With the target having disappeared, the military couldn't maintain the blockade any longer.
After all, this wasn't some remote wilderness, but New York City—one of the world two major financial centers alongside London.
Every minute of martial law and blockade would cause significant economic losses.
Even with the military resources, they couldn't act recklessly.
So when Coulson drove Shi Xiaolei away from Hell Kitchen and back to the street where he had first gotten out of his car, the military had already issued orders to withdraw.
Except for a few small teams left to clean up, most soldiers had boarded their transport vehicles and were retreating toward the military base outside the city.
Noticing Shi Xiaolei subtle glances from the corner of his eye and guessing his thoughts, Coulson asked while steering the wheel.
"Do you need someone to tow your car for repairs? From what I understand, your vehicle was damaged in the recent incident."
"No need, Stark has sent people."
After answering, Shi Xiaolei suddenly realized something.
"Wait, from the way you're speaking, it sounds like you were already there?"
"Yes."
"Unfortunately, communication with the military wasn't very smooth. To avoid misunderstandings, we had to hold our position."
Coulson explained.
"No wonder you were able to find me."
"It was quite a coincidence."
"On my way over, I received a report. That agent had been monitoring your home for a period of time and remembered your appearance."
"He informed me that you had some friction with the military, which is how I knew you were at the scene."
Coulson said with a smile.
Although he could understand the reasoning, being the subject of surveillance still left Shi Xiaolei feeling uncomfortable.
"..."
"Did I say something that caused a misunderstanding?"
Perhaps having prepared this explanation beforehand, or perhaps trying to remedy the situation on the spot, Coulson clarified in a natural tone.
"After reaching our cooperation agreement, we removed all observation points. Perhaps you didn't hear me clearly, I said 'had been'—past tense."
"Then how did he know about my friction with the military?"
"That's why I said it was a coincidence."
"At the time of the incident, he was on a mission in the building nearest to you."
Coulson replied smoothly.
"...You mean above that hot dog shop?"
"Yes."
"Well, alright then."
Still somewhat suspicious, but seeing Coulson insistence, Shi Xiaolei had no choice but to accept the explanation.
"That really is quite a coincidence."
"After receiving his report, I immediately contacted our technical department to track and locate your phone."
Showing a 'thank you for believing me' smile, Coulson continued.
"Combined with my understanding of you... the evidence proves my guess was pretty accurate."
Beyond explaining how he had appeared before Shi Xiaolei so quickly, Coulson also took the opportunity to cast the military in a bad light.
"You're not joking, are you?"
After hearing Coulson words, Shi Xiaolei was genuinely shocked.
That the military super soldier experiment had led to the Hulk creation wasn't surprising—as a transmigrator familiar with the original plot, Shi Xiaolei remembered this clearly.
What truly surprised him was that he had once again fluttered the butterfly wings, bringing some changes to this event.
Let's rewind the timeline a bit.
Since establishing that company with Stark, they had received many orders from official departments and secret agencies.
Without exception, these orders included two parts: one was the weakened version of the strength potion replicated by Stark, and the other was the original version that only Shi Xiaolei could provide.
The military was among the buyers.
Although as a Chinese person, Shi Xiaolei wasn't particularly eager to cooperate with the military, but because Stark had always maintained good relations with them, to avoid putting his friend in a difficult position, Shi Xiaolei ultimately relented and provided a small batch of potions to the military for Stark sake.
There wasn't much to begin with, and considering the large number of active-duty U.S. military personnel.
After obtaining the potions, the military never intended to distribute them. Instead, they took them directly to the laboratory and immediately began research.
Some researcher must have suggested a new approach, because after concluding they couldn't analyze the formula, the scientists simply changed their strategy—since the strength potion could increase the subject endurance, the red potion could aid recovery and partially offset physical damage during experiments, and the black potion could remove toxins and potentially counter radiation.
Seeing these potions as excellent auxiliary materials, they used all the remaining potions for their "creating super soldiers" project, and feeling more confident, they even discussed moving up the experiment date.
According to the original plot, the Hulk birth wouldn't have happened for several more months, maybe even half a year or longer.
But now, because they had obtained potions that didn't exist in the original storyline, the military research plan had undergone some changes, ultimately leading to the Hulk premature birth.
Of course, given SHIELD infiltration of the military, or considering Coulson current rank, he clearly couldn't have figured out the truth in such a short time.
So when he told Shi Xiaolei that "the potions contributed to the Hulk creation" he actually had no basis for this claim.
The fact that it matched reality was merely a coincidence.
As for why Coulson would say these things... the reason was simple: under Shi Xiaolei deliberate control, each time he provided original potions, the quantity was limited.
Both the military and SHIELD wanted them, and with demand exceeding supply, as a member of SHIELD, Coulson naturally wanted to see his side get a larger share.
"Look what happens when you sell to the military. If you had chosen us, there wouldn't be so many problems."
Though not explicitly stated, Coulson words clearly carried a persuasive intent.
He was undeniably trying to turn Shi Xiaolei against the military.
If it had been someone else, they would likely have fallen for it.
Unfortunately for Coulson, Shi Xiaolei was a transmigrator.
Whether to reduce the supply to the military was a separate issue, but Shi Xiaolei had no intention of increasing the number of potions supplied to SHIELD.
After all, SHIELD had not yet experienced its "rebirth from destruction" and a very dangerous snake was still hidden within.
If the military could recklessly conduct human experiments, how much better could HYDRA be? In terms of threat to the entire world, HYDRA was even more dangerous than the U.S. military.
Increasing the supply of potions to SHIELD would only benefit HYDRA.
Given those maniacs nature, they would certainly create problems far worse than "the Hulk rampaging through New York streets."
"I never imagined things would turn out this way... Sigh, it's really hard to accept. I need some time to think."
All the way to his front door, Shi Xiaolei never took the bait by saying what Coulson wanted to hear.
Instead, he pretended to feel responsible and guilty, remaining silent the entire journey.
Only when he got out of the car did he turn back, leaning on the car window to say to Coulson.
"Thank you for bringing me home."
"...You're welcome."
(T/N: Like the story fellow daoist?you can read 20 chapters ahead on my P@treon [[email protected]/DaoistRongyi] Thanks for your support! 😊)