Eastern Europe, somewhere in top secret, the branch of the Heavenly Sword Bureau.

The gray-haired old man stood high on the top of the command room, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, with his hands behind his back in a dashing manner, and scanned the busy scene in the entire command room without anger. The correspondents were busy in front of their devices, the keyboards rattling incessantly, and a huge display screen, split into nine sections, hung from the top of the command room, emitting a faint blue light.

The old man's name was Lauren Beard, a former high-ranking Hydra cadre, and now the senior commander of the Eastern European branch of the Heavenly Sword Bureau—of course, these were his secret identities. For most people who know him, he is a billionaire, a financial tycoon, a top 50 figure in the world's wealthiest list, and one of the most influential people in all of Eastern Europe.

It's only one area where you don't know who Tony Stark is, or you don't even know your own president. But ask ten random people on the street, and nine of them will tell you who Lauren Beard is.

But unlike Tony Stark, this old man's billionaire fortune did not come from the accumulation of his ancestors. Everyone knows that he started his own company from scratch. He started his own business before he was twenty years old, and built his empire on his own with formidable drive and courage.

Beard's influence is not only because he has a mega-corporation and countless bills, but also because of his connections in Eastern Europe. He has a strong background, personal friends with important people in many nearby countries, and even some presidents, and these political friends make him able to do almost anything in the area.

But for his subordinates and employees, this man is by no means the kind of boss you would want to meet. Lauren Beard is a rather dangerous figure, which is almost written on his face with an unsmiling expression. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes all the year round, and his gaze at everything was like a cold, sharp sword, as if it could cut through everything and pierce the soul.

He often described himself as a man who "had no room for scum in his eyes" and could not tolerate even the slightest mistake under him. He is ruthless, like a tiger who is always on the alert. He is even more ruthless and ruthless in his treatment of enemies, and countless competitors over the years have become his stepping stone to the top.

And these are even the symptoms of Beard's time as a businessman, and his actions in his alter identity are even more appalling. When he was a Hydra cadre, he managed his subordinates well, and the world-famous killers and terrorists under his command would subconsciously stand upright when they heard his voice from afar, and never dared to have the slightest disobedience. He was able to order the execution of hundreds of lives without changing his face, and there was no mercy in his heart.

But no matter how ridiculous it sounds, it's such a ruthless old guy who has now begun to do good things after submitting to the "Heavenly Sword Bureau".

Today alone, he has deployed troops to defuse several terrorist attacks involving three Eastern European countries, and sent elite agents to destroy a large terrorist operation base hidden deep in a certain mountain range, and captured an important member of his organization. At this very moment, his interrogators were locking the guy in a small dark room to torture him to extract a confession - Beard had ordered that as long as the man did not die, it didn't matter what means were used.

One of the agents in charge walked over with a rattling stride and a rather ugly face.

"Sir." He bowed his head and said to Beard, "Our side...... Something went wrong. ”

Beard stared at him coldly: "Say." ”

"We have a squad on a mission inside Russia," the agent in charge wiped a cold sweat, "and then things ...... Something went wrong. The two agents failed to evacuate as planned, and they ...... Not...... Caught by the authorities. ”

Beard's eyes almost looked like he was about to shoot an ice pick.

"You mean two idiots under you, caught by the Russians?"

"Yes."

Beard took a step closer and almost touched the agent's face, his breath overwhelming.

"I don't care what means you use. But you have to settle this matter for me immediately. Beard lowered his voice, "If you feel the need, it doesn't matter if you just find a way to get rid of those two idiots." The request from above is that the existence of the Heavenly Sword must not be exposed for the time being, no matter what...... I won't allow the fork to come out of my branch, do you understand? ”

The agent nodded vigorously, "Yes, sir!" I'll arrange it now. ”

"And whatever happens in the end, you're suspended." Beard said coldly, "You know the rules. ”

"Yes, sir, I understand."

The agent in charge hurried away. Lauren Beard let out a long sigh of relief, a pang of distraught.

It seems that the whole world is not at peace tonight, and the whole Eastern European region is constantly troubled, and there is no news that can save people's hearts.

"Long ...... Sir! A correspondent wearing headphones looked up and stammered, "There's communication from outside lines...... It's the Commander-in-Chief of the Heavenly Sword! He...... He's looking for you! ”

The entire busy space was instantly quiet, and everyone subconsciously stopped what they were doing. The dense keyboard suddenly stopped tacitly, and all eyes looked at it in unison.

You can hear pins falling in the room.

Lauren Beard gasped.

It is true that he is a dangerous and ruthless fellow, but he can never climb to this point by relying on brave and unscrupulous brute force alone. Years of experience in malls and Hydra have taught him an instinct to sniff out danger and tell him what kind of characters he can never afford to provoke.

Like someone like the mysterious Commander of the Heavenly Sword.

Beard had never seen the mysterious commander in person, only seen him in black armor single-handedly penetrate Beard's Hydra base. He had even heard that the commander-in-chief had single-handedly brought down the behemoth of Hydra, and that the terrible extent of which was evident from the fact that such figures as Alexander Pearce, Wolganf von Strack, and Daniel Whitehall had been taken down by the commander in three or two clicks.

This is also why he chose to surrender and join the Heavenly Sword without even thinking about it.

He is a dangerous tiger, but a smart tiger knows when to be tamed.

He put on his headset, nodded his head, and whispered, "Take it in." ”

Not only Beard, but also for others, this faceless commander is a mysterious existence. They hadn't received direct instructions from the commander since the Heavenly Sword was in operation, so everyone held their breath as the commander answered the communication, pricking up their ears to try to hear the commander's intentions.

"Yes, sir, I'm Beard." The old man changed to a tone of respect that hardly resembled his own, "...... Yes, I'm listening to ...... Of course, whatever you do, you just tell ......"

Everyone noticed that Beard's expression seemed to become a little subtle, even a little ...... Confused.

"Uh...... Sir, the 'Baldwin Brothers'...... Does that mean the animation production company?

Ah sure...... No problem...... Yes, I'll do it myself. ”

Beard ended the communication and took off his headphones.

His assistant stepped forward and asked tentatively, "Sir?" ”

"Get me a plane, I have some things to take care of myself. You command me in my absence. ”

He said coldly, turned his head and walked quickly out of the command room. The assistant listened to the old man's footsteps and quickly walked away along the corridor, stunned in place with a blank face.

The agents in the command room looked at each other.

"The Baldwin Brothers"? Isn't that an old-fashioned animation manufacturing group? Haven't gone out of business yet? Why did the Commander suddenly become interested in the animation company? Could it be that some groups seem to be doing animation on the surface, but behind the scenes they are secretly plotting a conspiracy to endanger the security of the world?

Sure enough, it's the world of big people, and I don't understand it at all.

...

Twenty-four hours later, New York.

After dinner, the siblings Wanda and Pietro took a walk around the bustling business district, wandered around for about an hour, and then began to turn back and head home.

Petro chattered all night, from what he had seen and heard in New York these days to all sorts of trivial things about receiving superpower enhancement exercises at the Heavenly Sword Division. But Wanda always looked listless, and didn't reply, just kept responding with "uh-huh", and was not interested.

Petro seemed to find it interesting to continue singing a one-man show by himself, so he simply kept his mouth shut. But after walking along the way back, he finally couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong with you?" Looks unmotivated? ”

"Hmm." Wanda replied absentmindedly, "Thinking about things." ”

"You've been like that since you came back from training yesterday." Pietro said, "Did he bully you?" ”

Wanda knew he was referring to Michael. She shook her head, "No." I was just thinking......" she hesitated for a moment, then suddenly turned to ask, "...... What kind of person do you think Mr. Paso is? ”

Petro was stunned for a moment and touched his head: "Hmm...... He's a great guy, and he's pretty good. You see, he arranged such a big house for us, and this ridiculously high salary, but most of the time it was very leisurely......] Oh, except it's annoying to always have to train......"

"That's not what it meant." Wanda interrupted, "I'm not saying what he does to us, I mean...... What kind of person do you think he is? ”

Petro thought for a moment.

"He's not a bad guy." "We've all seen what he's committed to these days, and I think he really looks like he's doing good," he said...... At least he's not the same as Stark. ”

"That's not for sure." Wanda said nonchalantly.

Pietro raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?" ”

"I mean, maybe we don't know him at all. I can't read his thoughts, maybe there's another side to him that we haven't met. ”

"I think he's good anyway." Petro insisted.

"Maybe...... Forget it, when I didn't ask. ”

By this time they had reached the doorstep. Wanda walked up the stone steps, took out the key and opened the door.

"I've got to go take a shower first." She changed her shoes and threw the keys on the table.

"Uh, Wanda? It looks like there's your package here. ”

"My package?" Wanda paused and looked back in surprise, "Who will send me a package?" ”

Pietro raised the tightly wrapped square package in his hand: "I don't know. The sender is not written on it. Do you want to take it apart? ”

"Uh-huh." Wanda took the package from him and opened it. Inside was a beautifully wrapped gift box with a bow tied with a red ribbon. She untied the ribbon and lifted the lid of the box, froze in place.

It was a watch, with a girly pink shell, and the dial was painted with a somewhat childish Q version of the little girl, and the hands were clattering.

Pietro stepped forward and said in surprise: "This is not ......"

"That year, my dad gave me a limited edition watch." She whispered.

"But I remember you said this thing was out of print for ten years?" Pietro wondered, "So where did this come from?" ”

She shook her head, "I don't know. ”

Wanda picked up the watch, flipped through the dial, and found a line of small print engraved on the back.

"For a better future."

She couldn't help but chuckle and apologize for some of the excessive things she had said yesterday when she was in a state of emotion.

It turns out that he is not an emotionless person as he says.

He just likes to keep everything to himself.

(Thanks to book friend AsinauuKi for the 1,300 starting coins, Xel'Naga for the 100 starting coins, and the super Muggle for the 1,000 starting coins!) ）