Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 578 The Master of the Lost City (First Update)

Salomon ignored the Avengers' pursuit of Hydra, treating it all as a joke, a joke he relied on to survive. Under the control of the American-backed big bourgeoisie and compradors, Hydra, entrenched in Sokovia, had somehow become a benevolent organization, a beacon of national pride. The Maximov siblings had repeatedly told Salomon about the brutality of the comprador class, claiming they were even more advanced than those who ran terrorist organizations and practiced feudalism. As for Sokovia's true poverty, Salomon's research told him it was a country even Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader, couldn't lift up.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, a series of armed uprisings erupted in the region. A pro-American regime came to power, and the president became a comprador for the United States, attempting to turn Sokovia into America's backyard. However, it turned out that Sokovia's industrial strength couldn't compare to Ukraine's; the country had more rocks than soil, its agriculture consisted only of tobacco, and it had little to sell. Unsurprisingly, Sokovia became America's toilet paper, even its limited international news coverage was taken by neighboring Ukraine. If Wanda Maximov hadn't possessed chaos magic, Salomon would only have been seen in the Immortal City Sisterhood's recruit training camp.

But there was one advantage to this worthless situation: nobody cared about the country, so much so that Sokovia's people managed to survive even during the civil war. The village where the Maksimov siblings lived was even more worthless; apart from the civil war started by the opposition, it had never experienced war again, at least not to the point where the poor in the Philippines had to eat swill.

Therefore, the Avengers were far from welcomed in Sokovia; to some extent, they represented Western invaders and a violent group colluding with local compradors. However, neither Tony Stark nor Steve Rogers recognized this problem. One was a wealthy capitalist, the other a super-soldier who had never witnessed the results of America's export of "democracy," though the latter was on the path of learning, he still needed time. Steve Rogers, after seeing the devastation in Latin American countries, already had his own ideas, but he was currently busy chasing after his former comrades and had no time to consider these matters. As for Tony Stark, he was completely detached from such thinking. Although he stopped selling weapons to the US government, lobbied for the withdrawal of US troops, and adopted simpler, more direct methods to combat terrorist organizations...

He dealt with terrorist organizations himself.

Since the smuggling channels for Stark Industries' high-tech equipment were disrupted, those terrorist organizations once nurtured by the United States have been left without high-tech missiles (or even if they had them, they wouldn't know how to use them), and without air power. Tony Stark, clad in his Iron Man suit, moves with impunity. This was entirely feasible when S.H.I.E.L.D. still existed, but now that S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone, Stark's efforts to combat extremist religious organizations have been forced to a halt. This restless capitalist can only devote himself entirely to the hunt for Hydra.

Salomon and the Immortal City watched coldly from the sidelines.

Natasha Romanoff's Guild regularly briefed him on the Avengers' operations, Agent Victoria Hand was searching for Coulson's team, and Stephanie Malik was like a giant spider lurking in Hydra's intelligence network, ready to devour anyone she could. Aside from Stephanie, no one knew the true extent of Salomon's power and influence in the secular world, or the sheer amount of assets he controlled.

He never hoarded wealth; every penny was invested in industrial development and scientific experiments. He dared say that no one in the world valued the development that science and technology brought to humanity more than he did, nor could anyone possess so many advanced technologies. Coupled with the Sorority's regular sweeps and rescue operations providing a constant stream of manpower, the small foundries operated day and night, filling the Immortal City's armories with high-tech standard equipment. According to Stephanie's estimation, after completely taking down Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D., Salomon's forces would not only be able to launch an armed coup in Africa, where prenatal education is common, but conquering half of Latin America or even Central America should be no problem.

Perhaps we could even win a Falklands War against Britain.

But Salomon focused on farming and accumulating strength, and thick construction plans filled Stephanie's filing cabinet.

He wanted construction, not war.

Right under Wakanda's nose, Stephanie is recruiting scientists and researchers globally, planning to implement Salomon's Mars Foundry Project. This project aims to completely rid the Immortal City of Wakanda's industrial base, transforming it into a future industrial production center, high-tech research and development hub, and arsenal. Accompanying the scientists to Mars are not only automated construction equipment but also the Celestial corpses soon to be excavated from beneath the thick ice of Antarctica.

That would be the highest level of research program.

Regardless of Shuri's protests, Salomon firmly forbade anyone outside the Martian Foundry's list from conducting this research. His reasoning was compelling and irrefutable: the Celestial corpses contained numerous unsolved mysteries and biohazards, requiring further processing by a large number of spellcasters. As a professional, Salomon readily agreed.

King T'Chaka of Wakanda was aware of Salomon's underhanded tactics, but he had no choice but to cooperate. Wakanda was a fragmented tribal regime steeped in religion, where the national leader was also theocratic, as were the tribal chiefs. Unity was impossible unless the nation was on the verge of collapse. Even if T'Chaka wanted to take action against Salomon, the agreement between the black panther goddess Bastet and the sorcerers would prevent him.

This was the power Salomon had built up over the years. Except for a very few, no one knew that this young man reading in the Oxford University library was a quintessential warlord, and no one knew that his armed forces surpassed those of many small nations. Stephanie had everything meticulously arranged; she was like his right and left hands, an inseparable part of Salomon. The cunning Gideon Malik wanted to offer advice, but Stephanie ruthlessly rejected him. Stephanie knew how long Salomon's lifespan was, and Salomon had already planned for her for the next hundred years. This ambitious Hydra daughter saw the future; the Malik family was far less important than Salomon's enterprise. In Stephanie's eyes, only someone like Salomon could lead humanity against the aliens.

However, fighting aliens is just the least significant part of Salomon's future plans.

The busy Salomon naturally declined the invitations from the Avengers, who had finally discovered he was an adult (19 years old); he had other matters to attend to. Through the efforts of the engineering team, the combat team, and the locals, Kit City was finally excavated from the thick ice and mountains—albeit somewhat roughly. To meet the deadline, the naturally optimistic android Catherine ordered the blasting of the permafrost burying the lost city. She used her authority to launch several high-yield bunker-buster missiles, simultaneously triggering a massive avalanche.

However, clearing snow is much easier than clearing frozen soil, which directly shortened the construction period by three-fifths.

At the same time, this also allowed Sofia to witness the power of the Immortal City. The Sky Carrier was too far away to be directly observed, but the bunker-buster bombs and artillery arrays were enough to make the stubborn locals reconsider their faith. Of course, Salomon's assimilation policy wasn't entirely forceful; Jacob's status as an immortal prophet played a significant role in this.

The Lost City welcomed its master for the first time.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)