Office of a Level 7 Agent, S.H.I.E.L.D..
Wanda sat at her workstation, her neck completely covered by a silk scarf, leaving no gap. Lin Xiao walked past her with a cup of goji berry tea, and couldn't help but smirk. Wanda's keyboard clattered loudly, and her peripheral vision flashed like a knife.
"Still angry? What? Did I hurt your little heart? How about I apologize? Don't be angry, I'll let you bite me back, okay?" Lin Xiao stopped and leaned against the partition, his expression as smug as could be.
Wanda snorted, ignored him, and continued typing.
Lin Xiao shrugged, glanced at Wanda's bright red ears, and smiled, gently touching the silk scarf with his fingers.
"Look, your scarf is all crooked. Let me fix it for you."
Wanda Teng's face turned completely red, and she slapped Lin Xiao's large hand away.
"Get away from me! Don't touch me!" Wanda whirled around, her ears burning red, clutching the corner of her scarf tightly. "If you dare mention last night again, I'll..."
"What did you do? Punch my chest with your little fists?" Lin Xiao pointed at her clenched fist, his eyes narrowing into slits as he laughed.
Wanda was so angry that she turned her chair around and faced away from him.
Just then, footsteps came from the other end of the corridor. Sitwell walked over with his standard good-natured smile, carrying two cups of coffee. He placed one on Wanda's table and thoughtfully added, "It's cold, drink more hot coffee." He respectfully handed the other cup to Lin Xiao.
" Agent Lin Xiao, S.H.I.E.L.D.. has been working hard lately. With the director away, it's all thanks to you helping the deputy director." Sitwell's eyelids were shaking with laughter.
Lin Xiao took the coffee, smelled it, then put it down, saying lazily, " Sitwell, you're too polite. You're always thinking about taking care of others, but you should take care of yourself too. You don't look well; have you been worrying too much lately?"
Sitwell's smile froze for a fraction of a second before quickly returning to normal. He nodded repeatedly in agreement, exchanged a few more pleasantries with Lin Xiao, then turned to Wanda and gave her a few more instructions, telling her to do her job well and not to cause trouble for Agent Lin Xiao. Before leaving, he secretly gave Wanda a wink.
Lin Xiao watched the figure disappear around the corner, and the smile on his lips turned cold.
Being Hydra agent, knowing full well he's one of Hydra's agents, yet unable to touch him—that feeling isn't exactly pleasant. But there's no rush. The Captain America: The Winter Soldier storyline hasn't even started yet. If you cut off all these Hydra heads now, where will you collect those big rewards from the system later? The better you are, the more you'll maximize your profits. Just bear with it; consider it accumulating performance bonuses for your future self.
Lin Xiao looked away and casually tossed the cup of coffee that Sitwell had given him into the trash can.
"Aren't you going to drink?" Wanda turned sideways from her swivel chair and glanced at the trash can.
"Don't touch things of dubious origin." Lin Xiao clapped his hands, returned to his seat, picked up the cup of goji berry tea, took a sip, glanced at Wanda across from him who was still wearing a silk scarf, and couldn't help but laugh again.
Wanda rolled her eyes, about to explode, when the building's alarm system suddenly went off. Immediately afterward, a red alarm popped up on everyone's cell phones, tablets, and computer screens, followed by a video. In the video was Level 7 Agent Jones, his face serious, wiping away cold sweat as he said:
"Urgent report from the Germany branch: Surveillance in the Stuttgart area has been cut off. Someone infiltrated a local charity concert and killed at least six people. The video footage has been transmitted back; you'd better watch it yourselves."
The video started playing.
The scene depicts a luxurious concert hall in Stuttgart. Warm lights illuminate the hall, champagne flows freely, and celebrities in the audience, dressed in evening gowns and holding wine glasses, stand in the center of the stage. An elegant man in a dark green velvet suit looks down at the crowd with a slight smile.
"You know what? In all my years of life, what I admire most is humanity's sense of ritual," the man in the video said with a smile, his demeanor as composed as a top stand-up comedian. "Wearing expensive fabrics, drinking vintage wines, everyone here looks so serious, but deep down they're more flexible than anyone else, don't you think?"
This drew laughter from the audience. Several ladies covered their mouths with handkerchiefs, but their eyes remained fixed on him.
One of the ladies raised her glass, smiling, and said, "Sir, you're very interesting. May I ask your name?"
The man stopped talking, leaned slightly towards the lady, and gave her an elegant bow.
"My name is Loki, or you may call me the God of Mischief and Schemes."
A bloated politician, already annoyed by Loki's attention-seeking antics, patted his large belly and declared, "If you are Loki, then I am Odin."
There was a moment of silence in the hall. Then, as if something had exploded, the entire hall erupted in laughter.
Loki's lips curled into a smile. He slowly straightened up, and with a flick of his wrist, his green velvet suit silently vanished, replaced by his signature gold and green battle robes. A golden horned crown appeared out of thin air on his forehead. In his hand, a scepter appeared, its tip inlaid with a blue gem that emitted a faint glow.
"Ridiculous, isn't it? Well then, you'll see what divine punishment is like. It's a shame about this outfit, though; I quite liked it." Loki's voice echoed in the now-silent hall as his scepter lightly tapped the ground.
A beam of green light struck the politician precisely. The middle-aged man didn't even have a chance to struggle; he quickly withered and charred in the green flames, until only a curled-up skeleton remained, which crashed onto the polished marble floor with a thud.
The screams came a beat too late, and the hall erupted in chaos. People knocked over chairs and shoved each other as they ran towards the door, champagne glasses shattering everywhere. Loki watched the faces contorted in panic, slowly raised his head, and a satisfied smile curved his lips.
"The grand show has begun."
The recording stopped here. Only static remained on the screen.
"Who is this?" Wanda stared at the frozen image on the screen, her breathing still not fully calm. "That thing on the scepter... I can feel it, even through the screen, something feels off."
" Loki himself, without a doubt." Lin Xiao leaned back in his chair, his tone unusually calm. " The God of Mischief in Norse mythology, the crown prince of Asgard, Thor's brother."
"Mythological stories? Aliens?" Wanda asked with curiosity.
"I guess so, and he's quite a troublesome alien." Lin Xiao said, swaying his shoulders as his expression turned strange. He hadn't expected this day to come; it seemed like an eight-star gift package was beckoning to him.
Just then, Hill's voice came over the loudspeaker. "All agents of level five and above, please assemble in the conference room. I repeat, all agents of level five and above, assemble in the conference room."
Lin Xiao patted non-existent dust off his suit, a slight smile playing on his lips, and strode towards the top-floor conference room.
Wanda pursed her lips as she watched Lin Xiao leave, her mind preoccupied with whether he might encounter danger.