Chapter Sixty-Two: The Black Widow Is Not a Widow

After listening to Kyle’s warning, Satana bit her lower lip lightly, turned her face away, and bowed her head, abandoning any thoughts of resistance. It wasn’t the threat of the electric shock collar around her neck, but the oppressive force of Kyle’s overwhelming power.

Having fought him firsthand, Satana, an expert in tactical analysis, knew perfectly well that the young man before her stood at the pinnacle of global combat strength—an insurmountable mountain.

“I enjoy talking with clever people,” Kyle said with a faint smile, closing the door with a casual gesture and sitting across from Satana at the table.

Satana retorted with a hint of desperation, “No matter how you deal with me, I won’t say a word about the Red Room.”

At the mention of the Red Room, a trace of fear flickered in her eyes and on her face.

“That’s fine. I have no interest in the Red Room organization anyway. Sooner or later, I’ll flatten it myself,” Kyle replied, unconcerned, his fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop as he continued calmly, “What interests me is you, so I’ll only ask you some personal questions—nothing to do with your organization.”

As he spoke, his mind focused on the blue ability card hovering above Satana.

[Super Agent]...

Current status: Can be extracted. Cannot be possessed simultaneously with Super Soldier abilities.

“Can be extracted, but cannot be possessed simultaneously—isn’t that contradictory?” Kyle had wondered this since first seeing the card on Satana.

She was the only person he’d encountered so far with a blue ability card—Super Soldier was a blue card with a ‘rare’ prefix, limited to only a single extraction. If he extracted a blue card he couldn’t use, what would happen?

Kyle had come for this very experiment, and as he concentrated, he initiated the extraction of the [Super Agent] card.

Blue ability cards required being within a one-meter range and continuous, uninterrupted reading for thirty minutes.

‘Begin extraction. 1799, 1798...’

The countdown began.

Kyle took advantage of the time to converse with Satana. “The Red Room must have given you detailed information on me already. No need for introductions—how about you? Tell me about yourself.”

Satana responded coldly, “Don’t you already have my file? My name is Satana Caroline.”

“I doubt a Soviet agent infiltrating under a false identity would use her real name,” Kyle replied with a slight smile. Seeing Satana’s reluctance, he slowly took a small remote from his general’s coat pocket and fiddled with it.

“This isn’t about the Red Room. If you won’t cooperate with basic questions, maybe you should sample the collar’s electric shocks. Loss of bladder control and such—disgusting, really.”

“You devil,” Satana spat, glaring at Kyle, her eyes lingering on the remote. She gritted her teeth and finally said, “Wouldn’t it be easier if I just told you? My real name is Natasha Romanoff.”

“Oh? And your Red Room codename?” Kyle pressed on.

“Didn’t you just say you wouldn’t ask about the Red Room?”

“You’ve told me your real name, so what’s the harm in your codename?”

“You... bastard,” Natasha muttered, searching for words, finally settling on a term with deep resentment.

She was still only a young agent trained for a few years in the Soviet Red Room. No matter how much brainwashing or extreme training she’d endured, it couldn’t conceal the fact that she was a sixteen-year-old girl. Playing tricks and schemes, she was no match for someone as seasoned as Kyle.

Natasha pouted in defeat, “Codename: Black Widow.”

“A widow? I didn’t expect you to have married so young and lost your husband already. How unfortunate,” Kyle teased.

Natasha protested, shaking her head, “Bastard! Black Widow is a poisonous spider, not a widow!”

“I know, the black widow spider,” Kyle nodded in understanding. He’d suspected as much; now it was confirmed.

Black Widow Natasha—one of the founding heroes of the future Avengers. Though her combat prowess was considered low-tier, she often played a crucial role in certain battles, making her one of the more notable socialites among Marvel’s heroes.

Now she bore the codename Black Widow, and in the future, she would live up to the name—a black, thorny rose.

Kyle considered for a moment, then asked, “Natasha, why did you join the Red Room in the first place?”

“That’s obvious. To become the strongest,” Natasha replied with a cold snort. She’d lost her parents to war as a child, long since abandoned the identity of a weak, helpless girl.

“As far as I know, the Soviet Red Room implants false memories in new agents to ensure loyalty through brainwashing,” Kyle said, guiding her, “Do you often feel gaps or inconsistencies in your memories, or find them strange and convoluted?”

Natasha fell silent, lost in thought.

“Consider it carefully,” Kyle said, “The Red Room makes you stronger, but it also turns you into a soulless killing machine.”

With that, his attention returned to the extraction process.

‘3, 2, 1—extraction successful!’

The countdown ended, and a blue-glowing ability card appeared out of thin air in the card space.

Unlike previous cards, this one seemed to be repelled by the other ability cards, unable to augment his body, forced to the margins of the blank area.

Kyle focused his mind within the card space and took hold of the blue card to inspect it.

[Super Agent]...

Current status: Cannot be possessed simultaneously with Super Soldier. Can be assigned to another person.

Assignment card warnings:

‘The card space cannot contain two identical ability cards, except for [Extra Life].’
‘Each time a blue or higher-quality card is assigned, the assignment enters a three-day cooldown.’
‘Each individual may only be assigned one blue or higher-quality card, and it cannot be reclaimed. It can only be forcibly destroyed within a three-meter radius.’

“Can be assigned to another person?” Kyle’s heart skipped a beat as he discovered, besides extraction and sacrifice, a third major function—card assignment.

Assignment!

A card he couldn’t use himself could be extracted and assigned to someone else—

What did this mean? It meant that, as long as there were people like Natasha with original blue ability cards, he could, in time, cultivate a force with identical blue abilities.

Kyle’s eyes shone as he looked at Natasha. For the sake of his future plans and ambitions, he made a silent decision.

“Natasha can’t be handed over. She must remain in my possession!”