Chapter 182: Annihilation
"Hulk—SMASH!"
Hulk roared and charged forward, completely ignoring the Chitauri soldiers surrounding him from both sides.
With every powerful step of his heavy feet, the metal floor of the mothership dented downward. The two Chitauri soldiers blocking his path didn't even have time to dodge before they were sent flying by his Impact.
"Bring it on."
A head-on confrontation was exactly what he wanted.
"Let me see just how much your strength can increase."
Lu Chen stomped his foot, causing the metal floor to collapse with a bang as he charged straight at Hulk.
No dodging.
No technique.
Two fists collided head-on!
BOOM!!!
The Chitauri soldiers within a dozen meters of them were instantly blown away, and the bodies of the closest ones exploded directly. The metal deck beneath their feet dented downward into a giant crater, with countless cracks spreading outward frantically.
Hulk's massive body suddenly came to a halt.
The next second, he was sent flying backward!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A dozen Chitauri soldiers along the way were scattered like bowling pins, and finally, they crashed into the rear bulkhead along with Hulk.
Lu Chen shook his right hand.
"Not bad strength."
His arm was slightly numb, but that was all.
He hadn't used any elemental energy in that punch, relying solely on pure physical strength. The result was even better than expected; at least, a newly enraged Hulk couldn't overpower him yet.
"But surely, this isn't your limit?"
"ROAR!!!"
The shattered bulkhead suddenly exploded.
Hulk crawled out, his eyes locked onto Lu Chen, as his thick arms repeatedly smashed against the ground.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
With every strike, the deck shook.
The surrounding Chitauri soldiers raised their weapons, wanting to seize the opportunity to attack.
But Hulk beat them to it, grabbing two dazed Chitauri soldiers, one in each hand, and hurling them viciously at Lu Chen.
"SMASH!"
"Hmm?"
Just as the first Chitauri soldier flew in front of him, Lu Chen raised his hand and punched.
Bang!
The body instantly exploded into a massive cloud of blue blood mist.
He spun his body with the momentum, delivering a spinning back kick to the waist of the second Chitauri soldier.
The opponent's body burst open right down the middle, blood and flesh splattering in all directions, only to stop a few centimeters from Lu Chen's skin, completely blocked by an invisible energy shield.
Lu Chen looked down.
The blue blood slowly slid down the shield.
"Disgusting."
He looked up, and Hulk had already used the opportunity to charge right in front of him.
"Well, look at you, big guy, using tactics now, are we?"
Hulk's left fist came crashing down.
Lu Chen raised his hand to catch it.
Smack!
The moment palm met fist, the deck beneath them sank violently. Lu Chen's arm was also forced down a few centimeters.
His strength had increased.
Before he could register it fully, Hulk's right fist was already swinging in from the side.
"Hulk is stronger!"
"Is that so?"
Lu Chen was a step faster. His other fist struck, arriving later but hitting first. Instead of blocking, he punched Hulk's wrist directly, forcing it off course by sheer strength.
His front was wide open!
Bang!
Lu Chen delivered a clean, swift front kick, planting it solidly onto Hulk's broad chest.
The muscles on Hulk's chest instantly collapsed inward, and his entire body slid backward along the ground, crashing through two bulkheads in a row.
"Looking at it this way, you're still a bit lacking."
Just as he finished speaking, the dense sound of energy weapons charging came from behind him.
A dark light gleamed in his eyes.
Two beams of black Heat Vision with annihilating properties swept in a circle behind him like the scythe of the God of Death.
Sizzle!
Firearms, armor, bodies.
Anywhere the black beams swept silently vanished. Dozens of Chitauri soldiers maintained their firing stances, but their upper bodies slid off in unison.
"How annoying."
Having dealt with the nuisances, Lu Chen pushed off the ground and rushed into the gap Hulk had crashed through.
Before Hulk, who was just standing up from the debris, could even raise his head, a fist slammed into his face.
Bang!
Followed immediately by a second punch, and a third!
Lu Chen's movements grew faster and faster as his fists rained down on Hulk's face, throat, and chest, each strike cracking the surrounding metal floor.
Hulk was beaten back repeatedly, the rage in his chest seemingly ignited to the absolute limit. Giving up all defense, he let out an earth-shattering roar,
"Hulk won't back down!"
Completely ignoring the fist about to hit his face, he roared and swung his arm, clearly intent on trading blow for blow, injury for injury.
"Come on!"
Lu Chen didn't pull his punch either.
Bang!
Their fists struck each other almost simultaneously.
Lu Chen took a punch to the chest, his feet scraping against the floor as he retreated three steps. Hulk also took a solid hit to the face, his massive body stumbling back four or five meters before forcing himself to stand firm.
Lu Chen looked down at his chest.
A clear fist print had appeared on his suit, and the blood and energy inside his body were churning slightly.
That punch was at least thirty percent stronger than the first one.
"Now that's some strength!"
He looked back at Hulk.
The green giant shook his head and charged once more, showing no signs of fatigue. The harder he was hit, the more excited he became, each step heavier than the last.
If this dragged on, Hulk might actually surpass him in strength.
Unfortunately, now was not the time to play along and let him grow.
"That's enough."
As Hulk threw a punch, Lu Chen sidestepped to dodge, brushing past his arm to get behind the massive body.
The next moment, Lu Chen leaned back, locking his arms around Hulk's head from behind.
"Didn't you like crashing into things?"
Hulk reached up, trying to tear him off.
"Let go of Hulk!"
"Let me give you another ride."
Lu Chen suddenly exerted power from his core, his legs stomping down heavily.
A textbook German Suplex—
"Off you go!"
Hulk's feet left the ground as his massive body was flipped over Lu Chen's head and thrown violently into the depths of the mothership.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Bulkheads, weapon platforms, and power conduits exploded one after another.
The Chitauri soldiers along the way had it even worse; a mere graze sent them flying, and a direct hit meant instant death. Hulk tumbled for hundreds of meters, utterly wrecking the hive area, which had already been damaged by their battle.
Taking advantage of this opening,
Lu Chen didn't give chase. Instead, he turned to face the hive.
"Let's give you guys something big."
He slowly brought his palms together in front of him. The massive energy within his body, like a dormant volcano, began to wake up and surge wildly.
Light, thermal energy, nuclear energy, lightning, and so on...
These abilities, Copied from various Superhumans, had long lost their original energy boundaries through repeated fusions, forming a special existence that Lu Chen named "Universal Energy."
If he wanted to release Fire, the energy in his body would entirely convert to Fire.
If he wanted to release radiation, it would transform into radiation.
At this moment, Lu Chen chose the Plasma Lightning, which was most suitable for piercing through the mothership.
Zzzzt!
Dazzling electrical arcs erupted from his entire body, continuously compressing between his closed palms. The surrounding air began to ionize, making sizzling noises. Scattered metal fragments were drawn by the electrical current and floated up, melting into liquid before they could even get close.
In the end, the lightning in his palms was reduced to a sphere of light so bright it was hard to look at directly.
Lu Chen pushed both arms forward.
BOOM!!!
A pillar of lightning hundreds of meters in diameter erupted from between his palms, instantly vaporizing all matter in its path. With unstoppable force, it instantly pierced through the entire hive!
The massive energy didn't decay in the slightest. After piercing the hive, it unreasonably broke through the mothership's outer armor, precisely annihilating dozens of Chitauri capital ships in the dark space behind it!
No wreckage.
No corpses.
All matter that came into contact with the pillar of light was completely annihilated in the terrifying high temperature and energy.
Hulk, who had just scrambled up and charged halfway, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Tilting his head back, he stared at the pillar of lightning that pierced through the mothership and stretched into the depths of space, his mouth slowly hanging open.
"Hulk..."
Immediately after, the completely pierced hive core triggered a violent, uncontrollable energy explosion, and a devastating Impact instantly swept through the entire mothership.
The first explosion lit up.
Followed immediately by a second, and a third!
Sympathetic detonations spread frantically along the fleet, with large swathes of warships exploding one after another, turning the entire space into a sea of fire in an instant.
The next second, the explosive Impact slammed into the mothership.
"Roar?!"
Just as Hulk raised his arms, he was swept away by the Impact, shattering large sections of collapsing metal structures along the way.
An energy shield lit up around Lu Chen. His feet were firmly pinned to the deck, yet he was still pushed back dozens of meters.
"This commotion seems a bit bigger than expected."
The mothership beneath his feet had already disintegrated, with dense cracks extending all the way to the end of his vision.
That massive fleet, which had driven S.H.I.E.L.D. to despair, was turned into a magnificent and silent sea of fire in just a few seconds.
Chapter 183: You Started It
Hulk was blown directly out of the mothership by the Impact.
Without the deck for support, his massive body could only tumble through space.
With no gravity and no leverage, the green behemoth was like a turtle thrown into a washing machine, flailing its limbs wildly in the vacuum.
"Roar!"
"Hulk smash!"
Too bad space wouldn't move itself closer for him to smash.
Lu Chen flew out of the shattered mothership, hovering at the edge of the explosion's Fire, and almost laughed out loud looking at the still-spinning green giant.
The big guy was probably so frustrated he wanted to spit blood. All that endless strength of his was completely useless in space.
"Alright, I'll consider this an unfair victory."
A blast of air erupted from beneath Lu Chen's feet, and his entire being turned into a stream of light, rushing to Hulk's side in an instant.
Sound couldn't travel in a vacuum, but Lu Chen used his mental power to project his voice directly into Hulk's mind.
"I'm taking you back."
Hulk quieted down, his green eyes staring at him.
It worked?
Lu Chen was actually a bit surprised.
It seemed that although this guy had a terrible temper, he could at least understand human speech. Since they couldn't fight anymore, he might as well take him back first.
Lu Chen grabbed Hulk's thick arm, turned around, and flew toward the portal.
Hulk obediently let himself be dragged along, not making a sound.
Lu Chen gradually increased his speed. Dragging each other along like this, the man and the monster quickly passed through the portal radiating blue light, returning to the skies above New York.
The familiar sensation of gravity and air enveloped them once again.
The next second.
The strength in Hulk's arm, which Lu Chen was holding, suddenly surged. Reversing their roles, he tightly gripped Lu Chen's wrist in a death grip.
Something was wrong!
Five thick fingers clamped down hard on Lu Chen. Hulk raised his other fist and aimed a punch straight at his flank!
Bang!!!
The battle suit dented inward violently. Bang!
This punch landed squarely on Lu Chen's kidney.
"Damn it!"
Lu Chen was knocked askew. The pain from his kidney made his eyelids twitch violently, and he barely managed to suppress the surging blood within him.
This punch was at least three times stronger than when the two of them first clashed!
This guy being quiet in space earlier wasn't because he understood; he was holding back a nasty surprise!
"Hulk didn't lose!"
Hulk roared, raising his fist to smash at Lu Chen's waist again.
"Fine, fine, no sportsmanship, is it?" Lu Chen gritted his teeth, the agonizing pain in his waist completely setting him on Fire with rage.
A blinding light erupted from Lu Chen's body.
Boom!
The intense light exploded at close range. Hulk's eyes were blinded by the stark white glare, and his half-swung fist instantly lost its target.
"My eyes!" Hulk let out a painful growl, instinctively turning his head away.
Seizing this opportunity, Lu Chen's trapped left arm burst into golden flames.
The temperature skyrocketed.
Scorched marks quickly appeared on the skin of Hulk's palm, and the intense pain forced him to release his grip.
Lu Chen immediately withdrew his arm, spun around, and threw a punch.
"Playing dirty, are we? You're the one who started it."
The golden flames on his left fist exploded with a bang.
Bang!
His knuckles slammed squarely into Hulk's face. The Fire spread across that massive green face, and his huge body was sent tumbling backward.
A bloody tooth spun up into the sky.
Lu Chen didn't stop.
The lightning wrapped around his right arm suddenly tightened, blinding arcs of electricity dancing wildly on the surface of his fist.
Dual enchantment complete.
"Sneak attacking me?"
Bang!
A punch landed right on the bridge of his nose.
"And aiming specifically for the kidneys?"
Bang!
The second punch smashed into his jaw.
"I already said I was taking you back!"
Bang!!!
The lightning fist struck right in the middle of his forehead. Hulk's head snapped back violently, blood gushing from his nose and the corners of his mouth.
This guy's strength was indeed growing increasingly exaggerated.
But no matter how strong he was, it meant nothing if he couldn't land a hit.
Lu Chen had already figured out Hulk's current speed. As long as he didn't give him a chance to grab him, there was no suspense in this battle from the very beginning.
"Hulk smash you to death!"
Just as Hulk's eyes recovered slightly, he roared and swung his arm.
Lu Chen's figure vanished instantly.
The thick fist only struck an afterimage.
"Smash who?"
The voice came from above.
Just as Hulk was about to look up, a fist burning with golden Fire fell from above, heavily smashing into the crown of his head.
Boom!
The green giant plunged dozens of meters downward.
Before he could steady his body, Lu Chen teleported to his side again, his right leg wrapped in lightning sweeping out.
Bang!
Hulk's head was kicked to the other side.
"Got you!"
Enduring the pain, he raised his hand to sweep at Lu Chen.
Too slow.
Lu Chen sidestepped to avoid it, closing in along his arm. His fists repeatedly landed on Hulk's temples, the bridge of his nose, and the side of his ear.
Every punch carried blazing flames and lightning.
Fire erupted.
Arcs of electricity splattered everywhere.
Hulk's head whipped from side to side under the assault, his angry roars gradually turning into cries of pain.
"Hurts!"
"You know pain now?"
"Hulk wants to smash!"
"Then go ahead and smash."
Hulk shielded his head with one hand while clawing wildly with the other, but Lu Chen evaded him every single time, immediately following up with a punch from a completely different direction.
The speed gap was too massive.
Having nothing but brute strength, he couldn't even touch the corner of Lu Chen's clothes.
Lu Chen fought with increasing ease, his body flickering repeatedly in the air. Ignoring everything else, he concentrated all his attacks on Hulk's head. His fists became a continuous blur. Just as Hulk shielded his left side, his right cheek took a hit; the moment he turned his body, he was kicked in the back of the head.
"Hulk not afraid!"
"Oh, really?"
Bang!
"Hulk is the strongest!"
"Say that again?"
Bang, bang!
"Hulk... Hulk is angry!"
"And now you're feeling aggrieved?"
Hearing this only made Lu Chen even angrier.
Clearly, this guy was the one who sneak-attacked first, yet he felt aggrieved now that he was getting beaten up. It was only because Hulk's body was tough enough; if anyone else had dared to hit his kidney like that, they would have been reduced to a pile of ashes by now.
Another round of heavy punches rained down.
Hulk seemed to have completely given up resistance. His massive body curled into a ball in the air, his arms tightly shielding his head, exposing only his broad back.
"Done fighting?"
There was no answer.
"Weren't you acting tough just now?"
Hulk buried his head even deeper.
"Come out."
Still no response.
Lu Chen stopped his fists, looking down at the curled-up Hulk.
Playing dead, are we?
Fine.
Today, he had to completely beat this guy into submission, or else he would just pounce again the next time they met.
Lu Chen flew straight up several hundred meters and hovered high in the sky. After taking a deep breath, the energy inside his body surged frantically into his legs.
Below, the curled-up Hulk was beginning to fall toward the streets of New York under the pull of gravity.
Lightning surged from his body, quickly wrapping around his legs, while the surrounding clouds were torn apart by the escaping energy.
"One last blow."
Hulk seemed to sense the danger, raising his eyes from the gaps between his arms.
"Hulk..."
"Get down there!"
Lu Chen turned into a falling meteor of thunder and lightning, charging straight down toward Hulk.
His speed grew faster and faster.
Sonic boom clouds exploded in rings around him.
The moment he was about to catch up to Hulk, Lu Chen's legs suddenly tensed straight, and he stomped down hard on Hulk's defenseless abdomen.
Boom!!!
A massive burst of lightning exploded in midair, as if a second Sun had lit up above New York.
Hulk spat out a large mouthful of blood, his curled body forced open, and his entire being plummeted rapidly toward the city below.
From ten thousand meters in the air.
Lu Chen stomped his feet firmly on Hulk's stomach, pinning the green behemoth down as they hurtled toward the ground like a real meteorite.
Their speed increased, the white airwaves forming around them expanding continuously, with the violent wind pressure rushing toward the ground first.
Hulk struggled to raise his hand, but he couldn't even touch Lu Chen's leg.
This time, he had to make him behave.
The city of New York below rapidly enlarged in their vision.
Eight thousand meters.
Five thousand meters.
Three thousand meters.
When they were less than a thousand meters from the ground, the green on Hulk's body suddenly began to fade.
His expanded muscles rapidly shrank, his thick limbs returned to human form, and his ferocious face turned back into Bruce Banner.
Tsk.
Lu Chen curled his lips.
He's back?
He stopped his stomping action, wrapping the unconscious Banner in telekinesis and sending him off horizontally.
While he himself forcefully hovered in midair.
Boom!!!
The wind pressure brought down by their previous plunge slammed into the ground. The streets cracked instantly, and dust from several blocks billowed into the sky.
Chapter 184: Getting a New Suit
On the street, before Steve Rogers could react to the bizarre situation of the Chitauri besieging him suddenly "powering down" en masse, an incredibly violent wind pressure descended from the sky.
He instinctively raised his circular Vibranium shield in front of him.
Boom!
Smoke, dust, and gravel were kicked up dozens of meters high, sweeping across the entire block like a sandstorm.
Bang!
Gravel pelted against the Vibranium shield, pushing him back several meters.
Once the smoke and dust cleared slightly, he lowered his shield, only to see a web of cracked streets and Bruce Banner lying unconscious not far from the impact crater.
Meanwhile, Lu Chen hovered above him, his black battle suit covered in fist prints, with a large dent on his waist.
"Banner!"
Steve immediately rushed over.
After all, Banner was a comrade-in-arms who had just fought alongside him. Even if this comrade smashed his own allies after turning green, he couldn't just leave him here.
Lu Chen glanced at Captain America, who was running toward him, and ignored him.
"Wait!"
Steve looked up, about to ask what happened, but Lu Chen had already turned into a dark shadow and soared into the sky.
Not a single word of explanation.
Steve paused for half a second, couldn't help but glance at the unconscious Banner, and then looked at the receding Lu Chen.
What on Earth did these two just do?
Why did he feel like Banner had changed back not because the battle was over, but because he had been beaten back into his human form?
At the top of Stark Tower.
Natasha was half-kneeling by the instrument, while Clint stood behind her, his compound bow drawn to its limit, the arrowhead aimed at the figure descending from the sky.
The moment Lu Chen's feet touched the platform, the bowstring was pulled to its absolute limit.
"Don't move."
Natasha reached out and pressed down on Clint's arm.
Clint did not lower his bow.
"Loki's Scepter is gone. It's likely in his hands."
"I saw."
"Then why are you stopping me?"
Natasha stared at Lu Chen, her palm still resting on the bow.
"Because your arrow won't do anything except anger him."
The words were harsh, but realistic enough.
Clint was silent for two seconds before slowly releasing the tension on the bowstring. He wasn't afraid of death, but there was no need to use an arrow that had absolutely no chance of working to make another enemy for everyone.
Lu Chen paid them no attention.
He retrieved the scepter from his system space. The awakened Dr. Erik Selvig had already told Natasha how to close the portal.
Ordinary attacks couldn't possibly break through the shield generated by the Tesseract.
Only the Mind Stone on the scepter could do it.
"Do you know how to close it?"
Natasha stood up, her gaze shifting between the scepter and Lu Chen.
Lu Chen aimed the tip of the scepter at the shield.
"Poke this in."
"That's what the Doctor said, too."
"Then why are you asking?"
Natasha was momentarily choked up.
This guy really has absolutely no interest in chatting.
Still, the scepter being in his hands was better than it being in Loki's. At least from his current actions, Lu Chen was indeed helping them deal with the Chitauri army.
Just as she was about to step aside, Lu Chen's movements suddenly ground to a halt.
What was wrong?
Lu Chen was about to use the power of the scepter to directly close the portal when the corner of his eye caught a rapidly moving speck on the horizon.
A missile.
And behind that missile, a red-and-gold figure was firing all thrusters, chasing after it frantically in an almost self-destructive manner.
Lu Chen frowned.
This wasn't right.
The Chitauri mothership had already been shattered by him, the soldiers on the ground had all ceased action, and the portal was about to be closed. Logically, since he had shortened the battle significantly, this nuclear missile shouldn't have appeared at all.
Could it be that after he took Hulk away, the Avengers lost a main force on the front lines, making the battle so much harder that the people up top felt New York could no longer be defended?
That was indeed possible.
After all, in the eyes of those people, sacrificing a city of people was better than letting the Chitauri spread across the entire Earth.
Those guys sure made decisions fast.
Lu Chen withdrew the scepter that was about to pierce the shield and turned to look at the nuclear missile.
Since it had already been launched, closing the portal now would instead trap the nuclear missile in New York. He either had to dump it in an uninhabited area or send it through the portal as originally done.
In the distance, Tony finally caught up to the nuclear missile.
With his thrusters at full power, he locked his arms tightly around the missile's body. The Iron Man armor shuddered backward under the immense inertia before he forcibly changed the missile's direction, flying straight up into the sky.
He was prepared to deliver it himself.
Lu Chen looked down at the battle suit he was wearing.
His chest, shoulders, and waist were covered in fist prints left by Hulk, and the outer layer of material was scorched with large burn marks from his own fire and lightning. Although this suit wasn't completely ruined, it looked rather shabby.
This was the perfect opportunity to do Tony Stark a favor and have him build a custom suit of armor.
It was a good deal.
With that thought, Lu Chen hesitated no longer.
With a light tap of his foot, he turned into a streak of black light, instantly vanishing from the rooftop as he gave chase in the direction of the nuclear missile.
High up in the sky.
Tony continued to accelerate while holding the nuclear missile, the screen inside his faceplate already filled with red warnings.
Power dropping.
Thrusters overloading.
These warnings were meaningless.
Tony knew exactly what he was doing. If he got the nuclear missile into the portal, New York would survive. If he failed, everyone would perish together.
It was just that there were some things he hadn't had the chance to say yet.
"Sir, should I connect you to Ms. Potts?"
Jarvis's voice echoed inside his helmet.
Tony's lips parted slightly, a flicker of hesitation and pain crossing his eyes.
What would he say once the call went through?
A farewell?
Or tell her that Mr. Stark might actually have to break his promise this time?
"Connect..."
An alarm suddenly interrupted him.
"Sir! Warning! Someone is approaching rapidly from behind! Contact in ten seconds!"
Tony's eyes narrowed.
"Chitauri?"
"No, it is the You-Know-Who who appeared earlier. Contact in nine seconds."
Just as Jarvis finished speaking, the numbers changed again.
"Contact in five seconds... No, calculation error, the target's speed is still increasing."
"Can you give me an accurate estimate!"
Knock, knock.
Someone suddenly tapped his faceplate twice.
A face appeared in front of his screen without warning, causing Tony's shoulders to jerk violently.
"What the hell!"
Lu Chen was flying backward in front of the nuclear missile, his speed perfectly synchronized with the armor, and he even had the leisure to tap Tony's faceplate.
Once Tony clearly saw who it was, his lips twitched.
This guy was chasing a missile as if he were taking a casual stroll.
"What do you want?"
Lu Chen pointed to his battle suit, which was covered in fist prints.
"Build me a suit of armor, and I'll take care of this thing for you."
Tony was stunned.
In this final moment of life and death, he had completely unexpected such a turn of events.
However, hearing that this mysterious powerhouse was also interested in his armor, Tony's eyebrows shot up instantly.
"As expected," he bragged instinctively, "a genius is admired wherever he goes."
"Cut the crap. Is it a deal or not?"
Tony hugged the nuclear missile tighter, his tone carrying a bit more of his usual matter-of-factness.
"Of course. My life is worth far more than a suit of armor."
He had originally prepared himself for a one-way trip.
Now, it seemed he wouldn't have to die.
Lu Chen reached out and placed his hand on the nuclear missile.
"Deal!"
Chapter 185: Crisis Averted
"Deal."
Lu Chen's five fingers pressing against the shell of the nuclear bomb tightened slightly.
Hum!
An invisible magnetic field instantly expanded, enveloping the entire nuclear bomb.
Tony immediately felt the weight in his arms disappear, and the missile that was still frantically charging forward was abruptly frozen in mid-air.
Inertia completely lost its effect on it.
Tony released his arms, looking at the nuclear bomb hovering between the two of them, and raised his eyebrows behind his faceplate.
"Magnetic field control?"
"Pretty much."
Lu Chen casually replied.
Just as Tony wanted to speak, a bolt of lightning suddenly leaped from Lu Chen's palm and directly struck the chest of the armor.
Crackle!
The current instantly covered the entire set of armor.
"What the hell, you..."
Before Tony could finish his sentence, the red warnings flashing continuously inside the faceplate suddenly all disappeared.
"Energy recovering rapidly."
Jarvis's voice followed closely.
"Forty percent... sixty-five percent... ninety-three percent... Energy fully charged, propulsion system returned to normal."
The electric arcs gradually dissipated.
Tony lowered his head to look at the re-illuminated reactor, then raised his head, his tone somewhat peculiar.
"You can even charge the armor?"
"Just lightning."
Lu Chen withdrew his hand.
"Alright."
It was just a casual matter to him. Although Tony's armor could absorb lightning, its capacity was right there, and he had deliberately lowered the output; otherwise, with this blast, what would be filled wouldn't be energy, but Stark-brand barbecue inside the armor.
The nuclear bomb had already been taken over by the magnetic field, and the transaction could be considered complete.
It was time to go.
Just as Lu Chen was preparing to turn around with the nuclear bomb, Tony suddenly spoke up.
"Wait."
"Anything else?"
Tony looked up at the portal in the sky.
With the armor's energy fully recharged and the thrusters no longer flashing warnings, he had a bit more confidence when he spoke.
"Can I go take a look behind that portal?"
Lu Chen's movement paused for a moment.
"Are you sure?"
He knew what Tony would see with this look.
In the original timeline, after Tony carried the nuclear bomb through the portal and saw the Chitauri mothership and the massive fleet behind it, he was left with an indelible psychological shadow.
That was not simple fear.
A genius who considered himself at the pinnacle of human technology suddenly discovered that a fleet capable of crushing civilization was parked outside Earth, and they were struggling so hard just to block the vanguard forces casually sent in by the other side.
This cognitive shock was the most lethal part.
Tony was silent for two seconds, putting away his flippant tone.
"This crisis should be over."
"But who can guarantee they won't make a comeback?"
He pointed above his head.
"We don't even know how many enemies there are. Those idiots sitting in safe houses are already scared enough to launch a nuclear bomb at New York. If another portal like this appears next time, they might just send the entire East Coast into the sky."
Speaking of this, Tony paused for a moment.
"So, I want to go take a look at what we are actually facing."
Lu Chen looked at him and said nothing more.
Since Tony wanted to see for himself, then let him see.
Knowing the threat Earth faced in advance wasn't a bad thing either. At least this guy might throw fewer parties when building armor in the future and prepare a few more sets of things that could actually pack a punch.
"Keep up."
As the words fell, the magnetic field dragged the nuclear bomb, and Lu Chen turned and rushed toward the high altitude.
Tony immediately activated his thrusters.
"Jarvis, full power."
"Understood, Sir."
Boom!
The red and gold armor closely followed behind Lu Chen, and the two of them carried the nuclear bomb all the way up. The buildings below rapidly shrank, the blue beam of light was right ahead, and the gloomy Universe on the other side of the portal was becoming increasingly clear.
Tony originally wanted to remind Lu Chen to speed up, wondering when this nuclear bomb might blow up.
But he quickly discovered that Lu Chen was clearly waiting for him.
That black figure constantly maintained a position tens of meters ahead, neither pulling away nor turning back to urge him. The nuclear bomb suspended beside them was even overly steady, with not the slightest bit of shaking in the missile body.
"Just how many more abilities does this guy have?"
Tony stared ahead and couldn't help muttering to himself.
"Based on existing data, unable to determine."
Jarvis gave a somewhat useless answer.
"Thanks, you successfully repeated my question."
The next second, the two of them passed through the portal simultaneously.
The hustle and bustle of New York instantly vanished.
Tony raised his head, freezing in place entirely.
At the end of his vision, there were burning wreckage of warships everywhere.
Shattered metal decks spanned across several kilometers, and the broken hull was still exploding. Only a small fraction of the Chitauri mothership's framework remained, a large number of warships had been burned into twisted empty shells, and densely packed fragments floated even further away.
From the wreckage alone, Tony could tell just how massive this fleet had originally been.
He was an engineer.
What others saw was merely scrap metal, but he could reconstruct the original structure of these warships from the fractured decks, engine sizes, and weapon interfaces.
The Chitauri army that appeared in New York was less than a tenth of the force here.
Just this little bit of military force had already driven Earth's decision-makers to complete despair, even willing to launch a nuclear bomb at a densely populated city.
What if the entire fleet entered Earth?
Tony stared at that patch of wreckage, his Adam's apple moving slightly.
No.
This was no longer a question of whether Earth's existing military could stop it.
The two sides were simply not on the same level.
His gaze quickly landed on the mothership that had been nearly pierced through. The results scanned by the armor caused error prompts to continuously pop up inside the faceplate.
"Jarvis, analyze the method of destruction."
"The residual energy is too strong, unable to obtain complete results."
"Can you estimate the power?"
"Unable to accurately estimate."
Tony was quiet for a few seconds.
He had seen with his own eyes Lu Chen rushing into the portal with Hulk.
With the destructive power Hulk displayed, smashing a few warships wouldn't be difficult, but it could definitely not achieve this degree, let alone in space.
Then there was only one answer.
He instinctively looked at Lu Chen beside him, his eyes filled with unprecedented horror.
The interstellar fleet before him, which was enough to make any nation feel despair... was completely destroyed by this man single-handedly.
Lu Chen didn't care what Tony was thinking, raising his hand and pushing forward.
The nuclear bomb wrapped in the magnetic field suddenly accelerated, flying straight toward the remaining fleet wreckage.
The nuclear bomb burrowed deep into the wreckage.
Before long, a white light burst open.
Impact pushed countless fragments rolling outward, and the last few relatively intact warships were also sucked into the center of the explosion.
"Let's go, I'm going to close the portal."
Lu Chen's voice resounded from the bottom of his heart.
Tony took one last look at this Universe, deeply engraving that shock and fear into his mind, then silently nodded, turned around and activated his thrusters, flying back toward the portal.
He knew that starting from today, he might never be able to sleep well again.
At the top of Stark Tower.
Natasha and Clint were nervously watching the sky, and when they saw that red and gold figure fly out from the portal, they both breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the next second, the two of them froze simultaneously.
Because Lu Chen's figure had quietly stood beside the Tesseract at some point,
When did he get back?
Lu Chen took out the Mind Stone, aiming its tip at the blue shield on the outer layer of the Tesseract.
The moment the scepter approached, the Mind Stone embedded at the top lit up. The Tesseract vibrated accordingly, and the spatial energy began to surge violently.
The power of the two Infinity Stones collided, ultimately leading to extreme instability in the energy output.
Sizzle!
The scepter pierced into the blue energy layer.
The pillar of light reaching straight into the sky abruptly contracted, and the portal in the sky also began to close from the edges toward the center.
He continued to exert force with his arm, completely pressing the scepter into the core of the shield.
Boom!
The blue pillar of light extinguished.
The final crack closed up high in the sky, New York above returned to normal, and the dark clouds shrouding over everyone's heads finally dissipated.
After a brief silence, someone on the street suddenly shouted at the top of their lungs.
"The portal is closed!"
"We won!"
Cheers spread from one street to another.
More and more survivors stood up from behind cover, with the Police, soldiers, and civilians looking up simultaneously, their voices quickly drowning out the sirens that had yet to stop.
"New York survived!"
Chapter 186: A Transaction with Thor
New York survived!
The cheers on the streets even drowned out the screeching alarms.
Lu Chen raised his hand and swept it across the Tesseract.
With a flash of blue light, the Tesseract along with the Mind Stone vanished simultaneously, stored away into his system space.
The system was still upgrading, and the specific details could not be checked for the time being. However, the storage function was not affected, which saved a lot of trouble.
Space Stone, Mind Stone.
This trip to New York had far exceeded expectations in terms of gains.
Boom!
A muffled sound came from the edge of the rooftop.
Thor landed carrying an unconscious Loki, his red cape fluttering behind him. On the other side, Steve walked onto the platform carrying Banner, and Tony also descended from the sky trailing the exhaust flames of his thrusters.
Natasha and Clint were still guarding the device.
The original six members of the Avengers were now all present.
After landing, Tony shut off the thrusters, and his faceplate popped upward. He first glanced at the vanished Tesseract, then turned his gaze to Lu Chen.
"I don't think I know your name yet."
He had been holding back this question the entire way.
Being able to charge armor, control magnetic fields, teleport instantly, and dismantle an interstellar fleet all by himself. Tony was dying to know what kind of monster this guy was that ran out of a laboratory.
Lu Chen glanced around and smiled.
"Just call me Tianshu."
"Tianshu?"
Tony raised an eyebrow.
"Sounds like the leader of some Eastern secret organization."
Lu Chen couldn't be bothered to explain.
Tianshu was simply one of the Big Dipper stars; placed in this World, it fit quite well as a hero name. As for what Tony and S.H.I.E.L.D. would imagine on their own, that was their own business.
Heavy footsteps approached.
Thor placed Loki on the ground, his gaze falling on his collapsed battle suit.
"Did you beat Loki like this?"
The atmosphere instantly grew tense, and Steve gripped his shield tightly. Natasha also quietly adjusted her stance, her hand already resting on the grip of the pistol at her waist.
No one spoke.
Tony's eyelids twitched as he prepared to speak up to smooth things over and ease the tense atmosphere,
but Lu Chen looked at Thor and already spoke up.
"It was me."
A beating was a beating.
The fact that Loki could still breathe now was because he had held back out of consideration for the other's special status. If Thor was unconvinced, he wouldn't mind trying out how hard Mjolnir really was along the way.
Thor stared at him for two seconds, the atmosphere freezing to the extreme.
Immediately after, he grinned and reached out a large hand to pat Lu Chen's shoulder.
"Hahahaha! Well done! Thank you for stopping him!"
Thor's laughter was loud and hearty, filled with heartfelt gratitude.
"Loki was blinded by anger and desire. If you hadn't stopped him in time, I truly don't know what greater mistakes he would have committed."
The tense atmosphere at the scene instantly vanished with these few words of his.
Tony opened his mouth, but in the end only shrugged.
Worried for nothing.
Steve also breathed a sigh of relief. He stepped forward, looked at Thor, and asked, "How is Loki going to be dealt with?"
Loki was the instigator of this war, and quite a few people had died in New York. Yet wanting S.H.I.E.L.D. to judge an Asgard prince was basically unrealistic.
Mentioning business, the smile on Thor's face also faded.
"Midgard's prisons cannot hold Loki."
No one refuted this point.
Relying solely on Loki's illusions, ordinary prisons on Earth were no different from hotels to him. If they really wanted to imprison him, S.H.I.E.L.D. would probably have to build a facility specifically for him.
"He incited war across the Nine Realms, betrayed the royal power of Asgard, and brought foreign enemies into Midgard."
Thor looked at Steve.
"I will take him back to Asgard and hand him over to my father for trial. He must pay the price for the crimes he has committed."
After finishing the serious business, Thor didn't leave immediately. Thor suddenly scratched his head somewhat sheepishly, looking at Lu Chen with a tone carrying a hint of consultation.
"Uh... is the Tesseract with you?"
Lu Chen glanced at him.
"What are you asking about my Stone for?"
Thor was stunned for a moment.
Tony also couldn't help turning his head to look over.
That tone was so taken for granted that anyone who didn't know better would have thought the Tesseract was something Lu Chen brought from home.
Yet Lu Chen didn't feel there was any problem.
The Tesseract had fallen into Loki's hands, Loki had been defeated by him, and even the Chitauri fleet had been dismantled by him single-handedly. According to the simplest spoils-of-war rules, this thing naturally belonged to him now.
Did they expect him to return it to those S.H.I.E.L.D. guys who couldn't even keep an eye on the Tesseract?
What were they thinking.
Thor obviously thought of this point as well.
According to the philosophy of Asgardian warriors, the victor had the right to collect their spoils of war. Although the Tesseract was previously part of Asgard's collection, since it had been lost in Midgard and used by Loki to start a war, and was now taken away by Lu Chen, Thor really didn't have the face to directly demand it back.
"I do not intend to keep it for myself."
Thor's tone carried a bit of awkwardness.
"The Bifrost Bridge has been destroyed, and I cannot take Loki back to Asgard. The Tesseract possesses the power to open spatial pathways; I want to borrow it to return to Asgard, and then use it to repair the Bifrost Bridge."
He looked at Lu Chen, his tone incomparably sincere.
"I assure you in the name of the son of Odin that once the Bifrost Bridge is repaired, I will personally return it to you."
Lu Chen did not answer immediately.
A single Space Stone indeed wasn't of much use to him right now.
The system was upgrading, and he couldn't directly absorb the power within it. Forcing research might even end up teleporting himself to some corner of the Universe.
With the Mind Stone in hand, it was already enough for him to study for a long time.
On the contrary, if Thor and Loki couldn't go back, that would be the real trouble. Loki remaining on Earth was a ticking time bomb, and Thor couldn't possibly leave his brother behind.
If it dragged on too long, Odin might come down personally to fish someone out.
"I can lend it to you."
Lu Chen finally spoke.
Joy appeared on Thor's face.
"But I have conditions."
"What conditions?" Thor's spirits lifted; as long as it wasn't asking him to directly hand over Mjolnir, anything was fine to talk about.
Lu Chen flipped his hand and took out a dagger.
"I want metal of this material."
He tossed the dagger to Thor.
"The more the quantity, the better. There is only one requirement: it must be able to stably bear and conduct elemental energy."
Thor caught the dagger, his shoulders visibly relaxing.
Although this magic metal was precious, it was still within the range he could mobilize.
Just now, he really feared that Lu Chen would directly demand Uru metal. Even he didn't have the qualification to casually use that stuff, and could only go back and apply to Odin for it.
"No problem."
Thor agreed readily.
"Once the Bifrost Bridge is repaired, I will personally bring the metal and the Tesseract together."
The transaction was reached. As for Uru metal, even if he could get it, that thing still had to be forged by dwarves, and he didn't have those conditions right now. This magic metal capable of bearing elements was temporarily enough.
Lu Chen waved his hand, and the Tesseract reappeared, landing steadily in Thor's hand.
Blue energy immediately lit up.
Thor grabbed Loki's arm and nodded to everyone.
"Warriors of Midgard, we will meet again."
The spatial energy opened a portal.
The figures of the two were enveloped by blue light and instantly vanished from the rooftop.
Tony waited for the light to dissipate before turning his gaze to the dagger in Lu Chen's hand.
"Are you planning to let me forge armor using that kind of metal?"
He certainly hadn't forgotten the previous transaction.
Lu Chen shook his head.
"That is for forging weapons."
"Vibranium will do for the armor."
Tony dry-coughed twice, his expression somewhat unnatural.
"Let me clarify first, it's not that I'm stingy."
"The Vibranium circulating in the market is pitifully scarce. Even if Stark Industries acquires it with full effort, who knows how many years it would take to gather enough to forge a full set of armor."
Lu Chen smiled.
"It doesn't matter."
"I know where there is some."
Chapter 187: Breaking into Wakanda
"Where?"
Tony immediately pressed on.
Lu Chen did not explain, merely smiling slightly.
"You will know later."
As for how to get Vibranium...
It was probably out of the question to negotiate, but he hadn't planned on talking it out anyway.
"I hate it when people only say half of what they mean."
Tony raised his arm, and the scratches on his armor made his eyelids twitch.
"Especially when the other person still owes me a sufficiently challenging armor design."
Lu Chen glanced at him.
"You owe me."
"I know, I am just reminding you that Stark never reneges on a debt."
"I hope so."
Not far away, the communicator in Natasha's ear suddenly rang.
"Agent Romanoff, Agent Barton."
Nick Fury's deep voice came through the secret channel.
"Find a way to probe out his true identity, as well as his purpose in taking the Mind Stone."
Natasha's facial expression did not change, but inwardly she had already cursed a few times.
Why don't you come and ask him yourself?
Just moments ago, Loki was lying on the ground, Hulk was beaten back into Banner, and not even scraps were left of the Chitauri fleet. What difference was there between testing Lu Chen at a time like this and voluntarily shoving one's hand into a meat grinder?
Yet she couldn't pretend she hadn't heard the order.
Natasha sorted out her phrasing and took two steps forward.
"Tianshu, I have a few..."
Before she could finish speaking, Lu Chen's figure had already vanished.
The next moment, he appeared on the edge of the rooftop.
With another flash, he was already hundreds of meters away.
After several consecutive spatial jumps, his entire person completely vanished among the skyscrapers of New York.
Natasha stopped in her tracks, the remaining half of her sentence stuck in her throat.
This was not high-speed movement.
There was no acceleration, no trajectory, and not even any trace of energy propulsion. A person simply vanished directly from one location and reappeared at another.
She pressed the communicator by her ear.
"The target has left."
Fury fell silent for a second.
"Where did he go?"
"I was just about to ask."
Natasha turned to look at Tony.
"Where did he go?"
"How should I know?"
Tony retracted his faceplate and turned to walk toward the edge of the rooftop.
Today New York had almost been reduced to ruins, and he had rolled along the line of Death holding a nuclear bomb. Now that the crisis was over, he just wanted to find a place to sit down, grab a bite to eat, and incidentally confirm that he was still alive.
"Forget it."
He turned back to look around.
"There is a shawarma joint two blocks away from here, does anyone want to try it?"
Steve looked down at the unconscious Banner in his arms.
"Take him for treatment first."
"We can get it to go."
Tony nodded.
"Get a portion for the big green guy too; he might like it when he wakes up."
Sometime later, somewhere on the African continent.
Lu Chen's figure stopped above the location marked on the World map.
The land below was barren and desolate, and the scattered villages showed not a trace of modernization.
Wakanda.
Nominally, this was one of the poorest countries in the World, subsisting on a small amount of livestock and agriculture, and not even many people were willing to pay it special attention.
But Lu Chen knew that was merely a disguise.
In ancient times, a giant alien meteorite crashed into the African earth, and the Vibranium contained within the meteorite changed everything here.
The dispersed special radiation seeped into the soil and water, transforming the vegetation and ultimately giving birth to Wakanda's unique Heart-Shaped Herb. The tribes living here gradually mastered the extraction and smelting technology of Vibranium, maxing out their tech tree all the way with this extraterrestrial metal.
A country whose exterior still herded cattle and farmed fields led the World in internal technology by decades.
To prevent Vibranium from attracting the covetous eyes of the entire World, they protected their true territory with an energy barrier and deployed a flawless holographic projection on the periphery.
This method was indeed very useful.
Unfortunately, it was useless against someone who knew the answer.
Lu Chen stopped in mid-air, his gaze sweeping across below.
Solely with the naked eye, he could not figure out the true location of Wakanda, but since it couldn't be found, he would make it reveal itself.
Lu Chen's eyes lit up with a black glow.
The next second, two streams of black Heat Vision tore through the air, sweeping horizontally forward.
Hiss!
The ground was carved into two charred gullies by the high temperature.
The Heat Vision extended forward for several kilometers until it slammed into a completely empty area.
Boom!
Blue ripples abruptly emerged.
Large swaths of energy patterns spread outward from the impact point, and a massive shield covering the entire territory finally revealed its brief outline.
Found it.
Lu Chen shut off the Heat Vision, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.
On the other side of the shield, the alarm had already reached the royal palace.
Several guards hurried into the grand hall.
"Your Majesty, the border protective shield is under attack."
The elderly King T'Chaka raised his head.
"Where did the attack come from?"
"A human hovering in mid-air."
The guard projected the footage sent back by the drone.
In the footage, Lu Chen was wearing a black combat suit, his eyes lingering with un-dissipated black light.
"The opponent did not use any Flight equipment, nor did he carry any known weapons. The attack just now came from his eyes."
T'Chaka stared at the footage, the wrinkles on his face tightening a bit.
How could he possibly know about this place?
Wakanda had been hidden for centuries, and not even intelligence agencies from various countries had been able to find the true entrance. The only one who might have leaked the news was Ulysses Klaue, who had stolen Vibranium from the country many years ago.
Could that arms dealer have sold the news out?
Thoughts raced through T'Chaka's mind, but now was not the time to investigate that. As a monarch, he quickly calmed down and issued a series of directives.
Since the person outside could make the shield manifest with a single blow, they could by no means be treated as an ordinary intruder.
"The border tribes must not launch active attacks."
T'Chaka stood up.
"Call out across the barrier, warning him to leave Wakandan territory immediately."
A guard bowed his head in acknowledgment.
"Activate global signal jamming."
T'Chaka continued to order.
"Cut off his mobile phone and satellite communications; do not let any imagery regarding the interior of Wakanda be transmitted out."
"Notify the Dora Milaje to enter a state of readiness."
"The leaders of the five tribes, stand by immediately."
Order after order was passed out.
The border region rapidly sprang into action.
Several palm-sized reconnaissance drones rose into the sky, recording Lu Chen from different angles across the barrier. The Vibranium weapons hidden within disguised farmhouses and mountain bodies also entered full startup status.
Lu Chen had long since discovered those drones.
Want to record his abilities?
Feel free to look.
Anyway, seeing and being able to block it have always been two different matters.
A specially amplified voice came from inside the shield.
"Outsider, you are attacking Wakanda's national border defense facilities."
"Cease hostile actions immediately and leave this area."
"This is your final warning!"
Lu Chen did not answer.
Signal jamming had already covered the surroundings, and ordinary communication equipment would completely fail here. But he had no intention of contacting the outside World in the first place, nor did he have any interest in photographing Wakanda with a mobile phone.
The Vibranium was right inside.
Since he had already come, did they think a few warnings would make him leave?
Talk about wishful thinking.
Lu Chen looked up toward the depths of the shield, activating teleportation.
Swish!
His figure vanished from where he stood.
Wakanda Command Center.
A technician stared fixedly at the location on the screen where Lu Chen had disappeared, cold sweat seeping from his forehead.
"Target... the target's energy signal has vanished!"
"Report! There is no record of the barrier being breached!"
"Where did he go?"
Just as everyone was filled with shock and uncertainty, a soldier responsible for internal monitoring on the other side suddenly let out a scream as if he had seen a ghost.
"He is inside! He is within our territory! In Sector A-7! He passed straight through the barrier!"
The entire command center instantly exploded into chaos.
The territory-wide alarm sounded accordingly.
Soldiers of the border tribes rushed in from all directions, their spears deploying blue energy blades, and armored vehicles rapidly closed in from a distance.
Lu Chen did not even stop his steps.
These so-called high-tech soldiers posed no threat to him.
He locked onto that most high-tech and massive energy-reactive building in the distance at the very first instance—the Wakandan Royal Palace.
Within the communication channel, the guard's urgent roar instantly spread across the country.
"The intruder is breaking through the border defense line!"
"Everyone, stop him!"
Chapter 188: Intruders
Lu Chen's figure skimmed across the ground, flying straight toward the most technologically advanced building in the distance.
"Fire!"
Below, those Wakanda soldiers who rushed out from the camouflaged farmhouse and mountainside had already raised the Vibranium spears in their hands.
The front of the spears unfolded, and blue energy projectiles shot into the sky like raindrops, attempting to intercept the intruder.
Unfortunately, in Lu Chen's eyes, the speed of these energy projectiles was ridiculously slow.
He didn't even have the thought of dodging, simply maintaining a straight-line Flight. All the attacks landed in the empty space behind him, unable to even touch the corner of his clothes.
"The target's speed is too fast!"
"Calculate the Flight trajectory in advance!"
"Can't calculate it, he's still accelerating!"
The voices in the communication channel were already in disarray.
His target was only Vibranium.
As for these guards, there was no need to waste time.
The palace had already appeared in his line of sight, and just as Lu Chen was about to approach, a sudden change occurred.
Without any warning, several noticeably more powerful energy beams appeared out of thin air in the airspace ahead of him, intertwining into a firepower network that sealed off all his advancing routes.
Boom!
One of them flew past his shoulder and exploded in the distance.
Lu Chen stopped his figure, glancing at the empty front.
"Invisible?"
Naked eyes could not see any weapons, yet energy attacks shot over one after another from different directions. It seemed this was Wakanda's proud Royal Talon.
Unfortunately, while they could hide their appearance, they couldn't hide the metal.
Lu Chen raised his right hand, slowly closing his five fingers toward the front.
An invisible magnetic field instantly enveloped a vast airspace of several thousand meters ahead.
There was no need to search, nor was there any need to lock on.
All objects ahead that could be affected by the magnetic field were forcibly grabbed!
Hundreds of meters away, the pilot inside the Royal Talon tightly gripped the control stick.
"The fighter has lost response!"
"Power is normal, the control system is not damaged!"
"Something is pulling the fuselage!"
"Evade! Quick, evade!"
Alarm sounds rang out in a chorus.
Several stealth fighters were dragged by the magnetic field to deviate from their course, their wings slamming heavily into each other.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Flames burst out one after another in the air, the stealth covering the surface of the fuselage failed, and several fiercely-styled Royal Talon fighters were revealed, spinning as they fell downward.
Lu Chen loosened his hand, not continuing to deliver a finishing blow.
The outer perimeter of the palace was likewise covered by a layer of energy barrier.
Lu Chen's speed did not decrease, his figure directly disappearing before contacting the barrier.
The next second, he was already standing inside the barrier.
"Intruder detected!"
"He has entered the palace protection zone!"
"Stop him!"
The guards behind the gates had just aimed their spears forward when the heavy palace gates suddenly buckled inward.
Bang!
The entire door detached from the wall, tumbling and smashing into the hall.
Lu Chen stepped across the shattered door frame, instantly catching sight of T'Chaka in front of the throne.
Several royal guards were covering the old king with black armor components. The chest piece had just closed, and large areas of the arms and legs had not yet been put on.
As expected, it was not a nano-armor.
At this point in time, the nano-Vibranium suit later used by his son T'Challa had not yet been developed. The old-style Black Panther armor in front of him still needed to be put on part by part. The speed was not slow, but it also depended on whether the enemy would give the time.
Lu Chen raised his hand.
Click!
The chest armor that had just been fastened onto T'Chaka instantly detached, flying up into mid-air together with the surrounding unequipped armor components.
"Protect His Majesty!"
The guards had just pounced forward when all the armor components suddenly accelerated.
Boom!
The ceiling of the palace was directly smashed through, and rubble and metal structures fell together. That incomplete Black Panther armor rushed out of the palace, disappearing into the heights in the blink of an eye.
T'Chaka's expression finally changed.
If the opponent was only fast, he could still try to rely on the Vibranium armor to buy time.
But now, the armor was taken away without even touching the enemy.
"Who are you?"
"Why invade Wakanda?"
Lu Chen glanced at him.
More than a dozen members of the Dora Milaje rushed out from both sides, their Vibranium spears pointing directly at his body.
"Step away from His Majesty!"
"Take down the intruder!"
Lu Chen waved his palm casually.
A majestic burst of psionic power erupted instantly. Those fearless Dora Milaje guards were like small boats struck by giant waves, tumbling over and knocked to the ground one by one, their spears slipping from their hands.
The entire grand hall was cleared instantly.
Lu Chen ignored the guards lying on the ground, nor did he walk toward the shaken King T'Chaka.
His gaze fell upon Queen Ramonda beside the throne.
T'Chaka grabbed the Queen's arm beside him, wanting to pull her behind him.
But Lu Chen had already disappeared.
When he appeared again, he was standing in front of the two of them.
"Let her go!"
T'Chaka punched toward Lu Chen's chest.
Bang!
The fist was caught with a single hand.
Lu Chen did not read T'Chaka's memory.
Every generation of the Black Panther ingested the Heart-Shaped Herb, and gaining superhuman strength, speed, healing, and enhanced senses for the physical body was merely the most fundamental effect. What was even more troublesome was that the consumer would also form a mental connection with the panther god Bast.
He wasn't sure if his psionic ability probing inside would alert that so-called panther god.
There was no need to take the risk.
The Wakanda Queen likewise knew the location of the Vibranium vein, and hadn't ingested the Heart-Shaped Herb, making her clearly a safer choice.
Lu Chen gripped T'Chaka's wrist, flinging him aside, and his mental power entered the Queen's mind.
Massive memory images flashed by rapidly.
Palace, laboratory, transport tracks, underground mining area.
Found it.
"Stop!"
T'Chaka had just crawled up from the ground, but Lu Chen's figure had already disappeared.
He couldn't be bothered to say anything to T'Chaka anyway; after all, their languages were incompatible.
The Queen's body went limp, supported by the guards who rushed up.
"Your Majesty, the intruder's signal has disappeared again!"
"Search all areas of the palace!"
"The mining area!"
T'Chaka turned abruptly, pointing underground, "Immediately seal off the Vibranium mining area!"
Unfortunately, it was already too late.
When Lu Chen appeared again, he was already standing inside a gigantic underground karst cave.
Standing in the center of the cave was the raw Vibranium parent rock left by the primitive meteorite, its massive rock body shimmering with a light blue-purple glow. Multi-layered steel-structured walkways crisscrossed in mid-air, while lifting mechanical arms and automated excavation equipment continuously operated around the parent rock.
This was the true foundation of Wakanda.
The outside world fought tooth and nail for a few grams of Vibranium, yet here there was an entire vein.
Lu Chen did not touch the central Vibranium parent rock. Taking too much would only occupy system space and was temporarily meaningless; it was better to let them take good care of it for him.
Telekinesis swept across the excavation area.
Raw Vibranium blocks that had not yet been processed flew into mid-air, disappearing one after another, stored into the system space.
Three tons.
Five tons.
Lu Chen estimated the weight, then stopped.
Urgent alarm sounds were already coming from the entrance of the mining area, and a large number of armed personnel were rushing over.
After taking the things, Lu Chen didn't have the slightest bit of nostalgia; with a flash of his figure, he activated teleportation once again, leaving this high-tech primitive tribe behind.
Chapter 189: New Copy Target
Before long, he returned to New York and arrived at Tony's laboratory according to the location in his memory.
Just as Lu Chen's figure appeared in the underground laboratory, the mechanical arm violently turned, and a dazzling white light lit up from the palm's muzzle.
In front of the workbench, the welding torch in Tony's hand trembled, almost welding onto his own hand.
"Hey!"
He quickly retreated half a step and raised his right hand to aim at Lu Chen.
"Jarvis, how did he get in? Why wasn't I notified?"
"Sorry, sir."
Jarvis's voice echoed from all around.
"I just discovered Mr. Tianshu as well. Existing surveillance hasn't captured any intrusion process, and the access control system has no record of being opened."
"Alright, don't give him a hard time."
Lu Chen glanced at the mechanical arm aimed at him and didn't take it to heart.
Tony stared at him for a few seconds, then recalled the scene when Lu Chen disappeared during the day.
"Spatial transfer?"
Lu Chen smiled slightly.
"What, want to research a set of Anti-Tianshu armor?"
"Ahem."
Tony gave a slightly embarrassed dry cough; he indeed had this thought, and more than one.
After the Battle of New York ended, he had been reviewing all the abilities Lu Chen displayed.
Terrifying strength and defense, speed too fast to capture, Heat Vision, lightning, magnetic fields, flames, and this completely unreasonable spatial movement.
The problem was that being able to record them didn't mean being able to solve them.
Over a dozen targeted technical solutions flashed through his mind instantly, but were quickly vetoed by himself one by one.
No, given Earth's current technological level, trying to counter pure spatial jumping was completely impossible to start with.
"I'm just maintaining the necessary curiosity towards unknown technology."
Tony lowered his arms, and several mechanical arms retracted along with them.
"Besides, who would name an armor Anti-Tianshu? It sounds like it's specifically waiting to be dismantled by you."
Quite stubborn.
Lu Chen didn't expose him either.
Moreover, given Tony's current technological level, even if he really made it, it would mostly just be an oversized toy.
"So, are you back to tell me that Vibranium can't be bought, by the way to appreciate a genius's disappointed expression?"
"Vibranium has been obtained."
"How much?"
Lu Chen directly opened the system space.
The next second, pieces of raw Vibranium glowing with a blue-purple luster appeared out of thin air, smashing onto the ground one after another.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The dull crashing sounds merged into one.
In the blink of an eye, a small hill had piled up in the center of the laboratory. Several mechanical arms detected obstacles and hurriedly avoided them to both sides.
The teasing expression on Tony's face completely vanished.
He walked up to the pile of raw stones, reached out to touch the surface, and quickly pulled out a portable detector from under the workbench.
The values on the screen jumped rapidly.
"Jarvis."
"Preliminary scan results show that these ores contain high concentrations of unknown metal components, and the data consistency with existing Vibranium samples reaches ninety-nine point seven percent."
Jarvis paused for a moment.
"Sir, it is recommended to conduct more precise testing."
Tony didn't speak.
His eyes were almost glued to the raw Vibranium stones.
So much?
All the publicly circulated Vibranium in the World combined probably didn't even equal a fraction of this pile of raw stones in front of him. Those black market dealers dared to quote sky-high prices for just a few grams of Vibranium, yet Lu Chen went out for a few hours and directly moved back a small mountain.
"Where did you get this from?"
"A high-tech primitive country."
Tony raised his head.
"A high-tech primitive country?"
He reached out and pointed at the raw stones on the ground.
"What kind of ghost description is this? They live in thatched huts on one hand, and use Vibranium to build spaceships on the other?"
"Pretty much."
Lu Chen thought of those farmhouses on the surface of Wakanda used for camouflage.
This description really didn't have any problems.
A group of Africans who mastered technology far surpassing the outside World still maintained a tribal system, and the throne was even decided by taking medicine and hand-to-hand combat. Calling them high-tech primitives was already being very polite.
Tony walked half a circle around the pile of raw stones.
"Do they still have stock?"
"A lot."
"I can buy it at a high price."
"Not really."
"You probably won't be able to get it temporarily." Lu Chen shook his head,
"Then how did you buy these?"
"I didn't buy them."
The laboratory quieted down.
Tony looked at that pile of Vibranium, then looked at Lu Chen, suddenly feeling that his question was somewhat redundant.
Given the combat power Lu Chen displayed in New York during the day, if that country was unwilling to sell, he probably wouldn't stand at the door talking about commercial reputation.
"Fine, I won't ask about the process."
Tony squatted down and re-inspected a piece of raw Vibranium stone.
"However, if they still have a lot, can you introduce me to them? I can provide weapons, energy, medical technology, and even help them upgrade their city systems."
"Don't even think about it."
Lu Chen casually picked up a piece of raw stone and weighed it in his palm.
"If you go over now, you will only be treated by them as an outsider coveting Vibranium. Not to mention doing business, whether you can even get in is a question."
Of course, except by breaking in forcibly.
The anticipation on Tony's face diminished by more than half.
"What a pity, I thought I finally met a customer worthy of Stark Industries technology."
"I can share some with you."
Tony immediately stood up.
"How much money?"
"You can name a price, or Stark Industries shares? If you're not interested in cash, I still have many properties in New York, Los Angeles, and Malibu."
Lu Chen shook his finger.
"Money is useless to me."
"Then what do you want?"
"Make me a set of artificial intelligence similar to Jarvis."
The smile on Tony's face froze.
"Similar to Jarvis?"
"Capable of autonomous learning, taking over networks, processing information, and assisting with research."
Lu Chen had long wanted a set of artificial intelligence of his own.
Ordinary smart programs had limited value; a truly evolvable artificial intelligence was different. In the future, whether collecting intelligence, hacking networks, or building his own laboratory, it could save a lot of time.
"A set of custom armor, plus a set of evolvable artificial intelligence?"
Tony crossed his arms.
"Do you know how much workload this is?"
"That's why I'm giving you Vibranium."
"Artificial intelligence isn't a mobile phone on an assembly line that can be automatically produced just by inputting requirements. Jarvis's underlying architecture and database are the fruits of many years of my work."
"Half a ton."
Tony's eyelids twitched.
"You can't insult a scientist's principles with Vibranium."
"One ton."
"Deal."
Lu Chen looked at his extended hand and shook it.
Tony let go of his hand and immediately turned around to pull up the laboratory's design interface.
"Alright, you can go out now; don't disturb my research."
He directed the mechanical arms to send several raw stones into the testing platform, then turned back and added a sentence.
"Next time you come, use the door. I've already had Jarvis remember you, at least leave some dignity for my security system."
"Using the door is too slow."
"This is my home."
"Then you can research spatial doors."
Tony's mouth twitched.
He had no way to refute.
After all, for someone who could freely perform spatial jumps, things like doors truly had no existence value.
"Give me a contact method."
Tony pushed a transparent screen in front of Lu Chen.
"I'll try to refine these raw stones first. As for the armor, what color, what shape, how to arrange the weapon systems—we'll talk after I make the basic plan."
After Lu Chen asked Tony for a communicator, his figure disappeared.
When he appeared again, he was already suspended in the sky above New York.
Most of the fire left by the Battle of New York had extinguished, and cleaning work on the streets was still ongoing. Earth at this time point seemed peaceful, and on the surface, there were only those few superheroes from the Avengers.
But Lu Chen knew very well that there were plenty of monsters and demons hiding in the dark.
Mages, Inhumans, and those guys who had lived on Earth for thousands of years without ever revealing their identities.
Several familiar faces flashed through his memory.
Lu Chen's mouth curved up slightly.
"Eternal."