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Chapter 25 - Chapter 25: Harvest, Insomnia, and Follow-up (Part 1)

The young and beautiful female officer tried to get information for a long time, but still only knew that Bucky was called Johnny.

Instead, Bucky managed to find out that her name was Kate Beckett, a probationary patrol officer who had just passed the police academy examination, and she even left her contact information with Bucky. He wondered how regretful she would be later.

This made Bucky even more certain that this was not simply the MCU Universe because he happened to know this name.

Was this Detective Kate Beckett, the female lead from the U.S. drama 'Castle' he watched before transmigrating? It was just that she was still an absolute rookie now.

However, this was just a small interlude. Bucky wasn't too interested in getting to know this rookie female officer right now. By the time her plot was triggered, super-powered individuals would already be flying everywhere on the streets, and the world would have changed beyond recognition.

In short, let fate decide.

Originally, Bucky wanted to buy things to give Skye a true Christmas.

Skye had, of course, celebrated Christmas before, but she was locked in the basement, listening to the laughter and joy from above.

It was also fortunate that Skye was brave enough to run away from home; otherwise, if she had kept enduring it, he felt she might end up competing with a certain mercenary and his wife over who had a more tragic life.

However, after encountering that incident, the mood was gone. Skye drank her milk and went to sleep early.

Bucky then checked the system.

[System Information: Defeated four armed criminals, rescued 3 victims, completed daily bounty, rewarded 800 experience points, random item box (green excellent) *1; Triggered series quest "Punisher Origin", need to continue contacting key person Frank Castle to trigger next quest.]

Although he couldn't achieve perfection, the system still gave rewards, and they were quite good.

Triggering the Punisher's origin quest was also within reason.

Bucky had already been holding a surge of anger inside because he couldn't save everyone, with nowhere to vent it.

Now, seeing the first excellent-grade random box, he thought that if he had saved everyone, it should have been a blue rare one. He felt like he lost a hundred million, and his anger grew even more.

However, Bucky didn't have specific spoiler knowledge about this matter because he didn't know which Punisher this was. He had seen three movie versions and one TV series version, and each plot was different.

He would wait until Agent Coulson found some information.

Now, he would open the box first.

[System Information: Opened 1 random item box, obtained Subdermal Armor *1; Subdermal Armor (green excellent): A full-body bio-synthetic epidermis and bulletproof dermis, replacing the original skin system, greatly enhancing protective power, and capable of self-regulating skin tactile sensitivity and pain, Armor +50; —Caused a severe impact on the protective gear market.]

Bucky's mood instantly improved significantly; this reward was truly excellent!

This was exactly what he needed most, or rather, what he wanted most: to increase his safety factor.

According to the system settings, every 10 points of Armor reduces 1 point of damage. In this world, ordinary firearms, like a 9mm pistol, deal about 10 points of damage. With the Subdermal Armor and a set of basic equipment, Bucky's Armor would exceed 100 points.

From now on, he wouldn't just be able to block bullets with his Steel Kirin Arm, but also with his face.

If he encountered a situation like Frank's again, Bucky would directly charge in while carrying Skye.

Bucky silently muttered "Implant cyberware," and his entire body flashed with red and blue neon colors.

This feeling was even more wondrous.

Not strange, but wondrous, because he felt his entire skin being replaced little by little, and there was also a tactile sensation, like being gently brushed with a soft brush, or gently caressed with silk.

Before long, the implantation was complete. This time, Bucky felt like he had just taken a bath, with all his pores open and breathing. His sense of touch became more acute, but he could also adjust it to become dull.

Moreover, when he extended his left arm, he saw that it was covered with a layer of lifelike bio-synthetic skin. The only difference from his right arm was that it was slightly thicker.

And this layer of skin also had tactile sensation. After Bucky transformed his left arm into a system cyberware, connecting it to flesh and nerves, his left arm also gained real tactile sensation.

"Will people misunderstand that I never use my right hand? This has truly become a real Qilin Arm?"

Saying that, Bucky was very satisfied with this draw. When he watched movies and shows before transmigrating, he thought the Steel Kirin Arm was cool, but after truly becoming the Winter Soldier, he didn't want people constantly staring at his Qilin Arm; he didn't want it to become his label.

And with the experience points gained this time, Bucky also leveled up again.

[System Information: Experience points sufficient, now upgraded; Character Level 3; Experience points 280/3000; Obtained 1 free attribute point; Obtained 1 free specialization point.]

[System, add attribute point to Intelligence, specialization point to "Vulnerability Expert".]

[System Information: Points added; Character: James Buchanan Barnes; Level 3 Body 8 (Athletics 7, Annihilation 7, Brawling 7); Reflexes 8 (Handguns 7, Assault 7, Blades 7); Technique 4 (Engineering 1, Crafting 3); Intelligence 8 (Hacking Protocol 2, Quick Hack 1); Cool 11 (Stealth 7, Cold Blood 2); Health: 200/200; Stamina: 150/150; New Quick Hack specialization talent "Vulnerability Expert"; Vulnerability Expert: Unlocks Crafting specifications for blue rare Quick Hack plugins.]

The upgrade attribute point was directly added to Intelligence, and it unlocked rare-grade Quick Hack plugins, so his Target Lock and Electromagnetic Short Circuit plugins could be upgraded.

However, Crafting green excellent plugins required purple epic components, and blue rare plugins required orange legendary components, which was so outrageous that Bucky wanted to review the 30 languages of advanced cursing techniques he knew.

Unlocking was easy, but materials were hard to get… Should he mooch off Howard again?

But with the current Technology level, what Howard had provided him before was already the most advanced computer components, and those couldn't be disassembled into orange legendary components.

"Either wait for the toothpaste factory to release a new CPU, or I can only keep thinking about Howard's black Technology…"

Bucky thought, Howard, that great inventor, had countless inventions that transcended his era.

For example, the massive Arc Reactor in Stark Industries park was the prototype of the mini-reactor in Iron Man's chest.

And was it really because Howard was limited by the current Technology level that he couldn't miniaturize it?

Anton Vanko, the Soviet scientist who researched the reactor with Howard, seemed to have been expelled from the U.S. because of his ambition to miniaturize it. And in some versions, Anton Vanko successfully miniaturized it and became the supervillain "Crimson Dynamo" or "Whiplash 2.0".

Perhaps this was due to Howard's caution?

Could he do something?

"…Uncle, I can't sleep? How did your arm change back?"

Bucky, lost in thought, was called back to reality by Skye's timid voice. He saw Skye in her pajamas, with fine beads of sweat on her forehead, and fear in her eyes, clearly having a nightmare.

Bucky felt a little bad, but didn't show it. He just went over and picked up Skye, saying with a smile, "Oh, someone helped me with it earlier… Can't sleep? Simple, I'll teach you the best way to deal with insomnia."

"What way?"

"Stay up all night. If you just stay up all night, you won't suffer from insomnia."

"…"

The naive little kid really didn't know how to precisely retort this seemingly flawless divine logic.

The naive, too simple little kid didn't know how to retort: …

The correct retort: Idiots always come up with brilliant ideas. You don't worry about insomnia, but do you worry about sudden death?

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