Washington, an abandoned factory in the suburbs.
An Asian woman introduced herself: "My name is Melinda May, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm here because of a recent cannibalism case."
Hearing the other party's intention, Blade narrowed his eyes.
He knew about S.H.I.E.L.D. and had even dealt with Fury before.
When he'd first started gaining fame hunting vampires, Fury had found him and invited him to join the S.H.I.E.L.D. special unit "Howling Commandos."
As for the result—he'd of course refused without hesitation.
His purpose was to exact revenge on vampires, not maintain world peace, and he didn't feel his actions were saving humanity.
However, despite this, he'd learned about this official organization dedicated to investigating, monitoring, and containing extraordinary events, and was impressed.
After a moment of silence, Blade said, "...I advise you not to provoke that monster."
Although May only said she was here to investigate the cannibalism case, through the news, he'd roughly guessed that the cannibal he'd encountered last night was the murderer of the cannibalism case, and he'd probably guessed that S.H.I.E.L.D. was here to inquire about the cannibal's capabilities.
But out of goodwill, he still gave a kind warning before sharing intelligence.
For this organization that dared to venture into the extraordinary world as ordinary people in order to protect the world, Blade still had a positive impression.
And this kind warning also confirmed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s conjecture about what happened to Blade when he'd broken into the villa last night, making May's expression grow more serious.
"Can you tell me the specific details?"
"The specific details..."
Blade recalled the confrontation with Rui last night, and after a moment's silence, said: "That guy is like a spider. Although he has a human form, his body is pale, and he has spider markings on his body. He can fire tough and sharp spider silk like a spider.
In addition, his physical abilities are extremely strong—his strength, speed, and neural responses are not weaker than mine, and his skin is so hard that it's impossible to cut with a sword. Even pierced wounds regenerate and heal.
To be honest, if that guy hadn't had a problem with his brain yesterday, I don't think I would've gotten out of there!"
"Is it that strong?"
May's eyes flickered slightly, as if she couldn't believe it.
Although it was supernatural, could flesh and blood in human form really reach that level?
"It's only stronger than what I described!" Blade took a deep breath. "If you want to deal with that guy, you'd better find his weakness first before acting."
Hearing this, May couldn't help sighing. "I'm just an errand runner. How to proceed depends on decisions from above. If the people above are willing to rashly act at the cost of many agents' lives, I can't help it."
She'd already retreated to the second line and was engaged in clerical work, but she'd been invited by Fury to contact Blade.
Although this represented her boss's trust in her, she really didn't want to continue such a life.
"Then I can only wish you good luck." Blade spread his hands, indicating he could do nothing about it.
"What about you?" May looked at Blade and asked. "When you encounter a guy like that, are you going to avoid him in the future or are you going to find a way to kill him?"
"Is that even a question?"
A sneer appeared on Blade's face.
"Okay!"
May nodded, indicating she understood.
Immediately afterward, she continued: "Fury asked me to tell you that there may be at least thirteen other guys like that, and he's also planning an operation against those demons. He may need your help then!"
"Demons..." Blade carefully considered the information revealed by May and said, "It seems you already have considerable intelligence about those guys."
"We don't eat dry rice either. We've found some of their weaknesses. Will you join?"
"If it's just temporary cooperation, that's fine."
"Then let's stay in contact!"
"Okay!"
…
S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Triskelion Building.
"...That's the complete situation."
After describing everything from beginning to end, Barton closed his mouth and waited obediently for Fury's reaction.
Fury rested his right hand on the desk and his left hand pinched his chin in thought. After a while, he came back to his senses and looked at Barton. "I understand the specific situation. Regarding the negotiation, I'll arrange it."
"If there's nothing else, I'll go."
"Alright, thank you for your hard work, Agent Barton!"
Barton nodded, didn't say anything, turned and left the office.
After watching him leave, Fury turned to look at Hill. "Go prepare. I will personally meet the Tenth Boss of the Vongola Family tomorrow."
"Won't this be too dangerous?" Hill said. "None of us know whether this so-called negotiation is their sincerity or a trap."
"This can't be a trap." Fury said firmly. "Except for lunatics, whether strong or weak, people's behavior follows certain patterns. We're overthinking things.
And even if it were a trap, so what?
Behind S.H.I.E.L.D. is the World Security Council. If the director is gone, they'll just arrange another one. It's not an important matter at all."
"..."
Hill was speechless.
…
Time passed slowly, and the hour hand quickly reached twelve o'clock at night.
"Fifteen thousand prayer points..."
Quinn glanced at the data on the system panel, and after a moment's consideration, decided to directly proceed with the lottery.
"Test the waters with 5,000 prayer points first. Draw items!"
There weren't many big players in Marvel right now, and the puppets used to attract attention and earn prayer points were sufficient for the time being, so Quinn directly extracted items.
With the deduction of prayer value, system prompts sounded one after another in his mind.
Ding! You got Aizen's hair gel!
Ding! You got orange-tinted glasses!
Ding! You got Naruto's goggles!
Ding! You got...
…
…
As always, most of the extracted items were garbage.
However, most of the items drawn this time were used by some famous characters, which held great collectible value for hardcore fans.
But with previous lottery experience, Quinn didn't panic at all. As long as you drew enough, there would always be good things.
However, he'd miscalculated this time.
Fifty draws were completed, but there was nothing good—all junk.
"Could it be that I was too lucky last time, so this time I've been directly turned into an unlucky soul?"
Looking at the pile of useless things in the system space, the corner of Quinn's mouth twitched.
"No, it's just fifty draws—it doesn't mean anything. I used to draw a hundred times and only got two things: Sun Breathing and Swordsmanship Mastery." Quinn refused to believe in bad luck and was ready to continue the lottery.
Suddenly, a system prompt sounded in his mind.
Ding! Your C-rank one-star puppet "Rui" has been killed in action!
Character Notes:
Melinda May - From Marvel Comics/MCU. A highly skilled S.H.I.E.L.D. agent known as "The Cavalry." Expert in combat and piloting, now working in a more administrative capacity.
Rui - From Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Lower Moon Five of the Twelve Kizuki. A spider demon with the ability to manipulate threads and control others. Known for his obsession with creating a "family."