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Just like that, Darian, a HYDRA spy, became Nick Fury's informant within S.H.I.E.L.D., tasked with investigating the HYDRA Agents hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D.
Of course, the subjects of the investigation also included him.
This was truly a bit much.
Darian outwardly accepted Nick Fury's mission, but in reality, he planned to give Nick Fury a big surprise later.
A list of almost all the moles in S.H.I.E.L.D.—are you surprised or not?
Nick Fury said solemnly, "Agent Darian, this mission is very arduous. Remember to hide your identity well and absolutely do not let the moles discover you."
It was indeed arduous, mainly because he couldn't be discovered by Nick Fury, the HYDRA mole, otherwise the mission would be difficult to carry out.
Darian nodded, "Don't worry, I will definitely root out the moles in S.H.I.E.L.D."
"Hmm, I trust you."
Nick Fury was full of confidence in Darian.
He couldn't help but secretly congratulate himself, fortunately, Darian was one of his own. If the other party were a mole...
As soon as this thought popped up, Nick Fury himself couldn't help but shiver, feeling that he was truly too paranoid, instinctively doubting even a loyal and reliable Agent like Darian.
Darian left the safe house with Nick Fury's trust and a few servings of fried chicken, then immediately contacted Pierce, decisively selling Nick Fury out completely!
Sorry, I am the mole!
Listening to Darian recount Nick Fury's words, even Pierce couldn't maintain his composure for a moment.
To have a mole investigate moles—Nick Fury truly came up with that!
A moment later, Pierce spoke, "You did very well, Agent Darian. In the future, if you have similar intelligence, be sure to report it to me immediately. As for the mission Nick Fury gave you, just ignore it."
"Don't worry, Officer, I will never betray the organization!"
"Hmm, I trust you!"
Pierce was full of confidence in Darian.
He also knew that Darian had passed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s highest-level security test, and not even truth serum could pry any information about HYDRA from him.
This resilience was undoubtedly the best proof of Darian's loyalty to the organization!
After hanging up the phone, Darian decided to sell Pierce to Nick Fury at an opportune moment.
This way he could get two rewards!
Just thinking about it made him feel good!
The aftershocks of the Battle of New York continued to ferment, with abnormal incidents occurring frequently across America.
These days, S.H.I.E.L.D. was swamped and running ragged.
Especially the newly appointed Director Hill. On her first day, she still appeared very capable, but as more and more tasks piled up, her image gradually began to spiral out of control.
Now, every time Darian saw Hill, she was almost always disheveled, her eyes bloodshot, and her temper even more explosive than Hulk's, completely losing her initial refined and valiant appearance.
Indeed, after a period of high-intensity work, even a goddess would turn into a ghost.
Darian, however, adapted very well to this work rhythm. For him, the current situation merely meant a slight increase in mission difficulty, while the corresponding rewards became more generous, which was a good thing.
During this time, he took a detour back to Kamar-Taj's library, intending to study magic knowledge and quickly shed the title of a novice Sorcerer.
However, while searching through the ancient texts, he unexpectedly discovered a book detailing close-combat weapon techniques.
Hmm, as a holy land for Sorcerer cultivation, it was quite reasonable for the library to contain close-combat weapon techniques.
Out of curiosity, Darian tried to perform a keyword search and found that there were quite a few weapon-related texts in the library.
Most of them were practical experience and insights summarized by past Sorcerers, covering the use of various close-combat weapons, and there were even weapon insights personally written by Ancient One.
As expected of Kamar-Taj, everyone here is a weapon master!
Darian immediately picked up these texts and began to study them diligently, watching videos and reading books!
[Player, please note, a new dungeon has officially opened]
[After the player clears the dungeon, depending on the dungeon completion and mission achievement, a large number of generous rewards can be obtained!]
[Enter the dungeon immediately? Yes/No]
The system's notification sound suddenly rang out, interrupting Darian's studies.
"A dungeon opened?"
Darian was momentarily stunned.
This dungeon system was a new feature unlocked after he was promoted to a Level 7 Agent. It had been completely inactive until now, and he had almost forgotten about it.
"System, how does this dungeon work?" Darian asked.
[Dungeons are formed from game servers randomly drawn by the system, allowing players to embark on new adventures and challenges within the dungeon]
[Players can return after completing the dungeon mission, or choose to abandon the challenge and return immediately]
"What about my main quest progress here?"
Darian didn't want to finish a dungeon and come back to find the main quest storyline had automatically progressed, leaving him without even a sip of the hot soup.
[Please rest assured, when the player chooses to enter the dungeon, the current progress of this server will be automatically saved. After the player leaves the dungeon, it will automatically load, and there will be no loss of progress or automatic advancement of the plot]
"That's good."
Darian originally wanted to enter the dungeon directly, but on second thought, he decided to make some preparations first.
After all, it was his first dungeon challenge, and he wasn't clear about the difficulty and rules inside. It would be embarrassing if he failed.
So he quickly got to work, and after a series of video watching and book reading, he finally successfully mastered the skill of 'Basic One-Handed Sword Usage', so he no longer had to slash wildly.
Afterward, Darian returned to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters to replenish the ammunition consumed during the Battle of New York, and incidentally inquired with Hill about where S.H.I.E.L.D.'s large strategic weapons were stored.
He had no other intentions; he just wanted to check if any dishonest thieves had snuck in, eyeing these large strategic weapons.
However, after spending some time with Darian, Hill already knew his modus operandi inside and out. No matter how much he probed, she adamantly refused to reveal any information, making Darian sigh at where the trust between people had gone.
With everything ready, Darian took out his newly acquired magic mask.
The mask, crafted from some strange wooden material, felt warm to the touch yet exuded an eerie chill.
Natural wood grain was deeply embedded in the mask's surface, like obscure runes, appearing and disappearing as light shifted.
And at the edges of the mask, indescribably twisted patterns were carved. Staring at them for too long even gave one a dizzying illusion, as if those patterns were slowly wriggling and reorganizing themselves.
This didn't look like equipment a decent person should wear.
But it wasn't a big problem.
For him, as long as the strength was high enough, the appearance didn't matter at all.
Darian decisively put on the magic mask.
The moment the mask was put on, it adhered tightly to his face.
With the buffs from the equipment and the 'Cowboy' skill, Darian felt a surge of power throughout his body, and his confidence instantly soared. Even if Ancient One came now, she would have to take two slaps before leaving!
"What a special mask."
Ancient One's voice suddenly rang calmly in his ear.
Darian was startled, turning around to find Ancient One standing beside him at some unknown point.
Besides that, the surrounding reality had shattered and twisted like glass, indicating that he had clearly been pulled into the Mirror Dimension by Ancient One.
Darian's mouth twitched, "Sorcerer Ancient One, do you always have to appear so mysteriously?"
Ancient One said calmly, "I've always been here, you just didn't notice."
Darian: _
You're in the Mirror Dimension, how am I, a novice Sorcerer, supposed to notice?
Darian was too lazy to argue and asked, "Why are you here?"
Ancient One's gaze fell on Darian's magic mask, and she said lightly, "Just now, I sensed a wicked magical aura appearing on Earth, so I came to investigate. It turned out to be you, so that explains it."
Darian: "."
What do you mean, 'that explains it'?
He was at least someone with a superhero codename, and two of them at that—Iron Glider and Evil Spirit!
Alright, that didn't sound very good.
Darian glanced at the map; Ancient One's marker hadn't turned red, still displaying as a neutral NPC, so he relaxed. At least she wasn't here this time to eradicate evil demons—wait, he wasn't an evil demon to begin with!
But Darian still looked at Ancient One warily and asked, "You're not going to try to take my equipment, are you?"
As the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, perhaps Ancient One was the type of character who upheld justice and couldn't tolerate any evil magic.
Ancient One shook her head slightly, "Power itself has no good or evil; the key lies in the one who wields it. Even if someone uses dark magic, as long as the purpose is to protect, their actions are worthy of your respect and worthy of your study."
Darian nodded. These words sounded quite reasonable, yet he always felt something was a little off, as if there was a hidden meaning.
"Also, I'm here to bid you farewell," Ancient One suddenly said.
"Farewell?"
"Yes, I must leave Earth for a period to attend to matters in the multiverse. My return date is uncertain, and you needn't look for me. During this time, Kamar-Taj will be managed by Sorcerer Mordo. If you encounter any trouble, you can seek his assistance."
"Then you..."
"No need for more farewells, I'm leaving now."
Before Darian could finish speaking, Ancient One gently waved her hand, sending him out of the Mirror Dimension.
"Ancient One, you're such a busy person!"
Darian originally wanted to curse subtly.
But thinking that the other party might still be secretly watching him from the Mirror Dimension, he immediately changed his words.
In the end, Darian still didn't slap those two slaps. It wasn't that he didn't dare, it was just that Ancient One ran too fast!
That's right, that's how it was!
Darian stopped thinking about it and immediately opened the game dungeon system, choosing to enter the dungeon.
[About to begin dungeon transmission, player, please prepare.]
A few seconds later, Darian's figure disappeared from its original spot.
When he regained his senses, the surrounding scenery had completely changed.
A damp, musty smell filled his nostrils. Darian found himself in a dark alley.
In the corner, an old newspaper, blown by the wind, caught his eye. The front page featured a photo of a certain imaginative President, and the headline was marked with the year 1962.
Darian couldn't help but complain, "It's one thing for the game to start in 2008, but why is the dungeon's timeline pushed even further back?"
"Judging by this trend, will future dungeons get earlier and earlier? Then there won't be many dungeons to play, after all, America's history is only a little over two hundred years."
Before he could carefully survey his surroundings, a suppressed argument came from nearby.
"Hand over the money!"
"Please, don't hurt us."
Darian followed the sound and saw a gunman threatening a trembling family of three.
This familiar scene—is that you, the Wayne family?
However, he was quickly disappointed, because the couple was holding a girl, and her name was not Wayne Bruce, or Vayne Bruce.
Darian immediately lost all interest, walked forward, and casually asked, "Excuse me, where is this place?"
"Which bastard is meddling— "
The thug heard the voice and turned sharply, only to see a man wearing a strange mask and odd clothing staring at him.
He trembled in fear, hastily pointed his gun at Darian, his voice changing tone, "Shit! What the hell are you!?"
Darian sighed, "Don't point a gun at me. I have a phobia of gun muzzles."
"F***."
Bang!!
Before the thug could finish speaking, he was kicked away by Darian, slamming heavily into the wall, unable to be pried off.
"I forgot about the skill bonus; I didn't control my strength."
Darian was a little helpless.
He had originally planned to be cautious in the first dungeon, figuring out the situation first, but who knew that as soon as he landed, a small monster would actively present itself.
Darian turned to look at the terrified, pale-faced family of three and comforted them, "Don't be afraid, I'm not a good person. Excuse me, where is this place?"
The man, suppressing his fear, shielded his wife and daughter behind him and tremblingly replied, "This is New York."
So it's still New York.
It seems no matter the era, the spawn rate of small monsters in New York alleys is always this high.
Darian said, "Why are you walking through an alley late at night? You're not the Wayne family. If you get robbed like this, and the other party goes crazy, they won't leave you with a daughter to become Batman and beat them up in the future."
The man didn't understand the words, but he understood that the other party was reminding him.
"We understand, we'll be careful from now on."
"Good to know."
Darian nodded in satisfaction, then pulled out his Golden Desert Eagle and pointed it at them.
"Now, this is a robbery. Please hand over all your money."
The family of three: "."
Darian snatched the cash from the family of three. As for jewelry and such, he didn't take any; he had a huge pile of such items in his game warehouse.
Although he also had a lot of cash, it was clearly not usable in this era.
Ignoring the notification of increased crime value, Darian put away his Golden Desert Eagle and walked out of the alley.
After only a few steps, he heard a voice from nearby.
"Are you a Mutant?"
Darian turned his head at the sound and saw a young couple standing at the alley entrance. The brown-haired man was the one who spoke.
[NPC: Charles Xavier]
[Codename: Professor X]
[Affection: 20]
[Evaluation: The most powerful telepath, one of the strongest bald men in the Marvel Universe, one of the leaders of the Mutants, founder of the X-Men, not very good with his legs]
Seeing this evaluation, Darian immediately put on the Fool's Ring without another word.
The most powerful telepath sounded much stronger than a small fry like Kilgrave; he had to guard against him.
After putting on the Fool's Ring, Darian immediately felt much safer.
He calmly asked, "What is a Mutant?"
Charles explained, "A Mutant is someone whose genes have mutated, thereby awakening a special ability, just like you."
"You can't just say things like that. My race is still human right now," Darian immediately denied.
Charles smiled slightly, thinking Darian was being cautious or unwilling to reveal his identity in front of strangers.
He had seen this reaction before.
For example, Raven, the woman beside him, was initially full of defenses against him, only lowering her guard after confirming he was one of her kind.
So Charles said no more and immediately activated his telepathic ability.
"Don't worry, we are the same kind."
Charles directly transmitted these words into Darian's mind.
He expected Darian to be incredibly surprised upon hearing this, like others.
However, after waiting a few seconds, he found that Darian had no reaction at all.
Charles frowned slightly and once again transmitted the message into Darian's brain, but the other party still didn't react.
Did my ability fail?
Charles looked at Raven beside him with a hint of confusion, silently asking in his mind, "Can you hear me?"
Raven nodded, indicating that the communication was very smooth.
Charles was a bit stumped now. He refocused his gaze on Darian and, unwilling to give up, initiated a third communication.
This time, Darian finally reacted.
"What are you staring at? I've watched you stare for a long time; I've put up with you long enough!"
Charles: "....."