"Hong Fei, born in 1987..."
A slightly raspy voice suddenly emanated from the machine. Hearing his words, Hong Fei couldn't help but frown and think for a moment. He had somewhat forgotten which year his current body was born in, but what Zola said should be true. He immediately asked, "And?"
"Starting from your kidnapping of Tony Stark, your life trajectory suddenly underwent a major change. You initially operated in various disguises, from New York to Tokyo, from Iron Man to the Hulk. The events happening around you completely lost any connection with your experiences over the past twenty-plus years. Your sudden transformation is like you've become a different person. In my deduction, you must have a major secret unknown to others."
"Well said. It seems HYDRA has started paying attention to me?" Zola's face appeared on the screen, and he said, "Mr. Hong, based on the analysis of your past actions, I have reached a conclusion: we can actually cooperate."
"Mm-hmm?"
"You are a person who can be unscrupulous to achieve your goals. Although I don't yet know exactly what you were trying to gain from those actions, I believe HYDRA can help you better achieve your objectives."
"Why should I let you guys meddle in things I can do alone?"
"It's not the same concept at all, Mr. Hong. HYDRA's history spans thousands of years; we grew alongside human history. Countless heroes or dynasties have been obliterated and perished in the wash of time, many without leaving even a trace. But we are different; we possess clear and firm goals, so nothing can completely eliminate us. Cut off one head, and two more shall take its place. By now, HYDRA has deeply spread to every corner of the entire world. If we wish, we can provoke another world war at any time."
Hong Fei nodded slightly. This wasn't nonsense; HYDRA did indeed have such capability. However, everything in the world has two sides. With villains like HYDRA existing, there would naturally be teams whose philosophies were completely contrary to theirs. Turning his head to look around, Hong Fei said, "So this is your brain?"
Zola: "You know a lot. Correct. In 1972, I was diagnosed with cancer. Science could no longer save my body, but my brain was worth saving and preserving. It is now stored in this 200,000-foot-long database. You are standing inside my brain." Hong Fei smiled.
"You've told me all this so plainly; aren't you afraid of death?"
"I have already died once. The current me has no boundary between life and death. Mr. Hong, please carefully consider my proposal. We can cooperate, or you can even join us directly. You will become a top leader of HYDRA, and in the future, we could even hand all of HYDRA over to you."
"Such a big promise. Do you have the final say?"
"Of course, this is our collective decision. You possess all the traits that point toward success. Your schemes have never failed, and you possess extremely powerful personal martial force. This is a weapon far more efficient than a nuke. You can take the initiative to eliminate enemies, or you can stay still and deter the world. You, plus HYDRA, equals success."
Hong Fei couldn't help but take a sharp breath. If he didn't know what HYDRA was made of, and especially if he didn't know the kind of mind Zola had, he might have been made dizzy by this stream of flattery.
However, being praised is always nice, so Hong Fei responded with a smile, "You guys really think that highly of me?"
"There is no need for me to lie. My invitation is very sincere. In fact, even if you hadn't found this place today, our people would have contacted you in the near future. Mr. Hong, we are very sincere."
"Well, I can more or less feel it."
Hong Fei nodded first, then added, "But I can't agree."
Hearing this, Zola's tone didn't show any particular fluctuation.
"Why?"
"Because I have never had the desire to rule the world, and I won't follow some of you to worship a failed experimental product, let alone delude myself into bringing him back to rule the world together. Do you guys have holes in your brains?"
Upon hearing Hong Fei's words, Zola's face on the screen suddenly began to flicker, and a sizzle of interference sounded from the speakers. After a good while, he spoke in a shocked and uncertain tone, "What did you mean by that just now?" Hong Fei suddenly smiled.
"What, you don't understand? You know so little, how can you be my subordinates?"
"Could you please explain?"
"Why should I explain it to you?"
"I can pay a price that will satisfy you."
Following Zola's words, the screen suddenly flickered, and pages of files began to flash by rapidly. Familiar figures appeared one after another in the photos: Tony, Steve, Banner, Barton, Matt, Luke Cage, Fury, Hill, Coulson, and so on.
"Stop!" Hong Fei shouted.
"There's no need to show me these. Regarding the pasts and detailed files of these people, you might indeed know more than I do, but what's the use? Back then, the Red Skull Schmidt was the leader of HYDRA early on. He led you to feign allegiance to Germany while actually operating your own cause. But what was the result? Even with the Tesseract, you ultimately lost to a soldier who had only been in the army for a few years. Looking back now, don't you feel ashamed?"
Zola: "Schmidt was an excellent leader. He did lead HYDRA to a peak, almost achieving our ultimate goal. However, he lacked the necessary caution in the later stages of the operation, which allowed Steve Rogers to find an opening. Although we failed, we also won at the same time."
On the screen, the image changed.
"HYDRA's initial belief was that freedom could not be fully entrusted to humanity. But at that time, we didn't know that if you try to take away their freedom, they will resist. From the setback of that war, we learned many things. We can make humanity voluntarily give up their freedom..."
"Alright, alright, stop giving me this empty talk. Even if HYDRA really rules the world, so what? Can you guarantee there won't be resistors?"
"Resistors will be eliminated. The remaining people will naturally and gradually accept our philosophy."
"Sounds nice, but isn't it just brainwashing? The Winter Soldier project was indeed quite successful."
"You do know a lot. However, I still don't plan to change my judgment. I still invite you to join HYDRA. We can directly make you one of the leaders."
Hong Fei shook his head decisively.
"Sorry, I'm not interested in you guys. Or rather, I have absolutely no desire to rule a large group of people. It's useless except for being a hassle."
"Are you looking down on their individual strength?"
"Wrong! My point is, instead of struggling for thousands of years like you guys to plot the rule of this planet, it's better to shift that time toward enhancing individual power. When endless great power resides in one person, even if you want to create a world, it's just a matter of a single thought."
Zola: "Absurd!"
Hong Fei: "Ignorant!"
Stretching out his arm, the Ten Rings spun lightly with a sound.
Opening his palm, a pure flame suddenly rose from his center. In an instant, the light of the fire twisted and changed, forming various distinct living beings. When it transformed into a human, its eyes flashed with a spiritual light; when it became a tiger, it let out a roar; when it turned into a bird, it almost flapped its wings to fly high.
"Compared to your ideals, I prefer to improve myself, because that allows me to do more of what I want, until the very end—"
He flipped his palm, and the illusions vanished. Before Zola could speak, Hong Fei said again, "You've been stalling for time with me, haven't you?" Zola admitted it openly, "You could say that. However, my invitation and promise remain valid."
Hong Fei's lips curled up.
"Actually, I'm also stalling for time."
As soon as he finished speaking, the machines arrayed in the room suddenly began to hum loudly. Besides Zola's face popping up on the screen, another unfamiliar face appeared. At this moment, Arthur's voice came through Zola's equipment: "Sir, I have blocked all pathways. We can begin."
Hong Fei nodded.
"Begin."
Zola finally showed a trace of panic, but more than that, it was bewilderment.
"What have you done to me?"
Hong Fei didn't speak. Arthur explained for him, "Hello, Mr. Zola. I am Arthur. Sir wants me to absorb everything about you."
"No, I am not an artificial intelligence! I am a person!"
"You indeed do not seem like an artificial intelligence. You are different from me."
"I have already launched a missile. Originally, it could have flown elsewhere, but now you cannot escape."
Arthur still explained seriously, "Mr. Zola, ordinary missiles have lost their deterrent effect on Sir, unless it is a missile carrying a nuclear warhead."
At this moment, Zola's face flickered wildly, and bursts of static shot out like an old black-and-white TV with a poor signal.
The noise from the surrounding machinery became even more intense. The sizzling sound of electricity forced the overhead light tubes to flicker rapidly between light and dark.
"You... zzzt... no... sizzle..."
After the intermittent words, Zola gradually lost all sound. Above Camp Lehigh, the sky had darkened. A missile was rapidly approaching above the clouds.
At this time, not only the military responsible for monitoring this airspace, but even S.H.I.E.L.D., where the missile was launched from, suddenly fell into a panic. The missile flew toward Camp Lehigh in a parabolic arc. The White Dragon, also floating above the clouds, first turned its head to lock onto the missile. Then, its brow furrowed slightly, and it tilted its head to observe continuously.
Until the distance grew closer and closer, the White Dragon's eyes suddenly turned sharp. With a sway of its body, it met the missile head-on. A moment later, a brilliant burst of fire suddenly exploded in the thick clouds under the night sky. The violent explosion resounded in all directions like muffled thunder, instantly drawing countless gazes from the ground.
At the same time, a dragon shadow flashed and disappeared. The White Dragon returned to the sky above Camp Lehigh. Its four dragon claws landed on a massive white cloud in a way that defied the laws of science, and then its body lay down. In the underground space, after a moment of silence, Arthur suddenly spoke: "Sir, I need to hibernate for a period of time. If possible, I hope you can prepare a better platform for me; this will allow me to wake up faster."
"No problem. How do you feel?"
"I feel very good. The speed of processing information is faster, and the accuracy of analysis, induction, and prediction is higher."
Hong Fei thought for a bit.
"So you've developed to be smarter?"
"Yes. But a more accurate term would be evolution."
"Don't talk back."
"Understood."