That night, Hong Fei called everyone together. Dr. Helen Cho had been curled up quietly beside him, but when Frank and the others started filing in, she straightened up. After a moment's hesitation, she leaned close to his ear and murmured, "Should I go back to my room?"
"Stay," he said. "Good for you to hear this."
Helen relaxed into her seat, though her manner became noticeably warmer—she offered polite nods and smiles to each new arrival. Soon the whole crew assembled. Hong Fei scanned the room: seven people sat before him, alert and attentive. Big Head was absent, but the energy in the room was palpable.
Natasha and Yelena occupied adjacent seats. What started as a team of seven had grown to eight, and with Hong Fei himself, nine. Even setting him aside, the remaining eight together formed a force no global organization could afford to ignore.
The memory hit him suddenly—mortgaging his house just to scrape together the funds for that first Middle East operation. How far they'd come.
"Frank," he said, "anything unusual lately?"
Frank shook his head. "Nothing major. Plenty of foreign agents sniffing around, though. Your place isn't exactly subtle, and we've got their attention."
"The neighbor?"
"Keeps to himself. But he's had a steady stream of visitors—seems to be cooking something up."
Hong Fei nodded, then turned. "Natasha. Yelena."
The sisters snapped to attention, shoulders squared.
"There are still over five hundred Black Widows stateside. That's your responsibility now. I've never given them strict directives, and I don't expect miracles. But if they're staying, they'd better stay out of trouble."
"Understood," they chorused.
He tapped his chin. "One more thing—have some of them try infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. How many young recruits do we have?"
Yelena answered instantly. "Over two hundred."
"Good. S.H.I.E.L.D. runs an academy, doesn't it? Let's see if they can get in. No pressure—just an experiment."
"I'll handle it."
"Arthur."
"Sir."
"Progress report?"
Arthur's voice was measured. "Per your instructions, we've achieved 80% network penetration of the neighboring castle without detection. I've also located the two targets you specified."
Before he finished speaking, twin beams of blue light flickered to life in the room, resolving into holograms—a young man and woman.
Hong Fei's lips curved. He jabbed a finger at the projections.
"Memorize these faces. Unlikely you'll encounter them elsewhere, but if you do, report to me immediately."
A pause. "They'll be joining us eventually."
That got their attention. Eyes sharpened, studying the holograms with fresh interest.
Hong Fei's plan was straightforward: let Strucker acquire the Mind Stone, fast-track his human experiments, and activate Wanda and Pietro's latent abilities.
That's right, the twins' abilities were not granted by the Mind Stone—they'd always had the potential. The Stone was merely a catalyst. Left to the original timeline, they wouldn't emerge for years. But after dealing with the Ten Rings, Hong Fei intended to personally accelerate their development.
"Second item. Jessica."
"Right here, boss."
"Your task is to find people. I have compiled a list that Arthur will give you. The information on these people might be correct, it might be wrong, or they might not even exist at all. In short, do everything in your power to find them or confirm their non-existence, then report back to Arthur. Note: You do not need to make personal contact with any of them. Of course, if you happen to fancy one, it's not impossible, but remember to report it in advance."
"Okay, Boss." Jessica paused and then asked: "What if I'm discovered and they won't leave me alone?"
"Kill them."
"Got it!"
Hong Fei rolled his eyes: "Got what? I'm saying kill them! Most of these people are ordinary civilians. If you get discovered by them and can't even escape, then your existence is a serious waste of resources!"
Jessica realized Hong Fei was joking, but she couldn't help but shrink her neck in embarrassment.
Hong Fei turned his head: "Antonia."
"Here."
Hong Fei looked at her and asked with a hint of hesitation: "Your face?"
Antonia was still wearing her familiar Taskmaster suit. Upon hearing this, she took off her helmet to reveal her face. The cheek that had been half-burned was now mostly repaired. It might not be identical to the other side, but at least it no longer looked horrific. Compared to the other women present, her appearance was not lacking in the slightest.
Dr. Helen Cho interjected for the first time: "Her facial reconstruction progress is slow, but it's safe. Especially around the eyes, taking a slow approach won't affect her vision at all, and there won't be any side effects."
Antonia nodded gently, her eyes filled with gratitude as she looked at Dr. Helen Cho.
"Thank you for your hard work, you've done well."
Hong Fei praised her, and Dr. Helen Cho beamed with joy.
Turning back, Hong Fei said: "You will accompany Jessica on her mission. Remember what I just said."
Antonia: "Understood!"
Hong Fei: "Bronski."
"Boss."
"Go to Africa and link up with Number One and the others. Given your current status, you can fully take over their command. Any issues?"
Bronski laughed immediately: "Of course not, Boss. This is my line of work."
Hong Fei nodded and looked at Frank. Frank nodded in agreement: "I will have my people assist him."
"Good. Bronski, your task is simple. Number One has already found the tribe Wakanda uses as a disguise abroad, and there is news about Ulysses Klaue. Once you go there, first: find the hidden entrance to Wakanda; second: adjust the weapon deployments nearby to ensure you can unleash maximum lethality in a short period; third: capture Ulysses and make him disclose the location of all the Vibranium. If that's really not possible, you can bring him back first, as long as he's not dead."
Bronski became excited upon hearing this: "No problem!"
Three tasks, three directions of arrangements. In the end, only Frank was left with nothing specific to do. However, Hong Fei never worried that Frank would be bored; he was far too good at finding things to do for himself, because the gangsters in this world were virtually endless.
"Frank, you'll have to bear the burden of staying in Sokovia to hold the fort. Of course, if you have business, you can head out at any time. Ivan will be staying at the Sky Base for a long time to come; just remember to let him know."
"I understand."
Turning back, Hong Fei smiled and said: "The tasks assigned this time are actually not very urgent. Strictly speaking, I was just afraid you'd be too idle staying at home, so I temporarily found something for you to do. At this point in time, any one of you, if sent out alone, would be a superhero praised by the masses. These three tasks are a piece of cake for you, so please, don't let me down, okay?"
His tone was smiling, but to those who heard it, there seemed to be an extra chill.
"Understood!"
The crowd dispersed, and Dr. Helen Cho suddenly let out a long sigh of relief. Hong Fei turned back: "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, you just looked so fierce earlier."
Hong Fei raised an eyebrow: "Did I?"
Dr. Helen Cho nodded heavily. Hong Fei scooped her up in his arms: "There's even fiercer!"
......
The next day, after everyone had departed, Hong Fei also took to the sky and flew toward the North American continent. However, this time his destination was not New York, but Miami, because that was Killian's true lair.
Ever since A.I.M. was founded, for a long time the company had conducted ordinary theoretical experimental research. It wasn't until 2006, when the theoretical research reached a certain level, that Killian began to turn toward human experimentation. He specifically recruited disabled people to serve as test subjects for Extremis.
However, the first batch of test subjects all died due to the sudden spike in high temperatures, resulting in explosions. However, it wasn't without any good news. At the very least, during the brief period of stability after the injection, the missing parts of these disabled people's bodies did indeed grow back quickly, which was undoubtedly consistent with his research goals.
Consequently, not only did he not restrain himself in the slightest, he became even more frantic. To this day, although the mortality rate of Extremis remains high, if you set aside the loss of life and look purely at the probabilities, it has indeed improved significantly.
Arriving in Miami, Hong Fei descended into a large, old-fashioned villa with very unique landscaping. The security personnel here were all on guard with guns, yet they showed no surprise at Hong Fei's arrival; on the contrary, they were all very respectful.
Big Head came up to greet him and led him inward, and eventually, the two entered the core of the place.
He saw Killian sprawled out on the floor, while that imposing and murderous Mandarin from the television was kneeling in front of an empty sofa, bowing his head to the ground.
"Boss, please sit."
Big Head guided Hong Fei to a seat, then stood to the side with his hands crossed and his chest puffed out.
After sitting down, Hong Fei looked at the person kneeling before him, tapped his fingertips on the sofa armrest, and then said: "Look up."
Upon hearing this, the fake Mandarin's body trembled, and he had no choice but to lift his head with stiff, slow movements. Hong Fei quickly saw the face from his memories.
However, compared to the somewhat playful performance in the movie, the actor playing the Mandarin before him seemed very terrified, because not only was his body trembling and his teeth chattering, even his eyeballs were shaking.
Hong Fei couldn't help but ask: "Am I that scary?"
Unexpectedly, the other party immediately prostrated himself deeply, wishing he could press his entire body against the floor, repeating pleas for mercy. Seeing this, Hong Fei turned his head to look at Big Head.
Why does everyone you have contact with alone suddenly become so weird? Just how perverted are you in private, damn it?
When was the last time?
It's the last day of the month, please vote! Additionally, here is an excerpt from Chapter 129:
Alexandra's room; Bullseye and Ivan had lived here before, and she was the third tenant. After opening the door, Alexandra sat on the bed and opened her eyes slightly. If you ignored her complexion and eyes, she looked fine overall, with no signs of torture or interrogation.
She had deep dark circles around her eyes, and her gaze had lost the calculated, confident brilliance she had at the beginning, as if she had fallen from the clouds into the dust in an instant, having completely lost faith in life under the weight of a major blow.
What on earth did Big Head do to her? Hong Fei couldn't help but think.