"I really did fail your father."
To Tony's surprise, Fury didn't get angry at being snapped at. Instead, he rose to his feet and gave Shen He a long, heavy look.
"That's why I won't let S.H.I.E.L.D. collapse."
Leaving only those words, Fury turned and prepared to leave.
He understood now. With Hydra having infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D., neither Shen He nor Tony could possibly trust them. Staying any longer wouldn't get him any useful information.
"Kind of feels like we were… uh… bullying an old man, doesn't it?"
Tony looked a little sheepish. After all, without S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help, he never would've found the new element his father left behind.
"Oh please."Shen He shot him a sideways look and stood up. "It's not like you don't have a history of bullying old men. Come on. We're still in the early startup phase—there's a ton of work to do."
"…Fair enough."
Tony tossed back the last sip of champagne and followed.
They really did have too much to deal with.
Shen He needed to整理 the storylines in his head, figure out how to locate Captain America and the others, think about how to convince them, and plan a strategy for the New York Battle so he could maximize profit. If not for his "god-level" meta-knowledge, he'd never be able to manage all this.
By the time Helen finally came from the medical room to tell him that Ryougi Shiki had woken up, dawn was already breaking.
"Another second and I'd have drowned in the ocean…"
Shiki's face was still pale. She shifted slightly, as if wanting to sit up.
Shen He reached out to help her—only to have her swat his hand away irritably. Shiki hated looking weak.
"Do you remember anything about the enemies, Shiki?"
Shen He swallowed, but those were the only words he could manage.
"In the beginning it was just ordinary soldiers—strange ones, though, like puppets with no emotions." Shiki frowned. "Later, a very strong one appeared. If he hadn't gotten backup, I should've been able to kill him."
"You killed people?"
Shen He sounded genuinely surprised. Shiki shot him a glare.
"Shen He… you're not going to give me some dumb speech about 'no killing under any circumstances,' right?"
"How could I?" Shen He laughed dryly. "If you killed them, you killed them. Shiki… yesterday's attack was entirely my fault. But I won't apologize. I want this guilt carved deep into my heart, because it reminds me what it means to be a Master."
Apologizing and then being forgiven doesn't erase consequences.
At best, it only eases the guilt of the one who made the mistake.
And Shen He knew clearly—Shiki didn't need that kind of apology.
"In that case, I'll be honest too."Shiki suddenly smiled. Paired with her pale complexion, it was almost unnervingly beautiful."I agreed to help you because I had no goals, nothing I wanted to do. But after this battle, I think I understand now—my way of living, and what I want. So I'll keep helping you."
What she wants…
Shiki's desire… was to seek a sense of existence through her urge to kill.
But so what? Her fixation was the urge, not the act itself.
"Good. I've finally figured out what I want to do, too." Shen He smiled back. "So this time it's official—welcome to Chaldea, Shiki."
The days that followed were anything but peaceful for Shen He.
He and Tony moved all the equipment from the villa to the Virtual World Company factory in the suburbs of New York. Tony immediately began planning the construction of their new base.
He also started preparing to sell the first generation of the Virtual World system to the military to raise funds—because what he wanted to build would require massive amounts of money and materials.
Meanwhile, Shen He continued searching for Captain America and the hidden Bruce Banner.
Even though JARVIS could collect global internet data, without a fully-integrated intelligence network like S.H.I.E.L.D.'s, tracking them down was still difficult—even with storyline knowledge.
On top of that, Shiki had already been strengthened to Level 10. As expected, her next upgrade required the "Chimera Heart," a drop from much deeper dungeon floors.
At Level 10, the strength of both Shiki and Violet—whose physical bodies were originally only that of ordinary humans—was roughly equivalent to one, maybe one and a half, Captain Americas.
But that wasn't a problem for Shen He.
On the fifth day, during their dungeon run, Shen He brought all his Servants—including Saiki Kusuo—to the 18th floor.
This was the dungeon's first "safe" layer. Despite being deep underground where sunlight shouldn't reach, the place was as bright as day. Lush forests, green grass, even winding streams filled the area. The source of the light was massive crystals embedded in the ceiling, glowing like tiny suns.
Here, adventurers had built a small town—complete with taverns and all necessities.
Shen He and his group were now sitting inside one such tavern.
They had already finished today's farm run. With ten minutes left before reset, they'd come here to wait. Many orcs, elves, and dwarves had their eyes fixed on them.
The Butcher Squad.
That was the nickname Shen He's group had earned among adventurers.
Because they mercilessly slaughtered massive numbers of monsters far below their actual level—and because some adventurers had seen Violet perform her breathtakingly terrifying "art of killing."
Shen He ignored the stares, keeping his eyes fixed on the tavern entrance.
There.
A team of three walked in: a Pallum, an Elf, and a small human girl.
The Pallum headed straight toward Shen He.
"Sorry for the wait. Here are the materials you wanted."He placed a large sack on the table.
"Thanks, Finn. Here's the rest of the payment."Shen He handed over a sack of magic stones.
The trio standing before him were none other than:Finn Deimne, captain of the Loki Familia;Riveria Ljos Alf of the Nine Mages;and the young Sword Princess, Ais Wallenstein.
Three days earlier, Shen He had run into these familiar canon characters by chance and immediately came up with an idea:If he couldn't yet reach the deeper floors himself, why not hire them to farm the required upgrade materials for him?
As long as the price was reasonable, Finn was naturally glad to accept—adventurers regularly took on mercenary tasks anyway.
"I do have a question."Finn pocketed the magic stones but didn't leave."With your party's strength, monsters at this level shouldn't be a problem. And the quantities you requested weren't large. Why hire us?"