Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 590 Cooperation Plan (First Update)

No one in the world was more supportive of Agent Coulson's fight against Hydra than Salomon, but this support came with a condition: only after Stephanie seized the assets of those Hydra leaders would he support Agent Coulson in eliminating those old guys who had lost their usefulness. In Hydra's hands, those assets would only be used as tools for power struggles or as expenses for a luxurious lifestyle. But in Salomon's hands, those numbers that were previously fluctuating in the financial markets would be transformed into real factories, mines, and laboratories, investing heavily in industry and opening factories that slightly alleviated the unemployment rate in the United States and parts of Europe under Stephanie's ownership. All talent and resources would be used as reserves for future wars, with minimal personal expenditure.

For Salomon, exchanging meaningless numbers in financial games for real steel, coal, oil, non-ferrous metals, and precious metals was an extremely profitable deal. Only gold was currency in his eyes; art was for appreciation, not commodities; and scientific knowledge should be given to those who wanted it, not left to languish on shelves, charged for clicks—euphemistically called paid knowledge. However, if Agent Coulson ever wanted to take a hit at Wall Street, Salomon guaranteed his full support.

From a moral standpoint, Salomon's actions are undoubtedly evil. His attitude towards the Inhumans is evil, his treatment of the wealthy who plunder without producing anything is evil, and even his treatment of those who are lazy and only waste resources is evil. There is absolutely no humanity involved. While this cold-blooded logic of the Lawful Faction may not be the optimal solution, in the long run, it's difficult for anyone to criticize his actions.

However, ordinary people rarely have his perspective; his ideas are far ahead of others, ideas that humans shouldn't have. Therefore, even Nick Fury, who also stands on the side of "humanity," finds it hard to tolerate Salomon's cold-blooded actions. No one knows if Nick Fury regrets not forcibly sending Salomon to a mental hospital when he was still young.

It's not a matter of who's right or wrong in this situation; it's just a matter of perspective.

On the other hand, Salomon's good looks and extensive knowledge also made him extremely charming, a charm that Stephanie amplified to the fullest extent. Regardless of the person he spoke to, their identity, or their occupation, he always managed to display a perfect sense of humor. He never felt he was anything special; even as a weapon forged by the Earth Mother, he could only prove that he had the ability to do what others couldn't, nothing more.

At this point, even Agent Coulson couldn't object to the cooperation plan, because both sides now shared the same goal: Hydra. Lister, Bloom—these Hydra names were in Coulson's memos, though for now they were still venomous snakes lurking beneath the filthy waters. Coulson's attempt to capture them immediately would encounter the expected political resistance. Without the protection of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Coulson could no longer arbitrarily arrest politicians as he had in the past.

Therefore, he desperately needed the help of the Hand agents.

At least for now, that's the case, unless Agent Coulson knows the man standing before him is the most powerful Hydra leader. In a sense, this isn't entirely accurate, because the conservative Hydra members have been transformed by Salomon into the head of the Immortal City's Interior Ministry. Stephanie, having abandoned her faith, is no longer a Hydra member; she merely maintains contact with other Hydra leaders. She now belongs to a different organization, not the superstitious, greedy, and cruel Hydra.

Salomon left Agent Victoria Hand and her team behind and departed alone from Agent Coulson's "secret" base. He was so busy that when he visited Skye, he could only bring an old book he'd read many times from his dimensional bag as a gift. Unfortunately, the high school-educated hacker had no idea how important that philosophical book, *Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance*, was to her. Especially since her physical organs weren't seriously damaged, the book about the struggle between feeling and mind was very relevant to her current state—even though the human mind could understand that acquiring special abilities was harmful, the feeling of having superpowers was enough to overwhelm reason. Salomon didn't like lecturing, so he used the book to remind Skye.

Unfortunately, she still thought it was a boring, lengthy academic work.

Since he had no tools to preserve the blood sample, and using negative energy was unreliable, while ice magic was too cold, he needed to return to the Immortal City as soon as possible to preserve it at a suitable temperature. Seeing that Maya Hansen was reluctant, he could only open the refrigerator and put the blood sample inside.

"We'll see, Maya, it won't be long," he said. "It's about the future."

The head of the biology lab sighed.

"Fine." She waved her hand dismissively. The thought of potentially having to temporarily halt her genetically modified warrior project already filled Maya Hansen with impatience. She took off her glasses and looked down at her toes. "I'll spend a day looking at this. Whatever the outcome, I'll return to my own project."

"That's enough, thank you." Even with an impatient employee, Salomon remained remarkably gentle. Maya Hansen's salary was high, but money wasn't important to her; what she wanted was knowledge. And, coincidentally, Salomon possessed a wealth of knowledge. "I'm going to the inner plane next," he said. "I'm very curious about what those coordinates the guard brought are. Both the incantation and the markings suggest it's a fragment of a plane. I need time and manpower to decipher what's hidden inside, so I'll be busy with that for the next while."

"Oh, what do you think that could be?" The head of the biology lab's eyes lit up with curiosity. The knowledge contained in the future hard drives and alien storage devices had elevated the level of theoretical mathematics, theoretical physics, and theoretical chemistry in the Immortal City to a whole new level. Scientists from various departments were now busy digesting the knowledge and holding seminars. Salomon had also agreed to temporarily pause and study, and he planned to make it a regular academic lecture series. Maya Hansen, now the head of the biology lab, had shared her knowledge of computational neuroscience and genetics, and she wanted to know if there was more knowledge in that inner plane coordinate system, or rather, if there was any knowledge suitable for her.

Humanity's thirst for knowledge is inexhaustible, a core principle that has existed since the founding of the Immortal City. Built upon a grand brotherhood of scholars from around the world spanning ten thousand years, knowledge and art are the central themes of the Immortal City.

"I don't know," the arcane mage shrugged. His future self had already provided his present self with ample knowledge; he couldn't imagine what the Immortal City still needed, nor could he imagine what else was worth the effort his future self would go to such lengths to send to the present. He quickly returned to Kamar-Taj to recruit manpower. The outer dimensions had been remarkably peaceful lately—in fact, this was the norm; the war between the Prime Material Plane and the outer dimensions wasn't constant. Coupled with the escalating small-scale conflicts between the upper and lower planes, the Prime Material Plane had been temporarily sidelined.

As long as the devils, demons, and angels don't come to the material plane to recruit people for war, Kamar-Taj won't interfere in this dogfighting. They're all bad news anyway, and the Venerable One would be happiest to see them fighting each other to the death.

"You should focus your attention on the Silver Key," the Venerable shook his head disapprovingly. "I know exploring obscure knowledge is risky, but the Silver Key is your only means to advance further on the path of magic. Vishanti will not open up knowledge indefinitely, and the books in the Kamar-Taj Library cannot allow you to achieve unprecedented and astonishing feats. Go and indulge in dreams, child; the inner planes can wait."

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(End of this chapter)