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Ch. 239 The Fate of the Apples of Eden
🕑 Added 2023-12-30 16:04:01 +0000 UTCAlthough Perkins didn't know what White Zetsu was, and had no idea about its powers, her intuition as a woman told her that White Zetsu, as described by Russell, was undoubtedly formidable.
Apart from White Zetsu, she was also very interested in the Strengthening serum Russell mentioned.
Even though the Strengthening serum created by the Octopus Monster Labs experiment was currently only available to the military, Perkins had heard about the Strengthening serum developed by the Octopus Monster Lab.
With a price tag of up to five million dollars per vial, even without much thought, one could tell that it would bring significant enhancements.
While the military was generous with its spending, its top brass were not fools.
"Now that you have no objections, let's begin."
After saying this, Russell used the "Absolute Command" of the King's Serum to call forth White Zetsu, who was currently possessing a North American Gray Wolf, into the office.
When this North American Gray Wolf arrived in the office, a look of curiosity crossed Perkins' face.
However, she quickly understood why this North American Gray Wolf had come into the office.
Upon entering the office, this North American Gray Wolf first nodded to Russell, then turned its gaze toward Perkins.
While sizing up Perkins, the North American Gray Wolf's body sprouted numerous white tentacle-like appendages, resembling octopus tentacles.
This wasn't the first time Perkins had seen these white tentacles. She had witnessed them once before when Russell healed her in the interrogation room yesterday.
These varying-sized white tentacles sprouted from the North American Gray Wolf's body and immediately moved toward Perkins.
Subsequently, they possessed her within a matter of seconds.
In mere seconds, White Zetsu had successfully possessed Perkins.
With White Zetsu no longer possessing it, the North American Gray Wolf in the office instantly reverted to its feral state, growling and showing its teeth, emitting a fierce growl and glaring at Perkins and Russell with menacing eyes.
Neither Russell nor Perkins paid any attention to this North American Gray Wolf now.
For ordinary people, a feral North American Gray Wolf posed a deadly threat. However, for them, this creature was no different from a Husky.
"You can go to Unmanned Facility No. 3 for the Strengthening serum injection," Russell told Perkins.
"Alright!" Perkins replied promptly.
"You can leave now, and take this North American Gray Wolf with you."
Although it was just a regular North American Gray Wolf, Russell didn't intend to waste it. He had specifically purchased it from the black market for White Zetsu to possess.
Even if they didn't need it immediately, it would undoubtedly come in handy in the future.
"Okay!"
Perkins nodded, raised her right hand, and extended a white tentacle to bind the North American Gray Wolf in front of her.
Subsequently, with the North American Gray Wolf offering no resistance whatsoever, Perkins left the office, bringing the creature with her.
After Perkins left the office, Russell went to the outdoor balcony of the office and laid down on the couch, basking in the sun.
While absorbing the nourishment of the sun, he took a moment to think about the tasks he needed to handle next.
The Assassin Brotherhood and the Piece of Eden, securing Winston's high table seat, learning the magic from Kamar-Taj, and Peter's joining of the Justice League press conference.
Oh, and the Chitauri invasion event that could happen at any time.
Although there seemed to be a lot on his plate, there wasn't a single task that was urgently pressing.
Whether it was dealing with the Assassin Brotherhood and the Piece of Eden or securing Winston's high table seat, none of them were particularly pressing matters.
Dealing with these tasks was more about adding some excitement to his otherwise mundane life.
Relative to these tasks, Peter's joining of the Justice League was a more straightforward matter.
But it was also the easiest to handle. All he needed to do was instruct No. 3 to arrange a press conference.
After lying on the outdoor balcony's couch for over an hour, Russell finally got up.
Subsequently, he instructed No. 3 to contact various news media outlets to prepare for Peter's joining of the Justice League press conference.
Then, he called in his blonde-haired secretary, Ari, who had changed her hairstyle to twin tails.
After a half-day's rest, his worldly desires had finally returned to their normal levels.
While Ellie hadn't finished work yet, he decided to play a round of chess with her.
Although it was just changing from big waves to twin tails, it couldn't be denied that a change in hairstyle brought an entirely different feeling.
The person was still the same, but playing chess with Ellie this time was evidently more exciting than yesterday.
More than an hour later, after finishing their game of chess, Russell and Ellie went to the adjacent bathroom of the office for a bath.
Just like yesterday, Ari, who had been wearing black stockings, left the office bare-legged once again.
...
Queens, New York, in an ordinary residential building.
Dressed casually, Callum arrived alone.
He then took the elevator to the top floor and pressed the doorbell of one of the units.
After waiting for a few seconds, the door opened.
A black man stood at the door.
Without saying a word, he turned and walked back into the apartment after giving Callum a glance.
Callum followed the black man into the apartment, closing the door behind him, and entered the living room.
In the not-so-spacious living room, three computers were set up, each running one of the three released Assassin's Creed games.
"Have you all finished playing these three Assassin's Creed games yet?" Callum asked the three people in the living room.
"We've completed them all, and the results were even worse than we had imagined," the black man named Moussa replied first.
Aside from Moussa, the living room also housed Nathan and Lin.
Like Callum, they were all descendants of the Roman Assassins who had escaped from the Sofia Project laboratory.
Although they had managed to retrieve the Apples of Eden from Sofia's father, Alan, they were now faced with an awkward situation.
The Assassin Brotherhood, once equivalent to the Templar Order , has splintered into dozens or twenty different branches.
As orthodox Roman Assassins of the Assassin Brotherhood, they are now in trouble, with only four of them remaining.
Despite holding a Apples of Eden in his hand, Callum knew that their current strength was still too weak to confront the Templar Order.
As a result, Callum came up with the idea of recruiting renowned assassins like Perkins.
Even though assassins like Perkins didn't fit the recruitment criteria of the Assassin Brotherhood at all, in this situation, Callum had no choice but to make do with what he had.
Brainwashing skilled killers like her into assassins that met Brotherhood standards was certainly better than recruiting ordinary people and starting from scratch.
Moreover, they didn't have the luxury of time for that now.
Even if they did, merely gathering the necessary resources to train assassins from scratch was not something they could accomplish at this moment.
Hence, they had to resort to unconventional means.
"While the information revealed in the games may not be entirely accurate, it's safe to assume that those who provided information to the game developers were insiders," Moussa said seriously.
"Find a way to locate the person who provided information to the game developers first. Put other matters aside for now."
"In addition, be cautious of the Templar Order while searching for this person. They may have discovered this earlier than us."
Callum said to Moussa and the others.
"What's your plan for dealing with Russell? Even though he's not the manager of the New York Continental Hotel, if he decides to interfere, even with the Apples of Eden in our possession, we won't be able to stop him," Nathan, a white man who stood beside Moussa, slowly asked.
"I'll find a way to deal with Russell. You guys go find the person who provided information to the game developers, and as for the high table, I'll handle that," Callum replied.
Although Callum was the last of the four to be captured by the Sofia Project laboratory, because his ancestor was Aguilar, they all instinctively regarded him as their leader.
"That's settled, then. But be careful with Russell," Nathan said slowly.
After dealing with any traces that might expose their whereabouts and identities in the room, Callum and the others left the apartment.
This was their temporary residence, and it had been rented under false identities.
However, due to their caution as assassins, they had also taken care to erase any traces of their presence and actions that might reveal their location.
They had to be extremely cautious when dealing with organizations like the Templar Order.
When Callum and his team decided to split into two groups, Russell, who was in the office at the Octopus Monster Labs Headquarters, also received a report from No. 3.
At this time, No. 3 was reporting not on the investigation of the Assassin's Creed game publisher but on the invasion of the New York branch of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Although S.H.I.E.L.D. had many professionals and even had its own special agent academy, in terms of cybersecurity, No. 3 was clearly more skilled than any of them.
In just half a day, No. 3 had forcefully breached the firewall of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s New York branch and infiltrated their core database, where they found some information about the Piece of Eden.
In S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database, No. 3 found information about Apples of Eden 3 and 5.
Of course, in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s records, these two Apples of Eden were labeled as 1 and 2 because they were only aware of these two at the moment.
However, Russell, adhering to his own habits, referred to them as Apples of Eden 3 and Apples of Eden 5.
Apples of Eden 3 was currently stored in the White House.
The exact location within the White House was unknown to S.H.I.E.L.D..
As for Apples of Eden 5, it was currently stored in the NASA, which stood for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States.
Just like Apples of Eden 3, S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't know the specific location within NASA either.
Although the exact locations of Apples of Eden 3 and 5 were unknown to S.H.I.E.L.D., they had gathered some information about their capabilities.
For example, the Apples of Eden in the White House, Apples of Eden 3, had the power to create illusions and control human minds.
Apples of Eden 5, in addition to the capabilities possessed by Apples of Eden 3, could also bring about technological advancements beyond the current era.
Although both of these Apples of Eden were in the hands of the United States government, S.H.I.E.L.D. was undoubtedly interested in them, based on the intelligence collected so far.
From the internal information obtained by No. 3, it was clear that S.H.I.E.L.D. had sent agents to infiltrate the White House and NASA multiple times in an attempt to locate these two Apples of Eden.
However, to this day, S.H.I.E.L.D. had not been able to pinpoint the exact locations of these two Apples of Eden.
In addition to the information about Apples of Eden 3 and 5, No. 3 also found some information about the Assassin Brotherhood and the Templar Order in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database.
Abstergo Industries!
Although S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't taken direct action against the Templar Order, it was evident that they had conducted substantial investigations into the Templar Order. They knew that Abstergo Industries was a shadow company established by the Templar Order.
Furthermore, S.H.I.E.L.D. had a thorough understanding of the internal structure of the Templar Order.
The Grand Master, Inner Sanctum, External Templars, Guardians and Cross Leaders, Elder Council, Black Cross...
As Russell browsed through the information gathered by S.H.I.E.L.D. investigation, he compared it with his own memories.
Although he hadn't yet come into contact with the Templar Order in this world, based on the information from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigation, the Templar Order in this world didn't seem significantly different from what he remembered.
Since S.H.I.E.L.D. had investigated the Templar Order, it was only natural that they would also investigate the Assassin Brotherhood.
However, compared to the information about the Templar Order, there was considerably less information available about the Assassin Brotherhood.
S.H.I.E.L.D. had only discovered that the Assassin Brotherhood had been in existence for at least over 400 years, with documented activities during various historical periods such as the Roman era, the Middle Ages, the Italian Renaissance, and the Industrial Revolution.
Furthermore, S.H.I.E.L.D. had identified numerous branches of the Assassin Brotherhood worldwide, such as the Paris Assassin Brotherhood, the Egyptian Assassin Brotherhood, the Persian Assassin Brotherhood, the Greek Assassin Brotherhood, the British Assassin Brotherhood, and so on.
While S.H.I.E.L.D. had collected some information about the Assassin Brotherhood, it was far from comprehensive.
More confidential information remained beyond S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reach.
In fact, S.H.I.E.L.D. had its limitations when it came to investigating the Assassin Brotherhood. The Brotherhood operated more covertly, with fewer members and no shadow companies like Abstergo Industries.
Even if S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted to conduct an in-depth investigation into the Assassin Brotherhood, they wouldn't have suitable targets to focus on.
Through their investigation into both the Templar Order and the Assassin Brotherhood, S.H.I.E.L.D. had discovered the existence of the Piece of Eden and the fact that the Apples of Eden were among them.
Although S.H.I.E.L.D. seemed to have conducted extensive research into the Templar Order and the Assassin Brotherhood, none of this information was what Russell was looking for.
Apples of Eden 3 and 5 were known to be located in the White House and the NASA, respectively. However, neither S.H.I.E.L.D. nor Russell knew their exact positions.
Russell had initially believed that S.H.I.E.L.D., which had a mysterious collection habit, would have more information about the whereabouts of one or two Piece of Eden.
However, it turned out that he had overestimated S.H.I.E.L.D..
In terms of information, S.H.I.E.L.D. knew even less than he did. At the very least, he knew that Callum possessed one of the Apples of Eden.
Although it wasn't any of Apples of Eden 1 through 6, there was no doubt that the Apples of Eden in Callum's possession was also one of the Piece of Eden.
If he remembered correctly, the Apples of Eden in Callum's hand was called "Aguilar's Apple," and its previous owners included Pope Mohammed XII, Tomas de Torquemada, Aguilar de Nerha, Christopher Columbus, Alan Rikkin, and Callum Lynch.
Among them, Alan Rikkin, the owner of Abstergo Industries, should have had the shortest tenure.
Alan Rikkin only possessed it for a few days before Callum took him out in plain sight, losing not only the Apples of Eden but also his life.
After browsing the information obtained from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s New York branch's internal database, Russell turned off the holographic screen in front of him and began to think seriously.
First, Apples of Eden 1 and 4 were not worth considering.
Apples of Eden 1 had already been destroyed, and as for Apples of Eden 4, its current whereabouts were unknown, with no one knowing where it was.
The last known owner of Apples of Eden 4 had been the infamous Grand Master.
After the Grand Master's death, Apples of Eden 4 had disappeared.
Next, while the approximate locations of Apples of Eden 3 and 5 were known, finding them was no easy task.
If it were easy, S.H.I.E.L.D. would have already found these two Apples of Eden in the White House and the NASA.
Apples of Eden 1, 3, 4, and 5 were either lost, destroyed, or their exact locations were unknown, making them unsuitable as targets.
With these four Apples of Eden ruled out, the only viable options left were Callum's "Aguilar's Apple" and Apples of Eden 2 in the possession of the Templar Order.
Of course, in addition to these two Apples of Eden, there were eight more in the hands of Kassandra, one of the pioneers of the Assassin Brotherhood.
Kassandra, born in 458 BC, was known by the titles "The Eagle Bearer" and "The Keeper of the West Wind."
She was the granddaughter of King Leonidas of Sparta, the daughter of Myrinne, and the sister of Alexios.
Raised by the Spartan general Nikolaos and the Greek scholar Pythagoras, she possessed the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus, which granted her the ability to defy natural aging and maintain her youthful appearance for over two thousand years.
Russell recalled information about Kassandra in his mind and decisively abandoned the idea of searching for her.
The eight Apples of Eden in Kassandras possession had most likely been destroyed.
Without confirming whether Kassandra still had any Apples of Eden, Russell had no intention of wasting time searching for her.
Unless he wanted the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus in Kassandra's possession, he would go directly for Callum or the Templar Order.
After all, it would be much easier to find Callum and the Templar Order.
After thinking for a while, Russell decisively stopped thinking.
No more thinking!
There was no use thinking too much!
Since he now knew that Callum possessed one of the Apples of Eden, he would go after Callum directly.
As for the other Piece of Eden, they could be dealt with later.
"No. 3, check Callum's current whereabouts."
Russell ordered No. 3.
"Of course, sir!"
No. 3 immediately responded.
Although Callum possessed the "Cloak of Invisibility" that could lower his presence, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s investigations wouldn't be affected by the Assassin's presence-altering abilities.
Artificial intelligence didn't care whether someone was using invisibility or not.
As long as they were captured by monitoring devices, even true invisibility wouldn't be of much use.
After giving the order to No. 3, Russell had no plans to stay in the office any longer.
His work for the day had essentially come to an end here.
As for the rest, it could wait until tomorrow!
After confirming that there were no traces or scents of Ellie left on him, Russell flew out of the window and began to return to the apartment.
The next day.
After having a heartfelt breakfast prepared by Diana in the apartment, he went to the office.
The first task to be addressed today was Peter's joining of the Justice League press conference.
No, to be precise, it was Spider-Man joining the Justice League press conference.
No. 3 had already contacted various major media outlets in New York yesterday and sent out invitations for the press conference.
At 10:00 AM, Peter and Gwen, both dressed in their Spider-Man and Spider-Woman costumes, arrived at the Octopus Monster Lab Headquarters and entered the conference room where the press conference was to be held.
Under Russell's guidance, the press conference for Spider-Man's induction into the Justice League officially began.
Although this wasn't his first time hosting a press conference, the journalists in attendance still displayed puzzled expressions upon seeing that the newest member of the Justice League was a child.
Peter, now wearing a mask, couldn't hide his youthful voice, which gave away his age.
As long as someone listened to his voice, they would know that he was quite young, most likely underage.
Russell had anticipated this issue long in advance.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed Peter to introduce himself with his normal voice.
After some explanation and clever words, they managed to divert the topic away from Spider-Man's age.
However, the journalists present weren't naive.
They wouldn't just believe whatever was said. Nevertheless, in the face of the political correctness of anti-discrimination, they chose to remain silent.
After settling the issue of Spider-Man's age, the rest of the press conference proceeded smoothly.
Spider-Man officially joined the Justice League, becoming the seventh registered member of the team, joining Russell, Hulk, Gwen, Kara, Godzilla, and Grendel. While the Justice League didn't have a large roster, their members were far from ordinary.
Hulk was unique, looking nothing like a regular person.
In addition to Hulk, the Justice League also had Godzilla and Grendel, two indisputable non-human beings.
