Chapter 116

Future chapters at patreon.com/FFAddict.

Additionally, I have many new works readers may be interested in. Go look, if you wish! 

Nick Fury naturally couldn't come to any concrete conclusions about the situation due to the lack of relevant intelligence.

However, there was no doubt in Zhou Cheng's mind:

Regardless of the origin of the serum, if it exists in the future, then Zhou Cheng must not miss the opportunity to acquire it!

No.

While it's true John Walker injected the serum in the future, that only proves the serum existed before then, not that it doesn't exist now.

It could very well still be around!

In an instant, Nick Fury made another decision:

After this round of spoilers ends, he would immediately investigate the super serum.

If the super serum didn't exist, so be it - but if it did, Zhou Cheng was determined to find it!

After organizing his thoughts, Zhou Cheng returned his focus to the notebook and couldn't help revealing a look of confusion.

Since John Walker, the second Captain America, had injected the super serum and become a real super soldier, why was he stripped of the title?

Was it because he injected the super serum covertly?

Did the politicians care about that?

Or was there another reason?

Zhou Cheng naturally couldn't make sense of this.

He didn't dwell on it, instead turning his attention to another key point.

The third Captain America could actually fly?

The notebook stated clearly that the third Captain America, Falcon, was an ordinary person.

His ability to fly had to be due to equipment.

Without a doubt, those "Falcon wings" must be a kind of personal flight gear.

Wait a minute!

Falcon!

A thought crossed Zhou Cheng's mind; he recalled that the military once developed a Falcon project.

Zhou Cheng didn't know why the project was shelved, but the personal flight gear from the Falcon project - was that not a pair of wings?

So could it be that the Falcon's wings of the third Captain America were the military's Falcon wings?

Nick Fury thought that this was a likely possibility.

Of course, whether they were or not, Zhou Cheng would need to investigate covertly.

[Oh, right, there's also a Soviet version of Captain America, the Red Guardian, who's another super soldier who injected the super serum.]

[It's a total Soviet copy of Captain America, basically a bootleg version.]

[He often boasts about fighting Captain America, though there's no telling if that's true or not.]

[But the poor guy is really tragic, having spent most of his life in prison.]

[It wasn't until he was rescued by Black Widow that he saw the light of day, but by then he was so overweight that he couldn't fit into his uniform anymore.]

Red Guardian?

The Soviet version of Captain America?

This wave of spoilers also caught Nick Fury's keen attention.

However, since Captain America was active in an era before Zhou Cheng was born, he wasn't familiar with the Red Guardian of the same period.

But now, having gotten this information from the notebook, Nick Fury was not too surprised.

After all, during that time, when there were only two superpowers in the world, the rivalry between the USA and the USSR was extremely intense.

Seeing Captain America emerge, it was understandable for them to create their own bootleg version.

Zhou Cheng wasn't concerned with that.

What truly interested him was that this bootleg version of Captain America was still alive!

But on second thought, it made sense.

Captain America was alive, and Winter Soldier had also survived to the present day, all of which speaks volumes about the extraordinary lifespan of these super soldiers.

That the Red Guardian was still alive was not so strange.

Nor was Zhou Cheng concerned about why such a being was imprisoned; what really mattered to him was where the Red Guardian was being kept.

Naturally, Zhou Cheng also wanted to recruit the Red Guardian, another super soldier, under his command if possible.

What puzzled him more was, why did Natasha decide to rescue this Red Guardian?

Given that Natasha was also originally from the USSR, Zhou Cheng made a natural guess:

There must be a certain connection between Red Guardian and Natasha!

This makes things much easier to handle.

[Wait a second, I just thought of a key issue, all of those mentioned are from the 199999 universe.]

[But the universe I've traveled to doesn't seem to be the 199999 universe at all.]

[So whether there's a second or third Captain America, whether there's a Black Captain America, or even a bootleg Captain America is hard to determine.]

[Even the true allegiance of Captain America, whether he is the champion of America or the Hydra Captain, is up for debate.]

[Ha, if it's a universe where Captain America is with Hydra, that would be quite interesting.]

[After all, the Hydra Captain was truly fierce – plotting to kill Dr. Banner, murdering Black Widow, and directly causing a second civil war among the superheroes.]

[Such an outstanding contribution to Hydra, truly worthy of being Hydra's Captain America!]

Hydra's Captain America?

What?

The term 'Hydra Captain America' rattled Tony Stark profoundly.

Who was Captain America?

He was the spirit of America, a national icon, a symbol of honor and belief, whose primary achievement was leading the Howling Commandos to deal a fatal blow to Hydra.

He even sacrificed himself in the war against Hydra's leader Schmidt.

While Tony Stark didn't worship Captain America like others, nor even regarded him highly, he had never doubted his character.

And now the notebook suggested that in some parallel universes, Captain America could actually be Hydra?

What a joke!

It was absurd!

This was the first thought that crossed Tony Stark's mind.

To say anyone is Hydra is one thing, but to claim that Captain America, a 'fighter against Hydra,' might be Hydra?

That would be laughable.

Yet soon, Tony Stark calmed down and began to look at this information more rationally.

The countless parallel universes mean countless possibilities!

In theory and logic, the existence of a Hydra Captain America was entirely possible.

So, a crucial question arose.

Was this universe the 199999 universe?

Although Tony Stark knew that up to this point, the deviations and confusion felt by Zhou Cheng, the owner of the notebook, were changes he and Nick Fury made based on the notebook's spoilers.

Nonetheless, Iron Man couldn't be sure whether this universe was the 199999 universe or not.

No one could confirm that.

So if that's the case, doesn't it mean that no one can be sure whether their world's Captain America is with Hydra or not?

Damn it.

Tony Stark naturally didn't want to believe that someone like Captain America could be part of Hydra, but what if?

"Captain Hydra?"

Nick Fury, also looking at the spoilers from another notebook, fell into deep thought. 

Trusting no one was in Nick's nature; he was highly skeptical of everything, to his bone marrow.

So he accepted this astonishing news much more smoothly than Tony Stark.

As an intelligence chief, Nick was accustomed to all sorts of schemes and dark activities; naturally, he understood the possibilities more than anyone.

Who said Captain America couldn't be with Hydra?

Even Captain America's good buddy Bucky Barnes was with Hydra!

Not just Captain America, but Barton, Black Widow, Coulson, and others certified by the notebooks could also be Hydra operatives—just a matter of higher or lower probability.

Aside from himself, Nick Fury couldn't be certain anyone wasn't Hydra.

So after some thought, he made another logical decision:

It seemed necessary to strengthen observation of Captain America.

Although Nick Fury thought the likelihood wasn't great, nothing is absolute.

If someone like Captain America was with Hydra, the threat to the world would be truly terrifying.

Didn't the notebook also mention it?

In that other universe, Captain Hydra even killed Bruce Banner!

Before this, Fury couldn't believe that Bruce Banner, who harbored a green monster within him, could actually die.

According to the intelligence Fury had, Dr. Banner had attempted suicide but to no avail.

That green behemoth simply wouldn't allow it!

Yet, Captain Hydra achieved this!

"But I remember, in that universe, War Machine Rhodes and Captain Marvel were a couple."

"The second Civil War among heroes started with Rhodes' death, causing a rift between Iron Man and Captain Marvel."

"But in our universe, Captain Marvel isn't even on Earth! However, this universe is certainly not the 199999 universe."

"So let's wait and see what exactly is going on."

"Forget it, while some parallel universes in Marvel may diverge significantly, mostly the divergences are few."

"In most parallel universes, the paths are pretty similar."

"Since everyone in this universe is identical to those in the 199999 universe, let's treat this universe like the 199999 universe for now."

Tony Stark agreed with Zhou Cheng's view.

While he didn't have the means to prove this universe was the 199999 universe, elements of it aligned with Zhou Cheng's memories of that universe, without deviation.

That suggests Iron Man can tentatively assume this is the 199999 universe.

Even if it isn't exactly the 199999 universe, it must be one strikingly similar, with high congruence.

Using information from the 199999 universe for reference and analysis is entirely possible.

Not only Tony Stark, but also Nick Fury and Black Widow—other notebook holders—shared a similar thought process.

They knew well that, aside from changes caused by them, the notebook's information had never been wrong!

So they could continue to treat this universe as the 199999 universe.

Taking the revealed information as truth for analysis remained sound.

"If only we could visit Vormir to see for ourselves."

"If the Red Skull is still acting as a guide on that planet, then Captain America definitely isn't Captain Hydra."

"After all, it was Red Skull who turned Captain America into Hydra by using the Tesseract to alter his past, making him believe he was a sleeper agent embedded amongst the superheroes!"

"This led to many astonishing actions."

"Red Skull? Wasn't he dead?"

Tony Stark couldn't help but express his shock again.

The notebook's spoilers were too explosive.

Each piece of major information overturned the public's general understanding.

Everyone thought Red Skull was dead!

But the notebook clearly stated that Red Skull, presumed to have died seventy years ago like Captain America, was actually not dead!

In both the original 199999 universe and the Captain Hydra universe, Red Skull was alive!

What the circumstances are in the Captain Hydra universe, Iron Man couldn't know—the notebook didn't specify.

But in the 199999 universe, Red Skull had run off to an alien planet?

Damn it, how powerful was Red Skull?

To be able to travel to an alien planet in that era?

Truly, Hydra's leader was not simple.

But...

You run off to an alien planet to become what, a tour guide?

Is that some kind of tourist planet?

Of course, this was purely Iron Man's internal sarcasm, but even thinking with his thighs, he knew that an alien guide wouldn't be so straightforward.

Though it's unknown what scheme Red Skull had by going to an alien planet, it must be significant.

Wait a minute!

At that thought, Iron Man paused.

His mind started racing, suddenly coming upon a realization.

In the era of future superheroes, there were threats from outer space and alien invasions—could any be related to Red Skull?

Would he return to Earth with alien forces?

Damn it.

Even if it seemed far-fetched, Iron Man couldn't dismiss this possibility.

After all, if Red Skull could go to space, he could surely return.

And given that Red Skull aspired to world domination, anything was possible.

"The Tesseract!"

Moreover, the Tesseract caught Tony Stark's attention again, raising his interest.