Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 502 Tacit Understanding (First Update)

London's dry, chilly weather made one instinctively wrap themselves in a coat. Both the architecture and clothing displayed a somber hue, the entire city resembling dried, leaden-gray paint blocks on a palette. Those accustomed to New York would certainly find everything here jarring. There's no piercing sunlight that can scorch brains, no recklessly speeding trucks, only deep red double-decker buses proudly strolling the streets.

The sorcerer sat idly in the café, gazing at the sparsely populated street. A plump, grey pigeon, which hadn't lost a shred of weight throughout the winter, arrogantly pecked at the trouser legs of passersby. He wasn't bothered by the chilly London spring air. On the contrary, he was quite pleased with the dry, crisp, and biting wind.

"The average daily temperature is only 4 degrees Celsius, and the air is quite dry, with a total rainfall of less than 48 millimeters." He raised his teacup and took a sip, looking quite content. This was a coffee shop he frequented, so he kept a jar of extremely expensive honey there. Whenever he came for tea, the manager would add honey to his tea, and the person sitting across from him at the small square table was fortunate enough to taste that sweet flavor.

"You'd better have some tea and be careful to moisturize; the environment here isn't good for your skin," Salomon said, refusing the milk the waiter offered. This waiter was clearly new; anyone who knew him knew Salomon didn't add milk to his tea. Whether or not to add milk to tea, and how to add it, had once sparked debate. The British had several different opinions on this—the first was to add milk first, then pour the tea; the second was to pour the tea first, then add milk; the third was not to add milk at all; and the fourth was to add a little milk, then a little tea, then a little milk again, until it overflowed. Salomon initially followed the fourth method, until he got milk tea all over himself, and then he switched to the third.

"You're certainly a busy man, but I just got off Capitol Hill myself. Those politicians are itching to cause trouble." Agent Romanov, wearing sunglasses, had a very attractive smile. "A lot has happened lately, and Fury suspects you were behind it all."

"He's afraid to see me now?" the sorcerer said. "Is he worried about several guns being pointed at him three thousand feet in the air?"

"Nobody knows where you hid those three aircraft carriers. Imagine a frog jumping on a red-hot iron plate—that's what Congress and the White House look like now," Agent Romanov said. "You've stolen far too much, disturbingly much. You now possess the power to destroy a small country. What more could you want?"

"I always feel like Nick Fury is nearby."

"He kept his promise and didn't reveal your name," Agent Romanoff said irritably. "But I'm the one who cleaned up all the mess you caused. Didn't you watch TV? Did you hear how I explained to the senators how three Insight carriers disappeared in an instant? We can explain the overseas S.H.I.E.L.D. carrier bases, but no one can explain this unless you step forward yourself."

"Oh, darling, is this how you treat your savior?"

"I know what the biometric brooch Alexander Pierce gave me is, and I was prepared." Agent Romanov was originally prepared to use a stun gun to short-circuit the brooch, but Salomon did not expect that he would remove it, destroying Alexander Pierce's last resort.

When the military moved into the Tri-Wing headquarters, they found a headless body in the council's offices. The body was identified as that of Alexander Pierce, the former Secretary General of the World Security Council. Forensic investigators found a fingerprint belonging to an unrelated individual at the scene, but this fingerprint was not recorded in the database, and the Romanov agent questioned could not explain its origin.

She couldn't even explain many things; the Congressional investigation into S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't get off to a good start. Nick Fury had buried everything, and Congress only knew what he wanted them to know, making the investigation impossible from the beginning. Especially since S.H.I.E.L.D. was nominally a UN organization, any UN member state was entitled to investigate, and no country wanted the US to lead the investigation. Who knew what deadly secrets were hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D.

Everything remained a mystery. The senators desperately wanted to know what had happened in that office, hoping to complete the investigation before other countries intervened. However, the survivors remained tight-lipped, unwilling to reveal any useful information. But for the sorcerer who orchestrated everything, it wasn't so difficult to understand; he had simply signed a contract with everyone present. (US Councilor Hawley was replaced by the Black Widow, so the US was unaware of what had happened.)

He warned secular society that he would watch disaster unfold, but when secular governments were powerless to confront the rise of dark forces, he would take complete control. Of course, that declaration wasn't taken seriously by anyone other than Nick Fury and Natasha. The Holy Sword and Holy Lance were meaningless to ordinary people, and Salomon didn't want to reveal his true nature by dismantling his stigmata in front of them. What others thought didn't matter, but when he used Alexander Pierce's blood to write the covenant, his stance was clear. This was a test for secular governments, a test of their ability to cope with unexpected disasters, much like the Greek gods' test of city-states.

He promised that the exam would span a century.

He could live a very long time, witnessing generation after generation of birth and death. He had to become familiar with this feeling, endure this torment—this was the His Holiness's warning to him. Over a thousand years of life had exhausted the His Holiness, but Salomon had to persevere for even longer, enduring this extreme and horrific torture with a human body and mind, becoming the last guardian of human civilization. Whether it was tens of thousands or hundreds of millions of years, he had to persevere; there was never a chance to give up.

This is one of the reasons why Agamotto spared no effort in supporting Salomon, because Salomon was the last insurance for human civilization as recognized by Vishanti.

“Look at the bigger picture, Natasha. Tell me about Steve Rogers. I heard he got into a fight with his best friend?” Salomon said. He had accepted his fate, and now he had the witch by his side, so he seemed to be doing alright. But a daunting future lay ahead, and centuries would be a test for both him and the secular government. No one knew what the future held.

Nick Fury didn't need any help, and Salomon was also surprised that he hadn't seen the glowing woman. The situation was extremely serious, and Salomon had no doubt that Nick Fury was trying to kill him, and would have done so given the chance.

Because Salomon sets his bottom line lower than anyone else's. While others have to consider factors such as morality and law, Salomon only cares about survival.

But the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. actually held back, which made the arcane mage look at him with new respect.

The war between S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra went underground, but publicly, it had nothing to do with Natasha Romanoff or S.H.I.E.L.D. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents on the surface, after being investigated, were all transferred to Stark Industries and permanently barred from espionage work. However, they would continue their efforts to eliminate Hydra. Her visit to Salomon was to obtain some intelligence from him—Nick Fury genuinely didn't know what conservative Hydra was, but he knew that Salomon was now a potentially cooperative Hydra leader. Hydra was effectively defunct, and the unspoken agreement was to use the remaining forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. to eliminate the Nazi faction of Hydra.

"I'm just an ordinary person; I might not even live to old age," Agent Romanov said, picking up his teacup. "You still have thousands of years to live, don't you?"

"Then why not join my plan and add some weight to your life?" Salomon put down his teacup and stood up. Agent Romanov followed the sorcerer through the café's kitchen, half-believing, and into the air-conditioned materials room. Only half the lights were on, leaving the other side of the room in darkness. It wasn't until the sorcerer opened a door marked "Mop Room" that light pierced the black curtain of darkness, illuminating Agent Romanov's eyes.

This café is a secular property of Kamar-Taj, used as a tea house and fast passage for London mystics. Otherwise, the shopkeeper wouldn't have been able to store Salomon's honey.

"Come on." The arcane mage positioned the portal from the materials room to the Immortal City. "I think you should see this."

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)