Chapter 031: Wang Bo's Suspicion

Hydra's ability to rise from the brink of extinction, infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D., nearly turn it into their own home base, and remain undiscovered for so many years, is enough to prove the organization's rigor.

If they trusted someone so easily, they would have been wiped out long ago.

Although Wang Bo had joined them, he had not yet earned their trust.

It was only natural for them to assign someone to monitor him.

If Wang Bo were in Hydra's position, he would do the same.

Only when Wang Bo demonstrated sufficient loyalty would Hydra truly trust him.

And this so-called loyalty meant obtaining Tony Stark's Iron Man suit.

If Wang Bo could acquire it and hand it over to Hydra, it would prove his genuine allegiance, and Hydra would then accept him fully and grant him authority.

Until then, the resources Wang Bo could access from Hydra would be minimal.

Both Wang Bo and Hydra were well aware of this.

After Strucker handed Roberta over to Wang Bo, the next day he sent Wang Bo, Julia, and Roberta out of the Hydra base.

He also booked plane tickets to New York for the three of them.

In truth, if Wang Bo were traveling alone, he could return to New York in the next second.

But with Julia and Roberta by his side, he had to take the plane, spending several hours in the air before returning to New York.

Throughout the journey, Julia seemed distracted.

She had never imagined that her boss would join Hydra.

During World War II, Captain America's defeat of the Nazis and Hydra was common knowledge; she knew that too. In everyone's memory, Hydra had long been destroyed.

Who would have thought Hydra still existed?

And her boss had joined them. She had no idea what to do. She wasn't stupid; she understood the gravity of the situation.

If she tried to expose her boss's involvement with Hydra, she would face his retaliation and a devastating strike from Hydra.

Under such circumstances, her chances of survival were slim.

In fact, they were... zero!

Thus, Julia was terrified.

Helpless, Julia decided to bury the matter deep in her heart, telling no one, pretending it had never happened. Only then could she save her own skin.

Or rather, that was the right thing to do.

On the other hand, Wang Bo noticed that after getting off the plane, Julia's worried expression gradually relaxed, and he knew she had come to terms with it. He offered a few words of comfort.

“Don't worry. As long as you say nothing, no one will hurt you. Hydra won't go after you without my say-so; they'll give me that much face.”

“I understand, boss.” Julia nodded, letting out a relieved sigh.

With her boss's assurance, she could sleep well tonight.

“Go on home.” Wang Bo hailed a taxi at the airport and sent Julia off.

Watching Julia's receding figure, Wang Bo felt a twinge of surprise. He truly didn't understand why Strucker had let Julia in on Hydra's secret.

When Julia was kidnapped, she didn't know her captors were Hydra.

At last night's dinner, Strucker could have sent Julia away first before recruiting Wang Bo, but he deliberately recruited Wang Bo in front of her and shouted “Hail Hydra.”

Wasn't that clearly telling Julia they were Hydra?

What had Hydra relied on to reach its current scale?

Apart from brainwashing techniques, wasn't it secrecy? Yet now, Strucker had unhesitatingly revealed Hydra's existence to Julia.

It didn't make sense.

After all, when Julia was kidnapped by Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D. already knew about it.

So when Julia returned, if S.H.I.E.L.D. found out, they would surely send someone to subtly probe who had kidnapped her.

Wasn't Hydra afraid Julia might let something slip?

Or had Hydra already gained full control, able to deceive S.H.I.E.L.D., given that they were embedded within it?

Or perhaps S.H.I.E.L.D. was Hydra, the two already intertwined, indistinguishable.

But wasn't that too risky? Or was there some conspiracy?

Wang Bo couldn't figure out what Strucker was thinking. But given Hydra's modus operandi, they wouldn't leave such an obvious flaw.

So Wang Bo suspected there was something he didn't know.

He just hadn't figured it out yet.

After sending Julia off, Wang Bo took Roberta back to his villa and assigned her the last guest room on the second floor.

“From now on, this is your room, Roberta.”

“Understood, master.” As a maid, Roberta was excellent—respectful and taciturn throughout the journey.

But Wang Bo hadn't forgotten that she was no ordinary maid; she was Hydra's top agent.

A super-villain not inferior to the Winter Soldier.

Of course, in Wang Bo's eyes, she was just one punch away.

But during his cooperation with Hydra, he planned to use their intelligence network to find possible dimension travelers on Earth, so he wouldn't harm Roberta.

As long as Roberta didn't interfere with him, Wang Bo wouldn't go after her.

On the contrary, he would make good use of her.

…

The next day!

Wang Bo appeared at Hammer Industries in full view of everyone, causing an immediate uproar.

Since the last hearing, Wang Bo had unilaterally halted the construction of the spaceship and destroyed the one already built, showing his willfulness.

Countries around the world were stunned; no one had expected such a fierce reaction from Wang Bo.

Although they had used numerous bots to morally blackmail and bombard him, it had been useless.

Because from that day on, Wang Bo had vanished.

The space programs of various countries were indefinitely shelved. Everyone was frantically searching for Wang Bo, but no one could find him. Not long after, Julia was kidnapped, complicating matters further.

Many suspected that Wang Bo had also been kidnapped and was likely dead.

But just then, Wang Bo suddenly reappeared, naturally causing a huge stir. As news spread, the media swarmed in, all wanting to interview him, all wanting to land a big story.