The Death Knell

The battlefield full of gunpowder smoke can no longer be seen, but the bloody and cruel battle without gunpowder smoke is still going on.

Above the black ocean current, two cruise ships were sailing slowly side by side.

The night was quiet, but the only sound was the waves gently lapping against the hull of the boat. The rhythmic rushing sound was enough to make anyone who had never been on a boat sleepless.

But a whole ship full of people suffering from insomnia? Isn't it a bit too coincidental?

That's what Steve thought.

After he and Peggy left Hawaii, they did not go to Antarctica immediately. Going to Antarctica in this era required a lot of preparations, and the only suitable landing site was from Chile in South America.

Paige doesn't mind either. Anyway, one of them has retired and the other has resigned. They are completely idle. This is a rare holiday for both of them.

During World War II, Peggy worked underground for a long time in France. She was responsible for helping the Allies contact the guerrillas and the workers' uprising. She still had many acquaintances there.

And his girlfriend wanted to go to France, although Steve only had miserable memories there, such as being stuffed with rags.

But he didn't refuse. It was a romantic city. He now had some small money in his hand, part of which was retirement pay and part of which was pocket money given by his godfather.

In fact, although Steve regarded Mr. Wilson as his father in his heart before, he never said it out loud. After leaving the army and returning to daily life, he seemed to have an epiphany.

He is a super soldier and ages very slowly, but although Mr. Wilson does not look old, he is at least fifty or sixty years old.

If we don’t cherish the time we spend together now, won’t we have regrets in the future?

Su Ming did not correct him. After all, it was not time for Deathstroke's identity to be exposed yet. So in addition to two dog-skin cotton-padded jackets, Steve also got a lot of US dollars in Hawaii.

This made him feel as if Mr. Wilson was very happy.

Next, the two young lovers arrived in the UK first, met some friends, and then went to France and spent a few days in Paris.

Steve originally wanted to visit Berlin. It was true that he had been there during the war years, but he had never been able to walk on the streets during the day and sightsee around openly.

However, Peggy still stopped his idea. Maybe Steve didn't know, but she knew very well that the current situation in Berlin was too complicated and their identities were not suitable to appear there.

Berlin is divided into two parts: the east and west, the 'Galensen' supported by the SSR, the 'Stasi' supported by the Leviathan, plus the Hydra lurking in the dark...

I'm afraid that as soon as the two of them show up in Berlin, they will be greeted by rocket launchers immediately, and their vacation will definitely be ruined.

If you want to ask them what they learned during World War II, it is that the Hydra is really endless. Cut off one head and two will grow. It is really not an empty saying.

Now that they are no longer soldiers, why do they still need to participate in those things and slip away.

So they took a boat in Spain and prepared to go to Chile. It was not that there was no plane to take, and they also had acquaintances in the military.

But now the two of them were on vacation to relax and float slowly on the sea. It was different from the original trip where they were always on guard against torpedoes fired by submarines.

At this time, the two of them were enjoying the breeze on the deck at night, drinking cocktails, and looking at the cruise ship sailing alongside them under the moonlight not far away.

The evening breeze blew Peggy's golden curls, and she happily leaned on Steve's shoulder, reveling in the happy time between the two of them:

"Do you think we can see penguins in Antarctica? Do they really walk in a swaying way?"

"Um......"

Steve seemed a little distracted and responded absently.

Peggy was an agent, and her ability to detect facial expressions was a basic skill. She could analyze a lot of things from Steve's wrong tone, let alone such an obvious situation.

"what's on your mind?"

Her eyes became sharp, she sat up straight with the wine glass in hand, and stretched her face in front of Steve.

Steve came back to his senses. He smiled sheepishly at Paige and hugged her shoulders. She was wearing a floral skirt today, which looked very good.

"It's nothing. I'm looking at the ship in the distance. There seems to be something wrong with it."

Peggy looked at the cruise ship about two hundred meters away. The ship was about the same size as the cruise ship the two of them were on now, and the speed was about the same. However, it was pitch black, and it seemed that the passengers were all asleep.

"Hmm, you think it's a ghost ship, right?" Paige turned around and said helplessly to Steve.

Steve shook his head seriously. He poured the wine from the wine glass into his mouth and reached under the chair to fumble, but he did not touch the shield.

After being discharged from the army, the uniform and shield were handed back as national property, and the military elected a new Captain America. Now the new captain is selling national debt and preparing to use troops against Vietnam.

As for him reaching out to touch the shield, he was just used to it. Without the red, blue and white round iron plate, he really felt like something was missing.

"I'm not kidding, I think they're Hydra."

Peggy also saw his actions and couldn't help but sigh. She touched Steve's arm and said, "Let's go back to the cabin. I know you are still not used to it after you retired from the army, but you acted like you were looking for weapons and were suspicious. This must be because I have been too tired recently."

After saying that, she stood up and planned to take Steve back to the room.

But Steve grabbed her hand: "Honey, the last time I felt tired was the night before I received the serum. This ship was too close to us. This is definitely a problem. It may be to detect the shore-based radar. It creates a ghost image, just like the NAZI submarine’s best trick to avoid sonar incidents.”

Peggy sat down again and said angrily: "Yes, it is really a problem to not turn on a light when sailing at night, because even the lookout post is dark, and there are vague figures running in the darkness, the ship The draft is obviously very deep, and I doubt them. But what can we do? We are just two American civilians now, without even backup."

"I'll swim over and take a look, and you'll be my backup." Steve stood up and looked around, quickly removed the lid of the trash can in the corridor, weighed it in his hand a few times, and used it as a shield.

Paige sighed helplessly, pulled out the pistol from the holster under her skirt, checked the bullets and turned on the safety: "We clearly agreed that we were just going on vacation."

"Just think of it as a fitness activity. I did eat a little too much seafood risotto a few days ago." Steve kissed Paige on the face and said with a smile: "No doubt, I am not suffering from PTSD. My intuition tells me that the person opposite The ship is haunted.”

"This statement makes you look like a newly debuted superhero, not a veteran of many battles. You should be more certain." Paige smiled and pushed him. She was very confident in Steve: " But it’s best not to let me shoot, as this may trigger an international incident, and it’s best to capture evidence.”

"You really treat me as a new recruit."

Steve glanced at her helplessly, saluted mischievously, and jumped into the sea.

A distance of several hundred meters plus waves may mean death to ordinary people, but for super soldiers it's not even a warm-up exercise.

Steve couldn't remember how many times he swam across the English Channel in the past few years. The dark water at night was just like it is now.

Although Steve still helped SSR fight against Hydra after World War II, it was more of a confrontation between various spies, which was very uncomfortable for Steve, a man who always had an upright heart. .

Maybe Captain America can defeat a hundred with one on the battlefield, but in terms of playing tricks, a hundred of them are not as good as Nick Fury.

However, Fury's current situation is very ordinary. After the new SSR leader took office, although he, as a black man, was not asked to clean the house again, he was demoted because of his involvement in the last espionage case, and now he is at the bottom again. Field Agent.

It's like World War II was fought in vain.

But Fury didn't seem to care about anything. He was happier when he was out on the field. Although his dead face was expressionless most of the time, Steve could feel that he seemed to be a lot more relaxed.

While thinking about things, he paddled quickly and silently. He swam to the anchor of another ship like a fish. He pushed hard on the slippery hull and caught the anchor that had risen into the air. He hung on Go up and catch your breath.

The technique of fast swimming was taught to him by Namor. It is said that Namor left without saying goodbye, and he doesn't know what he is doing now.

Steve climbed onto the boat and crouched on the ground. The wooden deck was dry and felt solid.

He looked around.

It was said to be a cruise ship, but the front deck could be seen clearly under the moonlight and there were no amusement facilities at all, which further confirmed his suspicion.

He kept a low profile, moved quickly with the trash can lid on his back, and reached inside the cabin between the patrolling shadows.

The interior lighting is very dim, almost at the highest level of light control, and there are many guards patrolling and walking around floor by floor.

"Crack, quack," the sound of boots hitting the ground is very regular, and sailors don't wear boots.

Steve hid in a utility room, with one eye exposed from the crack of the door, watching the other person walking past with his back to him.

These patrolling sailors had firearms on them. After getting closer, they could see clearly that they were submachine guns produced by Wilson Enterprises. However, these guards communicated with each other in German, and it was obvious at a glance that they were the elite of the elite.

Just shout "Long live Hydra".

Peggy asked him to find evidence, so he couldn't just blow the ship into the sea. Although he heard that South America accepted many NAZIs after the war, there was still a question about what the ship was doing there.

He watched the other person's back disappearing into the darkness, pushed open the hatch of the utility room, and cautiously sneaked towards the bottom cabin step by step.

Since the cruise ship is not carrying passengers, it is carrying cargo. As long as you know what they are transporting, you can always analyze what Hydra wants to do.

If a ship wants to transport cargo, it must start loading from the bottom up, otherwise the hull will be unstable while driving. This is where the so-called ballast comes from.

The ship was eerily clean, there wasn't even a mouse, and Steve only felt cold in the darkness.

The ground floor was no longer a patrol, but sentries standing guard one by one. They guarded the hatches. The smell of German cigarettes stirred Steve's memories.

He took a deep breath silently, tore off the cloth covering his face from his trouser pocket, suddenly rushed out of the darkness, and rushed toward the sentry at the other party's door.

Without giving the opponent a chance to shoot, he threw his 'shield' and knocked down one of them, easily broke the neck of another guard, and then struck the fallen one with a finishing blow.

Picking up his shield and gun, he rolled and rushed through the door.

Haven't been discovered yet?

This made him very uncomfortable. He had been discovered time and time again in his previous covert operations. How could such a big movement not be noticed this time?

But it's also a good thing not to be noticed.

He closed the door gently, bent down and slipped to the side of the cargo pile covered with canvas. He took out the bayonet he just found on the corpse and cut the package to know what these people were transporting.

He thought about many possibilities, such as blue energy blocks, materials needed to make nuclear bombs, or some new weapon robots.

But he really didn't expect that the sacks under the canvas were all filled with ashes...