As the days passed and Rimuru remained holed up in Tony's villa, Coulson felt his hairline creeping higher by the day.
A few days ago, those two had flown around in armor over New York. S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't blind, and the director had already pressed him several times. Coulson was under a lot of pressure now.
Thank goodness, Lady Luck had smiled on him, and Rimuru had finally come out. He was genuinely afraid that if he didn't find a way to submit a mission report soon, he'd be submitting his resignation instead.
Coulson gathered his subordinates and even gave them a pre-battle pep talk, stressing the importance of the mission.
The agents all said it would be a piece of cake. It was just a child. Surely so many well-trained agents could handle one little girl, even if she might be a little unusual?
Oblivious to all this, Rimuru was still strolling down the street. He had been in New York for so long without getting a proper look around. He had to admit, New York in the Marvel Universe was genuinely nice. It didn't look like the early 2000s at all.
It didn't take long for Rimuru to regret walking down the street. With his looks and the way he dressed, he turned every head. Plenty of people were already staring at him strangely. Damn it, they're giving me goosebumps.
So he decided to take the subway. Don't ask why he didn't take a bus. He couldn't find one.
System: "You're still having fun here? Come on, if you don't run, they'll have you in a sack before long."
Oh, system? You're alive again?
Rimuru had been fairly relaxed, but the system's warning made him sense that something was wrong. What was all that stuff those people were carrying? Handguns he could understand, for self-defense, but the rest didn't look legitimate however he looked at it. A closer inspection with Universal Sense made things seem increasingly wrong. They all seemed to be closing in on him.
He expanded his range of perception and found an old acquaintance: Coulson.
Looks like S.H.I.E.L.D. has come for me. It wouldn't really be a problem to meet with Coulson, but what if some of those people were from Hydra? As the saying went, a thief could steal for a thousand days, but no one could guard against one for a thousand days. In that case, he would just have to make things difficult for Coulson.
After getting off the subway, Rimuru headed toward areas with fewer people. As the crowd thinned, he finally found an excellent spot. There was almost no one around and no surveillance cameras either. It was the perfect place to make a sneak attack.
Coulson and the agents with him likewise felt the time had come, and they slowly closed in on Rimuru.
Just when Coulson thought they were about to succeed, something unexpected happened. His subordinates fell one after another. He suddenly realized they might have been hit, but it was too late to retreat. His body went limp, and waves of darkness clouded his vision. His last thought before passing out was, I'm done for.
After succeeding, Rimuru went over and poked the agents with interest. He had never seen this sort of thing before except on TV, so he was a little curious to encounter them in real life.
The incident left Rimuru in no mood to continue sightseeing. He had planned to head home, but just then he got a call from the real estate agent he had asked Pepper to find. Tony's place really was nice, but living with Tony was a less than pleasant experience. His experiments made a racket every day, and he had practically torn the villa apart. The big hole he had smashed through still hadn't been patched.
Long Island was naturally his first choice, but on second thought, it didn't seem ideal. The people living there were corporate elites and high-ranking government officials. If he lived among them, trouble would find him sooner or later.
That brought him to his backup choice: Flushing.
A while after Rimuru left, someone discovered what had happened. A bunch of people were lying sprawled all over the place, and the police were soon called over. After a preliminary examination, they found some strange devices on the people. Thinking there might be something suspicious about them, they took them back to the police station.
When Nick Fury learned what had happened, he nearly exploded with anger. He had sent them to investigate a little girl who might be an alien, and they had all been taken out in an instant as soon as they approached her.
"Tell me, all of you, what happened while you were carrying out the mission?"
The agents looked at one another. None of them could answer, because they had passed out as soon as they approached and had no idea what had happened.
The sight made Nick Fury even angrier. They didn't even know how they had failed. Fortunately, the other party hadn't meant them any harm this time. If things had been different, those guys could all have been dead.
"Director, the test results are in. The tests detected a substance similar to an anesthetic in Agent Coulson's blood. Coulson and the other agents were indeed knocked out with drugs."
Nick Fury's face darkened further when he heard the report. His battle-hardened agents had been taken down so easily?
"You're all dismissed. Coulson, stay." Nick Fury gave the order helplessly. There was no point in asking any more questions.
Nick Fury fixed his one eye on Coulson, who stood before his desk, his face still somewhat pale. The other agents had left, leaving only the two of them in the room. The atmosphere was oppressive.
"That neighborhood is in the old part of town. There are gaps in the surveillance coverage, and the place where it happened just happened to be a blind spot. That might not be a coincidence. We pulled footage from the roadside cameras along the route you took. It's very likely that the little girl spotted you a long time ago."
"That's very possible, Director. Our operation was carried out strictly according to protocol, so there was no possibility of a leak. The little girl didn't notice us at first either, but then something suddenly changed. She may have some special abilities."
Nick Fury frowned at the report in his hand. "She noticed you were following her. Although he knocked you all out, she didn't cause you any substantial harm. In other words, from a certain point of view, she's inclined to be friendly toward you."
Nick Fury's eye lit up, as though he had grasped something.
Coulson also knew how dangerous this mission had been. If the other party hadn't been friendly, he would be lying in the morgue now.
"Agent Coulson, in that case, continue the mission. Focus on observation and don't make contact for now. He may have some concerns."
On receiving the assignment, Coulson felt his hairline was about to recede again.
Unlike the troubled Coulson, Rimuru was in Flushing looking at a house.
After learning the details of Rimuru's requirements, Catherine quickly selected a suitable property: an estate built in the 1990s.
Rimuru was stunned the moment he arrived, because the estate was actually built in a Chinese style.
Standing before the estate's gates, Rimuru gazed at the vermilion-painted gatehouse with its upturned eaves and bracketed beams, and the faint outline of an artificial mountain inside the garden. For a moment, he felt a little dazed.
In Flushing, New York, in the Marvel Universe, there's a purely Chinese garden estate tucked away like this? Isn't this clash of styles a little ridiculous?
"What's the matter? Stunned?" Catherine's voice held a hint of amusement. Clearly, this wasn't the first time she had seen a client react this way. "The original owner was a wealthy Chinese businessman who immigrated here years ago. He loved the art of Eastern gardens all his life. In the 1990s, he spared no expense, bringing over craftsmen and materials from China to build it almost exactly as it would have been back home. Later, the family moved its business elsewhere, and the younger generations weren't very interested in this old antique, so they entrusted us with selling it. To be honest, it's been on the local market for a long time. Because of the style and some other reasons, few people have shown interest."
Oh, I get it. Racial discrimination, huh?
Rimuru took a deep breath and pushed open the heavy antique-style wooden door. What greeted him was not the entirely archaic scene he had expected, but a courtyard that cleverly blended modern comfort with classical charm. Winding covered walkways connected several main buildings. Their exteriors were typical of the Ming and Qing styles, with blue-gray brick and gray roof tiles, but the window glass was clearly a high-quality modern product. In the center of the courtyard was a pool of clear green water, where several koi swam leisurely. Craggy artificial mountains rose around it, dotted with Lake Tai stones, and a stream of running water had even been diverted to flow gently into the pool. The view changed with every step, and the vegetation was lush. Clearly, it had been carefully maintained and hadn't fallen into neglect after the owner left.
"It's so well maintained..." Rimuru murmured.
"The original owner hired a professional landscaping company to maintain it regularly, and a service contract for a period of time is also included in the asking price."
"The interior has also been modernized," Catherine explained. "The water, electricity, internet, security system, and smart home features are all top-of-the-line, but the décor retains as much Chinese character as possible. Would you like to see inside the main house?"
Stepping into the main house, Rimuru was moved again. The hall had a high ceiling and rosewood furniture. Although the objects on the display shelves were gone, the layout and atmosphere remained.
Enormous floor-to-ceiling windows let in plenty of light, with a view of the exquisite courtyard outside. It had everything from bedrooms and a study to guest rooms. There was even a sizable basement with excellent soundproofing, making Rimuru's eyes light up again and again. It was simply the perfect personal laboratory.
This is the one. Rimuru barely hesitated. The sense of familiarity and security brought by the familiar style, along with its excellent privacy, completely met her current need to "develop while keeping a low profile." Although a Chinese-style estate stood out in New York, sometimes an overly distinctive style could have the opposite effect, hiding things in plain sight, as long as security was in place.
Catherine was a little surprised by her decisiveness, but she quickly put on a professional smile. "A wise choice, Miss Rimuru. In that case, we can discuss the price and paperwork in detail..."