Tony was startled by Jack's reaction and started typing rapidly.
JARVIS: "Our clan of a certain surname is rising—climbing a 10,000-meter mountain is nothing, we can do it too… Girlfriends, I scored 749 on the college entrance exam—see, it's not that hard… Sisters, I've finally flown a fighter jet monopolized for decades… Chickens, I'm a vice-premier-level academician and I still chase idols… So what!"
Fortunately, Tony moved fast, ejecting every drive JARVIS had used for storage over the past two days.
Sure enough, JARVIS quickly returned to normal.
"Sir, I seem to have lost a portion of my memory. Was that your doing?"
Seeing JARVIS stop ranting about men valuing softness and the so-called era of great female dominance, Tony finally exhaled.
Tony's expression turned grim as he looked at Jack.
"Just how terrifying were the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties? It's been over a thousand years, and they still managed to infect JARVIS."
Even now, a chill ran down his spine just thinking about it.
Jack's expression was equally grave. He steepled his fingers before his nose and spoke solemnly:
"Steam the men, stir-fry the women; anyone neither old nor young gets barbecued."
"Boil the generals, pan-fry the soldiers, throw the powerful ministers into noodle soup."
"Serve the Pure-Talk philosophers with cold noodles—add sour and spicy for extra flair."
"Stew the Confucians, pickle the Daoists, let the Buddhist feast turn into a picnic."
"Sweet flavors for the Southern courts, salty for the Northern—mix meat and vegetables for balance."
"Those who died grew fat, those who lived starved thin—chaos and famine, day after day."
"They were properly sealed away, but some idiots calling themselves the 'Awakened' dug them up again. Under that influence, things even began mutating. I never expected JARVIS to get hit too."
Both men stayed silent for two minutes—partly out of fear of those dynasties, partly to monitor JARVIS for abnormalities.
Five more minutes passed. Seeing JARVIS remain stable, they finally relaxed.
"Now explain why the Middle East has turned into a Five Dynasties–Ten Kingdoms remix of the Wei-Jin era," Tony said, circling back to Jack's earlier comment.
Jack laid out his and Ethan's plan, including using HYDRA to pinpoint the locations of Middle Eastern terrorist cells.
Tony was silent for several seconds before speaking slowly.
"HYDRA really is terrifying. They actually tracked down terrorists the Middle East has been hunting for years."
Jack replied calmly, "Most terrorists are funded through U.S. channels. HYDRA just skims the benefits and naturally knows where a lot of them are."
Tony leaned back, staring at the ceiling.
"You're right. We need to keep this branch of HYDRA—for now. They know too many secrets we don't."
Jack nodded. "Exactly. And HYDRA isn't done. They're trying to resurrect an ancestor from thousands of years ago."
Tony shot upright.
"Thousands of years? I thought HYDRA started with the Nazis."
Jack wagged a finger. "HYDRA traces back to the Kree. They abducted humans for experiments and created something even they couldn't control—a monster. They exiled it to an unknown planet."
Tony swallowed. "That monster… founded HYDRA, didn't it?"
Jack nodded. "Correct. His followers have spent millennia trying to bring him back."
Tony snorted. "I'll give them this—HYDRA's commitment is impressive. Thousands of years of rich bastards staying rich."
Remembering that nearly every HYDRA successor was an aristocrat, Jack couldn't resist venting.
"You Westerners never produced a Huang Chao to reshuffle the nobles. Otherwise I wouldn't have to deal with this crap."
Tony blinked. "Is Huang Chao some alien like the Kree?"
Jack waved him off. "No. Eastern anti-hero. Broke aristocratic power. I was just ranting."
"The Kree are an alien humanoid empire. They experimented on humans long before modern civilization."
Tony frowned. "Didn't you say Asgard protects Earth? Why didn't they stop the Kree?"
Jack looked at him like he'd asked something incredibly stupid.
"Tony, do you know how many people disappear worldwide every single day?"
Without waiting, he continued, "Human trafficking alone probably outnumbers anything the Kree did. Who notices a few extra missing?"
"Asgard intervenes only in extinction-level threats. Unless humanity's about to get wiped out, Odin doesn't give a damn."
Tony sighed. That logic was painfully reasonable.
Jack raised a finger. "Enough theory. Let's look at results."
He pulled up dozens of live camera feeds.
Tony stared at the screens. "What am I looking at?"
"Live operations," Jack said calmly. "Decapitation strikes. Middle East, Europe, Southeast Asia."
Tony's jaw dropped. "How many teams did you send? There are three pages of feeds."
Jack grinned. "No idea. Most of HYDRA plus Red Room operatives. Not enough planes, so this is just the first wave."
Tony read the scrolling mission captions beneath the feeds.
Target: [Name] — Entire family eliminated.
Organization: [Name] — Total annihilation.
Then he noticed a special feed—black-and-white static with red flashes.
Caption: "Mosquito Girl — Middle East."
Tony pointed at it. "What the hell does that mean?"
Jack enlarged the feed.
"Those aren't snowflakes. They're mosquitoes. Dense enough to blot out the sky."
"Mosquito Girl is handling the entire Middle East alone."
Tony felt his skin crawl as if insects were crawling all over him.
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
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