Knock, knock, knock...
Felicia's knocking.
Ye Li removed his duel disk and asked, "What's the matter, Felicia?"
"Huh? Master, how did you know it was me?"
"Just tell me, what is it?"
"Oh, the security helped move in two things. They were sent from the research institute. They look kinda weird... I put them in the storage room."
"The research institute? Looks like that thing has arrived. That was fast..."
Ye Li went to the storage room. After bringing the cloned soldier and control device back to his room, he opened the two packages.
But—
After opening them—
He was dumbfounded...
The control pod seemed fine.
But why did the cloned soldier look exactly like Maki Matsumoto?
Did the research institute make a mistake?
He checked for breathing—
Still alive.
Slap!!
He smacked the face—
No reaction...
"..."
Ye Li stared at the red mark on "Maki Matsumoto's" face, lost in thought for a second...
Then—
He tried lying inside the control pod...
A few seconds later.
"Maki Matsumoto" slowly got up and silently looked at her hands...
A few more seconds passed—
"WTF!! Wilder! What the hell is this?!"
(Wilder, the research institute director's name.)
"This newly developed chip... It can actually talk now..."
After calming down a little, Ye Li noticed that this cloned soldier, made with Maki Matsumoto's genes, had special features.
He focused on his senses...
...Good, this upgraded version of the holographic headset control pod doesn't have sensory sharing features.
After all, he was only interested in controlling a beautiful woman's body, not experiencing it...
—The beauty of the Dragon language, profound and vast.
Controlling this "Maki Matsumoto" clone felt like creating a female character in a video game.
"Barely usable… Should have been injected with Super Soldier Serum at least…"
…..
In a Bank.
Bang!!
A blue energy beam blasted open the vault door.
A comical masked man and woman rushed in, then dashed out moments later—
"Kreel, hurry! The cops are coming!"
"Benny, what are you afraid of? We got this baby!"
"Ow, using this thing hurts my wrist."
The male robber's weapon was a forearm blaster left behind by a Chitauri soldier...
"So much money!"
"We're rich!"
As soon as Kreel and Benny got home, they jumped onto a bed covered in cash, rolling around in excitement!
But—
Outside their door...
S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Sitwell had been waiting for quite a while.
Or, more accurately, HYDRA spy Sitwell...
A few minutes later.
"Ahh!! Is it the police?!"
"No! It's our... Mmmph!"
The bald agent with glasses swiftly subdued the two foolish thieves.
And retrieved Item 47, the Chitauri forearm blaster, from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database.
"Can you stop squirming?"
Seeing Kreel and Benny, their mouths gagged, still glaring and struggling anxiously, Sitwell irritably pulled out a silver dagger...
"Kreel: Mmmph!!"
"Benny: Mmmph!"
The two panicked even more!
"Hm?"
Sitwell noticed their gazes shifting. Something was off—
He tilted his knife, using its blade to reflect the shadow behind him...
Whoosh—!
The HYDRA spy spun around and stabbed!
Clap!
The cloned soldier easily caught his wrist, and a voice came through the earpiece:
"Got you, HYDRA."
!!!
Sitwell's heart pounded, sweat pouring down his forehead...
He had no idea how he had been exposed!
"Wait a moment, No. 35."
From behind Clone Soldier No. 35, another identical-looking soldier stepped forward—this one was No. 59.
At the other end of their sensors, two mercenaries from Silver Sable's company were controlling them.
During their missions, they referred to each other by their assigned clone numbers.
Rustle, rustle...
After searching Sitwell, the mercenary controlling No. 59 cursed.
"F*ck! Not HYDRA... It's another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent? Yesterday, we caught that guy Ward too. Seriously, why do you guys keep collecting all this junk?"
"Uh..."
Sitwell's emotions were all over the place. He had no idea what to say for a moment...