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Upon hearing Darian's request, Rocket Raccoon readily agreed; such basic design was a piece of cake for him.
His small paws slid rapidly across the data pad, and before long, a detailed initial design for a spaceship was complete. The ship's design on the blueprints was sleek and streamlined; while not as advanced as high-end warships, it lacked none of the essential functions.
After activating the map on Bohet Planet, Darian immediately teleported back to Sokovia with the design blueprints and handed them directly to Strucker.
Strucker was speechless with shock when he saw the spaceship blueprints. He immediately convened the top engineering team at the HYDRA research Base to conduct an in-depth analysis of the aerospace technology on the designs, eventually reaching a conclusion.
Although the technology was advanced, the materials used in the blueprints could all be found on Earth, and the manufacturing processes were within their capabilities. It was entirely feasible!
Darian nodded in satisfaction and then issued orders to begin preparing the production line. He wanted to build Sokovia's own spaceship as soon as possible, break out of Earth, and head for the Moon!
But new problems soon followed; they simply didn't have enough funds to support this project.
Sokovia was currently in a phase of comprehensive development, burning money everywhere, not to mention the several scientific research projects at the HYDRA research Base that were consuming funds like water.
Although they had recently raked in a large sum from their benefactor Tony Stark, it was still a drop in the bucket compared to a super money-burning project like building a spaceship.
Ultimately, Sokovia's foundation was too thin.
The entire country's economic lifeline barely held on with limited exports, and it couldn't withstand the strain of a massive undertaking like an aerospace project.
To address this, Darian specifically teleported back to Xandar and obtained a batch of technological products that were already outdated there from The Broker, along with a dozen formulas for miraculous beauty products.
These things might be considered obsolete in the eyes of Alien civilizations, but they were still quite advanced for Earth.
This information was quickly handed over to Zemo.
The Zemo Family had operated overseas for many years, controlling many multinational companies and sales channels, which provided a ready-made commercial platform for these special goods.
Just a few days later, a cutting-edge brand named 'Alien' was born.
Two of the brand's main products quickly set the market ablaze.
One was high-performance computer equipment capable of easily running all major games on the market. Even with graphics set to the maximum, it ran as smooth as flight, quickly becoming top-tier gear sought after by gamers worldwide.
The other was a beauty essence that created a miracle in the skincare world. After continuous use, skin condition showed visible improvement, with effects comparable to retouched photos, and it even had anti-aging properties.
This product quickly sparked a frenzy among female consumers. As soon as it hit the shelves at global counters, it was sold out, and scalpers even began reselling it at inflated prices.
Even Wanda, upon hearing that the Alien brand was their own product, immediately found Darian and said she wanted a batch of the Alien brand beauty essence.
Darian was quite speechless: "Your omnipotent Chaos Magic is more effective than any cosmetic product. What do you need these for?"
Wanda held her head high and said righteously: "I might not use it, but I must have it!"
Darian unconsciously activated his auto-aim mode.
Her 'reasoning' was simply too big; he was actually speechless.
Since Wanda was so generous in providing him with 'benefits,' he had to show some appreciation.
Darian waved his hand: "Fine, I'll tell Zemo later. From now on, whenever the Alien brand launches a new beauty product, a set will be reserved for you."
"Awesome!"
Wanda immediately beamed with joy and happily lunged forward, giving Darian a big hug.
Darian was sitting in his office chair, and with her pouncing like that, his entire face was instantly buried in her 'reasoning,' making it difficult to breathe.
But because Wanda's strength was too great to break free from, he could only sway his head from side to side like he was doing the butterfly stroke, desperately trying to get some fresh air.
The happy expression on Wanda's face suddenly froze, and her entire face turned beet red.
This guy was actually nuzzling around in her arms—how shameless!
Bang!
Suddenly, the office door was kicked open.
Pietro rushed in excitedly: "Darian, I heard Alien is our Sokovian brand. Can you give me an Alien computer..."
Before he could finish, a red energy ball smashed toward his face!
However, Pietro's body moved faster than his brain. After these days of endless sneak-attack training from Bucky, his superpowers had completely integrated into his instincts.
He instantly turned into a silver afterimage, easily dodging the attack.
Only after completing the dodge did his brain finally process the scene he had just witnessed, and he immediately flew into a rage.
"Who is it?! Which bastard sneak-attacked me!?"
Looking closely, he saw Wanda standing not far away, her cheeks redder than the surrounding Chaos Magic. Dozens of energy balls were hovering around her, emitting a dangerous red light, ready to fire.
Pietro instinctively wanted to bolt, but found his legs seemed to be nailed to the spot. Looking down, he saw his ankles were firmly locked by two red energy rings.
He swallowed hard, a fawning smile instantly appearing on his face: "Wait, Wanda, my dear sister, let's talk this through... No, don't!"
Amidst Pietro's tragic screams, the dense energy balls instantly engulfed him.
Darian watched this scene from the side, thinking that Pietro's special training needed further upgrades. For someone who ran so fast to have his legs locked was simply embarrassing!
Of course, this was absolutely not to get back at Pietro for interrupting his 'benefit' time.
Besides the two main products, other goods launched by the Alien brand were equally formidable. Each was far ahead in its respective field, outclassing all existing products on the market.
Through the multinational channels controlled by the Zemo Family, these products quickly occupied the global market with high-end positioning. The staggering sales brought in huge profits, and funds began to continuously fill the Sokovian treasury.
Faced with this suddenly emerging giant, major companies naturally couldn't sit still and tried to investigate its origins.
But no matter how they searched, they couldn't find any useful information. Even the commercial spies they sent returned empty-handed; instead, their own companies were mysteriously exposed with various scandals, falling into public relations crises and seeing their stocks plummet.
Trying to play double Agent under HYDRA's nose?
That was like trying to show off sword skills in front of the God of War—completely overestimating oneself.
With the injection of this massive amount of capital, the spaceship research and development work, which had almost stalled due to lack of funds, restarted. The engineering team was able to continue pushing forward with the manufacturing of the prototype.
As for the Guardians of the Galaxy, they chose to stay on Bohet Planet for the time being to lay low. This Planet was located in a remote corner of the Universe and was well-hidden, making it difficult for Ronan's Necrocorps to track them here.
Another point was that Darian's barbecue was simply too delicious!
Bohet Planet had a wide variety of biological species, and Darian was constantly testing the roasting effects of various creatures. As a result, the members of the Guardians of the Galaxy got to taste different flavors of roasted meat every day.
After several days of feasting, except for Groot—who provided the wood and had gotten thinner—the other members had clearly rounded out. They could barely fit into their original clothes and pants, and no one mocked Quill's 'eight-packs-into-one' physique anymore. After all, their Guardians of the Galaxy were almost becoming the 'Guardians of the Gastronomy'.
After multiple tests, Darian also discovered some roasted meats with good attributes.
A type of rabbit with pure white wings had tender and smooth meat that made one as light as a swallow, significantly boosting agility for a short time. A five-meter-tall, thick-skinned giant monster with a pointed head provided meat that briefly increased strength and constitution. An octopus-like creature at the bottom of the sea, covered in tentacles and eyes, didn't look great, but when barbecued, it could briefly boost spiritual attributes.
Darian preserved these barbecues so that in future battles, he could take out a few skewers to eat and add a combat BUFF.
This kind of operation was not uncommon in games. In many games, players would stuff food into their mouths to restore health and add status effects while fighting monsters. Sometimes, in the middle of a fight, they'd suddenly pull out a whole roast turkey to gnaw on; it was all very normal.
In addition, Darian also harvested a lot of black technology from Rocket Raccoon.
Rocket Raccoon was, after all, one of the smartest minds in the Universe, filled with top-tier technology that was a level above most Alien civilizations.
Initially, Rocket Raccoon wasn't very willing, but he couldn't resist Darian's feeding offensive.
As the saying goes, 'one's mouth is soft after eating another's food.' Rocket Raccoon felt bad about eating and drinking for free, so he agreed to be Sokovia's technical consultant.
Not only did he provide many black technology blueprints, but he also helped them improve their existing equipment, directly raising the combat power of the Sokovian army by a notch.
Darian estimated that with the soldiers' current physical fitness surpassing ordinary people, plus the addition of various high-tech equipment, if they faced an opponent like Lawyer Matt, a few of them could probably handle him.
And that was just in a conventional state. If they brought out sonic weapons targeted at Lawyer Matt's sensitive hearing, it would basically be a one-sided beatdown.
But Darian was not satisfied with this.
In his vision, a qualified soldier should have an average strength of at least 'three Matts' to be considered up to standard.
The reason he set the threshold so high was that Darian knew Sokovia had a limited population and couldn't take the path of mass-producing soldiers.
Since they couldn't win in quantity, they had to push individual quality to the extreme to truly gain a foothold and have a place of their own in the crisis-ridden Universe.
Based on this consideration, the human enhancement plan was officially placed on the subsequent research agenda.
The HYDRA research team began collecting Bucky's blood samples daily, attempting to replicate the Super Soldier Serum from back then, even if it was a weakened version.
Now that Bucky had joined Sokovian nationality, his physical fitness had improved again on its original basis. His self-healing speed was several times faster than an ordinary person's.
That bit of blood was less harmful to him than a single 'flight,' after all, ten drops of blood equal one drop of... you know.
It had to be said, having lackeys was convenient.
Now, whenever Darian proposed an idea, no matter how whimsical, his subordinates would go all out to realize it.
Moreover, in Sokovia, every word he said was given exceptional weight.
Even if he said something nonsensical, like the second floor must be built above the first floor or the Underground Room must be built underground, someone nearby would seriously record it.
This was the manifestation of power.
However, no matter how high Darian's status was, S.H.I.E.L.D. missions still had to be done. After all, this was his primary way to gain experience points and upgrade his status permissions.
The reason he rarely actively interfered with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operations was precisely because of this special reason.
Darian had already tried privately, having Pierce issue him various tasks, but not a single one received a system prompt.
Clearly, tasks generated by his active interference would not be recognized by the system at all.
Fortunately, Darian hadn't used the same methods on Nick Fury as he did on Pierce, like having Wanda use Chaos Magic to interfere with his thinking. Otherwise, this mission refresh point would have been completely scrapped.
Hill was also unaffected. Under the interference of Nick Fury, the 'Shadow of S.H.I.E.L.D.,' she remained completely ignorant of what was happening inside S.H.I.E.L.D. to this day.
Nick Fury could be said to be experiencing what Pierce felt back then—pulling strings right under the nose of the current Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. without the other party noticing a thing.
Not to mention, this feeling was indeed quite addictive.
"Agent Darian, there's a new mission you need to handle. It's regarding Tony Stark."
In the Director's office, Hill handed over a file.
She looked radiant these days. Even the fine lines caused by the various emergencies of S.H.I.E.L.D. had faded quite a bit. She was full of energy, and even the tone of her voice was a bit lighter.
This significant change was all thanks to the several Alien brand beauty products she had recently tried.
Given the high technological content of the brand's products, S.H.I.E.L.D. naturally conducted a comprehensive inspection.
They purchased the full line of products, from skincare to high-tech equipment, and conducted rigorous analysis.
The test reports showed these products were safe and harmless, without any pollution or dangerous components. The only special thing was that their technological level clearly surpassed current Earth technology.
However, in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s view, this wasn't considered abnormal.
Just like the endless stream of superpowered individuals, Earth was never short of genius scientists who occasionally came up with impressive inventions, some even causing more commotion than superpowered individuals.
In comparison, this kind of black technology that purely improved the quality of life seemed quite harmless.
But as the current Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Hill had always been cautious. She always felt this suddenly emerging Alien brand wasn't as simple as it appeared on the surface and might hide some unknown secrets.
With a highly responsible attitude, she disregarded her personal safety and led by example, trying out these Alien brand beauty products one by one.
The effects were indeed immediate. Her skin became more hydrated day by day, and even the dullness left by staying up late to work disappeared without a trace.
Out of her habitual cautious style, Hill decided to trial the Alien brand beauty products long-term. As soon as there was a new product, she would try it immediately, needing continuous observation to ensure everything was foolproof.
Nick Fury: "..."
So this was how Pierce felt back then watching me secretly embezzle S.H.I.E.L.D. funds.
But to be honest, Hill's excuse was much more clever than his back then. The new generation truly surpasses the old!