Sunshine Apartments, third floor.
Levi led Natasha, who was carrying her suitcase, down the dim corridor.
The wallpaper was peeling, revealing the blackened red bricks beneath, and the air was thick with a faint smell of mold and…
disinfectant.
The light bulbs overhead flickered, buzzing with the sound of electrical current, perfectly fitting the stereotype of a Hell’s Kitchen slum.
As she walked, Natasha discreetly observed her surroundings.
*This is the headquarters of that high-tech organization?* she wondered silently, shaking her head inwardly.
If she hadn’t seen those fully armed soldiers with her own eyes, she would have thought she had walked into a den for junkies.
This level of camouflage was textbook-perfect.
“Miss Rushman, we’re here.” Levi stopped in front of a rusty iron door and pulled out an ordinary brass key.
“This is Room 302, your room.
I live across the hall in 301.
You can knock whenever you need something, though I’m not home most of the time.” “Thank you, Mr.
Landlord.” Natasha gave a sweet smile.
“This place has…
a lot of character.” “I hope you can still say that after you open the door.” Levi gave a meaningful smile, inserted the key into the lock, and turned it.
*Click.* The door opened.
Natasha was mentally prepared to see a room full of dust and cockroaches.
She had even planned out the expression she would use—one that conveyed “I’m disgusted, but I’m tough and have to endure this to save money.” However, the moment she stepped into the room, the smile on her face froze.
It wasn’t because it was too dilapidated, but because it was too luxurious!
What met her eyes was a minimalist modern interior.
The floor was laid with polished white marble tiles that shone like a mirror, and the walls were made of some unknown silver-grey soundproofing material.
In the center of the room was a smart bed that looked incredibly expensive.
Most absurdly, the window wasn’t the rickety wooden frame seen from the outside, but a single sheet of one-way bulletproof glass with adjustable transparency!
Through the glass, the street view of Hell’s Kitchen was crystal clear, but those outside could never see in.
“This…” Natasha was genuinely stunned.
The renovation standards of this room weren’t inferior to her high-end apartment in Manhattan; in fact, it was superior in terms of technology.
It was as ridiculous as walking into a public restroom only to find a five-star hotel’s presidential suite inside.
“Well?
Are you satisfied?” Levi leaned against the doorframe, admiring the momentary bewilderment on Black Widow’s face.
[Ding!
Detected “Shock” emotion from Black Widow.
Quest progress (1/3).] “This is…
quite surprising.” Natasha quickly adjusted her expression, feigning overwhelming delight.
“Mr.
Landlord, are you sure the rent is only 500 dollars?
The renovation alone must have cost more than fifty thousand, right?” “I did the work myself; the materials didn’t cost much,” Levi lied casually.
“Besides, I have certain standards for my quality of life.
Since you’re my tenant, I can’t have you living in a pigsty.
Anyway, here are the keys.
And just a reminder.” Levi pointed to the ceiling.
“The soundproofing in this building is great, but it’s best not to wander around at night.
My employees have short tempers; if they mistake you for a burglar and hurt you, I won’t be held responsible.” With that, Levi waved and turned back to Room 301.
As the door closed, the smile on Natasha’s face vanished, replaced by the cold gaze of an agent.
She quickly set down her suitcase and pulled out a variety of scanning devices no larger than lipsticks, beginning a carpet search of the entire room.
Bugging devices, pinhole cameras, thermal imaging…
Ten minutes later, Natasha stared at the unresponsive equipment with a furrowed brow.
“No surveillance equipment at all?
Is it really just a luxury renovation?” This made her even more cautious.
Would the leader of a mysterious organization with advanced technology feel comfortable letting a stranger live across from him without any monitoring?
Unless…
he had surveillance methods so advanced that even SHIELD equipment couldn’t detect them.
“I’ll have to hack into their network.” Natasha opened her suitcase and took out a laptop that looked ordinary.
In reality, it was a SHIELD tactical terminal with world-class processing power and decryption software.
She sat in the excessively comfortable ergonomic chair, her fingers flying across the keyboard.
“Searching for nearby Wi-Fi signals…” An open network popped up on the screen.
“No password?” Natasha let out a cold laugh.
It was a blatant trap.
But as Black Widow, she excelled at dancing through traps.
“Infiltration initiated.
Activating Hale Protocol, bypassing firewall, injecting trojan…” The progress bar began to fill rapidly.
However, just as it reached 99%, the screen flickered.
The green code instantly turned a glaring red.
Following that, a white logo consisting of three inward-pointing arrows appeared in the center of the screen.
Beneath the logo, a line of text slowly typed out: [Warning: Unauthorized access attempt detected (Source: SHIELD Encrypted Terminal).] [Defense system activated.
Countermeasures initiated.] *Bzzzt—!!!* Before Natasha could cut the power, a piercing high-frequency noise erupted from the laptop speakers.
Immediately after, a burnt smell wafted from the gaps in the keyboard.
The screen went black.
The SHIELD terminal, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, had been turned into a useless piece of scrap metal.
“Damn it!” Natasha shoved the laptop away, looking at the smoking chassis with disbelief in her eyes.
Insta-killed?
SHIELD’s proud hacking technology hadn’t even touched the threshold before being obliterated.
And the other side had accurately identified the source as a SHIELD device!
What did that mean?
It meant the other side’s database even contained the underlying signature codes for SHIELD equipment!
“Is this the technology that’s fifty years ahead of us…” Natasha took a deep breath, a profound sense of helplessness rising within her.
Just then, the smart speaker in the room lit up automatically, emitting a cold, synthesized mechanical voice: “Miss Rushman, a friendly reminder: for the safety of your devices, please do not attempt to connect to the internal security network.
The cost of this repair will be added to your next month’s rent.
Have a pleasant stay.” Natasha: “…” At this moment, she was truly shocked.
It wasn’t because of fear, but because of the shame and frustration of being completely seen through and outclassed.
In Room 301.
Levi looked at the prompt on the system panel: [Ding!
Detected “Shock” emotion from Black Widow.
Quest progress (2/3).] “Hehe, can’t handle it already?” Levi took a sip of soda, feeling excellent.
The base’s network was directly managed by the system.
Forget Black Widow’s laptop—even if Tony Stark brought Jarvis over, he wouldn’t be able to break the firewall.
“One more to go.” Levi rubbed his chin.
“Looks like I need to give her something a bit more stimulating.
System, is it time for the Class-C personnel’s daily training?” …
That night, 2:00 AM.
Natasha lay in bed but couldn’t sleep.
Deprived of her electronic support, she had to rely on her primal senses.
Suddenly, a series of rhythmic, muffled footsteps came from the courtyard below.
Though the sound was faint, it was clearly audible in the silence of the night.
Natasha immediately rolled out of bed, walked barefoot to the window, and carefully peered through a gap in the curtains.
The backyard of the apartment building had originally been a derelict lot full of trash.
But now, it was brightly lit.
Dozens of men in black training gear—Class-C personnel—were lining up.
There were no shouts, no chatter; everyone was as silent as a statue.
At the front of the line, Ada Wong was holding a uniquely shaped firearm, seemingly giving a demonstration.
“That’s…” Natasha squinted.
Using her superior vision, she could see it was a gun.
But the gun had no magazine; the body was streamlined, and the muzzle glowed with a faint blue light.
The [Gauss Rifle (Prototype)]—these were the sample weapons Levi had just exchanged Containment Points for, and he was having the Class-C personnel test them.
Ada Wong raised the rifle and aimed at a discarded car hood in the corner of the yard.
*Puff!* An extremely faint sound.
In the next second, the heavy cast-iron hood simply exploded, a charred hole the size of a bowl appearing in its center.
No gunpowder, no loud report—only pure kinetic energy and the destructive penetration of electromagnetic acceleration.
“Electromagnetic rail weapons?
Handheld?” Natasha’s pupils constricted.
Currently, the militaries of various nations were still stuck in the ship-mounted experimental phase for such weapons, and they were massive.
Yet in this tiny backyard, they had already been made into individual rifles?
“Just how many cards is this Foundation hiding?” Natasha felt that her undercover mission might be a hundred times more difficult than she had imagined.
[Ding!
Detected “Severe Shock” emotion from Black Widow.
Quest progress (3/3).] [Quest Completed!] [Rewards Issued: 300 Containment Points, Random Agent Recruitment Voucher × 1.] Levi listened to the pleasant chime and satisfiedly turned off the surveillance feed.
“Thanks for the ‘rocket,’ Top Donor Natasha.” “Now, let’s see which new employee I can recruit.”