Chapter 110: Seeking Answers

Since May, the night in New York has become shorter and shorter, even late at night, the sky has taken on a bit of dreamy blue, and when there is no cloud to cover it, the sky appears higher, and if you keep looking at the night sky, you may even have the illusion that you are about to leave the ground and float towards the sky.

Diane was sitting on the windowsill of her bedroom with a goblet and a whole bottle of wine next to her.

Although she has not yet reached the legal drinking age, she now has to occasionally use alcohol to relieve her nervous nerves in a high-intensity work environment, and now she has developed a little dependence, to the point that she will not even be able to sleep if she does not drink two drinks at night.

She was wearing a white nightdress at this time, leaning lazily against the window, not half of the usual dignified appearance, nor the fierce style, but a little more free, she aimlessly scanned the well-organized manor outside the window, the moonlight caressed her face through the window, and the cold light reflected the milky white luster.

Only when she saw the pink figure appear, a ray of light burst out in her eyes.

She had drunk a glass of this bottle last night, and the taste of the wine was originally extremely stiff, and after a day of shelving and full contact with the air, it seemed to soften just right.

At this time, she happened to see Gwen stomping her foot in anger for something, and a light smile spread at the corner of her mouth.

Drunkenness poured all the way from the tip of her tongue to her heart, and she poured wine to herself, her heart swaying with a slight drunkenness.

She closed her eyes and fully savored the aroma of grapes spreading through her nose.

The soft fruity aroma combined with tannins leaves a sweet and sad impression on the tongue and slowly disappears into the night.

Diane "Ha", who was a little interested, stretched her waist, then lowered her slender legs from the windowsill and stepped her naked feet on the cold floor.

A trace of coolness immediately spread from the soles of her feet to the soles of her feet, and all the way up, but Diane did not flinch, but directly stood up with her bare feet.

She walked straight to the wine cabinet, took out another wine glass, and planned to chat with her only two friends now and spend this ordinary lonely night, but the door of the room was silently opened after a slight and rhythmic knock, and several girls dressed in maid costumes rushed in, and at the end was a female assistant dressed in formal clothes who could be called heroic.

Diane sighed as if she had given up, then put the wine glass and bottle back in the wine cabinet, then sat back on the windowsill, and let a few personal maids fiddle with her.

The female assistant stepped forward and took out a small mobile phone from her pocket, and Diane's expression immediately became serious after seeing the mobile phone.

She had already recognized this mobile phone as her personal office phone, and the number of people who had this number was only more than thirty people in total, most of the people in it were in special positions and high positions, and the rest of the people were also of great value.

"It was a communication from Mr. Peter, but the person who sent the message was Mr. Pietro."

The female assistant did not hesitate to introduce the content of the message, and she motioned for a maid to close the door and reported briefly:

"The Phase 1 mission has been achieved, this is the only message from Mr. Pietro, but the team we sent has not yet sent any message back, and it cannot be contacted, the mission leader judges that they have all died in the line of duty, do we still have to operate according to the original plan?"

Diane hesitated for a rare moment, she closed her eyes with a complicated expression, and nodded heavily after a long struggle.

"Get the trading team ready and increase the amount of money they can manipulate without any reservations or cover-ups."

The female assistant was stunned when she heard this, but did not raise any questions, just nodded and arranged according to Diane's order, and at this time a tall figure also entered Diane's room.

"Knock!"

Diane protested disgruntled at her father, while Eric took two steps back with a kind smile on his face, tapped the door twice, and walked into the room.

Several maids immediately left the room, and at the same time opened a gap in the door and waited outside the door.

Eric slowly picked up the wine that his daughter put in the wine cabinet, then poured himself a glass, took a sip in his daughter's murderous intent, and then sighed:

"Funding doubled, without reservation, without disguise."

Eric repeated the order that Diane had just given, and then asked bluntly:

"Diane... What do you want to do? "

Eric usually shows people in a kind and friendly appearance, although he is tall, but he always keeps smiling, almost does not make people feel the slightest sense of threat, but at this moment, the middle-aged man standing opposite Diane put away his smile, his expression was solemn, not half laughing, and even showing the endless majesty of a prince.

With that strong body, people can't help but suspect that the person in front of them is a real imperial noble/

"Before Tony Stark's attack, you were shorting Stark Industries' stock, and now it's even more intense, almost telling people that we have something to do with Tony Stark's attack.

We can handle the doubts of others, but you should understand that we are already in the sight of S.H.I.E.L.D. right now, and we will definitely be the focus of attention now! "

In the face of her father's stern accusation, Diane did not react, she looked at Gwen, who had returned to the house and was ready to go to bed, sighed again, and then said helplessly:

"So what if I had intended to attract the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Eric was also not surprised by Diane's answer, he stared at Diane, waiting for her explanation.

"I was still glad that Joshua's death was resolved so lightly, without in-depth investigation, without accountability, without raising the price or negotiating our compensation plan, which is no longer a degree that tolerance or trust can explain, and I didn't understand the reason until recently."

"Because of the death of Pope, Holy Father John Paul II..."

Eric directly announced the answer for his daughter, which also made Diane glance at Eric dissatisfied, while Eric ignored his daughter's eyes, and he sighed and sighed:

"He was one of our biggest supporters, and I will be going to the Vatican next to prepare for a secret meeting with the new pope, drawing up a new pact, and continuing the cooperation between the family and the Holy See."

"So, you still want to continue to throw all the work to your lovely and reliable daughter to do?" How about you simply retire directly and hand over the position of patriarch? "

Diane continued in a tired tone after a cold complaint:

"You probably haven't received news yet, I just unilaterally received an order that cannot be refused."

"Order?"

The meaning of this word is extraordinary, there are only a few people or organizations that can give orders to the Bernano family in the true sense, and the order that cannot be refused could not have existed, and the phrase that cannot be refused is no different from an insult to the Bernano family, but now due to Milk's stupid ambitions, they have indeed reconnected with some organizations that have been separated.

Looking at Eric's solemn expression, Diane nodded to confirm the suspicion in his heart.

"The College of Cardinals of the Catholic Church has now assembled in Rome, one hundred and fifteen cardinals are ready to elect a new pope, and they want to get us to pressure the reformists they support to vote for the leader of the conservative faction, the German..."

Eric's face became more and more ugly, he was no stranger to manipulating votes, trying to influence the next pope's vote was not something their family had done in hundreds of years of cooperation, but this order meant...

"They have put their hands into the church..."

Diane smiled wryly, then grabbed the bottle and poured herself another glass.

"If we don't attract the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D., then our family will also become their minions..."

Eric subconsciously looked at the family emblem on his chest, the snake head wrapped around the anchor and stretched outward wantonly came to life, and the family emblem that would only make them proud in the past was extremely hideous at the moment.

...

...

On the other side of the globe, the starry sky in the desert is not as high as in the city, and it is as close as if it were within reach.

There is no polluted air, there are no thousands of lights, the night sky is extremely transparent, every star is exceptionally clear, and the black velvety sky is lined with a deeper and farther sky.

Wanda sat in front of a huge campfire, silently munching on tasteless naan cakes and swallowing the fishy milk tea.

The unaccustomed taste had no effect on Wanda, and her attention was focused on a truck.

The style of this truck is very old, even the camouflage patterns have faded, but today those camouflage have added many stream-like patterns.

The original blood had dried up quickly under the sun's scorching, and the blood had been roasted into brown hard pieces with a "creaking" sound, and now Wanda could almost smell the smell of the burned blood.

Peter and Pietro quietly accompanied Wanda, without saying a word.

No "Are you okay?" "Do you need help?" There is no comfort like "I'm right next to you" or "everything will be fine" for such questions.

Here, at this moment, everything that words can express is extremely empty, not only does it not comfort anyone, but it only annoys and angers.

The only thing they could do was to accompany them like this, sitting around their campfires like other warriors, silently stuffing food into their mouths, chewing and swallowing.

No one talked about today's victory, celebrating the capture of the famous Tony Stark, and no one talked about the past, and everyone ate dinner so quietly.

In the past, Wanda only thought that they were probably well-trained to be so quiet, but now she realized that it was because each of them carried a huge pain, and the wound had not yet healed, and there was no glory, no past, only pain that they could share with their companions.

And a small number of fighters dug pits not far from the camp and buried the remains brought back today.

Pashtuns, most of whom follow Sunni Islam, were supposed to be buried, but now their equipment and clothing have been almost cleaned, and it is a blessing to have a shroud.

They were thrown into the pit like pieces of dead meat, with no eulogies, no onlookers from relatives, no send-offs, and no one remembering them.

After a short meal break, the group of fighters all gathered around the largest campfire in the center of the camp, with Zaina among them.

They threw the wood removed from the abandoned house into the campfire, and in an instant the sparks splashed, and the burning flames climbed on the newly added wood and became more and more intense, illuminating everyone's face.

And Zaina closed her eyes and suddenly sang a strange tune, while the warriors sat cross-legged around and whispered in agreement.

It wasn't just a simple singing, Wanda could instantly sense the strong emotions contained in that tune.

The bonfire swayed to the muffled tune, and Zaina's voice gradually became high-pitched, turning into a completely different voice.

And the soldiers swayed their bodies rhythmically back and forth with Zaina's chant, and with the shaking of their bodies, they let out a thick and passionate low roar, as if they were performing a wonderful ritual.

Everyone in front of the campfire seemed to be immersed in a special mood.

"Are they singing war songs?"

Wanda, who had been silent all night, suddenly opened his mouth to ask, and Peter looked at the crowd in the fire and shook his head slightly.

"Not exactly, this should have been a prayer, but now it is no different from a war song..."

Peter pointed to the dilapidated houses on the outskirts of the camp and whispered:

"The destruction of the family will inevitably arouse greater hatred, and the greatest desire of each of them to live is revenge, and they pray for the power that will allow them to complete their revenge, but sadly they are only controlled by hatred in the end, reduced to the props of some careerists and those in power, they cannot find a reason to live, they only want to know why they died, but there are always some people who even want to use their death."

"Revenge..."

Wanda shook her head in disbelief and retorted:

"I've seen them shoot, loot civilians, attack the Red Cross, and their revenge should not be... It shouldn't be..."

Seeing that Wanda couldn't say an object for a long time, Peter replied in a low voice:

"Because the government army was once the Soviet Union, and now it is a puppet of the United States, and large and small organizations like the Ten Rings Gang have also jumped out, in the name of revenge to expand their power and influence, these people have completely torn the local people apart, and now they can't tell who is the enemy, they only know to shoot and kill people until they die in the hands of others."

They are like a group of ants locked in a jar, usually they are safe with each other, but if someone shakes the jar, they will think that other ant colonies have invaded and tear each other and fight, but no one knows that their real enemy is actually the person who put them in the jar and shook the jar. "

Wanda followed Peter's finger and looked at the ruins.

There was not a single figure there, and the remnants of the dying people drifted through the scattered rubble by the cold wind, and the outline of the imprint on the wall seemed to paint a shadow on it.

But the ruins that tower beneath the night sky are more empty than ominous.

Wanda lowered her head, and the soldier who only had half of his body left, the teenager who instinctively survived, flashed before her eyes.

When she looked up again, her eyes were very cloudy, but the emotions in them were unbelievably clear, and there was still a little confusion in the firmness.

"Peter, what do you want to do next?"

For the first time since stepping on the land and insisting that Peter bring herself and her brother, she asked Peter why he was here.

Once, she just wanted to pave the way for future revenge, but now she still wants revenge, but she also wants an answer.

(End of chapter)

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