Chapter Eighty-One: Marvel

“Wang Jing, where are you now?” From Song Guohua’s voice, Wang Jing detected a trace of worry.

“I’ve already arrived at the base, but I’m still not sure what kind of world this is. I need to gather my squad members,” Wang Jing replied, descending to land in front of Song Guohua.

“From what just happened, it doesn’t seem like a dangerous world,” Song Guohua said, watching the images displayed on the big screen.

“Don’t be deceived by appearances. Danger lurks everywhere, especially for us who know nothing about that world yet.”

“So what do you plan to do?” Song Guohua asked.

“I’ll wait until deep into the night to cross over. There’ll be far fewer people in the streets then.”

Soon, it was one o’clock in the morning. Wang Jing and all the squad members were already waiting in the teleportation hall.

Unlike before, everyone was dressed in casual clothes this time, Wang Jing included.

When the time came, Wang Jing led Liu Peiqiang to cross over into the new world.

Even at one in the morning, Times Square was still brilliantly lit. There were far fewer people on the roads, only a few scattered vagrants wandering aimlessly.

As Wang Jing and Liu Peiqiang suddenly appeared in the middle of the street, a homeless man who had just fished out a half-eaten hamburger from a trash can, intending to savor his find, caught sight of them materializing out of thin air.

The man couldn’t help but rub his eyes, but looking again, he confirmed the two new figures on the street. He wasn’t seeing things.

At that moment, Liu Peiqiang, as if sensing something, turned to look in the homeless man’s direction, sending a chill down the man’s spine.

But Liu Peiqiang merely glanced at him before turning back to follow Wang Jing.

Watching the two figures disappear into the distance, the homeless man finally breathed a sigh of relief, looked at the half-eaten hamburger in his hand, shook his head, and began to wolf it down.

Meanwhile, after leaving Times Square, Wang Jing found a secluded spot and teleported the rest of the team over.

“Li Yiyi, connect to the internet and see if you can find any useful information. Alice, you and Bumblebee go find a hotel and book a few rooms. Wang Lei, you’re on watch,” Wang Jing ordered.

Alice and Wang Lei both nodded. Alice set off with Bumblebee to search for a suitable hotel, while Wang Lei took up a position at the corner, leaning against the wall to keep watch.

Li Yiyi quickly connected to the local network, and soon found the most crucial clue.

“Boss, come look at this,” Li Yiyi said, handing the screen to Wang Jing. Upon seeing the contents, Wang Jing’s heart began to race. Displayed was a news conference where Tony Stark admitted to being Iron Man.

A smile crept across Wang Jing’s face. The energy problem could finally be solved. With six Infinity Stones, he could at least enhance his teleportation ability six times, and there were so many other valuable resources to strengthen himself and the home universe’s forces—like the Extremis Virus, Pym Particles, Super Soldier Serum, Vibranium, and so on.

Moreover, Dr. Pym might be able to crack the flaw in his own powers, especially the troublesome ability that tethered the entire population’s bodies of his home universe to himself.

“Li Yiyi, create identities for us, and send a private email to Stark. The message should say: ‘If you don’t want to die from palladium poisoning, come find me.’”

“No problem,” Li Yiyi replied confidently, fingers flying over the keyboard.

“Also, find someone named Ivan Vanko. His father, Anton Vanko, used to be a colleague of Tony Stark’s father, Howard Stark. They should be in Germany right now. Track them down—they’re exceptional scientists and will be very useful to us.”

“Got it. I’ll have Moos look for them,” Li Yiyi agreed.

“Alice, you and Wang Lei head to Russia immediately. If my guess is right, Ivan Vanko’s father Anton is about to die. You can offer to cure his illness in exchange for their service.”

“All right, no problem,” Wang Lei replied. “But how are we getting to Russia?”

“Supersonic stealth jet,” Wang Jing replied. With that, he sent them back to the home universe, had them suit up in their latest armor, then returned to the Marvel universe and, after ascending high into the sky, teleported Alice and Wang Lei—now aboard the supersonic stealth jet—back over. It was cumbersome, but necessary. Without an Arc Reactor, the suits couldn’t manage such long-distance flight.

But this predicament would soon end. Even if they couldn’t get a Mark II Arc Reactor, the first-generation reactor would suffice.

Back in the alley, Ada Wong had just returned from booking the hotel.

Everyone boarded Bumblebee and headed to a five-star hotel. Coincidentally, this hotel was very close to Stark Tower, just two blocks away.

Ada Wong had booked the most luxurious presidential suite, which was just right for Wang Jing, Ada Wong, Liu Peiqiang, and Li Yiyi.

As soon as they’d put down their luggage, Li Yiyi eagerly sprawled on the living room’s plush couch. “This is my first time staying in a five-star hotel. Who’d have thought a mission would come with such perks?”

Ada Wong joined her on the sofa. “These are the operational funds provided by the United Government. We might as well enjoy them.”

“We should enjoy what we can, but let’s not forget our mission. Li Yiyi, how are the identities coming along?” Wang Jing asked.

“All done. We’re now officially Chinese tourists and we’re using our real names. The email has also been sent. According to Moos, Tony Stark also has an artificial intelligence system, but it’s nowhere near as advanced as Moos—its intelligence matches Moos’s pre-upgrade level.”

Wang Jing nodded and then asked, “And what about Ivan Vanko?”

“Not yet. Russia’s infrastructure is too outdated, not enough surveillance cameras. All we can confirm is that he’s somewhere in Moscow, but the exact location is still unknown,” Moos’s voice came from the hotel room’s television.

“Looks like we’ll have to rely on Alice and Wang Lei.”

With a sigh, Wang Jing told Ada Wong and the others, “Rest here for now. I’ll be back soon.” With that, he returned to the home universe.

“I need a large number of elite agents. There are two very troublesome organizations in that world—one is called S.H.I.E.L.D. and the other Hydra.”

“You can probably tell from the names which one is the villain, but things aren’t so simple. S.H.I.E.L.D. is a secret international organization, supposedly serving the whole world, but in reality, it only serves America. Their authority is enormous—they have their own army and the most advanced technology.”

“Are they really more advanced than us? From what I’ve seen, their tech level is only about where we were in the year 2000,” Song Guohua said dismissively.

Wang Jing frowned and solemnly reminded him, “Don’t compare civilian technology to the cutting edge. That world has aliens, and those aliens have visited Earth long ago. Their technology is at least a thousand years ahead of ours!”