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Asgard.
"I recall that the order I gave was to capture her?"
Odin looked at Thor with a grim expression, asking in a displeased, cold tone, "My son, why did you let that rude Invader go without my permission?"
"Father, she didn't intend to cause trouble."
Thor explained indifferently, "She merely wanted to help S.H.I.E.L.D. reclaim the Tesseract…"
"Moreover, after I informed her that the Tesseract was not in Asgard, she stopped fighting me."
Odin roared unhappily, "But she offended my majesty earlier, does that not warrant punishment?"
Thor, like a simpleton, casually shrugged and half-jokingly said, "Well, next time I meet her, I'll make sure she comes to apologize to you in person!"
Odin nearly exploded with rage on the spot, slamming the Eternal Spear heavily onto the ground and roaring furiously:
"Rebellious son, hurry back to your front line. I don't want to see you in Asgard anymore."
"Alright, Father, I'm leaving now. But remember to say hello to Mother for me."
Thor said with a smile, then swung mjolnir and flew towards the Bifrost Bridge's teleportation hall.
However, after leaving the Heavenly Palace, he muttered to himself in confusion, "Why do I feel like Father is acting a bit strange today?"
… … … …
… …
Wakanda, located in East Africa.
"Fortunately, Hyperspace Group intervened in the end to prevent the disaster from spreading."
The elderly King T'Chaka watched the special report from The Daily Bugle on the large screen, which detailed the entire alien fleet invasion of Earth. His dark face was filled with solemnity.
Somehow, for the past two years, he had felt that Earth was becoming increasingly precarious.
And all of this seemed to have started with the Battle of New York in 2012, triggered by S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secret experiments.
Whether influenced by The Daily Bugle or not, King T'Chaka did not particularly like the S.H.I.E.L.D. organization.
In fact, in his opinion, if S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't been secretly messing around, many of the previous disasters might never have happened.
So, in a sense, most of the time, S.H.I.E.L.D. was the true source of disaster!
However, for King T'Chaka, unless a crisis reached an absolutely desperate point, he would never expose the true Wakanda to the World's gaze.
Especially not under the watchful eye of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Because once S.H.I.E.L.D. set its sights on Wakanda, they would try every possible means to steal various advanced technologies and techniques from Wakanda… especially the most precious Vibranium, which sells for tens of thousands of dollars per gram and is virtually priceless!!
It is worth mentioning that although Wakanda appears to be an extremely poor and backward agricultural country on the surface, that is merely a deliberate facade presented for self-preservation.
The real Wakanda is, in fact, the most technologically advanced country on Earth, and there is no other!
But out of protection for Vibranium, successive monarchs of Wakanda have almost all chosen a policy of 'closed-door isolation,' unwilling to share their advanced technology with the World.
King T'Chaka was no exception.
However, as disasters have become more frequent and their intensity has gradually increased in the past two years, King T'Chaka's worries have also grown more intense.
Because he had realized that in the face of a catastrophe capable of destroying humanity, even Wakanda could not remain aloof.
So, King T'Chaka was hesitant, wondering whether he should find an opportunity to reveal the true Wakanda to the World?
"Father."
Just as King T'Chaka was deep in thought, the burly Prince T'Challa walked in from outside. He first glanced at the program on the large screen, then quickly looked away with disinterest, clearly not very interested in The Daily Bugle's revelations.
Prince T'Challa knelt before King T'Chaka, saying with a serious expression:
"Father, in recent times, several tribes and small nations in West Africa have successively experienced biochemical terrorist incidents. How long must we continue to stand by and do nothing?"
King T'Chaka first turned off the news, then looked at his son with deep eyes, earnestly advising him:
"My child, every country and tribe has its own destiny; we do not need to interfere excessively…"
"And right now, our first priority is to find a way to fulfill the Black Panther Goddess Bast's request and quickly ascertain the true reason for the complete disappearance of the Egyptian Pantheon."
Although Wakanda possessed the World's leading technology and an intelligence agency, the PRIDE Organization, that was no less capable than S.H.I.E.L.D..
However, in the past few months, they had still been unable to ascertain the truth of the catastrophe that occurred in Egypt.
Old King T'Chaka felt deeply remorseful about this, as this matter had been personally entrusted to him by the Black Panther Goddess Bast in a dream.
If he failed to accomplish it, it could very likely anger the Black Panther Goddess.
If Wakanda were to lose the Black Panther Goddess's protection because of this, then Wakanda would inevitably decline from then on… at least, that's what he believed!
However, Prince T'Challa, who had not yet inherited the Black Panther mantle, held a completely different view on this matter.
After a series of fruitless investigations, the young man had gradually lost interest in this mission.
Compared to searching for those so-called Egyptian Gods, he was clearly more concerned about the backward African tribes and small nations in the regions surrounding Wakanda that were frequently suffering biochemical attacks.
After all, all Black people are family, and they are all brothers!
But his father, King T'Chaka, did not want to expose Wakanda's existence prematurely by rescuing these small nations.
He even said that once the news got out, besides the petty individuals who had long been greedily coveting Vibranium in the dark, the first to target Wakanda would probably be the top-ranking member states of the United Nations.
By then, Wakanda would have no peace!
Although Prince T'Challa deeply respected his father, King T'Chaka, having been exposed to a more 'advanced' Western culture and earning a Ph.D. in Physics from Oxford University, he was a staunch supporter of openness.
He felt that his father thought too negatively of the World's nations.
And Wakanda, possessing the World's most advanced technology and medicine, should rightfully bear more obligations and responsibilities on the World stage.
Old King T'Chaka, however, held conservative views and only wanted to guard Wakanda and Vibranium, living in seclusion in this paradise for generations.
But the problem was, the spread of those biochemical viruses was becoming increasingly severe.
In those turbulent nations, countless Black brothers were being infected with unknown viruses every day, turning into mindless zombies.
Prince T'Challa was incredibly anxious.
Aside from the people of Wakanda, whether other Black lives mattered was hard to say, but even the most inferior 'Mute' was still a human life!
However, out of filial piety, even though Prince T'Challa did not contradict his father as usual, he secretly made a decision in his heart.
He could not stand by and watch those Black brothers die!
Subsequently, returning to his private chambers, Prince T'Challa directly summoned Okoye, the Captain of the Royal Guard.
Under normal circumstances, every King of Wakanda and member of the royal family would be protected by the Royal Guard—Dora Milaje—a group of female warriors skilled in various weapons.
And these members of the Royal Guard were all female warriors carefully selected from the various tribes of Wakanda.
Furthermore, these guard members, in addition to serving as personal bodyguards to the royal family, also had a high probability of becoming prime candidates for the position of Queen.
Because, from a certain perspective, these female warriors, carefully selected from various tribes, voluntarily becoming members of the guard, was by no means simply for the purpose of loyalty to the current King.
This was also a special form of political marriage competition that various tribes used to consolidate their political standing.
But for Prince T'Challa, who had received a good Western education, he naturally could not view the guard members as his lovers or queen candidates.
"Okoye, how did the matter I asked you to handle turn out?"
Captain Okoye, holding a Vibranium spear, with dark skin and a physique as robust as a man's, did not directly answer Prince T'Challa's question, but instead asked back with some concern:
"T'Challa, His Majesty the King will certainly not agree to us doing this…"
In Wakanda, as the most senior Captain, Okoye had the right to speak to the Prince as an equal.
"Do not let my father know about this for now."
Before the other person could finish speaking, Prince T'Challa eagerly interrupted, "I simply cannot stand by and watch so many African compatriots die tragically from biochemical viruses. We must show those guys hiding behind the scenes a thing or two!"
"Okoye, don't worry, even if my father finds out about this, I will take full responsibility for it myself."
Okoye immediately rolled her eyes. Her Highness the Prince was good in every aspect, except that sometimes his ideas were incredibly naive.
Although Wakanda was in Africa, it was fundamentally different from those backward and poor countries.
Therefore, she strongly agreed with the old King's stance, believing that Wakanda had no need to concern itself with the fate of those nations.
However, as the Captain of the Royal Guard, she could only do her best to fulfill any request made by Prince T'Challa, even if that request sounded very naive…
"A few days ago, when the entire World was focused on the war in the sky, I took a few members of the Dora Milaje and secretly went to a tribe where a biochemical virus outbreak was occurring. We brought back two abnormally infected individuals, or perhaps they should be called 'living corpses'?"
Okoye recounted unhurriedly, "Subsequently, through dissection experiments, we analyzed that both infected individuals contained a special, genetically engineered parasite called the Plaga parasite."
"However, this Plaga parasite is fundamentally different from the T-Virus and G-Virus you previously speculated about."
"Although these Plaga parasites can carry these viruses, and also have similar transmission methods and infection symptoms as these viruses."
"But the most fundamental difference between the two is that parasites are multicellular organisms, while those two viruses are 'acellular biological macromolecular complexes' that completely lack cellular structure…"
"Stop, stop right there!"
Prince T'Challa interrupted with an embarrassed expression, "Okoye, please, can you say something I can understand? I'm a Ph.D. in Physics, not a Ph.D. in Biology."
"As you wish, Your Highness."
Okoye grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth, then continued to explain:
"Experimental analysis shows that after ordinary humans are fully parasitized by the Plaga parasite, they will selectively lose a portion of their sanity, and at the same time, the special virus released by the parasite will cause the host to lose self-awareness."
"But at this stage, the parasitized host can still maintain normal human thinking abilities and behavior patterns, and temporarily will not lose language and hearing functions. They will also follow their original logical consciousness to do some daily things in a step-by-step manner, such as eating and sleeping."
"When attacked, they can still feel pain, and they will also die from severe injuries…"
"Furthermore, unlike the T-Virus and G-Virus, although the host's nervous system will also be controlled by the Plaga parasite, and direct attack commands can be issued, there will not be a significant promotion of metabolism."
"So these infected people look no different from normal people on the outside, which means they will be even harder to discover and detect during the incubation period…"
"In addition to the above characteristics, we also found that hosts infected with the Plaga parasite will exhibit extreme aggression after passing the incubation period, and unless they suffer a fatal attack, ordinary blows are completely ineffective against them."
"But this is not due to the loss of pain sensation caused by nervous system control; it is simply that the Plaga parasite has, to some extent, enhanced their physical constitution and resistance to impact."
"According to the latest data information we retrieved from the BSAA Organization database, the Plaga parasite first appeared in a small village in Spain over a year ago, and based on its manifestation, it was simply categorized into three types within the BSAA Organization: Subordinate Type, Dominant Type, and Queen Type!!"
"Among them, both the Dominant Type and the Queen Type possess 'leader' attributes and can control other Subordinate Type infected individuals…"
"This also makes terrorist who attempt to use innocent civilians to build their own armies quite interested in this biochemical weapon."