After saving Nick Fury, Darian threw him onto the back seat of a black motorcycle on the side of the road and climbed into the driver's seat.
Immediately after, he used a master key to start the engine instantly, twisted the throttle hard, and sped away.
Bucky struggled to stand up from the ground, only managing to see the two of them riding a familiar-looking motorcycle as they disappeared around the street corner.
He recognized that it was the motorcycle he had ridden there.
Not only that, but his detached metal arm and the special weapon that had fallen to the ground were also gone.
Bucky: "..."
Was he just robbed?
Inside Safe House 108, Nick Fury had just received emergency treatment, and his injuries had temporarily stabilized.
Despite being seriously injured, he had no intention of resting and asked Darian: "Agent Darian, tell me, where did you learn about this assassination attempt?"
"Alexander Pierce, he personally issued the order and sent people to carry out this assassination mission."
Darian did not hide anything and decisively chose to betray his superior.
"Pierce... it really was him."
Nick Fury narrowed his one good eye; he did not seem surprised by this answer.
Since it wasn't Darian who betrayed him, the remaining answer was obvious: Pierce was most likely the mole.
This conclusion made Nick Fury's heart sink.
It wasn't because of the anger of being betrayed, but rather that a high-level official like Pierce, who was at the core of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s power, was a mole.
This meant that the hostile forces' infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. had likely reached an unimaginable extent.
Nick Fury pressed on: "How did you discover that Pierce was a mole?"
Darian chuckled: "That's all thanks to the inspiration you provided me."
"Me?"
Nick Fury looked confused; what did this have to do with him?
"Yes."
Darian nodded: "Previously, you, the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., betrayed S.H.I.E.L.D., so I had a flash of inspiration. Since the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. could be a traitor, why couldn't the Director before that be a mole? As it turns out, I investigated, and sure enough, I found that he had issues!"
Nick Fury: "..."
Could he not let this go?
However, it was truly absurd. The position of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director seemed cursed; the former Director had betrayed S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Director before that had also betrayed S.H.I.E.L.D.
Looking back at history, the greatest damage caused to S.H.I.E.L.D. was often not by external enemies, but by its own Directors.
It was unknown how long Hill, the current Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., would last.
Nick Fury asked nonchalantly: "What issues?"
Darian replied: "It turns out Pierce has been working for a certain organization, and you definitely know that organization—it's HYDRA!"
"What!?" Hearing this name, Nick Fury instantly lost his composure, his one eye wide open, his mouth agape.
"Are you sure it's HYDRA?" Nick Fury asked again, unable to believe it.
Darian nodded affirmatively: "That's right, it's the very HYDRA you're thinking of."
"That's impossible!"
Nick Fury frowned: "HYDRA was clearly wiped out completely a long time ago."
Darian's words completely exceeded his worst expectations!
Anyone who was a member of S.H.I.E.L.D. knew just how dangerous the evil organization HYDRA was!
The main reason for the establishment of S.H.I.E.L.D. was to defeat HYDRA. It could be said that S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA were natural arch-enemies.
But the problem was that the leader of HYDRA, Red Skull, had been defeated by Steve decades ago, and the remaining HYDRA hideouts had been kicked in one after another by Steve's old flame, Carter, and the Howling Commandos.
In Nick Fury's understanding, the evil organization HYDRA no longer existed. How could it have suddenly popped up again?
"It's absolutely true."
Darian didn't care if Nick Fury could accept it or not and continued to reveal: "In fact, HYDRA was not completely wiped out back then. They chose to break apart and secretly lurk within our S.H.I.E.L.D. For decades, they have been hiding right by our side."
"And Pierce is their biggest protective umbrella within S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
This series of news caused even the brain of Nick Fury, the King of Agents who had weathered countless storms, to briefly short-circuit.
At the same time, a chill instantly spread throughout his entire body.
If everything Darian said was true, it meant that during his time in power managing S.H.I.E.L.D., S.H.I.E.L.D. had long since been parasitized by HYDRA. Who knew how many S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets had been exposed over the years!
It was simply terrible!
Nick Fury felt his head swelling.
But he still forcibly suppressed his inner unease and said: "So, besides Pierce, there are more HYDRA spies lurking inside S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"That's right. Based on my understanding, the number is a little high, so I specially made a list." Darian nodded and handed the list he had prepared long ago to Nick Fury.
The moment Nick Fury took the paper and unfolded it, his breathing hitched.
He saw that the names on this list were packed onto several pages!
You call this a little high?
"Damn it!" Nick Fury cursed inwardly, his face grim and terrifying.
He had thought that even if there were moles within S.H.I.E.L.D., there would be at most a dozen or so, but the real number before his eyes was several times his estimate.
This was no longer a simple infiltration, but a near-total parasitism!
From field operation teams to scientific research departments, from grassroots civilian staff to the core management layer, HYDRA's tentacles had extended to almost every corner of S.H.I.E.L.D.!
But very quickly, Nick Fury discovered that there were quite a few familiar names on the list, including many people he trusted extremely.
"Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Phil Coulson..."
Nick Fury couldn't continue reading; he looked up at Darian and said incredulously: "You had better not tell me that they are all HYDRA people."
Darian shook his head: "Of course not, they are pure S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents."
Nick Fury breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
If these people were all HYDRA spies, he could really resign on the spot and retire to his hometown.
His own trusted aides were all moles; how the hell was he supposed to play this!
Nick Fury asked in surprise: "Since they aren't HYDRA spies, why write them on this spy list?"
As it turned out, Darian was more surprised than him: "Who said this was a spy list?"
"Huh?" Nick Fury paused: "If it's not a spy list, then what is it?"
Darian looked matter-of-fact: "Of course it's a whitelist. It records all S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents; they are all our own people."
Hearing this, Nick Fury suddenly had a bad premonition.
"Then... what about the people not on the list?"
"Need you ask? Of course they are all HYDRA spies!"
"???" Nick Fury had a confused look on his face.
The good news was that the core members he trusted on the list were indeed his own people.
The bad news was that, except for the people on the list, everyone else was a mole!
Nick Fury's throat felt a bit dry, his expression stiff: "Agent Darian, you aren't joking, are you?"
Darian said honestly: "Of course not. There are simply too many HYDRA spies in S.H.I.E.L.D. If I really had to list them one by one, the list would probably take a dozen pages and still not be finished. It's too troublesome, so I simply recorded it in reverse. Anyway, there aren't many of our own people."
Nick Fury: "....."
What was this? S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents mixed in with a small number of HYDRA members?
At this moment, Nick Fury was speechless.
He had originally felt that there were too many names on this list, but now he wished he could fill up a few more pages.
Who could have imagined that all the names on this list combined might not even be one-third of S.H.I.E.L.D., and were far fewer than the HYDRA spies!
Who the hell was the spy here!
Nick Fury felt somewhat complicated inside.
Based on this whitelist, many HYDRA members had been planted a shockingly long time ago. Some of them had been working there even longer than Nick Fury, the former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., and could be considered his seniors.
During Nick Fury's tenure, these HYDRA spies had worked diligently and conscientiously, making great contributions to the development of S.H.I.E.L.D.
It could be said that S.H.I.E.L.D. could have its current scale and status absolutely because of the hard work of these excellent employees.
In comparison, Nick Fury, the parachuted-in Director, seemed more like a latecomer, an outsider who had stolen the fruits of the HYDRA members' years of hard work.
So, was the real mole actually himself?
Nick Fury cast aside these absurd thoughts, rubbed his throbbing temples, and asked: "Agent Darian, how did you deduce this whitelist?"
HYDRA had been able to hide in S.H.I.E.L.D. for so many years without even him noticing, which was enough to show how well they were hidden.
Nick Fury was very curious about what means Darian had used to eliminate those HYDRA spies.
Darian chuckled and said: "It's very simple. You just need to shout 'Hail HYDRA' to them. As long as they are a HYDRA spy, they will immediately respond and treat you as one of their own."
Nick Fury looked dumbfounded: "That simple?"
Darian nodded: "It's just that simple."
Nick Fury: "..."
Finding HYDRA spies this easily made him look like a fool!
In fact, Darian's name was not on this whitelist either, which indicated that Darian was also HYDRA, but Nick Fury thought Darian was just too lazy to add himself and couldn't think of this point at all.
After all, what mole would expose all the moles, including themselves, directly?
Just after Darian handed over the list of moles in reverse, the system's prompt sound also rang out.
[Mission "Find the Mole" settlement complete!]
[Synthesizing evaluation based on mission completion and intelligence value...]
[Obtained rewards: 10,000 EXP, Free Attribute Points *3, Equipment "Hummingbird Spy Camera", Item "Mute Card", Item "Small Megaphone"]
[Equipment: Hummingbird Spy Camera (Releases a hummingbird-shaped spy camera to automatically track and visually mark designated targets)]
[Item: Mute Card (Can prohibit single or multiple targets from transmitting information in any form within a specified range and time, including but not limited to language, text, telepathy, etc. Exclusive privilege of dog group owners and dog administrators)]
[Item: Small Megaphone (Can send a message to all players via the World Channel. All conscious entities can hear your voice. Limited to 50 characters)]
Perhaps because of the mission, the equipment and item rewards obtained this time seemed to have some relationship with information.
The Hummingbird Spy Camera equipment looked quite practical. Sometimes some characters were not within the range of the mission target and could not be tracked through the game system; having it could just make up for this point.
The Mute Card was even more practical. Anyone who had played games or used social platforms must have had the painful experience of being muted to some extent.
However, what interested Darian the most was the Small Megaphone item; it could actually send information to all players and let everyone hear it.
Although it could only send one message, it surpassed any media giant in the World, completely maxing out the level of prestige!
Darian distributed the 3 free attribute points he had just obtained, adding one point each to Agility, Constitution, and Spirit.
[Attributes: Strength 100, Agility 48, Constitution 59, Spirit 39]
Attributes enough to drive an obsessive-compulsive person crazy!
Darian didn't dare to look too much and quickly closed his personal panel.
"It seems the current situation is much worse than I imagined." Nick Fury said sternly.
He was, after all, the King of Agents. After a brief shock, he pulled himself together and forced himself to accept this cruel fact.
But accepting reality was only the beginning; the real difficulty lay in how to break the deadlock.
Now, HYDRA had completely infiltrated the interior of S.H.I.E.L.D., and it could even be said that they had merged into one, to the point where the two were indistinguishable. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it an official HYDRA branch.
If compared by numbers, they, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, were instead more like spies lurking inside HYDRA.
Wanting to completely clear out the HYDRA inside S.H.I.E.L.D. was an almost impossible task to complete.
As soon as there was any disturbance, it could attract the other side's vigilance.
Once HYDRA sensed something unusual, they would inevitably take action first. By then, the Agents lurking in HYDRA... bah, in S.H.I.E.L.D., would be in danger, and it might even lead to a large-scale internal purge by the enemy.
Taking a step back, even if they really succeeded in clearing out all the HYDRA members, S.H.I.E.L.D. itself would inevitably be severely damaged and fall into paralysis.
One had to know that many key positions in S.H.I.E.L.D. were currently held by HYDRA members.
They were responsible for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s core operational system; removing them would likely cause most of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s various departments to collapse instantly.
The current situation was almost unsolvable; clearing out HYDRA wouldn't work, and not clearing out HYDRA wouldn't work either.
For a time, Nick Fury fell into a dilemma.
Darian saw this and said: "Officer, are you worried that HYDRA will destroy S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
"Actually, there's no need to worry about that. I have a way. The risk is a bit high, but the returns are very high. Do you want to try it?"
"What method?" Hearing this, Nick Fury immediately asked.
He was in urgent need of a strategy to break the current deadlock.
Darian grinned: "This method is, we take out the person in charge of HYDRA, and we become the ones in charge of HYDRA, command HYDRA, and regain control of S.H.I.E.L.D.!"
Nick Fury: "???"