Chapter 194: The Highly Malleable Power of Faith
"As expected, there really is a problem!"
After briefly marveling at his good fortune in his mind, Loyaspotted something unusual from the system quest.
As expected, the Mutant Universe was indeed not as simple as it appeared on the surface, with a huge hidden problem lurking in the shadows.
Just considering that the artificially created space-time rift involved a lot, looking at the system quest, was it merely a lot? The situation was outrageously huge.
The side quest triggered now actually had an impact on the main questline.
If this had happened within a single universe, it would be fine and not a big deal.
In the same universe, a side quest affecting the main questline was nothing new.
But the current situation was happening between two different universes.
This made it very serious.
If an influence could occur between two different universes, what did that indicate?
It indicated that behind this wasn't merely a problem of a single universe, but a crisis involving the Multiverse!
Otherwise, why would a side quest in a completely different universe affect the main questline?
A sense of crisis couldn't help but arise in Loya's heart.
This was far more threatening than Thanos. At least Thanos was just a simp causing crazy trouble within a single universe, whereas this was already creating space-time rifts and causing cross-universe impacts.
The difference between the two was instantly clear.
The consequences brought by the latter were all the more immeasurable.
He didn't know who did it or what their goal was.
Could it be aiming for a collision between universes?
Loya's thoughts began to wander.
Thinking back and forth, he still had no clue.
He estimated that he would only learn some clues after meeting with Lady Death.
Still, Loya felt quite glad to have triggered this quest, as it let him know about a hidden threat in advance.
As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure, and preparation prevents disaster.
No matter what happens later, preparing now is always right—it's much better than an unexpected outbreak catching him off guard.
"Looks like I need to speed up the growth of the worldTree."
Loya secretly calculated in his heart.
The world Tree could repair space-time rifts and also provide powerful protection.
Clearly, when facing a threat involving space-time, the world Tree's role was crucial.
It could be said to be the perfect counter.
As the world Tree grew and expanded, its protective effect would become stronger and stronger.
But to speed up the world Tree's growth, he still needed to start with experience points for now.
Loya needed to level up, then enter dungeons to stir up trouble and let the world Tree take root to absorb worldenergy.
Only in this way could the world Tree grow at the fastest speed to deal with the crisis.
Of course, besides the world Tree, preparations in other aspects couldn't be slacked on either.
Thinking of this, Loya nodded toward Charles: "Of course it can be solved. The space-time rift is already being repaired right now, don't worry, Charles."
"Okay—huh?"
Charles's hand, which had just picked up his teacup, paused slightly. He looked at Loya with a face full of confusion, almost doubting if his ears were deceiving him.
"You're saying the repairs have already begun?"
His eyes widened, his voice filled with disbelief.
You clearly haven't done anything yet, so how did the repairs start?
Even if you have the ability to repair space-time rifts, shouldn't there be a process?
At least go to the site of the space-time rift to take a look—is it enough to just stand here and say a sentence?
Charles felt that Loya might be telling an unhumorous joke to lighten the atmosphere.
If it were really that simple, Hank wouldn't have made zero progress at all.
Seeing Charles's skeptical expression, Loya shrugged: "It's hard for me to explain to you, as there are too many things involved. In short, those who understand will understand; for those who don't, telling you would only add to your troubles.
Anyway, the repair work has already started, and Hankshould contact you before long."
Charles clearly still believed in science at this point. If Loyawere to tell him that the world Tree was performing the repairs, Charles would likely question his reality and Loyawould have to deal with even more questions.
Loya found it bothersome, so he simply didn't bother to explain. Since the world Tree was already repairing it anyway, news from Hank's side should arrive soon.
Achieving the result was all that mattered; the process wasn't important to Charles, and even if he knew, he probably wouldn't be able to understand it.
Charles nodded somewhat mechanically. What kind of nonsensical talk was this?
How could he be even more rambling than an old man like him?
But as matters stood, there was no choice other than to trust Loya.
He would just wait to see if Hank sends news later.
Loya took a sip of tea and raised another question: "By the way, since you have so many memories, did you prevent some things from happening in advance?"
"For example?" Charles took a sip of tea and looked at Loya with curiosity.
Loya uttered a name heavily: "Apocalypse!"
Charles's expression shifted, turning somewhat odd.
Then he gave an answer that caught Loya somewhat off guard.
"After Jean gave my memories back to me, we went looking for Apocalypse to try and terminate his resurrection ritual in advance to prevent subsequent crises, but an unexpected situation occurred."
Charles paused, then continued in a tone of amusement and helplessness: "When we reached our destination in Egypt, we only saw two corpses. Apocalypse was already dead. Some explorers had accidentally ruined the ritual."
"Huh? Already dead?"
Loya couldn't help but palm his forehead, sighing repeatedly.
Actually, after learning that Charles possessed all the memories of Days of Future Past, he already had a hunch.
A big villain from the original storyline like Apocalypse, especially one with obvious weaknesses, would very likely be dealt with in advance by the current Charles.
After all, the current Charles was equivalent to having been reborn nearly a hundred times; his way of thinking and methods were far more mature and experienced than before.
From any perspective, resolving Apocalypse in advance was a good thing that could avoid a lot of trouble.
It was just that Loya hadn't expected Apocalypse to die early, completely shattering his small bit of anticipation.
He had originally thought that with changes in the past, someone might not necessarily trigger the mechanism in Egypt, so Apocalypse wouldn't revive.
That way, he could revive Apocalypse himself and artificially trigger a BOSS fight.
Although Apocalypse had many abilities, he was still no match for Loya, not to mention being spawn-camped at his revival point.
He had even planned to use Separation Magic to strip Apocalypse's abilities before killing him for rewards.
Now it turned out he had overthought it.
The changes in the past actually led to Apocalypse dying directly ahead of time.
The butterfly effect was truly terrifying.
For such an impressive character to die so anti-climactically was a real waste.
Seeing Loya like this, Charles was a bit bewildered and spoke uncertainly: "You seem quite disappointed that Apocalypse died?"
Loya waved his hand and casually made up an excuse: "Indeed, a bit disappointed. Deadpool said this guy was really strong, so I was thinking that if he wasn't dead, I'd revive him to see how good he really was. I didn't expect him to die so anti-climactically. So uncool, truly embarrassing."
Charles:
A guy he had once considered a formidable enemy sounded so weak in Loya's mouth, as if he could be slapped to death at will.
But thinking about it carefully, that seemed to be true.
In the past, hadn't Dark Phoenix also flexed her power arrogantly?
In the end, she was easily dealt with by Loya without even causing any casualties.
Apocalypse couldn't even beat Dark Phoenix, let alone face Loya.
Thinking of this, Charles immediately felt much better, and the anxiety brought by unknown threats dissipated considerably.
With such a powerhouse helping out, he felt much more confident facing future crises.
"Alright, if he's dead, he's dead." Loya stretched and slowly stood up.
Then he raised an eyebrow at Charles, took out the "furnace gourd" from the System Space, and handed it over.
"Same as usual, you know the drill."
Charles was startled for a moment, then took the gourd with a smile.
Even at his age, he still couldn't escape the fate of being a laborer.
But this gourd was indeed powerful; its effect when dealing with Dark Phoenix fifty years ago was still vivid in his memory. A little exhaustion was fine—it was all to deal with the crisis.
After handing the "furnace gourd" to Charles to inject mental energy and generate special metal, Loya planned to leave and make other preparations.
But when he reached the doorway, he suddenly remembered something. Pausing, he turned back around to face Charles again.
Holding the gourd, Charles looked up at Loya with some confusion.
Loya smiled slightly and summoned Gulu from the pet space, placing it in front of Charles: "Oh right, I almost forgot this. This is Gulu, my pet and also a key helper in fighting the crisis. Find a way to have everyone at the X-Men Academy touch it once."
He had almost forgotten to let Gulu copy the Mutants' superpowers just now.
This was the X-Men Academy, where Mutants were in no short supply. Gulu could have a field day copying abilities this time.
As for stripping superpowers, that was clearly unrealistic here.
The Mutants in the academy were properly guided and weren't wicked villains, so Loya couldn't just strip their abilities for no reason.
Having Gulu copy them once was enough. Although the power of abilities copied by Gulu would sync with its own stats and might be weakened at first, it was fine.
AI Model: gemini-3.5-flash-lite
But as the level increases, attributes continuously grow, and the intensity of superpowers will also enhance.
It is equivalent to opening the limiter, with infinite potential. Under the blessing of attributes, even a trash ability can turn into a divine skill.
This is much better than separation.
After separation, there is no possibility of enhancement.
However, we can check later if there are any superpowers suitable for separation in the Mutant prison.
"A pe — — — — pet?" Looking at the black sphere on the table, Charles widened his eyes. Can a sphere even be a pet?
Could it be that he can no longer keep up with the times? Are people playing with such unconventional things nowadays?
Just as he was puzzled, Gulu suddenly jumped onto him.
Charles's body stiffened, and he hurriedly caught it, then looked at the black sphere in his arms in disbelief. This sphere could actually use Telepathy!?
He subconsciously probed over with Telepathy.
The result — — — — was swallowed?!
Charles widened his eyes, unable to conceal the look of shock.
No, how can it even swallow Telepathy?
What kind of outrageous ability is this?
Following the inability to detect Loya, here came an even more outrageous one that directly swallows Telepathy.
With such a miraculous ability, it truly deserves to be called a key helper.
As expected of Loya, even its pet is so extraordinary.
Charles raised his head, trying to learn more from Loya. It would be great if he could also raise such a pet.
But when he raised his head, he found that Loya had long since vanished without a trace.
After leaving Charles's office, Loya avoided the rainwater, casually found a concealed place around the X-Men Academy, and hid.
Returning to this timeline, besides understanding the situation of Mutants and some conjectures, there was also a very important purpose.
That was the Power of Faith.
With Charles's uninterrupted promotion of development, and the faith accumulated over so many years, it was no small matter and one of the important means to cope with subsequent crises.
Some preparations could be made using the Power of Faith.
Loya took out the "amplification staff", and cast a magicspell capable of seeing faith towards the eye area.
The eyes were instantly shrouded in a layer of faint green light.
The Power of Faith did not directly exist in reality either, but rather existed in a special dimension similar to a fantasy dimension, requiring specific methods to see and use.
This was a breeze for him.
Loya looked over full of anticipation.
The next moment.
"Damn! My eyes!"
He couldn't help crying out in surprise, his eyes subconsciously narrowing.
Within his field of vision, it was filled with extremely dazzling golden light, just like a giant flashbang exploding, blinding Loya so he couldn't open his eyes.
These golden lights were all the Power of Faith existing in another dimension, and their sheer volume could simply be called a sea of faith!
Loya increased the magic output to make the field of vision clearer and broader, and resisted the impact of the golden light, only then seeing the full picture.
Amidst the brilliantly golden ocean stood a golden statue of a size so indescribably massive.
With four wings growing on its back, a divine halo above its head, wearing golden armor, and holding a holy sword, it was completely the image of the Angel Loya had played before.
It was simply a tacky-gold luxury enhanced version!
This was the image gathered from the faith of countless believers.
Seeing this scene, Loya instantly felt much more at ease; such a large amount of faith was enough to erupt into exceptionally terrifying power.
This could not be better used to cope with potential subsequent crises.
However, due to the reason of the source, it could only be used in the Mutant Universe, and using it once consumed a tremendous amount.
Using falsehood as truth would inherently consume a large amount of the Power of Faith, and furthermore, crossing the boundary between the virtual and the real to interfere with the real world consumed even more massively.
But this was already enough; faith was something meant to be consumed anyway, and since he did not rely on this thing to become a god, he didn't care at all.
It was only necessary to prepare to use it at critical moments.
Through observing so much faith, Loya also understood one thing.
The Power of Faith was indeed somewhat toxic in a sense.
Believers' various worships towards the object of faith would cause the object of faith to infinitely tend towards this image.
If the Power of Faith was taken into the body, one would become increasingly like the object of faith, either completely turning into this or experiencing a split personality.
If it was not taken into the body, it was just a power. Although it could not be used as freely and with reduced consumption as taking it into the body, at least it was very safe.
Fortunately, Loya never thought of taking it into the body from the very beginning, thus avoiding a potential crisis.
However, the consumption problem couldn't stump him either. He had a prop that could enhance the usage effect without taking the Power of Faith into the body, which came in handy right on time.
With a thought in Loya's mind, a plain and unpretentious black clay jar was taken out from the System Space.
[faith clay jar: Stuff soil into the clay jar, and infuse it with the Power of Faith; the soil will turn into faith clay.
Use this clay to make statues, and the user can project their consciousness onto them anywhere. Faith will gather upon them, and the Power of Faith can be used to more simply cast different divine arts. Depending on the effect of the divine art, the faith consumed also varies]
This prop could not only be used to wield the Power of Faith, but also served as a tool for him to earn more experience.
Loya immediately used telekinesis to pick up soil, filled the clay jar, and then guided the Power of Faith to pour into it.
Hum~
The clay jar vibrated gently, and the earthy-yellow soil inside changed its color visibly to the naked eye.
It changed from earthy yellow to a brilliant gold, emanating a faint golden radiance. At a glance, one would even mistake it for being made of gold.
Loya took out the faith clay from inside. Upon touching it, the texture felt exceptionally delicate without any impurities, and the tactile feel was superb.
Just taking the quality of this soil to sell for money could yield a huge profit.
He shook his head, cast aside distracting thoughts, and began making mud sculptures.
Under the blessing of powerful attributes, Loya making mud sculptures might not achieve a lifelike spiritual aura, but at least the craftsmanship was maxed out.
Soon, an Angel image he had previously played appeared in his hands.
It was simply a one-to-one replica.
"I am truly a genius!"
Loya smiled smugly, and then a piece of information appeared in his mind.
He suddenly realized: "So that's how it is!"
From the information in his mind, it could be known that for the crafted mud sculptures, the casting of so-called divine arts was self-defined, cast by consuming the Power of Faith, and had a certain connection with the image of the mud sculpture.
For example, holding a sword made casting close-combat divine arts handier and consumed less.
Holding a staff made casting magic-type divine arts more convenient and swift.
Of course, holding a sword didn't mean magic-type divine arts couldn't be used; it would only increase the consumption.
To put it simply using a game analogy, it was the distinction of classes.
Warriors used warrior skills, mages used mage skills, priests used priest skills, and so on, and so forth.
This had a certain connection with public perception and the meaning it represented itself.
Having correspondence allowed it to exert better effects and consume less.
Of course, the mud sculpted didn't necessarily have to be human-shaped; it could also be animals, plants, weapons, etc., or even — —
"Hehehe."
A malicious smile appeared on Loya's face, and he immediately started making it.
Soon, a cylindrical object appeared in his hands.
Certain japanese people living quite well should be very familiar with this cylinder.
Nuclear bomb!
That's right, Loya sculpted a nuclear bomb.
This nuclear bomb could equally use divine arts with the Power of Faith, just that the meaning it contained was rather explosive.
Loya named this divine art "Divine Art · Faith Nuclear Blast"!
The more faith power consumed, the stronger the explosion's power.
This thing blows up more than just the material level, hehe, there are even more different levels, guaranteed to be soul-stirringly refreshing.
When the mastermind behind the spacetime loophole appears, I will definitely make this bastard have a taste.
Under the blessing of the effect of the prop "faith clay jar", the Power of Faith possessed incredible plasticity.
Just like that, Loya wholeheartedly sculpted various mud sculptures. In the blink of an eye, night fell, and dozens to hundreds of different mud sculptures appeared in the System Space.
He was still not satisfied and continued his artistic creation.
As his craftsmanship gradually became proficient, the sculpted mud sculptures became increasingly lifelike.
Just at this moment, the system prompt in his ear interrupted the movement in Loya's hands.
[Quest "Repair Spacetime Loophole" Completed]
[Next Stage Quest Awaiting Trigger — — — —]
[Rewards: Experience Value + 2000, Prop "Heart of Africa", Prop "Isekai Heavy Truck"]
[Heart of Africa: A diamond that can be exchanged for massive wealth in any civilization with a monetary system]
[Evaluation: A treasure dreamed of by countless rats]
[Isekai Heavy Truck: A heavy truck with immense power, with a rated load of one hundred tons and an actual load of ten thousand tons. Anyone killed by this truck will have their soul sent to another world]
[Evaluation: Young man, are you ready for your other-world harem journey?]
Chapter 195: Fury: There's a Mole! Return Immediately!
Hearing the system prompt, Loya knew that the world Tree had repaired the space-time rift here on Earth.
He then sensed the current state of the world Tree for a moment.
It had already taken root in the current universe, but under his command, it had only repaired the space-time rift on Earth, leaving the space-time rifts elsewhere untouched for now.
Loya immediately communicated with the world Tree again through their connection, instructing it not to repair the other space-time rifts and instead focus on absorbing world power to strengthen itself.
The world Tree's recovery ability was controllable; it could choose whether or not to give back to the world and repair the damage.
It would give back eventually, as doing so could refine the world's rules and strengthen the world itself, bringing numerous benefits.
But repairing everything right now was unnecessary.
Repairing just a single rift wouldn't draw much attention, but if all of them were repaired within too short a timeframe, it would look too deliberate.
Under normal circumstances, that would easily catch the attention of whoever was behind the scenes, exposing his current situation.
Right now, he knew nothing about the mastermind behind the scenes; the risk of exposure was too great and simply not worth it.
So delaying as long as possible was best, prioritizing caution and stability above all.
Besides, this would also speed up the rate at which the world Tree absorbed world power, accelerating its growth.
Although it wouldn't cause a qualitative leap, every little bit adds up.
As long as the world Tree grew to a certain level, even if the world itself fell into turmoil,
the world Tree could rely on its own formidable power to forcefully stabilize it.
Furthermore, this growth wouldn't attract anyone's attention, making it undeniably the most appropriate choice under the current circumstances.
This was what they called brute force overcoming all subtlety.
Besides, keeping those rifts around for now might even trigger quests, so naturally there was no rush to repair them.
Repairing the biggest rift on Earth was enough.
Having settled the matter with the world Tree, Loya turned his attention to the system rewards he had just received.
This "Heart of Africa" reminded him of the days he spent playing a certain game in his past life; right up until he transmigrated, he had never pulled this item, which had been a major regret.
He hadn't expected to obtain it here, which felt quite miraculous.
Moreover, the effect of this item was on a conceptual level.
As long as a monetary system existed, it could be exchanged for immense wealth, making it a valuable treasure universally recognized in any civilization.
Yet if this item were only used to exchange for wealth, it would be a huge waste of its true value.
As the saying goes, "men die for wealth as birds die for food"; this item could stir up an immense amount of trouble.
As for the "Isekai Heavy Truck," it left Loya utterly dumbfounded.
To actually pull an item responsible for sending countless transmigrators to other worlds was truly absurd.
If this were in his past life, countless anime fans would have gone crazy over it.
But in his current situation, it was a bit of a white elephant.
It wasn't as if he could run himself over to death; that would be ridiculous.
Wait, no!
A flash of inspiration struck Loya as an idea suddenly came to mind.
It could send a person's soul to another world—an isekai, another world!
That represented a brand new, completely different worldpower, the exact nutrient the world Tree needed most.
Currently, for the world Tree to take root in other worlds, Loya needed to exert a certain influence on that world first.
But that was only during its sapling stage.
What if its abilities changed after it grew up?
What if he could place a portion of its core onto other people, allowing the world Tree to take root as they influenced other worlds?
Then this transmigration truck would have immense strategic value.
He could totally take complete control of Hydra members and then hit them head-on to kill them.
Then their souls would reincarnate into other worlds to cause mayhem and exert global influence, allowing the world Tree to take root, absorb nutrients, and thrive.
Perhaps this was the true way to use this item.
What a great item to accelerate the world Tree's growth.
"Hiss—doesn't that make me, in a sense, an isekai reincarnation godde—wait, god?"
Loya had a peculiar expression, lost in thought.
However, to realize this, not only did the world Tree need to advance to another stage of growth to see how it played out, but he also had to make a move against Hydra.
Loya pondered inwardly and decided that once he settled things here in the Mutant Universe, he would return and find a way to implement his previous plan of sidelining Pierce and seizing control of Hydra from within.
At the same time, he could witness the ancient powers of the other Marvel Universe and perhaps even charm his target.
Thinking this, Loya stored away the "faith clay jar" along with the various clay sculptures beside him, then turned and walked toward Charles's office.
Since the space-time rift had been repaired, Charles had most likely received the news from Hank, which made it a good time to arrange other matters.
Before long, he arrived at the door of Charles's office.
Pushing the door open, he saw Charles holding the telephone receiver with a look of utter shock.
"That space-time rift has been completely repaired?" Charles asked in disbelief.
Hank's voice came from the other end of the line, equally stunned: "Yes, it's repaired. My instruments scanned it, and there's no problem at all, but I couldn't find the specific cause."
As Hank spoke, he scratched his head while looking at the equipment before him, his face filled with confusion.
How on Earth was it mysteriously repaired?
It couldn't be that faith alone made it happen, could it?
Ever since discovering this space-time rift, he had been researching ways to repair it completely.
He had tried back and forth for decades without making any progress.
Today, it had inexplicably been fixed.
Hank felt both excited and gripped by a surge of intense worry.
When things are abnormal, danger is lurking. Perhaps the bizarre repair of this space-time rift wasn't a good thing and might bring unpredictable consequences.
Thinking of this, Hank hurriedly spoke in a grave tone: "Charles, we must impose full-scale martial law! I suspect there's some immense danger lurking behind this inexplicable repair of the space-time rift. We must be prepared to respond!"
Hearing the anxious voice from the receiver, Charles looked up at Loya, who was leaning against the doorway with a smile. He couldn't help shaking his head with a relieved chuckle and explained, "Hank, don't be so tense. Loya is back. He's the one who repaired the space-time rift."
Charles spoke with deep emotion.
This space-time rift had plagued them for years without any progress, yet Loya had resolved the issue after returning for just half a day—without even visiting the site.
It seemed he had still underestimated Loya; his abilities were far beyond expectation and could not be judged by conventional logic.
Remembering how he had questioned him earlier, Charlesfelt a bit embarrassed, his old face blushing slightly.
Indeed, as one gets old, one has to admit being constrained by habitual thinking. This habit must be corrected!
"Loya is back? And he solved it?" Hearing Charles's words, Hank was greatly astonished.
If there was anyone who left the deepest impression on him,
it was undoubtedly Loya.
Not only had Loya helped him resolve the issue of transforming into the beast, but Loya had single-handedly driven the Mutant Universe to its current state.
Otherwise, Mutants and humans might still be slaughtering each other.
Hank had never imagined that fifty years after parting ways in the past, hearing this name again would bring him such an immense surprise.
Was this a bond that spanned time?
At this moment, words failed to capture his feelings, and he could only praise over the phone: "Loya is awesome!"
Charles smiled, told Hank he could prepare to return, and hung up. Then he looked up at Loya and said gratefully, "Thank you so much, Loya. This issue had plagued me for years."
"It's nothing, we're brothers," Loya waved his hand with a smile. "I told you it would be repaired, so rest easy. You know you can count on me; I always keep my word."
Charles nodded with a smile, poured a cup of tea for Loya, and continued, "About having all the Mutants in the academy touch Gulu, I've already arranged it, but it will still take some time to finish."
"No rush," Loya smiled casually. "I have something else I need your help with, which also concerns dealing with potential upcoming crises."
"What is it?" Charles nodded with a serious expression. "I will do everything I can to help you accomplish it."
Loya had helped him so much; even if it had nothing to do with him, he would still do his utmost to help.
Loya didn't beat around the bush; with a wave of his hand, over a hundred glittering golden clay sculptures appeared inside the office.
The originally spacious office instantly became crowded, shimmering with a flamboyant golden glow.
Anyone seeing this might think Loya had come to bribe Charles.
Looking at the variety of exquisitely crafted clay sculptures filling the room, Charles's eyelid twitched slightly, completely baffled.
"Do you want me to help you sell them? These artworks crafted from solid gold are worth a fortune; I can help you fetch a good price."
"What gold? These are clay sculptures!"
Loya explained, torn between tears and laughter.
Truth be told, the material of faith clay was very unique and did indeed resemble gold at first glance. Given that Charles probably had presbyopia, mistaking it wasn't surprising.
"Clay sculptures?" Charles's eyes widened, and he picked up a clay sculpture to examine it closely.
It really was a clay sculpture.
But the texture of this clay was unreasonably good, impossibly fine and smooth, and it gave off a peaceful, serene feeling that was truly extraordinary.
In all his years of living, this was the first time he had ever seen such a thing.
Charles looked up at Loya: "Clay sculptures are the same—they can still fetch a good price. I can buy some myself."
Loya shrugged helplessly: "It's not about selling them for money. You're an old man now, why are you so obsessed with money?"
He picked up a clay sculpture and continued, "I need you to distribute these clay sculptures to the various churches of the Peace Church.
And secretly spread the word that this clay sculpture is miraculous—praying to it will bring answers and help."
"What do you mean?" Charles grew even more confused, failing to see the point of this.
If this didn't work, it would severely damage the church's credibility.
Loya had to explain briefly, "Simply put, when someone prays to this clay sculpture, I can sense it and respond. Moreover, this clay sculpture can unleash powerful energy to handle crises. Setting up more of them will allow me to react immediately if an unexpected crisis occurs."
In the current Mutant Universe, the church with the largest number of worshippers was the "Peace Church" founded by Charles.
Placing these clay sculptures in the churches of the Peace Church would offer a higher chance of triggering quests, making it easier for Loya to gain EXP.
"You even have an ability like this?" Charles was quite astonished upon hearing that.
But remembering that Loya had previously been able to isolate Hank's ability and transfer it onto an item, being able to do this now didn't seem so surprising either.
It was just that...
Charles picked up a cylindrical clay sculpture from the pile, his expression rather odd: "Why did you make a clay sculpture of an atomic bomb? Isn't putting this in a church a bit strange?"
This atomic bomb sculpture gave him a bizarre, absurd sensation akin to a deity wielding a Gatling gun; the more he looked at it, the weirder it felt.
Placing it in a church was even stranger.
What kind of church venerates an atomic bomb statue?
"What's strange about that?" Loya raised an eyebrow. "The atomic bomb once contributed to ending fascism; what's wrong with venerating it a bit?"
Charles: "..."
Thinking about it carefully, that actually made some sense.
Afterward, Loya chatted with Charles a bit longer, asking roughly how many clay sculptures would be needed to place one in every church.
After that, he turned and returned to his previous spot to continue crafting clay sculptures.
Of course, that atomic bomb clay sculpture wasn't sent to any church; instead, it was kept at the X-Men Academy to be used as a secret trump card.
Over the next few days, Loya spent his time crafting clay sculptures.
In order to gain more EXP and at the same time acquire more power of faith, putting in a bit of hard work was well worth it.
In between, he also took the time to visit the Mutant Prison, but the results were very disappointing.
The abilities of the Mutants imprisoned there were all mediocre, even downright garbage.
For instance, a guy who had been mocked by many netizens in his past life as "Mr. Confident."
He hadn't expected that even though such vast changes had taken place between Mutants and humans—with Erikeven becoming a good guy—this fellow had still ended up a villain.
And was even locked up doing prison time.
His ability was growing quills all over his body, just like a porcupine.
An ability as trash as trash could be.
Loya was utterly disgusted and couldn't even be bothered to isolate it.
Even Gulu disdained copying such an ability.
However, Gulu's gains were extraordinarily bountiful.
All the copyable abilities at the X-Men Academy had been copied by it.
Such as Telepathy, storms and thunder, magnetism, and so forth.
But limited by its own level and stats, the effects weren't very strong yet.
But that didn't matter; as long as it grew stronger later on, none of this would be an issue.
Of course, some abilities still couldn't be copied.
For example, Cyclops's ability.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't an ability; the kinetic optic blasts fired by Cyclops originated from an alternate dimension, and his eyes were merely an aperture, so naturally it couldn't be copied.
Loya also took the time to meet with the people he had saved from the old timeline and share a simple meal, catching up on old times to maintain their relationships.
However, he didn't see Blink; she was still in a conflict zone and couldn't get away at all.
However, after she learned that Loya had returned,
Loya's system panel showed that her favorability had risen by two points, leaving him somewhat bewildered.
Since when did people fall for him on their own?
Time flew by, and one morning, while crafting clay sculptures, Loya received a message from the other universe.
Using his telekinesis, he opened the "hacker phone" and checked the sender: it was Fury, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.
When he clearly read the content, Loya paused, his brow furrowing slightly.
The content was extremely brief, containing only a single sentence:
"There's a mole! Return immediately!"
What was going on?
Loya was utterly puzzled. How could there be a mole at this time?
Could Pierce have made a move against Fury?
That shouldn't be possible at this point in time.
Thinking this, he immediately rose to his feet and sprang into action.
Regardless, Fury and Pierce were his vital "quest givers"; nothing could happen to them, so he had to hurry back.
For Fury to send such a terse message, the matter was clearly serious, perhaps even dire.
Loya first handed all the clay sculptures he had crafted over the past few days to Charles, leaving the rest to be dealt with after he handled the situation.
Then he communicated with the world Tree, having it leave a Teleportation point at the X-Men Academy that could lead to his universe.
Loya placed the location of this Teleportation point on one of Charles's potted plants.
As long as someone touched the potted plant and obtained permission from the world Tree, they could enter the other universe.
This was the world Tree's "Connection" ability: as long as its branches and foliage reached a universe, Teleportationcould occur, and Teleportation points could be set anywhere at will.
This kind of transmission was equivalent to performing Teleportation along the branches and leaves of the worldTree.
However, these branches and foliage did not exist in reality; they weren't spreading physically.
Rather, they existed in another dimension.
Even the places where the roots and foliage took root and spread were not in the same location; the principles behind it were extremely intricate, and Loya couldn't wrap his head around them yet.
After setting up the Teleportation point, Loya informed Charles of the news.
He also asked Charles to pass word to Blink when she returned, telling her that she could come find him through this Teleportation point at any time.
After all, Blink's favorability had reached 82, and she seemed to be falling for him on her own.
Loya naturally had to see what was going on.
After all, the reward for reaching 90 favorability was very enticing; he had to show some respect for that reward.
To clarify beforehand: this wasn't about coveting her body, it was all for the rewards, all to deal with the crisis!
Having done all this, Loya touched the potted plant, his figure flickered, and he vanished in an instant.
Chapter 196: Was Fury Set Up?
An unnamed small island.
Taiwan Novel Website relieves boredom, twkan.com is super reliable
Villa balcony.
On the sunlit side of the balcony sat an ordinary-looking Flower Pot filled with black soil, yet there was nothing inside it.
Just then, the soil trembled slightly, and a tender green sprout broke through the earth.
As the sprout emerged, ripples spread through the surrounding space, and a figure slowly emerged from the ripples.
It was Loya, who had returned from the Mutant Universe.
"This feeling is quite marvelous."
Loya raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued.
He had intentionally refrained from using the "eye of aurora" to return, just to personally experience what it was like to cross worlds using the world Tree.
Before trying it, he didn't know, but trying it gave him quite a pleasant surprise.
While teleporting using the world Tree, one could clearly feel the shifts in space-time.
Although the process was extremely brief, the effect it produced was anything but small.
If a person possessed space-time abilities or was a mage skilled in space-time magic, teleporting through the worldTree gave a high chance of gaining insights.
After all, this in itself was an extraordinarily exquisite application of space-time by the world Tree, equivalent to a living textbook demonstrating right before their eyes.
It would be stranger if one didn't gain any enlightenment from it.
Loya gained something as well; while teleporting via the world Tree, his "Cosmo" was exceptionally active, resonating far more intensely than usual.
It seemed he could use the world Tree to cultivate his "Cosmo" in the future, speeding up his cultivation rate.
Cultivating space-time magic would also yield twice the results with half the effort.
As expected, the world Tree brought many benefits, with many areas still worth researching and developing in depth.
Of course, that was for later. For now, he needed to check on Fury's situation and see what had actually happened to him.
Loya pulled out the "hacker phone" from the System Spaceand sent a message to Fury.
"I'm back."
After sending it, all he could do was quietly wait for a reply.
In fact, Loya could have used Friend Teleportation to bring Fury directly in front of him, or teleport himself to Fury.
But under the current circumstances, that was not appropriate.
Fury lacked a sense of security immensely, as evidenced by how he embezzled funds to build numerous safe houses all over the world.
If Loya were to teleport straight in front of Fury, or pull Fury over to him...
For someone so deeply insecure, such an act in itself would make them feel extremely unsafe.
Not to mention that Fury had clearly suffered a significant blow just now, which would likely aggravate him even further.
Although Fury knew Loya could perform this kind of teleportation, whether or not to break through that barrier at a critical moment like this had completely different consequences.
This was a matter of respect.
If he acted too rashly and damaged Fury's trust in him—Fury being his "quest generator"—and subsequently affected future quest assignments, the loss would far outweigh the gain.
Waiting a little while didn't matter either way.
Men need a sense of security too, after all.
So he gave it to him!
"I wonder what on earth happened to make Fury say there's a mole."
"Did Hydra get exposed? Are they trying to silence him?"
"Or did Pierce move against Fury?"
"If Pierce attacked Fury, things are going to get troublesome."
Loya couldn't help but speculate on the reasons.
Just as his thoughts were wandering, his phone vibrated.
Loya quickly looked at the screen. Seeing the caller ID, he raised an eyebrow, feeling a sense of expected surprise.
The caller wasn't Fury; it was Coulson.
Without much hesitation, he answered the call.
As soon as it connected, Coulson's anxious voice came through the line: "Loya, are you back from your business trip? Something huge happened!"
Coulson didn't know about Loya completing quests across universes; he merely thought he was on a routine assignment.
"I'm back," Loya replied with a smile. "Don't panic, take your time. I've got this."
He felt Fury probably hadn't notified Coulson, otherwise Coulson wouldn't be in such a rush, so he didn't bring up Fury.
"It's so good that you're back!" Coulson breathed a long sigh of relief, as if a weight of a thousand pounds had been lifted, before urgently continuing, "Fury and Pierce were assassinated! Their current whereabouts are unknown, and whether they're alive or dead is uncertain!"
"Both Fury and Pierce were assassinated?"
Loya's eyes widened in shock and disbelief upon hearing this.
What kind of plot twist was this?
Never mind Fury being assassinated—how was Pierceassassinated as well?
Isn't that old geezer one of Hydra's leaders?
Could the mole not be Hydra? Is there another mastermind?
Or is it a self-directed play?
I was only gone for a short while, so how did such a bizarre thing happen?
They really are a handful.
Loya never expected things to turn out like this, with even Pierce being assassinated. What on earth happened?
Still, at least his two "quest generators" weren't fighting each other, which was something to be thankful for.
"That's right," Coulson sighed and continued, "The whereabouts of the two Directors going to meet with the Council were leaked by a mole. The exact details are unclear."
Saying this, he involuntarily lowered his voice, "I suspect this mole is no ordinary person; they must hold a high position."
Hearing this, Loya understood instantly.
Coulson's words were already very explicit. The only ones who could be considered higher in rank than Fury and Pierce were the members of the Council.
Obviously, he suspected they were the ones who orchestrated the assassination.
The probability of that wasn't low, actually.
Coulson didn't know there were also Hydra members in the Council—specifically another faction of Hydra—but Loya did.
There was a Hydra faction in the Council distinct from Pierce's faction.
This faction advocated bringing back Hive, the true origin of Hydra, from another planet to rule the world.
They were called the Founders Faction or the Ancient Bloodline Faction.
This faction's philosophy was completely different from Pierce's Infiltration Faction.
In truth, there wasn't much conflict between them, but it wasn't impossible for a clash to occur.
Only the people on the Council could have known Pierceand Fury's movements in advance.
But this method was far too crude, and quite stupid.
Doesn't this make it blatantly obvious to everyone that there's a mole in the Council?
Could Pierce and Fury have drawn up some plan that conflicted with the other Hydra faction's goals, forcing them to resort to silence by murder—even through such a stupid method?
Just like in the original plot where Fury realized something was fishy about Project Insight.
Or was this actually a self-orchestrated trick by Pierce? Was he trying to execute some plan?
Loya shook his head and stopped overthinking. He said into the phone, "So Coulson, do you need me to investigate the mole? Or confirm Fury and Pierce's safety?"
This was also a good opportunity to trigger a quest.
However, Coulson declined the proposal: "No need. Regarding the possibility of a mole and an assassination, Director Fury already has a contingency plan prepared."
Although he was very worried about Fury and Pierce's safety, they still had to proceed according to plan for now, otherwise things would descend into chaos.
Oho!
Loya raised an eyebrow. That guy Fury really had a million schemes; he even prepared for this.
He asked curiously, "What kind of plan? Do you need my assistance?"
Coulson cleared his throat and answered, "Not for now. In Director Fury's contingency plan, he specifically emphasized that if he encountered a situation like this, you shouldn't show up at S.H.I.E.L.D. and should stay as low-profile as possible to avoid being used."
He paused before continuing, "If he doesn't contact me within the plan's designated timeframe, I'll proceed to the next step according to the plan, and I'll reach out to you then."
Loya:
..."
Why do I feel like Fury is insulting my intelligence?
"Anyone can use me, huh?"
He silently made a note against Fury in his little ledger, swearing to find an opportunity to get back at him.
Loya said, somewhat annoyed, "Fine then. Any other instructions? If not, I'll stand by on site."
"Not for now."
Afterwards, Coulson repeatedly reminded Loya not to show up at S.H.I.E.L.D. before finally hanging up.
Loya put away his phone. All he could do now was wait for Fury's reply; the man probably wasn't in any real danger.
Having nothing to do, he stretched lazily and took a deep breath, looking completely content.
He had to admit, his little island was still the most comfortable place—fresh air, a perfect spot for retirement.
Unfortunately, now wasn't the time yet.
AI Model: gemini-3.5-flash-lite
Loya looked around, and then cast his gaze on the "Flower Pot" at his feet.
He picked up the Flower Pot and pulled out the emerald green sprout.
Oddly enough, there were no roots beneath this sprout; instead, it grew directly in the void and could move freely.
This was a form manifested when the world tree set up a Portal.
Now that the world tree had sprouted, it no longer needed to take root in the "Flower Pot", nor did it need the Flower Pot to provide growing conditions. The Flower Pot was now empty and could be kept for planting other plants in the future.
However, the current world tree was not rooted in the earth, but rather in a dimension invisible to the naked eye.
In appearance, it looked just like a very ordinary tree seedling.
It was just that its roots and branches were submerged in the void, making it impossible to observe its full picture or estimate its size.
As long as Loya did not actively make it appear, no one could see it, but it also lost the ability to influence the essence of surrounding life.
He thought about it; since he was idle anyway, he might as well do some experiments.
Loya's figure instantly disappeared, and when he reappeared, he had arrived at the nuclear waste disposal base where Atomic Agumon was located.
He brought up the system panel to check the evolution progress of Atomic Agumon.
[ Atomic Agumon Evolution Progress: 72% ]
This progress was quite fast, and he believed it would evolve in a short while.
Then he would try again to see if the world tree's "Essence of Life" ability could affect Atomic Agumon.
And whether Atomic Agumon's "Natural Ecosystem Master" ability could affect the world tree.
If it worked, it could speed up the growth rate again.
With a thought from Loya, ripples suddenly appeared in the void before him, and a tender yet vibrant branch drilled out, falling to the ground. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a lush green sapling twice the height of a person.
This was a part of the branches and leaves of the worldtree, which could also display the ability of "Essence of Life".
The moment the sapling appeared, the surrounding plants visibly became more vibrant, and their postures stretched out.
The increasingly massive Atomic Agumon in the base also happily wagged its tail.
Clearly, the ability of "Essence of Life" was also effective on it.
Loya communicated with the world tree again and got the same answer.
Atomic Agumon's "Natural Ecosystem Master" ability was also effective on the world tree.
"Not bad, not bad."
Loya nodded with satisfaction. Mutual promotion and common development—very perfect.
He took out "Bone Meal" from the System Space and sprinkled a large portion of it onto the branch in front of him.
In just an instant, the "Bone Meal" was completely absorbed.
The growth value of the world tree on the system panel increased by five percent.
"Bone Meal" was also a conceptual-grade item, providing all nutrients. Even the power of the world needed by the world tree, which was metaphysical nutrient, could be provided just the same.
It was just a pity that Bone Meal was limited and could not be supplied infinitely; otherwise, the world tree would grow up in minutes.
Buzz buzz buzz~
At this moment, Loya's phone vibrated.
He took out his phone to take a look, and this time it was finally a message sent by Fury.
There was nothing else, just a string of addresses and the method to enter that address.
"Really troublesome."
Loya sighed. Being an Agent meant having too many tricks up one's sleeve, especially Fury. Entering a hidden safe house was so troublesome.
He really wanted to teleport directly there, but for the sake of subsequent missions, he had to endure it.
He originally wanted to see how Loki, who was serving a sentence on the island, was being reformed, but now it seemed it would have to wait for another day.
Soon, Loya arrived at the destination, which was an inconspicuous small building located in the suburbs.
He walked up to the door and knocked with a specific knocking rhythm, and the door opened automatically.
The decoration of the room was very ordinary, just a normal residential style.
Of course, Fury and Pierce were not in the room; this was only the first checkpoint to enter the safe house.
Following the instructions sent by Fury, Loya came to the basement.
First, he pressed the mechanism on the wall to open a secret door, and then entered a string of passwords to enter the door. Inside the door was a long passage.
Walking to the middle of the passage, three fork roads appeared.
According to the instructions, Loya chose——none of them.
All three were traps with various mechanisms inside. Ordinary people would die upon entering.
He walked to the wall, found where the mechanism was, and pressed it. A hidden passage instantly appeared on the other side of the wall.
It still required entering a specific password to enter. Passing through another long passage, he finally came before a thick metal door.
Loya stood before the door and sighed helplessly. How extremely troublesome!
If it's so troublesome without triggering a mission, I'm going to blow my top.
According to the prompt, he raised his hand and knocked on the door with a seven-long-eight-short knocking rhythm.
After knocking, the heavy door slowly opened.
Fury stood behind the door wrapped in bandages. His pitch-black face actually looked somewhat pale, clearly indicating that his injuries were not light.
And behind him sat an unscathed Pierce.
Compared to Fury's injuries, Pierce looked much more relaxed, except that his hairstyle was a bit messy.
Loya's eyes condensed, quite surprised. It wasn't surprising that Fury and Pierce were in the same safe house, but rather because he saw a familiar thing on the table.
Mind Scepter!
Why was this thing here?
Could this be the reason for the assassination?
He put away his doubts and smiled teasingly: "Director, long time no see, I've missed you very much. I see you're injured again. Do you want me to help you heal?"
"No, no, no!" Fury shook his head like a rattle-drum, "I have special medicine and will recover soon. Don't bother you. You'd better come in first and talk about business."
Ever since he experienced that treatment feeling like ants gnawing last time, he never wanted to experience it a second time, so he vigorously researched and developed treatment drugs, and now he had achieved some initial results.
He didn't expect that his subordinate Agents didn't use it, but he, the head of the Agents, ended up using it first.
Loya shrugged helplessly, stepped into the room, greeted Pierce, and then asked: "Director, what is the matter with looking for me? What is the situation with your assassination and that mole?"
He had already activated Minds Eye to observe the emotions of the two.
Interestingly, after he said these words, Fury's emotion was very normal anger, while Pierce was a bit abnormal.
This old fellow had both anger and a deep sense of contradiction.
Could it be that this assassination was really related to him? Was it really self-directed and self-acted?
Otherwise, after an assassination, only his hairstyle got messy—who the fuck would believe that?
Doesn't Fury suspect anything at all?
However, where did this sense of contradiction come from?
However, Fury did not answer this question, but looked at Loya with a serious expression: "The situation in this is very complicated and cannot be explained clearly for a moment. Now is not the time to talk about this either. I need you to execute a secret mission immediately. This mission is of great importance and must be done as soon as possible. Delays bring changes!"
"Okay." Loya nodded and stopped asking further. Anyway, his purpose was the mission, and decryption could wait until later. Maybe Pierce would contact him in secret.
Fury immediately turned around, picked up the Mind Scepter on the table, and handed it to Loya: "I need you to send the Mind Scepter to Sokovia and hand it to the designated contact person. I will arrange the subsequent matters."
He paused, his voice becoming more serious and his emotions stirring up: "And on the way, I will forge the illusion that you were betrayed by the mole. Someone will definitely come to hunt you down to seize the Mind Scepter. By then, eliminate all those who hunt you down, and leave none alive! They all deserve to die!"
Loya took the scepter, and the system prompt sounded in his ears.
[ Fury issues a serial mission to you ]
[ Current Mission: Escort and slaughter ]
[ Current Objective: Deliver the Mind Scepter to the designated contact person in Sokovia, and kill all enemies attempting to seize the Mind Scepter along the way ]
[ Rewards: Experience Points + 2000, Fury Favorability + 5, Pierce Favorability + 10, Random Item * 2 ]
Chapter 197: Winking at the Blind
Loya took the Mind Scepter, a touch of curiosity surfacing in his heart.
During the days he had been away, what on earth had happened? What had Pierce and Fury been up to?
How could the plot have deviated so drastically?
Under normal circumstances, Pierce should have gone to great lengths to reasonably transfer the Mind Scepter to Sokovia for human experimentation.
Who would have thought that Fury himself would issue the order now, and so far ahead of schedule?
It was far earlier than Loya had anticipated.
He had originally planned to carefully scheme a way to have the mission of delivering the Mind Scepter fall into his lap, giving him a legitimate reason to intervene in Sokovia's affairs.
Unexpectedly, just as he grew drowsy, someone handed him a pillow—the opportunity to intervene had presented itself right now.
Truly, the heavens were helping him!
Stirring up trouble like this was great; they should do it more often. Pierce and Fury were truly generous men.
He just didn't know what role the Mind Scepter had played in all of this.
However, one thing was certain: for this situation to arise, it was definitely related to Pierce. In all probability, he was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Fury didn't know that the base in Sokovia was already crawling with Hydra, completely transformed into a Hydrastronghold. But Loya, who knew the plot, was well aware.
That meant there was a very high chance Pierce had directed and staged this assassination himself. There was definitely something fishy going on!
It felt like a performance put on specifically for Fury, likely scheming against poor Director Nick Fury again and working him like a slave.
Yeah... this time,'slave' wasn't just a figure of speech; he was literally working him to the bone.
All one could say was that the older ginger was spicier—as expected of Pierce.
Poor Director Nick Fury was once again dancing in the palm of his hand, helping him count the money after being sold out.
As for intentionally exposing their movements and eliminating anyone attempting to seize the Mind Scepteralong the way, that seemed a bit odd and completely unnecessary.
Loya figured Pierce was using him as a tool to purge dissenters. The sense of déjà vu was overwhelmingly strong.
Moreover, seeing how furious Fury was, could those targets be Hydra operatives?
Add to that Pierce, one of the Hydra leaders, interfering from behind the scenes.
If that were really the case, things were getting interesting. Pierce was clearly plotting something big.
None of that mattered, though. Whatever they were scheming, whatever plans they harbored, or whatever mess they wanted to create, it was irrelevant.
Once Loya arrived in Sokovia, it would be his time to shine.
The plan to hollow out Hydra could officially begin. At the same time, he could use this mission to reach level twenty and unlock the dungeon instance. Truly killing two birds with one stone.
Loya gripped the Mind Scepter tightly, holding back a smirk as he assumed a solemn expression. "Director, I guarantee the mission will be accomplished!"
"Well done!" Fury patted Loya's shoulder in satisfaction, expertly painting rosy promises. "Once this mission is complete, I'll give you a promotion and a raise! On top of the maximum reward for this operation, I'll personally throw in an extra bonus from my own pocket!"
If it weren't for the fear of breaking character, Loya would have rolled his eyes to the back of his head.
After all this time, it was still the same old routine. Furywasn't tired of saying it, but Loya was sick of hearing it.
Who cared about those measly perks?
"Well done, Agent! We truly didn't misjudge you! You are the future of S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
Right then, Pierce stood up from the side, walking over with a smile to shake Loya's hand.
His positioning was exceptionally subtle, perfectly blocking Fury's line of sight.
In that split second, Pierce shot Loya an implicit glance.
Oh, batting his eyelashes, was he?
Jokes aside, Loya instantly grasped what the man meant.
Of course, it wasn't that he could read minds through eye contact—he didn't possess ocular telepathy—but rather because a slip of paper had just been slipped into his palm.
Now it was completely confirmed: this was indeed Pierce's conspiracy.
Our Director Fury had indeed been played, and all he needed now was a red clown nose to complete the look.
With time pressing, Fury didn't say much else besides urging Loya to proceed with extreme caution. After receiving the mission dossier, Loya departed from the safehouse.
Once Loya had left, Fury turned to Pierce, his face full of concern. "Can Loya really handle so many bizarre and dangerous enemies?
This step in the plan feels a bit rushed."
Pierce smiled faintly. "You should have faith in him. He's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s strongest Agent. Besides—"
He paused, an intricate expression flitting across his face. "If we want to eradicate Hydra once and for all, someone has to make sacrifices, don't they? This is our best opportunity."
Fury fell silent.
To be frank, he was reluctant to see Loya sacrificed. Not only because Loya was exceptionally capable and useful, but also because that curse still hung over the heads of everyone in S.H.I.E.L.D.
If something happened to Loya, there was no telling when the curse could ever be resolved. Once the curse broke out, maintaining S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations would become virtually impossible.
Yet given the current circumstances, Loya was the only one who could take this risk. No one else had the ability or qualifications.
If they missed this chance, catching Hydra's trail would become exceedingly difficult, inviting even greater trouble down the road.
Who could have known that those Hydra bastards had not only survived all this time, but had secretly infiltrated high-ranking positions and cultivated so many Super Soldiers with special abilities? Their ambition was horrifyingly vast.
They were impossible to guard against, a bunch of damned roaches.
Although Loya was absurdly strong, the adage that enough ants could bite an elephant to death still held true.
He had indeed wiped out the Chitauri Army before, but in terms of tricky and bizarre abilities...
The Super Soldiers raised by Hydra were a cut above. One careless misstep could lead to disaster.
Fury let out a quiet sigh, his resolve hardening.
If anything truly happened to Loya, he would use that experiment to bring him back. S.H.I.E.L.D. could not afford to lose such an outstanding talent.
Pierce glanced at the silent Fury, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, his eyes brimming with the confidence of someone in complete control.
He knew the strength of those Super Soldiers very well. For them to threaten Loya, unless Loya stuck his neck out and let them swing, it was virtually impossible.
Even setting Loya's strength aside, as long as he had the intelligence Pierce provided, Loya was guaranteed to complete the mission safely.
According to his plan, Loya's convictions would naturally be shaken when the time came, allowing the real plan to officially commence.
He was the sharpest blade.
Everything was within his grasp.
After leaving the safehouse, Loya used the "eye of aurora" to instantly return to the island Villa.
The very first thing he did was open and examine the mission dossier Fury gave him and the note Pierce had slipped him.
There was nothing particularly unusual about the mission dossier.
It merely detailed the operational plan for escorting the Mind Scepter.
Loya would not be operating alone; he had another partner.
They would form a duo operating in the open and in the shadows.
His primary responsibility was to draw enemy fire and eliminate the hostiles attempting to seize the Mind Scepter.
The other operative would be responsible for the Mind Scepter itself, ready at any moment to make a run for it while Loya covered their retreat.
This way, even if something happened to Loya, the Mind Scepter could still reach its destination—consistent with Fury's usual modus operandi.
However, the plan made no mention of the assassination attempts against Fury and Pierce, nor did it mention Hydra. It merely emphasized that the enemies possessed special abilities.
This gave Loya some food for thought; as expected, the so-called enemies were likely Hydra personnel.
The slip of paper Pierce had passed him, however, was an entirely different story.
Though small, it was densely packed with tiny, printed text produced by a printer—clearly prepared well in advance.
The contents were so absurd that Loya's lips twitched, unsure where to even begin complaining.
To put it simply, after joining the Council, Pierce, relying on his extraordinary intellect, had supposedly discovered that several members within the Council were actually Hydra!
Thus, he had gone undercover for years, continuously investigating and counter-infiltrating these Hydraoperatives.
Finally, he had uncovered an astonishing truth: the Councilwas rotten to the core.
These individuals were in league with Hydra. Pierce had approached other Council members to reveal the truth, only to be betrayed—which was supposedly how the assassination attempt came to pass.
"Seriously, Pierce, you old geezer, you're that good at slinging mud? Quite the drama queen, aren't you?"
Reading this far, Loya couldn't help but scoff.
Pierce was literally one of Hydra's top leaders himself, yet here he was accusing the Security Council of colluding with Hydra, claiming he was running counter-infiltration. Truly shameless.
While it was true that Hydra had infiltrated the Security Council, it wasn't to such a ridiculous degree.
It seemed this was the exact theatrical act he had put on to fool Fury, deceiving him hook, line, and sinker.
But why expose Hydra's existence voluntarily? When their infiltration had been going so smoothly, wasn't "Project Insight" still underway?
Baffled, Loya read on.
According to the note, the reason the Mind Scepter had to be transported was that a rival faction of Hydra wanted to seize it for experiments to enhance Super Soldiers who already possessed special abilities.
So Fury and Pierce had turned the tables on them, faking their deaths with the Mind Scepter to escape and make covert arrangements.
Having Loya eliminate the Hydra Super Soldiers sent to snatch it was meant to locate Hydra's headquarters through them and weaken Hydra's strength.
Loya roughly understood what these Super Soldiers were about.
Unsurprisingly, they were Inhumans created by the founding faction of Hydra using the Terrigen Mist, granting them special powers.
They were essentially Mutants in a different sense, only their abilities were generally far weaker than those of Mutants.
Sending the Mind Scepter to Sokovia was purportedly to research and develop superpowered individual assets belonging to S.H.I.E.L.D.
As the saying went, one had to fight magic with magic; naturally, Inhumans had to be countered by Inhumans.
Reading this, Loya finally pieced it all together.
It was identical to the feeling he had earlier about purging dissenters.
Pierce was blatantly using him to weaken another Hydrafaction's forces.
Then Pierce could proactively expose Hydra, deceiving Fury under the noble banner of eradicating them, openly conduct research on his own superpowered individuals, and make full use of Fury to take the blame and deal with the other Hydra heads.
Perhaps even more than that—Loya suspected subsequent, yet-to-be-triggered missions might involve eliminating the target recipient of this mission.
The recipient of the Mind Scepter was Strucker, the head of a faction separate from the founding faction of Hydra.
That way, once Pierce disposed of the other leaders, he would become Hydra's sole supreme leader, reaching the zenith of power.
Furthermore, the largest section of the note was dedicated to the World Security Council.
A substantial portion was aimed at smearing the World Security Council, painting it as utterly worthless in rhetoric that was passionately vehement.
Delivered in a tavern, that speech could certainly incite a rebellion.
How should one put it? The phrasing was pure brainwashing, instilling a sense of inherent wickedness about the current members of the Council.
Not a single word explicitly stated they deserved to die, but every line between the words screamed it.
If Loya were truly the righteous persona he projected in S.H.I.E.L.D., he would be burning with righteous indignation right now, eager to slaughter the whole lot of them.
And thereby become an exceptional pawn.
Unfortunately, Pierce miscalculated one thing: Loya was faking it. Furthermore, Loya knew the plot and was well aware that Pierce was Hydra.
No matter how clever the old geezer was, he would never have foreseen that.
"Damn! You old bastard, treating me like an idiot? Then again, my acting must be pretty good to fool even Pierce."
Loya cursed Pierce under his breath, then praised his own acting skills.
This was clearly a trap: first instill the concept, then guide him later to wipe out the members of the World Security Council.
Such tactics were typically used against individuals who were gullible and easily brainwashed.
Was that the kind of simpleton he appeared to be in Pierce's eyes?
Utterly outrageous!
At this moment, Loya really felt like blasting Pierce with a Fist Bone Impact.
Nevertheless, based on this information, he had basically deduced Pierce's ultimate objective.
With Loya's capabilities, assassinating members of the World Security Council would be effortless and leave no trace behind.
Once those Council members were dead, and once Piercehad consolidated absolute control over Hydra, he could leverage the power controlled across the factions to push his own people into the vacant seats.
Thus, Pierce would stand at the pinnacle of both the legitimate and underworld domains, taking the philosophy of infiltration to the absolute extreme—infiltrating not just the government, but even Hydra itself.
Pierce's ambition was truly staggering.
There was only one thing Loya couldn't understand: what about Project Insight? Was he abandoning that project entirely by doing this?
He shook his head. Perhaps an unexpected hitch had occurred with Project Insight, prompting Pierce to resort to such an outlandish backup plan.
It had to be said, if this plan actually succeeded, Piercewould truly reach the stratosphere.
With such vast power and resources, nearly all his actions could be justified, placing everything completely under his control.
Even if Project Insight ran into trouble, he could mount another attempt on the back of this plan's success.
And Fury would be thoroughly trapped, never able to turn the tables in his lifetime, reduced to a literal workhorse.
Pierce's plan was indeed ingenious, calculating the other Hydra factions to death as well.
Perhaps that was why Loya had sensed such conflicting emotions from Pierce earlier; it was very likely tied to the other Hydra factions, and there might be even more unseen twists and turns involved.
Too bad the plan was brilliant and the vision wonderful, but Pierce had the misfortune of running into Loya—who not only knew the storyline, but also possessed a cheat system.
From any perspective, Loya would never let Pierce's plan succeed.
If Pierce succeeded, how could Fury continue serving as his "quest dispenser"?
Whether by logic or emotion, personal interest or public duty, it was out of the question.
After reading through the note, Loya stored it back into the System Space.
The information on the note wasn't just misleading and confusing his thoughts; it was even driving a wedge between him and Fury.
Fury was stalling, refusing to tell you the truth and details of the event, clearly showing a lack of trust in you.
Meanwhile, I, Pierce, gave it to you in secret, placing unconditional trust in you. Who would you choose?
On that point alone, any normal person would lean toward Pierce—not to mention Pierce's skin color was apparently more convincing in this context.
Furthermore, Pierce had deliberately provided intelligence on the specific abilities and counters for those Inhumans, whereas Fury offered nothing. The contrast was stark.
Naturally, Pierce claimed he had obtained it by dispatching Agents to infiltrate Hydra.
With all these factors stacked together, an ordinary person would choose Pierce, creating a rift in their relationship with Fury.
Never mind that Loya had only become an Agent halfway through his career and had little loyalty toward Fury to begin with. Leaning to one side would have been a no-brainer.
A pity, though. As said before, Loya knew the script.
These seemingly brilliant maneuvers and schemes amounted to winking at a blind man—a total waste of effort.
Did Pierce really think Loya was a fool?
He was merely acting along to trigger quests, yet he ended up being taken for an idiot.
Still, this wasn't bad; this exact effect was what he wanted.
Without playing dumb, how else would he get so many quests?
The squeaky wheel gets the grease, after all.
By slipping Loya the note, Pierce viewed him as the ultimate pawn and the perfect accomplice.
Only, Loya, this perfect accomplice, was about to become his greatest obstacle.
He had already laid plans to strip Pierce of power; without Pierce setting this up, Loya wouldn't have even found an opening to begin.
And all of it would start in Sokovia.
Loya smiled faintly, murmuring to himself, "I wonder what kind of look Pierce will have on his face when the truth comes to light. Will the old fox be infuriated into a dead fox?"
Buzz, buzz, buzz~
He shook his head, pulling out his vibrating phone. The message displayed that his partner for this mission was about to arrive; it was time to depart.
Loya's figure flickered, vanishing in an instant.