I sparked a mysterious resurgence in Marvel.

Chapter 239 Bold Ideas

Aside from [Chocolate's Music Box], which was used as a tool for hypnosis (brainwashing).

Another painting found in Alexander Pixar's basement was of much greater interest to Erin.

This is a beautiful landscape painting.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, a vibrant tree sways in the wind, surrounded by a lush green meadow.

At the edge of the meadow, it seemed as if several figures were chasing and playing, but they were far away, and their appearances were unclear, and it was even impossible to tell whether they were male or female.

Further down in the sky, fluffy white clouds hung low, like cotton candy, as if they might fall from the sky at any moment.

【The Dream Painting: A painting created by a demon who lingers in the mortal realm to commemorate his former homeland. Everyone who sees this painting is irresistibly drawn into its beautiful scenery.】

[Note: Demons are always selfish; they don't even want their homeland, as depicted in their paintings, to be shared with others.]

[Characteristic 1: Everyone who gazes upon this painting will be hunted by the fairy within it. As long as the painting remains intact, the fairy can regenerate an unlimited number of times. However, each fairy will only appear once when hunting the same person.]

[Feature 2: The pursuit by the fairy in the painting is only the beginning, not the end. After defeating the fairy, you, who have gazed upon this painting, will witness the true abyss. This painting carries the curse of a high-ranking demon; everyone who has looked upon it will be marked by it. When you enter your dreams, you will be pulled into the world within the painting, and then... fall into the abyss.]

[Hint: When you gazed into the abyss, the abyss also gazed into you. (Of course, if you don't look at it, it won't see you either.)]

[Containment Method: After forcibly killing the fairy in the painting, at nightfall, ignite the fairy's ashes, then enter a dream. Guided by the fairy's ashes, you will cross the abyss and reach the ancient castle deep within the painting. Once you destroy the demonic mark left deep within the painting, you will become the new owner of this oil painting. (PS: After thousands of years, the demonic mark in the painting has become dim and faded.)]

After reading the detailed description of this oil painting.

Even Erin couldn't help but be surprised.

In terms of size, this oil painting seems to be no smaller than the lucky ring.

After all, in this world, the higher-ranking demons in the Hell dimension are far more powerful than the gods in ordinary pantheons.

The two characteristics of this painting particularly caught Erin's eye.

No wonder Alexander Pixar hung this painting at the only entrance to his basement.

With this painting as his protector, Alexander Pierce no longer needed to worry about anyone breaking into his basement to steal important documents.

Without Alexander Pixar's guidance, anyone who entered his basement would likely have died an unexplained death.

Ordinary people have no chance of breaking into Alexander Pixar's basement. Even if they manage to evade the attacks of the fairies in the paintings, they will eventually be dragged into the abyss in their sleep.

Fortunately, when Erin hypnotized Alexander Pixar, he also learned from him how to avoid the painting (close your eyes and do not look at the painting).

Otherwise, if he were careless, even he would fall victim to it.

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Besides these few extraordinary items.

When Bucky blew up Alexander Pixar, Erin also gained two thousand Fate Points.

These fate points, though not many, did replenish Erin's empty pockets.

Furthermore, according to information provided by Alexander Pierce himself, Erin also found a USB drive and a hidden asset list in a secluded corner of that basement.

In Erin's eyes.

The value of this USB drive and asset list is no less than that of the previous extraordinary items.

It even far exceeds that.

Because the USB drive contained the complete list of all the members of Alexander Pierce's Hydra organization, which was infiltrated within S.H.I.E.L.D.

A complete list of Hydra members.

Whether it's their overt identity as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents or their clandestine identity as Hydra agents, it's something that ordinary people can't see in the light of day.

Because of the nature of the work, and also because of concerns about information leakage.

Alexander Pierce's Hydra was arguably the most secretive of all Hydra companies.

The ordinary members of this Hydra organization generally follow the principle of single-line communication.

Therefore, apart from their own recruits, superiors, or partners they had worked with on missions, they had no idea who else was in Hydra.

All they knew was that Hydra's influence within S.H.I.E.L.D. was immense.

That's why.

Captain America, who traveled back from the Infinity War, was able to easily fool a Hydra in an elevator by simply saying "Hail Hydra."

Because... they really did consider Captain America to be a member of Hydra.

Among Alexander Pierce's Hydra team, probably no one else besides himself would have had such a detailed list.

Looking at the list in front of him, and the asset list that recorded Hydra's vast wealth, a sudden thought occurred to him.

Suddenly, a thought arose in Erin's mind.

"Maybe... I can do this..."

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Just as Erin was counting the spoils he had seized from Alexander Pierce.

Inside a secluded dam.

Nick Fury, who was suffering from extensive burns and barely clinging to life with the help of medical equipment and medication, heard the latest information from Natasha.

I managed to refrain from uttering "Fuck you!"

Because of his intense emotions, the instruments monitoring Nick Fury's physical data suddenly sounded a series of sharp alarms.

The piercing alarm only subsided after several doctors forcibly injected Nick Fury with a sedative.

Watching Nick Fury fall into a deep sleep again under the influence of the sedative.

Maria Hill led Natasha and Captain America out of the "shabby" ward where Nick Fury was being treated.

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After leaving the ward.

Natasha, who had just learned that Nick Fury was still alive, frowned at Maria Hill and asked:

"What...what exactly is going on?"

Captain America, standing beside Natasha, also spoke up: "Actually, I also want to know what happened. Before coming here, I thought Director Fury was dead. I even ordered flowers and a eulogy from the florist."

Looking at Natasha and Captain America, who were subtly questioning him, Hill shook his head and said, "Don't look at me like that. In fact, I only knew Fury wasn't dead a day earlier than you guys."

As he spoke, Hill turned to look at Nick Fury, who had fallen unconscious again under the influence of the drugs, and sighed, "Originally, Director Fury should have explained all this to you himself, but now I'll explain it to you instead..."

"I don't know how Chief Fury escaped from that exploding helicopter, and he didn't say, but we do have some guesses about who tampered with his helicopter."

"I'm sure Fury has told you all about Hydra before. If we're not mistaken, the ones who attacked Nick Fury this time were those Hydra agents who infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D."

"After learning of Nick Fury's death, Alexander Pierce temporarily assumed the role of acting director of S.H.I.E.L.D., temporarily taking over all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s authority. We suspect that he is the mastermind behind the murder of Nick Fury, the lurking Hydra leader."

"Perhaps... that's why Nick Fury was so agitated after hearing the news you brought back, Natasha, because Alexander Pierce's death means that our previous guesses were very likely wrong."

Looking at Maria Hill's wry smile, Captain America Steve Rogers asked in confusion, "Why do you suspect Alexander Pierce is the mastermind behind Hydra? Wasn't Nick Fury someone he personally promoted?"

"Alexander Pierce is a minister of the World Security Council and the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. If he really is Hydra, then he has no reason to promote Nick Fury to director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Moreover, as far as I know, after Nick Fury's incident, he was the one who vigorously investigated the cause of Nick Fury's death."

This time, Nick Fury was "killed" by the explosion button pressed by Alexander Pierce himself, and he didn't even have time to run to Captain America to leave a message like in the original comics.

So Alexander Pierce did a lot of pretense to win over Captain America and the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

And now it seems that he did a good job with those skills.

At least, Captain America has never doubted Alexander Pierce.

Hearing this, Maria Hill said, "No, that's precisely why we're even more suspicious of him. Inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, evading the eyes of countless agents, and then managing to plant a bomb on the director's helicopter without being detected—do you know how many people's cooperation that took?"

"Within the entire S.H.I.E.L.D., perhaps only Alexander Pierce has such immense power and influence that he could do all this without Nick Fury knowing a thing or two."

"Moreover, and most importantly, after Nick Fury's death, he gained all the authority in S.H.I.E.L.D. and thus benefited the most."

Whoever profits the most is most likely to be the murderer.

That's why Nick Fury and Maria Hill believed Alexander Pierce was the murderer.

However, in the end, Maria Hill gave another wry smile:

"But now it seems that Alexander Pierce was actually a Hydra agent hiding in the shadows, a target he deliberately set up to mislead us. Otherwise, he wouldn't have died at this time."

Natasha, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly said, "You're right. If Secretary Pierce really was Hydra, he wouldn't have gotten into trouble at this time after eliminating Director Fury and temporarily taking over as director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Furthermore, two hours ago, the NYPD identified Secretary Pierce's body, which had been blown to pieces, and his two relatively intact feet through DNA comparison. His death could not have been staged like Chief Fury's. This further rules out the possibility that Secretary Pierce was Hydra."

"In that case, let's look at it from a different angle. If Secretary Pierce wasn't Hydra, then why would he be assassinated at this time?"

"The deaths of two S.H.I.E.L.D. directors, coupled with Secretary Pierce's own status, mean that even if Hydra's power is immense, it shouldn't be this easy to achieve! After all, after Nick Fury's 'death,' Secretary Pierce specifically mobilized a team of agents to protect his safety."

"According to information provided by the police, not only were all the agents sent to protect Secretary Pierce killed at his villa, but some documents stored in Secretary Pierce's basement were also looted."

"Do you think it's possible that after Secretary Pierce took over S.H.I.E.L.D., he was murdered to silence him because he uncovered something during his investigation..."

If Erin were here, hearing Natasha's earnest analysis, he would laugh until his stomach hurt.

Hydra killing their leader to silence him? That's unbelievable!

However, due to the information gap, Natasha's current possibility is actually the most logical guess at present.

Even Maria Hill, who was standing to the side, frowned slightly and began to ponder after hearing Natasha's guess.

What you're saying is not impossible, but it's just our speculation right now.

"Director Fury definitely has more information about Hydra than we do. Once he's sober, we can tell him our guesses and see his reaction."

Natasha and Captain America, sitting opposite Maria Hill, exchanged a glance and then sighed silently.

That's all we can do now.

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Early the next morning.

Erin got up and prepared a nutritious breakfast.

To diversify her diet, Ailin even went to the breakfast street downstairs and bought a lot of local delicacies.

After setting out the breakfast I had prepared and a table full of local delicacies.

After checking the time.

Erin went downstairs, opened the door, and smiled at the figure who was about to press the doorbell, saying, "Surprise!"

(End of this chapter)