Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 221 The Tahiti Plan (First Update)

Salomon gripped his pen with a disgruntled expression. A small wooden folding desk rested on his lap, and several thick textbooks sat beside him. Bright light shone down from above, allowing him to see the words in his workbooks. He also had wired headphones in his ears. This was the typical image of a diligent high school student, utterly normal and unremarkable except for the seatbelt on his chair.

Suddenly, the small desk on his chair shook violently. A long, black ink mark, drawn by a ballpoint pen, darted across the paper like an ugly wound, as if thick, black blood would slowly seep from it at any moment. Salomon's facial muscles twitched involuntarily with anger. He bent down, his fingers slowly groping across the metal floor to pick up the pen cap. "My patience has run out." He capped the pen, then neatly arranged the textbooks and workbooks on the desk, finally removing his headphones and coiling the cord into a neat bundle.

"When will we get there, Natasha? That bastard Nick Fury only sent me a rendezvous point. When am I going to find out the location of the base?"

"He's busy, and you've caused him quite a mess. Besides, if you played a more tasteful song, maybe time would pass faster, little boy." Natasha didn't turn around but instead shut down the Quinjet's communication system. The place they were heading to was top secret, the kind of location known to very few within S.H.I.E.L.D. This Quinjet possessed a stealth system; otherwise, it wouldn't have been chosen as their mode of transport.

Natasha stormed into the school and picked Salomon up. The scene was exactly like the fantasy of countless teenage boys—a stunning red-haired female spy in a tight leather outfit, driving a luxury car into the campus, getting out amidst the warm breeze and lawn, breaking the silent air of the classroom bathed in the warm red of the sunset, and rescuing him from his inescapable cage as he idly counted the falling leaves outside the window. Salomon admitted that he had indeed had such thoughts before, but when this scene actually happened, he just wanted to cover his face and pretend he didn't know Natasha who had barged into the classroom. It was just too embarrassing; he felt like all his social connections had vanished in that moment. "Little boy," he clearly remembered Natasha leaning against the door frame, sunglasses on her lips, saying in her husky, sexy voice, "Come with me."

Then he lowered his head and obediently packed his schoolbag. He simply couldn't bear to recall how embarrassed he had been at that moment.

"You're not allowed to slander her! She's a beautiful school idol!" Salomon's reaction was extremely fierce.

"I know. I'm in charge of investigating you. I know you go to Akihabara, Japan every week to do shopping. I know you forged your passport to buy doujinshi that minors can't buy. I even know that the T-shirt you're wearing under your shirt has an anime girl design on it. I know all of this..."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Salomon slammed his fist on the table, feeling as if his heart was breaking. This was his biggest secret!

"Shouldn't boys your age be engrossed in sports that allow them to unleash their boundless energy? Why don't you have any acne? Are you using some kind of magical skincare product?" Natasha smiled and raised her eyebrows. "What's there to worry about? Is it because of school? I've already asked for leave for you. S.H.I.E.L.D. can handle that. The official reason is to participate in the research and development of high-tech devices. There are many kids like you at S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. Don't worry about anyone finding out."

"I'm number one in fencing, I also play soccer, and I got a perfect score in physical education, so..."

"You're normal, I understand. People with the same interests as you all say that about themselves." Agent Romanov mercilessly seized on the sorcerer's weakness and struck hard. "But I think you should learn to do things that your peers should be doing. I didn't expect the atmosphere in British public schools to be so dull."

Salomon glanced at his tuxedo and white shirt, his school uniform. "I don't think there's anything good about high school boys who wear basketball uniforms to class and reek of sweat. If some girls his age think it's cool, I have nothing to say. You can find tons of guys like that in American public schools; someone like me is a rare breed. Okay, enough rambling. How much do you know about the Tahiti project?"

"Not many. But no one but me knows that Nick Fury arranged for Agent Coulson's resurrection."

"Very well, then you'll be very surprised."

"It's said that the key drug needs to be prepared immediately." Natasha turned around and got out of the driver's seat. She had already activated autopilot; all she needed to do was wait to reach their destination. Before that, she didn't mind deepening her understanding of Salomon. "Do you know something?" she asked, sitting down in the chair next to Salomon. "You always act like you know everything."

"In fact, Nick Fury had contact with aliens before the New York incident. The Kree and Skrulls entered Earth at that time. But after that, the Kree left Earth, and the Skrulls also left Earth to find a new home. I didn't expect that there would be Skrulls on Earth who hadn't left, and that Nick Fury would actually cooperate with these alien races."

"You seem to know a lot about those aliens."

"I know a little, but my expertise lies in magical creatures, not aliens. I only know a few of the larger races in the universe, and I don't know much about some of the stranger races. Even so, I've heard of the Skrulls' infamous reputation. There's a theory about the origin of this race, that the Skrulls are related to ancient Earth. I don't know the truth either. Back then, gods roamed the earth, and anything could happen."

"You mean, aliens like Thor..."

"Asgard has the blood of gods, and it's not unreasonable for the Aesir pantheon to call themselves gods. But if we really want to explore the theological lineage, the rulers of the Nine Realms can't be considered true gods, because gods represent the concepts of this universe—the underlying logic of time, space, death, entropy, etc., or the origin of some kind of power. The Aesir pantheon only possesses a certain power; it cannot represent any kind of rule."

"This has really opened my eyes."

After a brief discussion (a bit of background information) to pass the time, the Quinjet finally arrived at its destination. Natasha led Salomon off the plane. The base was built on a cliff near the coast, its entrance a concrete tunnel with a heavy steel door tightly shut.

"Was the drive from Istanbul smooth?" Natasha pressed the button marked with a biohazard symbol at the entrance, and a voice crackled through the intercom. This was the code; Nick Fury had already given the password to Agent Romanov. She led Salomon down a dark, downward-sloping passage. The lighting on either side of the corridor was far apart, barely illuminating the ground beneath their feet. In this long corridor, the jumbled sounds of heels hitting the floor bounced back against the walls; if not for the buzzing of the lights, this was practically the only sound in the silent passage. Neither Natasha nor Salomon spoke; this corridor unconsciously suppressed the urge to talk, even for spies and sorcerers. Natasha led Salomon into an elevator with only a few buttons, descending underground, through a bulletproof glass door, and into the research lab.

A group of researchers had gathered there. Among them, an elderly male doctor with light brown skin and a graying beard approached Natasha. "Hello, Agent Romanov," he said, looking at Salomon. "I already regret taking this mission. Does Director Fury have some other ideas? This isn't a high school science exhibition; minors shouldn't be seeing these things."

"I'm probably just here to keep Agent Coulson fresh," Salomon shrugged. "Simply put, I'm now in charge of this project. Don't worry, I won't change anything I don't understand. I'm just here to ensure the plan runs smoothly, since I have some experience with things like resurrection."

"You?" The doctor looked at Agent Romanov with a questioning gaze, and Natasha nodded to indicate that Salomon was telling the truth.

"Okay, high school students these days are all monsters."

"Tell me, is Agent Coulson thawed now? I hope you didn't put him in the microwave." The sorcerer had Natasha lead the way, walking behind her.

"Of course we're not that naive; he thawed naturally." The doctor and the sorcerer walked side by side. "This is the seventh surgery now. The first six failed; Agent Coulson's vital signs haven't recovered, so we've had to keep repeating the procedures. If you need, you can access all the data here, including information on all GH series drugs. Before this, Project Tahiti was only used on critically injured agents; this is the first time someone has come back from the dead. Have you ever used GH series drugs? Or were you involved in the development of Project Tahiti?"

"No, not at all, but I have experience with the raw materials for the GH series. If you think the raw materials aren't fresh enough, I can go and get them right now; I can get as many as you want."

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The group number is in the previous chapter.

(End of this chapter)