Chapter 198: Indiscriminate Control
Ikaris rushed up again.
The speed was even faster than before.
Golden energy wrapped around his fist, and the airflow along the way was compressed into a straight white channel.
But this time Lu Chen didn't dodge, and didn't even make a move to raise his hands to block.
He just hovered quietly in mid-air, watching the approaching Ikaris.
Seeking death?
A trace of doubt flashed through Ikaris's mind, but combat opportunities are fleeting, so he didn't pull back his strength, but instead poured even more Universe energy into his right fist.
The golden light on his fist almost condensed into substance, fiercely smashing toward Lu Chen's bridge of the nose.
The distance between the two instantly dropped to zero.
There was no sound of bones breaking.
No rebound from the force.
Ikaris passed straight through Lu Chen's body, and the golden energy carried by his fist continued forward, punching straight through a building miles away.
"What?"
Ikaris's movements paused.
Right now.
Lu Chen instantly lifted his intangibility, his left hand grasping Ikaris's shoulder, while a blinding crimson Fire ignited on his right fist.
Magnetic fields, telekinesis, and Fire simultaneously covered his fist.
Bang!
The enchanted heavy punch hit squarely in the middle of his face.
Ikaris's head jerked backward, and his entire body flew sideways.
Golden energy violently oscillated on the surface of his body, and a trace of blood finally overflowed from the corner of his mouth.
His defense was finally breached.
Lu Chen's mood instantly improved quite a bit.
This guy's frontal abilities were ridiculously strong, and his combat experience also surpassed his, but his abilities were too single-faceted.
As long as the original rhythm of attack and defense was broken, Ikaris's thousands of years of experience might not have time to cope.
Ikaris forcibly stabilized his body in the air, his thumb wiping across the corner of his mouth.
He glanced at the blood on his fingertips, the anger in his eyes almost condensing into substance.
Ikaris abruptly vanished from the spot.
The next second, a fist was already close to Lu Chen's side face.
Lu Chen re-entered intangibility.
Whoosh!
The fist passed right through his head.
Ikaris immediately changed his moves, his elbow sweeping across Lu Chen's neck while his knee simultaneously thrust toward his abdomen.
But no matter how fast the attack was or how tricky the landing spot, all attacks could only pass through that body close at hand.
There was no solid entity.
He couldn't touch him at all.
Ikaris missed a dozen times in a row, and just as he was preparing to distance himself, the trace of blood remaining at the corner of his mouth suddenly detached from his skin.
The blood stretched out in mid-air, condensing into several tiny blood swords, desperately drilling into his body along his nasal cavity, ear canals, and the corners of his mouth.
"Get lost!"
Golden Universe energy erupted with a roar.
Several blood swords evaporated instantly, but two still drilled into his body, frantically shuttling through his blood vessels.
Ikaris's movements experienced a brief stagnation.
Internal and external attacks.
Lu Chen saw this very clearly.
The Eternal's physical defense was extremely strong, and their internal organs were similarly not ordinary flesh, but after all, they were more fragile than the body surface.
Blood manipulation couldn't kill Ikaris, but it was enough to disrupt his attack rhythm.
"Solid and ethereal."
Ikaris endured the sharp pain in his body, retreating several hundred meters backward.
"You only turn back into a solid when you attack."
"Pretty fast reaction."
Lu Chen did not deny it.
This ability couldn't be hidden forever.
As long as the number of battles was enough, the other party would figure it out sooner or later.
So what if he was discovered?
Knowing the principle and cracking the ability were always two different things.
Ikaris's eyes lit up with golden light again.
"Since I can't hit you, I won't give you a chance to materialize!"
Two golden Heat Visions continuously shot out, instantly piercing through Lu Chen's chest.
The beam passed through his ethereal flesh, extending all the way into the distance, cutting two paths of magma several kilometers long through the buildings and ground along the way.
Lu Chen stood within the golden pillar of light, letting the terrifying high temperature penetrate him, it seemed he was forcing himself to maintain intangibility.
As long as Lu Chen turned solid, the Heat Vision would immediately burn through his chest.
"How long can you maintain this?"
Ikaris flew backward, the golden light in his eyes growing stronger and stronger.
"Longer than you think."
Lu Chen withstood the beam piercing his chest and chased forward directly.
Maintaining intangibility did consume energy, but the consumption was far from as large as Ikaris imagined.
Furthermore, not being able to use a physical body to attack didn't mean he couldn't do anything.
The energy within his body began to transform.
The Fire disappeared.
The lightning fell silent.
Increasingly massive energy was compressed into his chest, converting into highly concentrated radiation.
A dazzling White light shone from inside his ethereal chest, and an increasingly urgent buzzing sound rang in Ikaris's ears.
Hum!
Hum!
Hum!
The temperature of space was rising sharply.
Ikaris stared at the rapidly expanding White light, his expression finally changing.
What was that thing?
"Weren't you trying to drag this out?"
The muscles on Lu Chen's face were already beginning to tense.
"Keep dragging it out!"
Ikaris maintained the Heat Vision, his body retreating rapidly.
But the moment Ikaris tried to change direction, Lu Chen's figure vanished out of thin air.
Spatial fluctuations flashed.
Lu Chen appeared directly in front of him, almost face-to-face with him.
Pure speed and teleportation were ultimately not the same concept.
Ikaris could keep up with his Flight, but he couldn't stop movement on a spatial level.
The radiation light cluster on his chest was already so bright that its outline couldn't be seen clearly.
It's almost time.
Lu Chen prepared to lift the intangibility and stuff this blast directly into Ikaris's face.
But the next moment, the scene in front of him suddenly distorted without warning, and Ikaris, who was close at hand, suddenly split apart.
One went upward.
One went downward.
Three fled rapidly to the left and right sides.
Two more remained in place, simultaneously shooting Heat Vision.
Lu Chen did not rush to switch to a solid form, his gaze rapidly sweeping across the surroundings.
London beneath his feet had disappeared; the streets, buildings, and distant crowds were all gone, leaving only a desolate and uninhabited land.
Lu Chen stopped his movements, suppressing the chest cannon about to erupt.
Clones? Illusion?
A name instantly popped into Lu Chen's head.
Sprite.
That little Eternal girl who would never grow up. Her ability was to create massive illusions indistinguishable from reality.
She was also in London!
Wanting to use illusions to buy time? Or trying to cover Ikaris's retreat?
But his blast was already fully charged.
Someone had to take it today!
Lu Chen flipped his hand to take out the Mind Stone, pouring his mental power into the scepter without reservation.
Since he couldn't find the main body, he would take out the person creating the illusion together with it.
The mental power that originally covered the city level was amplified once again, rushing out of London and sweeping across the entire Europe.
Since he couldn't tell who was real and who was fake, he wouldn't bother distinguishing.
Lu Chen gripped the scepter tightly and issued only one command.
"Go to sleep!"
Boom!
The mental wave swept indiscriminately across half of Europe.
Inside the London Natural History Museum, Sprite pressed her hands against her temples, blood continuously flowing from her nasal cavity and the corners of her mouth.
Enduring Lu Chen's mental power to maintain the illusion was already close to exceeding her endurance limit.
Now that an even stronger mental shock pressed down frontally, that desolate land shattered on the spot.
Sersi supported her shoulders.
"Sprite, stop!"
"I'm helping Ikaris..."
Sprite spat out a mouthful of blood, still wanting to continue maintaining her ability.
Before she finished speaking, Sersi had already collapsed softly to the ground.
Sprite opened her mouth, her vision plunged into complete darkness, and her body toppled down along with it.
The illusion shattered.
Chapter 199: The Promised 1v1 Real Man Battle
The moment the illusion shattered, the several Ikaris before his eyes instantly vanished, leaving behind only the true body.
He had already put a distance of dozens of kilometers between them, hovering on the distant skyline and turning into a blurry little dot.
Those two golden Heat Vision beams piercing through heaven and Earth still did not stop, continuously shooting toward Lu Chen's location, as if they wanted to nail him in the intangible state forever.
Ikaris covered his head with one hand, the expression on his face changing constantly, with pain, anger, and struggle appearing alternately.
Lu Chen made a judgment in his heart.
Mind Control LV6 plus the Mind Stone, under the condition that he chose indiscriminate large-scale release, could suppress Ikaris's consciousness.
But wanting to completely take over an Eternal whose physical body strength was half a section higher than his own was still falling a bit short.
Especially since Ikaris was using cosmic energy to protect his mind.
The fact that he could still maintain clarity now already explained the problem.
"Troublesome."
Lu Chen estimated the distance.
He couldn't teleport there in one go.
The distance was too far.
If he teleported a section first and then performed a second teleportation, Ikaris would definitely notice.
Since it was like this...
Lu Chen lowered his head to look at London below, the corners of his mouth curling into a hint of coldness.
Don't blame me then.
I originally wanted to fight a fair and square real man 1V1 with you, but you guys played tricks first.
In the city, Sprite and Sersi had already been knocked down by the mental wave. After the illusion disappeared, Lu Chen's mental power could still lock onto their positions.
As long as all the energy in his chest was released downward, the entire London would vanish in the white light.
Including them.
"No—!"
Ikaris, seeing Lu Chen's action in the distance, felt his eyes split with rage.
In those golden eyes, an emotion of utter horror was revealed for the first time.
He couldn't care about the needle-like stinging pain in his mind anymore; the cosmic energy within his body burst out unreservedly, and his entire person turned into a golden meteor, charging madly toward Lu Chen at a limit speed surpassing before!
He had to stop him!
Sersi was still down there!
Lu Chen intentionally slowed down his movements, turning his body downward, and the white light on his chest was pressed to become brighter and brighter.
Ikaris's speed was astonishingly fast.
Twenty kilometers.
Ten kilometers.
Five kilometers.
"Stop!"
Ikaris charged over with a roar,
The dazzling white light instantly swallowed the sky.
However, along with the white light, Lu Chen's figure also disappeared.
Right before the energy left his body, he teleported.
Lu Chen's figure appeared out of thin air in front of the rapidly charging Ikaris, almost face-to-face with him.
The white light erupted.
The radiation energy wave accumulated in Lu Chen's chest was blasted entirely into Ikaris's body at Zero Distance.
Ikaris didn't even have time to strike a defensive posture before his chest was instantly engulfed by the white light. The golden cosmic energy had just surged out from his body when it was torn apart by the violent radiation.
The piercing white light burst from the stratosphere, instantly covering the entire sky.
Lu Chen was also directly blown away by the Impact of the close-range explosion.
At the center of the stratospheric explosion twenty kilometers above the ground, an indescribable huge pillar of light erupted straight upward, instantly piercing through the thin stratosphere, running through the mesosphere and thermosphere, rushing all the way to near-Earth orbit, leaving a short-lived yet brilliant scar in the dark Universe background.
Looking up from the ground, the sky seemed to have been torn open with a huge hole.
Centered around the pillar of light, the violent energy dissipated in all directions, rendering across the upper atmosphere to form a gorgeous and deadly energy light belt covering the entire sky above England, resembling a giant aurora when doomsday arrived.
Following closely behind was an extremely strong region-wide flash, covering even the entire southern England.
London, at this instant, lit up to an unprecedentedly dazzling degree.
Across Europe, outside the range where Lu Chen issued Mind Control, countless people awakened from their dreams saw the terrifying daytime flash outside their windows like a midday Sun exploding, as if divine punishment had descended.
Lu Chen plunged from high altitude into the North Sea.
Boom!
The sea surface was smashed into a huge crater, and a water curtain hundreds of meters high rushed into the sky. Seawater poured backward from all directions, and Lu Chen's body crashed all the way into the seabed, with silt and gravel rolling and pressing toward the surroundings.
Bearing a somewhat dizzy head, Lu Chen barely propped up his body.
A sense of emptiness came from his chest.
The energy consumption was too huge.
Lu Chen raised his hand, his five fingers slowly closing.
The surrounding dissipated radiation energy was forcibly pulled over, drilling into his body along his skin and pores.
These things that were fatal poisons to ordinary life were, to him, the best tonic.
The Omni-Energy within his body began to operate, like a black hole, frantically absorbing these dissipated radiation and replenishing his own consumption,
The burning pain in his chest began to ease, and the hollow energy core also resumed operation.
A few minutes later, Lu Chen finally caught his breath.
He slowly rose from the silt of the seabed, suspended in the dark and cold seawater, his gaze piercing through layers of Water ripples, looking at that energy aurora in the distant sky that had not completely dissipated yet.
It was time to go check the battle results.
Lu Chen's figure tore through the Water, hanging suspended once again above the cold North Sea.
He closed his eyes, and his majestic mental power, like an invisible radar, instantly covered the entire southern England, scanning inch by inch toward the center point of the explosion.
None.
There was nothing.
Ikaris's life breath had completely disappeared.
Could someone have rescued Ikaris before he collected his trophy?
Who could it be?
Being able to take a person away in that kind of violent radiation aftermath, and with a speed so fast that even he couldn't perceive it in the first instance... most likely it was also a person from the Eternal.
A trace of displeasure flashed through Lu Chen's heart.
However...
His mental power swept across the ruins of the Natural History Museum in London, precisely locking onto two life signals that were still in a comatose state.
Sersi and Sprite were still there.
The main target of this operation was still there, so it wasn't a total blood loss.
Lu Chen's heart felt slightly more balanced, and he was just about to set off to capture them,
At this moment, a familiar figure coated in flashy red and gold, dragging a long white trail, whistled over from the distant skyline at supersonic speed.
"Damn it!"
Tony Stark looking at the energy light belt above London that had not yet dispersed, resembling a doomsday aurora, couldn't help cursing in the communication channel.
Through the satellites of Stark Industries, he detected the terrifying energy fluctuations erupting over London almost at the very first moment the two clashed.
How long had the Battle of New York been over?
He hadn't even had time to redecorate Stark Tower yet, and someone here in London had poked a hole in the sky.
He was speechless in his heart. Clearly, before he jumped out wearing the Iron Man armor and officially admitted to the whole World that he was Iron Man, Earth had always been calm and peaceful. How come the moment he appeared, all sorts of ghosts and monsters hiding in every corner of the Earth seemed to have collectively woken up, popping out one after another?
"Lock onto the energy source."
"Searching."
Jarvis connected to the satellites, traffic surveillance, and civil networks of various European countries, quickly filtering out countless blurry images.
One of the sides was Lu Chen.
Towards this young man, Tony's feelings had always been very complicated. Outrageously strong, and his style of doing things was completely unpredictable.
But who on Earth was the one fighting against him?
Can fly.
Great strength.
Eyes can also emit golden lasers.
"What model of Superman is this again?"
Tony brought up a few comic covers, carefully comparing them for a moment.
"That's not right, isn't the light shot from the eyes of an orthodox Superman red? How come neither of these two matches up?"
A strange thought suddenly popped into his mind.
Can fly, can emit lasers... If Lu Chen was Superman, then as his comrade-in-arms, wouldn't I be Batman?
This thought made Tony's mood a bit better.
Wealthy.
Smart.
No superpowers.
And always having to clean up the mess for a group of abnormal teammates.
It really looked similar.
But if the one with the golden laser eyes opposite was actually Superman, the smile on Tony's face slowly disappeared.
Then what am I considered? The villain Lex Luthor?
Chapter 200: Is This How You Save Earth?
"Delete the search history from just now."
"Alright, sir."
Tony shook his head, shook off those messy thoughts, and commanded Jarvis: "Search for the traces of both sides in the battle."
"Sir, Tianshu's location has been locked. He is hovering over London."
Tony adjusted his direction and soon saw Lu Chen standing quietly in the air, as if overlooking the entire World.
He controlled his armor to move closer, opened the faceplate,
"Hey, buddy, you two are done? An orthodox Superman and a magic Superman are fighting over property here? For the ownership of the Fortress of Solitude?"
Lu Chen's attention was not on him at all. His spiritual power was still sweeping through every corner of London over and over again, trying to find that You-Know-Who who rescued Ikaris.
Nothing was found.
That person was like a ghost, coming and going without a trace.
Forget it.
Lu Chen withdrew his spiritual power and finally turned his gaze to Tony beside him.
"Why are you here?"
"Why am I here?" Tony was choked almost breathless by this rhetorical question. This guy almost scared the air defense system of the entire World out of control, thinking a nuclear war was about to start, and now he actually asked why he came?
"Alright, buddy, I admit you are very strong."
Tony pointed to the undispersed energy light belt above his head.
"But you guys made such a big commotion, anyone who doesn't know would think aliens have come again."
"Seriously, why did you guys fight?"
Lu Chen thought about it seriously.
Arishem the Judge wanted to use Earth to nurture Celestials, and all life on Earth was a sacrifice. He collected Eternal abilities, by the way stopping the emergence, and saying he was saving Earth was completely unproblematic.
Although the methods were a bit direct.
But the result was more important.
While separating a wisp of psychokinetic power, he reached into the ruins of the museum below, grabbed the unconscious Sersi and Sprite out of thin air, and made them slowly float in front of him.
While answering Tony's question: "You might not believe it when I say it, but actually I am saving Earth."
Tony's gaze fell on the two women suspended in the air, and his expression became extremely weird.
"Uh, is this how you save Earth?"
"Kidnapping two women?"
Lu Chen couldn't be bothered to explain.
Regarding the real age of the Eternal, picking any one of them could be Tony's ancestor of hundreds of generations.
Tony raised his hand and pointed at Sprite, who looked like a young girl.
"And you wouldn't even let her go?"
Lu Chen's brow twitched.
What on Earth was packed in this bastard's head?
"She has lived for thousands of years."
"Thousands of years?"
Tony re-examined Sprite, remained silent for a moment, and his faceplate quickly closed.
"Consider I said nothing."
Lu Chen wrapped the two unconscious Eternal members with psychokinetic power, preparing to set off back to New York.
"Whatever you have to say, wait until I finish interrogating them." He left a sentence, "Saving Earth is very tiring, after all."
Before his voice fell, his figure had already turned into a stream of light, flying towards the other side of the ocean.
Tony hovered in place, actually not knowing which sentence to start complaining from.
"Alright..."
Tony looked at the direction where he left, shrugged, and immediately followed. At least London was not blown up, and Lu Chen didn't look out of control either. As for the rest, it wouldn't be too late to ask after returning.
At the same time, he connected to the internal communication of the Avengers.
"The situation is resolved, nothing major, just Tianshu had a fight with someone."
...
Inside the Quinjet.
Steve Rogers listened to Tony's understated report in the communicator, his brows tightly furrowed.
"Tony, what does nothing major mean?" He looked at the bizarre energy light belt outside the porthole and asked in a deep voice, "The power and communication systems of the entire London are paralyzed!"
"Don't worry, Captain, it's all resolved. You guys can head back." Tony's voice remained relaxed.
Steve took a deep breath and glanced at Natasha beside him.
"Since we're already here," Natasha understood and said neatly, "we should still go down and check out the situation."
"Agreed."
The Quinjet slowly landed in a square in downtown London.
The hatch opened, and Steve, Natasha, and Hawkeye walked down the boarding stairs, instantly stunned by the scene before them.
The entire city of London was unusually quiet.
Dead silence.
On the road, cars were parked crookedly with their doors wide open. In the shops, goods were scattered all over the ground. On the sidewalks, in cafes, by the office windows... people were lying everywhere.
Their postures varied. Some seemed to have suddenly tumbled while walking, and some seemed to have fallen asleep just as they were about to drink water.
But without exception, everyone's chests were still rising and falling steadily.
They were just asleep.
Everyone in the entire city was asleep.
Steve stepped forward and gently pushed a Police lying on the roadside, but the other party had no reaction.
"Oh my god..." He muttered to himself, feeling a piercing chill in his heart.
What kind of terrifying ability was this?
Natasha's expression also became extremely solemn, and she immediately contacted Tony through her headset: "Tony, everyone in London is unconscious. Do you know what is going on?"
Tony, far up in mid-air, was stunned for a moment, then reacted as well. He caught up with Lu Chen in front, "Buddy, why are the people in London all asleep?"
Lu Chen, who was in Flight, paused his movements and scratched his head.
He looked back towards London and remained silent for two seconds.
He seemed to... have forgotten something.
In order to shatter Sprite's illusion, he used the Mind Stone and indiscriminately released a super-large-scale mental shockwave.
He seemed to... have forgotten to lift the Mind Control on ordinary people.
Lu Chen stopped awkwardly in the air, facing the direction of London, and snapped his fingers casually.
Snap.
A crisp sound rang out ten thousand meters high in the sky.
"Alright." He said to Tony.
Meanwhile, inside the city of London.
Steve and Natasha were helpless against the "Sleeping Beauties" all over the city when suddenly, groans and confused conversations rose one after another around them.
One, two, ten, a hundred...
As if the play button had been pressed, the entire static city instantly came alive.
The Police lying on the roadside dazedly climbed up, looked at his hands, and then looked around. The guests in the cafe rubbed their eyes, not understanding why they were lying on the tables. Pedestrians on the street looked at each other with confusion written all over their faces.
"I... what happened to me just now?"
"My head hurts so much, it feels like I took a nap."
"What happened?"
Within just tens of seconds, the city recovered its hustle and bustle from dead silence.
Steve and Natasha stood in the center of the chaotic crowd, looking at this incredible scene, speechless for a long time.
In the communicator, Tony's retelling of Lu Chen's words came again.
That voice was simple and casual.
"It's good now."
Chapter 201: New Rules
"Can't you fly a bit slower?"
Tony flew his armor in pursuit behind Lu Chen, his voice coming through the communicator, "Seriously, you're flying across the Atlantic Ocean while grabbing two women. If this scene gets captured on camera, tomorrow's headline will be 'Tianshu Knight Kidnaps Late at Night, Suspected Emotional Dispute'."
"Especially that little girl; you'd better have a reasonable explanation, or I'll have to condemn you on behalf of the Child Protection Association."
Lu Chen ignored him.
He controlled his psychokinesis to make Sersi float in front of him, and the next moment, he directly grabbed Sersi's wrist.
Tony's faceplate lifted slightly.
"I take back what I said just now. Changing emotional dispute to harassing women makes more sense."
"Just shut up."
Lu Chen looked down at the system panel.
[Copyable ability detected]
[Matter Transmutation] +
[Immortality LV6]
[Super Physique LV5]
Matter Transmutation?
Lu Chen's fingers paused on Sersi's wrist, his gaze falling on that line of ability without a level indication.
"System, what does it mean that Matter Transmutation has no level?"
[The peak state level of this ability exceeds the host's current ability level. Please click the "+" sign on the right to view details.]
Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.
He really hadn't noticed that there was actually a tiny plus sign behind Matter Transmutation.
When did this system become so smart?
Lu Chen raised his hand and tapped on it.
The panel immediately expanded, and three new pieces of information emerged.
[Matter Transmutation LV6 (Normal State)]
[Matter Transmutation LV8 (Uni-Mind)]
[The state when the Eternal performs spiritual unison, concentrating energy onto a single individual, granting that individual an energy boost.]
[Matter Transmutation LV9 (God Energy)]
[The state after receiving energy provided by the newborn God Tiamut]
Lu Chen stared at the last two lines, quickly calculating in his mind.
Sersi in her normal state was only level six, but the Uni-Mind could boost her to level eight. As for the God Energy state, it went directly to level nine.
This was the highest-level ability he had seen so far, but the higher the level, the longer the time required to Copy it.
Lu Chen glanced at the panel and did not immediately click to Copy.
Let's check out the other one first.
With a sweep of his psychokinesis, he also pulled Sprite in front of him, and in the same manner, pressed his other hand onto her wrist.
[Copyable superpower detected]
[Immortality LV6]
[Super Physique LV4]
[Illusion Projection LV6]
The three abilities were lined up one after another.
The most valuable one was undoubtedly Illusion Projection. The illusion over London earlier that covered most of the city could even deceive him; its practical combat value was not low.
"Select Illusion Projection LV6"
[Illusion Projection LV6 Copy started]
[Current progress 50.01%]
[Estimated time two hours]
Just as Lu Chen was about to put away the panel, the system popped up another prompt.
[Simultaneous contact with two people detected. Do you want to switch the existing Copy ability to the background?]
Lu Chen's actions paused.
"What do you mean?"
[The host can Copy the abilities of two people simultaneously, and can choose any ability to switch to background copying.]
[Abilities switched to background copying no longer require continuous contact, but once selected, they cannot be changed until the copying is complete.]
Lu Chen looked at those two lines of words.
"Holy shit."
Can Copy two people simultaneously?
Earlier, he was still considering whether to Copy Sersi or Sprite first, and even thought about finishing copying the lower-level abilities before dealing with the higher-level ones. As a result, the system was now telling him that he only needed to touch both people simultaneously to let one of the abilities enter the background, and contact was no longer required.
"System, why didn't you tell me earlier?"
[First, the host didn't ask.]
[Second, previously the host did not touch two people simultaneously.]
Lu Chen's mouth twitched.
Good, good, good.
Very reasonable.
He really hadn't asked before, and indeed hadn't touched two people simultaneously after upgrading. It's just that this answer sounded so punchable?
Lu Chen's gaze fell back onto Sersi.
"Transfer Matter Transmutation LV9 to background copying."
[Matter Transmutation LV9 Copy started]
[Estimated time 36.5 days]
Thirty-six days?
He glanced at the progress on Sprite's side, then looked at Sersi's Copy status, and the slight ease that had just risen in his heart quickly vanished.
Sure enough, high-level abilities were not so easy to acquire.
He suddenly felt a bit nostalgic for the Copy rules of lower-level abilities in the past.
Touch it for a few seconds, at most a few minutes.
Unlike now, copying the highest-level Matter Transmutation directly scheduled him over a month later. By the time this ability finished copying, the remaining people of the Eternal would probably have already started searching all over the World for him.
However, this also showed that the system did not forcefully compress abilities into a simple level number.
The higher the level, the more complex the information contained within the ability itself, and the slower the copying.
Lu Chen stared at the progress on the panel.
[Current progress 0.01%]
This was just the beginning.
"At least it can run in the background, no need to keep holding her." Lu Chen retracted his psychokinesis, making Sersi and Sprite hover side by side at his side,
Although for him now, the lifespan limits of ordinary people no longer existed, he was not willing to waste time on waiting.
Thirty-six days was too long.
He had to find a way to improve the system's copying efficiency.
Thinking of this, Lu Chen spoke up, asking: "System, can you still upgrade?"
[The system is currently in an upgradeable state]
Lu Chen's eyes flickered slightly.
"What is needed?"
[Please have the host find high-level items containing different properties]
"Different properties?"
Lu Chen raised his hand and took out the Mind Stone.
He asked the system: "Do you think this Mind Stone of mine will work?"
The panel was silent for a moment.
[The rules contained within the Infinity Stones have already been deciphered by me]
[A single Infinity Stone cannot meet the system upgrade requirements]
Lu Chen's gaze fell on these words, his fingers gently rubbing the scepter.
Already deciphered.
That is to say, the power of the Mind Stone was indeed advanced enough, but to the system, the research value of the Infinity Stones had already been wrung dry. To upgrade, one must find high-level items with different properties.
How many such things were left in this World?
Lu Chen put away the Mind Stone, and a few names flashed rapidly through his mind: the Eternal Flame, the Darkhold, or even the energy cores from the Celestials, or multiple Infinity Stones together, might be able to meet the system's requirements.
But none of these things could be casually obtained.
Troublesome.
Of all things, what the system upgrade required was one thing after another that easily triggered major battles.
It seemed that the coming days would not be boring.
Tony watched Lu Chen ahead suddenly accelerate, and immediately increased the power of his thrusters.
"Hey! Hey!" Tony's voice was filled with confusion, "What are you doing? New York is that way! Where on Earth are you taking these two women?"
"Chicago."
Lu Chen's voice came through the communicator.
"What are you going there for?"
"To clear out any potential threats that might exist on Earth."
Tony was silent for two seconds.
"Here we go again?"
He glanced at Sersi and Sprite, who were suspended in the air by psychokinesis, utterly unable to understand how many more people Lu Chen intended to catch tonight.
Chapter 202: Makkari
London had just experienced such a massive mess, and a normal person should go back to rest now, or at least lock up the prisoners and interrogate them first.
This guy, on the other hand, brought two unconscious women across the Atlantic Ocean, and continued his journey as soon as he arrived in New York.
"I think you might have a misunderstanding of the word 'rest'."
"You don't have to come."
Lu Chen increased his speed once again.
A sonic boom exploded high in the air, and his figure instantly vanished from Tony's field of vision.
"Jarvis, maximum propulsion power."
"Sir, the armor's remaining energy is forty-three percent."
"I know."
Tony closed his faceplate and gritted his teeth as he chased after him.
"Since we're already here, there's no way we can go back to sleep now."
In the information given to him by HYDRA, besides Ajak, Sersi, Sprite, and Kingo, there was also the location of another Eternal that was very clear.
Phastos.
This guy currently lived in Chicago, was already married, and had a family of his own.
Lu Chen wanted to confirm whether he was still there.
If Phastos had also disappeared, then the person who rescued Ikaris could basically be determined to be Makkari.
This woman with Super Speed was different from the other Eternals. She had not integrated into human society, but instead stayed on the Eternals' ship, the Domo, for thousands of years, collecting various items from human civilization.
With her speed, rescuing Ikaris in London was not difficult.
The question was, why did she suddenly appear?
"Could it be that the Domo detected the energy fluctuations from when I fought Ikaris?"
The more Lu Chen thought about it, the more he felt it was possible.
That explosion in the stratosphere could even be monitored by various governments; as a ship of the Eternals, the Domo could not possibly have no reaction.
While he was pondering, the city lights of Chicago were already in view.
Lu Chen hovered thousands of meters high in the sky, his spiritual power acting like an invisible giant net that instantly locked onto Phastos's residence.
The next second, his gaze narrowed slightly.
People were gone and the building was empty.
Not just Phastos; his human husband and children were gone as well. There were quite a few clothes missing from the wardrobe, and his frequently used items had been packed up very neatly, obviously not a temporary outing.
"He really ran away."
Lu Chen's spiritual power spread out in all directions, and residents in a few nearby houses fell into a trance at the same time.
Memories flashed rapidly through Lu Chen's mind, and a few seconds later, he got his answer.
This morning, neighbors had still seen Phastos's family.
The evidence was sufficient.
Lu Chen withdrew his spiritual power and released control over several neighbors.
The matter was already very clear.
The one who rescued Ikaris was her.
She not only rescued Ikaris, but also notified all her companions scattered all over Earth, telling them to evacuate urgently.
The moment Lu Chen came to a conclusion, the system prompt sounded in his mind.
[Copy Complete]
[Phantom Projection LV6 has merged with Mind Control LV6]
[Mind Control LV6 (Fusion Enhanced) has been solidified]
A massive amount of information flooded into his mind.
Lu Chen raised his hand, his fingertips moving gently, and the urban area of Chicago beneath his feet distorted rapidly. Tall buildings vanished, streets shattered, and the originally brightly lit city turned into ruins in the blink of an eye.
Indistinguishable from reality.
If past Mind Control was more inclined towards "command" and "modification", then now, it could already achieve "creation" and "deception".
He even had the confidence to create a "real" illusion of an alien invasion out of thin air in the White House without controlling anyone.
Lu Chen looked for two seconds, then casually dispersed the illusion.
Not bad.
Whether in combat, infiltration, or controlling large-scale targets in the future, this ability would come in handy.
He withdrew the hand that had been pressing on Sprite's wrist.
Two hours of continuous contact was indeed a bit troublesome. Fortunately, Sersi's Matter Transmutation had already shifted to the background, so he didn't need to keep holding her.
Telekinesis swept up the two of them, and Lu Chen directly turned back toward New York.
Not long after flying out of Chicago, a red and gold figure rushed over from ahead.
Seeing Lu Chen flying back toward him, Tony stopped dead in mid-air.
"Hey!"
The voice in the communicator instantly rose by several pitches.
"Old pal, are you sightseeing around the World?"
"First London, then Chicago, where are you planning to go next? Antarctica to see penguins?"
Lu Chen flew past him.
Tony was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly turned around to catch up.
He had chased all the way from New York to Chicago, only to find out that he didn't even know what Lu Chen went to look at, and this guy was already heading back.
Knowing it would turn out like this, he might as well have just stayed in New York to drink a cup of coffee.
Lu Chen glanced at him, ignored his complaints, and instead asked: "How is the armor I asked you to build coming along?"
"Huh?"
Tony's thought process clearly hadn't kept up; he was stunned for a moment before reacting.
"Oh, that." He cleared his throat, regaining the demeanor of a genius inventor, "The main program has already been written, and the core of the artificial intelligence has also been loaded. Currently, data feeding and learning are underway, and preliminary debugging will be completed soon."
Tony paused for a moment.
"But you still haven't told me what kind of armor you actually want. Flight, firepower, defense, there has to be a design direction, right?"
Lu Chen raised his hand, and three daggers appeared out of thin air, delivered to Tony by telekinesis.
These were weapons he obtained from Loki.
"Pure Vibranium has weaknesses; sound waves of a specific frequency can destroy its stability."
"Melt these three daggers down, add other metals, and forge it with a Vibranium alloy. You understand the specific proportions better than I do."
Tony caught the daggers, and the armor's scanning system activated rapidly.
"Unknown metal, very high energy conductivity, and stable structure. Loki's stuff?"
"Yes."
Tony had the armor put away the daggers.
"Any other requirements?"
"It's best to use nanotechnology."
"Nanotechnology?"
Tony suddenly raised his head, the look in his eyes as he gazed at Lu Chen filled with shock, "You even understand this?"
In his cognition, nanotechnology was one of the cutting-edge technological fields on Earth today; even Stark Industries was only lingering in the theoretical and preliminary experimental stages, and there was still a long way to go before finished product application.
"What?" Lu Chen teased, "The World-famous genius scientist, Tony Stark, doesn't even understand this?"
Tony, however, was precisely poked by those words.
"Who! Who said I don't understand!"
He immediately retorted.
"I'm just reminding you that nano-armor isn't as simple as stuffing a bunch of robots into metal! Storage, transformation, energy supply, material self-repair, and synchronized control between each nano-unit—all of these need to be redesigned."
Lu Chen listened without interrupting.
Provocation was still as useful as ever.
Tony's voice became faster and faster.
"I already have an idea for this technology, it's just not complete enough. Even for me, it will take at least a few months. A few months, understand? It's not like you give me the materials today and you can wear it out to show off tomorrow."
"It doesn't matter."
Lu Chen smiled, a smile that, to Tony, was full of unfathomable meaning.
"I'rather give you... I'll find two helpers for you."
Tony fell silent for a fraction of a second, then let out a sneer.
"You still know people who understand nanotechnology?"
"Pardon my frankness, but helpers who can keep up with Tony Stark's train of thought aren't many on this Planet."
This was indeed not boasting.
In the field of technological research and development, his brain was the top-tier processor; the vast majority of scientists didn't even qualify to be his assistants.
Two names popped up in Lu Chen's mind.
With them cooperating with Tony, the R&D speed of the nano-armor would definitely increase drastically.
Looking at Tony's suspicious expression of "don't lie to me", Lu Chen simply gave a calm reply.
"Trust me."
"They will keep up."
Chapter 203: Avengers 2, Day of the Emergence
"Who did you say those two helpers for building the armor were?"
Tony chased after Lu Chen, clearly not having forgotten this question.
For Lu Chen to bring them up specifically and even assert that they could keep up with his research and development pace, they definitely couldn't be ordinary researchers.
Lu Chen did not answer immediately.
The armor was only the first step in strengthening himself.
The Eternals already knew of his existence and were aware that he had captured Sersi and Sprite. Once they regrouped, their next encounter wouldn't be like London, where they delivered themselves one by one.
In a one-on-one, Lu Chen was confident he could take down any Eternal.
Including Ikaris.
That guy's strength and Heat Vision were indeed stronger than his, but his weakness was just as obvious. His combat methods were too one-dimensional. Against others, brute force was naturally enough, but when facing an opponent who couldn't be taken down by brute force alone, that simplicity became a weakness.
The real trouble was another attribute he had seen on Sersi.
[Uni-Mind State]
The Eternals could channel everyone's energy into a single individual through mental synchronization, giving that individual a terrifying boost in power.
As for the exact extent of the boost, the system did not provide a precise value.
This was the biggest variable.
If this group stopped holding back and unleashed a Uni-Mind-boosted Ikaris charging at him...
That would indeed be a bit troublesome.
He had to take precautions.
He couldn't let them comfortably gather together to channel their ultimate move.
"I need to find some helpers."
Lu Chen quickly drew up a list in his mind.
He didn't need these helpers to solo an Eternal; they just needed to hold off the others and disrupt the mental synchronization state they had to maintain.
The question was, who?
Those who were too strong, he had no connection with and couldn't summon.
Those who were too weak would be useless and would instead require him to distract himself to protect them.
Lu Chen turned his head, his gaze bypassing the two unconscious captives and landing on the red-and-gold armor flying alongside him.
Tony immediately stopped talking.
The red-and-gold armor veered in mid-air, its faceplate facing him directly.
"What is it?"
Lu Chen withdrew his gaze.
Once the nano-armor was built, Tony's combat power should increase by a level. Coupled with his endless array of weapons and combat styles, holding off an Eternal wouldn't be much of a problem.
That's one.
"Do you want to save the World?"
"Huh?"
The red-and-gold armor swayed in mid-air and accelerated to fly side-by-side with Lu Chen.
"Have I fallen out of touch with the younger generation's World? Weren't we just talking about nano-armor?"
"Isn't that a bit of a massive leap in topics?"
Tony was clearly choked up by this sudden, random question.
Lu Chen didn't explain, continuing to calculate candidates.
Tony caught up, however.
"Wait a minute, what do you mean by saving the World?"
"Aliens? Terrorist organizations? Or some monster that can punch through a continent?"
"You have to at least make things clear so I can properly assess the level of danger."
The corner of Lu Chen's mouth curved up.
Properly assess?
This guy was always like this, never saying what he actually meant.
If a crisis capable of destroying the World truly arose, he would complain more bitterly than anyone, yet his armor's thrusters would definitely be the first to ignite.
The Battle of New York was the best proof.
Even knowing there was a high probability he wouldn't return after carrying the nuclear missile into the wormhole, he still went.
Tony Stark was indeed arrogant, conceited, sharp-tongued, and liked to keep everything under his control.
But at critical moments, he never backed down.
"The danger level is very high,"
Lu Chen said.
"You might die."
Tony fell silent for half a second.
"Well, at least you didn't lie to me and say it was just a regular party this time."
His tone remained light.
"So, who is the enemy?"
"It's not certain when they'll arrive yet."
"Then why the hell are you asking?!"
Tony raised his hand, his repulsor glowing with white light, looking very much like he wanted to blast him.
Lu Chen ignored him.
Tony was one.
So, who else?
Lu Chen's thoughts continued to wander as he began choosing from the existing superheroes.
Bruce Banner.
Hulk's destructive power and durability were unquestionable, making him the absolute best candidate to tie down the strength-type fighters of the Eternals.
Sending him to deal with that muscleman named Gilgamesh was a perfect match. A fist-to-flesh brawl would definitely pin Gilgamesh firmly in place.
However, Banner was currently very resistant to transforming, so he had to find a way to "coax" him.
That's two.
Natasha and Hawkeye facing an Eternal individually had too low of a win rate. However, with one specializing in close-quarters infiltration and the other in long-range suppression, their coordination could count as one combat unit.
Lu Chen drew a line for them in his mind.
He didn't expect them to win; they just needed to fire cold arrows from the periphery, cause disruption, and interfere with the Eternals' formation.
Three groups.
As for Steve Rogers...
An image of Captain America holding his shield, trading blows back and forth with various powerful enemies, flashed through Lu Chen's mind.
This man's strength was hard to judge.
He was not overpowered against the weak, yet never weak against the strong. No matter how much the enemy's strength exceeded his, he could always ride on his fifty-fifty split aura and drag the opponent down.
He counted as one too.
Thor would be more suitable, but unfortunately, Asgard couldn't be contacted at the moment.
Still short on people.
Lu Chen frowned in thought. His mental strength swept through the system space, suddenly stopping on an item.
The Mind Stone.
How did he forget about this?
Since he acquired it, other than breaking illusions, it hadn't truly played its core function.
But for two other people, it was the true key.
Wanda.
Pietro.
It was time for the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver to make their appearance.
With HYDRA's current intelligence capabilities, finding this brother-and-sister duo wouldn't be difficult. As for how to get them to join, he would bring them back first before deciding.
Very good.
Lu Chen quickly distributed the combat power in his mind.
He would handle Ikaris.
Hulk, Tony, Steve, Natasha, and Hawkeye, plus Wanda and Pietro, could be divided into exactly six groups.
Seven against seven.
As long as there were no major errors in the intelligence, this lineup would be enough to hold off the remaining Eternals. Once he dealt with Ikaris, he could free up his hands to handle the rest one by one, keeping the initiative on his side.
The remaining problem was how to make the Avengers believe this.
The Eternals had been hidden in human society for thousands of years, leaving almost no public records. Relying solely on his word, how could he make them believe that Earth was about to end due to the emergence of an alien Celestial?
"Hey! Are you even listening to me?"
Tony's voice came through the communicator again.
"What do you mean by saving the World? Make yourself clear! Is it aliens again? Or some underground monster? You have to give me a frame of reference!"
Tony now felt like a fool who was being kept in suspense.
The mess in London hadn't even been cleared up yet, and this kid threw another bombshell, only to act all brooding and silent.
Lu Chen finished his thoughts and looked at Tony, who kept questioning him.
"Help me contact Nick Fury."
"Now?"
"Now."
Tony stared at him suspiciously.
"What do you want to do?"
"Call a war council."
"A war council? With that cyclops?"
"Are you sure you want to involve him? That guy tells fewer truths than he has hairs on his head. I don't want to sit at a table with him discussing some World-saving plan."
"Not just him,"
Lu Chen interrupted Tony's complaining.
"Notify all the Avengers, including Banner and Rogers. The location will be at your Stark Tower."
He glanced down at the New York coastline gradually drawing closer beneath them.
"As for the name of the meeting..."
He paused, speaking the next words in his heart.
"Avengers 2."
"The Day of Emergence."
"We can start filming."
Chapter 204: Helpers for Building the Armor
High altitude wind howled.
Lu Chen dragged two unconscious women, like tossing a sack, directly throwing them toward the red-gold armor beside him.
"Catch."
The red-gold armor's left and right hands reached out simultaneously, one in each hand, narrowly grabbing the back collars of the two.
"Hey! They aren't luggage!"
Tony lowered his head to glance at the two captives, then looked up at Lu Chen.
"And are you sure you want to hand two dangerous aliens over to me? Taking care of unconscious ladies is definitely not on my schedule today."
"They concern the survival of Earth."
Lu Chen's spiritual power swept over the two, confirming they were still in a state of deep unconsciousness.
"Hide them well before I come back."
Lu Chen looked at Tony and added, "No one can see them, including that one-eyed dragon from S.H.I.E.L.D.."
"When you put it that way, I suddenly start to wonder which of us—me or that one-eyed dragon—is more like the villain."
Tony adjusted his posture, using the armor's mechanical arms to secure the two.
"Also, where are you going again? Didn't we agree to hold your operation meeting to save the World?"
"You gather them first."
Lu Chen looked up to confirm the direction.
"I'm going to bring back the two helpers I promised you."
"Now?"
"Now."
"At least give me their names and resumes? I don't want to find out at the end that you brought back two interns who just graduated from college."
Before Tony could finish speaking, the person in front of him had already disappeared.
Only a circle of airflow disturbed by teleportation remained, sweeping across the surface of the red-gold armor.
"..."
Tony hung suspended in mid-air, holding an unconscious woman in each hand.
"Fine."
"I have to find a good place to hide you two first, and make sure some one-eyed peeping Tom can't find you."
The thrusters lit up, and the red-gold armor quickly flew toward Stark Tower.
Before long, Lu Chen's figure appeared above Seoul.
For Tony to develop the nano-Vibranium armor, of course he could complete it relying on himself alone.
The question was how long it would take.
Half a year?
A year?
He couldn't afford to wait.
So Tony had to be accelerated.
But helpers weren't chosen casually.
Tony's train of thought was too erratic, and his head was filled with cross-era black technology.
Ordinary researchers simply couldn't keep up with his rhythm; going there would only slow down progress.
To smash out the nano-Vibranium armor in a short time, they had to find geniuses who had research in this area.
The first person Lu Chen selected was Dr. Helen Cho.
Her Regeneration Cradle involved the application of nanotechnology in the field of biology.
Although the direction was completely different from the armor, the underlying technologies always had commonalities.
Her major didn't completely match?
Doesn't matter.
Being able to keep up with Tony's train of thought was enough.
Lu Chen closed his eyes, and his majestic spiritual power swept across the entire Seoul like a tsunami.
Dense crowds, vehicles, and life responses inside buildings flashed past his perception one after another.
A few seconds later, he locked onto the U-Gin Genetics Laboratory.
Found it.
It was already late at night, but the laboratory was still brightly lit.
Helen Cho was wearing a lab coat, standing in front of the console, staring at the constantly jumping data on the screen.
She looked a little tired, with bloodshot eyes, but her gaze was exceptionally focused.
"Dr., the cell culture of the seventh group still failed."
A researcher walked over with a report, his face bitter, "The rejection reaction value is wrong, and the activity of cellular telomerase is rapidly decaying."
"Lower the temperature in the culture dish by two degrees and try again."
Helen Cho rubbed the space between her eyebrows, "There must be something wrong somewhere."
Right at this moment, ripples appeared on the wall next to them.
A young man walked right through the half-meter-thick load-bearing wall, strolling in as if walking in a leisurely courtyard.
"Who is it?"
A researcher dropped the clipboard in his hand to the floor, and the others quickly retreated.
Someone reached out to press the alarm, and someone had already grabbed the phone.
Lu Chen released his spiritual power.
An invisible fluctuation swept across the entire scene.
The people who had been panicking just now suddenly stiffened, and then the fear on their faces quickly faded, becoming expressionless and quiet.
They didn't pass out; their brains' stress responses were just forcibly cut off, as if the mute button had been pressed.
Helen Cho was the only one who wasn't completely controlled.
She took two steps back, her back hitting the experimental table, staring alertly at the man in front of her.
"Dr. Helen Cho."
Lu Chen lifted his incorporeality.
"I need your help to develop mature nanotechnology."
Helen Cho stared at him for a few seconds.
"Who are you?"
"That's not important."
Helen Cho's brow furrowed even tighter.
Sure enough, this was aimed at the Regeneration Cradle again.
During this period, more than one organization had contacted her.
Some were willing to invest, some promised to provide resources, but around and around, it ultimately couldn't escape human enhancement and Military use.
The person in front of her who could directly walk through walls would only be more dangerous than those organizations.
"You're also here for this technology?"
Helen Cho gritted her teeth, a flash of disgust crossing her eyes, "Do you want to use it for super soldier modifications? Or to create immortal monsters?"
She blocked in front of the experimental table.
"The current Regeneration Cradle can only repair local burns and cultivate skin and bone tissues outside the body."
"Limb regeneration and printing a complete human body are only theoretical directions."
"That's why I came to find you."
"Then I refuse."
Helen Cho answered very quickly.
Lu Chen's eyebrow slightly raised.
Refusing so flatly?
At least she should have asked about the benefits first.
"The Regeneration Cradle is meant to achieve human tissue regeneration and trauma repair, used to treat the wounded in wars and disasters."
Helen Cho stared at Lu Chen.
"Not for you guys to take and make super soldiers."
"I don't know who you are, or what kind of forces are behind you, but wanting to snatch my technology is absolutely impossible."
Lu Chen looked at her and didn't speak immediately.
An idealist.
This kind of person was sometimes troublesome because neither money nor power was guaranteed to make her change her mind.
However, Lu Chen didn't dislike this kind of persistence; at least it was more pleasing to the eye than those who wanted to sell the technology to the Military the moment they got it.
But appreciation aside, he didn't have time to play any three-visit cottage routines here.
Lu Chen raised a finger.
Bang!
Both hands of the researcher closest to Helen Cho exploded simultaneously.
Fresh blood splashed onto the white experimental table.
The screams instantly pierced the laboratory.
"Ah!"
Helen Cho was splattered all over her face with the warmth, her entire body freezing completely in place, her mind blank.
"Bang!"
The second muffled sound.
The left arm of another female researcher exploded into a ball of blood mist, and shredded meat smashed head-on into the equipment next to it.
"Bang!"
The third.
Broken bones, muscles, and blood vessels were completely exposed, and blood sprayed everywhere.
The researchers who had just been pacified by spiritual power fell into chaos again; some fell to the ground, others rolled around clutching their broken arms.
Lu Chen controlled the blood expressionlessly.
"No! Stop!"
Helen Cho finally snapped out of her extreme panic.
Her legs went weak, and she practically crawled, lunging in front of Lu Chen and tightly grabbing the hem of his coat.
"Stop! I'll go with you!"
"I'm willing to go with you!"
Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.
Changing her mind so quickly?
He looked at the blood all over the floor, then looked at Helen Cho's eyes filled with fear and anger, and finally realized.
This wasn't the Boys World.
In the past, everyone always fought a fight before negotiating terms.
After coming to this World, he really hadn't completely broken the habit for a moment.
"Sorry."
Lu Chen lowered his finger.
"I got used to it in the original World."
Helen Cho collapsed on the ground, taking heavy, gasping breaths, not daring to answer back at all.
The blood scattered on the ground rolled back in reverse.
At the severed arm, the blood vessels aligned and connected first, and nerves, muscle fibers, and bones rapidly proliferated.
The blasted palm grew back anew, the five fingers taking shape bit by bit, finally covered with complete skin.
The wounds disappeared.
Not even a scar was left behind.
Helen Cho was frozen in place, watching this scene.
She turned around abruptly, rushed in front of a researcher who hadn't fully recovered, and stared at the other person's regenerating arm.
"Don't move!"
Her gaze locked tightly onto the exposed tissues.
Blood vessels wove together, bones grew, muscles automatically filled the gaps, and nerve endings connected precisely.
The entire process had no rejection and no runaway proliferation, and the speed even far exceeded the scope of her understanding.
This was the Regeneration Cradle she had envisioned.
No.
More complete than her imagination.
Lu Chen stood to the side without urging.
"You obviously can..."
Helen Cho stood up and walked quickly back in front of Lu Chen.
"You've already mastered complete human tissue regeneration, why are you still coming to find me?"
"Because what I want isn't this."
Lu Chen interrupted her.
"I need mature nanotechnology, and you need sufficient funds, equipment, and research conditions."
"I can provide these."
Helen Cho didn't speak.
"I can also protect you and this technology."
Lu Chen continued, "As long as you are unwilling, it won't be used for super soldier modifications, and no one will snatch it from your hands."
Lu Chen threw out his chips.
"How about it, what do you think?"
Helen Cho turned to look at the researchers who had recovered as before, then looked at the blood on the ground.
"You almost scared them to death just now."
"But no one was hurt."
"Their hands exploded!"
"They're fine now."
"..."
Helen Cho was choked speechless for a long time by this logic.
Yet she couldn't deny that the technology mastered by the person in front of her was precisely the goal she had pursued for many years.
More importantly, the other party was willing to provide resources and also willing to guarantee that the Regeneration Cradle wouldn't be used in the fields she repelled the most.
The opportunity was laid out right in front of her.
Danger was also laid out right in front of her.
After a moment of silence, she finally spoke.
"Okay."
Lu Chen nodded.
"Let's go."
Telekinesis pushed open the laboratory's window, then supported Helen Cho's body, taking her directly out of the building.
"Wait!"
A sense of weightlessness struck, and Helen Cho let out a startled cry, tightly grabbing Lu Chen's arm.
The figures of the two rushed into the high altitude, flying toward Africa in the blink of an eye.
Lu Chen's second target was in Wakanda.
The Black Panther's younger sister, Shuri.
Though she was probably only twelve or thirteen right now.
Young is young.
But as long as it's usable, it's fine.
Chapter 205: Poaching Talent
Lu Chen levitated above Wakanda while holding Helen Cho.
Helen Cho looked down beneath her feet. Sprawled below was a withered African savanna where a few emaciated wildebeests wandered around a dried-up waterhole, with several rows of crude thatched huts in the distance.
"This is what you meant by providing sufficient funding, equipment, and research conditions?"
She looked around, then back at Lu Chen.
"No laboratory, no equipment, not even a decent building in sight. You aren't expecting me to research nanotechnology in the sand, are you?"
Lu Chen didn't answer.
He had been to Wakanda once before and was familiar enough with its cloaking mechanism. Helen Cho waited a few seconds, and seeing that Lu Chen had no intention of explaining, she could only swallow the rest of her words.
She was already regretting coming along.
This man acted with zero regard for others' feelings—abducting, threatening, flying, all done in one fluid sequence. Most importantly, she still had no idea where she was actually being taken.
Forget it.
She would wait and see.
If there really were no research conditions here, she would demand to go back right away... She could still go back, right?
Lu Chen's eyes surged with dark light.
Two high-energy beams of Heat Vision blasted straight into the empty air below.
In the next second, blue energy ripples violently flared outward in the seemingly empty midair.
The outer landscape twisted rapidly as the desolate terrain peeled back like a torn curtain, revealing the hidden city, aircraft, and towering buildings beneath.
Helen Cho parted her mouth in awe.
"This place..."
"Wakanda."
After saying this, Lu Chen teleported directly inside with her.
Alarm sirens instantly blared throughout the realm.
The ear-piercing shrieks sounded from all directions as guards scattered everywhere swiftly converged. Several guards rushed into the royal palace, finding T'Chaka, who was resting.
"Your Majesty, bad news! That man from last time is back!"
T'Chaka snapped his eyes open. Why had that harbinger of doom returned?
The power Lu Chen displayed when he broke into Wakanda last time was still fresh in his memory. The man cared nothing for numbers or weapons; the royal guard couldn't even get close before being pinned to the ground by telekinesis.
Back then, he had ordered an attack, which nearly sent the entire royal guard to the medical bay.
He couldn't make the same mistake this time.
"Do not attack."
T'Chaka threw off his blanket and got out of bed, speaking rapidly.
"Bring me the Black Panther Suit."
The guard froze for a moment.
"Your Majesty, you're going to personally..."
"Hurry!"
He had no time to explain.
Since that man had returned to Wakanda, he wouldn't just be passing through. T'Chaka didn't know what the man wanted, but he knew very well that if conflict was unavoidable, he had to at least wear his armor this time.
On the other side, Lu Chen had already bypassed layer after layer of defenses with Helen Cho, arriving at the Wakandan Royal Laboratory.
Guards along the way raised their weapons and surrounded them tightly.
"Halt!"
"This is the royal lab sector! No entry allowed!"
"Lower your weapons and leave immediately!"
A surge of telekinetic force detonated, slamming the guards directly against the wall and immobilizing them.
Helen Cho glanced back.
Lu Chen pushed open the laboratory doors.
Inside, a dark-haired young girl wearing Wakandan research attire leaned over a console, holding precision tools as she disassembled a small device.
She looked only thirteen or fourteen years old.
Yet her desk was covered in parts, micro-energy modules, and blueprints so complex they gave Helen Cho a headache just looking at them.
Lu Chen didn't waste words with her. He needed this genius girl's mind, but he didn't have time to build trust gradually.
In the next instant, he unleashed his mental power.
Darkness engulfed Shuri's vision.
She saw her brother, T'Challa.
She saw him donning the Black Panther Suit, standing high above, overlooking the kingdom.
She saw the two of them chasing each other through the palace as children, saw T'Challa patiently teaching her traditional weapons, and saw her brother secretly bringing a whole plate of food to the lab when her experiments failed.
The imagery shifted.
She then saw T'Challa lying on a hospital bed, his vital signs fading away bit by bit while the technology she took such pride in proved utterly powerless. She saw her brother's dying look at her, and saw herself breaking down in tears night after night in the lab.
Those intimate details of their sibling bond—the jokes and secrets known only to the two of them—replayed vividly in her mind with terrifying realism.
"No... No!"
Shuri raised a hand to clutch her forehead, her body swaying.
Shuri snapped back to reality, gasping heavily for air as cold sweat drenched her back. She clutched her head in pain, her body turning soft as she nearly collapsed onto the console.
"Princess!" The guards pinned to the wall struggled frantically, wanting to come to her aid.
"Stay back! Nobody move!" Shuri shouted sharply.
She looked up, glaring at the man in front of her. She recognized him—the freak who had previously treated Wakanda's defenses like nothing. If he wanted to kill her, that single attack just now would have done it.
"What was the meaning of those visions you showed me?"
Lu Chen withdrew the illusion projection.
"A warning."
"Warning me about what? That my brother will die?"
"Yes."
Lu Chen answered directly.
"Is this a threat?"
"You can interpret it that way."
Lu Chen knew that simply telling her about the future wouldn't convince her. Even if she saw the scene of Black Panther's Death, she would only take it as some form of mental attack.
So he extracted a portion of the plot he had seen in the past and transmitted it to her.
He offered no explanation for its source, nor was there any need to.
As long as she believed something would happen to her brother, that was enough.
Shuri glared fixedly at him.
"What do you want?"
"Come help me research nanotechnology."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Shuri wore an expression of disbelief.
"You barged into Wakanda, restrained our guards, showed me my brother's Death, and now you're telling me that as long as I help you research something, you'll save him?"
"Precisely."
"And you think I'll agree?"
"You will."
Lu Chen looked at her.
"Because you've already seen the outcome."
Shuri didn't speak immediately.
She knew very well that the last time this man entered Wakanda, the entire kingdom was powerless against him. Worse, she couldn't prove those visions were fake; her brother in those visions was all too real.
If it were merely an illusion, he couldn't possibly know so many intimate details about their bond.
"When?"
"Now."
"I'll go with you."
Shuri picked up a Vibranium module from the desk and stuffed it into her pouch.
She looked up at Lu Chen, her tone turning solemn.
"But you must save my brother."
"Agreed."
Lu Chen nodded.
Just then, a loud crash echoed from outside.
Black Panther smashed through the lab wall, his Talon driving straight for Lu Chen's face.
T'Chaka was fast, but against Lu Chen, he was still far from enough.
Telekinesis instantly enveloped the Black Panther Suit.
T'Chaka's body froze midair, his Talon half a meter from Lu Chen's face, unable to advance another inch.
Shuri's mouth gasped open.
"Father?"
Lu Chen raised his hand.
T'Chaka was flung high into the sky, bursting through the lab roof and shooting above the city.
"What are you doing to my father?"
Shuri rushed to the window.
Black Panther tumbled through the air before entering a freefall.
Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest.
"Don't worry, the fall won't kill him."
"You still can't just throw him down like that!"
"I'm just letting him cool off."
Shuri turned and glared at Lu Chen.
"You call THIS cooling off?!"
Just as Black Panther was about to crash into the rooftop of a building, his descent abruptly halted, and he landed smoothly on the ground.
T'Chaka picked himself up and looked up at the laboratory window.
Lu Chen was already levitating Shuri and Helen Cho.
"Wait!"
Shuri hastily grabbed the edge of the window.
"I haven't said goodbye to them yet!"
"Your father has already seen you."
"But I haven't said anything!"
Lu Chen gave her no chance to argue further as a spatial wave swept over the three of them.
In the next second, they disappeared from Wakanda.