Chapter 161: Fury Must Die!

Wang did not know what Fitz had understood, otherwise, he would have scolded him on the spot and given him a lesson in mental health education.

To be contaminated by society to this extent at such a young age—was this acceptable?

As a scientist, one's thoughts should be pure. Even if one did not care about technological development or human progress, one should at least care about grains and vegetables. Island-nation adult films and the research materials related to racial reproduction from the motherland should be watched much less.

No matter how beautiful Jiaying was, Wang harbored no improper thoughts. He had long since transcended low-level amusement and embarked on pursuits of a higher caliber.

Compared to physical pleasure, he cared more about spiritual cultivation, which he owed to his spiritual communion with the Green Dragon Queen Ysera in the Emerald Dream... Besides, Jiaying was simply not his type—

Too alluring; her enchantress-like face was like a flower embracing the dew, and her jade-like branches radiated a shimmering glow...

Ahem.

Wang was extremely pure. He genuinely felt that Jiaying was exceptionally suited to be a monk—even more so than himself. His intentions were purely kind.

Though Afterlife was small and the Inhumans were few, it was still a society rife with scheming and backstabbing. Jiaying and the Elders' Council possessed limited power and limited means. To forge the Inhumans into a single cohesive force required not only a sufficiently ruthless will, but also sufficiently formidable methods.

Jiaying possessed the former, but fell hopelessly short of the latter.

Wang would certainly not give up on this reservoir of viable forces.

What he hoped to forge was a powerful Inhuman army, not a demoralized and fragmented tribe.

Jiaying, as their leader, had to be strong enough.

Wang decided to help Jiaying lay a solid foundation first, rapidly converting the vast amount of life force within her body into Qi so she could become a martial arts master. Once she tasted the sweet fruits of success, she would inevitably become hooked.

Once she experienced the immense power and confidence brought by Qi, she would certainly never give it up.

Compared to Skye, or even Daredevil and Stick, the speed at which Jiaying cultivated Qi was evidently much faster. Of course, this was mainly because Wang was far wealthier than before and spared no expense in exchanging for a massive amount of Well of Eternity water essence.

A torrent of life force saturated every inch of Jiaying’s skin and every single cell until it reached a state of saturation. Quantitative change triggered qualitative change, and the very first strand of Qi finally emerged.

All things are difficult at first, but once there is a first time, there will be countless times, and each time will be more comfortable and pleasurable than the last.

Wang took the initiative to guide Jiaying, helping her complete a full ten major heavenly cycle circulations before he withdrew his hands and wiped away a bead of illusory sweat.

Practice makes perfect.

A complete major heavenly cycle circulation had now been formed, establishing a memory and inertia through repetitive movement. Even without Wang’s assistance, it would operate autonomously, continuously converting the vital energy within her body into Qi.

Mature Qi, naturally, must learn to circulate on its own.

Her rate of Qi growth was even faster than Wang’s in his past life.

"A master in one year, a grandmaster in three, surpassing old Chen in five, and chasing Shaohao in ten?" Wang stroked his chin.

Although somewhat exaggerated, it was not entirely impossible.

As long as he was ruthless enough.

As long as he was willing to invest heavily.

The first step had been completed. Next, he only needed to wait for Jiaying to wake up. Once she tasted the benefits of Qi, she would naturally come running to him on her own, impossible to drive away even if he tried.

The Inhumans of Earth were not the Inhumans of the Moon; they were ultimately just a minor annoyance, and Wang did not want to waste too much energy on this matter.

He had other things to do.

Because secret modifications precluded assembly-line work, the three Quinjets could not be retrofitted simultaneously and had to be done one by one.

The first one had been completed long ago, with its focus placed on reconnaissance capabilities and stealth measures. It had been handed over to the Winter Soldier to fly to Greenland in search of Captain America.

The second was a transport plane, so its modification naturally prioritized transport capacity. The interior space had long been fixed and could not be expanded for the time being, so the focus was placed on increasing speed and safety.

Tony had personally designed and installed the latest type of engine, powered by a medium-sized Arc Reactor. Although its maneuverability could not compare to the Mark VI, its speed alone was even more impressive, barely reaching Mach 10 and surpassing every single active-duty fighter jet in the world.

Most missiles could not catch it, and when combined with visual stealth devices and radar-absorbent coatings, it was sufficient to evade radar scans of every model worldwide, naturally guaranteeing safety.

In Tony’s words, even if this transport plane flew right over the White House and dropped a load of bird droppings onto the President’s head, it would never be detected.

It was as if entering an uninhabited realm.

Furthermore, it possessed ultra-high-altitude flight capabilities, with a maximum flight ceiling exceeding 10 kilometers.

The third was the primary combat fighter, which placed greater emphasis on combat capabilities.

Although Stark Industries had closed its weapons division, in reality, that merely meant it no longer sold weapons to the outside world. Tony himself continued to design new weapons endlessly, and quite a few of these had been applied to this fighter jet.

These included Jericho missiles and high-power laser weapon systems.

The total weight of the weapon systems equipped on this fighter jet was a full three times its own empty weight.

The modification costs for the three Quinjets were even higher than their original manufacturing costs; combined, they could have bought several Mark VI suits. Tony had shown absolute sincerity—

Though it was equally possible that he simply had money to burn and did not care.

The more high-end an aircraft was, the simpler its operation actually became.

Wang specifically called One-Eyed Nick to borrow Melinda May for training assistance, and the "Black Sky" Elektra quickly mastered it, displaying a very respectable form.

Wang expressed his utmost gratitude for this and thoughtfully attached a small file of Whitehall’s memories as a bonus.

This harvested a wellspring of boundless resentment from Nick.

"It's about time."

Wang calculated the time. Nearly a month had passed since Nick obtained Whitehall’s initial memories.

During this past month, Nick had been formulating plans, deploying personnel, and employing various tactics, with absolute secrecy as the overriding priority so as to avoid alerting the enemy prematurely—

Yet both Nick and Wang were well aware that a snake which needed to be startled to react was definitely not Hydra.

Pierce was the true master of S.H.I.E.L.D., and no subtle turbulence could escape his eyes.

Outwardly calm, but turbulent underneath.

S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra were exerting force simultaneously, stirring up winds and rains across the entire world.

The war had not yet begun, but the victor and vanquished were already determined.

……

……

Inside a certain government building.

Pierce sat at his desk, listening to Sitwell’s report, acutely aware that the current situation was precarious.

Over the past month, there had been numerous personnel changes and resource allocations within S.H.I.E.L.D. Each item looked entirely normal on the surface, and no one else could detect any problems, yet he simply felt that something was amiss.

This premonition stemmed from the intuition he had cultivated over a multi-decade political career.

Just as many scientists turned to theology when faced with things science could not explain, when intellect failed to provide answers, Pierce had no choice but to trust his intuition.

This intuition had saved his life on several occasions.

Perhaps it would do so again this time.

"How is Whitehall's situation?" Pierce asked.

"This... I don't know."

Sitwell wiped away a cold sweat. "Mr. Secretary, Whitehall is in the hands of the Immortal Iron Fist, inside the Azeroth Laboratory. You know that place is a restricted zone for us. In this past month alone, we've dispatched seventeen of our most capable agents there successively, and not a single one has returned."

Pierce twirled his fountain pen.

What worried him most was Whitehall.

That fellow knew far too many of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secrets and was also aware of his true identity. If he were to open his mouth, the consequences would be severe.

Pity that, had it not been for a baffling malfunction in the missile system that caused that missile to detonate in San Juan, Whitehall ought to have died long ago, sparing them all this current trouble.

"We can't wait any longer."

Pierce frowned, well aware that Fury had already grown suspicious of him and had been investigating in secret.

Originally, he had not wanted to make a move against him before the completion of Project Insight, because the fallout was too massive and could easily cause the project to abortive.

But now, it seemed waiting was no longer an option.

"Pass down the order."

Pierce issued his command decisively: "Within three hours, Fury must die!"