S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
Nick Fury, who rushed back from the helicarrier in a Quinjet, faced Agent Phil Coulson who came to greet him on the helipad of the building.
"Where is the person I asked you to find?" The hem of Nick's windbreaker fluttered in the wind, and his voice was a little distorted in the wind.
"I have sent people to pick up the top designers from major game companies. They are currently waiting in the conference room. Some others will arrive later." Agent Phil's sparse hair stood stubbornly in the wind. He walked beside his immediate superior, shielding his front with one hand to block the wind, and spoke in a raised voice.
"Very good, take me there." Nick nodded with satisfaction.
After the Alliance meeting was disbanded, he asked Luke and Strange for some information about Nightmare, and then asked Luke for some advice. As soon as he returned to the helicarrier, he hurriedly made arrangements.
After reading the information about Nightmare, he also agreed with Luke's suggestion. With the help of the super platform of Data Dimension, it would not be difficult to make a dream-like virtual game for Nightmare.
And as long as we take the right measures and sign the relevant contracts with Nightmare, this cooperation may become a benchmark cooperation between humans and demons for mutual benefit.
Nick placed its importance above all other existing affairs. Unless it was the end of the world, all SHIELD affairs and manpower would have to give way to this matter.
Besides, this time, SHIELD wasn't just a freelance employee. If the game script and design were adopted and used, Odin and the others wouldn't mind paying Nick some compensation. According to Luke, the team he assembled could even become one of the operators. If he could come up with a design and results that satisfied Nightmare, his position would be even more stable.
God knows how touched Nick was after hearing this promise. For so long, he has been Luke's close partner since before Luke made his fortune. He has witnessed Luke's growth all the way, witnessed the emergence of new energy, participated in the establishment of new currency, met the wizard and many more incredible secret worlds.
In this process, he also changed from a wealthy tycoon to a poor man who was stingy and burdened with a large amount of foreign debt.
Is it that he has no money?
No! Now SHIELD no longer needs him to withhold funds or make excuses to apply for them. SHIELD is now the darling of the Board of Directors. Not only has the funding been increased by a level, but Nick's authority has also increased significantly.
He could tell anyone on the planet that he was rich, including Tony Stark, but only if Luke and Hebron were excluded.
To be honest, Luke and Hebron may not have more real-world currency than him, but he doesn't want real-world currency! Luke and Hebron have so many good things, and S.H.I.E.L.D. or other organizations can only buy them with the new currency.
Hebolun only recognizes this!
Nick's teeth clenched involuntarily at the thought. Luke and his Heberon were truly instrumental in his owing so much money! Until now, Nick had only been able to earn bits and pieces of new currency from places that Luke and his fellow bosses didn't care about. And he couldn't save anything.
It was either paying off debt or spending, and now he had to support several giant companies in the early stages of transformation and technological upgrades. Nick wanted to break a new currency into ten pieces to spend.
Even though he was already living frugally, his debt continued to snowball, increasing at a heart-wrenching rate every year. Fortunately, thanks to the captain's repeated efforts, Heberon and the Supreme Mage agreed to release a new batch of currency each year, which could be exchanged for real money.
While nominally open to all powers, in reality, only S.H.I.E.L.D. and the few member states behind it participate in this annual exchange feast. Among them, S.H.I.E.L.D., as the darling of all countries, can take at least half of the share.
After all, Heybolun still has business for ordinary people, so it's no problem to reserve more real currency to improve some benefits. After all, the amount of new currency released is not large.
The mages of the Supreme Mage lineage weren't truly selfless, cut off from any contact with the outside world. They too needed a source of funds. Without having to work, they could earn a generous annual salary in real-world currency to support themselves and expand their ranks, and the mages were quite content.
Nick and the governing council behind him really wanted Luke and the mages to exchange more, but neither side was foolish. After all, the new currency was linked to new energy, or was extracted and refined, combining the power of both Heberon and the mages to compress the new energy.
Whether it is Heberon or the mages, the demand for new energy and new currency is increasing dramatically every day. This is a necessity.
What about real money?
It's really just paper to keep you going in a simple way. More is good, less is no big deal.
Nick and the member states behind him want too much, but don't provide enough hard currency, so they will naturally face a long-term deficit. It is natural that the debt is constantly being repaid and increased every year.
As one of the earliest veterans when the league was founded, the Knicks, who have almost no presence and are not even considered a mascot, really need a new and stable source of monetary income.
However, before, he could only think about it in his mind. Without the help of the Sorcerer Supreme and the Ancient One, he and his SHIELD wouldn't even be qualified to sit at that conference table. Even if he sat there now, he couldn't do anything. But having that position and not having it were two completely different situations.
Just like now, a big gift package was thrown on his head at the meeting.
Bigwigs like Odin were too lazy to get involved in this sort of thing, and wouldn't. As a member of the Alliance, even if S.H.I.E.L.D. was considered a vassal of Luke and the Sorcerer Supreme, it was still considered one of their own. Unsurprisingly, the missions that all the bigwigs disdained and couldn't handle were thrust into his lap. And those with generous rewards.
Before arriving, Nick had already communicated the news with all the directors of the board of directors. They were all busy packing up the gaming talents in their own areas and sending them to S.H.I.E.L.D. on a special plane. There was no previous wrangling and the efficiency was extremely high. It could be said that everything was green light all the way.
"There is a task that you must complete."
Pushing open the door of the conference room, Nick strode in with his men. With a stern expression, he looked at the chief designers, planners, etc. from major game companies who were looking at each other in confusion, and took the initiative to give orders in an unquestionable tone.
"Who are you?" A fat man stood up from his chair with difficulty and shouted to Nick.
"The highest-level special department." Nick placed his hands on the round conference table, leaning forward. His intact eye surveyed the group of sitting gamers. "You can assume this department has unlimited power on this planet."
"Why did you call us here? We are just a group of game designers." A thin man next to the fat man also spoke.
"I need you to make a game for me," Nick said. He moved his hand away from the conference table, leaned back, and took a document from Agent Maria Hill. He gestured for her to distribute the printed documents. He dropped the document bag on the table and tapped it with his fingers. "The specific content and requirements are all here. You must follow them. You must use all your skills and inspiration."
"What about our own games?" Another questioning voice sounded.
"Throw it away. Put your energy and manpower into this one of mine!" Nick answered without hesitation.
"You can't do this, we will lose a lot of money! Do you want our previous efforts to go to waste?" An angry voice sounded.
"If you think so, then you can think so." Nick took out his beloved gun from his waist and gently placed it on the table. "You can complain to me afterwards, or even call the police or sue me. All is fine. But the prerequisite is that you have to complete my task first."
"What about our losses?" a female voice asked.
Nick glanced at the woman who was speaking. "We're here to help fill the gap. If your game design is selected, you won't just get a generous sum of money. You'll also get technologies and products that aren't even available to the average person."
"Can I ask about your financial expenditure? How much money do you plan to spend on this game?" A steady male voice picked up the file bag distributed to him on the table and asked while looking at it.
Nick tilted his head, and dozens of burly agents came up behind him carrying heavy sacks. They lifted them up with force, placed them on the table of the conference table one by one and shook them.
The messy and numerous banknotes, smelling of fresh ink, covered the table and the surrounding ground like a shower of banknotes. This shocking scene made many people present unconsciously open their eyes wide.
"No limit. No limit to money, no limit to support, no limit to anything! While you're at it, even if you want to eat alien meat, we can get it for you. As long as you do it seriously and give it your all.
Not only you, but also your peers from all over the world will come. You will be divided into groups for repeated evaluations and competitions. Every winner will receive generous rewards!
If even the best of you can't produce satisfying work, we'll acquire one of your companies and then hold a global audition for design and script submissions. I hope we don't have to go that far.
"Do you have any other questions?" Nick ignored the money scattered all over the floor. After finishing his conversation, he looked around and asked.
"What about the technology? Should we each use our own technology to produce it first? How long will the production period be?" Someone raised his hand.
"No, no, no, throw away all the garbage in your house. We have better technology and platform. What you want to make is a large-scale production that can accommodate billions of players. Except us, no one can provide you with this technology." Nick waved his hand again.
Several burly agents, guarded by a group of armed soldiers, approached with several metal safes. They swept the money on the conference table to the ground, and with serious expressions, they carefully entered the password to open the box.
Nick stepped forward and turned one of the boxes, turning the open side toward the game designers. He reached inside and pulled out a silver-white ruler-like metal bar. In full view of everyone, he gently placed it on Nick's wrist. The ruler-like silver-white metal bar instantly bent into a bracelet, securely fastening it around Nick's wrist.
"This is the instrument we've provided you. Each one has a unique serial number. Once activated and logged in, it will be bound to your mental state. You can use it to connect to our mainframe." Nick wasn't telling the truth here. Whether it was Luke's data dimension or anything else, it was currently confidential information known only to a very few people. Of course, Nick couldn't just let it slip.
"As for time? The sooner the better! Our technology is enough to allow you to reduce a lot of complicated and time-wasting processes. As long as you come up with your own design and script, the technology will quickly make it come into being. Our time is very tight, gentlemen and ladies, you must be prepared to work overtime until late at night. Don't worry about anything outside, whether it's family or boss, we have already helped you. You just get ready, let us know if you need help, and then start working as soon as possible." Nick said decisively.
…
"Don't worry, I'll protect you." Thor, clutching his hammer, his face unshaven and haggard, was surprisingly high spirited. Or perhaps it was like a husky that had been restrained for a long time and gone mad. Even standing still couldn't conceal his lively energy that could burst forth into a frenzy the next moment.
"I actually want Loki to go with me." Strange covered his face and lamented.
"Loki? He's fine handling things, but fighting or being a bodyguard, he's not." Thor placed a hand on Strange's shoulder and pulled him into a hug, locking his shoulders tightly, afraid he'd yell for someone else to replace him. He'd finally won this opportunity, free from the troublesome matters that had been weighing him down. He didn't understand why those matters were so easy to handle. Couldn't he just hand them over to someone else?
"I don't want to fight! I suggest you don't just go up and start fighting. Remember, we are here to talk business! Business, do you understand?" Strange stood in front of the portal he had opened, and as he stepped in, he turned his head solemnly to remind Thor.
"Don't worry, I won't make the first move!" Thor grabbed Strange and stepped directly into the portal. Together with the portal, he disappeared from the spot.