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12.45% Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics / Chapter 534: Chapter 363: Long Live Helada (Part 2) _2

章節 534: Chapter 363: Long Live Helada (Part 2) _2

And so, he resorts to what snakes do best - he hibernates.

Pierce dares to go completely silent because he has a backup in S.H.I.E.L.D.

When John Garrett received a call from Grant, though outwardly he put on an impassive front, urging Grant to protect his identity, deep inside, he was somewhat flabbergasted.

Because he was the backup Pierce had left at S.H.I.E.L.D.

Pierce instructed Garrett that if he activated the radio silence protocol, Garrett would become the leader of all Hydra agents within S.H.I.E.L.D.

But now, someone unexpectedly claimed that they were the agent selected by Pierce to go undercover in silence.

Level 8 Agent Garrett, on par with Coulson, has been the person in charge of the emergency response team for many years, his seniority is unparalleled in S.H.I.E.L.D., the same goes for Hydra.

Upon hearing Shiller claiming to be the silent agent, Garrett's first instinct wasn't to question the truthfulness of the statement, but instead thought, "That old Fox Pierce doesn't trust me!"

As an underling of Pierce, Garrett understood him all too well. Pierce's actions embodied deceit and cunning, characteristics alike to the saying 'the sly old tortoise has three dens.'

Garrett believed that Pierce was concerned that upon his hibernation, Garrett would take over his duties at S.H.I.E.L.D., making it difficult to control him afterwards.

Garrett assumed that Pierce foresaw this coming, hastily transferring an unknown psychologist into the bureau to act as another silent agent and counterbalance him, averting him from taking over Pierce's control of S.H.I.E.L.D.

It's hard to expect unity from an evil organization like Hydra. Internal strife is an ever-lasting theme, and the energy they put into infighting exceeds those required to get things done.

This is all too familiar to Garrett. Hence, he couldn't pass up this perfect opportunity to ascend the ranks. If he could control all of Hydra's agents within S.H.I.E.L.D., he could become one of the snakeheads, entirely replacing Pierce.

Therefore, Garrett's first impulse was to eliminate Shiller.

He was not afraid of killing within S.H.I.E.L.D., the organization was their base. Not only the agents, even the cleaners, transport workers, drivers are their people. There is no better place to take action.

However, to his surprise, as the mantis stalks the cicada, another is hunting the mantis. Being familiar with Hydra's habits, Shiller intentionally employed this technique to probe whether Pierce had left traces in S.H.I.E.L.D. The result satisfied him.

This technique of mutual anticipation sounds complex, yet it's nothing more than a common trick. Like during a game of Werewolves, when the first person playing as a werewolf stands up and announces, "I'm the seer!"

The real, naïve Seer, when delivering their speech later, might refute, "No! I am the real Seer!"

They would then become the werewolves' target the following night.

When Shiller announced in S.H.I.E.L.D. "I am the silent agent left behind by Director Pierce!",

if Pierce had indeed left another agent in S.H.I.E.L.D., the infighting Hydra would also want to eliminate Shiller.

Facing Garrett's corpse, his gun still in hands, Nick said, "I had suspected Pierce, but I never thought that Garrett was in cahoots with him. I always assumed they were competing against each other."

"They are on the same side, yet they are competitors. Garrett certainly wanted to replace Pierce. After all, Pierce's absence from S.H.I.E.L.D. has been lengthy, but he still remotely controls everything here. As the oldest Hydra leader here, Garrett must have longed for promotion."

Having said this, Shiller walked towards the door and on his way out, he said, "I hope to find the office clean when I come in tomorrow morning, thank you."

The next day, in the neat counselling room, Shiller said to Grant with a heavy face, "Now, I believe you understand the severity of the situation."

"With Pierce missing and Garrett under a highly confidential investigation overnight, neither of them has a high chance of survival. What is to come will be a harsh test. Are you prepared?"

Grant still kept a straight face. He asked, "Did you take out Garrett?"

Shiller spun a pen in his hand, revealed a smile, and said, "You're very smart, but unfortunately, Garrett is not as smart as you."

"He thought that having operated here for a long time, he could attack me without restraint. But if Pierce dared let me parachute in here, wouldn't he have anticipated this?"

When these words came out of Shiller's mouth, Grant appeared to relax a bit. It was indeed in very much Hydra's style for there to be infighting. At the very least, it ruled out the possibility of Shiller being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Those agents would surely deny having such intentions.

"Listen, I'm not joking. I'm about to take over all operations of S.H.I.E.L.D., if you have any objections, you can talk to the guards."

Finally, Grant spoke, "What's your plan moving forward?"

"I will launch a comprehensive protection plan. All important personnel will appear on the protection list. If anything goes wrong, I will immediately relocate them."

"What about the base?" Grant asked.

"Are you familiar with the Arkham Sanatorium? That's my property and it's Hydra's secret base in New York. Only Pierce and I know about it. Even the heads of other regions do not know, it's only activated in emergencies."

"Has the situation already reached such a critical point?" Grant squinted as he asked, "Haven't there been numerous sweeps before?"

"Are you really a Level 7 Agent?" Shiller looked into Grant's eyes and asked, "Which previous sweep indirectly implicated people of the level of Director Pierce?"

Grant stayed silent. Shiller pinched his pen and said, "Clearly, a new era is about to begin. The human race believes it's about to step into the cosmos, so they plan to stabilize their internals first. This clean-up will be harsher than ever. Despite this, I've always been a member of the Correction Faction."

"After that great war, Hydra lost its former glory. The main reason was the influx of good-for-nothing new members."

"During this crisis, the protection list will be based on your performances. If anyone's only here to collect their salary, let the judgement of those so-called righteous fall upon them…"

Upon leaving the counseling room, Grant squinted hard. He was under great pressure; the new leader descending upon S.H.I.E.L.D. was a tough fanatic to deal with.

Grant's mood was complicated, but he returned to his team's area as if nothing had happened. As soon as he returned, Coulson came up to him and said, "You went for counselling? My God! I've been too busy recently, I neglected you, I need to apologize…"

"No, I'm fine." Grant maintained his stiff demeanor and shook his head. Coulson didn't think too much of it. He knew this was just Grant's temper.

Back in his room, Grant leaned against the door with his head thrown back and quietly muttered, "The protection plan..."


next chapter

章節 535: Chapter 364: Long Live Helada (Part 3) _1

The next day, the atmosphere at S.H.I.E.L.D. became somewhat strange. As Nick passed through the corridor, four or five people had already outpaced his walking speed, rushing past him.

Nick looked left and right with his cup of coffee in hand, noticing that everyone had a serious expression. He stopped a female agent and asked her, "Where are you going, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Good morning, Director, I'm off to work. Some tasks from last night's special operations division are not yet completed, so I have to go early today."

"Ah, okay, off you go."

Then, another male agent bumped into him. The agent paused and explained, "Oh, sorry, Director. I am a little rushed. As you know, I'm in a hurry to work..."

Nick was slightly surprised, but he couldn't find words to stop them, he asked a few more people, and received the same answers.

"What the hell, isn't it these low-level agents who slack the most? Their day typically consists of being at the gym or the tennis court and discussing when they can get a raise in the office. Why are they all of a sudden so diligent?"

While lost in his thoughts, he arrived at the door of the counseling room. Nick knocked on the door, and Shiller's voice came, "Come in."

As Nick went inside, he was still looking back at the crowd bustling in the corridor. After he stepped in and closed the door, he pointed outside and asked, "What's going on?"

Shiller threw him a dossier. Nick glanced at it and said, "...A security plan? Transferring key personnel to Arkham Sanatorium?"

Nick dropped the file, looked at Shiller and asked, "You better not tell me those agents are working hard... to prove their importance..."

"Of course. If they can prove they are irreplaceable in S.H.I.E.L.D., they will be on the security list. This way they can safely avoid this round of purge. As you know, Pierce and Garrett have both been ousted, the security plan is the recent lifeboat."

Nick squinted his eyes. It seemed he had seen through Shiller's thoughts. Shiller spread his hands, saying "Don't look at me like this. I am really dealing with Hydra selflessly."

"Heh," Nick responded with a cold laugh.

Before long, many agents included in the security list arrived at Arkham Sanatorium.

Previously, although there were many nursing positions here, most of them were nominal, just to cover the deficit. Therefore, the number of actual staff was very limited, and so was the number of people who could be served.

But now, with so many actual "nurses", they could certainly increase the scale of patients.

Having marketed the Eternal Life Factor for so long, what New York didn't lack was wealthy people interested in it. There were countless people who wanted to enter the sanatorium, and as soon as it was announced that there were vacant beds available, they quickly filled up.

The more the patients, the higher the demand for nurses. Thus, the security list added another group of diligent and hardworking agents. However, the more the agents, the more the need for patients. And so they added more patients and then more nurses…

After rounds of adjusting to match demand and supply, Shiller successfully stuffed the sanatorium with people.

Moreover, those Hydra agents who could infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. were all prepared and competent. They knew that having a secret base during the purge was like a lifeboat in a storm. It was a vital resource for sustaining the organization's strength. If they exposed their flaws, it could ruin everyone. Therefore, they worked hard to disguise themselves as real nurses.

Of course, Shiller's aim wasn't purely to boost the business of the sanatorium. It was his sense of justice that didn't allow him to sit by while the evil Hydra continued to threaten S.H.I.E.L.D.

Meanwhile, inside the S.H.I.E.L.D base, Coulson and Grant had a hug. "I did not expect you to be posted so soon. I could speak to the HR team, don't want you going to such a desolate place...I don't think it's necessary..."

Grant shook his head, his mouth opened, as if he had something to say, but eventually, he didn't say anything. He just silently turned around. What Coulson didn't see was the complicated expression on his face, as if some beliefs were wavering.

"Alright..." Coulson didn't insist. He went and put his arms around Grant's shoulders, "I know you're a passionate person, just not good with words. If you face any difficulties in New Mexico, make sure to contact me immediately."

Grant nodded noncommittally. After Coulson saw him out, he muttered to himself in confusion, "...are we assigning a bit too many agents to the field recently? And they always go to those desolate places, like New Mexico, Montana..."

Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and said, "Oh, Coulson, you mustn't let Director Fury hear you say that, or else he'll question your professionalism again, guessing there must be some secret experiment..."

With that, he didn't dwell on the matter and left.

When Shiller met with Grant at Arkham Sanatorium, he handed him a piece of paper. Grant looked at the paper, which was filled with dense text and had a signature at the bottom, but he didn't reach out to take it.

Shiller told him, "Every person who comes here is given a comprehensive plan of strict rules to follow. It's a turbulent time, and I have the authority to handle anyone who breaks the rules. Don't think you're an exception, Mr. Ward."

Grant kept staring at Shiller, unable to find any fault on him, until he saw the signature on the rule sheet, where the name was spelled "Schiele".

That wasn't a common spelling in America; it came from Germany and Austria.

Grant took a deep breath, took the paper, and asked, "Will you guarantee the safety of all the agents here?"

"I guarantee the safety of all the loyal people here."

Grant and Shiller stared at each other for tens of seconds until the atmosphere completely froze, then Shiller said, "I hope everyone here has work to do."

Grant stood up from the chair, backed away a few steps, then turned and left. After leaving the room, he clenched the rule sheet in his hand and cursed in his heart, "Damned NAZIs..."

The next day, as soon as Grant opened the door, he was hit by a strong smell of blood. He quickly walked a few steps, crossed the corridor, looked down from the atrium, and then saw two bloody bodies.

Shiller stood by the stairs. When he saw Grant, he put his hand on the banister and said, "I was about to call you over, Mr. Ward."

Grant walked down against the wall and stared at Shiller's face, saying, "You killed them…"

Shiller shook his head and said, "Their own actions killed them."

"Aren't you afraid the patients will discover something?"

"Haven't you noticed that it's much quieter here than before?" Shiller turned to look at the corridor and continued, "The buildings of this sanatorium have a long history. The wiring is old and needs urgent repairs, otherwise there's a risk of fire. Hence, we need to temporarily stop operations to renovate."

Grant walked to the opposite of Shiller, frowning, and said, "What are you trying to do? Turn this place into a concentration camp?"

"Then you'd better pray that you're not a prisoner, are you one?"

Shiller looked at him and said, "I know you're Garrett's adopted son. He trained you to be a Hydra agent and killer. You have a twisted affection for him and want to avenge him."

"You're not loyal to Hydra. You're just loyal to Garrett, right?"

A commonplace question from Shiller made Grant feel somewhat oppressed. He knew that if he gave a affirmative answer, he would end up just like those two corpses. Or perhaps, this bloodbath was intended to serve as a warning to him.

He felt like he had really become a prisoner in a concentration camp, and this warden was no different from those lunatics. Grant knew that he could only proceed cautiously.

So, he took a step forward, still keeping a straight face, but made the most common salute gesture in Hydra, and then said loudly, "Hail Helada!"

Shiller stared at him for a while, then said expressionlessly, "…Hail Helada."


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