Chapter 40 Door God
Boom—!!!
A muffled thunder-like roar exploded in the narrow underground passage, making eardrums buzz.
The thick steel door, strong enough to serve as a bunker, deeply caved inward at the center with an exaggerated arc under Steve Rogers's unreasonable brute force.
The next second, countless dark cracks instantly spread across the entire door panel like a spiderweb.
"Clang—!"
The several-ton iron lump, like a kicked cookie, spun and flew backward, crashing heavily into the darkness behind the door, stirring up a sky full of dust.
The door opened.
Then, the three people at the entrance froze in place as if a pause button had been pressed.
Chu Hang's scalp instantly prickled.
A chill shot up from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head, making all his hair stand on end.
Damn it... did he just poke a mechanical spider's nest?!
What met his eyes was not a prison area at all.
It was a living, black ocean made of cold steel and frenzied slaughter!
On the ground, walls, and ceiling, densely packed, layer upon layer, were those damned mechanical spiders!
Countless crimson electronic eyes flickered in the darkness, like the eyes of billions of evil spirits, staring intently at them.
"Rustle rustle rustle..." "Clickety-clack..."
The sound of metal limbs rubbing and crawling, mixed with the noise of gnawing steel, was like a symphony of Death that could drive a person mad.
The sickening smell of ozone, engine oil, and strong blood mixed in the air made people almost vomit on the spot.
The silence lasted only a second.
Then, that black ocean moved.
"Help!"
"Get away! Ah—!"
From deep within the ocean came the heart-wrenching wails of survivors.
Right before Chu Hang's eyes, a spider used its razor-sharp forelimbs to tear open the iron bars of a cell in a few swift moves, pouncing fiercely on a young Soldiercurled in the corner, trembling like a sieve.
The scream was cut short after only half a sound.
A dazzling splash of crimson splattered on the cold iron bars.
Immediately after, more spiders swarmed, like piranhas smelling blood, instantly engulfing the Soldier.
The crunching sound of bones being chewed and the high-speed chewing of flesh by metal mandibles clearly reached them.
Steve's eyes instantly turned crimson.
Those eyes, usually as blue as the sky, now seemed to be filled with molten lava.
"No—!!!"
The sound he uttered was no longer a human roar, but the most sorrowful, most furious roar of a male lion!
Reason? Tactics?
They were all burned away!
Like an enraged blue comet, he was the first and most resolute, plunging headfirst into that tide of Death spiders without hesitation!
The vibranium shield in his hand, with every swing, carved a gully of metal fragments and electrical sparks through the spider swarm.
"Awoooo—!!!"
Logan's reaction was only half a beat slower.
A more primal and savage Beast-roar erupted from deep in his throat, three pale bone claws already extended, his entire being transforming into a whirlwind of Death, even crazier than Steve, completely abandoning defense, allowing the spiders' Talons to carve wounds on his body that healed in an instant, tearing everything in front of him to shreds in the most brutal way!
It's over.
Chu Hang's mind jolted, and his heart instantly sank to the bottom.
Watching the two 'iron-headed' men charge into the monster horde without a word, a fire flared up in his heart, but then it was immediately doused by a bucket of ice water.
Damn!
This wasn't a fight; this was a tower defense game on hellish difficulty!
Both main DPS and Tank had turned into berserk AIs that only 'A-moved the floor,' and he was the only player still conscious!
If they kept fighting like this, let alone saving people, all three of them would be worn to Death by these endless tin cans!
Someone had to be the damned Commander!
"Captain! Block the door! Don't let anyone from outside come in!" Chu Hang roared with all his might, his voice hoarse, at Steve's back, "Logan! Clear the left side! The right cell block is mine!"
This furious roar finally pulled Steve, who was almost going berserk, back to a sliver of reason from his rage.
He turned sharply, saw more spiders pouring in through the entrance, and instantly understood Chu Hang's intention.
He sprinted back to the doorway, the vibranium shieldslamming to the ground with a "boom," his tall figure like a mountain, firmly wedging the door!
Logan didn't reply, but roared as he turned to the left, beginning a more efficient slaughter!
The tactic worked!
Chu Hang took a deep breath, his gaze like lightning, locking onto the right side!
There, spiders covered the iron door of a cell, and inside, a Soldier was clutching his head, muttering the name Maria.
No time!
Chu Hang's figure flickered, appearing ghost-like at the cell door!
He didn't bother with the spiders on the door, his hands like two burning iron tongs, shooting out like lightning, gripping the already gnawed and pockmarked cell door bars!
His feet braced against the wall, all his muscles bulged like coiling dragons, and his combat suit creaked under the strain!
The berserk power brought by the super soldier serumroared wildly in his veins!
"Open—it—for—me—!!!"
He gritted his molars, every word seemingly squeezed from the depths of his soul!
Creak creak creak—!!!
Amidst an extremely piercing metallic shriek, the cell door, made of special steel and deeply embedded in the wall with concrete, began to deform and twist outward inch by inch under his pure brute force!
Concrete chunks and rebar fragments constantly cracked and splattered, stinging his face!
His palms were raw and bloody, and the muscle fibers in his arms tore apart under extreme exertion, but the golden warm current brought by the Healing Factorfollowed closely, repairing and rebuilding at an even faster rate, giving him an almost perverse pleasure that hovered between destruction and rebirth!
Awesome!
Under the stunned gaze of the Soldier in the cell, as if he had seen a deity descend!
The cell door was torn off the wall by him!
But he didn't throw away this lump of scrap metal.
Instead, he swung the iron door, weighing hundreds of pounds with several crushed spider remains still hanging on its frame, like a giant fly swatter, and slammed it fiercely down onto the mechanical spider that was pouncing towards the cell's opening at his feet!
Boom—!!!
A loud bang!
That spider, along with the concrete floor beneath it, was instantly flattened into an unrecognizable iron pancake!
Chu Hang, holding the broken iron door, stood like a Demon God emerged from hell, his chest heaving violently, his breath like hot steam.
He turned to look at the stunned Soldier in the cell, baring his teeth, which were stained red with gunpowder smoke.
"Don't be afraid," his voice was hoarse, yet carried an undeniable power, "I'm here."
After speaking, he held the iron door upright in front of him, forming a temporary, spike-covered shield to block another wave of pouncing spider swarms.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The continuous impacts made his tiger's mouth numb.
Taking hits passively? That's for fools!
"Get out of my way!"
With a furious roar, he swung the iron door with both hands, like sweeping trash, making a full, powerful sweep forward!
The heavy iron door, with a tearing shriek through the air, cut a deadly semicircle!
All mechanical spiders in its path were instantly pulverized, exploding into a shower of parts, as if hit by a train!
With one sweep, the fan-shaped area in front of him was forcibly cleared into an open space!
It's working!
Chu Hang's spirits were greatly lifted; like a player who had acquired a BUG-level divine artifact, he wildly wielded the "great killer" in his hand!
Smash! Sweep! Swat!
It was all a return to basics, physical transcendence!
For a time, he alone, with one door, actually held back an entire direction of the spider tide!
But this was not enough!
More spiders were pouring in from deeper in the passage, endless!
On the other side, Logan was going berserk, but his cutting speed simply couldn't keep up with the spiders' dismantling speed!
They had to move!
"Hey! You softies! Listen up, all of you!" Chu Hang roared with all his might, while frantically swinging the iron door, "Do you want to die standing, or live kneeling?!"
His voice, like thunder, rolled over every Soldier's ears.
"Look at your pathetic selves! Are you even Soldiers anymore? Where's your courage? Was it sold off as scrap metal by HYDRA?
Your families are waiting for you to come home; are you just going to become spider dung here?!"
"If you want to live, then get the hell up!
Grab whatever you can use around you!
Broken iron bars! Stones on the ground! Even your teeth!"
"Follow me! Let's fight our way out!"
Every word was like a slap, stinging the faces of those Soldiers!
The desire to survive, fueled by the fear of their comrades' gruesome Deaths and then by Chu Hang's overbearing roar, was completely ignited!
"Damn it!"
A burly man with a blood-stained face was the first to rush out of the cell!
In his hand, he clutched an iron pipe he had just pried from a bed frame!
"Count me in!"
"Kill all these tin-can monsters!"
One, two, three... more and more Soldiers rushed out!
Their eyes no longer held despair, but rather the madness and ferocity of being pushed to the brink!
A "beggar's version" suicide squad, made up of crippled Soldiers, was assembled in just over ten seconds!
"Good! Two people per group, guard the broken cells! Smash down all those spiders trying to climb in!" Chu Hang roared.
"Yes!"
The Soldiers roared in unison, instantly alleviating the pressure on Logan's side.
The defense of the entire prison area miraculously stabilized!
Chu Hang took a deep breath, mechanically swinging the iron door, while his serum-enhanced brain was operating at the speed of a supercomputer.
Something's not right.
These spiders' movement patterns are too regular.
Attack, retreat, encircle... This isn't Beasts, this is an army!
To catch the bandits, first catch their leader!
As long as he found the "Commander" giving orders from behind and eliminated it, this battle could end!
His hearing instantly switched modes, like a highest-precision sonar, beginning to filter and screen for a special, regular high-frequency signal in this chaotic ocean of sound waves!
His gaze instantly became as sharp as a hawk's, rapidly scanning the chaotic black ocean before him.
His vision passed over the frantically pouncing "foot Soldiers," extending deeper and darker into the battlefield.
Suddenly, his pupils contracted sharply!
He saw it!
In an inconspicuous corner at the very back of the spider swarm, lay a special spider nearly twice its size, with a dark golden shell!
It wasn't moving, but the antenna-like tendril on its head was constantly flashing an eerie, rhythmic red light!
With each flash, the entire spider swarm's offensive would undergo a subtle adjustment!
It was it!
In that instant, in Chu Hang's eyes, all the chaos, flames, and screams disappeared.
In his World, only the dark golden figure in that corner remained.
A chilling, extreme killing intent rose from the bottom of his heart.
Found it.
Chapter 41 Take it down!
Chu Hang's gaze pierced through the flames and flying debris, locking onto something deep within the spider swarm.
There was one spider there, different from the rest.
Its body was even smaller than the surrounding cannon fodder, and it was entirely dark gold. It stood motionless, its eight long legs propped on the ground, like a general reviewing his troops. Only the single eye on its head glowed red, bathing the entire cell in a bloody hue.
"Found it," Chu Hang thought to himself.
It was him.
His brain whirred, filtering out all the noise of the battlefield—the roars, explosions, and metal scraping.
He caught a high-frequency hum.
A control signal.
The source of the signal was that dark-gold spider. All the spiders' movements were directed by him; they were not independent entities, but his pawns.
To catch the bandits, first catch their leader.
"Steve!" Chu Hang roared, his voice cutting through the explosions.
"Speak!" Steve's reply was a single word. He held his shield firmly against the doorway, blocking the tide of spiders pouring in.
"There's a Commander in the spider swarm! The dark-gold one at the very back! Take him out, and this whole group will be useless!" Chu Hang spoke at an incredibly fast pace, "Clear a path for me! Five seconds!"
Steve didn't hesitate.
"Logan!" he roared, "Left flank, tear an opening!"
"Roar—!"
Logan, who had been hacking away at the left flank, looked up, a flicker of fanaticism in his blood-red eyes. He liked this kind of order.
The next second, he charged forward, straight into the densest part of the spider swarm.
"Get out of the way!"
His bone claws extended, carving arcs of Death in the air. Each swing brought with it a harsh tearing sound of metal and blue electrical sparks. He was like a meat grinder, forcing a path through the sea of spiders.
The pressure on the left flank surged, but the pressure on the central path, guarded by Steve, eased.
"Now!"
Steve roared, abruptly pulling back his shield. The swarm of spiders piled at the doorway instantly found an outlet, pouring in frantically.
But instead of retreating, he advanced, flinging the vibranium shield in his hand with all his might!
Buzz—!
The shield struck the first spider and began to ricochet. Each ricochet precisely hit a spider's joint or sensor, then bounced to the next target.
The spider swarm instantly fell into chaos.
A path to the Spider King appeared, though it was fleeting.
By the time Steve shouted, Chu Hang had already moved.
He pushed off the ground, charging towards the wall, his feet scrambling up the vertical surface. Gravity seemed to have no effect on him.
Everything around him slowed down.
His goal was singular.
The dark-gold Spider King clearly sensed the danger. A dozen larger, more heavily armored guardian spiders immediately blocked his path.
At the same time, the Spider King's back armor split open, revealing a dark, cavernous muzzle, and a dangerous red light was gathering within.
An energy cannon.
An alarm blared in Chu Hang's mind, but he didn't slow down.
This was his only chance.
He flicked his wrist, and a pin-pulled M24 hand grenade was precisely thrown at the feet of the guardian spiders.
Boom!
The explosion knocked several spiders over, disrupting their formation.
This was the opening!
Chu Hang's figure flashed through the smoke of the explosion.
He could feel the scorching sensation on his skin as the energy cannon locked onto him.
But he was faster.
The moment before the energy cannon fired, he had already surged in front of the Spider King.
The Spider King clearly hadn't expected him to be so fast; he decisively abandoned charging and his eight spear-like limbs shot out from all directions, stabbing fiercely at Chu Hang!
Seeking Death.
Chu Hang forcibly twisted his body in mid-air, his entire spine driving his movements, performing an unbelievably evasive maneuver. The eight limbs narrowly missed him, grazing his clothes.
Using the inertia from his twisting body, he spun like a top, his right leg arcing a semicircle in the air, his heel straightened, aimed directly at the Spider King's massive, glowing red single eye.
He poured all his strength into this one kick.
"Shatter!!!"
Bang!!!
A dull, suppressed thud.
A hairline crack appeared on the Spider King's hard single eye.
Immediately after, the cracks spread like a spiderweb, rapidly multiplying within a hundredth of a second!
Crack—!!!
A crisp shattering sound echoed across the battlefield.
That single eye went dark.
The dark-gold Spider King's massive body suddenly stiffened, and its eight highly raised limbs drooped powerlessly.
Chu Hang performed a backflip, landing steadily on the ground, and shook his slightly numb right foot.
"He's really damn tough," he cursed.
One second.
Two seconds.
The battlefield fell into an eerie silence.
Then, the frantically attacking mechanical spiders, as if their power had been collectively cut, stopped in unison. The red lights on their heads began to flicker erratically; some spun in place, while others even started attacking their own kind.
A few seconds later, with a dense crackling sound, the sensors of all the mechanical spiders, one after another, went dark.
They had all turned into piles of scrap metal.
The battle was over.
In the cell, there was a Death-like silence.
All the surviving Soldiers stared dumbfounded at the scene before them, their gazes eventually, and unanimously, focusing on the man standing in the center of the scrap metal.
Steve gasped for breath, catching his returning shield. He looked at Chu Hang's back with a complex expression.
Logan crawled out from a pile of spider wreckage, spat out the extinguished cigarette butt from his mouth with a "phlegm," then grinned, revealing a mouthful of White teeth, and laughed silently.
This kid's got guts.
However, just as everyone thought the crisis had passed—
A low hum, without warning, resonated throughout the entire underground space.
Immediately after, a cold, electronically synthesized voice, through the broadcast system, reached everyone's ears.
"Warning. 'Nest' has been breached. Top-level authorization command issued."
"Initiating... Final Purification Protocol."
"The Base will completely self-destruct in three minutes."
"Countdown initiated... 2:59... 2:58..."
The cold countdown, like a Death knell, echoed in the ears of every survivor.
Chapter 42 The Price
Everyone, get out the explosives!"
Steve Rogers' voice was like a slap across the face of every surviving Soldier.
The Soldiers, who had been sprawled on the ground waiting to die, seemed to awaken, instinctively fumbling through their backpacks and unfastening their tactical vests.
Blocks of C4 explosive were pulled out and piled at Steve's feet, quickly forming a small mountain.
"Captain!"
A veteran with a face covered in soot rushed over, gripping Steve's arm tightly. It was Farnsworth, the demolitions expert of the Howling Commandos.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice hoarse: "Are you crazy?! Using such a large yield here, do you want to bury us alive? There will definitely be a secondary collapse!"
The others also realized. Demolitions in an unstable underground area was suicide.
Steve didn't turn around, just stared at the pile of concrete and rebar rubble in front of him.
"Farnsworth," his voice was calm, "If we do nothing, how long can we live?"
Farnsworth opened his mouth, unable to speak.
On the wall, the red countdown was the answer: 0:58… 0:57… "In less than a minute, we'll be blown to dust." Steve turned around, his gaze sweeping over each Soldier's face, "Take a gamble, we might be buried alive. But at least, we'll have a chance to dig our way out with our hands."
His gaze swept to the corner. Logan was cradling the unconscious Chu Hang.
Just now, when the boulder fell, Steve saw it. The ripple of distorted air in front of Chu Hang.
That was not an illusion.
It was a power he couldn't comprehend.
Dr. Erskine had said that the serum amplified everything. It amplified his sense of justice, and it amplified Red Skull's ambition.
What did the serum amplify in Chu Hang's body?
Steve didn't know. But he knew that miracles existed. Now, he would create another miracle in a mortal way.
"Farnsworth, I need a demolition plan!" Steve's tone was beyond doubt, "Find the load-bearing points, use the least amount of explosives to cause the maximum structural damage. We're not trying to blow it open, we're trying to make it fall apart on its own!"
Farnsworth stared into the Captain's eyes for three seconds.
He gritted his teeth, spat out a mouthful of blood, and swept all the explosives on the ground into his arms: "Everyone get out of the way! Five people, shine your flashlights on those points for me! Quickly!"
The will to survive overcame fear.
Several Soldiers immediately moved, placing the explosives at several key structural connection points in the rubble as Farnsworth instructed, and quickly connecting the fuses.
"Captain, it's ready!" Farnsworth ran back, sweating profusely, "The detonation time is set for twenty seconds, enough for us to find cover!"
The countdown on the wall: 0:35… 0:34… "No time." Steve shook his head, "Ten seconds. After ten seconds, everyone find cover, I'll detonate it."
"But Captain…"
"Execute the order!"
Steve snatched the detonator from his hand and strode to the front of the team.
Logan, carrying Chu Hang, retreated silently to the furthest corner of the wall. He used his body to shield Chu Hang tightly behind him.
"Ten!"
Steve began to count down.
"Nine!"
The Soldiers scrambled to find cover.
"Eight!"
... "Three!"
Steve took a deep breath, shielding himself with his vibranium shield.
"Two!"
He glanced back at his Soldiers.
"One!"
He pressed the button.
The World was silent for a moment.
Then, a ball of Fire exploded inside the ruins.
Boom—!
The Impact, mixed with broken stone and rebar, swept in all directions.
Steve bore the brunt of it. A huge force transmitted through the shield throughout his body; he felt as if he had been hit head-on by a speeding truck.
His feet plowed two deep furrows in the ground, and he was pushed back more than ten meters, slamming hard against the wall.
"Woah!"
A mouthful of blood spurted out.
Behind him, the entire underground space began to collapse completely. Large chunks of the ceiling fell, and cracks appeared in the ground.
But at the center of the explosion, the pile of rubble blocking their way out really did fall apart from the inside. A black opening, just large enough for one person to pass through, appeared.
"Go!"
Steve used his shield to push aside a falling rock and roared.
Countdown on the wall: 0:10… 0:09… The Soldiers helped each other, scrambling and crawling towards the opening.
Logan, carrying Chu Hang, rushed to the front, using his body to forcefully smash aside the obstructing rubble.
Steve stayed at the back, wielding his shield, deflecting the continuously falling rocks from above to clear a path for the team.
A huge beam crashed down towards a limping Soldier.
Steve's arm muscles bulged, and the shield in his hand whistled as it flew out.
"Clang!"
The shield precisely struck one side of the beam, deflecting it so it grazed the Soldier's body and hit the ground. The shield rebounded off the wall and flew back into Steve's hand.
"Hurry! Five seconds left!"
Logan was the first to carry Chu Hang out of the opening.
Then came the second, the third… When the last injured person was dragged out of the opening, Steve glanced at his watch.
[0:01]
Without any hesitation, he turned and, with all his might, launched himself like a cannonball towards the opening.
The moment his body leaped into the opening, behind him, the HYDRA Base transformed into a silent White light.
All matter was atomized in the energy annihilation.
An invisible Impact pushed from behind, and Steve rolled more than a dozen times in the narrow drainage channel, stopping only when he hit Logan.
"Cough… cough, cough…" He coughed violently, his internal organs aching, but he smiled.
He looked at the drainage pipe leading to the outside World, and at his comrades behind him, all accounted for.
He had won the gamble.
"Captain… we survived?" A young Soldier's voice trembled.
"Yes." Steve stood up, brushing the dust off himself, "We survived."
The Soldiers cheered, hugged, and cried.
Only Logan frowned, looking down at Chu Hang on his shoulder.
"Hey, kid, the show's over, time to wake up." He patted Chu Hang's face.
Chu Hang didn't react. His breathing was steady, his heartbeat strong, but he wouldn't wake up.
Logan felt something was wrong.
The kid's body was too hot, as if there was a small Sunhidden inside him.
Moreover, the smell on Chu Hang's body had changed. Before, it was the smell of ozone after rain, now it was richer, purer.
Just then, the unconscious Chu Hang's eyelids twitched violently.
He suddenly opened his eyes.
In the depths of those eyes, two Nebula seemed to spin, profound and mysterious.
"Uh…"
Chu Hang groaned, and the anomaly in his eyes disappeared.
He felt as if his brain had been stuffed with an entire library's worth of data, countless fragments of knowledge about space, dimensions, and energy colliding in his mind.
"I… Where am I?" He shook his head, looking around blankly.
"You're awake?" Steve's voice came, "How do you feel?"
"I feel…" Chu Hang moved his body. The feeling of weakness disappeared, replaced by an explosive sense of power. He even felt that he could tear the surrounding space like paper.
"I feel… great." Chu Hang grinned.
He suddenly felt a little itch on his face and instinctively reached out to touch it.
His fingertips felt a cold, damp sensation.
He brought his hand to his eyes, and his pupils constricted.
It was blood.
Slowly flowing from his nostrils.
Immediately after, he felt a warm fluid in his ears too.
He saw that Steve opposite him and Logan beside him had extremely grim expressions.
"Kid, all seven of your orifices… are bleeding!" Logan's voice was filled with horror.
Chu Hang's brain buzzed, and then went blank.
The next second, a cold, clear thought emerged in his mind.
He overdid it.
The initial awakening of spatial energy; a mortal body couldn't withstand it.
Cells were rebuilding and self-destructing at the same time. The Healing Factor couldn't keep up. The super soldier serum couldn't stabilize it either.
The speed of body collapse was far greater than the speed of repair.
Chapter 43 My fate is in my own hands!
When a person is down on his luck, even drinking cold Water can cause problems.
Chu Hang felt exactly like that now.
No, it was a matter of life and Death.
There was a cold voice counting down in his mind.
"Warning: Life signs collapsing."
"Estimated Death in twenty-five seconds."
"Twenty-four..."
"Twenty-three..."
This broken system, which usually played dead, had now become the King of Hell, urging his demise.
"Pleasure your grandpa!" Chu Hang roared in his consciousness.
He could feel his body was in complete disarray.
Three forces were clashing within him, creating utter chaos.
The first was the Healing Factor. Green life energy frantically repaired the torn cells. As soon as one part was mended, an even bigger hole exploded elsewhere.
The second was the super soldier serum. Golden power of law tried to suppress the rampaging energy, but as soon as it tangled with it, it was shattered to pieces.
The third was the culprit. The spatial energy replicated from the Tesseract was rampaging through his body, tearing everything apart.
And Chu Hang himself was the ruined mess being torn to shreds.
"Kid! Hold on!"
A hairy face came close, it was Logan. For the first time, there was terror in the old wolf's eyes. He wanted to help but found his claws and Healing Factor were useless. He could only smell Chu Hang's life essence rapidly fading.
"Don't give up! Chu!"
Steve also rushed over, grabbing Chu Hang's wrist, his face full of anxiety.
But Chu Hang was already losing spirit. His consciousness was like a broken ship in a storm, ready to fall apart at any moment.
"Fifteen seconds..."
"Fourteen seconds..."
The countdown in his mind grew clearer with each passing second.
Was he going to die?
Die in this stinking sewer?
What a joke!
He had crawled out of the pile of dead bodies in World War II, finally managed to live until now... and it would just end like this?
No!
He was not reconciled!
A surge of wicked Fire exploded from the depths of his consciousness.
Why?
Why should he die just because someone said so?!
His life was something he fought for! He had the final say!
If others couldn't save him, he would save himself!
"Get—the—hell—back—!!!"
Chu Hang let out a silent roar in his consciousness.
He gave up resisting the intense pain and ignored Loganand Steve's shouts outside. He poured all his mental power, like a gambler who had lost everything, plunging it deep into the innermost part of his body!
Boom—!
The World changed.
He saw the full scope of the war.
Representing the Healing Factor was a vast green ocean of life, with countless vines growing wildly, repairing injuries.
Representing the super soldier serum was a golden net of law covering the entire Space, each node shimmering with starlight, representing absolute order.
And that blue spatial energy... was a miniature Universeslowly rotating. A nascent Universe composed of newly formed stars and violent Nebula.
The blue cosmic storm was tearing at the green ocean of life, impacting the golden net of order.
Chu Hang's consciousness was as tiny as a speck of dust before these three.
He finally understood why the system had given up on treatment directly.
These weren't even things of the same dimension.
Despair engulfed him.
Just as his consciousness was about to dissipate, he saw it.
At the core of the golden net was the source of Steve's power—protection and unyielding spirit.
Deep within the green ocean was the source of Logan's power—survival and tenacity.
What about him?
What did he represent?
Chu Hang remembered that before he transmigrated, he was just a miserable office worker slaving away.
He remembered being terrified and wetting himself from artillery shells in the trenches of Normandy.
He remembered his past, where he used all sorts of petty tricks and lost all his integrity just to survive.
He represented nothing.
He was just an ordinary person who was afraid of Deathand wanted to live!
His only advantage... was greed!
Only children make choices, he wanted it all!
Since these were all his powers, why should he let them destroy his home?!
A crazy thought cut through the darkness.
He no longer resisted, nor could he command.
What he could do was guide.
He carefully extended his insignificant consciousness into that violent blue cosmic storm.
He didn't touch the energies but felt their temper.
The essence of this energy was expansion, wanting to break through all restraints.
Then let it expand!
Chu Hang's consciousness moved sharply.
He actively cut off the golden net of order's containment of the blue Universe!
Boom!
The out-of-control blue storm swept out with ten times its previous ferocity!
In reality, Chu Hang's body violently shook, and blood spurted from all seven orifices!
"No!" Steve let out a cry of sorrow.
But Chu Hang had gambled correctly.
When the blue Universe was no longer suppressed, its internal violent energy, having Space to release, began to become more orderly.
It was like lifting the lid of a boiling kettle; the Water still boiled, but it wouldn't explode.
Opportunity!
Chu Hang's consciousness, like a surfer, rode a relatively stable energy wave.
Then, he guided this wave, actively rushing towards the green ocean of life!
Not a collision, but a union!
He used his understanding of life and repair to forcibly brand this destructive energy with a life attribute!
You want to expand? You can! But what expands is life Space!
You want to tear? You can! But what is torn is the Deaththat hinders repair!
Boom—!
A miracle happened.
The blue energy surged into the green ocean, and the green ocean also opened its embrace, devouring it.
Blue and green merged together.
The blue was no longer so violent, gaining a hint of vitality.
The green was no longer so passive, gaining a touch of agility.
A brand new, blue-green energy formed.
It worked!
Chu Hang was ecstatic, but he knew it wasn't enough.
This new energy still needed a framework, a set of rules.
He turned his gaze to that golden net of order.
You're the one!
He guided the blue-green new energy, gently intertwining it with the golden network.
He used his understanding of order and protection to begin formulating rules for the new power.
You can flow, but you must follow the path I set!
You can be powerful, but you must remain stable in the core, no running wild!
You must obey his will one hundred percent!
The golden network actively extended countless tendrils of law, weaving these wild energies into a stable, orderly internal cycle.
Green was the foundation, golden was the framework, and blue was the core power.
Three conflicting forces miraculously formed a perfect balance.
A brand new energy circulatory system slowly operated within his body.
He felt it; his body's damage was disappearing, transforming into new power. He could feel the surrounding Space, like his own limbs.
He had mastered two new abilities.
[Life Source Return]: Automatically repairs all damage and converts it into energy.
[Space Control (Elementary)]: Basic interference with small-range Space... in the real World.
Logan and Steve were dumbfounded.
They watched as the scorching heat on Chu Hang's body receded.
They watched the blood flowing from his seven orifices simply disappear.
They watched the terrifying blue demonic patterns on his skin gradually fade, and his skin become smooth again.
Finally, Chu Hang slowly opened his eyes.
Those eyes were still clear, but deep within them was something ancient and serene that made Logan and Steve's souls tremble.
"What... the hell?"
Chu Hang blinked, feeling the new power within him, as docile as a cat, and couldn't help but blurt out a curse.
The feeling of surviving a disaster was truly exhilarating.
He looked down at his hand, then, under their astonished gazes, extended his right hand and lightly snapped his fingers at the air.
Snap.
A crisp sound.
Nothing happened.
Logan was about to mock him for having his brain fried, but Steve grabbed his arm.
Steve stared intently at his wrist.
There, his military watch, which had cracked during the explosion... the crack was gone.
It had vanished into thin air.
Steve suddenly looked up, staring at Chu Hang with the eyes of someone seeing a monster.
He was sure that the moment Chu Hang snapped his fingers, a faint but precise spatial fluctuation enveloped his watch.
It wasn't repair; it was replacement.
What kind of monster had this kid turned into?!
"You..." Steve's Adam's apple bobbed, his throat dry and smoky.
Before he could ask, a dense sound of footsteps, accompanied by German commands, came from deep within the pipe.
"Shit!" Farnsworth, the surviving Soldier, turned White, "It's HYDRA's pursuers!"
The hearts of all the surviving team members leaped into their throats again. They were all injured, out of ammunition and supplies, and trapped here like turtles in a jar.
Chu Hang, however, merely glanced indifferently in the direction of the sound.
He turned his head and gave everyone a brilliant smile.
"Don't panic."
He said.
"Just a few lost mice."
He slowly raised his right hand, fingers spread, pointing towards the depths of the dark pipe.
A deep, ethereal blue light quietly illuminated in his palm.
Chapter 44 Skill: Spatial Curvature Barrier
A faint blue light hovered quietly in Chu Hang's palm.
The light wasn't dazzling; instead, it was soft, like a sapphire.
This was a new ability he gained after replicating the Tesseract's energy.
[Spatial Curvature Barrier]
It could create a warped space near his body, deflecting attacks.
Chu Hang felt this brand new power within him, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up.
He had gambled correctly.
He almost died in the glacier, but now it seemed, this was worth it.
In the pipe, everyone stopped moving, staring intently at the 'miniature starry sky' in Chu Hang's hand.
The veterans of the Howling Commandos had just escaped from a HYDRA Base, still shaken, and now didn't even dare to breathe.
That ball of light made them feel more terrifying than Death.
"Holy crap..."
Logan's muscles tensed, and a Beast-like growl rumbled in his throat.
This smell!
It was this smell again!
It was exactly the same as the metallic sphere in the monster's chest at the HYDRA Base.
But it was completely different.
The previous one was a violent, chaotic mad dog.
The one in Chu Hang's hand now, however, was as docile as a cat.
This kid... he tamed that power?
On the other side, Steve Rogers' pupils contracted to pinpricks.
His brain hadn't reacted yet, but his body's combat instincts had already blared an alarm.
Danger!
The light emitted not energy, not heat, but something he couldn't comprehend.
A defiance of the laws of physics.
Steve felt that if Chu Hang wanted to, he could twist this steel pipe into a pretzel on the spot.
In the silence, the sound of metal military boots stepping on the ground grew from distant to near.
"Thump, thump, thump..."
HYDRA's pursuers.
The smile on Chu Hang's lips grew wider.
Just in time to try out a new toy.
Around the corner, several flashlight beams tore through the darkness, and HYDRA Soldiers, one by one, rushed out, holding MP40 submachine guns.
The commanding officer immediately spotted Steve's blue, White, and red battle suit, and his face lit up with ecstasy.
"Open fire! Tear them to shreds!"
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat--!
Over a dozen submachine guns simultaneously spat fire, and a dense rain of bullets slammed towards everyone.
"Get down!"
Steve roared, tackling the Soldier next to him, his vibranium shield held at the very front.
Logan roared, directly shielding the front of the team with his chest, preparing to take the impact head-on.
Only Chu Hang didn't move.
He stood quietly in the very center of the hail of bullets, raising his glowing blue right hand.
He's crazy!
This was the thought that flashed through Steve's and Logan's minds simultaneously.
The next second, a bizarre scene unfolded.
The whistling bullets, about a meter from Chu Hang's body, suddenly traced smooth arcs.
They weren't bounced off, not blocked, but guided by some force, flying past everyone's bodies.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang--!
A series of dense metallic impacts exploded on the walls, ceiling, and floor of the pipe.
Every single bullet, not one missed, all struck the walls.
The closest bullet grazed Steve's ear, the heat singeing a few strands of his golden hair.
Five seconds later, the gunfire stopped.
The HYDRA Soldiers opposite remained in their firing stance, completely dumbfounded.
Are we shooting paintballs?
The veterans of the Howling Commandos also collectively turned to stone, their mouths agape enough to fit a grenade.
An illusion? God's manifestation?
Only Steve and Logan vaguely 'saw' the truth.
Steve stared intently at the air in front of Chu Hang.
His naked eyes saw nothing, but his combat intuition screamed—the space there was warped!
The bullets' flight 'path' was forcefully bent.
Chu Hang exhaled a puff of White air, his face a shade paler.
Maintaining this barrier consumed ten percent of his energy.
He now understood: this skill, [Spatial Curvature Barrier], was mana-intensive, had a small range, and could only defend against linear attacks; it couldn't block grenades or close-quarters combat. It was a divine skill in specific situations, but not invincible.
"Das... was ist das?!" (This... what is this?!)"
The HYDRA officer opposite snapped out of his shock, pointing at Chu Hang, his voice trembling.
"Charge! Use bayonets! Chop them into mincemeat!"
He drew his Luger pistol and fired a shot into the air, trying to dispel his subordinates' fear.
"For HYDRA!"
Over a dozen HYDRA Soldiers, eyes red, charged forward with fixed bayonets.
"Excellent."
Chu Hang looked at the burly man leading the charge.
You're the one.
His mental power was highly concentrated, locking onto the spatial coordinates one meter in front of the burly man.
Compress!
Buzz--
An almost inaudible hum flashed by.
The charging HYDRA strongman seemed to hit an invisible wall.
Thump!
A muffled thud.
The strongman didn't even let out a scream; his entire body, like a Water balloon instantly flattened, 'splashed' open.
The sound of bones shattering rang out densely, and a red and White mixture splattered everywhere.
The Soldiers behind him didn't have time to react, crashing into this pile of human pulp, then pushed by the people behind them, one after another, they piled up.
Screams, tumbles, and stacking sounds; the narrow pipe was instantly blocked by a 'mountain of flesh'.
The entire process was incredibly fast.
Chu Hang just stood there, not moving at all.
Another twenty percent of his energy was drained.
This move, [Spatial Fixed-Point Compression], was immensely powerful and consumed a lot of energy. The principle was to compress a small piece of three-dimensional space into an infinitely thin 'paper sheet'; anything that crashed into it would be crushed by its own kinetic energy.
It was a perfect match for dealing with these cannon fodder who only knew how to charge.
"Cannon fodder cleared."
Chu Hang lowered his hand, the blue light in his palm receding into his body.
He turned his head and grinned at the petrified Steve and Logan behind him.
"It's your turn."
Steve and Logan suddenly jolted, their suppressed battle intent completely erupting.
"Roar--!"
Logan roared, leaping like a cannonball over the 'mountain of flesh', six stark White bone Talons extending in mid-air.
He plunged into the remaining Soldiers, his Talons slashing, sending flesh and blood flying.
Steve was even more efficient.
He flexed his arm, flicked his wrist, and his vibranium shield transformed into a three-color meteor, flying from his hand.
Whoosh--!
The shield didn't fly straight but first struck the left wall.
Clang!
A perfect geometric rebound, the shield accelerated, flashing between the necks of two Soldiers.
Second rebound! Third! Fourth!
Each rebound precisely reaped a life.
When Logan's slaughter was halfway done, the shield arced, flying back into Steve's hand, carrying a scent of blood.
With a soft 'clang', it returned to its place.
In front of them, there was no longer a single standing enemy.
The battle ended, taking no more than thirty seconds.
The air was filled with the smell of blood and a faint scent of ozone.
The surviving commandos slumped to the ground, gasping for air, their eyes filled only with awe.
Steve slowly turned, his blue eyes fixed on Chu Hang.
"What was that?"
His voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable demand for answers.
Chu Hang's heart skipped a beat.
He had overdone it.
He immediately feigned a state of being drained, swayed, and sat down on the ground, breathing heavily with a pale face.
"I... I don't know either..." He shook his head with a bitter smile, his voice hoarse, "It feels like... something has awakened. I'm calling it... a bio-field? Or... a high-frequency vibration barrier?"
"I can feel that I can... slightly change the density of the air in front of me, forming an... invisible wall."
"Those two moves just now were my limit... now I have no strength left at all."
Chu Hang deliberately avoided mentioning "space" and instead tried to explain it in "scientific" terms.
Force field, vibration, air density.
These terms were at least within the "Super Soldier"'s scope of understanding.
Most importantly, his displayed "weakness" and "limit" greatly reduced his threat level.
Sure enough, the sharp scrutiny in Steve's eyes slowly softened.
Changing air density? Vibration barrier?
While this explanation was outlandish, in a World where the Tesseract existed, it didn't seem entirely unacceptable.
"Let's get out of here first."
Steve stopped pressing, stepped forward, and helped up the "weak" Chu Hang, draping his arm over his own shoulder.
"Clear the equipment, take the wounded, we need to leave before reinforcements arrive!"
"Yes, Captain!"
Chu Hang leaned against Steve, relieved.
He had finally bluffed his way through.
He knew the seed of suspicion had been planted.
But so what?
He felt the energy slowly recovering within him.
This World was becoming increasingly dangerous, and increasingly interesting.
Chapter 45 Explanatory Ability
Being supported while walking truly sucks.
Especially when the person supporting you is the famous Captain America—Steve Rogers.
Chu Hang could clearly feel that Steve's hand, which seemed to be casually resting on his back, was actually far from honest!
Several times, that hand used an extremely subtle and clever force to gently press, slide, and probe the muscle groups on his back.
Damn it!
He was testing whether he was really as 'weak' as he appeared!
Chu Hang silently cursed Steve's ancestors, but his acting skills instantly elevated to Oscar-winning level.
He cooperated perfectly with Steve's strength, allowing his body to sag into a truly exhausted state, with completely relaxed muscles and dissipated core strength.
At the same time, he deliberately maintained a shallow and rapid breathing rhythm, his face pale, lips cracked, looking exactly like a miserable patient in the late stages of kidney failure, just pulled out of the ICU.
"Cough, cough... cough, cough, cough..." He immediately began to act, coughing violently as if he would cough up his lungs. His face turned several shades whiter, and he leaned against Steve, weak as a sheet of paper, gasping, "Captain... I'm fine..."
Steve's body suddenly stiffened, not because of Chu Hang, but because he, enhanced by the super soldier serum, heard footsteps coming from the left passage ahead.
He instinctively stopped, held his breath, and listened intently.
Steve remained silent for a full two seconds.
Then, Captain America made his decision. He decisively waved his hand and whispered to his team members behind him, "Change direction! Everyone, go right! Maintain absolute silence!"
No one objected.
The team silently turned, like a group of ghosts, into the narrower, darker fork in the road on the right.
As expected!
Less than half a minute after they left the main passage, the figures of three HYDRA Soldiers, armed with MP40 submachine guns, appeared at the exact spot they had just occupied! Flashlight beams swept back and forth in the empty passage.
Everyone's backs were instantly drenched in a cold sweat!
The rest of the journey became eerily smooth.
Several times, they could even clearly hear HYDRA Soldiers on the other side of a single wall, grumbling in German about something. That extreme thrill of brushing past Death made the adrenaline of all the Howling Commandos surge wildly, their eyes almost red with excitement.
Finally, after more than half an hour of walking on edge, they scrambled out of this damned underground labyrinth through a long-abandoned ventilation duct, looking disheveled.
The moment the cold, fresh air of the Alps rushed into their lungs, everyone had a sensation of being reborn, greedily taking deep breaths.
Outside, dawn was already breaking.
In the distance, the once formidable and heavily guarded HYDRA factory had now completely transformed into a burning ruin. Black smoke, like an ugly dragon, rose into the sky, dyeing half the sky an ominous, doomsday gray.
"We... we really... succeeded."
"Big Guy" Dugan looked at the spectacular sea of fire, mumbling to himself, his voice trembling with disbelief.
They not only rescued all the prisoners of war but also incidentally razed one of HYDRA's most important secret Bases in Europe to the ground.
This achievement, no one would believe it if they told them! This could be a movie!
"Let's get out of here first and find a place to rest," Stevebroke the silence, his voice also carrying a hint of post-escape exhaustion. "Go to the hunter's cabin marked on the map."
The hunter's cabin was an emergency shelter they had pre-arranged before the operation, located in a dense coniferous forest about ten kilometers east of the factory.
There, food, fresh water, and basic medicines were pre-stocked.
For this team, now out of ammunition and supplies, and everyone injured, that place was heaven.
Another difficult march through the snow.
Chu Hang was still being 'specially cared for' by Steve, enjoying VIP assistance like a national treasure.
His body, in fact, had already recovered mostly.
Are you kidding me!
The abilities he copied were not just the super soldier serum and Tesseract energy. He also had a passive skill, a bug among bugs, from Logan—the Healing Factor!
...It was a small wooden cabin built of thick logs, looking quite old, with a thick layer of snow covering the roof, perfectly blending with the surrounding snowy landscape, making it impossible to spot until you were right in front of it.
Pushing open the creaking wooden door, a smell of wood and dust mixed together assailed them.
But for this group of survivors, this smell was better than any French perfume.
"Farnsworth, check everyone's wounds! Dugan, you take people to stand guard outside! The rest, light a fire, boil water, and get the food out!"
As soon as they entered the cabin, Steve immediately began issuing commands, and the entire team moved in an orderly fashion, demonstrating the professionalism of an elite unit.
Chu Hang, meanwhile, was carefully helped by Steve to the fireplace, where he leaned against the rough stone wall and sat down.
"You rest first." Steve looked at his pale, bloodless face, a hint of undetectable apology and worry in his eyes. "I'll go help."
Chu Hang nodded weakly, too tired to even speak.
Soon, a warm, orange-red flame rose in the fireplace, crackling, dispelling the biting cold within the cabin. A field pot was also set up, and the snow water inside quickly melted, bubbling with steam.
Everyone received a brick-like piece of black bread and a can of cold beef, which they devoured with hot water.
This was the first hot meal they had eaten in two days.
The atmosphere, comforted by food and fire, gradually eased.
However, what had to come, eventually did.
When everyone had eaten their fill and their wounds had received preliminary treatment, a strange, suffocating silence fell over the small wooden cabin.
Everyone's gaze, intentionally or unintentionally, like searchlights, collectively drifted towards the young Eastern man who was leaning by the fireplace, resting with his eyes closed.
Finally, Logan, the hot-tempered old man, couldn't hold back.
He finished his bread in a few bites, wiped his greasy hands on his dirty military uniform, then strode over to Chu Hang, looking down at him, his gaze like that of a predator examining prey about to be dissected.
"Kid," he spoke, his voice not loud, but like a boulder thrown into a calm lake, stirring up a thousand waves. "Stop faking it. Tell me the truth, what exactly are you?"
The question was extremely impolite, full of provocation and judgment.
The air in the cabin instantly dropped to freezing point. The Howling Commandos didn't even dare to breathe heavily.
Chu Hang slowly opened his eyes, raised his head, and calmly looked at Logan's aggressive and scrutinizing Beast eyes.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said lightly, without a ripple in his voice.
"You damn well do!" Logan's temper flared. He took a sudden step forward, almost pointing at Chu Hang's nose as he growled, "Don't give me that! I've lived for hundreds of years, my nose is sharper than a dog's! The smell on you is completely different from before! What is that power, that power that can crush a person into a meat patty out of thin air?!"
"I've explained it," Chu Hang's tone remained as bland as plain water. "It's an ability I awakened... The cost is huge; after using it, I almost died, you all saw it."
"Bullshit!" Logan spat directly. "You almost died? I think you recovered faster than anyone! You're just faking this half-dead look!"
"Logan!"
Steve's deep shout timely prevented the situation from escalating. He strode between the two, like a wall, pushing the enraged Logan back a bit.
"Calm down," he first said to Logan, then turned around and slowly squatted down, putting himself at eye level with the sitting Chu Hang.
"Chu," his voice was gentle. "We are comrades, we are brothers. We fought side by side, and we escaped Deathfrom the HYDRA Base together. I hope there are no secrets between us."
"I'm not trying to pry into your privacy, but I must know," he paused, asking the three most crucial questions word by word. "What is the limit of the power you possess? Is it... controllable?"
This was no longer mere curiosity.
This was a Commander's risk assessment of his most powerful yet most unstable 'super weapon,' an assessment that concerned the life and Death of the entire team.
Chu Hang fell silent.
He looked at Steve's sincere yet terrifyingly sharp eyes, knowing that this hurdle would be difficult to overcome today.
Simple lies could no longer fool these two shrewd individuals.
"Captain," he gave a bitter smile, raised a hand to rub his temples, revealing a painful expression of unbearable memories. "I didn't lie to you. That power, I really... cannot fully understand it."
"It's like... a switch. A switch installed in my body that I can neither see nor touch."
"When I'm on the verge of Death, like being hit by a bullet or blown away by a bomb, this switch might be activated. Then, I feel like my body can resonate faintly with the surrounding... space."
He again cautiously threw out the core word "space," but immediately modified it with a more vague, more scientific explanation.
"I don't know what it is. An invisible, intangible medium."
"I can... at an unimaginably huge cost, forcibly twist or compress a small area. Just as you saw, it can block bullets, or... crush enemies."
"But..." He changed his tone, his voice becoming even weaker and hoarser, filled with lingering fear. "Each use is like frantically overdrawing my life. If it weren't for this... strange Healing Factor I was born with, I would have died long ago, leaving no trace!"
As he spoke, he clutched his chest tightly, even forcing a fine layer of cold sweat onto his forehead, his acting so convincing that he almost believed it himself.
"As for the limit... I don't know. I only know that those two uses in the Base just now were my limit. If I used it one more time, I have no doubt I would explode with a 'bang' on the spot."
"Controllability... is even more out of the question." He shook his head in despair. "It's like a mad Beast locked in my body; I've only barely grasped one end of its leash. Most of the time, it's dormant. Only when my emotions fluctuate violently, or my life is fatally threatened, might it be awakened. I... I can't control it."
This half-truth, half-false "heartfelt confession" was a perfect script.
He admitted that the essence of his ability was related to "space," satisfying their curiosity and thirst for knowledge.
After listening to his eloquent performance, Logan's aggressive demeanor clearly weakened. Although he still looked suspicious, the "soul-squeezing" feeling Chu Hangdescribed resonated with him, a veteran who had experienced the pain of countless bone fractures and regeneration, creating a strange sense of empathy.
Steve, on the other hand, fell into a long silence.
He lowered his head, his handsome face clouding over, seemingly rapidly digesting the vast and terrifying information in Chu Hang's words.
After a long while, he slowly raised his head, looked at Chu Hang, and said with utmost solemnity, "I understand."
"Chu, whatever is hidden in your body. Today, you saved all our lives. There is no doubt about that."
"From today on, this ability of yours will be the highest level of classified information for the Howling Commandos! S-Rank! No one, not even Colonel Phillips, is to reveal a single word!" He suddenly stood up, surveying all the team members in the cabin, his tone resolute and unquestionable.
"Yes, Captain!" Everyone responded in unison, their voices loud.
"As for you," Steve looked back at Chu Hang, his eyes complex and firm, "You need to learn to control it. Not for fighting, but for... surviving."
"We will help you."
With that, he extended his hand and heavily patted Chu Hang's shoulder.
That pat contained no more testing, only the heavy trust between comrades, enough to entrust one's life and Death.
Chu Hang looked at him and nodded solemnly.
A trust crisis that could have led to infighting or even drawn guns was thus easily resolved by his masterful acting and a flawless explanation.
He knew that Steve and Logan didn't fully believe him.
Chapter 46 Beasts
Chu Hang was awakened by a nearly barbaric smell of meat, he didn't know how long had passed.
The scent was unreasonably overbearing, mixed with the unique gamey smell and the sizzling char of fat at high temperatures, like an invisible hand, roughly dragging his consciousness out of a bottomless, chaotic darkness.
He laboriously pried open his eyelids, and it took his vision a good ten seconds to refocus from a blur of colors.
Above him were rough log beams, he was covered by a scratchy wool blanket, and the fire in the fireplace cast a warm, dim glow over the entire room. A field pot was suspended over the Fire, bubbling with creamy white thick soup, the source of that captivating aroma.
I'm still alive... This thought finally allowed his constantly suspended heart to settle back into his chest. The two earth-shattering spatial manipulations he performed in the HYDRA Base last night had almost completely drained him. That feeling of weakness, surging from the depths of his soul, wasn't an act; it was real. Although the Healing Factor and Life Restoration had been silently repairing him, that immense mental exhaustion was like a severe cold that couldn't be fully recovered from with just a night's sleep.
He silently scanned his surroundings. Several veterans of the Howling Commandos were gathered around the Fire, using daggers to share a roasted, golden-brown wild rabbit, covered in blood and grime, with scraggly beards, yet exuding a sense of relaxation after surviving a disaster.
"Hey, look, he's awake!"
A sharp-eyed team member spotted him. The room instantly fell silent.
Dozens of gazes instantly locked onto him like searchlights. Their expressions were incredibly complex, with curiosity, fear, but more than that, a sense of awe and distance, as if looking at a non-human creature.
Chu Hang sighed inwardly. He knew that after displaying such god-like power, an invisible abyss had opened between him and these mortal comrades.
"Awake?"
A steady voice came from the doorway. The wooden door creaked open, and Steve Rogers walked in, bringing with him a blast of cold air. He was carrying two freshly skinned wild rabbits, looking incredibly energetic, as if he hadn't been the one who had endured a series of bitter battles and marched through the snow yesterday.
The super soldier serum's endurance was indeed monstrous. Chu Hang silently praised it in his heart, but his facial expression management instantly came online.
His originally somewhat normal complexion rapidly turned pale within 0.1 seconds, his eyes also dimmed, and coupled with perfectly timed gasps, his entire being exuded a sense of "I don't have long to live" weakness.
"How do you feel?" Steve quickly walked to his side and squatted down. Seeing him in this state, his brows involuntarily furrowed, and he skillfully checked his forehead with the back of his hand.
Not hot.
"Much... much better, Captain." Chu Hang forced a smile that was uglier than crying, his voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, "It's just... I'm completely drained, I feel like my body has been hollowed out."
He had to maintain this persona. He didn't want to be targeted by those mad scientists in the Strategic Scientific Reserve and taken for dissection and study.
Steve's clear blue eyes were filled with genuine concern, without a hint of suspicion. He nodded, stood up, and said in an undeniable tone, "Eat something first, then come out, we need to talk."
Chu Hang's heart skipped a beat.
What was bound to come, finally did. Captain America's "ideological guidance class" seemed unavoidable.
Breakfast was bland rabbit soup and hard, rock-like black bread. But with an empty stomach, it was a supreme delicacy.
With the hot soup in his belly, his cold body finally regained some warmth. Chu Hang could feel that the Healing Factor in his body was accelerating the repair of his mental fatigue, and the dormant Tesseract energy had also recovered a trace of imperceptible activity.
But on his face, he still maintained that frail appearance, even his hand holding the spoon trembled slightly in a "professional" manner.
After the meal, Steve indeed came looking for him again.
Under the concerned gazes of his teammates—"Take it easy," "Captain, be gentle"—Chu Hang was half-supported, half-carried by Steve, swaying with every step, tottering out of the small wooden house.
Outside was a clearing in the woods, with snow covering their ankles. In the center of the clearing, Logan was already waiting. He leaned lazily against a pine tree, a cigar dangling from his mouth, and through the swirling smoke, his wolf-like eyes were half-closed, clearly there to watch the show.
Steve let go, allowing Chu Hang to barely stand steady. He pointed to a bare rock not far away, his expression as serious as if he were giving a pre-battle pep talk: "Chu, yesterday you said that your power comes from a 'resonance' you don't fully understand, and that it comes at a great cost."
Chu Hang nodded weakly, his face showing a bewildered expression like a failing student listening to an incomprehensible lecture.
"Dr. Erskine once told me that the serum amplifies everything about a person. The good, the bad, including their will." Steve gazed into Chu Hang's eyes, his tone more serious than ever, "Your will is very strong, I can feel it. So, theoretically, you can definitely control it, rather than being controlled by it."
Chu Hang complained wildly in his heart: Nonsense! I'm a transmigrator with the script for the next few decades, how could my will not be strong?
"But... Captain, what should I do?" He looked helpless, "That power... it doesn't listen to me."
"Start with the simplest thing." Steve bent down, picked up a fingernail-sized black pebble from the snow, and placed it on the rock. "Try to move it."
He pointed to the other end of the rock, about twenty centimeters away. "Not to destroy it, but to move it. Use your mind, like using your hand, gently, to push it over."
This request sounded simple, but for Chu Hang, it was as difficult as ascending to heaven. The spatial energy within him was violent, chaotic, and filled with a primal desire for destruction. Asking him to do "gentle" delicate work was like asking Godzilla to embroider.
"I... I'll try."
Chu Hang extended his right hand, aiming it at the small pebble, closed his eyes, and carefully tried to mobilize the primordial force within him.
Buzz—!
An invisible fluctuation suddenly spread, and the surrounding air visibly distorted. Logan, leaning against the tree, instantly widened his eyes, and the cigar in his mouth "plop"ped into the snow. He smelled it again, that "divine" scent that made all the hair on his wolf-like body stand on end!
Beads of sweat the size of beans seeped from Chu Hang's forehead. He felt like he wasn't controlling a force, but rather playing a deadly tug-of-war with an invisible cosmic Beast.
The small pebble on the rock finally reacted.
It didn't move, but instead began to vibrate violently at a high frequency, emitting a "buzzing" noise, as if it was about to explode in place the next second.
"Control it! Chu! Command it with your mind!" Steveshouted encouragement from the side.
"Crack!"
With an extremely faint crisp sound, a hair-thin crack appeared on the surface of the pebble.
It's over. Chu Hang's heart sank; he was going to fail. If this continued, the pebble would be directly shattered into powder by the violent energy, and he would lose face big time.
Just as he was about to give up and feign unconsciousness by rolling his eyes, Steve's earlier words, like a bolt of lightning, suddenly split open his chaotic mind.
[Will... the serum amplifies everything about a person, including will...]
That's right! Will!
How could I be so stupid! I've been using my own willpower—a mortal's hemp rope—to forcefully tug at the Tesseract, this cosmic Beast! Of course it's difficult!
But what I possess now is a "Super Will" that has been geometrically strengthened by the super soldier serum!
It is the reins to tame the Beast!
As this thought appeared, Chu Hang's entire state changed. He no longer desperately suppressed the violent energy, but for the first time, tried to "understand" it, to "guide" it.
He imagined that indomitable willpower, belonging to a Super Soldier, as countless incredibly flexible golden threads in his mind, carefully and gently, intertwining with the restless spatial energy.
The command in his mind was no longer a crude "Move, you bastard," but had transformed into a gentle guidance:
"Hey, buddy, calm down... Yes, just like that... See that little rock in front? Go say hello to it, gently..."
The next second, a miracle occurred.
The energy that had been rampaging within him actually, under the calming influence of his "Super Will," gradually subsided its frenzy. An extremely delicate blue energy, like an obedient child, docilely, guided by his willpower, was peeled away from the enormous energy matrix.
Now!
Chu Hang suddenly opened his eyes, and starlight seemed to flicker in his pupils.
That tamed energy silently wrapped around the pebble on the rock.
There was no violent shaking, no harsh noise.
Under the gaze of Steve and Logan, who were so shocked their jaws almost dislocated, the small black pebble swayed gently, as if pulled by invisible threads, and floated up from the rock.
One centimeter, two centimeters... Finally, it stably hovered in mid-air, motionless.
Success!
Chu Hang was ecstatic! This proved that he had finally found the correct way to wield this divine power!
However, before he could celebrate for three seconds, a tsunami-like wave of dizziness and weakness instantly swept over his brain. His vision went black, his legs buckled, and he uncontrollably stumbled forward.
"Plop."
The floating pebble also fell.
"Chu!" Steve took a quick step, firmly supporting him.
"I... I'm fine..." Chu Hang leaned against Steve's sturdy chest, gasping for breath, his face ten times paler than when he was feigning illness earlier. This time, his mental energy was truly completely depleted.
"You... you succeeded." Steve supported him, his voice filled with incredible shock and barely suppressed joy.
On the other side, Logan, who had been silent, walked over. He picked up the cracked pebble from the rock, examined it for a moment, then looked up at the exhausted Chu Hang with a complex gaze, like someone looking at a prehistoric rare animal, and grinned, revealing a smile mixed with wildness and a hint of approval.
"Kid," he slowly exhaled a smoke ring, "you're a monster."
"But..."
"...an interesting monster."
With that, he stepped forward and slipped the pebble, still warm from his body, into Chu Hang's shirt pocket.
"Keep it, kid. Consider it... your first trophy."
They helped the barely standing Chu Hang back to the small wooden house. The others in the room were startled to see Chu Hang looking even weaker than before.
"He's just exhausted and needs rest." Steve explained to everyone, his tone carrying an unconcealed sense of relief, "We are trying to teach him to control that power. That power is too dangerous; if he doesn't learn to control it, it will be a huge threat to himself and to all of us."
"Can... can he control it?" Farnsworth asked softly.
Steve glanced at Chu Hang, who had his eyes closed and was breathing weakly, then at the corner of the black pebble peeking out of his pocket, and his gaze became incredibly firm.
"Yes." He said decisively, "I believe in him; he will definitely be able to do it."
Logan silently smoked his cigar nearby, not speaking, but in his Beast-like eyes, a light flickered that others couldn't understand.
Chu Hang wasn't actually asleep; he was just mentally exhausted, lacking even the strength to move a finger. He touched the cracked small pebble in his pocket, but his heart was filled with a sense of calm, of being in control of everything.
Starting with taming a grain of sand, next would be mountains, rivers, and the entire World!
Just then, a hurried, almost stumbling footsteps came from deep within the forest, growing closer. It was Jones, who was on lookout at the perimeter.
He stumbled and crawled into the small wooden house, his face filled with doomsday-like terror.
"Captain! It's bad! It's HYDRA!" He clung to the doorframe, gasping for breath, his voice distorted, "It's HYDRA's main force! They're all over the mountains! Our people in the eastern valley found at least two battalions of HYDRA troops, with Tiger tanks and energy weapons! They're conducting a carpet search of this mountainous area! All the main routes down the mountain have been blocked!"
He cried out the last sentence in despair, his voice laced with tears:
"We... we're surrounded!"