Chapter 110 Seeking answers

Since May, the nights in New York have become shorter and shorter. Even late at night, the sky is a dreamy blue. When there are no clouds to block it, the sky looks even higher. If you keep looking at it,

In 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, holding a goblet and a bottle of wine beside her.

Although she has not yet reached the age of legal drinking, now in the high-intensity work environment, she occasionally has to use alcohol to relieve her nervous nerves. Now she has become somewhat dependent on it. She will even be unable to drink alcohol if she does not drink two drinks at night.

The point of falling asleep.

She was wearing a white nightgown and leaning lazily against the window. She didn't look as dignified as usual, nor did she have that vigorous and resolute acting style. Instead, she looked a little more free and easy. She glanced aimlessly.

Outside the window of the well-kept manor, the moonlight caressed her face through the window, but the cold light reflected a milky white luster.

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

She had already drank a glass of this bottle of wine last night, and the taste of the wine was originally very stiff. After being left aside for a day and fully exposed to the air, it seemed to have softened just right.

At this time, she happened to see Gwen stomping her feet in anger as if she was angry about something, and a slight smile appeared on her lips.

The drunkenness flowed all the way from the tip of her tongue into her heart. She poured the wine to herself, her heart swaying with the tips.

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

The soft fruity aroma and tannins combine with each other, leaving a sweet and sad impression on the tongue, which slowly disappears into the night.

Diane, who was a little interested, stretched out "Ha", then put her slender legs down from the window sill and stepped her bare feet on the cold floor.

A slight chill immediately spread from the soles of the feet to the entire soles of the feet and all the way up, but Diane did not flinch. Instead, she stood up with bare feet.

She walked straight to the wine cabinet and took out another wine glass, intending to chat with her only friend and spend this ordinary lonely night, but the door of the room was silently opened after a slight and rhythmic knocking.

Several girls in maid costumes filed in, and the last one was a female assistant in formal attire, who could be called a heroic female assistant.

Diane sighed as if giving up, then put the wine glass and bottle back into the wine cabinet, then sat back on the window sill and let a few maids play with herself.

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

She has recognized this mobile phone as her private office phone. There are only about thirty people with this number. Most of the people inside have special status and high positions, and the remaining ones are also of great value.

.

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

The female assistant introduced the content of the message without any sloppiness. She signaled a maid to close the door and briefly reported:

"The Phase 1 mission has been completed. This is the only message from Mr. Pietro. However, the team we sent has not sent back any message and cannot be contacted. The mission leader judged that they have all died in the line of duty. Should we still follow the original plan?

Operation?"

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

"Let the trading team start preparations immediately and increase the amount of funds they can manipulate. No reservations or cover-ups are required."

The female assistant was stunned when she heard this, but did not raise any questions. She just nodded and made arrangements according to Diane's order. At this time, a tall figure also walked into Diane's room.

"Knock on the door!"

Diane protested dissatisfiedly towards her father, while Eric took two steps back with a kind smile, knocked twice on the door in a pretentious manner and then walked into the room.

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

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

"Doubling the funds, no reservations, no disguises."

Eric repeated the order Diane had just given, and then asked straight to the point:

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

Eric usually shows a kind and friendly appearance to others. Although he is tall, he always smiles and hardly gives people the slightest sense of threat. But at this moment, the middle-aged man standing opposite Diane

But he put away his smile, his expression was solemn, without any hint of laughter, and even showed the endless majesty of a prince.

Coupled with that muscular figure, one can't help but suspect that the person in front of him is a real emperor and nobleman/

"Before Tony Stark was attacked, you were aggressively shorting Stark Industries' stocks. Now you are even more aggressive, almost telling others that we are related to Tony Stark's attack.

We can still handle other people's suspicions, but you should understand that we are already on SHIELD's radar, and now we will definitely become the focus of attention!"

Facing her father's severe accusation, Diane had no reaction. She looked at Gwen who had returned to the house and was about to go to bed and sighed again, and then said helplessly:

"What if I originally planned to attract SHIELD's attention?"

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

"I was still glad that Joshua's death was solved so lightly. There was no in-depth investigation or accountability. Our compensation plan was accepted without any price increase or negotiation. This is no longer tolerance or trust.

It can be explained to the extent that I didn’t understand the reason until recently.”

"Because of the death of the 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 look and sighed:

"He was once one of our biggest supporters. I will go to the Vatican next to prepare for a secret meeting with the new pope to draw up a new contract and continue the cooperation between the family and the Holy See."

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

After complaining coldly, Diane continued in a tired tone:

"You probably haven't received the news yet. I just received a unilateral order that cannot be refused."

"Command?"

The meaning of this word is extraordinary. There are only a handful of people or organizations that can give orders to the Bernano family in the true sense. However, an order that cannot be refused is absolutely impossible. This sentence cannot be refused, which means a lot to the Bernano family.

It's nothing more than an insult, but now due to Milk's stupid ambition, they have indeed reconnected with some organizations that they had broken away from.

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

"The College of Cardinals of the Catholic Church has now gathered in Rome. One hundred and fifteen cardinals are ready to elect a new pope, and they hope that we can put pressure on the reformists we support to switch their votes to

The leader of the conservatives, that German..."

Eric's face became increasingly ugly. He was no stranger to vote manipulation. His family had tried to influence the vote of the next pope in hundreds of years of cooperation, but this order meant...

.

"They have reached into the church..."

Diane smiled bitterly, then grabbed the bottle and poured herself another glass of wine.

"If we don't attract SHIELD's attention, our family will become their pawns..."

Eric subconsciously looked at the family crest on his chest. The snake head wrapped around the anchor and stretching outwards was lifelike. The family crest that only made them proud in the past was now extremely ferocious.

...

...

On the other side of the earth, the starry sky in the desert is not as high and far away as in the city, but is so close that it seems within reach.

There is no polluted air here, nor are there thousands of lights. The night sky is extremely transparent, and every star is exceptionally clear. It looks even deeper and more distant against the black velvet-like sky.

Wanda sat in front of a huge bonfire, chewing tasteless naan cakes silently, and swallowed the fishy milk tea.

The smell that ordinary people couldn't adapt to had no effect on Wanda. Her attention was entirely focused on a truck at this time.

The style of this truck is very old, and even the camouflage patterns have faded, but today there are many more creek-shaped patterns on the camouflage.

The original blood stains had dried up quickly under the scorching sun. The blood had been baked into brown hard lumps with the "squeaking" sound, and now Wanda could almost smell the burned blood. Taste.

Peter and Pietro stayed by Wanda's side quietly without saying a word.

There are no questions like "Are you okay?" or "Do you need help?" There are no comforts like "I'm here for you" or "Everything will be fine."

Here, at this moment, everything that language can express is extremely empty. Not only can it not comfort anyone, but it will only make people bored and angry.

All they could do was to have company like this. Like other warriors, they sat around their respective campfires, 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. Everyone was eating dinner so quietly.

In the past, Wanda only thought that they were so quiet because they were well-trained, but now she realized that it was because each of them was carrying huge pain, and the wounds have not healed yet, but they can be with their companions There is no glory, no past, only pain shared.

A few soldiers dug pits not far from the camp and buried the bodies brought back today into them.

Most of the Pashtuns believe in Sunni Islam. They were supposed to be buried clean, but now their equipment and clothes have been stripped clean. They are lucky to have a shroud.

They were thrown into the pit like pieces of dead meat. There was no eulogy, no relatives to watch, no one to see them off, and no one to remember them.

After a short meal time, the group of soldiers all sat in front of the largest bonfire in the center of the camp, with Zaina among them.

They threw the wood dismantled from the abandoned houses into the bonfire. Sparks flew everywhere in an instant, and the burning flame climbed up to the newly added wood and became more intense, illuminating everyone's face.

Zaina closed her eyes and concentrated, and suddenly sang a strange tune, while the soldiers sat around and whispered in agreement.

It was not just a song, Wanda could instantly sense the strong emotions contained in the tune.

The bonfire swayed to the low tune, and Zaina's voice gradually became louder and turned into a completely different sound.

The soldiers swayed their bodies back and forth rhythmically to Zaina's chanting, and let out deep and passionate roars as their bodies shook, as if they were performing a wonderful ritual.

Everyone in front of the bonfire seemed to be immersed in a special emotion.
To be continued...