Marvel: The Alchemist Just Wants a Peaceful Life

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Upon hearing Black Widow's words, everyone's faces showed an expression of utter surprise. Zhao Weike was the first to react, looking at Black Widow in disbelief and tentatively asking her a question.

"You're not going to say that this Peggy Gardner is actually an intelligence broker, are you?"

Seeing that someone had finally guessed her thoughts, Scarlett Johansson smiled and nodded to Zhao Weike.

As Scarlett Johansson nodded, Zhao Weike's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

Watching Black Widow and Zhao Weike's silent performance, Sherlock scratched his head in frustration, looking at the two of them with annoyance and complaining somewhat dissatisfyingly.

"Hey you two, one an old spy and the other an old assassin, can you stop putting on a silent show in front of us laymen? What's going on? Can someone who knows any better explain this to us?"

Despite Sherlock's complaints, Black Widow and Zhao Weike didn't react much to Sherlock's form of address. Instead, they exchanged a serious look before Zhao Weike spoke.

"In the underworld, assassins, mercenaries, and intelligence brokers form an unbreakable iron triangle."

Although the roles of mercenary and assassin may occasionally switch, the most mysterious entity is undoubtedly the intelligence dealer.

Just like in the movies, this group of people appeared and disappeared without a trace, and very few people were able to get to the bottom of their affairs.

As Zhao Weike spoke, Sherlock's face was full of disdain. He waved his hand and then said to Zhao Weike.

"Old Zhao, stop talking nonsense. We've seen information brokers before. Back in the desert, wasn't the whole city full of them? In fact, strictly speaking, even S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Continental Hotel are outright information brokers!"

But this so-called information broker seems to appear and disappear without a trace in your mouth!

Upon hearing Sherlock's rebuttal, Zhao Weike could only offer a helpless, bitter smile before speaking to Sherlock.

"No, Sherlock, you've got one thing wrong. Information brokers and information dealers are not the same thing at all."

What we encountered in the desert were more information brokers than intelligence dealers. Within the intelligence system, these brokers were at the very bottom, codenamed "worker ants"—essentially cannon fodder!

At this point, Zhao Weike paused slightly, and Black Widow took over the conversation, explaining to Sherlock.

"As for S.H.I.E.L.D., the Continental Hotel, or even the Red House, none of them can be considered intelligence providers."

S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Red Room are more like agents within an intelligence system, somewhat similar to the CIA, while the Continental Hotel is simply a killer processing center under an intelligence organization called the High Table.

Chapter 436 The Informant's Style of Operation

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The two men's mixed explanations only left Sherlock and the others with more questions, completely baffled as they didn't understand what they meant.

After all, from the perspective of Tony, the engineer, Captain America, the pure warrior, and Sherlock, the alchemist, what they just said was actually no different.

This applies to intelligence brokers and dealers, as well as organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Red Room and even the Continental Hotel.

Seeing the three people's bewildered expressions, Black Widow sighed and then carefully explained to them.

"Whether it's S.H.I.E.L.D., the Red Room, or even the CIA and the High Table, they are all behemoths. Although they are also intelligence organizations, they have already broken away from being true intelligence brokers and are moving towards a higher dimension."

To use a somewhat inappropriate analogy, these organizations are more like a country; they possess immense power but also have many other considerations.

However, intelligence brokers are different. Strictly speaking, intelligence brokers are more like criminal organizations within a nation. They hide in the most inconspicuous locations within the country, difficult to detect yet destructive enough.

Like ants on an elephant, the ants appear even more mysterious in comparison to the elephant—that's the truth about intelligence brokers.

Hearing Black Widow's words, Sherlock frowned even more deeply; he simply couldn't understand why this situation had arisen.

"Black Widow, if it's as you say, then for a large organization like an elephant, crushing those ants shouldn't be difficult at all. There's no need for you and Old Zhao to make such faces, is there?"

Upon hearing Sherlock's words, Zhao Weike sighed helplessly before speaking to Sherlock.

"Theoretically, that's correct, but the problem is that there's more than one elephant in this world, especially after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell."

Those bastards possess a wealth of unknown intelligence, and the outcome could even incite a conflict between elephants. Moreover, discovering those ants is no easy task, given that elephants are far too large compared to ants.

Even before the elephant realizes something is wrong, the ants may have already begun to infest its body, just like Hydra did with S.H.I.E.L.D.

As Zhao Weike said this, Black Widow nodded, and then continued Zhao Weike's words.

"Moreover, intelligence brokers aren't stupid either. The best way to survive on an elephant is to hide themselves and prevent the elephant from discovering their exact location."

At this point, Scarlett Johansson paused before continuing.

"As for why we can be sure that Peggy Gardner is an intelligence dealer, or at the very least, that this is some intelligence dealer's dark web 'server room,' the reason is simple: Peggy Gardner's life is just too regular."

The pattern was so regular that it gave people a strange feeling!

Believe it or not, when Peggy Gardner appears in town tomorrow morning, she'll definitely know that someone inquired about her yesterday. That afternoon, Peggy Gardner might 'die' at home or mysteriously disappear.

The best-case scenario for that mansion located halfway up the mountain is that it will be reduced to ashes, or even blown up into ruins.

Listening to Black Widow's analysis, Sherlock was almost dizzy from the back-and-forth explanations of Black Widow and Zhao Weike. He waved his hand helplessly at the two of them, interrupting their explanations, and said to them in an annoyed tone.

"Alright, I think I understand what's going on now."

To put it simply, tonight is our only chance to infiltrate. If Peggy Gardner goes to town as usual tomorrow morning, we'll be exposed, right?

"Then let's just storm in and be done with it. Half the Avengers are gathered here; capturing Peggy Gardner shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

Faced with Sherlock's impatience, both Black Widow and Zhao Weike wore helpless expressions, and they shook their heads almost in unison before speaking to Sherlock.

"That's the problem! We have absolutely no information about anything inside that mansion! If we break in, we'll be facing one or more mercenary teams blocking our way."

The mercenaries had only one goal: to buy time for the VIP so that he could choose one of the various plans he had prepared to leave.

Once their VIPs leave, we'll face the destruction of the base, and perhaps even bounties from the intelligence organization's assassins targeting all of us and our families.

Zhao Weike spoke with a hint of helplessness, and Black Widow quickly took over his words.

"What's even more despairing is that these intelligence-gathering lunatics even train a special kind of talent called a substitute, which is basically a stand-in or a scapegoat."

The most ruthless person I've ever seen, in order to make people believe he was really dead, not only used a substitute, but even underwent an amputation, cutting off his own thigh and part of his pelvis to transplant onto the substitute.

Furthermore, he controlled the explosion's power, causing the substitute to be reduced to fragments in the blast, preserving only the amputated leg as evidence. He successfully faked his death by sacrificing a leg, fooling everyone.

Black Widow's words left not only Sherlock but even Captain America, who was used to seeing large-scale battles, completely dumbfounded.

What kind of person could be so ruthless as to risk losing a leg in order to fake their death and escape?

"So how did you finally discover that this ruthless person wasn't dead?"

After being shocked for a while, Tony asked with a hint of doubt.

After hearing Tony's question, Black Widow gave a wry smile and then shrugged at Tony.

"Nothing was found, only suspicions."

Their subsequent action plan was completely unaffected by the explosion, and even their style of operation was exactly the same as that ruthless person's. In the end, they overwhelmed the enemy with the numerical advantage of S.H.I.E.L.D., and only then did they find a body missing a leg among the corpses.

After comparing the DNA, we were able to confirm that the person was the informant we were looking for. However, the problem was that when S.H.I.E.L.D. found the body, the informant's body was completely mangled, and I still don't know what he looked like.

I don't even know if this person is the intelligence provider, because this person's DNA data was also found by S.H.I.E.L.D. at a banquet from a suspected person.

No one could be certain that this person was the intelligence broker that S.H.I.E.L.D. was trying to eliminate! No one could even be sure that the person resembling him at the banquet was the intelligence broker himself!

After hearing what Black Widow said, Sherlock, Captain America, and Tony all gasped in shock.

Chapter 437 An Arrangement from the Old Spy

War, though it may appear to be a struggle of armed forces between two sides, is in reality a battle of information or intelligence.

Aside from those overwhelming victories achieved through generational advantage or absolute power, almost everything else is intelligence warfare. Sometimes, a single piece of intelligence can instantly shatter an invincible team.

Therefore, compared to the bloody battles on the main battlefield, intelligence warfare is the real place where people are devoured without spitting out the bones.

The simplest proof is that on the front lines, soldiers are protected by prisoner-of-war laws and have human rights. The prohibition against mistreating prisoners is a widely recognized fact in the international community, at least in this small corner of the world.

In contrast, those intelligence agents, spies, and even intelligence brokers have no human rights whatsoever!

Soldiers in war at least have the Geneva Conventions for protection, but intelligence warfare has no conventions or explicit provisions for protection whatsoever.

Therefore, in the intelligence community, death is actually the easiest way to escape, bar none.

In other words, in the eyes of others, those who work in intelligence are the epitome of the dark side of human nature, without exception. Compared to underground professions like assassins, intelligence brokers can be considered the most clandestine and shameful profession.

This viewpoint greatly shocked Tony, Sherlock, and the Captain; they had never considered such a situation.

Sherlock, in particular, originally thought that his contact with an underground organization like the Continental Hotel meant he had come into contact with the dark side that ordinary people could not access. Little did he know that the Continental Hotel was merely the most glamorous part of the underground world.

Seeing the three people staring in disbelief, Black Widow and Zhao Weike exchanged a glance, then chuckled and shrugged at the three dumbfounded men, making a sarcastic remark.

Welcome to the real world!

Upon hearing Zhao Weike's words, the trio of naive and innocent girls, led by Sherlock, all shuddered.

However, Scarlett Johansson seemed to think that wasn't enough, and added insult to injury with a smile.

"Oh, right, I should make a special statement. Strictly speaking, the training that Black Widow, or rather the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., received was not real intelligence training. The training we received was more like assassin training, similar to that of Zhao Weike."

Intelligence gathering was how S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Red Room started, but later they leaned more towards assassination and control, so strictly speaking, we can only be considered half-intelligence agents.

"..."

The three, having been dealt another blow by Black Widow, fell silent for a moment. After a long while, Sherlock finally spoke with a conflicted expression.

"To summarize, according to your description, we are likely facing a cunning and ruthless monster who is cruel to everyone, and even more cruel to himself?"

As Sherlock said this, Tony rubbed his head and chimed in, picking up where Sherlock left off.

"Furthermore, it is highly likely that this freak has intricate connections with Hydra, may have even undergone systematic training by Hydra, and possesses remarkable observational skills and exceptional crisis management abilities?"

"Most importantly, we know almost nothing about this monster. Are we going to fight a war without any intelligence?"

The captain followed up on Tony's words and delivered the final, decisive blow.

After listening to what Captain America and Tony said, Sherlock was filled with despair. How the hell was he supposed to play this game?

Keep in mind that this doesn't even take into account Sherlock's conjecture. If Sherlock's conjecture were taken into account, there wouldn't be any chance for the operation to take place at all. That seemingly ordinary mansion located halfway up the mountain would practically be an abstract, solid fortress!

However, to the surprise of the 'naive and innocent' trio, Black Widow and Zhao Weike did not show any signs of despair. Instead, they smiled helplessly at the three of them before speaking.

"Don't despair. The reason I'm telling you this is to cheer you up and familiarize you with the intelligence providers' methods and logic, not to make you despair."

Since the opponent is suspected to be an intelligence broker, the battle can naturally be resolved using the methods employed by intelligence brokers. No one is perfect, and while intelligence brokers may seem as slippery as eels, that doesn't mean they are invincible.

Although Black Widow's tone was quite relaxed, the seriousness in her eyes did not disappear. Meanwhile, as soon as Black Widow spoke, Zhao Weike ran to the equipment that Sherlock had set up and began to operate the computer that controlled the equipment.

Under Zhao Weike's control, a high-precision infrared scan image quickly appeared on the computer screen.

On the screen, the mansion located halfway up the mountain was like a giant sun, radiating a huge heat source. What was surprising was that the entire mountain was densely covered with tiny heat sources, like stars.