"Li… are you fully conscious now?" Elena asked cautiously when she saw that Brave had calmed down.
Li Hua nodded, visibly relaxing. "I've finally—barely—managed to control the power of the Level 50 game cartridge."
"How did you manage to successfully use a Level 50 game cartridge?"
Elena's eyes lit up as she asked eagerly.
Gwen also looked at Li Hua with great curiosity.
After the three of them had obtained the Level 50 game cartridges from Dan Kuroto, they had naturally tried to use them. However, none of the three had been able to successfully activate the cartridge's power.
Now that Li Hua had suddenly managed to use a Level 50 game cartridge, Elena and Gwen were of course desperate to know how he had done it.
Li Hua completely understood how they were feeling.
However, he was still unsure whether his method—integrating the basic starter game cartridge into his body in order to gain the ability to control higher-level cartridges—was actually correct, or whether it might carry hidden side effects.
He planned to return to Holy City Hospital's base and undergo a comprehensive examination to confirm the feasibility of this method. As such, he did not immediately answer Elena and Gwen's questions.
"We can research and discuss this in detail after we get back. For now, shouldn't we deal with these guys who tried to kidnap me and interrogate me about the origins of the game cartridges and the Player Driver?"
Li Hua gestured toward the HYDRA agents lying on the ground.
"Who exactly are these people?" Gwen asked, her tone growing serious as she looked at the ring of defeated HYDRA agents.
"I'm not sure. But it's obvious they came with hostile intent. Their operation was extremely well-organized, and they don't look like the type who would easily reveal the mastermind behind them," Li Hua said, shaking his head as he looked at the agents' resolute, death-defying expressions.
"Then how should we handle them? Call the police and hand them over to the NYPD?" Elena suggested.
"I don't think letting the police handle this is appropriate," Gwen countered.
"If we notify the police, how are we supposed to explain all of this to them?
Do we reveal our identities? Expose the existence of the game cartridges and the Player Drivers?
If we do that, we'll definitely invite enormous and unforeseen trouble."
Elena scratched her head. "True. It's better not to expose our identities. People are already coming after Li for information about the Player Driver and game cartridges. If we openly reveal ourselves, all kinds of trouble will come flooding in afterward."
"Then how about we just tell the police that these people tried to kidnap Li?" Elena suggested hesitantly.
Li Hua shook his head. "If it's treated as a simple kidnapping case—and an attempted one at that—the police probably won't take it very seriously. It'll be difficult to uncover anything useful.
We need to find a way to uncover the mastermind behind this. Otherwise, they'll likely continue targeting us in other ways.
As the saying goes, there's no such thing as guarding against thieves for a thousand days. We can't stay on constant alert forever, assuming someone is secretly plotting against us."
Elena nodded in deep agreement. "You're right. This is something we definitely need to get to the bottom of. No matter who they are—even if they're secret agents of the United States—we at least need to know who we're dealing with, and make them think twice before acting."
"Maybe we can notify Mr. Stark," Gwen suggested.
"Have him investigate on our behalf. And if necessary, he can contact S.H.I.E.L.D., which operates under the World Security Council, and hand these people over to them for investigation."
"That's a good idea," Elena and Li Hua said in unison, nodding in agreement with Gwen's proposal.
"Send me your current location. I'm heading over immediately."
After learning that a mysterious force was trying to capture Li Hua and seize the Player Driver and game cartridges, Tony prepared to rush to the scene without hesitation.
Activating the mechanical memory unit, he directly controlled the components of the Iron Man suit as they assembled themselves. In the blink of an eye, the fully formed suit had attached itself to his body.
Once he had the location, Tony activated the thrusters and flew straight to the scene.
"These are the guys?" Tony asked after arriving, looking at the subdued HYDRA agents.
Li Hua nodded. "They haven't said a single word since being subdued. They're absolutely well-trained."
"JARVIS, scan their faces and cross-reference them with the database. Identify who they are," Tony said, raising an eyebrow as he issued the command.
"These individuals…?" Tony's tone grew uncertain as he looked at the data JARVIS had retrieved.
"What's wrong?" Elena asked, sensing something strange in his voice.
Tony spoke with a hint of astonishment. "The data shows that these people all have different backgrounds—soldiers, mercenaries, even government agents. There's no common link between them.
But the most important thing is this…"
He paused.
"They should all be dead."
"You've got to be kidding," Elena said in disbelief. "They're lying right here in front of us, alive and breathing. How can they be dead?"
"You mean that according to official records and legal recognition, they're already classified as 'dead'?" Li Hua said thoughtfully.
Tony nodded. "Exactly. Theoretically speaking, they should have died a long time ago."
"So they all faked their deaths and went underground to work for some massive secret organization?" Gwen speculated.
Tony let out a sigh. "Looks like this needs to be handled by professionals. You guys can leave for now. I'll have someone investigate this thoroughly."
With no effective way to investigate individuals who were officially 'dead,' Tony decided to contact Nick Fury and hand the matter over to S.H.I.E.L.D.
"Then we'll leave it to you," Li Hua, Elena, and Gwen exchanged glances, nodded, and returned to Holy Hospital via the teleportation array.
After receiving Tony's message, Nick Fury immediately dispatched S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to the scene to take custody of the HYDRA operatives.
Naturally, Sitwell was also made fully aware of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s movements.
"Fortunately, there weren't any of our people embedded within S.H.I.E.L.D. in that squad," Sitwell said as he watched the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents mobilize on the screen, feeling slightly relieved.
"Otherwise, Nick Fury would definitely launch an internal purge."
Suddenly, Sitwell's communicator rang.
"This operation didn't just fail—every single agent involved was captured and is about to fall into Nick Fury's hands.
Is there something you'd like to explain to me?" Pierce asked, his face dark with anger.
Sitwell's expression changed as he hurriedly explained the reason for the mission's failure.
"At least it wasn't a total loss. We've confirmed that Li Hua from Holy City Hospital is indeed a user of the game cartridges and Player Driver. Now that we've identified the true target, we can carry out another operation at any time."
Sitwell deliberately emphasized the importance of the intelligence gained from this mission.
"And what about the agents who were captured?" Pierce asked, his expression easing slightly as he raised another critical issue.
Sitwell replied confidently, "The people I sent out are all 'dead.' No one will be able to trace any meaningful information through their identities.
And I've already arranged a rescue operation. We should be able to get them out."
"No matter what, those people must not fall into Nick Fury's hands. Do you understand?!
I don't want 'should be able to.' I want absolute certainty," Pierce said coldly.
Sitwell shuddered and nodded. "I understand. If… the rescue fails— The people I sent will make sure they stay silent forever."
(End of Chapter)