Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 889 Fatal Evidence (First Update)

Due to the material needs of the Immortal City, Stephanie established a trading company in Rome as a cover, using the underwater train tunnel and expanded elevators of the Immortal City to transport supplies. Large quantities of daily necessities were transported into the company, while similarly packaged gravel was shipped by cargo ships to the seaside to be dumped on the land reclamation project for the "Immortal City," merely as a show for the Italian government. At this pace, the official opening of the "Immortal City" amusement park would be approximately two hundred years away.

But Stephanie wasn't worried at all, because in about ten years, the Italian government officials who graduated from grammar schools would forget why they approved the project in the first place, and they might not even be able to find the records. All she had to do then was slip in some more money and promise that it would definitely open in ten years, and that there wouldn't be Hawaiian pizza in the amusement park.

Ten years later, it will be another cycle.

This time, Natasha Romanoff didn't intend to use the fixed portal to leave the Immortal City, but rather this later-expanded elevator, as her mission location was in Rome. This expanded elevator was heavily monitored, with an automated heavy machine gun mounted every few meters along the rock face carved upwards. If a passenger's identity failed verification, they would be directly exposed to the fire of hundreds of heavy machine guns and face an inescapable hail of bullets. Natasha Romanoff possessed a genetically customized pass that allowed her free use of the elevator without being subjected to insane attacks.

According to her own account, the Avengers have a mission in Europe, and she needs to conduct intelligence work before the Avengers' agents arrive in Rome. That's why she specifically used the passage of the Immortal City. This also adds a lot of mystery to the Romanov agent in the eyes of others. Except for a few people, no one knows how she managed to sneak from up north New York to Europe.

Lying is instinctive for spies. She claimed she was just checking the Immortal City's database, which had absorbed a lot of Hydra intelligence, to see if there was any information needed for this mission, and that discovering the academy's events was just a coincidence. The arcane mage neither confirmed nor denied this, but he did grant Natasha Romanoff access to the databases she wanted to know.

He knew perfectly well what the Avengers' mission was now, and had absolutely no interest in it.

Since Dr. Whitehall's assets were seized by Stephanie, the Winter Soldier's data was completely archived. However, because the Winter Soldier project was of poor quality and failed to contribute anything to the research at the bio-genetic lab, it wasn't heavily encrypted. Dr. Whitehall's other research projects, on the other hand, proved much more useful. If Natasha Romanoff had arrived a few years later, this data might have been relegated to a corner of the archive due to data overload and a lower level of security, buried under a mountain of logistical data, becoming as worthless as overcooked spaghetti, never to be touched again.

"We must stop this from happening!" Natasha Romanoff concluded decisively, but neither Salomon nor Lorna remained unmoved. "Imagine what would happen if Steve Rogers and Tony Stark broke off their relationship."

"Will I never get to eat Iron Man-flavored apple ice cream again?" Little Lorna suddenly became serious. Clearly, her discerning palate wasn't satisfied with the desserts offered at the academy. Compared to heavy, elaborate, and sugary traditional desserts, her taste buds preferred light and refreshing ice cream—the kind of food young people her age enjoyed.

"That's only one aspect, kid," the female agent said. "Now the UN intends to use the Avengers as a weapon. If they have disagreements, the Avengers could very well lose sight of their original purpose. Can you imagine the Avengers, especially Stark's Iron Man suit, appearing on the battlefields of the Middle East? As far as I know, Tony Stark has already contacted the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington and is planning to partner with ExxonMobil to launch a new energy project..."

Suddenly, something seemed to strike her mind. The transfer order for Gideon Malik, the presidential advisor and former UN Security Council member; Germany's unusual stance on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline; ExxonMobil's sudden sale of a stake in Kazakhstan to an unknown energy company. Understanding the connection, Agent Romanov stared at the sorcerer with an inscrutable look.

"Oh, Salomon, you were involved too?"

"Don't mention Caesar's lines when he was assassinated in the Senate, Natasha. I've seen that play, and I even played the assassinated Caesar." The sorcerer showed no embarrassment. "I've tried my best to slow down the project, but capital is always driven by profit, and I can't stop capitalists from wanting to make money."

"But that doesn't stop you from getting a piece of the cake."

"As you can see, I still have an organization to support. The Battle of Finnbowent consumed thousands of tons of ammunition, and even without directly purchasing munitions, buying raw materials still requires money." The sorcerer's words revealed the helplessness of a middle-aged man supporting his family. "Unless my refinery starts operating, I will always need resources from Earth. Earth's resources require Earth's money to support them, and I cannot use Kamar-Taj's worldly assets right now, so I have no objection to any of Stephanie's methods of making money. This is the right way."

"Fuck! Stop making Star Wars references! I'm asking you, how much longer can you stall?"

After Natasha Romanoff left with the document, looking troubled, Salomon immediately dropped his pretense. Amidst Lorna's disdain, he turned and made a phone call, urging Tony Stark to begin work according to the agreement. The War Machine's suspension system needed optimization, the energy pipelines needed rearrangement, and the movable joints of Salomon's powered armor needed maintenance and improvement. The projects at the Martian Foundry research facility could fill an entire hard drive cabinet with their catalogs alone.

As the head of the Martian foundry, Malbus's remotely controlled mechanical body will act as Salomon's agent, working alongside Tony Stark, provided that Stark adheres to the agreement and completely excludes his AI, Friday, and even Vision, from the project. Immortal City's military development projects must absolutely not involve AI developed by others; this is a bottom line Salomon has repeatedly emphasized to Malbus. In fact, Salomon has long been aware of Malbus's underhanded AI development activities, but the cost of activating the two special war machines used in the Finnbowent campaign was simply too high, a cost that even the current Immortal City can hardly afford. Therefore, as long as Malbus's behind-the-scenes actions aren't too blatant, and he can exert significant monitoring and countermeasures against lower-level AI to ensure it doesn't rebel, Salomon, after weighing the pros and cons, can tacitly approve.

This was an unspoken secret between him and the Fifth Demon Pillar.

He did not intend to use the ring to forcefully issue orders and alienate his ally, who had his own agenda.

After all, not every demon is as loyal and lovable as the thirty-seventh demon, Phoenix. Among the seventy-two demons, only a few loyal ones are truly useful, and the fifth demon falls into the latter category. Given that Salomon has already decided to kill the first demon, securing the fifth demon beforehand is better than letting Malbas be won over by the first demon.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)