Natasha ordered a cup of coffee and sat quietly across from Qin Zhong, watching him flip through the protection file she had handed over.
Within SHIELD, although she and Hawkeye enjoyed a fair degree of freedom, they still maintained basic respect for Nick Fury.
But facing Qin Zhong—a faction leader younger than her—she had lost the initiative right from the start.
Moreover, no one could say for sure whether the depth of the Qin faction was truly limited to what was on paper.
Therefore, in dealing with Qin Zhong, Natasha adopted an even clearer stance than she did with Fury: follow orders.
As for Qin Zhong, even though SHIELD placed him on a high pedestal, he knew his own actual limits.
Calculating his current enhancements: Divine Strength gave him around five tons of raw power, while Rapid Sprint barely brought his speed close to Mach 1.
Compared to monsters who moved at light speed or casually lifted nearly a hundred tons, he was miles behind.
Even with the aid of the Sharingan and Bajiquan assisted by Martial Saint, allowing him to trade blows with opponents stronger than himself, he would lose decisively in a battle of sheer brute force.
For instance, in a few days in June, a major event would unfold in Brazil, which would then escalate by the end of June into the confrontation between the Hulk and Abomination in New York.
Both were monsters capable of tossing around a hundred tons at will, whose top speeds could briefly break the sound barrier—not to mention their infinite stamina and hyper-regeneration.
In every single attribute, they completely outclassed the current Qin Zhong.
Frankly, surviving a single punch from either of them would require insane luck.
So in Qin Zhong’s plans, Dr.
Banner held no spot for the time being—he simply had no way to control the Hulk.
Still, if an opportunity arose to take a quick look, it would be worthwhile.
After all, what if Wenqu pulled through?
The Hulk incident was still a ways off; everything depended on whether this trip to China yielded what he wanted.
Natasha’s arrival was timely.
Qin Zhong needed to focus on searching for opportunities in China, while Tony’s suit was still in development.
Having made quite a splash over the past few days, Qin Zhong needed someone to fill the void during his absence.
Kagome was a mage; asking for a knight to guard her wasn’t unreasonable, was it?
“Miss Romanoff…” “Natasha.
You may call me Natasha, Mr.
Qin.” *Drop the honorific, big boss.* “Alright, Natasha.
How are the benefits at SHIELD?” Benefits?
If he was referring to the working environment, it was actually quite good.
There was a high degree of freedom with no fixed office hours—as long as the mission was completed, any downtime counted as paid leave.
But when it came to salary, it was a complicated story.
Who would believe that a top global agent made at most $400,000 a year, even with hazard pay included?
A $400,000 salary wasn’t even enough for a down payment in a decent area of New York.
Even Hawkeye, despite his significant contributions to the Avengers later on, clearly owned just a modest farm.
He didn’t even hire farmhands, meaning he handled all the chores himself—so it couldn’t be that big, and it looked so isolated that it definitely wasn’t prime real estate.
Despite SHIELD receiving massive annual budgets, employee benefits were ridiculously poor.
Of course, she couldn’t say that out loud.
Seeing the expression on Natasha’s face, Qin Zhong largely guessed the truth.
He began instilling his perspective into her.
“The ‘Qin faction’ isn’t really a faction.
It’s a small, high-level salon centered around Kagome and me.
Put this way, Miss Natasha, do you understand?” “A salon?” “Precisely.
Neither I, nor Tony Stark, nor Senator Charles have ever publicly explained the term ‘Qin faction.’ This is actually the first time I’m addressing the label others thrust upon us—because none of us care.
What maintains our relationship isn’t factional interests, but personal friendship.
They are my friends, which is why outsiders call this circle the Qin faction instead of the Stark faction or the Charles faction.” Qin Zhong set down the protection agreement outline and looked at the female agent before him.
“And now, Miss Natasha, I’d like to ask you: would you like to be my friend?
Nothing to do with your mission, and nothing to do with interests.” “What?” “It seems Miss Natasha isn’t quite confident enough in herself.” Natasha waved her hands hurriedly.
“No, no, no.
I’m honored by your high opinion, Mr.
Qin, so of course I have no objection.
Pleased to meet you, Qin…
Zhong.
I’m Natasha.” “Great.
Sit tight for a bit.
When Kagome finishes class, I’ll introduce you to her.
You can maintain normal contact with her day-to-day.
She’s easy to get along with and an only child, so I’m sure she’d love to have an understanding older sister looking out for her.
As for other arrangements, Mr.
Barton can remain on backup duty.
Everyone else, pull them back…” Qin Zhong didn’t trust a single agent from Hydra-SHIELD’s other tactical teams.
As he spoke, Qin Zhong gestured for Natasha to take back the protection proposal.
“Uh, Qin…
Zhong, I didn’t expect you to be so easygoing.
I reviewed your file before coming to see you, and I thought someone who could build a faction and become its leader at your age would be calculating and hard to deal with.
I was quite nervous for a long time.” Qin Zhong shrugged.
The Qin faction really wasn’t much of a faction; SHIELD had coined the term, and it had spread within certain small circles, but at its core, it was built entirely on personal connections.
However, with him nurturing these relationships and connecting with more people down the line, the influence they could generate would be unpredictable.
So being called a faction wasn’t completely unwarranted—which was the real reason Qin Zhong, Tony, and Senator Charles never bothered to refute it.
They were adapting to the “Qin faction” label because of the outside world’s reaction, rather than having decided to form a faction from the outset.
For instance, when Qin Zhong saw Tony shortly, he would mention Charles’s need for Tony to invest in New York.
Once Qin Zhong spoke, Tony would instinctively consider their relationship and direct whatever disposable investments he had toward New York.
That was the true birth of a faction—and it would publicly proclaim that the Qin faction was indeed a reality.
Before that, they were just fellow martial brothers.
“There’s no need to be nervous, Natasha.
In other people’s eyes, you’re part of the Qin faction now too.
When we have gatherings in the future, I’ll be sure to invite you.” Qin Zhong said with a smile.
Natasha understood and didn’t argue.
If things were as Qin Zhong said, joining the Qin faction wasn’t a bad thing.
Did anyone really think Natasha preferred operating alone?
Back then, if she had a powerful backer behind her, the Red Room might not have dared to touch her.
Judging by Nick Fury’s attitude, he placed great importance on the Qin faction.
Joining it would also increase her weight within SHIELD, making future missions relatively easier instead of constantly running around putting out fires like she was now.
It was true that Nick Fury gave Natasha and Hawkeye plenty of freedom, but in Fury’s eyes, they were still just tools—tools to be dispatched at will.
Soon, Kagome’s class ended.
Qin Zhong called and asked her to come to the school entrance.
Kagome looked delightfully surprised, bounding over like a cheerful fawn—she had thought Qin Zhong had already left.
After introducing Natasha, Qin Zhong explained straight away that she was arranged to accompany and protect Kagome, telling her to just call her “Sister.” He mentioned he was heading to China for a while—a fairly long trip—and would likely leave today.
He had originally planned to wait until after Tony built his suit, but now that he had a better option, there was no time to lose.
“Thanks for your help, Natasha.
If anything comes up and you can’t reach me, you can go straight to Tony for help.
He’ll understand.” After giving instructions and kissing Kagome goodbye, Qin Zhong headed over to Stark Tower.
Upon arriving, he bumped into Pepper and learned that Tony was still tinkering on the top floor, so he went straight upstairs.
“Senior Brother, what are you up to?” Qin Zhong took a look at Tony’s workspace, feeling a bit speechless.
Tony was standing frozen in front of a pile of limb armor components, looking utterly stumped in a bizarre scene.
Tony turned, saw Qin Zhong, snapped out of it, and hurriedly dragged him over to vent.
“Zhong, save me!
I’ve hit a wall!” Hearing Tony’s explanation, Qin Zhong finally realized what was going on and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“You’re saying you want to build an exoskeleton that works in sync with your physical strength, but you can’t get them to sync up?
Either the armor joints break easily, or the movement gets sluggish and stutters?” “Exactly!
Long story short, up until now, I haven’t finished a single suit of armor that I can actually use!” “Then don’t try to sync them up!” Qin Zhong looked at him in total exasperation.
“You’re a scientist, not a gladiator.
The armor you’re building should easily output about 3 tons of force naturally, whereas your own physical limit is barely 800 kilograms—less than a ton!
In comparison, isn’t outputting 3 tons directly much better?
Forcing your own power to boost the suit only causes internal damage, which is completely counterproductive.
Remember, Tony, your original intention in taking the serum was just to get a good night’s sleep.
Now it’s given you a strong body, peaceful sleep, a sense of security, and plenty of energy to indulge in your tech.
You’re chasing the wrong direction!” Qin Zhong picked up an armor arm piece and examined it; sure enough, damage caused from the inside had rendered the unit defective.
“Right now, all you need to do is use your physical data to maximize the armor’s shock absorption, load-bearing capacity, and whatever else actually requires your body to cooperate.
Leave all the power output to the suit!
That’s the direction you should take.
You’re fighting in a powered suit.
If you really needed your own strength to drive the armor, you might as well just wear a medieval plate harness.
Why bother with a motorized suit?” Hearing Qin Zhong’s words, Tony slapped his forehead.
After gaining physical strength, he had walked right into a blind alley, constantly feeling like it would be a waste if he didn’t utilize that raw force.
“Zhong, you’re a genius!” Qin Zhong patted Tony on the shoulder, motioning for him not to rush back into work just yet, and then brought up the matter with Senator Charles.
“Anyway, I’m just bringing it up.
Do as you see fit.
I won’t get involved in the specifics.
Same as before: I don’t interfere in company affairs.
If it’s viable, contact Charles and figure out the details between yourselves.” Tony thought it over.
He didn’t particularly care where he invested—it wasn’t a big deal either way.
Why stress over it now?
He could hand it off to Pepper to handle later and decide after seeing an evaluation report.
Right now, nothing was more important than his suit.
“By the way, Senior Brother, I’m heading to China soon.
I might be gone for a while, so keep an eye on Kagome for me.” “No problem.
Go do your thing.” Tony paid no further attention to Qin Zhong, wanting only to get the armor built as quickly as possible.
Qin Zhong turned and looked at the helmet display case; next to the Mark 1 helmet was a new headpiece.
*So he’s building the Mark 3 now.
That explains it.* “Remember to ship a few over to my place when you finish them!” “OK!”