In the past, whenever Nick Fury approached someone and told them that the Brotherhood of Mutants had set its sights on them, those people would invariably panic and beg S.H.I.E.L.D.
for protection.
The tactic worked every time, and Nick Fury had made who knew how much money from it.
If Magneto weren’t such an extreme mutant supremacist, people might even have wondered whether Magneto and Nick Fury were secretly working together.
One frightened people while the other collected protection money.
They were practically the perfect partners.
But when it came to Ye Bai, the tactic failed to produce the effect Nick Fury had expected.
In fact, Nick Fury vaguely felt that when Ye Bai heard the Brotherhood of Mutants had targeted him, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
Could it be that Ye Bai believed the Brotherhood of Mutants wasn’t a threat to him?
Nick Fury truly lived up to his reputation as the king of spies.
His ability to read people’s expressions and intentions was exceptional.
From nothing more than the change in Ye Bai’s tone and expression, he had already figured out what Ye Bai was thinking.
Of course, that was also because Ye Bai had never intended to hide it.
“Why has Magneto from the Brotherhood of Mutants set his sights on me?”
To be honest, Ye Bai didn’t think being targeted by mutants was a big deal.
But he was still somewhat puzzled.
Why had the mutants targeted him?
Logically speaking, shouldn’t the mutants be targeting the government officials who persecuted them?
Could it be because of what happened with Professor X?
“Do you have any idea how valuable you are right now?”
Nick Fury was helpless.
He realized that he and Ye Bai simply weren’t on the same wavelength.
And Ye Bai genuinely had no sense of how valuable he was as a billionaire.
Other billionaires might have more wealth than Ye Bai, but most of their net worth was tied up in businesses and other assets that couldn’t simply be moved.
Ye Bai was different.
His wealth was almost entirely liquid assets, which was extremely rare.
That meant that as long as someone managed to deal with Ye Bai, they could potentially get their hands on the billions of dollars behind him.
And there was something else.
With Stark Industries’ stock price rising recently, Ye Bai’s net worth was now approaching ten billion dollars.
Who wouldn’t be tempted by such an enormous fortune?
In fact, over the past few days, Kingpin had already dealt with several groups of gangsters who had tried to target Ye Bai.
“So Magneto has his eyes on my money.”
Ye Bai frowned as he grasped the key point.
Nick Fury nodded, agreeing with Ye Bai’s guess.
Wealth was enough to tempt anyone.
Even in the Marvel world, a fortune of this magnitude would inevitably attract plenty of greedy eyes.
And the Brotherhood of Mutants was already short on money, making Ye Bai an even more attractive target.
“Besides your wealth, your enormous social influence is another problem.”
“Think about it.
If they controlled you and then used your reputation to speak on behalf of the mutant community, how much influence would that have on the world?”
Nick Fury hit the nail on the head.
Ye Bai’s value wasn’t limited to what was visible on the surface.
He also possessed enormous influence that was harder to quantify.
Ye Bai was a successful author, one of the most outstanding literary talents to emerge in recent years.
In the United States, almost everyone was familiar with his works and many were his readers.
It was easy to imagine how much influence a single statement from Ye Bai could have.
“Now that you put it that way, it does make some sense.”
Ye Bai nodded, accepting the credibility of Nick Fury’s information.
He could basically confirm that Magneto and the Brotherhood really had their eyes on him.
They didn’t just want his money.
They wanted him as well.
But Ye Bai didn’t care.
With his strength, why would he be afraid of a bunch of mutants?
Would a dragon care about ants that harbored hostility toward it?
“As long as you join us, S.H.I.E.L.D.
will provide you with protection, and the Brotherhood of Mutants won’t be able to threaten you.”
Nick Fury had spent so much time laying the groundwork precisely because he was now ready to reveal his true purpose.
He wanted to use the threat of the Brotherhood of Mutants to recruit Ye Bai into S.H.I.E.L.D.
and turn him into another useful asset.
As far as Nick Fury was concerned, Ye Bai had no reason to refuse.
Unless Ye Bai intended to face the Brotherhood of Mutants alone.
In reality, that was exactly what Ye Bai intended to do.
The Brotherhood was nothing more than a group of mutants.
They weren’t enough to make Ye Bai afraid.
“This isn’t negotiable.
I’m not joining S.H.I.E.L.D.”
“As for the Brotherhood of Mutants, just let them come.”
Ye Bai spoke disdainfully, not taking Magneto and the other mutants seriously in the slightest.
Seeing Ye Bai’s firm attitude, Nick Fury frowned, or at least he would have if he had another eyebrow to spare.
Even after racking his brains, Nick Fury still couldn’t understand why Ye Bai would reject his proposal.
But seeing how determined Ye Bai was, Nick Fury could only put his recruitment plan aside for the time being.
As for protecting Ye Bai, S.H.I.E.L.D.
would still do so.
Nick Fury didn’t want the Brotherhood of Mutants to accomplish its goal.
Otherwise, it would create a major crisis, and S.H.I.E.L.D.
would come under enormous pressure as well.
“All right.
Whenever you change your mind, S.H.I.E.L.D.
will welcome you.”
“There’s one more thing I need to tell you.”
His main objective for today had failed, and although Nick Fury was disappointed, he didn’t dwell on it.
Instead, he moved on to the second matter he had come to discuss.
“What else?”
Ye Bai was somewhat curious as well.
Could someone besides the mutants have set their sights on him?
Who could it be?
Hydra, or some other major organization?
“Your wife, Hela.
How much do you actually know about her?”
Nick Fury lowered his voice.
The moment Ye Bai heard this, his expression changed.
If he had merely disliked Nick Fury before, now he was thoroughly disgusted with him.
That damned black-hearted Fury.
Ye Bai had wondered what else he could possibly want, only to discover that he was trying to drive a wedge between husband and wife.
Seeing Ye Bai’s disgust, Nick Fury quickly explained.
“Don’t misunderstand.
I’m not trying to drive a wedge between you and your wife.
I’m simply giving you a warning.”
“We investigated your wife’s background.
According to our records, before she appeared beside you, there was no person named Hela anywhere in the world.”
“She has no past, no parents.
It’s as though she simply fell from the sky.”
“Do you know what that means?”
Ye Bai didn’t answer.
After hearing Nick Fury’s words, he fell into thought.
Because Ye Bai had to admit that there was some logic to what Nick Fury was saying.
If even S.H.I.E.L.D.
couldn’t find any information about Hela, then there was clearly something unusual about her past.
“It means that Hela is either not from this world, or someone deliberately erased all traces of her existence.”
“Think carefully.
You and your wife meeting each other…
was it really a coincidence?
Or was it a carefully arranged deception?”
Nick Fury continued.
He didn’t say it outright, but his meaning was obvious.
He was telling Ye Bai that there was something wrong with Hela.