Investigation

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Early the next morning, Mariko came to accompany her for breakfast. After breakfast, she took her on a tour of the famous Senso-ji Temple. In the afternoon, they went to Shinjuku, and explored around, and in the evening, they returned to the Yashida residence, where Yashida Shingen wanted to have a deep conversation with her.

"Miss Johnson is a person highly valued by Director Fury. I wonder what your opinion is on the current situation of the Yashida Corporation?" To appear solemn, Shingen asked in English.

Am I highly regarded by that braised egg? I wasn't aware! But Daisy also couldn't just belittle herself as a passerby. She put on a mysterious air and said, 'The Yashida Corporation has significant problems.'"

"Oh? Where do you think the problems lie?" Shingen Yashida continued to inquire.

Daisy looked at him carefully. Did he really take her for a fool? After some thought, she replied, "There are both internal and external issues."

Shingen Yashida sighed, "Is it so obvious now? Even outsiders can see our weaknesses!"

Daisy was somewhat surprised. This conclusion was based on her memory and various pieces of information. Whether she could draw such a conclusion solely from the clues revealed by the outside world, she couldn't say.

Shingen Yashida knew his own affairs. In his view, the old devil was concealing it well and shouldn't be easily exposed. Now, with Daisy's confident tone, it indicated she was Nick Fury's confidante, with extraordinary sources of information. Perhaps S.H.I.E.L.D. had agents hidden within the top ranks of the Yashida Corporation.

"I hope S.H.I.E.L.D. can help me through this difficult time." He spoke sincerely, his attitude firm.

Daisy wanted to say he misunderstood, but she figured he wouldn't believe her. She hesitated for a moment, wondering how she could deflect the matter without losing face.

"Forgive my presumption, but it seems the head of the family can't currently decide on the direction of the Yashida Corporation's development, right?" She hinted, implying that he wasn't qualified to negotiate terms with S.H.I.E.L.D.

"That's why I need S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help, to help me take control, provide security, borrow funds, and make some guarantees until the Yashida Corporation returns to normal."

"Haha—" Daisy laughed. This guy was really not polite. Her tone became somewhat sarcastic, "This asking price is quite high. How much bargaining power does the Patriarch have now?"

"Yashida can transfer a portion of the shares to S.H.I.E.L.D."

Daisy chuckled, "You're in debt by over tens of billions. What do we need shares for? To help you repay your debts?"

"We can give you the Adamantium Alloy."

Daisy became even more disdainful, "The alloy is still in your father's hands, right? You're just using us to help you rise to power."

Neither of the two bargaining chips impressed Daisy. Shingen Yashida was not discouraged; he thought for a moment, "S.H.I.E.L.D. and I have a common enemy."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. has no enemies," she said, uttering words even she didn't believe.

"You do, and it's here in Japan."

To strengthen his argument, he continued, "Someone is constantly embezzling funds from the Yashida Corporation, but despite my numerous investigations, I haven't found anything. I suspect that the old thing is secretly making his move. He's not willing to part with his wealth, not even a penny for me!"

Yashida Shingen's face was filled with bitterness, revealing a deep-seated hatred for his own father.

Daisy speculated that the old man Yashida, had gathered funds to support Hydra. In the current globalized world economy, with soaring prices, organizations like Hydra, despite their vast resources, must be facing difficult times. Their Nazi gold and Southeast Asian gold was likely depleted long ago. Without obtaining funds from elsewhere, now they are running out and their situation might be dire.

With major countries crazily printing money, and engaging in trade wars, poor Hydra found itself caught in the middle, exchanging real gold and silver for paper currency every day. It feels sad to think about it.

Now, with the subprime crisis in full swing, the prices are rising intensely. Objectively speaking, real estate developers and major banks also contributed to fighting against Hydra...

The conflict between the Yashida father and son stemmed from the fact that the old man was using his own money to subsidize the organization, a fact unknown to his son. Instead, Shingen created an imaginary scenario where his father would rather throw money into the sea than give it to him.

The father-son relationship had now become akin to that of enemies. If they have some misunderstanding, just keep misunderstanding. Daisy didn't think it had anything to do with herself, mildly frowning, and continued listening to Yashida Shingen's complaints.

"The old man has been siphoning off the company's funds, and then he pinned all the mess on me! Once exposed, I become the scapegoat..."

Daisy patiently listened to his grievances for five minutes before he touched upon the topic that interested her.

"They've acquired a large quantity of daily necessities, machinery, energy, and chemical materials from the market. So many things!" Shingen Yashida waved his hands, legally speaking, all these were purchased using his money! It hurt him!

Daisy inquired, "Where did the supplies go? How much in quantity?"

Shingen Yashida took out a USB drive, took out a laptop, and handed it to Daisy, gesturing for her to look for herself.

Daisy quickly opened the file and scanned through it.

Indeed, there were numerous supplies, enough to support a whole city. Various essential items were visible, with a duration that could be traced back up to thirty years.

This evidence, in the short term, couldn't be directly linked to Hydra. Even Nick Fury probably believed that Hydra was obliterated after World War II, and a large quantity of supplies going missing was challenging to connect to an organization like Hydra, which was already archived.

Moreover, Shingen Yashida's data showed that the supplies didn't enter a base in Japan, as she had predicted, but rather continued south, disappearing into the vast ocean.

It wasn't the "The Crown" base in Kyoto, nor was it the underwater city "Ichor" base.

How many Hydra bases were there in the southern hemisphere? Daisy only remembered the recruit training base "Purgatory" in New Zealand, the weapons center "Tarantula" in Australia, and the "Hive" on an unknown island in the Indian Ocean.

She didn't know which specific base it was, and she even had doubts about whether it was being transported to Hydra.

Daisy couldn't guarantee that things would unfold as she anticipated.

Seeing her hesitation, Shingen Yashida lowered his voice, "You can take the USB drive with you to report. All the original documents are in my possession. You can also come with me to see for yourself."

Daisy thought over the entire situation. This matter couldn't be reported casually; if she were misled by Shingen Yashida, it would be a joke. "I won't take your word for it. I need to conduct further investigation."

"That's a reasonable request. Miss Johnson, you can verify it yourself." Shingen Yashida fully agreed. This was only their second meeting, and it would be strange if she believed everything he said.

Daisy packed up the materials, declined the offer of help from the other party, and left the Yashida estate alone.

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