Chapter 117: The Winter Soldier Project (Silver Sovereign Zhuo Xiao Extra 4/50)

If this had been the Black Widow who grew up in a later age, she might have said, “What you say sounds fine, but it means nothing.”

A person’s worldview settles once they reach adulthood.

It was the young and inexperienced who were easiest to manipulate—especially two fourteen-year-old girls.

Worse still, the memory implantation and brainwashing techniques the Russians took such pride in were utterly useless against Mei Mumu.

“Big brother, are you planning to betray your country?”

“Betray it? No! If Stalin hadn’t forced me to assassinate Hitler or do something equally ridiculous, I never would have considered it. But if Stalin treats me as nothing more than a disposable tool and wastes me for no reason, then I’ll choose to leave.”

At last, Mei Mumu revealed his true intentions.

Natalia trembled in his arms, yet she did not pull away.

She was tacitly agreeing.

Her understanding of the state was still extremely vague. Although she had received plenty of communist education in her early years, after becoming an orphan, being rescued by Mei Mumu, growing up under his care, and eventually receiving the legacy of a legendary thief, her heart had gradually come to lean toward him instead.

Mei Mumu continued, “I don’t have any particular hatred for the Soviet Union. I simply have a premonition that the world will eventually undergo a transformation, and that a much greater stage will require our strength.”

“A stage?”

“That’s right! Since powers beyond those of ordinary humans have already appeared, why shouldn’t we believe that even more supernatural beings exist—beings who threaten the Earth and all of humanity? Besides, I’m someone who has received a revelation. Would you like me to share it with you? It may be painful.”

Natalia gently released Mei Mumu, then met his eyes once more. Pressing her lips together, she said, “Yes. Please do.”

In a single night, Mei Mumu gave two Black Widows divine revelations. The thought alone was enough to leave one speechless.

Then, within an illusory vision, Natalia experienced in full how Mei Mumu had faced Dormammu.

His fear, pain, unease, and perseverance became her own.

After experiencing the suffering endured by the 2016 version of Mei Mumu more than a dozen times, Natalia could finally bear no more. At a mere thought from her, Mei Mumu allowed her to withdraw.

“Was that… another version of you?”

“Yes. I think it must be. It was me in 2016, having crossed through time and reached the next century. I find it bizarre and unfathomable too, but I believe it’s real. The me from the twenty-first century returned to warn us that Earth will face the most terrifying catastrophe imaginable, one that may even destroy all of humanity. He wants me to gather a group of powerful people to face the apocalyptic battle of the future.”

Mei Mumu continued spinning his tale.

Was it a lie?

No.

It was all true—and would soon become true.

At that moment, he was playing the part of a holy charlatan, determined to manipulate the two young Black Widows into complete submission.

Once they truly lived through half a century and witnessed everything come to pass, they would believe even more firmly that Mei Mumu was a prophet sent by God.

Natalia took a deep breath, her chest heaving heavily. Mei Mumu had no time to admire its ample rise and fall; he was more concerned with whether his deception had worked completely.

“What else do you know? Is there anything that will happen soon?”

“On September 8, 1943, Italy will announce its surrender!”

Mei Mumu had reached the pinnacle of prophetic fraud.

It was an event less than six months away, so at most he could fool them for half a year. The Soviet Union had already begun its counteroffensive, but no one could know how far it would go. The collapse of the Axis powers, however, was unquestionably of enormous symbolic importance.

“I understand, Big brother. I believe you. And compared with the survival of humanity, the continued existence of a country is utterly insignificant.”

If Mei Jiecao had merely smeared the Soviet Union by emphasizing its wickedness, Natalia’s intelligence would eventually have led her to see through him—and she would one day come to hate him.

But by presenting a still greater vision, he had elevated the entire matter to an entirely different level.

At that moment, Mei Jiecao was practically a saint with golden wings unfurled behind him.

Natalia was utterly convinced. “Big brother Mei Jiecao, wherever you go from now on, I’ll go too!”

Almost the instant Natalia spoke those words, the system issued another prompt:

“Congratulations, Host. You have completely altered Natasha Romanoff’s destiny and gained her allegiance. As a special reward, you have received five points of Destiny Deviation.”

Even Mei Mumu began breathing rapidly.

He had never expected Natalia to be so important at this point in time. One person alone had given him twenty points of deviation value in total.

Looking at things now, traveling back to 1943 and abducting two generations of Black Widows in one stroke had been an absolutely brilliant move.

Mei Jiecao gently stroked her little head. “We may be going to America soon. Not because we intend to serve those damned Yankees, but because for quite some time to come, the only way you’ll be able to live a somewhat better life is under Yankee protection.”

“Mm.”

“It’s getting late. I’m worried your dormitory may conduct a room inspection. Go back quickly.”

“All right. Oh, Big brother, let me show you something.”

Natalia stepped back two paces, then bent slightly forward. Right before Mei Mumu’s eyes, her entire figure suddenly grew faint, becoming as translucent as a ghost.

“Wow! That’s impressive.”

Mei Mumu had to admit that Natalia possessed remarkable talent as a thief. The most famous and fundamental rogue ability in World of Warcraft—invisibility—she had already mastered to seventy or eighty percent.

With her presence suppressed, she was like a phantom. Given a little more time, she might be able to achieve true optical invisibility, becoming impossible for human eyes to detect.

The night passed without causing any disturbance.

Afterward, Mei Mumu reported to the Red House that Yelena had visited him the previous night and received another one of his legacies.

What the monitoring station heard, however, was a conversation someone had tampered with.

Apart from a few irrelevant lines, it consisted mostly of a long stretch of breathless moaning.

There was nothing Mei Mumu could do. Without that cover, people would question what he had been doing in the middle of the night. Did they really think the traitors beneath him would not report it after he had cleared everyone else away?

The next day, Mei Mumu noticed several instructors giving him knowing looks.

In truth, the situation in the black room was even more outrageous. The graduation ceremony was practically a test of the trainees’ ability to seduce men, with people moaning and groaning all over the place.

Mei Mumu could only think:

Such shameless, despicable, lowlife behavior… Could you let me join in too?

The days passed one after another, and the order from above could no longer be delayed.

In response to the Americans’ Super-Soldier Program, the Russians’ Winter Soldier Program had also reached a point of desperate urgency.

A senior intelligence official summoned Mei Mumu and issued his orders.

“This is a top-secret directive from the General Secretary. Our Winter Soldier Program is far behind the Americans’. We need to catch up immediately. However, we lack a substantial body of human-experiment data. That is why we need you, the Black Widow, and the reserve Black Widow to make a trip to the island nation in the east.”