Darian only felt a blur before his eyes, and the surrounding scenery instantly changed. In the blink of an eye, he was back on the street before entering the instance.
He glanced at the time and found that several days had passed on the main server, which was basically synchronized with the time flow inside the instance.
His communication device had also exploded, with the screen displaying a massive number of unread messages and dozens of missed calls.
Apparently, many people had been trying to contact Darian during his disappearance.
Fortunately, this instance wasn't like the previous X-Men instance, where he stayed for over a month, otherwise, he wouldn't know how many things he would have missed.
Darian scanned the list and found that most of them were from the X Squad.
He casually replied to a few messages, and within seconds, Peter immediately called him.
"Darian, you're finally back! We were all so worried about you. Where did you go?"
Ever since Darian disappeared into the quantum portal, the members of the X Squad had been extremely worried.
Of course, at least half of that worry was because if Darian really disappeared, all the hard-earned points they had accumulated would be for nothing.
Darian didn't hide it: "I went to another parallel Universe."
"Parallel Universe!?"
Peter was immediately stunned.
Good heavens, he actually went traveling in the Universe!
Darian said, "That's right, I also saw many Spider-Men who had traveled there. Some were good, some were bad. And some Spider-Men were very similar to you, with roughly the same experiences. You can also think of it as your future."
Peter's eyes lit up: "What about my future? Did I get married..."
He stopped halfway through his sentence.
But Darian had already seen through his thoughts and said cheerfully, "I know what you want to say, did you marry Mary Jane, right? Yes, Peter, you did. There are several such futures."
Peter immediately beamed at the news, barely suppressing the smile on his lips: "Then how are Mary Jane and I doing? Are we very happy?"
"Oh no, you two divorced later."
Peter: "..."
Darian continued to add: "The future you fell into a mid-life crisis, unemployed, balding, and with a beer belly. You were often dispirited, feeling drained, and eventually Mary Jane couldn't stand you, especially that last point, and she left you."
Peter: "..."
Besides the name of the person, there's not a single thing about this guy you described that resembles me.
Especially the last point!
Peter absolutely refused to believe this was his future, and with a glimmer of hope, he asked, "You said there are several such futures, isn't there one that's happier?"
Darian immediately replied, "Yes, it's the Universe I traveled to. The local Peter there is successful in his career, has countless fans, possesses various spider-man suits, and also has a wife, Mary Jane, who loves him very much. He can be said to be a winner in life."
Peter smiled again.
Listen to that description, it's practically him!
"Then he must have lived a very happy life."
"Indeed, he was happy, but unfortunately, he didn't live."
"..."
Darian didn't care about Peter's silence and continued on his own: "There are other Peters from other Universes. Some watched Mary Jane die before their eyes, some ate Mary Jane, some ate Mary Jane..."
"Stop, stop!"
Peter quickly called a halt. The beginning was fine, but what the hell was the latter part?
Eating Mary Jane, and it sounded like more than one Peter did that!
What kind of horror story was this!
Darian shook his head and concluded, "It seems that most Peters and Mary Janes in most Universes didn't have a good ending."
Peter didn't say anything, he just silently hung up the phone.
He was devastated!
"The Peter on the main server is more fun."
Darian chuckled and checked other messages and missed calls.
Some were routine inquiries from S.H.I.E.L.D., but they didn't press too much, as Darian's occasional disappearance was already normal.
Besides that, the most noticeable were dozens of messages and a dozen missed calls from Wanda.
Darian suddenly remembered something and felt a premonition of disaster.
"Oh no! My automatic fishing rod!"
As expected, Darian was still exposed.
After so many days, Wanda naturally discovered the secret of the automatic fishing rod.
When she saw the unattended fishing rod pulling a large fish from the lake, she was stunned.
What does this mean? Even a fishing rod can fish better than me now!?
But Wanda quickly reacted.
This wasn't a fishing rod coming to life; it was clearly Darian cheating!
Wanda had long felt that something was wrong. Why was she always empty-handed while Darian could easily catch fish continuously? She even suspected at one point that Darian had secretly arranged for divers to hang fish on his hook at the bottom of the lake.
So this guy was secretly using cheats!
She had been buying fish from the market all these days, and the fishmongers even thought she loved fish so much that she came to buy fish every day and specifically picked the biggest ones.
Wanda was so angry that she gnashed her teeth. If it weren't for fishing having smoothed out her temperament quite a bit during this time, her Chaos Magic would probably have gone out of control on the spot.
But precisely at this moment, Darian suddenly lost contact.
Wanda had no choice but to suppress her anger, put the large fish that the automatic fishing rod had just caught into a fish basket, securely fastened it to the back seat of her motorcycle with Chaos Magic, and rode home.
But whether it was due to anger or not, her sense of direction was exceptionally poor that day. Despite the familiar route, she kept circling the streets and alleys several times before finally finding her way home.
When Darian returned to Sokovia and found Wanda, she was leisurely fishing by the lake with the automatic fishing rod, surrounded by a group of fishing enthusiasts, all humbly asking her for advice.
The people of Sokovia were also doing well now.
There were plenty of food reserves among the legacies left by the nobles, and the fertile land cultivated by Quicksilver with the diamond hoe had already begun to sprout crops, growing robustly, and was expected to yield a harvest soon.
Coupled with Tony's friendly sponsorship, the people of Sokovia now had everything they needed for food, clothing, housing, and transportation.
Moreover, the eight-hour workday and two-day weekend system implemented by the nation of Sokovia gave its people a large amount of free time.
As a result, the number of fishing enthusiasts by the lake gradually increased, with people coming to fish every day.
However, as time passed, the number of fish in the lake not only did not decrease but collectively became several sizes plumper.
Unlike these fishing enthusiasts who went home empty-handed every day, Wanda, relying on the automatic fishing rod, this divine artifact, had recently been in the limelight, becoming the fishing master in everyone's eyes.
Who said cheating was bad? Cheating is great!
Wanda: (ˊ ˋ)
Darian walked over, looked at Wanda, who was surrounded by everyone, and said cheerfully, "Not bad, Wanda, you've been doing quite well recently."
"Divine Lord Doom!"
Seeing Darian dressed as Divine Lord Doom, the fishing enthusiasts all showed respectful expressions, bowed reverently, and then consciously dispersed, leaving space for the two to talk.
Upon seeing Darian finally appear, Wanda was immediately furious.
"How dare you..."
"This fishing rod is yours!"
Before Wanda could finish speaking, Darian generously waved his hand.
Wanda's expression changed slightly, but she politely declined, "How can I accept this..."
"It's fine, I just happen to need your help with something."
"What is it?"
"I need to borrow your Chaos Magic to modify someone's thoughts."
What Darian meant by this was essentially brainwashing.
One of Wanda's abilities, you see, was similar to lokis scepter, controlling other people's minds.
Although it was far from the level of Charles's telepathy, controlling one or two people was still no problem.
Wanda was a little surprised: "Modify whose thoughts?"
Darian said directly, "Strucker."
"Huh? Aren't you two on the same side?"
"That's true, but Strucker has a problem with his thinking."
"What problem?"
"He has too many of his own ideas."
"..."
Darian knew very well in his heart.
Although Baron Strucker also belonged to HYDRA, he was always a hidden danger in Sokovia.
After all, he, like Pierce, was a core senior member of HYDRA, with strong personal opinions, and would never be as subservient to him as Zemo.
Most importantly, Strucker had pure HYDRA blood flowing in his veins.
Don't let his current cooperative and obedient demeanor fool you; once it involved the fundamental interests of HYDRA, he would absolutely discard all pleasantries without hesitation and prioritize the organization.
This could be seen from Strucker's consistently unchanged favorability.
If any high-tech was given to him for research, it was likely that the day after the results were out, every HYDRA member would be equipped with the same gear, becoming commonplace within HYDRA.
Darian was not the kind of person who liked to share selflessly, even with his own organization.
Unless this HYDRA was his HYDRA!
And Darian's plan was simple.
First, he would invite Strucker to a secluded place, then have Wanda use Chaos Magic to brainwash him, changing his loyalty to himself.
No sooner said than done!
Darian went to HYDRA's secret research Base, saying he had something good to show Strucker, and successfully invited him into a secret room.
Strucker walked into the secret room with some anticipation, eager to see what good things Darian had prepared.
However, what greeted him was an elbow strike from Darian!
Strucker's vision went black, the world spun instantly, and he fell heavily to the ground.
Wanda, who had been hidden in the shadows of the secret room, quickly stepped forward and immediately activated Chaos Magic on Strucker.
Red light flickered, and Strucker's eyes glowed with an ominous red, but the light was extremely unstable, flickering on and off.
Wanda's brows furrowed: "His will is resisting fiercely! I can't penetrate into the core of his mind!"
At this time, Wanda's abilities were still in their nascent stage, and her control over Chaos Magic was not yet proficient.
Such delicate operations as modifying thoughts were already difficult for her, especially when facing a target like Strucker, who had undergone special training, it was even harder to be effective.
Darian persuaded, "Don't resist, little Strucker, from now on, we'll be truly on the same side."
Seeing the scene before him, Strucker immediately understood what was happening.
He struggled to maintain his hazy consciousness and gritted his teeth, "You... you actually betrayed HYDRA!"
Darian said righteously, "No, I'm doing all this for HYDRA. Only I can lead HYDRA to victory!"
Strucker wouldn't believe his nonsense.
"I won't let you succeed, even if I die, die, die, die, die—!"
Before Strucker could finish speaking, he felt an electric current sweep through his body, accompanied by intense stinging pain, and his body twitched uncontrollably.
Darian released his right hand, wearing Professor Yang's Ring on his index finger, which he had adjusted to the lowest frequency, enough to make a person wish for death but remain conscious.
He continued to persuade, "Give up resisting. This is a torture that even Thor couldn't endure."
Strucker roared, "Impossible, I won't yield, yield, yield, yield, yield—!"
"We're all HYDRA. Join me, and you'll still be serving HYDRA."
"Do you think I'll believe, believe, believe, believe, believe—!"
"You can't hold on."
"I can hold on! And can you let me finish what I'm saying, saying, saying, saying, saying—!"
"..."
Ten minutes later, Strucker's eyes rolled back, smoke wafted from his body, and his hair stood on end.
Under the continuous electric shock, his mental defenses had completely collapsed, becoming blurred and indistinct.
Wanda seized this opportunity, easily infiltrated the depths of Strucker's mind, and began the modification work.
Soon, under the manipulation of Chaos Magic, Strucker's gaze underwent a noticeable change. When he refocused his vision, only pure reverence and obedience remained in his eyes.
"Divine Lord Doom, Wolfgang Strucker is at your service."
Wanda let out a long sigh: "I have successfully modified his mind. Now he will only be loyal to you alone. However, this magic requires regular maintenance, otherwise, there is a certain risk of it being dispelled over time."
"Very good."
Darian nodded with satisfaction.
It must be said that mind control abilities are indeed a divine skill, capable of forcibly transforming enemies into allies, practically a mental version of the zombie virus.
It's just a pity that Wanda's skills are still not proficient enough. After practicing for so long, completely changing a person's mind is already her limit.
To control all HYDRA members in the entire research Base is almost impossible for Wanda at present.
But it's not a big problem. As the highest-ranking person in charge of HYDRA's European branch, all HYDRA members here will absolutely obey his commands. Controlling him alone is equivalent to controlling the entire research Base.
Darian took out a series of high-tech equipment from his game warehouse and handed them to Strucker.
These were all pieces of equipment he had obtained from zombie heroes and super villains in the instance, including Prowler's suit.
Prowler: Speak for me!
Darian instructed Strucker: "Have your professional team conduct a comprehensive study of these equipments, try to analyze and replicate their core technologies, and ideally achieve mass production to realize equipment freedom."
"Additionally, everything you do in Sokovia must be kept strictly confidential, all classified as top secret. Not even other high-ranking members within HYDRA should be privy to any details."
"Understood!"
Strucker nodded solemnly.
Now, in his eyes, Darian was the supreme being, the monarch to whom he was willing to devote all his loyalty.
Wanda suddenly spoke: "I didn't realize you were all HYDRA. I thought you were all from that S.H.I.E.L.D. organization."
From fragments of their conversation and the memories in Strucker's brain, she had already learned Darian's true identity.
However, Wanda didn't react much to this.
She didn't care what organization Darian belonged to. She only remembered that Darian had granted her powerful abilities, helped her learn to control the Chaos Magic within her, and even liberated all of Sokovia, giving her homeland and compatriots a new lease on life.
For Wanda, it was enough that Darian was Divine Lord Doom of Sokovia; his other identities were simply not important.
Darian said cheerfully, "Actually, there's no difference. S.H.I.E.L.D. is HYDRA. Except for the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., basically everyone else is from HYDRA."
Wanda: "..."
Could this S.H.I.E.L.D. Director be an undercover Agent infiltrating HYDRA?
After successfully controlling Strucker, this HYDRA research Base was completely under Darian's control.
The HYDRA members in the research Base didn't know what had happened, only that Strucker, dressed in black, walked out of the secret room and announced that Darian's orders would henceforth have the same validity as his own, and everyone must obey them unconditionally.
Simply put, it was a dual leadership model.
Under HYDRA's strict hierarchical system, HYDRA members always prioritized obeying orders, so no one would raise any questions.
Thus, Darian transformed, directly bypassing several levels, and instantly became one of HYDRA's de facto leaders.
Even though on the surface he was still a Level 7 S.H.I.E.L.D. (HYDRA) Agent.
This was not surprising. A Hokage, for example, could still be a Genin and yet command higher-ranked Jonin to carry out missions.
Speaking of which, his S.H.I.E.L.D. reputation value seemed to be almost full.
Darian muttered, "It seems I need to quickly arrange some daily tasks for the X Squad."