"Why do you need to find him?"
Coulson was confused. He couldn't understand why Natasha suddenly brought up Lu Yi. From a logical standpoint, Lu Yi had nothing to do with this case.
"Do you remember when we first met him—how Lu Yi recognized us before we even introduced ourselves?" Natasha didn't answer Coulson directly. Instead, she posed a question of her own.
"Of course I remember how shocked I was. Later, after hearing his explanation, I understood. His senses—his sight and hearing—are extraordinary. He once used them to search the world for some kind of higher knowledge."
Coulson suddenly realized where she was going. He asked quickly, "You mean… maybe Lu Yi learned something while gathering intelligence?"
"Exactly. If he was able to find our information, that means he already looked into S.H.I.E.L.D. And if S.H.I.E.L.D. really has moles, there must be quite a few. We're inside the agency, so we can't see them. He's outside—if something's wrong, he might be able to detect it."
"Are you really that sure he knows anything about this?"
"Who knows? But it's worth a shot. Besides… from the very beginning, I saw something unusual in Lu Yi's eyes."
"Unusual how?"
"It's a look that's both admirable and unsettling at the same time… almost like he's watching a performance."
"A performance?"
"Men and women notice different things about people. Maybe you didn't see it—but I did."
"You're certain?"
"I'm sure. And even if I didn't have that feeling, I am one hundred percent certain Lu Yi is hiding something. That's my professional instinct. It's not something I doubt."
Coulson could only agree. Natasha's professionalism was unquestionable.
"So, should we leave now?"
"We need to wait a little. There are things here we can't ignore. That corpse—it's extremely valuable for research. We need to study it carefully and bring it back."
"Then what should we do?"
"Call someone."
The situation was different now. Earlier, they couldn't notify S.H.I.E.L.D. because they needed to confirm the identities of the people here. They had no evidence and couldn't risk alerting traitors.
But after searching everything and finding no useful information, they now had a way to confirm whether there was a leak inside S.H.I.E.L.D. They no longer needed to hide the existence of that leak.
More importantly, the corpse needed immediate handling.
So they reported everything that happened—but they concealed their suspicions. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents soon arrived at the manor.
They didn't hide this intentionally—they had to. They didn't know whether their communicators were being monitored, so they kept silent, not even informing Nick Fury.
When S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel arrived, Natasha and Coulson barely interacted with them. They handed things over, claimed they had another urgent mission, instructed the agents to clean up the scene, commandeered a vehicle, and drove straight to Lu Yi's residence.
After they left, the man in charge of the cleanup—a bald man with glasses—pulled out a special communicator, acting as if no one around him existed.
"Minister, we've secured the area."
"Good. Any issues?"
"Not yet, but…"
"What is it?" the voice on the other end asked.
"Coulson and Natasha left early. I don't know what they're planning. I'm worried they figured something out. Should we send people to eliminate them?" the bald man asked, completely unconcerned that he was talking about murdering fellow agents.
He spoke as if discussing the removal of a few ants, not his own colleagues.
"Not yet. They won't find anything. The squad I sent was personally instructed by me to protect that idiot. They carried nothing that could identify them. I even ordered them to stage a robbery at the manor. There's absolutely no way Coulson and Natasha will uncover anything."
"And him?"
"He seems to have another mission. Don't worry. Our attempt to steal the Darkhold already made Nick Fury suspicious—we can't afford to make things worse."
"Then what about the body? The idiot may have gotten even dumber after gaining powers, but he's still valuable for research. Should we study him?"
"We'll collect a few samples, nothing more. The rest we leave to S.H.I.E.L.D. We are S.H.I.E.L.D. Their resources are ours. Just gather what we need and store it safely—let them do the hard work."
"Understood."
"You've been reliable so far. I'll leave that place to you. Just keep the big picture in mind—that's what matters."
The connection ended.
Seeing this, the bald man put the communicator away.
"Everyone, follow my orders. Collect the samples and take everything useful back."
"Yes, sir!" the team answered in unison.
The bald man was pleased with their response. Then he suddenly shouted, "Hail Hydra!"
"Hail Hydra!" everyone echoed loudly.
He was satisfied, though he personally disliked the slogan—every time he said it, he felt ridiculous. But it was undeniably effective for brainwashing subordinates.
It was a pity Natasha and Coulson had already left. Had they witnessed this scene, they would have been utterly shocked.
They never would have imagined that every person here was a traitor.Or, more accurately—every person here was a Hydra agent.
But even if the two agents had stayed, they would've seen nothing.
The bald man never intended for them to witness the truth. If they were present, the Hydra agents would simply act like loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives—searching for clues, recovering the body, and cleaning the site.
Hydra had spent years hiding inside S.H.I.E.L.D. It wasn't easy.Their discipline was tight, their organization precise—they always knew exactly what to do and when to act.
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