Li Yunlong had given serious thought to his position in the world. Ultimately, he realized he had no desire to join S.H.I.E.L.D. Or any other organization. Yet in a place as treacherous as the Marvel universe, going it entirely alone carried immense risks. As long as nothing went wrong, all was well; but should he fall into a pit with no one around to lend a hand, what were the odds he could climb out on his own? Even superheroes sought to make friends and find allies, and S.H.I.E.L.D. Bent over backward to put together the Avengers. Since Li Yunlong did not wish to join an organization, he had to find a way to increase his margin for error. So long as that margin remained wide enough, risks within that threshold could not inflict fatal damage on him. Minor setbacks would merely serve as nutrients for his own growth. In this manner, he would spared the trouble of worrying about comrades or successors.
That brought up an inevitable question: human society had evolved into its current complex structure precisely out of necessity. Who was Li Yunlong to think he could single-handedly bypass these fundamental needs?
Li Yunlongs answer was disarmingly simple: he was neither the first nor the last person to think this way. Sages of old had already devoted their entire lives to researching these questions, leaving behind a rich legacy of fruit. No matter how inept he might be, surely he could manage to copy a few of their homework assignments! Thus, with the Essence Qi pill method as his foundation, vital blood energy as his channels, and sensory control as his central hub, Li Yunlong constructed his very own occult skill tree. Combining the knowledge harvested from the core of the Train to Paradise with the techniques he had developed himself, he had now forged four distinct paths-the four main branches extending from his skill tree. Soul architecture served as the primary trunk, while the other three branches consisted of yin-yang alchemy, dream orbit, and Essence Qi combat techniques. Originally, Li Yunlong had intended to establish a fifth branch dedicated purely to physical strength. However, the nature of vital blood energy was exceedingly complex; every single step forward demanded immense effort, making rapid progress difficult. Meanwhile, sensory control was merely a tool granted by his X-gene, and he lacked any other impressive moves in that area. After some deliberation, he had no choice but to set that idea aside for the time being.
At present, apart from Essence Qi combat techniques, the branches on his skill tree were all in their infancy. Because Essence Qi combat techniques consolidated nearly all the research he had conducted since arriving in this world, it appeared the most robust. But Li Yunlongs next research focus would inevitably shift to the central trunk: soul architecture. As long as the trunk grew strong and thick, the secondary branches would naturally rise along with it, even if he left them untouched. That was the primary advantage of establishing a skill tree-it allowed him to patch holes, address deficiencies, and foster balanced, coordinated development.
In truth, Li Yunlong had launched this new round of research back on September 26, 2000, the moment Captain Wales led his men away. Why had Li Yunlong turned his little house into a haunted house? He couldn't care less about grandstanding or asserting territorial dominance. What he truly wanted was to set up a target-to light a beacon in the pitch-black night, drawing the reckless moths into his net. Hunting down criminals in the dead of night required far too much effort, and grabbing random strangers off the street for experiments felt somewhat unethical. So he decided to play the part of Jiang Ziya, casting a straight hook three feet above the water. If the fish insisted on jumping onto the hook themselves, they could hardly blame Li Yunlong for catching them.
Initially, Li Yunlong called his technique for constructing the nighttime haunted house «shadow alchemy» – the very same method used by the Train to Paradise to manifest its physical form. To an ordinary person, the hull of the Train to Paradise looked and felt like solid steel, proving even tougher than regular armor plate when sprayed with machine-gun fire. Yet from an occult perspective, its structure was far from ideal: loose, fragile, and prone to dissipating faster than morning dew the moment the sun came up! That was why the branch Li Yunlong established was named yin-yang alchemy. He aimed to completely transcend the crude shadow alchemy of the Train to Paradise, fusing it with ancient Eastern Daoist principles of yin and yang to achieve far superior results. Of course, he had only just laid down the basic framework of this theory, and a long road lay ahead.
The haunted house certainly lived up to expectations, attracting a steady stream of curious visitors, including a good number of police officers. Li Yunlong treated them all with absolute impartiality, using every last one as experimental material, primarily focusing his tests on soul architecture. He didn't dare blindly copy the inherent architecture demonstrated by the Train to Paradise. Aside from the train itself, the highest-grade soul architecture Li Yunlong had access to was none other than the human body! Experiments involving the profound mysteries of the soul naturally carried extreme danger; even probing the outer boundaries was astonishingly risky. Li Yunlong deliberately partitioned his chosen subjects, conducting tests across different zones. This approach made progress agonizingly slow, but in the absence of a complete, refined theory, it remained the safest path available, allowing him to manage risks effectively and keep every subject alive whenever possible. The Los Angeles Police Department was indeed blessed with many capable officers. With their involuntary assistance, Li Yunlongs experiments made remarkably gratifying progress. The officers fully exerted their subjective initiative, conjuring up creative ideas that surpassed even Li Yunlongs initial expectations. Had he not feared driving them into a corner where they might join forces to fight him to the death, Li Yunlong would have loved to keep them caged like livestock, experimenting on them every single day.
Compared to these professional officers, the self-proclaimed occult enthusiasts from the general public were nothing more than a rabble. They talked a big game, each shouting louder than the last, but when it came down to actual action, hardly any of them even dared to set foot inside the house. Bah! A bunch of grandstanding opportunists who thought only of taking shortcuts, lacking the resolve to stake their own lives, yet brazen enough to dabble in the occult! Li Yunlong thoroughly despised such people. On the night of October 9, 2000, however, a group of over a hundred armed Christian fanatics led by a priest delivered a pleasant surprise. Their soul architectures were undergoing a transformation in a single, unified direction. In religious terms, they were those who had answered the Lord's calling, walking the divine path in pursuit of their God. But from Li Yunlongs perspective, this very transformation left their souls in a state of structural instability. If allowed to progress, they might have continued to improve, perhaps even transcending mortal limits to reach the state of a Holy Spirit. However, the far more likely outcome was that under the weight of internal and external pressures, they would fail to sustain the shift, collapsing mid-process and dying a gruesome death. Li Yunlong experimented on them as a collective whole, and as expected, the entire group suffered a complete collapse-their soul structures proved even less resilient than those of ordinary police officers!
After these Christian fanatics were driven mad by Li Yunlongs torment, nearly the entire group wiped themselves out in a wave of mutual slaughter. Following that incident, the attitude of the Los Angeles high command underwent a sudden, hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. Where they had previously turned a blind eye to Li Yunlongs house, starting on October 10, 2000, the police began intentionally cordoning off the surrounding area, forbidding those «civilians» from gathering there after dark for their nightly revels. This posed a bit of a nuisance for Li Yunlongs research. Deprived of experimental subjects voluntarily delivering themselves to his doorstep, he had to go through the trouble of venturing into downtown Los Angeles after nightfall to hunt down disenfranchised criminals. On the whole, the impact was minor and manageable. Human adaptability was truly formidable; within a few days, everyone had grown accustomed to the new normal. Even after dark, the area around Li Yunlongs house remained quiet, and the LAPD officers became used to catching glimpses of his figure haunting various corners of the city after nightfall. This uneasy calm persisted until November 29, 2000.
At five in the afternoon, Black Widow appeared outside Li Yunlongs house, wearing a sleek, form-fitting suit that accentuating her striking figure. Daylight still lingered, revealing nothing but a vast, empty dirt pit. She casually tossed a small box into the crater, then turned and boarded a nearby command vehicle. Flanking the vehicle were rows of parked automobiles, where numerous technical specialists bustled about, setting up an array of complex equipment. All residents within the surrounding three blocks had been temporarily evacuated. The Los Angeles Police Department was operating at full capacity, completely sealing off the perimeter. With the backing of top city officials, a strict, unpublicized news blackouts and traffic controls were put into effect for the night, ensuring no pesky journalists would wander in to crash the party. A special military corridor had been established nearby, where armed forces waited on standby; the moment Black Widow gave the signal, military personnel guaranteed they could be on-site within ten minutes. Everything was primed and ready. Tonight, right here, a major operation was about to unfold!
Black Widow offered a seductive smile, savoring the long-absent, blood-stirring thrill rising from the depths of her soul. She couldn't help but flick her delicate tongue across her crimson lips, yearning for the moment she could unleash chaos without restraint.
As the sun dipped beneath the horizon and darkness shrouded the world, Li Yunlongs house materialized precisely as it always did. Powerful floodlights instantly illuminated the area, turning night into day, while high-definition surveillance cameras operated in orderly precision, recording every detail of the house's appearance. The pit that had been completely empty just moments before seemed touched by magic, evoking scene straight out of a fantasy film with heavy visual effects. From the bottom up, the space filled in rapid succession: the earth, the basement, the contents within the basement, the ascending staircase, the door, the foundation, the lawn of the small courtyard, the floorboards, the tables and chairs, the walls, the doors and windows, and finally the roof. In just a few short seconds, Li Yunlongs house grew out of the bare ground, fully formed and pristine. Even the surrounding fence was thoughtfully placed in position, stubbornly ablaze with light!
Black Widow stood silently beside the monitor while technicians operated various instruments, continuously gathering data from the field.
«Ma'am, the integrated sensor package dropped into the pit earlier today has completely lost connection,» an operator reported. «Should I initiate the self-destruct command?»
Black Widow gave a brief nod. The technician issued the command, then reported back a few minutes later: «Ma'am, there is absolutely no response from the self-destruct sequence!»
Black Widow nodded again. Such an outcome had been anticipated all along. All that remained now was to wait for the order to strike.
Naturally, Black Widow was not the ultimate decision-maker for an operation of this scale. The imagery and data gathered by the specialized equipment on-site were selectively relayed to three distinct entities: S.H.I.E.L.D. Standing behind Black Widow, the high-ranking officials of Los Angeles, and the United States military. The commotion Li Yunlong had caused was far greater than he realized. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s specialists were no amateurs; they quickly devised a detailed operational plan targeted specifically at him. Persuading the military to cooperate had required little effort-to them, it was simply a live-fire exercise, a convenient opportunity to clear out surplus munitions from their warehouses while testing several pieces of experimental gear. The reason the operation had been delayed for so long boiled down to the city officials of Los Angeles. Burbank was still Los Angeles territory, after all, and letting a bunch of military warmongers march in grandly with heavy artillery for a night of pyrotechnics was something no sane official would permit. Even with S.H.I.E.L.D. Acting as a mediator, securing the city's green light had seemed like an impossible task-until the night of October 9, 2000, when over a hundred armed Christian fanatics were wiped out in a single stroke. Only then did the attitude of the Los Angeles leadership begin to soften. Even so, S.H.I.E.L.D. Had strained every nerve to finally bring about this joint operation. Consequently, all data gathered on-site by S.H.I.E.L.D. Had to be shared with their partners.