Chapter 347 - 322: Transportation Contract: Old Ice Lolly

Stripping away the glamour of the Marvel World, Lille was resistant to this assignment because Natasha’s boss continuously exhibited a form of sly intelligence:

"I’ve set many temptations for you and meticulously designed this mission, you’re definitely going to accept it next."

But what exactly is on the ship?

No answer.

To put it bluntly, this boss is selfish and arrogant, treating his subordinates and collaborators with the attitude: I trust you, but don’t ask what we’re doing, just trust me.

The stakes were high, which led Lille to also gamble that Nick Fury wasn’t out to trick him, and that whatever was on the ship was indeed very important.

"Tanzania?" Black Widow didn’t understand.

"Yes, my people departed for Africa two days ago, expected to arrive in Tanzania in a month. I guess that’s why your boss sought me out.

Your ship was originally planned to set sail from Britain, cross the Atlantic to reach the west coast, right?"

"I don’t know."

"It must be so, then he intercepted communications near Britain, concealed the tracks, changed course towards the Mediterranean, crossed the Suez Canal, passed around Cape Agulhas heading south, perfectly aligning with my ship.

And I guess... the ship has already departed, without confirming that I would escort it, because they are already desperate."

Lille walked over to a world map on the wall of the reception room, tracing his finger along it as he pieced together the full scope of the event.

"Why?" Natasha was genuinely puzzled this time.

"Your boss went to great lengths to lure me into taking the job, but it seems that you aren’t just a simple organization.

A large, well-structured, professional agency with the head using a private name to contract a company suggests to me that he is... implicated in an intelligence breach.

He’s stealing from his own company, and the whole operation was probably conducted during a period of major online turbulence when information transmission was compromised.

But as the saying goes, if you walk by the river often enough, your shoes will get wet, right? If everything went smoothly, he could have finished up without anyone noticing."

"But how do you know the route map?"

"Just a guess." Lille glanced at Natasha, "Passing though the Suez Canal to reach Mei Country is a roundabout way; high-value targets are either from battlefields or Europe.

But excluding strategic-level weapons, I believe it more likely that the item came from Europe.

So the previous node on the shipping route is either Britain or another European port—but that’s irrelevant."

Natasha is an agent, and although she is well-informed, her profession dictates that she doesn’t overthink things.

With Lille’s explanation, she also started to think it might just be so.

This mission was also full of mysteries for her—Nick Fury had secretly contacted her through a private communication channel.

"So... what do you plan to do now? Can I assume you’ve taken the job?"

"Yes, I’ve taken it. Your boss should have heard that I’m sending goods to Africa—he better had known, or else I can’t help it.

Now, I will take full control. Do as I say and bring the goods to Tanzania, and I’ll handle it."

"No..."

"If not, get lost."

"...Okay." Natasha no longer argued, sensing it was pointless, "But you mentioned that the ship might have already left?"

"Why don’t you try contacting your boss?"

"We now only use a special way to communicate."

"Then tell him, I’ve taken the job, but the way he’s playing..."

Lille turned around, spreading his hands: "It’s very difficult, I can’t guarantee anything, and I have a question, why not use air transport?"

At this point, Natasha seriously said, "This is also what we initially wanted to warn you about: the air is not safe."

As she spoke, she took out a third document from her chest.

The document bag was labeled: Unclassified Aircraft Accident Files.

Lille looked at the document, "I am happy that you are willing to share intelligence, but isn’t your warning a bit too late?"

Frank had already left, if not for being extra cautious...

Natasha could only apologize: "We are short on personnel; I was out on a mission earlier, couldn’t spare anyone to make contact with you.

Since it’s urgent, I won’t stay long..."

Before she could finish, Lille had already moved towards the door, not looking back as he said, "Yes, go ahead, make it quick."

Natasha froze in place.

Apologizing was the killer move of every woman—

Yes, she had not given up using her best skill. She couldn’t believe that an 18-year-old virgin wouldn’t have any thoughts at all?

But Lille reacted as if avoiding the plague and left immediately, even giving the impression... that he was in a hurry to get home.

She looked down at her body, doubting her abilities for the first time.

...

Lille was busy, and the situation was urgent.

Most importantly, there was a very troublesome issue: communication at sea was poor, and Lille didn’t have reliable satellites available for real-time command to Frank.

So, a more reliable method was to have Wakanda’s people sail out and use wireless devices to contact Frank at sea.

That way, at least Frank could adjust his course in advance to meet that ship.

A transoceanic line was opened, and Lille directly contacted T’Chaka and their Royal Guard in Wakanda.

[Lille: Your Majesty, there’s a situation, quite urgent, a ship might head south through the Somali Sea.]

[Lille: I hope you could dispatch some people at sea to contact my men, to head north and meet the ship.]

[T’Chaka: Is it important?]

[Lille: The cargo is worth over 12 million US dollars, very important.]

[T’Chaka: Understood, Royal Guard, prepare to assist our friends.]

...

Leaving the building area, Natasha drove towards the outskirts, then took out a small pager—

It was a very old design, but as long as no one deliberately blocked the signal, there was almost no possibility of information leakage.

"Boss, he agreed, but he requested that the goods be directly sent to Tanzania in Africa for processing."

"Good, as long as he’s willing to take over, nothing else matters."

"Boss... he also said, you must be on fire, is that true?"

A brief silence followed on the other side.

"It’s true, I’m tightly bitten, almost no one can be trusted."

"Who is escorting the ship?"

"It’s Clint, you two are the only ones I can still trust and command—

Although it’s a bit late, I still want to know, what do you think of Lille?"

Natasha reviewed the entire conversation process, and honestly, thinking back, her first impression was:

This person might not be a man.

But setting aside that rather subjective judgment...

She thought of Lille’s calm demeanor, the way he touched the armrest of his chair while thinking, at that moment, she actually felt—

Do not interrupt his thinking.

She was an agent, all her outward expressions should be controllable, but at that time, that thought really affected her actions.

No matter the reason, this was rare.

"He absolutely can’t be an 18-year-old boy."

Natasha stated emphatically.

Being precocious is one thing, but the maturity of someone who has weathered great storms and someone who has not is quite different.

Others might believe Lille’s 18 years old as stated on his social security card, but Natasha wouldn’t, she trusted her own judgment more.

"Strange, but beneficial for us."

On the phone, Fury’s voice sounded tired.

"So, boss... what’s inside the ship?"

"A person."

A person they had just dug out from the Arctic ice.