#618 - S.H.I.E.L.D.

The S.P.E.A.R. (神矛局), just by its name, you can tell it's an organization quite similar to S.H.I.E.L.D., and in fact, that's exactly the case.

Like S.H.I.E.L.D., S.P.E.A.R. has a particularly long real name: Strategic People Enforcement and Alert Regiment, abbreviated as S.P.E.A.R.

These two organizations not only have similar names but also share quite a bit of history. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they came from the same school. Tracing back to the source, it can even be linked to ancient Egypt.

During that era, even the mutant Apocalypse wasn't called Apocalypse yet; he was just a warrior named En Sabah Nur, following the Pharaoh as a subordinate, fighting ancient enemies on the battlefield.

This included the battle that involved the birth of S.P.E.A.R. and S.H.I.E.L.D.: the invasion of the Brood. Yes, the same race that shattered the universe of the Miraculous Twins. From this, you can see why Yang Le was so shocked back then.

After all, the Brood might sound impressive, but they were indeed defeated by a legion, mostly composed of humans, back in ancient Egypt.

Even the leader of the legion at the time, Imhotep, the designer of the ancient Egyptian pyramids, single-handedly killed the Brood Queen with a spear and a shield. Thanks to this achievement, Imhotep ascended to the throne of the Pharaoh until his death.

After Imhotep's death, his shield remained in the West. This shield, carrying significant meaning, attracted many capable and ambitious individuals who formed the predecessor of S.H.I.E.L.D., the Brotherhood of the Shield.

The members of the Brotherhood of the Shield were important figures who influenced the progress of the West. Almost everyone who can be found in history books was a member, such as Archimedes, Newton, Tesla, and so on.

Despite the members being incredibly talented, the Brotherhood of the Shield was equally capable of causing trouble. Even the genes for infiltration and defection in its successor, S.H.I.E.L.D., originated from this old predecessor. Like father, like son, indeed.

Similarly, the spear was passed down to the mysterious East, also gathering many talented and extraordinary individuals. This is the origin of the S.P.E.A.R. Brotherhood, the predecessor of S.P.E.A.R.

Unlike S.H.I.E.L.D., S.P.E.A.R. is still very harmonious and hasn't caused any major trouble. Of course, there are also fewer remarkable achievements, possibly because S.P.E.A.R. doesn't go around the world like S.H.I.E.L.D. (laughs).

S.P.E.A.R. only manages its own territory. Unless there are special circumstances, it rarely goes abroad.

Of course, to break the fourth wall, it's because S.P.E.A.R.'s debut time is still too short, much later than those early Chinese heroes with distorted and clichéd portrayals.

Yang Le knew a bit about those distorted characters. They were products of stereotypes, even including a Jade Emperor wearing Japanese samurai armor, which was truly disturbing.

But recently, the Jade Emperor has also been reset and is finally no longer a Japanese pirate wearing a turtle shell. At the same time, a new batch of Asian heroes has emerged.

There's the Philippines' Wave, South Korea's Crescent Moon Goddess and Ice Flower Snow Moon, and China's Sword Master Lin Lie and Cyclone Lei Ling. Oh, right, there's also Ji Shuangshuang, who partners with Lin Lie but lacks presence.

Using his shapeshifting abilities, Yang Le checked out all the mysterious organizations he knew when he first logged into the 9527 universe, including S.P.E.A.R.

This universe does have S.P.E.A.R., and some of those distorted superheroes exist, while others don't.

Cyclone Lei Ling is already a famous superhero in Shanghai. They don't have any metahuman discrimination there, but all superheroes are indeed registered with S.P.E.A.R., automatically becoming part of the system, considered special operations personnel. The country will keep your identity a secret if you don't reveal it yourself.

The policies are frighteningly comprehensive, and the welfare benefits are astonishingly good.

It's because of these comprehensive policies that S.P.E.A.R. was dumbfounded when Hyperion seriously started talking about metahuman levels.

Ah? You guys weren't managing this?

As for S.H.I.E.L.D... Right, where did S.H.I.E.L.D. go?

A thunderclap seemed to strike Yang Le's head out of nowhere. That's right, he hadn't seen S.H.I.E.L.D. appear for so long in this universe, and he didn't seem to have found anything related to them when he was checking information back then.

But why did he only care about it after so long? Although S.H.I.E.L.D. is a troublemaker, it does have an undeniable presence in the Marvel universe. Logically speaking, Yang Le shouldn't have forgotten about it.

Yang Le, who had transformed into a polar bear cub, was stunned and even bumped into the polar bear cub that was his previous form. Just how strong was Martian Manhunter's power? Even if Yang Le intentionally restrained it, he still made it stagger.

The little polar bear didn't care about that. With its low intelligence, it only knew that Yang Le had hurt it. Being thick-skinned, it turned around and started biting Yang Le, who helplessly had to play along to avoid attracting Onslaught's attention.

Sure enough, Onslaught didn't pay attention to Yang Le's situation and was still brainwashing Hyperion. Judging by his appearance, he should be close to completing it.

Seeing that this superhero, who had been diligently protecting humanity for so long despite his recent foolishness, was about to have his soul destroyed, Yang Le wasn't worried at all because he had already downloaded Hyperion's spirit.

This was also why he transformed into the Martian Manhunter, not just to hide and watch from afar, but also because he vaguely guessed that Onslaught might be the reason, so he downloaded Hyperion's spirit in advance.

Not only that, but while downloading, Yang Le also discovered the trap that Onslaught had set in Hyperion's brain and conveniently removed it.

So even if Hyperion's brain is completely wiped clean now, as long as Yang Le finds an opportunity to transfer his spirit to Hyperion's body, he can be resurrected, but now is not the time.

'Sacrifice for the greater good!' Yang Le honestly thought. For the normal development of this universe, let Hyperion suffer a bit first.

Moreover, Yang Le's mind isn't on the temporarily harmless Onslaught right now. The mysteriously disappeared S.H.I.E.L.D. is what he's concerned about.

After thinking it over, Yang Le came up with an answer: someone deliberately concealed the existence of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not only that, but they also used some special method to prevent everyone from intentionally investigating anything about S.H.I.E.L.D.

If Yang Le hadn't happened to think of S.P.E.A.R. today, and then thought of its brotherly relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D., he might have lived on in a daze.

Of course, the Martian Manhunter's contribution is definitely part of it. The Martian's powerful mental abilities allow Yang Le to break the control of that unknown ability. Otherwise, even if his mind was full of thoughts about S.P.E.A.R., Yang Le would likely not be able to recall anything about S.H.I.E.L.D.