Lord of Cinder in American Comics

The greedy one, leaning back in his chair, reached out and pulled the two succubi back into his arms, saying, "Since things have come to this, remember to come find me when you return to Hell..."

The greedy one smiled and shared a wisp of hellish aura with the two succubi, which only made them more proactive...

Loki looked at the Greedy Man who seemed completely at ease, then at the Reality Stone in his hand, and suddenly realized that even with the stone, he couldn't be as free as the Greedy Man.

However, Loki still had to return to Asgard, not only because his diplomatic visit to Earth was coming to an end, but more importantly, because the crisis of the Dark Elves had been resolved, Frigga's prophecy had been proven wrong, and Thor was getting married.

As the prince of Asgard, Thor's marriage was no small matter. Even though he was extremely unwilling, Loki had to return to Asgard on time to attend the wedding at Frigga's insistence.

On the Asgardian spaceship, Loki fiddled with the Infinity Stone in his hand. He had already laid out his plan and was just waiting to see Odin and Thor's surprised expressions; it would surely be very interesting.

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Chapter 446: The Great Operation

The wedding of the Asgardian prince was naturally to be grand, as it was an important moment for a major cosmic power.

On Earth, only a small circle of people knew about this, and even the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hill, was completely unaware of it.

However, Hill hasn't been doing well lately. After the Dark Elves incident, the London branch of S.H.I.E.L.D. has shown an intention to break away from S.H.I.E.L.D., and they have seized all the spoils from the Dark Elves.

This resulted in the World Security Council spending money and effort, only to benefit others.

Therefore, at various conferences recently, the World Security Council has strongly condemned London Shield's behavior of shirking responsibility after its meal and is preparing to reclaim its spoils.

But this had nothing to do with Hill anymore; ever since Sharon Carter was transferred, she had become increasingly lonely.

Hill sat in the car, phone in hand, hesitating whether to call that person and ask how they were doing. Sharon, though shrewd, was right; Hill hadn't even once inquired about Geralt's well-being in all this time.

'Maybe after all this time, he's forgotten me...'

Hill put away his phone and waited for the traffic light ahead, letting the slow-moving traffic of New York City push him forward.

Suddenly, the left door of Hill's car was opened, and a strange figure got in.

Seeing the gun that Hill suddenly pressed against his forehead, the stranger gave a French military salute and said, "Don't be agitated, it's me..."

Hill carefully examined the person who had arrived, confirming that he did not recognize them, and slowly tightened his finger to prepare to pull the trigger.

"I don't think I've taken off my mask yet, wait a minute..."

The newcomer saw Hill's actions and instantly understood the reason. He saw Hill groping around his neck, tearing off the skin of his entire head as if removing a mask.

Fortunately, only a thin layer of tissue was torn off, making the act seem less terrifying.

Beneath that mask lies someone Hill longs to see but is too embarrassed to do so.

Geralt looked at the somewhat dazed Hill and waved his hand in front of her.

Hill put away his weapon and said, "Uh... I'm fine. What do you want from me?"

Geralt pulled out a paper map, pointed to the marked location, and said, "Let's go here first. I need your help with something. Oh, and don't tell anyone..."

After saying that, Geralt crossed his arms and fell into a deep sleep. Within seconds, he was snoring. It seemed that he had been very tired lately.

Hill didn't start the vehicle, but instead looked at the scar on Geralt's profile. She didn't know how Geralt had treated it; now only his chin and neck bore the marks, but when Hill looked down from his collar, the scars on his body were still visible.

Hill silently started the car and drove to the place Geralt had indicated. Again, Hill did not report this to the World Security Council.

Geralt was woken up by Hill from a hazy sleep after an unknown period of time.

With his eyes still heavy with sleep, Geralt handed a mask to Hill and asked, "How was your acting?"

Hill raised an eyebrow, as if to say, 'You're asking about an agent's acting skills?'

"Okay, never mind. This is a bio-tissue mask that can perfectly fit the skin and simulate any self-expressive emotion..."

Geralt explained the mask he handed to Hill. It was originally a trophy from Lothric. After all, as Lothric had become a superpower, there were more and more enemies trying to infiltrate the country, and this kind of mask was practically standard issue.

Rubbing his eyes, Geralt looked around to get his bearings and said, "Let's go, we need to see some friends. This operation requires teamwork..."

Seeing that Geralt wasn't wearing a mask, Hill put the mask into his pocket and followed Geralt to a campsite.

However, when Hill met the people at the campsite, he gained a deeper understanding of the dangers of the operation.

Constantine was reclining in a deckchair, smoking with his eyes closed. Beside him, another man was squatting, idly poking at the fire with a twig.

At that moment, a red-haired woman, Natasha Romanov, stepped out of the RV and placed a plate on the table next to the fire pit.

Natasha was somewhat surprised when she saw Hill and said, "Hill? I didn't expect it to be you!"

Originally a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, after joining the Dragon Academy, he became one of the top few people on Earth who were not to be trifled with. Hill was also surprised to see Natasha here.

Since everyone knows each other, things will be easier. At the dinner table, Geralt explained the background and details of this operation to Hill.

"After investigating pheromones, Dragon Academy discovered that almost all pheromone reagents on the market originated from a guy called Purple Man. This guy had collaborated with Drekoff, giving him the ability to control Black Widow."

After that, Hell's Kitchen also discovered a person named Jessica Jones, who had been under the control of the Purple Man for a long time, but the Purple Man gave up on her and suddenly disappeared.

So, by tracking down the pheromone reagents on the market, Dragon Academy uncovered a very large organization. They had no name, but they had enormous financial backing. In previous years, their only contact with the outside world was to make five lives disappear.

In recent years, however, this organization has lost its former wildness. They have begun to secretly sell items on the black market, ranging from witchcraft materials to demonic body tissues and even technology.

This gave us an opportunity, and this time it was to find out more about them…

Geralt explained the origins of the operation to Hill, highlighting the important points, but omitted the most crucial reason.

The real driving force behind this operation was Cortana, the intelligent life form artificially created by Ash.

As an intelligent life form, Cortana serves the Dark Souls world while also making several unique friends.

Harold Finch's meme budget program, 'The Machine,' is one of Cortana's friends, but one day, the Machine sends Cortana a distress signal.

The machine wants Cortana's help to save its representative—Root. (Finch appears in Chapter 28, Root appears in Chapter 286).

Being able to use the name of the only super administrator in the internet system as her own, Genmei is a thrill-seeking and lawless person.

This time, however, she disappeared from the machine's sight after sending out some warning messages. The machine sought help from its creator, Harold Finch, but Finch was equally helpless.

Therefore, the machine could only turn to Cortana, who was also an intelligent life form, for help. After seeing the information sent out by Root, it connected it with the previous investigations of the Dragon Academy, which led to this operation.

Listening to Geralt's explanation, Hill perhaps understood who had founded this unnamed organization.

With such a vast amount of money and an unknown location and identity, only Nick Fury would have had this ability on Earth in the past.

However, looking at the lineup before Hill, with Constantine and Geralt, the only one who could team up with them was Ash, the king of slacking off in the Control Bureau.

The Fairy Tree Romance

After hearing the explanation, Hill asked, "When will Ash arrive? How exactly do we implement the plan?"

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Chapter 447: The Cabin in the Woods

"Ash? He can't come."

Geralt immediately dismissed Hill's question and pointed to the people around him, saying, "There are only five of us on this mission..."

"But the fact that you and Constantine joined forces already proved that this operation was far from simple. Besides, this guy isn't simple either..."

Hill glanced at the person who was idly poking at the fire pit; that person hadn't participated in Geralt and Hill's conversation.

Hill still had some recollection of the person he was referring to. Back when he took the entrance exam for the Dragon Academy, the S.H.I.E.L.D. academy, which was quite loyal at the time, had also recorded some of these people. The person in front of him was from the Dragon Academy side, and there was a lady with him at the time.

"Ash is not on Earth right now. He has important business to attend to, representing relevant forces on Earth, at the wedding of the Asgardian heir. And the person you're talking about is Greirit."

The Asgardian heir's wedding? That hammer is getting married?

Hill pondered Loki's recent visit to Earth from Asgard. Could this be considered a power struggle within the court? After exiling the other heir, he quickly finalized other matters and announced them to the entire universe.

Even if Loki returns to Asgard and the deed is done, he will be powerless to stop it.

Hill analyzed the information Geralt provided using her own ideas, and then she saw the man called Greyret give her a forced smile before lowering his head again.

Geralt laughed upon seeing this and said, "Haha, don't worry about it. Grellett just got married too, and he hasn't been away from Loretta's embrace for long. He's still a little unaccustomed to it..."

"It's not that I'm not adapting, I'm just not adapting..."

Grellit looked up at Geralt with a helpless expression, then glanced back at Constantine, who was puffing on his cigarette, before lowering his head again in exasperation.

Q: What kind of psychological qualities and acting skills are needed to work under a schizophrenic senior?

"Let's eat first, this might be our last meal today..."

Hearing Geralt's inexplicable words, Hill sat down at the dining table, while Constantine took out a box of tarot cards, drew out a few, and placed them in front of him.

The cards Constantine drew were completely different from the tarot cards Hill knew.

'Bodybuilder, woman, virgin, fool, scholar'

"Come on, pick one yourself..."

After saying that, Constantine casually took the 'Fool' card from the table.

Next was Geralt, who picked up the 'Scholar' card, flicked it lightly, and then put it away.

Natasha, seeing Hill still confused, smiled and said, "To save face for the director, I'll take this card..."

Hill watched as Natasha took away the 'woman,' leaving her with only the 'virgin.'

The 'bodybuilder' card was left to Greirit, who looked like he didn't want to participate.

After the assignments were completed, Constantine said, "Remember to play your role well before bringing back your own people..."

Hill was completely baffled. Why did he have to infiltrate and act out a role? Was this cosplay?

The Tarot cards that Hill had just taken out should have been the Scholar, according to Hill's mind, but Constantine himself had taken the Fool.

Geralt, who always acts impulsively first and then acts impulsively depending on the situation, ended up taking the scholar.

Of all the cards, only these two followed the chooser's wishes; the rest were forced upon them.

Holding his cards, Hill looked puzzled and asked, "Now can you tell me what the mission is?"

Unexpectedly, Constantine glanced at Geralt as if to say, 'You explain.'

Geralt said, “A moral question: There are five people on a working railway, and one person on an abandoned railway. A train that cannot be stopped—what would you choose: sacrifice one to save the five, or let the five who break the rules die?”

The famous train dilemma illustrates that there is no purely morally acceptable behavior. In such situations, life is essentially equivalent; at this moment, 1 = 5. Even under the constraints of rules, 1 > 5, and those who follow the rules shouldn't have to pay the price for those who don't. However, in the eyes of some utilitarians, most moral decisions are made based on the principle of "providing the greatest benefit to the greatest number," where sacrificing the pawn to save the king, or sacrificing the lesser to save the greater, is the correct choice.

Hill, who also understood the principles governing moral choices in the trolley problem, asked, "What does this have to do with our actions?"

Geralt said, "What if someone tied the lives of five people to the safety of the world, and had those five people sacrificed without their knowledge?"