Chapter 203: You Revealed Your Hand, So Did I
Deep underground in the abandoned U.S. base.
"Adopted son of a god?"
Skye looked at the boy beside her, uncertain and wary.
The hoarse male voice from the depths of the basement continued, "Yes. Raised by the superhero Wonder Woman, Diana Prince. It must be said, the older one lives, the stranger the things they witness."
Facing a mysterious entity that had just revealed his identity,
Xi Nian smiled. "That's it?"
After all that talk, that was all he revealed about himself?
Was it that his extraordinary nature was too well-hidden, or that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s power was so limited?
"Not going to introduce yourself, old thing?"
While Skye was still on high alert, Xi Nian casually stepped forward and tapped on one of the computer towers, speaking as if it were nothing.
The computer tower paused for a moment, then all the black-and-white screens in the basement lit up simultaneously, displaying the aged face of a white man wearing round glasses, looking surprisingly refined.
"My name is Arnim Zola, a German scientist under Red Skull during World War II. In 1972, after being diagnosed with cancer, I chose to upload my consciousness into this computer database, remaining here forever."
"Someone can actually do that…" Skye was shocked.
Man and machine combined? Truly an old marvel.
Xi Nian remained calm, showing no surprise.
In fact,
Alice, the AI, had already discovered this semi-artificial intelligence anomaly while sifting through all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files.
This semi-AI had been protecting the mysterious forces aligned with the Winter Soldier. Even Nick Fury, as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director, could not detect it. Many of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets were encrypted and hidden by this entity.
Because of its presence,
Even Alice could not locate Pietro within S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.
Many secret intelligence files were never stored in the main building but routed through this intelligence hub and then elsewhere,
All to hide the world-shattering ultimate secret—
"Wait. You said you were a scientist under Red Skull…" Skye's face paled, her lips tightly pressed, unable to accept the truth.
"So,"
Xi Nian touched his chin, sighing, "what S.H.I.E.L.D. calls itself should really be called Hydra, or maybe Serpent Shield."
"You guessed correctly,"
On the computer screens, Dr. Zola's aged face carried a faint smile as he proudly spoke, "The Hydra organization was not destroyed by Captain America during World War II. He alone could not achieve that! After Red Skull disappeared, Hydra went into hiding around the world and embedded itself within the newly-formed S.H.I.E.L.D., growing ever since."
"How could this be…"
Skye trembled violently, like a believer whose faith had collapsed.
Xi Nian asked, "Pietro was abducted by your Hydra, right?"
"You mean the twin born in New York?"
Dr. Zola paused. "That child is special, useful to Hydra. But even Pierce doesn't know where he is now. You won't find him…"
"Is that so." Xi Nian's eyes narrowed, expression calm, unreadable.
"Insight Plan."
Skye took a deep breath, staring at the tower, asking in a low voice, "What exactly does Hydra hope to achieve with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Insight Plan?"
"At this point, it doesn't matter,"
Dr. Zola said proudly and directly, "The Insight Plan's core elements: first, the aircraft carriers as strategic weapons; second, the Zola Algorithm. Using the algorithm, airborne carriers can simultaneously identify and eliminate threats to Hydra—politicians, lawyers, officers, soldiers, billionaires. Three carriers under the algorithm can kill two million humans in a single second!"
"Am I included in that kill range?" Xi Nian raised his hand like a student asking a question.
"No, you are not."
Dr. Zola shook his head. "According to the Zola Algorithm, though you are the adopted son of a god, you pose no threat to Hydra…"
Xi Nian: "…"
Good grief, that's an insult, right?
"Revealing these secrets so casually, you don't care? You really don't treat us as humans, huh?" Xi Nian blinked, half-joking.
Dr. Zola smiled, smugly, "Doesn't matter. You won't leave here anyway."
He laid his cards on the table. "Haven't you noticed? I've been deliberately delaying you!"
Skye's expression changed drastically.
Xi Nian remained calm, pulling out his phone from his pocket, gesturing, and smiling. "Coincidentally, so have I."
"What did you say?" Dr. Zola was stunned.
At that moment,
Some of the black-and-white screens flickered, then displayed a silver crown image.
A soft, pleasant female voice suddenly spoke from the basement, "Master, a missile is approaching here, twenty-six seconds remaining!"
Xi Nian remained unruffled, issuing a command: "Hack into this system. Copy all Hydra intelligence files that have been encrypted and hidden!"
Alice: "Executing!"
"What have you done?!"
On the remaining screens, Dr. Zola's face showed terror. He realized his control was being stripped away, permissions altered, and encrypted intelligence being forcibly copied past firewalls.
How is this possible?!
He was already a human merged with a computer system—consciousness as code!
In this world, no hacker could penetrate his database!
Yet here it was, hacked without his awareness!
Unless—
"Artificial intelligence… damn it! How do you have such an advanced AI?"
Dr. Zola's enraged voice echoed. He was undergoing the most brutal breach; decades of unbreakable defenses were collapsing rapidly.
He, a semi-AI human, could never match Alice, a purpose-built artificial intelligence.
If this continued, within the remaining seconds, all Hydra intelligence would be exposed.
Through basement cameras, Dr. Zola watched Xi Nian's calm face.
What baffled him most:
This boy risked his life for the data, even with a missile about to strike!
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