The atmosphere in the arena became incredibly tense as soon as the new round of questions began.
No one expected the first question to be so "explosive."
Firstly, the question touched upon the extremely serious issue of Tony Stark's parents' death. Secondly, the Winter Soldier was one of the options!
If the Winter Soldier was just a red herring, it wouldn't be a big deal. But if he was actually responsible, things would take a very bad turn.
Tony Stark's face became extremely grave; his eyes widened as he stared at the big screen, and his breathing became slightly rapid.
He had always believed his parents died in a car accident, but now it seemed there was more to it?
Otherwise, why would the quiz system pose such a question?
However, Tony Stark carefully recalled the events of that time, but found nothing suspicious.
The police investigated the accident, and the case was officially closed as a car accident.
"Everyone!" Hawkeye Barton's voice cut through the air, interrupting their thoughts. "What do we do with him?"
Whoosh!
With Hawkeye Barton's question, everyone couldn't help but turn their gazes to Loki.
The idea of working with Loki to answer questions was a bit much for them to swallow. After all, this was the villain who led an alien army to invade New York.
"Should we lock him up for now?" Hawkeye Barton glanced at everyone, seeking their opinions.
"That won't work," Nick Fury shook his head. Besides them, the entire world was in a time-frozen state.
They couldn't even open a door, let alone take Loki anywhere.
Hawkeye Barton might not understand this, but Nick Fury, who had been answering questions for a long time, was well aware of the situation.
"Or… knock him out?" Black Widow suggested, with a serious expression.
"Oh, oh!" Loki couldn't help but exclaim, "Isn't this a bit much? I've already surrendered."
"Since the quiz system has chosen him, I think we can only let him participate in the quiz," Captain America said seriously to everyone after some thought.
Up until now, the quiz system had never interacted with anyone in any way other than posing questions and issuing rewards or punishments.
Everyone knew very little about the quiz system.
No one knew if forcibly preventing a quiz taker chosen by the quiz system from taking the quiz would "anger" or "annoy" the quiz system.
And as far as they could see, none of the quiz takers chosen by the quiz system had ever been evil.
So after a brief discussion, although they were reluctant, they finally reached an agreement: to let Loki stay and take the quiz.
"Loki, since the quiz system has chosen you, we can let you take the quiz with us, but!" Nick Fury said here, solemnly warning Loki, "If you dare to play any tricks, you'll be asking for trouble!"
"My hands are tied, what tricks could I possibly pull?" Loki raised his bound hands, shaking them slightly. "So, can we start this… quiz thing now?"
Loki asked with anticipation.
He was quite interested in this so-called quiz.
Everyone on the scene ignored Loki and refocused their attention on the quiz.
There were still six participants in this round:
Tony Stark, Captain America Steve Rogers, Black Widow Natasha Romanoff, Hawkeye Clint Barton, Nick Fury, and Loki Odinson.
"Nick Fury!"
After some thought, Tony Stark turned and asked, "Didn't you say my father was one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Then his death must have been investigated by S.H.I.E.L.D., right?"
"Naturally," Nick Fury nodded.
Howard Stark's status was incredibly significant, and his death essentially shook the entire United States. Not just the police, but numerous departments and agencies were highly concerned.
Officially, the police were investigating the case.
However, behind the scenes, quite a few departments were secretly looking into it.
Given Howard Stark's identity, S.H.I.E.L.D. was undoubtedly also conducting an investigation.
"But according to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigation, Howard did indeed die in a traffic accident." However, Nick Fury then solemnly addressed Tony Stark again.
Even S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't find anything, which spoke volumes.
Either Howard's death was truly an accident, with no conspiracy involved.
Or, Howard's death was a massive conspiracy, controlled by an incredibly powerful force in the shadows.
That Hand's energy was incredibly terrifying, even able to evade S.H.I.E.L.D.'s detection.
Everyone at the scene wasn't stupid, and they instantly understood this.
"Iron Man, Tony Stark?"
Loki's voice rang out. He surveyed the surroundings and then looked at Tony Stark. "I suppose this refers to this tin can, doesn't it? This question wasn't prepared for me, was it?"
Loki had originally thought that this so-called quiz was arranged by these people in front of him. Although he didn't know their purpose, it should have been to deal with him.
But now, Loki realized he was completely mistaken.
This question had absolutely nothing to do with him!
They were just amusing themselves!
So, what were these people up to?
However, no one at the scene paid any attention to Loki. He wasn't annoyed; instead, a look of increasing interest appeared in his eyes.
He wanted to see what tricks these people were playing.
"Stark, as far as we can tell, the only option we can rule out right now is D," Black Widow said, addressing Tony Stark first. "There aren't any terrorists in the world that are that capable."
"Romanoff is right," Hawkeye Barton nodded in agreement. "If this car accident was really planned, I have to say it was a flawless operation."
"The police, the military, S.H.I.E.L.D., and a few other organizations... they managed to fool all of them perfectly, without revealing any flaws!"
"This isn't something terrorists could pull off."
The others agreed.
Terrorists are generally illegal armed organizations that lack professional training and have a low overall quality. Essentially, they are a bunch of rabble.
The possibility of them being able to orchestrate an operation of this level is simply too small.
"Nick Fury," Tony Stark said after some thought, turning his gaze toward Nick Fury.
"When I was investigating the Ten Rings before, I also had Jarvis keep an eye on other terrorist organizations, and I found that some of them were quite significant."
"For example, there's an organization called the Hand. They've been around for over four hundred years, and they're a ninja assassin organization, far beyond the average terrorist group."
"They operate discreetly, are well-trained, and have deep-rooted influence worldwide. But I only took a brief look; I didn't delve into it."
"As the boss of S.H.I.E.L.D., you should have a more in-depth understanding, right? Are there other similar terrorist organizations in the world?"
"Do they have the ability to plan such an operation?"
Tony Stark asked Nick Fury with a serious expression.
"You're right, Stark. The Hand is indeed not an ordinary terrorist organization." Nick Fury nodded upon hearing this. "There aren't many terrorist organizations in the world that can rival S.H.I.E.L.D., but the Hand can be considered one of them."
"However, according to my understanding, forging a car accident like this isn't the Hand's style, nor do they possess such capabilities."
After all, this wasn't a simple assassination; it was a perfectly forged act.
The situation involved many complex and intertwined aspects; the Hand certainly couldn't have pulled this off.
"As for other organizations?" Nick Fury fell into thought, and after a moment, he gave his answer.
"With S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence network, we have a handle on most terrorist organizations of any significant size worldwide."
"But after reviewing those lists, I haven't found any terrorist organization capable of doing this."
Even Nick Fury said as much, so the possibility of option D was indeed reduced to the lowest level.
Reduced to the point of being able to be excluded.
"We've all seen how formidable the first Ant-Man, Hank Pym, is; he could even take out the entire Avengers single-handedly."
"Not only that, but Hank Pym is also a S.H.I.E.L.D. veteran and very familiar with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operational procedures."
"If it were him, killing the Stark couple and faking the car accident, perfectly fooling S.H.I.E.L.D., is entirely possible."
Following that, Black Widow focused on the second option, analyzing it seriously.
"Not only that, S.H.I.E.L.D. once coveted Hank Pym's technology, and Hank Pym therefore resented Howard. That's not strange either."
Captain America added, supplementing the discussion.
Simply put, Hank Pym possessed both the ability and the motive, so he couldn't be ruled out for the time being.
"Winter Soldier, in Howard's era, the Winter Soldier was still an assassin controlled by Hydra." Nick Fury then analyzed another option.
"As S.H.I.E.L.D.'s number one enemy, it makes sense that Hydra would want to kill the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D… Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Hydra wanted to kill anyone."
"Considering that Hydra has always been infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D., they could also perfectly fake a car accident after killing Howard."
After everyone's initial analysis, besides option D, which can be definitively ruled out, options A, B, and C are all possibilities.
"Stark, all the evidence currently available indicates that Howard's death was a traffic accident," Nick Fury said, looking seriously at Tony Stark. "So it might really just have been an accident."
"However, which one you choose to believe depends on you."
"Up until now, the quiz system has shown us the future," Tony Stark said to Nick Fury after some thought. "There have been no exceptions, except for the time Thor was exiled."
"Excuse me, are you saying it's showing the future?" Loki couldn't help but interject, staring at Stark.
From what the tin man was saying, the questions posed by this quiz system were about future events? How could that be possible?
Tony Stark ignored Loki completely, as if he didn't exist.
He continued speaking to Nick Fury and everyone else, "So, from a probability standpoint, the possibility of this question showing the past is very, very small."
"In other words, there's a high probability this question showcases the future!"
"That means in the future, I should reinvestigate the cause of my parents' deaths, or something else happened that made me re-evaluate their deaths!"
"Why would that be?"
"If my parents really died in a car accident, why would this situation arise in the future?"
"Therefore, I believe my parents' deaths might have another mystery! So, I won't choose A. I'll pick either B or C."
This question was about Tony Stark, so everyone assumed Tony Stark would answer.
Since Tony Stark said so, no one dared to say anything more. Besides, what Tony Stark said made some sense.
Now, everyone completely ignored A and focused all their attention on options B and C.
It's either Hank Pym or the Winter Soldier.
Everyone just needs to choose one of these two.
The atmosphere at the scene began to become a little subtle.
At this point in the quiz, the Winter Soldier's chances of being chosen had already reached fifty percent! Even... greater than fifty percent.
Everyone at the scene put themselves in the others' shoes, and if they were answering this question, they would most likely choose the Winter Soldier.
Although both had motives to kill Howard, Hank Pym's motive was weaker compared to the Winter Soldier.
After all, Hank Pym had only fallen out with the founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. and left S.H.I.E.L.D., that's all.
It hadn't reached the point of life or death.
But what about the Winter Soldier?
He was a killing machine, a puppet of Hydra who committed countless atrocities!
Hydra's motive for wanting to kill Howard was naturally much stronger than Hank Pym's.
And that's just one point.
The second point is that Hank Pym is a successful businessman, and according to the information we have, he doesn't have any obvious black marks.
But what about the Winter Soldier?
He's a killing machine who has killed countless people, his hands stained with blood!
If a choice had to be made between the two, people would naturally lean towards the Winter Soldier.
...
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