Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 911 Guiding Techniques (First Update)

His body was drenched in cold sweat from the pain, as if a damp rag had been wrung out violently. The pain instantly swept through his entire body, each extremity feeling as if it had been stabbed. The man's expression seemed disconnected from his physical reactions. He didn't frown as he inserted the tweezers into the wet wound beneath his calf, even though his messy black hair was stuck tightly to his skin with sweat, and his clothes, unwashed for days, smelled of gunpowder and sweat, making him itch all over. He remained focused on the feel of the tweezers with his fingertips—he had found his target amidst softness and pain. After several attempts in the slippery blood, the tweezers finally gripped the bullet tightly. The man, covered in cold sweat, pulled it out forcefully, then tossed the tweezers and bullet aside with a long sigh of relief. He felt the dizziness that followed the pain, letting the blurry light flicker beneath his closed eyelids.

After treating his wounds, he reached for his spoils with his clean hands.

It was a notebook carried by the assassins, repeatedly flipped through and filled with writing. A list was written on it, and his name appeared near the top of the increasingly shorter list, marked with a symbol. James Buchanan Barnes—that was his name, and the man who tried to kill him had already had his neck snapped by his mechanical arm. He was somewhat puzzled as to why these people would carry such an important document, but reality didn't allow him to dwell on it. This was the most important clue he had obtained since participating in the Hydra rebellion within S.H.I.E.L.D. Other things, such as the safe key and the phone book, also indicated that this was the only way for him to obtain the true answer.

In addition, the cash, documents, and safe house addresses prepared by the assassins became resources to support the Winter Soldier's next operations. Although James Buchanan Barnes understood that staying in the enemy's safe house was extremely dangerous, he had no choice at the moment, as he lacked sufficient medicine and safe places to rest. However, inside the safe house, he could use the devices the assassins had placed there to modify the information on those documents, facilitating his upcoming international voyage.

The Winter Soldier, his wound still bleeding beneath the bandage, picked up his brown coat, stained with lime, and draped it over himself. He carefully inspected all his weapons, placed the loaded pistol on his lap, and then leaned back in his chair, motionless. Except for the rise and fall of his chest with each breath and the cold sweat from the waves of pain, he looked like a statue. He was utterly exhausted; from fleeing the pursuit while wounded to hunting enemies in the slums using the terrain, everything had drained him of immense energy and strength. He decided to rest for three hours before hunting down the nearest Hydra agent, whom he believed possessed the information he sought.

“He’ll proceed according to our plan.” Stephanie pointed to the name closest to the Winter Soldier’s location on the list on the screen. “It’s a mid-level officer from Alexander Pierce’s Hydra faction. They refused our offer to recruit them and refused to provide any secrets about that faction of Hydra.” She said, “This guy isn’t of much value to us. And, in your opinion, such scum doesn’t deserve forgiveness; he was involved in training the Azov Battalion. According to the agents on surveillance, the Winter Soldier is already outside his door.”

"I have a feeling something stupid is going to happen," Salomon said, glancing at the Hydra's file on the list with disgust. "If the Winter Soldier is too soft-hearted to take down that Hydra, then have the agents on surveillance do it. There are a few Donbas girls in the Sorority that would be happy to eliminate these culprits. Also, I need a forecast report. I need to know what the chances are of the Winter Soldier running into the current Avengers at this pace."

"66.7%……67.7%……68.2%" The intermittent electronic synthesized voice began to broadcast.

"Malbus, fix your voice unit." Salomon tapped a mechanical head on the table with his finger. This mechanical head, though somewhat crude in appearance, possessed extremely powerful computing capabilities. It was a product of the Immortal City's communication project, and its principle didn't rely entirely on technology—this mechanical head contained a genetically edited cloned brain, utilizing magical remote sensing technology, mental link runes, and bio-fiber signal sensors. Aside from some facilities used to maintain the cloned brain's activity, the rest were devices for communication and thought. It could be seen as an avatar of the Fifth Primal Pillar left on Earth to provide advice to Salomon. Especially when Malbus was busy with other projects and unable to communicate with Earth via holographic projection, this mechanical head became the Martian Foundry's agent on Earth.

At the wizard's command, the mechanical head extended four slender mechanical legs to support itself, then slammed its forehead against the table, causing Salomon and Stephanie to frown and show expressions of disgust.

The voice unit of the mechanical head, which had been wobbling as it stood up, returned to normal.

The sorcerer was certain that Malbus must have other ways to repair it; those slender mechanical legs carrying repair tools were for that purpose. Perhaps the staff at the Martian bio-genetic lab hadn't mastered Maya Hansen's experimental techniques, or perhaps the different gravity environments caused discrepancies in the experimental results, leading to a problem with this specially cultivated brain. This brain, possessing Malbus's thought process and some of his memories, tended to act recklessly, seemingly forgetting the true purpose of the repair tools and instead using them as weapons.

"According to calculations, the probability is 68.2%, and this probability increases as the distance between the Winter Soldier and the Avengers decreases." Accompanied by the ozone smell produced by the magical technology continuously ionizing the air, the mechanical head began to speak in a smooth synthesized voice, "We have detected that the equipment for manufacturing credentials in the safe house is operating. Do you wish to intervene and guide them? We can either alter the Avengers' GPS information to induce them to crash into the Winter Soldier, or reveal some secrets to the Avengers' mission objective, allowing both sides to catch up with the Winter Soldier."

"Yes, but not now." Salomon began to calculate the movement of each piece in his game.

He rarely does that.

On one hand, he didn't want special forces to interfere with administrative work, lest Stephanie and her subordinates develop unnecessary dependence on them; on the other hand, the artificial intelligence hidden deep within the Immortal City's supercomputer could handle this task, and if the Stigmata were activated, his brain's processing speed could even surpass that computer. But as mentioned before, he didn't want special forces involved in administrative work because he had foreseen the disastrous consequences of doing so.

The Immortal City's intelligence network, like a colossal beast lurking on the dark sea, gently paddles the small boats adrift, pushing the delirious survivors towards a predetermined deserted island. However, in this sea, the Immortal City is not the only hunter. Dark daggers and notes offered in the night form a fragile alliance among the sea monsters. No one knows who will betray them at the next moment; the only certainty is to kill the other to ensure one's own safety.

Stephanie tells Salomon that the Immortal City is the one that is most deeply entrenched.

Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)