"Your Highness."
Inside a brightly lit prison block, dozens of guards at the entrance rose and saluted as T'Challa hurried toward them.
"The criminal we just captured. Where is he?"
T'Challa returned the greeting with his arms folded across his chest and got straight to the point. "How is he now?"
"His vital signs are very weak, but with our treatment, we've barely managed to keep them within a normal range. However, because of the chip in his brain, our interrogation still hasn't produced any results."
The warden led T'Challa forward as he spoke. After passing through several layers of strict identity verification, the two of them arrived before a stark white prison cell.
Three sides of the cell had no windows at all. The side facing the corridor was fitted with a massive pane of reinforced glass.
Inside, there was nothing but a mattress. Even the walls were wrapped in a thick layer of soft padding.
From the outside, the interior was almost completely visible at a glance. It looked spacious and bright, but the environment created by the never-ending, monotonous light was unbearably dull.
Combined with the full surveillance and signal blocking, once a person lost all sense of time, an ordinary prisoner would not even last half a day inside before suffering a mental collapse.
A plain-looking man lay quietly on the mattress. His demeanor was oddly gentle, and with his eyes closed, he looked almost as though he were peacefully asleep.
"He's been like this for quite a while now."
The warden pressed a button on the glass with practiced ease. A shrill alarm instantly exploded through the cell.
The man lying inside did not move at all, as if he had heard nothing.
"This man underwent training so brutal it borders on insanity. None of our methods have been able to pry his mouth open."
The warden shook his head helplessly. "As far as we're concerned, he's no longer really a person. He's a machine, manufactured by some mysterious force."
This was Wakanda's most secure prison. He had seen every kind of criminal imaginable locked up here, and he liked to think he had met his share of hard cases. But someone like the man before them was beyond anything he had ever encountered.
"The chip in his brain can kill him at any moment. If he weren't here, he probably would've died countless times already."
"In this short span alone, we've resuscitated him more than ten times. If nothing unexpected happens, he probably won't last much longer."
T'Challa's expression did not change in the slightest as he listened to the warden's report. His face remained stiff as he gave a curt nod.
"Your Highness, this is already the limit of what we can do."
Reading his expression, the warden quickly added, "He was trained into this state precisely so he could be discarded. The moment anything goes wrong, he's meant to be destroyed."
"People like this are easy to kill, but hard to keep alive. If necessary, we can forcibly destroy the chip in his brain."
"With our technology, we can buy ourselves close to three minutes to interrogate him. After those three minutes, he'll die immediately, but there's a chance we could get some crucial lead in that window."
That finally caught T'Challa's interest. He raised a brow. "Oh? You can do that?"
"Yes, absolutely."
Seeing that T'Challa had not come to blame him, the warden hurriedly nodded and said with confidence, "Your Highness, shall we begin the interrogation now?"
"No. Don't interrogate him."
"You won't need to interrogate him again."
Unexpectedly, T'Challa shook his head. "Bring him out. Bring the smugglers as well. Take all of them to the council hall with me."
"This is exactly the outcome Father wanted."
As he urged the still-hesitant warden to bring the prisoners, T'Challa kept calculating in his heart.
Those mutants had come all the way to Wakanda, even willing to risk a war with the nation. It had not come to that in the end, but it was still enough to show how much they valued the intelligence inside this man's head.
Now even Wakanda, with all its advanced technology, could not extract everything in his mind. So how could those mutants, whose technology lagged decades behind Wakanda's, possibly manage it?
If nothing unexpected happened, their interrogation would fail. And if they still wanted that intelligence, sooner or later they would have to come begging Wakanda for help.
As the saying went, it was better to settle a feud than deepen it. Wakanda had always revered strength and respected the powerful.
If they could not deal with these formidable mutants, then turning them into allies might not be a bad thing for Wakanda at all.
"They can't do it, but we can. What better opportunity could there be to build a good relationship?"
Watching the vibranium smugglers being brought out of their cells one after another, T'Challa glanced once more at the man who looked like a walking corpse. After they were all shackled again, he swept his hand forward.
"Let's go!"
...
At the same time, inside the council chamber.
Knock, knock, knock.
A string of extremely polite knocks sounded from outside the door.
In the next moment, Fenris strode in with his head held high. The moment he saw T'Chaka on the throne, he greeted the king cheerfully.
Since arriving in Wakanda, this was the first time he had found T'Chaka's stern dark face so pleasing to the eye.
At the very least, it was a lot easier on the eyes than Nick Fury.
"You two seem to be in good spirits. I wonder if my daughter gave you a satisfactory tour?"
Seeing that this young, powerful mutant had completely shed his earlier arrogance and now carried himself with grace and ease, T'Chaka froze for a moment. Deep inside, he even felt a trace of delight he did not consciously notice.
"Your daughter?"
Fenris blinked in surprise.
Had T'Chaka sent Shuri to act as their guide?
"My apologies, but we didn't see the princess."
Fenris and Scott returned to their seats. "But we did indeed witness Wakanda's splendor. The land beneath your feet is a great one, and the treasures born from it have truly opened our eyes."
Fenris spared no effort in lavishing praise.
"Shuri wasn't with you?"
T'Chaka still looked a little incredulous, but after hearing Fenris's sincere praise, he could not help but burst into laughter as well.
"Fenris, well said. The people of Wakanda truly are our greatest treasure."
"That is the greatest honor granted to me by birth as the Black Panther and as Wakanda's king, and also the greatest duty I bear."
"Haha!"
The two of them exchanged a glance and saw the genuine delight in each other's eyes.
For a time, host and guests were equally pleased. A joyous mood spread through the chamber, and the vast council hall was soon filled with lively cheer.
Knock. Knock.
Another urgent round of knocking sounded.
T'Challa's voice came from outside the door.
"Father, I've brought the people our guests asked for."
(End of Chapter)
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