086. Does S.H.I.E.L.D. assign romantic partners?
Su Ye didn’t linger long at the bar. Mai Shiranui was currently on leave, so he didn’t need to clock in every night. Incidentally, Su Ye had lately developed a sense of crisis—there were only two official girlfriends, Gwen and Mai Shiranui, and already he felt stretched thin. If the number grew, how was he supposed to manage?
If he visited each girlfriend just once a month, would that be enough?
He was fortunate that his girlfriends hadn’t met or gotten to know each other yet, so he hadn’t faced a hellish confrontation. But if they did all gather together one day, just imagining it made his lower back feel cold.
Leaving the bar, Su Ye stopped by the Shiranui Dojo. The previous night, a corner of the roof had been blown apart—who had done it wasn’t important. SHIELD had promised to handle the repairs, so Su Ye was there to check if they’d fixed it, and to discreetly inquire about Thor’s condition.
After all, this was the Marvel universe. There was little point in dealing with a lunatic like the Joker; supporting Dong Zhang and helping him cause trouble was enough.
When Su Ye arrived at the Shiranui Dojo, it was already midnight. Yet the place was brightly lit, with equipment encircling the courtyard where Thor’s hammer rested—who knew if they’d made any progress in their research.
As the master of the Shiranui Dojo, Su Ye was well-known among the agents. Even those who hadn’t known him before certainly remembered his performance two nights ago—single-handedly taking out Hawkeye from dozens of meters away with just a wave.
From a distance, someone spotted Su Ye and reported his arrival. By the time he reached the entrance, someone was waiting for him.
“Mr. Su, our director is inside awaiting you. Please follow me.”
The speaker was a female agent in a baseball cap—not Black Widow, but a younger woman, taller with longer legs. Her face and her fierceness were no less striking than Widow’s.
“Alright, please lead the way.” Su Ye smiled and nodded, then followed the agent. With his keen observation and calculation skills, he silently tallied her measurements: 180-97-66-92.
He was notoriously face-blind, but looking at this agent—
(Fair warning: swapped the actress here. If you prefer the original, feel free to imagine her instead.)
Following the baseball-cap agent, Su Ye entered an inner room, where he immediately saw a man dressed head-to-toe in black, one white eye visible amid the darkness.
“Hello, Mr. Su.”
The man with the single eye was none other than Nick Fury, director of SHIELD. On the table before him lay a dossier, the first page emblazoned with the name Su Mu Tian.
Su Mu Tian—Su Ye’s adoptive father, Old Su—had been a small-time factory owner, but thanks to the system, he’d become a major behind-the-scenes shareholder of Osborne Group, with assets worth over a hundred billion yuan back in the Dragon Country.
Su Ye was confident that SHIELD knew about Old Su’s current identity. Of course, only his current identity. If the girlfriend cards got any more outrageous and someone like Lois Lane or Bulma showed up, Nick Fury would have a much harder time tracking them down.
If Old Su were truly installed in the Dragon Country, would the old witch still dare to show off? He’d simply crush her to dust from afar, leaving no trace of the culprit.
In other words, the more girlfriend cards Su Ye drew, the greater his abilities—and perhaps Old Su benefited even more? The Dragon Country’s security would become even more unbreakable.
Which begged the question: was this system actually Old Su’s golden finger, or Su Ye’s?
Su Ye suddenly felt as if all his hard work was just serving Old Su, and those girlfriends were nothing more than consolation wages after Old Su took his cut...
At that, Su Ye grew inexplicably annoyed, and his gaze at Nick Fury soured.
“So you’re the boss? Are you here to discuss compensation for the extended rental of the premises?” Su Ye asked, frowning.
Nick Fury’s brow furrowed. Something didn’t seem to match what Coulson had told him—Su Ye’s demeanor wasn’t nearly as amiable.
“That’s right,” Nick Fury cleared his throat. “I’m the director of SHIELD, which is under the UN Security Council, an international unit tasked with handling extraordinary global incidents.”
“So?” Su Ye chuckled.
From Nick Fury’s tone, Su Ye could guess his intention: he wanted to recruit him, like Tony Stark, as SHIELD’s lapdog.
A major Osborne Group shareholder, worth billions, a master martial artist who could take out agents from thirty meters away—a profile that seemed perfectly suited for SHIELD.
Hmm. They probably hadn’t uncovered his identities as Spider-Man or Batman yet, which Su Ye regarded as a positive sign.
“So, I hope you’ll join SHIELD and help us defend this world!” Nick Fury said bluntly, not wasting words.
As SHIELD’s director, Fury was a busy man. Taking time to meet Su Ye personally was a gesture of sincerity.
Su Ye felt the sincerity, but didn’t deem it sufficient.
“What’s in it for me if I join SHIELD? Do you guarantee a match?” he asked, pointing to the baseball-cap agent nearby. “Someone like her would do. If you promise that, I’m in.”
The baseball-cap agent—Sharon Carter—immediately blushed. She’d been tracking and investigating Su Ye for some time; she knew his physique and nocturnal stamina well. She couldn’t imagine keeping up with him night after night, only sleeping a few hours at dawn—she’d fall apart. She quickly shook her head, declining.
Nick Fury’s face darkened further.
“Mr. Su, this is America, not the Dragon Country. And as far as I know, the Dragon Country doesn’t guarantee matches anymore either!”
Su Ye shrugged. “If neither of you guarantees matches, why should I join you? SHIELD is a UN organization, right? You must have a representative from the Dragon Country. Can I meet them?”
Nick Fury was momentarily stunned.
SHIELD was nominally a UN department, but recruitment and operations were mostly in the US. Dragon Country representative? That didn’t exist.
Su Ye’s eyes flashed. “No Dragon Country representative? Then I’ll be that representative!”