Hiring employees was no simple matter.
He definitely didn't want to run into the kind of mess that happened last time.
At the same time, he still needed a few high-level technical talents.
After all, The King of Fighters was, at its core, just a simple arcade fighting game—something he and Liva could develop entirely on their own.
But for the upcoming PC blockbuster, he would definitely need some help.
Now that Antarctic Games had made a name for itself, countless people were dying to join.
They weren't just looking for a job—they wanted to work for a legendary company.
How could Xu Dan not understand what those people were thinking?
That was one side of it—but with his company's rapid rise, he was inevitably infringing on the interests of other game companies.
As the saying goes, peers are rivals. Those long-established giants of the industry—how could they possibly sit still without stirring up some trouble?
This wasn't alarmist talk. He'd already received intel: Blizzard Games was trying to seize the Asian market, but their operations had been completely crushed by The King of Fighters' overwhelming success. They were stewing with resentment.
Just as he was pondering this, the phone on his desk suddenly buzzed.
When he picked it up, he was surprised to see the name of someone he hadn't heard from in ages—Nick Fury, the black director of S.H.I.E.L.D.!
This man had really done him a huge favor.
It was thanks to their collaboration that The King of Fighters had gotten such massive publicity, leading to his company's current success.
"Hello?"
"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Xu. Looks like you're riding high these days, huh?"
On the other end, Nick Fury's voice carried a teasing tone—but beneath it, there was real envy.
Damn it. If he'd known that a single round of promotion could bring Xu Dan this much profit, he would've raised the stakes back then!
Maybe even forced Xu Dan to join S.H.I.E.L.D.—and that wouldn't have been excessive at all!
But now, the deal they struck couldn't be changed.
Hearing this, Xu Dan chuckled. He was long tired of polite chatter, so he cut straight to the point. "Director Fury, sounds like you've run into some trouble?"
Providing technical assistance to Fury had been part of their original deal.
If Fury needed help, he was obligated to lend a hand.
And knowing Fury's personality, if he was calling now, it definitely wasn't just for a friendly chat.
Something was up.
Sure enough, Fury's tone dropped low and heavy. "I don't know which son of a bitch hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s system. We've managed to recover our data, but I'm sure they left something behind. And worse—we can't even trace the real IP!"
"S.H.I.E.L.D. got… hacked?" Xu Dan froze.
Damn, this bro is 666!
Someone actually dared to hack S.H.I.E.L.D.—and even S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn't do anything about it?!
That's genius-level stuff right there!
"That's right, you heard me," Fury growled. "Our database gets attacked more times in a year than there are sperm in 300 milliliters! We've always been defending and striking back. But this time, we defended successfully… and still failed to hit back!"
"So you want me to help you track them down?"
"Not just that. I also want you to run a full diagnostic and tell me why the hell our firewall keeps sprouting holes!"
Listening to the director's rising anger and profanity, Xu Dan couldn't help but smile faintly.
Why would an organization as secretive as S.H.I.E.L.D., armed with top-tier tech, keep getting hacked so often?
The answer was obvious—it had to be internal.
Maybe others wouldn't see it, but as a transmigrator, Xu Dan understood perfectly well.
S.H.I.E.L.D. might look impressive on the outside, but inside it was riddled with rot—terminally ill.
Those "loopholes" in the firewall? Almost certainly planted by their own people.
Glancing at the flickering monitor before him, Xu Dan smiled and said, "Director Fury, you know me—I'm just a small-time game developer, not some world-class hacker. Isn't this a bit beyond my pay grade?"
He was refusing—politely.
If this really was an inside job, he wanted nothing to do with it.
Once he intervened, Hydra's moles inside S.H.I.E.L.D. would mark him as a target. And he had no desire to spend his life dodging assassins.
"Oh, cut the crap! You can fool everyone else into thinking you're just a game developer, but you'll never convince me of that!" Fury barked.
Hearing the director's firm tone, Xu Dan sighed helplessly.
Looks like there was no wriggling out of this one.
Fine. So be it.
If someone dared come after him—he'd kill one if one came, two if two came.
He wasn't the same powerless nobody he used to be. With the superhuman Goenitz serving under him, he had nothing to fear.
"All right," Xu Dan said at last. "Since you've held up your end of our deal, I won't make this difficult. Send someone to pick me up."
This time, Fury didn't respond. He simply hung up, then barked an order to one of his agents to fetch Xu Dan immediately.
Less than twenty minutes later, a sleek black van pulled up in front of Antarctic Games.
Though not new, the vehicle gleamed from meticulous care—proof that S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't short on funds.
Xu Dan strode downstairs and, without hesitation, pulled open the door and climbed in.
"Hello, Mr. Xu," greeted the man inside—dressed in classic agent attire: suit, tie, and dark shades.
Xu Dan gave the man a curious look—and noticed something alarming. His hairline was… astonishingly high.
That familiar bald spot…
"Phil Coulson?" The name slipped out before he could stop it.
The agent froze for a second, then slowly lifted his hand to remove his sunglasses.
"Didn't expect you to still recognize me after all this time."
Coulson remembered well—back when they first met, Xu Dan could barely stand him.
That hostility had been so intense it was a wonder guns hadn't been drawn.
But now, thanks to Fury's partnership, Xu Dan's little studio had grown into a major company.
And Xu Dan himself had gone from broke small-time boss to billionaire CEO.
Coulson was honestly impressed. For a man who'd risen so fast, Xu Dan showed no arrogance at all.
That kind of composure… was rare.
"Heh, I don't have amnesia," Xu Dan shot back with a sideways glare.
Coulson sighed, started the engine, and thought to himself—All right, guess my earlier assumptions were complete nonsense.
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(End of Chapter)