"What is this? A decryption report?" asked Steve.
Stark, while fixed on the projection screen, passed the file to Steve. Steve scanned the first page and sure enough, he found the name.
As he flipped further, the pages were filled with names, each followed by nationality and position. Steve's eyes gradually widened. He took a deep breath and exclaimed, "God! This cannot be a list of spies, right?"
"I'm afraid that is exactly what it is." Stark's face turned somber. He stated, "Just now, JARVIS produced an analysis report that managed to decrypt 201 people on the list, all with corresponding nationalities and positions identical to those on this list."
Steve gasped. He swallowed a gulp, then looked back at the list.
He fiddled with the pages a bit, then remarked, "This must come from the sixties or seventies. If this list surfaced back then, it could have sparked a third world war…"
"Exactly. To us now, the identities of many spies have been decoded, but back then, this information was top secret, especially these few..." Stark pointed at the nationalities listed under several names on the list. "See? Soviet Union and America. America and the Soviet Union…"
Steve sighed, "This is not surprising. People from that era knew, that combined, the intelligence agencies of all other nations could never match up to the KGB."
"Why is that?" Stark studied the list, clearly harbouring this doubt for some time. He asked, "People from the same era and level would have had comparable education levels and abilities, why would this situation occur?"
Steve pursed his lips, fell silent for a moment, then said, "You know? The other countries were not hit hardest by the Soviets themselves, but by spies within their own countries who voluntarily adopted Marxist beliefs..."
"Have you ever heard of the Cambridge Five?" Steve looked into Stark's eyes, "No pursuit of position or remuneration... and completely unafraid of death."
Stark's finger paused on the list, to Steve's surprise, Stark appeared regretful. Looking at the list, he said, "The story of the Cambridge Five may need rewriting..."
He flicked the edge of the folder, and said:
"... This is the sixth man."
"So, the question is, did Shiller compile this list?" Steve asked again, "If it was made by Shiller, that would mean he already began operating back in the 1960s. Could it be that he, Natasha, Nick, and myself all belong to the same era?"
Stark shook his head, "Earlier, I loaded a behavioral studies plugin into the mecha. According to Jarvis's report, the Shiller we know should indeed be a modern man."
"Wait, who did you just mention?" Stark's eyes widened abruptly, "Natasha, isn't Natasha Soviet?"
"You're not suggesting that Natasha could have been Shiller's lover, are you?" Steve asked, shocked, "That's impossible, don't you remember? Natasha's the Black Widow, her ex-husband is already dead."
"No, I mean, do you remember what Natasha told us about her own experience? Have you forgotten why she achieved a long life?"
"Red Room, the genetic modification experiment?"
Steve slowly turned his head, "I understand now."
"Shiller may indeed be an ordinary modern man, but his lover might be a long-life individual who underwent a genetic modification experiment in the Soviet Union's Red Room, just like Natasha."
"This could also explain why this badge and this file would appear here, they may have been left to him by his wife."
"It also corroborates our previous speculation. If Shiller really did meet his lover, a doctor at a psychiatric hospital in his youth and was healed by her, there would likely be a significant age difference between the two. But if one of them is a long-life individual like Natasha, then this problem doesn't exist."
"And that so-called neurodegenerative disease may have been a side effect of the genetic modification experiment."
Stark frowned, "Let's deduce this from the beginning."
"Natasha was likely born in 1928. Assuming Shiller's wife was her colleague, their ages should be more or less equivalent. Which means Shiller's wife was born around the 1930s and received the Red Room's gene modification experiment in the fifties or sixties. In the same year, she began her espionage activities."
"Over a period of more than ten years, she ascended to the higher-ups of an espionage organization in a certain country, all the while collecting intelligence on spies from different countries and compiling this list."
"To hide her identity, she may have become a doctor in a mental hospital and coincidentally encountered Shiller, who was undergoing treatment."
"No matter the method used, she was the one who cured Shiller, and they might have formed a unique bond."
"From this perspective, Shiller's wife may have had a similar level of academic competence, or even surpassed him, which explains how Shiller, even after wasting many years in a mental hospital, was able to keep up with his peers after resuming his education and achieve such high accomplishments."
"And one day, whether due to actual neurodegenerative disease, or repercussions from the gene modification, Shiller's wife was on the brink of death, forcing Shiller to put her in cryonic preservation."
"His wife entrusted her life's work to Shiller, but due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Shiller never had the chance to bring these items to Moscow…"
"That's possible." Steve offered a definite answer, yet he knitted his brows and then asked, "Now there's only one question left, where did this groundbreaking cryonic technology come from? Haven't you always said that Shiller is not a researcher?"
"Of course." Stark put down the file and crossed his arms, "Even saying he could change a light bulb would be overpraising him. He is absolutely not suitable for lab work."
"So if this technology wasn't his invention, whose could it be? This kind of groundbreaking technology looks like... wait, groundbreaking technology? You don't mean it's Soviet's..."
Just then, the shrill ring of a phone interrupted Steve's words. He took out his cell phone, and Natasha's voice came from the other end:
"Captain, could I trouble you to come over? About Baron Zemo, Hydra Leader's death, there are some things that need your cooperation for the investigation..."
"I also happen to have a question for you. I'm coming over right now."