The Savior of American Comics? I'm the Subspace Evil God!

Chapters 573 and 1062: Chapter 1063 - Difficult to Distinguish Between Truth and Falsehood (Part 2)

"Ah this..."

Upon hearing this, Black Widow's face immediately showed an expression of disbelief and astonishment, her eyes fixed on the screen of the former Hydra scientist who was already 'dead'!
Captain America, standing beside her, clearly had no patience to listen to his former enemy's endless rambling. He stepped forward and interrupted her coldly:

"Zora, how did you get here? This is clearly the headquarters of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Tsk tsk, Captain, even after all these years, you still don't have the patience to let people finish speaking."

Anim Zola shook his head on the screen with a look of regret, a mocking smile playing on his pixelated lips, and then said:

"As I just had to emphasize... I was, of course, invited by S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

"They are my saviors... or rather, the ones who enabled me to escape the frail and helpless human body and attain true 'eternal life'!"

“Wait a minute, I remember now…” Black Widow seemed to have a chord of memory struck. She searched for the historical secrets she had learned during her training at the Red Room and S.H.I.E.L.D., and after a moment of contemplation, she said:

"If I remember correctly, his presence here is thanks to Operation Retrograde, a secret operation launched by S.H.I.E.L.D. after World War II, right?"

She looked at Captain America, whose face was full of confusion, with a complicated expression, and patiently explained to him:

"It was a highly classified project. At that time, S.H.I.E.L.D. secretly recruited many strategically valuable German scientists, wanting to use their expertise to combat potential threats in the future... Now it seems that Arnim Zola was among them."

“That’s right.” Anim Zola’s voice clearly carried an exaggerated joy of ‘finally someone understands me,’ as he continued, “that’s right.”
"Agent Romanoff is indeed very knowledgeable. S.H.I.E.L.D. believes that my wisdom and technology can help their cause to take the lead over other organizations. So... as you can see with your own eyes now, S.H.I.E.L.D. has grown rapidly with my... no, to be precise, with the help of us scoundrels, and has far surpassed other organizations to achieve its current scale and influence."

Captain America frowned, ruthlessly interrupting the other's self-aggrandizement, and said decisively:

"Zora, stop with the sweet talk. I don't trust you like S.H.I.E.L.D. does... In my eyes, you'll always be a Hydra!"

"Oh, Captain, isn't that a bit too hurtful?" Anim Zola's pixelated avatar said, feigning sadness.

"Is this how you thank your savior?"

"Savior? Stop talking nonsense... Um, wait a minute, you mean?"

Captain America instinctively retorted, but halfway through his sentence, as if struck by lightning, the words Black Widow had spoken in the car suddenly echoed in his mind. His icy blue pupils contracted sharply, his expression froze instantly, and he stared at the screen in disbelief, exclaiming in a trembling voice:
"The person who triggered the fire alarm in the mall and successfully disrupted the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents' arrest operation... was that you?!"

"Oh, look, our great Captain America seems to have finally figured it out."

Anim Zola's wicked laughter came through the loudspeaker, carrying a sense of satisfaction from a successful prank. "To be precise, from the moment Agent Romanov tried to forcibly access the encrypted logbook of the Lemurian Star, I had already successfully located both of you."

"Including the clues you later left behind when you tried to trace me using that... uh, terrible program, it was a clue I left on purpose to guide you to this place... as easy as luring a child with candy."

"But you two don't need to thank me. These are just small favors for me."

A chill instantly shot up from Captain America and Black Widow's spines to the top of their heads, making them almost feel each other's heartbeats quicken.

Who could have imagined that what the two of them were tracking was not a location, nor a device, but a 'digital ghost' that should have been extinct in history?!

More importantly, if everything Anim Zola said is true, then its computing power and control over sensitive information are absolutely terrifying.

Even the tracking program personally developed by Reed Richards, known as the 'world's smartest man,' is no match for it.

For some reason, both of them started comparing Anim Zola to Ultron in their minds.

The question remains: which is stronger, this 'digital ghost' hidden within outdated hardware or Ultron's out-of-control advanced artificial intelligence?

Furthermore, based on the information they currently have, they are unable to determine which side Anim Zola is on.
Is it the agency it claims to be loyal to, S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Or was it the Hydra that it once served?
Or perhaps... it is only loyal to itself?

"Wait a minute, does that mean..."

Black Widow quickly pieced together her thoughts. A surge of anger at being fooled made her grip on her gun tighter, and her voice became serious. "That rogue program that kept rewriting files to prevent me from accessing the Lemurian Star's logbook—was that your doing?!"

Anim Zola did not deny this; his image on the screen steadily flashed a blue light, and his tone became unusually formal:
“Yes, it was me… but it wasn’t the rogue program you’re talking about, Agent Romanov.”

"That's an encryption algorithm specifically designed to protect particularly important documents, based on Section 9-B of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Internal Security Regulations... My job is to enforce the protocol, not to violate it."

"Protect?" Black Widow narrowed her eyes, keenly catching the word. She quickly exchanged a glance with Captain America beside her, both seeing the seriousness in each other's eyes.

Then, Black Widow decided to press her advantage and immediately pressed, "Why did you stop my investigation? What's hidden in that log? Is it related to the attack on Chief Fury?"

However, this time, Arnim Zola shook his head slowly with a hint of 'regret': "I'm sorry, Agent Romanov, but I have no comment on that question!"

"No comment?" Black Widow's voice suddenly rose. As if she had thought of something, she abruptly raised her pistol, almost pressing the muzzle against Arnim Zola's forehead on the screen, her gaze sharp as she questioned:
"Could it be... that the attack on Director Fury was also related to you? Are you actually secretly loyal to Hydra?!" "Oh, I must say, Miss Romanov, your imagination is quite rich." Arnim Zola's avatar made an exaggerated expression of surprise. He didn't directly answer Black Widow's question, but instead feigned helplessness, saying:

"However, I'm truly sorry, although I personally very much want to tell you the truth, and would even be happy to show you the original logbook directly..."

He paused deliberately, then emphasized again: "However, because S.H.I.E.L.D. has set up the highest level of anti-leakage protocol in my core algorithm and code, I cannot answer any questions about the specific contents of this document or any related questions until a person with the highest authority issues a formal decryption order."

As if that wasn't enough, he added, "As for your claim that I'm still loyal to Hydra? That's practically pure slander..."

"Captain Rogers, Agent Romanov, please look carefully. I have long since transcended the realm of base human desires and broken free from the constraints of a weak, fleshy body... Therefore, Hydra is a thing of the past for me!!"

"Besides, I'm already fed up with those self-righteous idiots in Hydra... Captain Rogers, you should know better than anyone that Hydra's original philosophy, founded by Red Skull, was 'not to relinquish freedom to humans,' believing that they were unworthy of controlling their own destiny."

At this point, the pixelated image of Arnim Zola on the screen seemed to be 'reminiscing' about the past, his face filled with emotion, before continuing in an almost philosophical tone:

"But they are completely unaware of a fundamental contradiction: when they try to take away the freedom that belongs to humankind, the innate spirit of resistance of humankind will be ignited... Where there is oppression, there will be resistance; the deeper the oppression, the fiercer the resistance... This is the survival instinct engraved in human genes."

"War... whether it's a hot war or a cold war, has taught me a lot and shown me the fragile boundaries between order and chaos."

"It's just a pity that those brainless Hydra executives didn't learn any real lessons from history."

"They are blindly fanatical, indulging in old dreams of destruction and control, and only wanting to create a world that they believe to be 'pure' but is actually extremely chaotic through terror and violence... In my opinion, this approach is extremely foolish and inefficient!"

Despite Arnim Zola's numerous statements that sounded like he was drawing a line or even directly discrediting Hydra, Captain America's suspicion did not diminish in the slightest.

The lesson from seventy years ago was far too profound; he would never easily trust this mad scientist who had once worked for Hydra.

“I don’t believe you, Zola.”

Captain America's voice was calm and firm, carrying an unquestionable authority, "Unless you can produce conclusive evidence that you are now working for S.H.I.E.L.D., and not a Hydra mole..."

“Oh, Captain Rogers, I think you’ve got something wrong.”

But to everyone's surprise, Anim Zola burst into a loud laugh, his pixelated avatar displaying an almost 'pity' mocking expression, and said dismissively:

“I don’t need to prove anything to you at all… because my service is clearly stated in my core agreement: it’s the organization S.H.I.E.L.D., not you… Steve Rogers personally.”

"In other words, Captain Rogers, your trust is actually worthless to me."

These blunt words immediately made Captain America frown.

“What about me?” Black Widow stepped forward, believing her identity might be able to change the situation. “I’m a Level 7 agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., I should have certain access permissions, right?”

"I am now acting as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and request that you provide all information related to the 'Star Lemuria's' logbook!"

“Sorry, it still won’t work.” Arnim Zola’s answer remained firm. He shook his head. “Agent Romanov, although you are indeed a member of S.H.I.E.L.D., your security level… is far too low. You simply do not have the authority to access encrypted files at this level.”

"Too low a level?" Black Widow keenly caught the key information in the other party's words and immediately pressed on like a hunting dog, asking, "Then who has access? Director Fury? Or a member of the World Security Council?"

“According to the agreement, currently only two people worldwide have the highest authority to directly access this file,” Arnim Zola’s electronic voice said calmly. “But who exactly… I cannot disclose that!”

Faced with such a slick and watertight answer, Black Widow felt a surge of anger rush to her head; her patience was almost completely exhausted.

She glanced around at the buzzing old equipment, a ruthless glint in her eyes, as if assessing the feasibility of forcibly destroying the hardware to force the 'digital ghost' in front of her to submit.

But just then, Captain America spoke up again, his question returning to its original starting point, attempting to find a breakthrough from the perspective of motivation:

"Zora, I have a question... Why did you save us in the first place? And why did you go to such lengths to lead us here? Stop trying to fob me off with those program protocol nonsense, just tell me your real purpose."

On the screen, Anim Zola's blue avatar remained silent for a moment, and the flickering frequency of the pixels seemed to slow down as if he were carefully considering his words.

A few seconds later, his strangely accented synthesized voice sounded again, but this time, it lacked the previous mockery and instead carried a hint of almost human helplessness and solemnity:
"Because someone forced me to do things I didn't want to do, but had no choice but to... I hope you can help me stop this from happening!!"

This vague warning was like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, instantly putting Captain America and Black Widow on edge. They quickly exchanged a glance, both seeing worry and urgency in each other's eyes.

They certainly didn't believe that someone like Anim Zola would go to such lengths to lure them here, risking the huge loss of his 'lair,' just to play riddles and joke with them.

So something terrible must be about to happen.

But for a moment they had no idea what it could be.
(End of this chapter)