Unlike Su Modie,
Although Makima was also skilled at staying behind the scenes to control the overall situation, she would occasionally go to the scene in person for the sake of her goals.
For instance, right now, while Reze and Quanxi were clearing out the Russian Gang, Makima wasn't idle either.
A pitch-black bulletproof Maybach was parked in the shadows half a block away from the destination.
Makima sat elegantly in the back seat, the window lowered only a crack.
Those golden ringed eyes were unfocused, as if she were daydreaming, but as several plump sparrows landed on the top of a wall, through their eyes, Makima and Su Modie's vision extended all the way into the deepest part of this construction site.
No matter how many times I see it, it's hard to keep a straight face.
Observing from the shadows.
This was an unfinished building construction site located on the edge of Hells Kitchen.
On the surface, it was overgrown with weeds and several streetlights were broken, but deep within the site, several black Chevrolet Suburbans were parked.
Two groups of people were currently in a standoff here.
The group on the right was dressed uniformly in black suits and white shirts, with acoustic tube earpieces in their ears. They looked like ordinary federal Agents, but the slight bulge at the hem of their suits and the way their hands remained pressed to their waists even during negotiations revealed the elite and dangerous nature of this group.
However, the most eye-catching one was the man in the suit leading them; he had a very prominent, large bald head.
Su Modie almost lost it the moment she saw him.
She might not have been certain if she were looking at someone else, but seeing this boiled egg—that white bald man standing at the very front, wearing glasses and exuding a bureaucratic air—Su Modie immediately knew exactly who these men in suits were.
Aren't these guys S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents?
Or rather, they were HYDRA Agents within S.H.I.E.L.D.
The leader with the large bald head was none other than Jasper Sitwell.
He was a senior Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and also a key backbone of HYDRA lurking within the organization.
Who knows why—maybe the work pressure at S.H.I.E.L.D. was too high? Did they have to work overtime every day?
Nick Fury and Jasper Sitwell, these two bald heads—one black and one white—really were quite a comical sight.
Su Modie turned her gaze to the other side.
Opposite the suit-clad Agents stood a group of masked eccentrics wearing dark red ninja attire.
They surrounded an elderly Chinese woman leaning on a cane, treating her like the moon among the stars.
"The Hand... Madame Gao?"
It seemed Wesley's intelligence was completely correct; The Hand was indeed secretly collaborating with HYDRA.
So the question was... what were they trying to do?
The cold wind howled, kicking up dry dust from the construction site and hitting the bulletproof glass of the black car with a rustling sound.
The site's searchlights weren't on, and the two opposing groups were only barely illuminated by the faint glow of the distant Manhattan night scene.
"Agent Sitwell."
Madame Gao's hands were folded over the dragon-head handle of her rosewood cane. No panic could be seen on her wrinkled face, and her voice was raspy and slow, carrying a tone that was more of an interrogation than an inquiry: "A late-night visit... this doesn't seem to be within the scope of our agreement, does it?"
"If this old woman remembers correctly, not a single cent that was supposed to reach your accounts has been missing."
"That is indeed true; credibility has always been The Hand's golden trademark." Sitwell pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose, a bureaucratic, skin-deep smile on his face. "But the problem is, Madame Gao, you've caused too much of a stir this time."
He pointed to the slightly trembling ground beneath his feet and said meaningfully, "Three consecutive weeks of low-frequency vibrations. The bureau's geological monitoring department has already drafted three reports. If I hadn't been marking this data as the aftershocks of subway expansion... I'm afraid it wouldn't be me coming this time, but Quinjets."
Madame Gao's cloudy eyes shifted slightly, and a cold smile curled at the corners of her mouth. "Since Mr. Sitwell can suppress this matter, it shows it's not an unsolvable trouble. Speak, Mr. Agent, are you dissatisfied with the previous lubrication fees?"
"Haha, money is a good thing; no one ever thinks they have too much."
Sitwell shrugged and looked at Madame Gao, a greedy light flashing in his eyes. "But at our level, simple numbers sometimes don't bring a sense of security. As a partner, I need to know what I'm helping you cover up."
"Only by knowing the bottom line can I serve you better, can't I?"
"Ultimately, we aren't the type to raise prices on the spot; we just want to broaden our horizons."
This was blatant prying.
Sitwell had clearly caught a scent of something unusual and wanted to see the bottom of this hand of cards.
Facing this overstepping probe, Madame Gao merely lowered her eyelids indifferently, her tone as casual as if they were discussing the weather. "Mr. Agent worries too much. There are no earth-shattering secrets; this is just a small private hobby of us old folks."
"We are excavating some cultural relics and some rare prehistoric biological fossils."
"You know how it is; as one gets older, one always becomes exceptionally fascinated by these old things buried in the dirt."
"Pfft—"
Far away in her apartment, Su Modie almost spat out the cola she had just sipped upon hearing this nonsense.
"Are you serious? Digging for cultural relics in New York?"
Su Modie wiped the corner of her mouth, her face full of speechlessness. "This excuse is too lazy. Even saying you're drilling for oil would be more believable than this."
However, complaints aside.
Combining current intelligence, the puzzle pieces in Su Modie's mind finally came together.
From a certain perspective, Madame Gao wasn't entirely lying; she was indeed digging for 'fossils.'
Only they weren't dinosaur fossils, but—Dragon Bone.
This thing was the skeletal remains left behind after an ancient divine dragon died, containing an extremely vast amount of 'Qi.'
The old monsters leading The Hand ground it into powder and used it with secret methods to gain long lives, even allowing their ninja subordinates to be resurrected repeatedly. It was just that their stock was running low, which was why they were so desperately digging for new Dragon Bone in New York.
Of course, Su Modie had always looked down on this stuff.
It was true that Dragon Bone could extend one's life, but once one started using it, it had to be consumed continuously.
Otherwise, the body would rapidly fail, and long-term consumption would lead to the decay of internal organs.
What was the difference between that and a junkie? More fatally, this stuff only granted longevity, not eternal youth.
It was also true that it could bring the dead back to life, but the mind and soul of the resurrected would become fragmented and incomplete.
With such severe side effects... Su Modie didn't want to turn herself into a crazy, ugly old hag.
Compared to the true artifacts in the Marvel Universe, Dragon Bone could at most be considered a third-rate supplement with a curse.
Su Modie didn't think much of it.
Of course, if she could take it away as a collectible or use it as a trump card, it would be a decent choice.
Su Modie's gaze turned playful. "I see... that explains it."
"Why The Hand could carry out such a massive project for so many years right under S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nose without being discovered."
"They're all just birds of a feather!"
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