Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 935 Spy Farce (First Update)

Even though Salomon had revealed many secrets to Stephanie, whether it was the Immortal City or the deep, green shade that seemed to have grown wildly for hundreds of years, only a few faint, blurry spots of light shone down to illuminate the ornaments hanging on his trench coat. Stephanie could only see the light reflected from the silver buttons.

Salomon was a master of keeping secrets; few in the world, aside from the Sorcerer Supreme, knew all of his secrets. Bayonetta was one, but she didn't care. As long as Salomon behaved like a good husband at home and created a dreamlike family life that she could indulge in, she didn't care about anything else.

Although Salomon's invitation to Stephanie to go hunting was ostensibly to help the increasingly irritable head of the Interior Ministry relax, Stephanie knew his motives weren't so simple when he issued the order—Salomon's departure from the Immortal City seemed more like giving the lurking Skrulls room to maneuver. He seemed to have anticipated the infiltration of the Immortal City and had prepared ample contingency plans. Stephanie was completely unaware of these plans; she could only send command codes that even she couldn't understand, following Salomon's instructions.

The only thing she could make out was an order sent to the Royal Guard and the Black-Armored Interrogators, ordering the arrest of everyone in a certain statistics department. If she wasn't mistaken, everyone in that department should be Skrulls. She didn't know when Salomon had discovered the lurking Skrulls, but if she had the chance, she would definitely review the personnel transfer documents carefully.

"How naive I was to think you wanted to cheer me up." Stephanie wrinkled her nose, the sourness in her voice almost overpowering the stench of death. This operation was less of a hunt and more of a search for evidence, and what angered her even more was that Salomon hadn't told her about it.

"These two things aren't mutually exclusive, are they?" Salomon shrugged, pulling a data terminal from Stephanie's pouch. His clothes didn't allow him to carry much; in fact, he hadn't even brought his cell phone. "The battle to conquer the Skrull settlement wasn't difficult; the real challenge lies in the unseen blade." He glanced down at the serial number on the chip. "So it's two battles. One to purify the Skrulls, and one to purify oneself. I've got what I wanted. If you still find this hunt meaningful, let's continue. I guarantee your weapon can slice through the next Skrull's body, how about it?"

"Deal!" Stephanie nodded with a smile. The Malik family didn't wait for their masters to bestow rewards; they had to fight for what they wanted. It was a good thing to let those in power see their goals; only then would they avoid suspicion. This way of doing things was almost ingrained in the Malik family's genes. "These claws are mine," she said, "and your black bear pelt. I heard you killed this bear with your bare hands just to keep the fur flawless."

"Strictly speaking, it tried to steal the fish I caught, and then I discovered it had several bear cubs. Now those cubs are being raised by me at my estate in Oxfordshire, and you can't imagine how mischievous they are. It's an interesting story, let's tell it as we walk..."

When a large group of black-armored interrogators, wielding stun guns, kicked open the door of an office in the statistics department, everyone inside, diligently working on numbers, was startled. This was a small department responsible for counting vehicle tires; those assigned there weren't particularly important. Even as the interrogators began subduing them with stun guns, they remained bewildered. Even when the royal guards in golden power armor, wielding halberds, entered, some shouted that they were loyal and that it was a misunderstanding—Constantine waved his finger, and the black-armored interrogators intensified the current from their stun guns. All pretense crumbled under such intense pain, as fragile as paper pasted onto a window frame.

"Except for him," Constantine said, pointing to the desk in the corner before intensifying the pain. The black-armored interrogator immediately released the man as ordered. The man who climbed off the desk saluted the Imperial Guard with a grim face and left the office in silence under everyone's watchful eyes.

"How is this possible! You're also...?" The first Skrull to have his disguise stripped away stared in astonishment as his colleague reverted to his original form amidst intense pain. Before this, he had no idea that the others in the office were his kind; he only needed to look at the expressions on the other Skrulls' faces to know they were equally shocked. Perhaps, apart from the one who had been released, all the administrative staff in the office were Skrulls, and he was responsible for monitoring everything that happened in the office. All the Skrulls in this room, under that person's control, were performing the farce desired by the master of the Immortal City like puppets.

"You treat us like animals in a zoo!" The first Skrull to have his disguise removed glared fiercely at the Royal Guard. Due to the Immortal City's secrecy regulations, these Skrulls were unaware that an unplanned member of their race was attempting to impersonate Constantine and infiltrate the Immortal City. Similarly, due to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrecy regulations, Nick Fury hadn't told all the Skrulls who had infiltrated the Immortal City how many there were. Their initial identities were all those of loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who had died during the Hydra rebellion. Victoria Hand recruited these Skrulls without their knowledge, and once Nick Fury found out, he assigned them to espionage work. Even the Skrulls on the space station believed these individuals had died in the rebellion, and all communication had to go through Nick Fury.

Due to restrictions on information transmission, this situation has come to this.

The king of the Immortal City, like a chess piece, played with great interest in placing these green-skinned aliens together, letting them be wary of each other, investigate each other, and test each other, perhaps even watching their comedic antics in his spare time. No one knows when Salomon realized this situation; perhaps he was prepared when he killed the Skrull impersonating Nick Fury, or perhaps he had a contingency plan in place when recruiting Victoria Hand. But that was many years ago, and although Constantine had honed his skills in the killing fields of other planets to a ripe old age, it was still before he became a member of the Royal Guard on Earth.

"I didn't know you'd been to the zoo; that's an intelligence loophole. But no worries, we'll close it soon enough. We'll find out whether you fed monkeys or raccoons," Constantine said calmly. "Ladies and gentlemen, please get to work quickly; there are still Skrulls in another office that need to be arrested!"

"The purchasing department!" the Skrull, whose name Constantine couldn't be bothered to recall, said through gritted teeth.

It wasn't stupid; seeing the scene before it, it naturally understood what was going on.

"Indeed, very clever. To be frank, it's a very important department." Constantine once again felt the monarch's sense of humor. To conceal their disguise, the Skrulls often worked diligently, and slacking off was almost unheard of. Therefore, a department that neither exposed the Skrulls to secrets nor allowed them to perform meaningless yet crucial tasks was crucial. Having them procure toilet paper for everyone in the Immortal City was clearly a suitable arrangement. Unfortunately, there was only one such department, and the other Skrulls had to be assigned to other boring departments, such as the procuring shampoo and lipstick departments—these departments should ideally be combined, but due to special circumstances, they were separated from the procuring department—the monarch of the Immortal City had already hinted to these Skrulls that their drinks included absinthe, something other departments wouldn't have. However, the Skrulls were merely intoxicated by the green alcohol and the mild hallucinations brought on by thujone, failing to truly grasp Salomon's profound intentions.

Constantine sincerely hoped they could properly experience this deadly humor in the dungeon.

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(End of this chapter)