The atmosphere in the room became incredibly oppressive the moment the new round of the quiz began.
No one had expected the first question to be so "explosive."
Firstly, the question involved the extremely serious issue of Tony Stark's parents' death. Secondly, the Winter Soldier was one of the options!
If the Winter Soldier was just a distraction, it would be fine. But if the final answer was truly him, then the situation would develop into an extremely bad scenario.
Especially for Tony Stark. His face became more and more serious, his eyes widened, staring fixedly at the big screen, his breathing slightly rapid.
All along, Tony Stark believed his parents died in a car accident. But now it seemed as though there was more to their deaths?
Otherwise, why would the Quiz System pose such a question?
But Tony Stark carefully recalled the events that occurred back then, and he didn't find any suspicious points.
After the car accident, the police investigated the case and officially closed it as a traffic accident.
"Everyone!" Hawkeye Barton's voice cut through their thoughts. "What do we do with him?"
Whoosh!
With Hawkeye Barton's question, everyone couldn't help but turn their attention to Loki.
They found it hard to accept the idea of answering questions with Loki, considering he was the villain who led an alien army to invade New York.
"Should we lock him up first?" Hawkeye Barton glanced at everyone, seeking their opinions.
"That won't work," Nick Fury shook his head. Aside from them, the world around them was frozen in time.
They couldn't even open a door, let alone take Loki anywhere.
Hawkeye Barton might not have understood this, but Nick Fury, a veteran of the Quiz System, knew the score.
"Or...knock him out?" Black Widow suggested, sounding thoughtful.
"Oh, oh!" Loki couldn't help but exclaim, "Isn't this a bit much? I've already surrendered."
"Since the Quiz System has chosen him, I think we can only let him participate in the quiz now," Captain America said seriously to everyone after some thought.
Up until now, besides posing questions and issuing rewards and punishments, the Quiz System had never interacted with them in any way.
Everyone knew very little about the Quiz System.
No one knew if forcibly stopping a contestant chosen by the Quiz System from answering questions would "anger" or "annoy" the Quiz System.
And as it seemed, none of the contestants chosen by the Quiz System had ever been a villain.
So after a brief discussion, although they were reluctant, they finally reached an agreement: let Loki stay and answer the questions.
"Loki, since the Quiz System has chosen you, you can answer the questions with us, but!" Nick Fury said, solemnly warning Loki, "If you dare to play any tricks, you'll only be asking for trouble!"
"My hands are tied, what tricks could I possibly pull?" Loki raised his hands, shaking them slightly. "So, can we start this… quiz thing now?"
Loki said with anticipation.
He was quite interested in this so-called quiz.
Everyone present ignored Loki and refocused their attention on the quiz.
There were still six participants in this round:
Tony Stark, Captain America Steve Rogers, Black Widow Natasha Romanoff, Hawkeye Clint Barton, Nick Fury, and Loki Odinson.
"Nick Fury!"
After some thought, Tony Stark turned and seriously questioned Fury, "Didn't you say my father was one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D.? Then his death must have been investigated by S.H.I.E.L.D., right?"
"Naturally." Nick Fury nodded.
Howard Stark's identity was so important that his death affected the entire United States. Not only the police, but many departments and institutions were highly concerned.
Officially, the police were investigating the case.
But behind the scenes, there were quite a few departments secretly investigating this matter.
And because of Howard Stark's identity, S.H.I.E.L.D. was undoubtedly conducting an investigation as well.
"However, according to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigation, Howard did indeed die in a traffic accident." However, Nick Fury then sternly said to Tony Stark.
Even S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't find anything, which said a lot.
Either Howard's death really was an accident, with no conspiracy theories behind it.
Or, Howard's death was a huge conspiracy, controlled by a very powerful force in the shadows.
The Hand's energy was immense, even capable of concealing itself from S.H.I.E.L.D.
Everyone present wasn't stupid, and they instantly understood this.
"Iron Man, Tony Stark?"
Loki's voice rang out. He surveyed the surroundings, then looked at Tony Stark. "This should be referring to this tin can, right? This question wasn't prepared for me, was it?"
Loki had originally thought that this so-called quiz was orchestrated by the people in front of him. Although he didn't know their purpose, it was likely meant to deal with him.
But now, Loki realized he was completely mistaken.
This question had absolutely nothing to do with him!
They were just amusing themselves!
So, what exactly were these people up to?
However, no one on the scene paid any attention to Loki. He wasn't annoyed; instead, a more interested look appeared in his eyes.
He wanted to see what tricks these people were playing.
"Stark, as things stand, the only option we can rule out is D," Black Widow said to Tony Stark. "There aren't any terrorists in the world that capable."
"Romanoff is right," Hawkeye Barton agreed, nodding in agreement. "If this car accident was really planned, I have to say, it was a flawless operation."
"The police, the military, S.H.I.E.L.D., and other organizations... the other side managed to fool all of them perfectly, without revealing any flaws!"
"This is simply not something terrorists can do."
The others generally agreed.
Terrorists are generally illegal armed organizations that haven't received professional training and have relatively low overall qualities. To put it bluntly, they're a bunch of rabble.
The possibility of them being able to plan an operation of this level is simply too small.
"Nick Fury," Tony Stark said after some thought, turning his gaze towards Nick Fury.
"When I was investigating the Ten Rings before, I also had Jarvis keep an eye on other terrorist organizations. I found that some of them were quite significant."
"For example, there's an organization called The Hand. They've been around for over four hundred years and are a ninja assassin group, far beyond the average terrorist organization."
"They operate discreetly, are highly trained, and have deep-rooted influence worldwide. However, I only glanced at them and didn't delve deeper."
"As the boss of S.H.I.E.L.D., you should have a more in-depth understanding, right? Are there other similar terrorist organizations in the world?"
"Do they have the capability to orchestrate such an operation?"
Tony Stark asked Nick Fury with a serious expression.
"You're right, Stark. The Hand is indeed not your average terrorist organization." Nick Fury nodded in agreement. "There aren't many terrorist organizations in the world that can rival S.H.I.E.L.D., but The Hand is certainly one of them."
"However, from what I know, faking a car accident like this isn't The Hand's style, nor do they have the capability."
After all, this wasn't a simple assassination, but a perfect forgery.
The situation involved so many different aspects and was so complex that The Hand couldn't possibly be behind it.
"As for other organizations?" Nick Fury fell into thought, and after a moment, he gave his answer.
"With S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intelligence network, we have a handle on almost every large-scale terrorist organization globally."
"But I've reviewed those lists, and I haven't found any terrorist organization capable of doing this."
Even Nick Fury said as much, which meant the possibility of option D being the answer was indeed reduced to its lowest point.
Reduced to the point where it could be ruled out.
"We've all seen how powerful the first Ant-Man, Hank Pym, is. He could even take down the entire Avengers by himself."
"Not only that, Hank Pym is also a founding member of S.H.I.E.L.D. and is very familiar with how S.H.I.E.L.D. operates."
"If it were him, killing the Stark couple and faking the car accident, perfectly deceiving S.H.I.E.L.D., it's entirely possible."
Following that, Black Widow focused on the second option, analyzing it seriously.
"Not only that, S.H.I.E.L.D. once coveted Hank Pym's technology, and Hank Pym resenting Howard isn't strange either."
Captain America added, supplementing the information.
In short, Hank Pym had the ability and the motive, so he couldn't be ruled out for the moment.
"Winter Soldier, in Howard's time, Winter Soldier was still a killer controlled by HYDRA." Nick Fury then analyzed another option.
"As HYDRA is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s number one enemy, it makes sense that they would want to kill the founder of S.H.I.E.L.D.... Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if HYDRA wanted to kill anyone."
"Considering that HYDRA has always had some infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D., they could also perfectly fake a car accident after killing Howard, which is also achievable."
After everyone's initial analysis, the D option could be definitively ruled out, but options A, B, and C were all possibilities.
"Stark, all the evidence currently suggests that Howard's death was a traffic accident," Nick Fury said, looking intently at Tony Stark. "So it might really just have been an accident."
"But it's up to you to decide which one you want to believe."
"Up until now, the Quiz System has only shown us the future," Tony Stark said to Nick Fury after a moment of thought. "Except for the time Thor was exiled, there have been no exceptions."
"Excuse me, you're saying it shows the future?" Loki couldn't help but interject, staring at Stark.
From what the tin man was saying, the questions from this Quiz System were about the future? How was that possible?
Tony Stark completely ignored Loki, as if he didn't exist.
He continued speaking to Nick Fury and the others, "So, statistically speaking, the possibility of this question showing the past is very, very small."
"In other words, this question likely showcases the future!"
"That means in the future, I'll probably reinvestigate my parents' deaths, or something else will happen that makes me re-evaluate how they died!"
"Why is that?"
"If my parents really died in a car accident, why would this happen in the future?"
"So, I think there might be something fishy about my parents' deaths! That's why I won't choose A; I'll pick between B or C."
This question was about Tony Stark, so everyone assumed Tony Stark would answer.
Since Tony Stark said that, no one dared to say anything more. Moreover, what Tony Stark said made some sense.
Now, everyone completely ignored A and focused their attention on options B and C.
It's either Hank Pym or the Winter Soldier.
Everyone only needs to choose one of the two.
The atmosphere on the scene began to get a little strange.
At this point in the Quiz, the possibility of the Winter Soldier being chosen had reached fifty percent! Even... it was greater than fifty percent.
Everyone at the scene put themselves in the other person's shoes. If they were answering this question, they would most likely choose the Winter Soldier.
Although both had the motive to kill Howard, Hank Pym's motive was weaker compared to the Winter Soldier.
After all, Hank Pym had only fallen out with the founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. and left S.H.I.E.L.D., that was all.
It hadn't reached the point of life and death.
But what about the Winter Soldier?
At that time, he was a killing puppet of HYDRA, doing all sorts of evil! HYDRA's motive for wanting to kill Howard was naturally much stronger than Hank Pym's.
That's just one reason.
The second is that Hank Pym is a successful entrepreneur, and according to the information everyone currently knows, he has no black marks.
But what about the Winter Soldier?
He's a killing machine who has killed countless people and whose hands are stained with blood! If a choice had to be made between the two, everyone would naturally be more inclined to choose the Winter Soldier.
...
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