Wenwu slowly set down his teacup. Its porcelain base struck the table with a crisp clink.
A bone-piercing chill silently spread from him, as though the temperature of the entire room had suddenly dropped several degrees.
"Pass down my orders. All forces are to enter a defensive posture."
"If they dare send in ground troops, show no mercy. Kill them all."
He leaned forward slightly, fixing Ching-Lin with a hawklike stare. "Issue another global statement, warning every participating country. Anyone who dares use force against the Ten Rings will face brutal retaliation."
"Yes, my lord!" Ching-Lin lowered his head and acknowledged the order in a deep voice.
"And one more thing..."
There was no softening in Wenwu's tone. "Immediately ascertain the coordinates, defensive deployments, and personnel assignments of every military base belonging to all the countries mentioned above."
He stood and walked over to the enormous strategic map. "If they dare fire the first shot, immediately launch Plasma Fusion Missiles at their bases."
Ching-Lin jerked his head up, his eyes full of shock and worry. "My lord... th-that has the power of a small tactical nuclear bomb! If we use it, I'm afraid it could bring nuclear retaliation from the United States!"
He was not exaggerating.
The Plasma Fusion Missile had been designed by Dr. Sterns and completed by Ivan.
It worked by forcibly overloading an Arc Reactor, breaking through its stability constraints in a short span of time and releasing all the energy stored within it at once.
Its explosive power was enough to instantly flatten every building within several kilometers. More terrifying still, the accompanying electromagnetic pulse was powerful enough to disable every electronic device in a medium-sized city.
"What the hell is there to be afraid of?"
Wenwu turned around without the slightest trace of fear on his face. Instead, a cruel smile curved his lips.
He walked up to Ching-Lin and looked down at him, his tone so certain it was almost cold. "A few mushroom bombs aren't enough to wipe us out. At worst, we abandon this place and move somewhere else..."
He paused, his gaze turning profound and icy. "Besides, we're no pushovers. Since they want to play, we'll knock every tooth out of their mouths. Even if many people die, so be it."
"What's more..."
He changed tack, his tone conveying a sense of absolute control. "Just showing them this kind of weapon of mass destruction will be enough to establish nuclear deterrence.
"As long as they're still thinking rationally, they'll only send ground troops or harass us with conventional missiles. And those... are precisely what we fear least."
"Understood!"
The worry vanished from Ching-Lin's eyes, replaced by fervent resolve. He knocked his head heavily against the floor, then rose and withdrew.
After Ching-Lin left, Wenwu went to find Ivan at once.
"Put the research on the Mark Armor on hold for now."
"Gather your people immediately and rush the production of Plasma Fusion Missiles. I want more of them made in the shortest possible time."
Ivan fell silent for only a second before he understood Wenwu's intentions.
The warlike brutality in his bones was instantly ignited, and even his breathing grew heavy.
"Yes, my lord!"
His voice trembled slightly with excitement, as though he could already see scorching flames engulfing their enemies.
"I guarantee those sons of bitches will be burned through to the bone!"
But then his tone grew serious, and his brow furrowed. "However, the base is running low on several key materials. We need to replenish them as soon as possible."
"Whatever we lack, send someone to buy it. If they can't buy it, seize it."
Wenwu spoke calmly.
The base now had two large stealth hover fighters ready to deploy at any time, enough to tear through any blockade.
The next day, just as the United States issued an ultimatum demanding the Ten Rings surrender, things began to move.
Hydra secretly mobilized its vast network of connections, and it took effect.
They managed to prevent S.H.I.E.L.D. from being disbanded.
At the same time, Alexander Pierce produced a vast amount of evidence of the Ten Rings' crimes and released countless case files that smeared the organization. Their level of detail was staggering.
Wenwu glanced through the material and found that most of it was true, all the result of Xu Wenwu letting things run their course in his early years. But there were also plenty of deliberate fabrications.
Clearly, Hydra had spared no effort to smear the Ten Rings.
The world erupted in uproar.
The overwhelming majority chose to believe the Ten Rings were guilty of heinous crimes. Along with that, the truth that Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. was dismissed as a baseless conspiracy theory.
Although S.H.I.E.L.D. had escaped the crisis for the time being, an internal investigation was unavoidable.
But Hydra's influence was deeply entrenched and intertwined. Most of the so-called investigation was nothing more than a formality, with its own people investigating one another.
Of course, Nick Fury, Coulson, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and a few other outsiders were exceptions.
While the whole world was waiting for the Ten Rings to explain themselves, the situation changed.
Five pro-American regimes around Salia suddenly struck, firing missiles at the Ten Rings. Three bases where American troops were stationed were also involved.
The move instantly drew the world's attention. Everyone held their breath, waiting to see how the Ten Rings would weather this crisis.
At the Ten Rings headquarters base, preparations were underway.
Wenwu sat upright before the command console, undisguised killing intent churning in his eyes.
"My lord, the incoming missiles are all conventional, so they don't pose much of a threat. But there are too many of them. The energy demands on the other cities' defense systems will surge, making gaps very likely to appear." Ivan stared at the radar blips on the screen as he explained in a deep voice.
"It doesn't matter. We only need to hold out through this first wave. Once we unveil our Plasma Fusion Missiles, these countries will naturally be deterred and won't dare launch a second attack."
Wenwu looked composed, his voice perfectly even.
He turned his head slightly, his gaze falling on Ching-Lin. "Afterward, arrange for the people we support to seize power and fracture their rule. These countries are already a complete mess, yet they still dare wage war abroad. They're courting death."
"My lord, should I retaliate now?" Ivan rubbed his hands together, excitement gleaming in his eyes.
"Retaliate. Launch eight first," Wenwu said with a nod.
Ivan acted at once, his ten fingers blurring as he rapidly tapped at the keyboard.
Ten seconds later, eight launch silos around the base opened with a thunderous roar. Eight massive missiles, each two meters in diameter, shot into the sky trailing blue exhaust flames.
High in the air, wings suddenly extended from both sides of the missiles, making them look like fighter jets. Deep blue exhaust flared from their wings and tails.
An instant later, the missiles pierced the sky at supersonic speed, racing toward space.
At the Pentagon in the United States, an alarm was raised.
"Secretary! Eight supersonic missiles have suddenly appeared over Salia. They've broken through the atmosphere and reached Mach ten, and they're still accelerating... Their respective trajectories point toward Isil, Yisi, Kuwait, Basen, and Kamaer!"
In the operations room, a group of senior officials stared at the dense web of missile trajectories on the big screen. Cries of alarm rang out one after another.
"What? Eight supersonic missiles? Have you identified the type?" The secretary of defense and several military commanders went pale with shock.
"No! We can't identify them!"
"Oh, God, they've already reached Mach twenty!"
On the big screen, eight red dots were flying at astonishing speed. The data showed they had surged to Mach twenty.
"Secretary... Generals... The targets have arrived over Isil, Yisi, Kuwait, Basen, and Kamaer."
"Oh... God! They're diving! They're diving straight at our bases and our allies' bases!"
An operator cried out, his voice trembling.