Falsifying history is good business

Nick Fury realized that something was wrong when he received the Lucifer FedEx. According to the work rules of agents, using civilian channels to transmit key top-secret intelligence is a last resort, which is proof that the original intelligence system has completely collapsed.

So, under what circumstances would a master of hell choose this method to deliver a message?
If it weren't for the attachment that came with the package listing some transaction details that only the top brass of SHIELD and Lucifer knew, Nick Fury would even have thought the whole thing was a prank.

But even though I had the highest expectations about the seriousness of the matter before coming here, I still didn't expect to hear such explosive news from Lin You.

In the past, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. always wanted to delve into the unknown supernatural world, and was determined to master more unknown secrets, and it would be best if the power of S.H.I.E.L.D. could intervene in the operating system of the supernatural world; but when Count Goff showed mercy and was willing to reveal the information he had dreamed of, Nick Fury realized that the water here was too deep and he might not be able to grasp it.

Lucifer is dead? Shit! Shouldn't the Vatican be informed of this news first?
Lin You didn't give the SHIELD director too much time to digest his emotions, and asked immediately: "You must have checked who sent this package."

"It's a law firm that can't be any smaller. They take on all kinds of business just to survive, including keeping the client's belongings for a year and then mailing them to a designated address at a designated time. Although the firm doesn't look big, I have to say that they at least have some merits in terms of operating with integrity."

"So you didn't find any valuable clues there?" Lin You concluded.

"You can say that."

Lin You put away the key and stood up, saying casually: "Then I can only follow the clues given by Lucifer and go to the bar. The things should be hidden in his residence upstairs. I wonder if the things He left for me are still there after being searched by those angels?"

"Have any angels searched the Lux bar? My agents haven't seen anyone go in or out of there."

"Agent? Surveillance angel?" Lin You looked at Nick Fury as if he were a fool. "Do you know why humans have never seen angels since the end of the Bible story? Because angels don't want to be seen."

As he spoke, Lin You opened the dimensional door leading to Lux Bar; he had been there more than once and was very familiar with the place. The director of SHIELD hesitated for a second or two, but still followed him. As a result, he looked unhappy when he walked out from the other side of the door.

"If you want to vomit, just walk away. It's normal to not be used to it the first time."

"No need, I'm fine; it just made me think of my old days in the army." Nick Fury pressed his hand against his stomach and took deep breaths of air.

Hearing what the director of SHIELD said, Lin You stopped paying attention; when he was in the Demon Hunter world, he had heard that Geralt and his group of demon hunters did not like the Warlock Portal, and would rather ride a horse or even walk when the road was not far. Similar problems are probably common problems for people with keen perception, but he didn't expect Nick Fury to be one of them.

When I walked into the bar, I found that the interior had already been renovated, but it was covered with thick white dust-proof cloth. Thanks to its location in a safe neighborhood, and perhaps with the help of S.H.I.E.L.D., although it has been vacant for a long time, no homeless people dared to break in and take over.

I used the key to unlock the elevator and went up to the top floor, where I saw a similar situation; the large pieces of furniture were covered with dust cloth, with a few rays of sunlight filtering through the gaps, making the cloth appear an eerie white color; the entire space was filled with the depressing atmosphere of a horror movie set.

Lin You waved his magic wand, lifted the white cloth and threw it into the corner, then opened the curtains to let the sunlight in; the room was suddenly filled with light, and its ostentatious and luxurious true appearance was revealed.

No matter which version of Lucifer, he has never been the kind of person who likes to keep a low profile. The decoration style of this room is naturally completely based on its owner.

“Those particularly dazzling decorations should be made of real gold, right?” Lin You turned to ask Nick Fury, the person in charge of the decoration, or he could also be called the contractor.

The director of SHIELD shrugged and said, "He paid for it himself, so he can use whatever he wants. This gold is the product of Lucifer's restraint. If he wasn't afraid that the building would collapse due to the excessive weight, he would probably have replaced even the floor tiles with pure gold."

Lin You asked again: "Since the construction is entrusted to you, with so much gold raw materials, have you ever thought of cutting some of the costs? You must install eavesdropping devices or something, right?"

"The business area downstairs is indeed there, from the dance floor to the booths, including every private room, it's all packed; as for the accommodation upstairs... do you think I'm a fool, to offend the master of hell?"

"No wonder you didn't notice the angels breaking in." Lin You waved his magic wand, and a faint holy breath could be discerned in the air flow, which could only be the trace left by the angels when they searched the bar.

"Although it looks like nothing has been moved in the room, it is exactly the same as on the construction drawings. But if, as you said, this place has been searched by the angels more than once, what do you think they will find?"

"Of course, I'm looking for things that are not noticed by angels and demons."

"What do you mean?" Nick Fury was puzzled.

"Don't you understand? Lucifer has already given us a clear hint." Lin You raised the two keys and said, "Use purely human means to send the package, without any elements of heaven or hell. What we are looking for is a purely human creation in this room, just like these two keys, without any factors that would attract the attention of angels or demons; of course, if there is something with the aura of angels or demons, it would have been taken away by the angels long ago."

"Are you sure the things are still hidden here and haven't been taken away by the angels?"

"I'm not sure; however, since the angels didn't want to alert others and kept the furnishings of this room basically unchanged after the search, it means we still have a chance. I hope they overlooked the creations of those 'humble mortals' when they searched."

Lin You looked around, but his tone showed uncertainty. He was sure that until the plan to rebuild the Endless Family was successful, there would be angels stationed in this room - it might even be seraphim like Michael or Gabriel stationed there; for such a long time, and in such a small room, no matter how secretly Lucifer hid, he could not guarantee that he would not be discovered.

"'Creations of lowly mortals'? They're everywhere in this room, and most of the ornaments and furniture were purchased and custom-made by us. It would take days to look for them one by one. Why don't I transfer a group of people from the bureau over here? They're all good at searching." It goes without saying that Nick Fury's suggestion meant that he was starting to have some tricks up his sleeve again.

Lin You said slowly: "I must remind you that what we are doing now is essentially helping a devil to rebel against God. Are you sure that every one of your subordinates can accept this?"

Nick Fury was silent.

Unlike the Eastern "trading with gods with incense", in Western society, religious belief is an issue that cannot be ignored. Although every SHIELD agent has undergone a loyalty test, none of the test contents are directly related to God or the devil.

SHIELD always says that the world is not ready for the supernatural; in fact, they themselves are not ready for it either - or they are still not ready enough.

"Don't worry about not having enough time. We have plenty of time." Lin You knew the current situation in the God Realm very well. The plan to rebuild the Endless Family was successfully completed. God no longer needed to pay attention to a defeated traitor; let alone spending several days searching the room, he could even wait for several weeks.

In addition, Lin You had another vague hunch; since Lucifer specially sent the key to him, it was very likely that the relevant clues were things he had come into contact with or talked about during his time with Him.

Therefore, the most important thing now is to look up all the contents related to Lucifer in the memory and see if there is anything related to a certain item in this room.

As soon as this thought came to his mind, Lin You's attention was attracted by the bar counter in the corner of the room.

As a devil who enjoys pleasure, it is not surprising that Lucifer built a private bar in his residence; it is also normal to have a wine cabinet that takes up the entire wall in the bar. Lin You's eyes kept wandering over the wooden wine cabinet.

The shape of the wine cabinet is very ordinary. It is a large cabinet, but the inside is cut into various square grids of different sizes. Most of the squares are slanted, which makes it easier to store wine bottles. A small number of square grids are dotted among them, dividing the entire wine cabinet into well-proportioned spaces.

"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with the wine?" Nick Fury noticed that Lin You was abnormal, but he couldn't figure out what was going on no matter how he looked at him.

Lin You did not answer, but took out his magic wand and lightly tapped it on his palm, and a phantom of an object constructed by magic power appeared.

It was a handicraft formed by many long wooden pillars of different sizes interlaced with each other, and its angle was constantly changed by the magic wand; when it finally stopped, Lin You raised his hand so that one side was facing him and parallel to the wine cabinet.

"So you can see the problem, right?"

Nick Fury walked closer and looked in the direction indicated by Lin You, only to see that the side of the artifact facing him was exactly the same as the divided shape of the large and small grids inside the wine cabinet.

"What is this?" Nick Fury was surprised.

Lin You replied: "Luban Lock, a traditional Chinese handicraft, and the most complicated one that can be made at present."

"You did it?"

"Of course, I used some magic tricks to assist. Most people can't do it."

Nick Fury asked, "If this is the clue, then where is this...what kind of lock now?"

"It's ruined."

"What?" Nick Fury was shocked. I finally found the clue, and you said it was destroyed? It's destroyed, and you're still talking nonsense?
"The Lu Ban lock is not the key. It just reminds me that the secret is hidden in this wine cabinet that is exactly the same as the Lu Ban lock." Lin You clenched his palm, crushed the phantom of the Lu Ban lock, and walked to the bar counter.

The director of SHIELD followed closely, leaning on the bar and craning his neck to look inside, muttering non-stop: "I'm not curious, but I do want to know, is that lock special? Why did Lucifer take it as a clue?"

Mr. One-Eyed Dragon obviously didn't do enough homework. He didn't know what the Luban Lock was. He just thought of it as a magical thing from the supernatural world, so he started to inquire about it out of habit.

"There's nothing special about the Luban lock, it's just a traditional handicraft. The Luban lock in my hand is special because it used to be the key to the gate of hell..."

Nick Fury suddenly perked up, and then he heard Lin You slowly continue to say: "...model."

Nick Fury was hit so hard that he almost fell off the bar.

"Oh... the key to the gate of hell, turns out to be in the shape of this kind of lock?" The Director of SHIELD tried to cover up his embarrassing mistake.

"No, the key to hell can be in any shape. It's just that the last time Lucifer asked me to keep it for him, I turned it into a Luban lock and used it as a decoration in the living room."

Lin You answered casually while tapping the wine cabinet left and right with his wand; little did he know that the director of SHIELD behind him had widened his eyes.

"You? Have you ever kept the key to the gate of hell?"

"Why? What's so strange? When you're away from home for a long time, isn't it normal to entrust a trusted friend to keep the house keys?" Lin You asked as a matter of course.

"Of course, that's perfectly normal." Nick Fury decided to revise the intelligence level on the Forresters as soon as he returned. This must be a unique file that only the Director could access. "Now... where's the key?"

"Yes, it was last time in London when you asked Lucifer to be the middleman to meet me."

"Oh..." Hearing this answer, Nick Fury didn't know whether he was relieved or disappointed.

"This wine cabinet is custom-made by hand. Do you know where the studio that made it is?" Lin You looked at it for a long time but couldn't see the problem directly; but it was normal. If it could be seen at a glance, the angel would have moved this thing away long ago.

Even now, Lin You couldn't guarantee that the wine cabinet in front of him was still the original one left by Lucifer.

"I'll ask the people at headquarters to check. The origin of every item here is recorded." Nick Fury said as he was about to make a phone call, but was stopped by Lin You.

"No need to ask so many questions, just check the name." The magic wand gently tapped an inconspicuous corner of the side of the wine cabinet, where a small studio abbreviation and trademark pattern were engraved.

Nick Fury scanned the pattern and sent it back to the SHIELD headquarters as instructed, while Lin You slowly opened a bottle of wine and waited for the result.

The United States is the territory of S.H.I.E.L.D., and although Count Goff is not completely without manpower here, there is no need for him to compete with the local tyrants for the limelight. If he had not intended to use S.H.I.E.L.D.'s resources, he would not have allowed Nick Fury to come with him in the first place.

"Let me make it clear first. If I find out anything, I will share it with you. And you also have to share with me the whole cause and effect of the incident." The Director of SHIELD had a rare opportunity to control Lin You, so he naturally would not let it go easily.

"Information sharing? The water is very complicated here. Can you grasp it?" Lin You sneered.

"That's something I need to consider." Nick Fury responded, very dissatisfied with Lin You's contempt, "Listen, I won't intervene in situations that are beyond my control. All I need is information and data. As long as you guarantee my right to know, S.H.I.E.L.D. and I will provide you with all the support we can... Deal?"

Lin You carefully looked at the director of SHIELD for a long time, as if to determine whether this self-aware guy in front of him had been replaced. However, considering that there are no Skrulls in this world, it seems that this one-eyed man in front of him is still credible.

"make a deal."

When both parties reached an agreement, the reply from SHIELD headquarters also arrived. (End of this chapter)