Lord of Cinder in American Comics

Hydra, a powerful and influential organization, wasn't completely destroyed, but it was constantly pursued and hunted down. Pierce was forced to travel from place to place, carrying the hive with him.

Hive has become dependent on Pierce; wherever Pierce goes, it goes.

Given the hive's terrifying nature, Pierce had to carefully venerate it.

Pierce slumped helplessly in his chair, a stark contrast to Hive beside him, who was elegantly pouring herself a cup of black tea and slowly turning the pages of a book.

Hydra's plan was thwarted in an instant, and Pierce racked his brains but couldn't figure out how to regain power.

Perhaps, like the previous stand-in plan, we'll have to lie low for another fifty years?

But how many more fifty years do I have left?

Increasingly resentful, Pierce gritted his teeth and said to the Hive, "I need to see a greedy businessman. He has everything we want! Perhaps he can offer you some help?"

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Chapter 490: Patch Kick

Hive knew who Pierce was talking about; the only businessman who could be called greedy was Patch.

It was Sitwell who initially contacted and communicated with Patch. Sitwell made a fortune off Hydra by forging invoices.

Pierce's desire to contact Patch has piqued Hive's interest.

At Pierce's prompting, Hive also revisited the Sitwell deal.

Patch knows the Hive inside and out. He can even clearly explain ancient history and the state of the universe.

Perhaps Hydra might actually be able to get a way out from Patch?

The hive immediately became interested and granted Pierce's permission to proceed.

This time, Patch's location wasn't his usual gladiatorial stall, but rather Kathmandu at the foot of the Himalayas.

At this moment, Patch was dressed in folk costume, with a huge cloak covering his entire body, squatting in front of his stall waiting for customers to come to him.

But upon seeing Pierce arrive and the Hive disguised as Sitwell, Patch gathered the odds and ends in front of him and ran away.

"Hey! Wait a minute..."

Pierce's hand, which was trying to hold him back, was still suspended in mid-air, while Hive smiled as if it had seen a favorite food.

Beehive wiped the drool from the corner of its mouth and said, "Let's go, I know where he went!"

Hive led the way, winding its way through the Kathmandu small commodity market, and finally brought Pierce to the Himalayas.

In a secluded spot, the two saw Patch frantically looting his belongings, preparing to flee.

Pierce rubbed his face, which was frozen by the mountain wind, put on an ugly smile, and walked towards Patch.

Pierce said, "Mr. Patch, we've come to ask for some information..."

However, Patch simply quickened his pace and said without turning his head, "Is that so? You Hydra people have been exposed now. I advise you to save up the money you spent on buying intelligence and prepare to run away! You might need to use your bounty to make money someday!"

Patch's ruthlessness froze Pierce's smile on his face.

Pierce knew that Patch was right; Hydra had been exposed, and the only reason it hadn't triggered a full-scale manhunt was because of the threat posed by the Kree fleet.

If Earth is destroyed, everyone who remains on Earth will perish along with it.

Once the Kree threat is resolved, the World Security Council will be able to deal with them, and Hydra will become the target of their anger.

Pierce tried to get closer to Patch, but Patch immediately stopped what he was doing, reaching out to protect what he was holding, and stopped him, saying, "Hey! Don't come any closer, you can't touch these things!"

Embarrassed, Pierce glanced at the wary Patch, then back at the unmoved Hive. He could only step two steps to the side, giving the Hive space.

But this action made Patch wary again.

Patch hurriedly said, "Oh, you shouldn't go near that area either. Come to think of it, there might actually be some incredible treasure... Uh! Anyway, don't go near that area!"

Patch stared at Pierce as if afraid he might take another step, and gave him a stern warning.

Pierce, however, looked at the empty snowfield. In his judgment, there was nowhere to hide except for that cliff.

Wait a minute? A cliff? Can you hide something at the bottom of a cliff?

Suppressing his curiosity, Pierce restrained his gaze as he looked at the beehive that was about to come into contact with Patch.

For Patch, the Hive's curiosity lay in why the person before him knew so much about him, when he was sealed away, the Americas were still the free land of the Native Americans.

The Hive was certain that the escaped Outcasts had not left any written records, and that during this period, there were Outcasts present in his feeding activities, but he had not made his existence known in the history of the Outcasts.

However, this top-secret matter was casually revealed by the person in front of him.

'He must have some means, or even some ability, to know the secrets of the past!'

Hive had no interest in what Patch was selling; his ability was to absorb the memories of human hosts and enhance their strength, stamina, and skills.

Knowing the past allows us to explore the future!

The Hive is clearly eyeing Patch. They want to enhance their capabilities before the Kree fleet arrives, laying a solid foundation for future space exploration.

The Hive was trying to get closer to Pachira, but Pachira suddenly turned around.

Patch's gaze wasn't on the Hive, but on what was behind it, as if he'd spotted someone he knew.

Patch said, "Don't do anything! He's a customer!"

Upon hearing this, Hive turned around abruptly, trying to dodge a possible attack, but behind him were only wind and snow and Pierce, who was about to tell him the truth.

When the hive turned around again, it only saw Patch's retreating figure.

The beehive propelled itself forward with a powerful push from its feet, chasing after Patch.

At this moment, the Hive was certain of Patch's fear of him; he truly did possess some kind of power.

The beehive, like a predator, toyed with its prey, driving it into a corner.

Finally, at a dead end with nowhere to run, Patch looked back at the unhurried beehive.

Patch knelt down, curled up, buried his head in his knees, and said, "Ah, calm down and listen to me for a bit. I'm in this kind of business, I'm all about profit and avoiding loss, right? You can understand that, right?"

Hive sensed Patch's sincerity from this humble gesture of apology. He licked his lips and said, "Is that so? Let me eat you, and I'll take over everything you have, and maybe even continue doing business with you!"

Upon hearing this, Patch raised his head, his bald head reflecting the Himalayan sunlight, obscuring his expression.

Patch's tone carried a hint of regret as he said, "In that case, you don't need to worry about what happens next. I'll strip you naked! Please continue to patronize Patch's Old Shop."

The hive laughed and said, "Oh? You still want to resist?"

Patch stood up again, looked behind the hive, and said, "I've been waiting for you for ages, let's get started!"

The same tricks don't work on the Saints! The Hive believed that this repetitive deception tactic was equally ineffective against him.

However, the Hive is not a Saint Seiya, and its moves are not repetitive.

A dagger bearing blood-red marks pierced Beehive's chest from behind. The dagger's special power caused Beehive to weaken instantly, as if all its energy had been drained away.

Only then did the Hive turn around with difficulty, only to see a person wearing a blue hood, and the eyes peeking out from the hood's holes were filled with helplessness and pity.

The hive was about to open its mouth, but it didn't intend to say anything. The hive's parasites could be projected not only from its hands but also from its mouth.

However, just as he opened his mouth, a fireball flew from a distance and exploded directly inside the honeycomb's mouth.

Seeing this, Patch jumped up in alarm, looking in the direction the fireball had come from, and shouted, "Loretta! You almost killed Gretel!"

Not far away, a resentful woman was continuously attacking the hive with fireballs in her hand.

Loretta complained, "It's all because Gretel is coming to save you, you liar friend! If you ask me, you should just be dead!"

"How can you slander me like this! Did I lie to you? Everyone knows that even as a ghost, my indomitable Patch will still be the honest and reliable Lapp! It was Ash who instigated me! This was all Ash's plan! Following a plan is not lying! Can doing things according to plan be considered lying?"

The evasive Patches approached the hive, was stabbed by a rogue's dagger enchanted with Bleeding, and then hit in the face with a fireball. The hive remained motionless as if it were dead.

Patch wanted to keep his promise and peel everything off the beehive, but as soon as he reached out, Greirit grabbed him from the side.

Greirit shook his head and said, "He's not dead yet. Ash said he's a parasitic aggregate, which is hard to kill. As long as one parasite is alive, he can be resurrected."

Patch was a little taken aback and asked, "Then what should we do?"

Looking at Greirit wearing a hooded hood, Patch couldn't help but feel that there was a helpless, bitter smile on his face under the hood.

Loretta, who had just been criticizing Patch, walked over and deliberately squeezed between Patch and Gretel, bumping into Patch.

Loretta took out the amulet and summoned a swarm of insects from the void. These hovering, bloodthirsty insects landed on the hive, causing its body to tremble and twist wildly as if electrified.

Erosion: A dark miracle taught in the Deep Cathedral. It summons a swarm of insects to devour enemies. Lurking deep within, these insects possess tiny mandibles with teeth that can pierce skin in an instant, burrowing into flesh and causing profuse bleeding.

Even the parasites of the hive were no match for the dark miracle of the deep church. The battle between the insects left not a trace of blood on the snow.

Upon seeing this, Patch felt as if a million flying insects were crawling all over him, making him extremely uncomfortable.

Seeing Loretta, who had finished everything and was now casually strolling around with Gretel's arm around her, Patch suddenly realized what the expression under the hood had meant.

Watching the two walk away, Patch decided to try to avoid disturbing Grellette's happy life in the future, and to add another name to his list of people he absolutely couldn't mess with.

Watching Hive chase after Patch, Pierce silently prayed for Patch for a mere 0.1 seconds. Then he began searching for any scraps Patch had left behind.

Pierce didn't think Patch could survive the Hive's clutches; the key now was to see if they could find any useful items.

However, after searching for a long time, Pierce only found a bunch of useless souvenirs and even Patch's order form from Yiwu.

Suddenly Pierce remembered how Patch had nervously stopped him when they were near the cliff.

At the edge of the cliff, Pierce leaned out, gazing down the precipice, trying to find what he was looking for.

"Hehe, you greedy fellow, look at your character."

A cold laugh came from behind Pierce. Before Pierce could straighten up, he felt a kick in the buttocks. The powerful kick even broke his sacrum.

As he fell off the cliff, Pierce in mid-air only saw a smirking bald head peering out from the precipice.

(End of this chapter)

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Chapter 491: The Soul Gem

The crisis facing Earth is not a big deal in the universe.

Anyway, that's just how the Kree are. If they don't destroy several planets every now and then, it's considered a major event in the universe to celebrate.