlining the silent silhouettes of the group.

An internal crisis that he had just suppressed with his own hands, and a political deal that had just been reached and seemed perfect, all seemed so ridiculous in the face of this letter from the dead.

He thought that by using TVA, he had cleaned up the house, gained real benefits, and completely controlled the situation.

In the end, he only Sweep a few useless pieces from someone else's chessboard.

The real players haven't even shown up yet.

"Director," Hela's voice broke the silence, "Give the order. No matter who they are or where they're hiding, the Stability Maintenance Office has the capability to drag them out of any universe and crush them."

"No," Lynn rejected.

"Taking the initiative without knowing the other party's background is the most foolish thing to do."

He sat back in the main seat, leaning against the cold Bone Chair Back.

"What we need to do now is not to go looking for them."

"Instead, we'll wait for them to come."

He looked at Wanda: "Department of Technology, from this moment on, conduct the highest level of monitoring of energy fluctuations in all areas under your jurisdiction in the Negative Zone. Any unauthorized cross- Dimension access, regardless of its strength, must be reported to me immediately."

"Yes."

He then looked at Hela: "Stability Maintenance Office, all Undead Guard, enter Level One combat readiness. Shrink the outer Defense Line and concentrate all forces in the Core Zone. Turn our home into an Iron Bucket."

"Clear."

Finally, he looked at Gwen Stacy.

"The Liaison Office is to immediately establish a top-secret task force. Access all original files related to ' Project Insight,' all records of Hydra's cross- Dimension activities, and... all known intelligence regarding Earth-838."

Lynn paused, then added.

"Go to the library in Kamar-Taj. The Ancient One might have left something behind."

Gwen Stacy nodded solemnly. "I will lead the team myself."

The instructions were issued one by one, and all departments sprang into action again.

The end of one storm has become the beginning of an even bigger one.

Everyone accepted the order and left, leaving Lynn alone in the meeting room.

He sat alone in the darkness, motionless for a long time.

He knew that this was no longer the kind of opponent he could play against within the rules of TVA.

This is a ghost that believes in "striking first and eliminating the root of the problem".

A true enemy whose chessboard is the entire Multiverse.

Suddenly, Lynn's Private Terminal emitted a soft beep.

It was sent by Wanda.

There are no words.

There is only one Star Map that is updated in real time.

At the edge of the Star Map, around the blurry point of light representing the Earth-838, more and denser sources of unknown signals begin to appear.

Like a group of sharks drawn by the scent of blood, they emerged silently from the dark depths of the sea, slowly surrounding the lone point of light.