"Thank you for your help, Artoria."
The fastest to arrive was the Inhumans' Queen, Medusa. After all, she had Lockjaw, a big dog with teleportation abilities. In less than two minutes after Artoria spoke with Medusa, she saw the beautiful Queen. Looking at Black Bolt, who was lying on the ground, Medusa let out a deep sigh of relief. The fear and anxiety she had been suppressing these past few days, keeping the news of Black Bolt's disappearance from everyone, had put immense pressure on her. On one hand, she had to handle a large volume of paperwork; on the other, she had to mitigate the impact of Black Bolt's absence, ensuring no one—including members of the royal family and the little princess Crystal—knew about it. Recently, the highly stressed Medusa felt her hair drooping a bit. Perhaps she was just too exhausted and needed a good rest.
"It's nothing."
Facing Medusa's gratitude, Artoria responded calmly. After chatting briefly, Medusa used her hair to drag Black Bolt by his legs and left with Lockjaw. Watching the trail plowed into the ground, Artoria fell silent. Is this how a married couple acts? Do you see this as something a person would do? Lockjaw was right there; there was no need for such unnecessary actions to leave this place, yet Medusa still did it. Artoria mourned for Black Bolt for a second, hoping he wouldn't discover he had been disfigured when he woke up.
"Faster than I expected, aren't you? S.H.I.E.L.D."
Intuition told Artoria that something was approaching from the sky, but she couldn't see anything. Artoria activated her Dragon Eyes and noticed the anomaly in the air. Soon, a Quinjet appeared before her. Needless to say, this was a S.H.I.E.L.D. tool. The hatch opened, and the Nick Fury, one-eyed Director, wearing a black leather trench coat, walked slowly toward Artoria, accompanied by the fair-skinned and beautiful Special Agent Hill.
"What is this? What happened?"
As he stepped down, he noticed the pile of people lying on the ground. Some of them looked very familiar. He took a closer look at the people on the ground; they were basically elites or big shots from various industries. Why were they all here? Nick was full of questions, but he knew Artoria would definitely answer this for him. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come to find him through Natasha. Seeing the people on the ground, Nick felt he had guessed something, but he couldn't grasp the main point. He hoped Artoria could resolve his confusion.
"This should be our second meeting, right, Miss Artoria?"
Facing such a situation, Nick greeted Artoria without changing his expression. Such strong psychological fortitude was truly worthy of a spymaster. An ordinary person would have likely been stunned and started making wild guesses, perhaps even suspecting Artoria of being behind it all. Nick's actions made Artoria feel very comfortable, so she replied with a kind smile.
"To be precise, it should be the third time, Mr. Nick. You attended my fifth birthday party."
The interaction between Nick and Artoria warmed the atmosphere slightly. The two chatted like they were discussing daily life. Artoria's words surprised Nick, causing him to widen his single eye. Artoria was right; he did attend her birthday party, having been invited by Howard. But he couldn't even remember how many years ago that was. The fact that Artoria remembered—or rather, was able to recognize Nick as the person who had attended her birthday party back then—was terrifying memory!
"Then, let's end the reminiscing here. Could you explain it to me, Miss Artoria?"
The two chatted back and forth for nearly an hour. In the middle, Hill tried to interrupt several times but couldn't stop them. Finally, Nick himself asked Artoria to explain what had happened. Why were so many people lying here? Even while chatting with Artoria earlier, he had been secretly observing the state of these people. None of them were dead; they were just lying there, seemingly unconscious. He was very curious about what they had encountered to end up passed out in this place.
"That's no problem, but Mr. Nick, you must be mentally prepared."
Since Nick had asked, Artoria generously explained. She took out her phone and pulled up the photos taken by Saturday. An image of a green creature appeared before Nick. Seeing this creature, Nick's calm expression finally changed. He widened his eyes, looking at the familiar creature in front of him in surprise. Wasn't this the Skrulls who had descended to Earth decades ago? Weren't they taken away by Captain Marvel? How did Artoria get this photo? What was going on?
"It seems I was right to call you, Mr. Nick. You should know this creature, right?"
Watching Nick's expression, Artoria laughed happily in her heart. This was the result she wanted. As long as Nick was unsettled, the subsequent matters would be easy to handle. Hearing Artoria's words, Nick realized he had lost his composure and quickly adjusted his complicated mood. His brows furrowed tightly. This matter had indeed exceeded his expectations. He really hadn't expected the alien race he had encountered decades ago to reappear before him. Thinking of the Skrulls' shapeshifting abilities, and the Kree who were closely following behind the Skrulls, he felt immense pressure.
"Artoria, this is no joke. Where exactly did you find this creature? And how did they die? Did you see anyone wearing green combat uniforms like the Starforce?"
This photo was unexpectedly very useful. Nick was very anxious right now, which made it very convenient for her to explain. With three parts truth and seven parts lie, she could just make something up, and Nick would likely believe it. Although he might figure something out later, with her parents here, Nick wouldn't dare to question why Artoria lied.
"When I found them, they were all already unconscious... I don't know the rest. However, I didn't see anyone wearing the green combat uniforms like the Starforce you mentioned."
Listening to Nick's questioning, Artoria knew the guy was overthinking, but this also showed that Nick was truly panicked. So, Artoria told Nick her fabricated story. She paused at times, pretending to be struggling to recall, and after stalling for twenty-some minutes, she finally explained everything to Nick. After hearing Artoria's words, Nick frowned and fell silent, seemingly pondering something.
"I will handle these matters. Miss Artoria, do you need me to take you back?"
After a short silence, Nick spoke to Artoria. He would take care of the rest. This was the sentence Artoria most wanted to hear. Other things were easy to talk about, but for cleaning up the Tail ends, it was indeed better to let the professionals handle it. After Nick made a call, he asked Artoria if she needed a ride, but Artoria smiled and declined.
"Do you think what Artoria said is true or false?"
After Artoria walked away, Nick stared straight at his assistant, Hill. The question he posed left Hill a bit confused. What was wrong? Weren't they just chatting happily? Why was he now doubting the truthfulness of what she said? But after a moment of silence, Hill didn't rush to complain about her boss.
"Truth or falsehood is no longer important. Now that the matter has occurred, let's just treat what she said as true!"
Finally, Hill gave a very pertinent answer. This made Nick nod, pat Hill on the shoulder, and walk away. His thoughts were similar to Hill's. Since such a thing had happened, let's temporarily treat this as the truth! Artoria probably didn't expect that Nick had no intention of getting to the real result, but rather judged the truth based on reality. If Artoria knew about this, she probably would have complained about it long ago.
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