Chapter 30: Level Up! Computer Science LV.3!

Under the pitch-black night, a car was slowly driving toward Raccoon City.

The atmosphere inside the vehicle was incredibly oppressive. They were already at a massive disadvantage against the Umbrella Corporation, and now, even their only hope—Interpol—could no longer be relied upon. Would they even make it to the other side alive?

"How about we just run for it? Flee Raccoon City! Flee the United States entirely! Go to Europe, or even some small countries in Africa. No matter how powerful the Umbrella Corporation is, they can’t reach that far, right?" Salinas suggested.

Rain glanced at him. "Flee? Do you honestly believe that? There’s a whole army waiting for us at the bridge right now! If we go there, we’ll be greeted by a rocket launcher! If you want to commit suicide, go ahead, but don’t drag me down with you!"

Raccoon City was a unique island city surrounded by water on all sides, connected to the outside world by only a single bridge. To leave, one had to cross that bridge. It was the only exit, and it was heavily guarded by the Umbrella Corporation. Now that Yu Fei and the others had escaped from the Hive, how could the corporation possibly let them slip out of Raccoon City? It was certain that the bridge was crawling with Umbrella’s elite guards and heavy weaponry. Attempting to cross it now was a death sentence.

Salinas frowned. "Then what do we do? Raccoon City is Umbrella’s territory; entering it is just waiting for death! We might as well fight to the end—maybe we’ll have a glimmer of hope!"

They had all previously agreed to head to Raccoon City because they believed they could restore signal and reach out to the world. If they were careful and hid for a while, they could receive outside aid to break Umbrella's blockade. But now, learning from Yu Fei that Interpol—the source of all their hope—could not be trusted, wouldn't entering Raccoon City be walking straight into a trap? Was it not just waiting to die?

"Don't panic," Yu Fei said, breaking the silence. "Listen to me. We may not be able to rely on Interpol for now, but that doesn't mean we have no other options!"

"Huh?" Everyone’s eyes lit up as they turned to look at him.

Yu Fei didn't beat around the bush. "S.H.I.E.L.D.! We can contact S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

"S.H.I.E.L.D.? What kind of agency is that?" Despite Yu Fei’s directness, the group looked blankly at one another. They realized that besides Yu Fei, none of them had ever heard of the name.

"Well, it’s normal that you haven’t heard of it. It’s a complex organization, not known to the general public." Seeing their expressions, Yu Fei realized that many of the major Marvel events had yet to occur, and S.H.I.E.L.D. had not yet revealed itself to the world.

'That’s actually a good thing,' he thought. The later events in the Marvel universe grew increasingly chaotic, eventually expanding to the multiverse. With his current strength, he was just an "ant" being swept along by the current, liable to be crushed at any moment by a random ripple. The early stages were better; they offered him a period of stable growth.

Yu Fei suppressed these thoughts and continued, "S.H.I.E.L.D., like Interpol, is an international agency affiliated with the United Nations, but they primarily handle special incidents."

"Special incidents? What kind of special incidents?" Matt asked curiously. The others looked at Yu Fei with equal interest.

Yu Fei scanned the group and said meaningfully, "In this world, many things are not as simple as they appear on the surface!"

The group began to let their imaginations run wild, especially James. He immediately recalled how Yu Fei had hurled heavy explosives weighing nearly ten pounds over a distance of more than a hundred meters. That was not something a normal human could do! Even the world record for javelin throwing was only around a hundred meters, and a javelin weighed less than a kilogram. Yu Fei had not only matched a world-class distance record but had done so with an object five times the standard weight!

'So, he is also...' James looked at Yu Fei, filled with speculation.

Unfortunately, Yu Fei didn't elaborate. After briefly touching upon the functions of S.H.I.E.L.D., he took Kaplan’s handheld computer. He didn't search for S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately; instead, he checked the news on Tony Stark, finding that he had only been rescued from the Middle East a few days prior. Although Stark had announced the closure of his company's weapons division, he had not yet uttered the famous line: "I am Iron Man." There was no mention of any battles involving an "Iron Man" on the internet yet.

'So, this is roughly the timeline of *Iron Man 1*, before the final fight with Iron Monger,' Yu Fei concluded.

'At this point, S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't exactly S.H.I.E.L.D. yet; it's the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division...' He searched for that full name online. An official website appeared, but he saw at a glance that it was merely a shell organization. Trying to contact the real agency through that site was unlikely to succeed—the most probable outcome was connecting directly with Hydra.

'Come to think of it, could there be a connection between the Umbrella Corporation and Hydra?' Yu Fei thought of Hydra's Project Insight. Setting aside the methods, the essence of their plans was remarkably similar: eliminate those who were threats, then rule the world. The difference was that while Project Insight aimed to kill millions, Umbrella planned to wipe out billions!

'Well, no matter.' Yu Fei checked his Merit Points: 185. He needed fifteen more to upgrade two Level 3 skills. He silently commanded, "System! Upgrade my Computer skill!"

In an instant, 100 Merit Points vanished.

Computer: LV.3 (MAX)!