79: Chapter 79 The Ghost of Weapon X

"We will be in touch."

When Fury left those words, his tone held neither a promise nor a refusal, like a face-down card gently placed on the table.

Yan Zheng sat in the private room of Fu Man Lou for another ten minutes, finished the remaining Tieguanyin tea, and then ordered an order of beef chow fun to go.

After returning to the Antique Shop, he replayed the day's meeting in his mind three times.

"Fury drank the tea he poured himself, which means he is at least willing to sit and listen."

"When he stood up, he didn't turn hostile, didn't try to keep me there, and didn't make threats, which means my bargaining chips are substantial enough."

"But he didn't agree to any terms on the spot either, which means he is still waiting."

"Waiting for me to give him the third chess piece."

Yan Zheng: (ꐦ˘͈⌓˘͈)

"That's fine, no rush."

"In negotiations, whoever gets anxious first loses."

"Just wait."

He waited for three days.

August 14th, 2:00 PM.

The wind chimes of the Antique Shop rang.

Yan Zheng looked up from behind the bar and saw Burns standing at the door, holding an A4-sized kraft paper file envelope, about one centimeter thick.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Burns."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Yan."

Burns walked to the front of the bar, placed the file envelope on the counter, and returned his hands to his sides.

"A return gift from Director Fury."

Yan Zheng looked at the file envelope without reaching for it immediately.

"The term 'return gift' is quite carefully chosen, Mr. Burns."

"Does it mean he has accepted my sincerity?"

"It means he thinks you are worth continuing to talk to."

Burns' sunglasses hid his expression, but his tone carried the exhaustion of someone saying, "I'm just the courier, don't ask me."

"He said something he wanted me to pass on to you."

"Please, go ahead."

"'The Mutant matter is a separate discussion, but regarding the name MSR, you found the right person.'"

Yan Zheng: (˵ꐦ✧‸✧˵)

"A separate discussion."

Yan Zheng chewed on these two words.

"It's not a refusal, it's a postponement."

"Mr. Fury means that intelligence on Mutants can be given, but not now; I need to prove more value first."

"Fine, I have patience."

Burns stood at the door for two seconds, as if waiting for Yan Zheng to say "You may leave."

"Mr. Burns, would you like a cup of tea?"

"No, Mr. Yan, I have three more places to visit."

"Thank you for your hard work; please thank Mr. Fury for me."

Burns nodded, pushed the door open and left; the wind chimes jingled once more.

Yan Zheng waited until the door closed before reaching out to pick up the file envelope.

The kraft paper seal was closed with a wax seal, which bore no markings; when pressed, his fingers could feel that the surface of the paper was significantly cooler than room temperature.

He used a scalpel to slice along the seal and pulled out three bound documents from inside.

The first document, with the cover labeled "Incident Summary: Harlem District Abnormal Biological Entity Incident."

Yan Zheng flipped through two pages and scanned them.

"A brief report on the Hulk incident."

"Bruce Banner, a gamma radiation accident, transformed into a green giant with extreme destructive power."

"The Military attempted to replicate the experiment, and after failing, another monster was born."

"In the end, the two monsters fought in Harlem, and half a street was razed to the ground."

"Most of the technical data was deleted from this report, leaving only the timeline and results; what I was given is a sanitized version."

"As expected."

Yan Zheng: (ꐦ˘ᗜ˘ꐦ)

The second document, with the cover labeled "Surveillance Briefing: Stark Industries Private Security Operational Range Assessment."

"Stark's armed forces primarily cover the corridor area between Midtown Manhattan and Long Island, radiating from Stark Tower as the core."

"The private security team has an establishment of about two hundred people, plus a countable number of automated defense systems."

"No super-powered personnel, purely conventional armament."

"The value of this intelligence is average, but Fury included it to tell me one thing: he knows I am operating in New York, and he knows I will sooner or later intersect with Stark's sphere of influence, so he drew a boundary line in advance."

"This is a mirror, not a gift."

"The intention is to let me see clearly my position in this game of chess in New York."

Yan Zheng placed the first two documents on the left side of the bar and picked up the third one.

There was no title on the cover, only a line of handwritten numbers and three letters: W-X-R.

He opened the first page.

Yan Zheng: (˵ꐦ✦‸✦˵)

The first paragraph of the document made his fingers pause on the paper for three seconds.

"E.S.S. Organization Traceback Report (Top Secret/Personally Approved by Director Fury)."

"After preliminary cross-referencing of the intelligence provided by Mr. Yan Zheng with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s existing database, the organizational structure, personnel training patterns, and equipment sources of E.S.S. highly match the residual operational patterns of a Military project that has been officially declared terminated."

"The internal codename for this project: Weapon X."

Yan Zheng's breathing rate did not change, but his page-turning speed increased.

"The Weapon X project originated during the Cold War, with the core goal of researching mass production schemes for super soldiers."

"The project initially focused on gamma radiation and serum injections, later shifting to the forced activation and transplantation of Mutant genes."

"The project's most famous achievement: conducting skeletal fusion experiments between adamantium and a Mutant possessing a Healing Factor."

"Official termination date of the project: 1992."

"However, multiple sub-branches of the project were not truly closed; some core research personnel absconded from Military control with experimental data and biological samples, continuing to operate in the form of civilian organizations."

"E.S.S. is one of the front organizations for one of these branches."

Yan Zheng placed the document on the bar; the scalpel in his right hand had appeared at some point, slowly spinning between his fingers.

"Weapon X."

His voice was very soft, soft enough that only he and the pot of cold black tea on the bar could hear it.

"Wolverine's birthplace."

"The fusion of adamantium and a Healing Factor."

"The officials said it was terminated, but in reality, it has been running in the shadows the whole time."

"E.S.S. is not some fly-by-night middleman; it is the direct bloodline of a Military black project."

"No wonder Liu Kun said they had weapons, manpower, and laboratories; no wonder that contact person called 'The Gardener' could survive in the New York underworld for two years without being swallowed up."

"The people standing behind them aren't some gang boss; it's the legacy of the entire Military experimental system."

Yan Zheng: (ꐦ✧ᗜ✧)

He turned to the last page of the document.

There was a handwritten note in the bottom right corner of the last page; the handwriting was completely different from the printed text earlier, very heavy, as if it had been carved into the paper.

Fury's handwriting.

"Addendum: According to unverified intelligence, the E.S.S. Brooklyn Red Hook outpost currently stores at least 12 active Mutant tissue samples. One of the samples is numbered X-23-07, with origins pointing to a cloning sub-project from the late stages of the Weapon X project. The active status of the sample is unknown. For reference only."

Yan Zheng's scalpel stopped spinning.

X-23.

A cloning sub-project of the Weapon X project.

If the initial achievement of Weapon X was Wolverine, then X-23 is a clone of Wolverine.

If that sample contains tissue slices of X-23, the amount of genetic information within it would be more than ten times that of any low-level Mutant material.

Super Healing Factor.

Possibly also adamantium symbiotic genes.

Yan Zheng closed the document, placed both hands flat on the bar, and rested the scalpel between his right index and middle fingers, blade facing up, reflecting the dim light of the Antique Shop.

"Mr. Fury."

The corners of his mouth curved into an arc.

"The weight of this return gift of yours is much heavier than that USB drive of mine."

Yan Zheng: (˵ꐦ≖ᴗ≖˵)

"But you showed me this intelligence not because you are generous."

"It is because you know that if E.S.S. really is the remnant of Weapon X, S.H.I.E.L.D. is not in a convenient position to act directly."

"Military background, politically sensitive; once exposed, it would be a scandal on the level of a Congressional hearing."

"You need someone who is not on any payroll to lance this boil for you."

"And that person just happened to sit across from you and drink a cup of Tieguanyin."

He stacked the three documents, put them back into the kraft paper envelope, and shoved them into the safe under the workbench.

"Mr. Fury, your calculations are very shrewd."

"But that's okay."

"Because the three characters 'X-23' are worth me making this trip for you."

Yan Zheng stood up, walked to the secret door at the entrance of the Underground Room, and placed his hand on the doorknob.

"Brooklyn Red Hook, E.S.S. outpost, 12 active samples, one of which is X-23."

"This meal, it's on me."