Chapter 47 We've Been Surrounded
Captain! We... we are surrounded!"
The room, which had just recovered some warmth from a bowl of hot soup after narrowly escaping death, instantly froze back to an icy silence.
The Howling Commandos veterans, who had been bragging and complaining about the hardtack bread being as tough as bricks just a second ago, had their expressions frozen as if a pause button had been pressed, solidifying collectively.
Dugan, holding a kettle, had his mouth open, forgetting to drink.
Denil, chewing on dried meat, had his cheeks puffed out, forgetting to swallow.
Surrounded.
These three words, on the battlefield, were roughly equivalent to a death warrant from the King of Hell.
Especially in these godforsaken snowy mountains, with supplies cut off, ammunition running low, and enemies outnumbering them several times over, even bringing those unreasonable iron turtles called tanks... this was no longer a matter of having one foot in the grave.
This was having their entire body lying in it, just waiting for those HYDRA bastards to come and put the lid on, then nail it shut.
"What are you panicking about! All of you, stand straight!"
A calm, low roar, like a clap of thunder, forcefully broke through the suffocating silence.
It was Steve Rogers.
Captain America!
He had already stood in the center of the room, though no one knew when.
His blue combat uniform, under the dim firelight, seemed to have its own holy light effect, instantly becoming the backbone for everyone.
"Damn it, Captain still has to be the one to show off..." Chu Hang, who was playing dead against the wall in the corner, silently grumbled in his heart.
To be fair, this U.S. spiritual leader's demeanor was indeed perfectly mastered. If this were in later generations, he would definitely be a top idol, and with a single shout, his fans could line up from New York to Los Angeles.
Steve strode purposefully to Jones, who was almost collapsing to the ground, and his broad hand firmly held his shoulder. His eyes, bluer than the sky, looked directly at him, and he asked, clearly and powerfully, word by word:
"Jones, look at me. Take a deep breath. Now, tell me, how many enemies are there? What is their equipment configuration like? What are their exact positions?"
His voice was not loud, but it carried an undeniable magic. Jones's body, which had been trembling violently from fear, miraculously calmed down.
"Reporting, Captain!" He suddenly straightened his back, as if reinjected with courage, "I... I saw them! At least two full battalions! There are Tiger Tank tracks in the snow, more than one! And... and their blue energy weapons! Their encirclement extends from the valley to the east all the way to the broken cliff to the west, blocking all our possible routes down the mountain!"
Two battalions!
Tiger Tanks!
HYDRA energy weapons!
Every word was like a cold hammer, striking hard at everyone's hearts.
"Fuck!" Dugan, with his signature mustache and a face usually adorned with a cynical smile, was now pale.
He crushed the empty can in his hand into a twisted mess with a 'crunch' and cursed in a low voice: "Are these HYDRA bastards crazy? They've mobilized all the mobile units in the entire mountain region? Just for a dozen or so of us? You've got to be kidding me, when did we become so valuable?"
"Heh, not us."
A lazy, slightly mocking voice came from the shadowy corner.
Everyone looked towards the sound, only to see the man exuding a beastly aura—Logan—who had stood up at some point. He extinguished his half-smoked cigar on the rough wall and carefully put it back into his jacket pocket, as if it were a treasure.
Then, he strolled to the window, used his fingertip to pull aside a corner of the tattered cloth curtain, and squinted his sharp eyes as he scanned outside.
"They're here for those two treasures."
Logan's chin gestured towards Steve in the center of the room and towards the 'sickly' Chu Hang in the corner.
"One is a living Captain America, a national spiritual totem, the only successful product of the Super Soldierprogram."
His lips curled into a cruel arc, "And the other is a monstrous being who can conjure energy cannons out of thin air and blow their entire Base to smithereens."
He glanced at Chu Hang, a hint of scrutiny in his eyes: "Kid, your head is worth a lot more than Captain's. Do you think they'll let us go?"
These words were extremely impolite, but they were a bloody reality.
The air in the room solidified once again.
Yes.
What did their small team have?
They had Captain America, a living legend.
And there was Chu Hang... this mysterious existence who, in everyone's eyes, was so weak he seemed on the verge of dying at any moment.
Unless HYDRA's brains had been kicked by a donkey, they would absolutely spare no effort to keep them in these snowy lands forever.
"Farnsworth, tally all our remaining ammunition and explosives, down to every single bullet."
"Dugan, bring me the map, now!"
Steve's voice rang out for the third time.
Still so calm, so steady. As if it wasn't them who were surrounded by several battalions of HYDRA elites, but the unlucky ones down the mountain.
He completely ignored the despair that would crush a normal person's spirit and began to issue commands in an orderly fashion, organizing this almost impossible breakout.
Soon, the inventory results were in, cold and cruel.
"Captain..." Farnsworth's voice was tinged with deep bitterness, "The situation is very bad. We have no more than three magazines per person. We have eight grenades left in total. As for C4, all we have combined... is less than one kilogram."
With these meager supplies, let alone going head-to-head with two HYDRA battalions.
It was estimated that a single probing charge from them would be enough to completely wipe out their pitiful firepower.
However, Steve, after hearing the report, merely nodded calmly, without a hint of disappointment on his face. He took the haphazardly drawn military map from Dugan's hand and spread it out on the only relatively intact wooden table in the room.
It was a simple contour map, marked with red and blue pencils indicating their reconnaissance information along the way.
Steve's finger, like a calm hawk, slowly glided across the map, examining every ridge, every gully.
Finally, his fingertip landed heavily on a spot in the northwest corner of the map.
There, a steep cliff symbol representing extreme danger was drawn.
"Here," he pointed to that spot, his voice resolute, "is the only gap in their encirclement."
"My God, Captain, that's a broken cliff!" Duganimmediately leaned over and said, his face filled with an expression of "You're not kidding, are you?" "I scouted it during the day, that place is at least three hundred meters high, and below it is all sharp rubble! If we fall, we won't even find a complete body, we can't get down there!"
"I know." Steve's gaze remained fixed on that spot, "But precisely because we can't get down, the defenses here must also be the weakest link in their entire encirclement!"
"We have no other choice." He suddenly looked up, surveying all the team members in the room.
In those sky-blue eyes, two unextinguishable flames seemed to burn fiercely.
"There are only two paths before us. Either we huddle here like a flock of sheep waiting to be slaughtered, necks drawn in, waiting to be crushed into meat paste by HYDRA's tanks! Or, we act like true Soldiers, charge out, and carve a bloody path through the place they least expect!"
"I choose the latter."
"What about you?"
After a brief silence... "Damn it!" Logan was the first to grin, his smile full of wildness and bloodthirsty pleasure.
He swiftly drew a sharp hunting knife from his military boot, twirling it deftly between his fingers, "I've been itching for a fight for a long time, it's perfect to sharpen my claws on those bastards' bones!"
"We're with you, Captain!"
"Let's fight them! Even if we die, we'll take a few down with us!"
The Howling Commandos members were completely ignited by Steve and Logan's reckless ferocity. Their eyes rekindled with fighting spirit.
They were all veterans who had crawled out of piles of dead bodies; they feared death, but they feared a cowardly death even more.
Since death was inevitable either way, they might as well go out with a bang!
"Very good." Steve nodded with satisfaction.
Then, he turned and walked over to Chu Hang, who had been silent the entire time, simply leaning against the wall and breathing heavily.
"Chu," he knelt down slowly in front of Chu Hang, his voice extremely low and gentle, as if afraid of disturbing this weak "fragile item," "I know you are very weak right now, your energy is over-expended. You don't need to participate in the upcoming breakout battle. I only need you... to do us one last favor."
Chu Hang slowly opened his eyelids, looking at Steve's eyes, which were filled with trust and expectation.
Damn it... Chu Hang felt a strange discomfort in his heart.
This old ice cube, he's too good at this, isn't he? That look, that tone, it makes me feel a bit awkward to continue acting.
However, the first rule of a transmigrator: the persona cannot break.
If you're going to act, act the whole part!
"Help me listen."
"I need you to be the eyes and ears of our small team. I can tell that you, like me, have extraordinary abilities, and your perception is much sharper than ordinary people's."
Chu Hang looked at Steve's sincere face and nodded weakly, saying in a hoarse voice that sounded on the verge of expiring: "I... I'll try my best."
After speaking, he slowly closed his eyes, his head resting limply against the wall.
This time, he wasn't faking it.
He was truly pouring all his remaining mental energy into his ears.
He glanced at the sky outside the window, which had already completely darkened, his voice as cold as ten-thousand-year-old iron.
"The operation will commence after dark."
Chapter 48 The Counterattack Begins
It was pitch black.
The wind howled in the woods, and heavy snow sealed off the mountain.
Inside the small cabin, only the fireplace's firelight flickered, illuminating the team members' faces in an alternating glow. The room was quiet, but the atmosphere had changed from half an hour ago.
No one wanted to wait for death.
Everyone's eyes were like those of a Beast preparing for a desperate fight.
"Farnsworth."
Steve Rogers's voice broke the silence.
"Here, Captain!" The demolition expert, James, stood at attention.
Chu Hang squinted in the corner, thinking, 'This guy gets excited at the mention of explosives.'
"Give me all the C4," Steve ordered, "Integrate it into one high-explosive package, and use a HYDRA communicator as the detonator. Can you do it?"
"No problem, Captain!" Farnsworth's eyes lit up. "Give me ten minutes! Do you want a directional blast or an area Impact?"
"Just make sure it's powerful enough." Steve didn't have time for a lecture on demolition aesthetics.
Chu Hang almost laughed. 'Directional blast? Why not install a guidance system?'
Steve turned to the other two.
"Dugan, Logan. You're with me."
"Alright!" The old veteran Dugan rubbed his hands and pulled his bowler hat down.
Logan said nothing, a low growl like a Beast before hunting emanating from his throat. He drew the hunting knife from his boot, gently wiping the blade with his thumb.
He smelled blood.
"The rest of you, stand by." Steve looked around. "Organize your gear, eat all your food, and conserve your strength. The sound of the explosion is your signal. We only have one chance."
Finally, his gaze fell on the "weak" Chu Hang in the corner.
"Chu, stay here, don't go anywhere." Steve's tone was solemn. "You're our last resort."
Chu Hang struggled to open his eyes, nodding laboriously, looking as if he could pass out at any moment.
Steve's trust in him deepened.
'Heh, so easy to fool,' Chu Hang thought.
Steve gave him one last look, then turned, grabbed his star-spangled shield, pushed open the door, and stepped into the wind and snow.
Logan and Dugan followed behind.
The three figures quickly disappeared into the darkness.
The door closed.
Inside the cabin, only the crackling of burning wood and heavy breathing remained.
Chu Hang closed his eyes.
He wasn't resting.
The moment the door closed, his hearing instantly spread out, covering the snow-covered mountain range for five kilometers.
Wind speed seven, temperature minus twenty-eight degrees Celsius.
The heartbeats, footsteps, and breathing of Steve and the other two formed a real-time 3D map in his mind.
The environment outside was worse than it sounded.
The strong wind, mixed with ice shards, cut at their faces, and the accumulated snow reached above their knees, making every step arduous.
But this was nothing for Steve and Logan.
One had the serum, with limitless stamina. The other had a Healing Factor, tireless.
The worst off was Dugan; he was just an ordinary man.
He hadn't gone far before he started panting heavily, his white breath like ghostly wisps.
"Damn it... this hellish weather..." He slipped, nearly falling.
A large hand grabbed his arm; it was Steve.
"Keep up." The Captain's voice was steady in the wind.
Dugan gritted his teeth, swallowed his curses, and continued to trudge forward.
Logan walked at the very front.
His steps were as light as a wildcat's, barely needing a flashlight. His nose twitched in the air, discerning all the information carried by the wind and snow.
"Stop."
Logan suddenly raised his hand, his body lowering, merging with a snow-covered rock.
Steve and Dugan immediately crouched down.
"Something's wrong?" Steve whispered.
Logan didn't answer, pressing his ear to the snow.
A moment later, he opened his eyes.
"Patrol. Three men. Ten o'clock direction, three hundred meters away."
Steve and Dugan were startled. Three hundred meters? How did he spot them in this hellish weather?
"Captain, don't panic." Chu Hang's voice sounded directly in Steve's mind. "Logan's intuition is very accurate. It is indeed a three-man patrol, approaching your position. Expected to pass in one minute and forty-seven seconds."
This was Chu Hang's newly developed ability, [Mental Whisper]. Only those with strong enough mental power and sufficient trust in him could receive it.
Currently, only Steve met the criteria.
"They don't have thermal imaging; the wind and snow are the best cover. Don't move; wait for them to pass," Chu Hang added.
Steve's mind was at ease, and he gestured "conceal" to the other two.
The three men lay in the snow, motionless, even slowing their breathing.
Soon, three HYDRA Soldiers in white camouflage cursing and grumbling walked past them.
"Damn it! This godforsaken place is not fit for humans!"
"The general sent us on patrol, but he's warming himself by the Fire!"
"Keep it down! Do you want to be sent off as experimental material?"
They had no idea that the God of Death was right under their noses.
Only after the sound of footsteps faded did the three men stand up.
Dugan and Steve looked at Logan with a hint of awe.
They didn't know that the real monster was lying in the cabin watching the live broadcast.
With Chu Hang's full map warning and Logan's wilderness experience, they safely bypassed two patrol teams and a hidden sentry.
Half an hour later, they reached the target ridge.
It was barren here, and the wind was so strong it was hard to stand.
"This is it," Steve said, looking at his compass.
"Chu, where is that 'eye'?" Steve asked in his mind.
"Received, Captain." Chu Hang's voice sounded. "The target is approaching from the east and will fly over your heads in one minute and thirty seconds. Altitude one hundred forty-eight meters. I will remind you of the timing to act."
"Now!"
Steve gave the order.
Dugan immediately tied the C4 package to a crooked pine tree.
Logan unfastened his grappling hook, one end of the rope secured to the C4, the other wrapped around a frozen rock, held tightly in his hand.
This was a simple yet effective trap, Chu Hang's idea.
"Chu, countdown." Steve knelt on one knee, gripping his shield, staring at the dark sky.
"Received. Thirty seconds..."
"Twenty seconds..."
"Ten, nine, eight..."
Logan's arm muscles bulged, veins throbbing.
Dugan's finger hovered over the detonator button, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
"Five, four, three, two..."
"One!"
"Now!" Chu Hang's and Steve's voices sounded simultaneously.
"Get up there!"
Logan let out a Beast-like roar, yanking the rope hard!
With a creak, the bent pine tree suddenly sprang upright, launching the black C4 package violently into the night sky!
The package arced in a parabola, heading straight for the coordinates Chu Hang had marked.
"Detonate!" Steve roared.
Dugan pressed the button without hesitation!
In an instant, the World turned White.
A deathly silence.
Then, the deafening explosion finally reached them.
The entire ridge trembled violently, and a huge Impact, carrying scorching hot airwaves and metal fragments, rained down from the sky.
Steve immediately raised his shield, protecting the two behind him. Red-hot metal fragments slammed against the shield, sending up a shower of sparks, yet leaving no trace.
After the explosion, darkness returned.
In Chu Hang's perception, that annoying "humming" sound had completely disappeared.
It was done.
Main mission "Survival" Phase One completed.
The HYDRA camp down the mountain instantly erupted into chaos.
Piercing alarms blared through the valley, and countless searchlights swept frantically.
"What's going on! The 'Odin's Eye' signal is lost!"
"Report, General! The western cliff area has lost surveillance!"
"Damn it! It's those rats! They want to break through the cliff! All units, converge on the western cliff! Block them there!"
On the ridge.
"We... we did it!" Dugan shouted excitedly, his voice choked with emotion.
"Don't celebrate too soon." Logan spat out snow, looking down the mountain. "We've stirred up a hornet's nest."
In the woods below the mountain, hundreds of thousands of light dots were frantically surging towards them.
They were exposed, but they had also seized their only chance.
"Chu! Tell everyone! Prepare to break through!" Steveroared into the air, then pulled up Dugan and Logan. "Let's go! To the cliff! Quickly!"
In the small cabin.
When the explosion sounded, all the team members instantly rushed outside.
"It's Captain's signal!"
"They succeeded!"
"Prepare for battle!"
Just then, Chu Hang's "weak" but clear voice sounded in everyone's ears.
"Captain's orders: All personnel, immediately break through to the western cliff!"
"Now! Immediately!"
As his voice faded, he was the first to grab a rifle, stumbling out of the cabin.
He looked as if he could be blown over by the wind and snow at any moment, but his eyes were frighteningly bright.
The Howling Commandos members didn't hesitate, roaring as they followed that "tottering" figure, charging into the vast snowy night.
The hunt was over.
The counterattack, officially began.
Chapter 49 Dead End
Boom!
The wooden cabin door exploded into splinters.
Chu Hang was the first to be thrown out by the blast, his steps faltering, almost tripping.
The cold wind, mixed with snow particles, lashed his face. He swayed, tightened his grip on the old rifle in his hand, and at the same time, controlled his muscles to make himself shiver more intensely.
"Keep up! Protect him!" Farnsworth roared. The bearded man stood like a wall, directly in front of Chu Hang, blocking most of the wind and snow.
The people inside rushed out, with no screams, only gasps and the clatter of equipment. These veterans, upon exiting the door, automatically formed a circle, their muzzles vigilantly scanning their surroundings.
Jones, the weakest physically, was protected in the very center.
Chu Hang was encircled by them at the core.
The Soldiers' thoughts were simple: Captain America said this person was important, so he was more important than their own lives.
Chu Hang thought, "They're quite loyal," while continuing to feign being nearly frozen stiff.
The snow was deep, sinking past his calves with each step. Traveling in such conditions, stamina depleted rapidly.
The team moved with difficulty through the wind and snow, with only the crunching of snow and heavy breathing remaining.
Chu Hang, sandwiched in the middle, cooperatively coughed a few times.
He silently chanted, "Start working."
Invisible sound waves spread out from him.
Everything within five kilometers formed a three-dimensional map in his mind.
He immediately "heard" the HYDRA forces down the mountain. Footsteps, track sounds, and engine noises were a chaotic mess. Their movements were disorganized, clearly having lost their Commander.
Steve Rogers' voice directly sounded in his mind.
"Chu Hang, we've drawn a large number of enemies and are moving towards the cliff."
"Received." Chu Hang replied in a weak tone, "We're also being targeted. Carrying me slows us down. The nearest enemies are one kilometer away, contact in three minutes."
He added, "There's a small team at your nine o'clock trying to cut off the cliff. Take them out."
"Understood, be careful!"
In his perception, this team moved slowly through the snow, a very conspicuous target.
The sounds representing the enemy were closing in from all directions.
The encirclement was tightening.
The nearest small team was less than eight hundred meters away.
The people around him were still trudging along, oblivious to the approaching Death.
"If I keep acting, we'll be wiped out," Chu Hang thought.
He stumbled, falling forward, his face buried in the snow.
At the same time, he screamed hoarsely, "Front!"
Farnsworth, without thinking, also dove down, roaring with all his might, "Down!"
The entire team instantly hit the ground.
As soon as they went down, several blue energy beams whizzed past their heads.
The beams struck a pine tree a dozen meters away, its thick trunk silently severed, the cut smooth and emitting green smoke.
Everyone's backs were soaked with sweat.
They looked at Chu Hang, struggling in the snow, their eyes changed.
"Enemy attack! Nine o'clock, in the woods! Return fire!" Farnsworth roared, setting up his machine gun and firing into the woods.
Gunfire tore through the snowy night.
Bullets sent wood chips and snowflakes flying. The enemy's firepower was even more intense, blue beams and bullets pinning them down.
The situation was bad. The enemy had more men, superior firepower, and the high ground.
"Grenades!" Farnsworth shouted.
Several grenades were thrown into the woods, their explosions temporarily suppressing the enemy.
Chu Hang leaned against a tree, coughing, and calmly observing.
He counted the heads in his mind: fifteen. One officer, two energy machine gunners, twelve infantrymen. With this remnant force, they wouldn't last five minutes.
He focused on the nearly collapsing communications Soldier, Jones. The kid was hiding behind a small rock, directly targeted by two energy machine guns.
Chu Hang raised his index finger, aiming it remotely at Jones.
He distorted the space around the rock in front of Jones.
Another energy beam shot out, its trajectory strangely veering off before hitting the rock, grazing it as it flew past.
The HYDRA machine gunner who fired was stunned. He swore he had aimed.
"Jones! The big tree on the right! Throw a grenade!" Chu Hang shouted hoarsely.
The terrified Jones instinctively pulled the pin, closing his eyes and throwing his last grenade.
"Rookie," Chu Hang thought, secretly applying force.
An invisible force pushed the grenade in mid-air, correcting its trajectory.
Boom!
The grenade exploded perfectly in the blind spot behind the machine gun position.
The dazed machine gunner, along with his weapon, was sent flying.
A gap appeared in the line of fire.
"Nice work, Jones!" Farnsworth exclaimed, overjoyed, and roared, "Suppress the left! Charge with me!"
The team members immediately turned their muzzles, pouring bullets onto the left machine gun position.
"Go!"
Farnsworth pulled Chu Hang up, leading the remaining men towards the gap.
The HYDRA officer in the woods grew anxious, raising his gun and aiming at Farnsworth's back.
Chu Hang's eyes turned cold.
Behind Farnsworth, space rippled like a water surface.
With a soft clang, the energy bullet was deflected, shooting into a snowdrift.
The HYDRA officer was dumbfounded.
While he was stunned, a dark figure lunged from the side of the woods. It was Logan.
Slash!
Three bone claws swept across, and the HYDRA officer's body was cut into four pieces.
Then, a figure holding a star-spangled shield appeared. Captain America, Steve Rogers.
He flicked his wrist, the shield flew out, striking two HYDRA Soldiers' heads in succession, then bouncing back into his hand.
"He's quite a showman," Chu Hang thought.
"It's Captain America!" The team's morale soared.
The bearded Dugan also appeared, cigar in mouth, sweeping with his submachine gun.
Attacked from front and back, their Commander killed, the remaining HYDRA Soldiers broke, turning and running.
Logan weaved through the trees, and after a few screams, the battle ended.
More than a dozen bodies lay on the snowy ground.
"Count the casualties, resupply ammunition!" Steveordered, quickly moving to support Chu Hang, who was still coughing.
"How are you?" He looked at Chu Hang's pale face, his eyes complex.
"I'm not going to die..." Chu Hang replied weakly, leaning against Captain America's shoulder.
Steve hesitated. Jones's grenade, the ricochet behind Farnsworth... He knew Chu Hang's abilities were more than just perception.
But he didn't ask.
"We need to move quickly." Logan walked over, frowning, "The smell of blood is too strong. I smell dogs, many of them."
No sooner had he spoken than a dense chorus of barks came from down the mountain.
The sounds grew closer and closer, very quickly. The roar of truck engines and German shouts also drew nearer.
The main HYDRA force had arrived.
"Go!"
Steve no longer hesitated, supporting Chu Hang and sprinting towards the cliff.
Five minutes later, they burst out of the woods and reached the edge of the cliff.
Before them was a bottomless abyss, thousands of feet deep.
Behind them, in the forest, countless flashlight beams lit up, and the barking and shouting were already upon them.
Ahead was a dead end, behind were pursuers.
"Oh God..." Jones looked at the cliff, his legs giving out, collapsing into the snow.
Listening to the desperate murmurs of the team members, Chu Hang, supported by Steve, a smile played at the corner of his mouth.
"Doomed?"
He thought.
"This is called mission complete, preparing for teleportation."
Chapter 50 A Way Out of the Cliff
We're dead..."
Communicator Jones's cry was trembling.
No one argued.
Ahead was a bottomless abyss; falling would leave no bones intact. Behind were HYDRA's pursuers and hounds; being captured would be worse than death.
A dead end.
"Dum-Dum" Dugan gripped his submachine gun, the cigar in his mouth having fallen out at some point.
Logan's reaction was more direct.
"Hmph..."
A low growl rumbled in his throat, and three bone claws shot out with a *shua*.
He was hunched over, his eyes fixed on the lights in the woods. Surrender? He didn't understand; he only knew how to fight to the death.
Steve tightened his grip on his shield, the edge of the shield digging into his leather glove. He could hold off an entire division, but he couldn't lead his brothers out of this desperate situation.
"Prepare to fight!" His voice was hoarse. "Even if we die, HYDRA will know who we are!"
"Ouch!"
Chu Hang, in the team, slipped and tumbled towards the cliff.
"Chu!"
Steve reached out to grab him, but he was a step too late.
Chu Hang tripped at the edge of the cliff, and his M1 rifle flew from his hand, falling into the darkness.
"My gun!" He cried out, scrambling to the cliff edge to look down.
"Are you crazy! Get back here!" Demolitions expert Farnsworth grabbed him by the back of his collar.
"Wait!"
Chu Hang suddenly shouted, his voice filled with both surprise and wild joy.
"Below! Look below!" He pointed into the abyss. "There's a platform! I saw it!"
A platform?
On a snowy, windy night, it was as black as ink below. What could he possibly see?
But the will to survive made everyone crowd to the cliff edge. Steve was the first to peek over, but he couldn't see anything.
"You're mistaken, there's nothing there!" Dugan's tone was filled with disappointment.
"There is! There really is!" Chu Hang was anxious. "About fifty meters down! There's a protruding rock, big enough for us to stand on! And there seems to be a cave to the left!"
His description was unusually clear.
Of course, he wasn't looking with his eyes.
Just now, when he pretended to fall, he had activated the ability he copied from a HYDRA sonar soldier.
Ability: Sonar Sense.
The 3D image in his mind showed that 53 meters below, there was indeed a platform of about 20 square meters, with a cave about a dozen meters deep behind it.
This performance was all to convey the information.
Steve stared into Chu Hang's eyes, which held pure ecstasy.
He chose to believe him.
"Everyone! Get out your ropes! Quick!" He yelled, waking up his stunned team members.
"Farnsworth, tie the ropes! Every knot must be secure!"
"Logan! Use your claws to dig a pit in the ground to anchor it!"
"Dugan, Jones, keep watch! Open fire as soon as the enemy enters range!"
The commands rained down, and the deathly pallor in everyone's eyes was replaced by the flame of survival.
Soon, a long rope made of several military ropes was firmly secured in the deep pit Logan had dug.
"Woof! Woof woof woof!"
Dog barks erupted loudly in the woods, and dozens of flashlight beams swept over.
"They're here!" Jones shrieked.
"Fire!" Steve roared.
"Da da da da!"
Dugan and the others opened fire, and a rain of bullets brought down the first few HYDRA Soldiers and hounds. But more enemies surged out, and blue energy beams sent rock fragments flying.
"Wounded first!" Steve grabbed a wounded Soldier, tightly wrapping the rope around him. "Hold on tight!"
He glanced at Farnsworth, who immediately, with another team member, began lowering people.
"Chu! You're second!" Steve turned and grabbed Chu Hang.
"Captain, I'll cover the rear..."
"Shut up! That's an order!" Steve snapped. "You're more important than I am right now! Get down!"
He roughly tied the rope around Chu Hang.
Chu Hang, suspended by the rope, began his first-ever cliff descent.
An energy beam grazed his ear, his cheek stinging with a burning sensation.
"Damn it."
He cursed inwardly, his mental power surging, creating an invisible spatial barrier around him.
Ability: Spatial Barrier (Prototype).
This was a usage he had figured out after copying the Tesseract's leaked energy, and it consumed a huge amount of mental power.
Then, something strange happened.
Several bullets hit him, as if striking a wall, and bounced off.
To Farnsworth and the others lowering the rope from above, this Eastern "lucky star" had unbelievably good luck.
Only Chu Hang himself knew that he was barely holding on to maintain this act.
"Damn it, acting is really tiring," he cursed in his mind.
Fifty-plus meters were covered in an instant.
With a thud, Chu Hang landed. He untied the rope and waved to the top.
The people above saw the signal, their spirits lifted, and they accelerated.
Team members slid down one after another.
Steve was the last to land, pulling out his dagger and cutting the rope.
Angry curses and gunshots from HYDRA echoed from above.
"Quick! Into the cave!" Steve roared, diving into the cave behind the platform.
Everyone filed in.
The cave shielded them from the wind, snow, and the enemy's sight. They collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
They had survived.
Everyone's gaze was fixed on Chu Hang, who was in the corner, eyes closed and face pale.
"This kid... sent by God, maybe?" Dugan said, panting.
"His luck doesn't seem real," Farnsworth echoed.
Logan said nothing, only glancing at Chu Hang. This man had secrets, but no malice.
From discovering the ambush to finding this refuge, and then the good luck during the descent... this kid was definitely more than just lucky.
That night became a legend of the Howling Commandos.
In the following months, they became HYDRA's nightmare.
Blowing up railways in France, taking out V2 Rocketfactories in Germany, and assisting the resistance in Poland to rescue people from concentration camps.
The name of the Howling Commandos became a symbol of hope in Allied war reports. Within HYDRA, they were called the "Ghost Unit."
And Chu Hang was no longer a mascot.
Before each operation, Steve would have Chu Hang"listen" to the map once, to find the most precise and safest assault route.
While infiltrating behind enemy lines, relying on his "intuition," the team always managed to avoid all patrol teams and hidden sentries.
Once, he "mistook" the time, which inadvertently allowed the entire team to evade a trap.
Chu Hang himself wasn't idle either.
He drank with Dugan, and casually copied the other's gun maintenance skills. Watching Farnsworth modify bombs, he also picked up the "Explosive Affinity" talent. He also learned French, stealth, and even accidentally copied a German sausage recipe from a HYDRA cook.
His ability pool was quietly expanding.
Steve had already come to regard him as a strategic advisor.
Logan, on the other hand, saw him as a kindred spirit, a deeply hidden one, but that danger was directed at the enemy.
In early spring 1945, London, Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) British Headquarters.
Colonel Phillips and Peggy Carter interrupted the Howling Commandos' leave.
"Gentlemen," Colonel Phillips's voice was cold, "the holiday is over."
Carter slapped a classified document and a reel of film onto the table.
"We intercepted HYDRA intelligence. Red Skull has initiated his final plan—'valkyrie'."
The projector turned on, and a design drawing of a huge black aircraft appeared on the wall.
"A super bomber with a wingspan of over two hundred meters, carrying bombs powered by Tesseract energy. Its target..."
The screen switched, and a map of the U.S. East Coast appeared, with cities like New York, Boston, and Washington marked with red circles.
"...is the U.S. mainland."
The operations room was silent.
"Our mission," Colonel Phillips said, "is to find Red Skull's final Base and destroy the 'valkyrie' before it takes off."
Steve stepped forward and picked up the document.
"We accept the mission."
Chu Hang stood at the back of the crowd, looking at the "valkyrie" on the wall, and at the location of HYDRA's final Base on the map.
His heart began to pound.
It was finally here.
The Tesseract he had dreamed of was there.
As long as he could copy a trace of its energy, the spatial power within him would undergo a qualitative change. By then, not to mention a spatial barrier, he might even be able to conjure short-distance teleportation.
Saving the United States, destroying HYDRA, those were just side benefits.
The real goal was it.
"No pain, no gain..." Chu Hang licked his dry lips.
"Red Skull, my good brother, please keep my 'delivery' safe."
Chapter 51 The Last Wine
The operations room was stuffy, thick with the choking smell of smoke and sweat.
Chu Hang leaned against the wall, watching the Howling Commandos, each with a worried expression.
He knew why.
On the wall hung a design blueprint for a black aircraft, labeled "valkyrie." Next to it was a World map, with New York, Washington, and Chicago marked with red circles.
Red Skull's plan.
"So, boss," Big Beard Dugan's voice was hoarse, "the mission is to sneak into the Alps, find that madman's lair, and blow that thing and the Base to kingdom come?"
Everyone looked at Peggy Carter.
"That's one way to put it," Carter's voice was flat.
"How do we get in?" Demolitions expert Farnsworthrubbed his hands, "Parachute? Anti-aircraft fire will definitely be dense. Ground infiltration? We don't even have a map."
Carter only said two words.
"None."
No one spoke in the operations room.
"We only have a vague coordinate range," she added, "Internal structure, defensive deployment, troop strength—we know nothing. We only know it's HYDRA's most heavily guarded core fortress."
"Suicide," Logan, in the corner, retracted his bone claws and spat out two words coldly.
A man in a three-piece suit with a small mustache walked in, carrying a wine glass. Howard Stark.
"Hey, don't be so pessimistic, guys!" Howard walked to the map, tapping the blueprint with his finger, "In my, Howard Stark's, dictionary, there's no fortress that can't be blown up!"
He paused, staring at the blueprint. "However, Schmidt, that Red Skull, really has something. The design of this plane... is very advanced."
"But even the most advanced design needs energy!" He picked up a photo.
In the photo, a blue cube was glowing.
The Tesseract.
Chu Hang's heart skipped a beat. This was what he was waiting for.
"This thing has infinite energy, but it's extremely unstable," Howard shook the photo, "To keep you from being roasted to a crisp, I've prepared some small gifts."
Assistants carried in several metal boxes and opened them. Inside were rows of uniquely shaped weapons.
"Energy interference guns, they can short-circuit their weapons. High-energy absorption grenades, they can create a small-range energy vacuum. And these combat suits, with anti-energy coating, can save your lives."
Howard finished his introduction and shrugged: "Of course, these things might only buy you a few seconds. We're facing something out of myth."
Steve Rogers had been staring at the map. There was only a hastily drawn red circle on it, covering tens of square kilometers.
"The range is too large," he said in a deep voice, "We don't have time to search. We must find the most direct route."
He turned his head to look at Chu Hang.
"Chu, you take a look."
Everyone looked at him.
Chu Hang cursed inwardly, thinking, "It's my turn, the 'Eastern mystic.'"
He knew he couldn't hide now; this was related to whether he could get his hands on the Tesseract.
Only one thought was in his mind: Tesseract, Space Stonecore, not yet replicated.
Chu Hang cleared his throat and slowly walked over. He picked up a magnifying glass, pretending to examine the map, muttering in Chinese.
"Warfare is the Way of Deception..."
Howard, standing nearby, curled his lip; he only believed in science.
Five minutes later, Chu Hang's magnifying glass stopped at an inconspicuous spot in the northwest corner of the map.
"Here."
Everyone crowded over to look. It was a canyon, marked in German as "Todesschlucht"—Death Canyon.
The terrain was steep, ending in a glacier waterfall marked "Extremely Dangerous."
"Impossible," Colonel Phillips frowned, "This is a dead end; ground troops can't get through."
"And," Howard immediately chimed in, "according to thermal scans, the energy readings here are the weakest. The Base couldn't possibly be built in such a place."
Chu Hang scratched his head, looking innocent: "I don't know. It's just a feeling that something is wrong here. Isn't the most dangerous place also the safest place?"
It was a feeling again.
But the members of the Howling Commandos believed him. They trusted Chu Hang's feelings more than intelligence.
Steve glanced at Chu Hang, then turned to Colonel Phillips and said, "Colonel, I trust him. We'll go in from here."
The Colonel and Carter exchanged a look and nodded.
"Alright," he glanced at his watch, "Tomorrow at 5 AM, the transport plane will be waiting for you at the designated location. Good luck."
...That night, in an officers' pub in London, the Howling Commandos occupied the largest table, laden with drinks.
This was probably their last peaceful meal.
No one mentioned tomorrow's mission, and no one said goodbye. They boasted loudly, told dirty jokes, and drank glass after glass.
Chu Hang sat in the corner, cleaning a modified M1911 pistol. The gun had a small energy absorption device added to its body, which he had specifically asked Howard to install.
The fall of valkyrie. Blow up the Base, stop the plane.
"Damn it."
"Hey, Eastern kid, what are you thinking about?" Logansat opposite him with a glass of whiskey.
"Thinking about tomorrow's mission." Chu Hang put away his pistol.
"You look excited," Logan said, "Not afraid of Death?"
"Afraid. If I die, there'll be no more wine to drink," Chu Hang smiled, raising his glass, "But fear is useless. Better to think about how to get more benefits."
"Benefits?"
"For example, finding a few bottles of 1928 German dark beer in Red Skull's Base," Chu Hang clinked glasses with him.
Logan didn't speak, draining his glass. He knew Chu Hang was lying but was too lazy to ask.
Not far away, Steve was standing and talking with Peggy Carter.
"That dance you owe me, we'll do it when I get back," Steve said softly.
"Okay, I'll wait for you," Peggy's gaze was steady, "Don't be late, Soldier."
Chu Hang sighed inwardly. This wait would be seventy years.
On the other side, Howard Stark broke away from the crowd and walked over with a wine glass.
"Hey, 'Intuition Kid'!" He sat down and said, "That 'make the false real' you mentioned today, which Eastern sorcery book did you read it from?"
"The Art of War."
"Never heard of it," Howard pouted, "But I'm more interested in you. You seem to know a lot of strange things. Last time you mentioned 'transistors,' I went back and studied them, very inspiring! What else do you know?"
"Just a little," Chu Hang smiled, changing the subject, "By the way, Howard, any new discoveries about that blue cube? Is it really that magical?"
"Magical? My God, it's the Holy Grail of physics!" Howardlowered his voice and leaned in, "Its energy density, spatial structure... completely surpasses our era! I even suspect it comes from another Universe!"
"Then how is its energy guided?" Chu Hang asked, "It sounds very unstable; it'll probably explode if you're not careful?"
"Good question! That's exactly what I'm researching!" Howard immediately perked up, launching into a detailed explanation of energy characteristics, safe excitation, and storage technologies.
Chu Hang remembered every word Howard said. The scattered pieces of information came together, and a plan gradually formed.
A plan to steal the Tesseract's energy amidst a hail of bullets.
They drank until midnight.
Everyone walked out of the pub, arm in arm, and returned to the Base. There were no goodbyes, just a mutual glance and a firm nod before heading to their rooms.
Chu Hang returned to his room, stood by the window, and looked at the London night.
His palms were slightly sweaty from excitement.
Tomorrow would be the most important day since he arrived in this World. And also the most dangerous day.
Success meant a meteoric rise.
Failure meant restarting the save.
"Red Skull, Captain America, Wolverine, Tesseract..."
He softly murmured these names, then grinned.
"Everyone's here, the stage is set."
"Let the show begin."
Chapter 52 Death Valley
It was half past four in the morning, on the outskirts of London. The cold was bone-chilling.
Chu Hang pulled his military greatcoat tighter, cursing Colonel Phillips a thousand times in his mind. It was this hour again; these old fogeys clearly didn't understand the concept of sleep.
At the end of the runway, a C-47 transport plane rumbled dully. The dim yellow lights illuminated the Howling Commandos, standing there like statues.
The atmosphere was heavy. There were no goodbyes, only the biting wind.
Chu Hang pursed his lips, his gaze sweeping over his temporary teammates.
At the very front was Steve Rogers, the future Captain America. He was carefully checking the buckle of his shield, his face sharply defined, his eyes focused solely on the mission.
What a stubborn idealist, Chu Hang thought.
Not far away, an irritable man sat on an ammunition box, sharpening one bone claw with another.
Logan.
The grating sound made one's teeth ache.
Chu Hang's gaze lingered on his hands for an extra second. It was a good thing he had copied the Healing Factor back then.
It was this ability that allowed him to survive in this godforsaken place.
As for the others—Dugan, the demolition expert, and Farnsworth, the British gentleman—in his eyes, they were just background players providing firepower.
He slipped his hand into his pocket, feeling the M1911 pistol at his waist.
Below the barrel hung a palm-sized silver metal box, engraved with circuits drawn by Howard Stark, with a blue crystal at its center.
"Portable Energy Condenser," Stark had named it.
"A piece of junk," was Stark's final assessment of it.
According to him, the only use for this thing was to absorb energy for a thousandth of a second upon contact with a high-energy reaction, and then it would be scrapped.
Junk? Chu Hang sneered inwardly. Howard's mind was fifty years ahead of its time, but unfortunately, he still didn't understand the essence of certain powers.
He knew better than anyone that this "junk" was his trump card for this operation.
He could feel the Tesseract energy within him, like an unstable fire. Ever since he foolishly touched that thing last time, his body had become a bomb ready to explode at any moment.
And Howard's "junk" was the fuse he had prepared.
It was also the detonator.
"Time to go! Board the plane!"
Colonel Phillips's roar broke the silence.
The Howling Commandos turned and entered the dark maw of the C-47's cabin.
Chu Hang followed at the end of the line. A large hand clapped heavily on his shoulder.
"Kid," Colonel Phillips stared at him, complex emotions in his single eye, his voice very low, "Bring them all back alive."
Chu Hang was momentarily stunned. He knew this team included the Colonel's nephews and nieces, and elites he had personally selected. This entrustment was heavy.
He nodded, said nothing, and turned to enter the cabin.
The cabin door slowly closed.
The red emergency lights came on, making everyone's faces look as if they were covered in blood. The plane taxied, accelerated, then sharply ascended, disappearing into the night sky.
Two hours later, the plane arrived over the Alps.
The C-47 flew almost skimming the mountain ridges. Outside the window were sharp, knife-edged peaks and bottomless cliffs.
Howard Stark's intermittent voice came through the radio.
"Steve! Listen! My scanner shows that thirty kilometers directly ahead of you is a dead end! There's nothing there! Listen to me, turn back now, and I'll treat you all to the best bar!"
Steve ignored him, walked straight to the cabin door, and pulled it open.
Whoosh—!
The sub-zero wind rushed in, and ice shards struck their faces like knives.
Chu Hang squinted and looked down.
Below was a bottomless rift valley, with nearly vertical cliffs on both sides. A glacial river churned in the center of the canyon.
Most stunning was the end of the canyon.
A colossal glacial waterfall, hundreds of meters wide, cascaded from the sky. Countless ice blocks and meltwater crashed into a deep pool, the roar piercing the cabin, making their eardrums ache.
"Prepare for action!"
Steve roared, the first to clip his grappling hook onto the track inside the cabin.
Their plan was insane.
It wasn't a parachute jump, but a rappel from the plane down to the bottom of the hundreds-of-meters-deep canyon.
"Chu! You first!" Steve turned to Chu Hang.
"Why me again?" Chu Hang protested.
"We need your judgment," Steve's reason was simple. "Go down and scout the way."
Alright then.
Chu Hang stopped arguing. With the help of a few teammates, he was hooked outside the cabin. Looking down was an abyss, and the strong wind made him sway back and forth.
"Release!"
At Steve's command, the winch spun rapidly.
Whoosh—!
Chu Hang's body instantly lost all weight, plummeting straight into the darkness.
The feeling of weightlessness squeezed his internal organs. The wind screamed in his ears. He struggled to control his body, maximizing his enhanced perception.
Everything around him slowed down in his mind.
When he had descended halfway into the canyon, a sudden sharp pain pricked his mind.
Danger!
He roared with all his might into the communicator at his throat: "Left! Watch out for the left! That protruding black rock is problematic!"
No sooner had he spoken.
The black rock silently split open, revealing a glowing blue cannon barrel.
Buzz—!
A blue energy beam, thicker than a thigh, tore through the air, blasting towards Chu Hang in mid-air.
"Careful!" The exclamations of his teammates came through the communicator.
It was too fast! There was no time to react.
Just then, a red and blue figure leaped out of the cabin.
It was Steve.
Clang—!
A deafening crash echoed through the canyon. The vibranium shield was firmly held in front of Chu Hang.
The energy beam slammed squarely into the star-spangled shield.
Terrifying energy was absorbed by the shield, then diffused, forming a blue halo. Wherever the halo swept, the rock wall glowed fiery red.
Steve was sent tumbling in the air by the immense impact, but he regained his balance, his arm gripping the shield tightly.
"Take it out!" He roared at the plane.
"Understood!"
On the plane, Farnsworth shouldered an energy jamming gun, locked onto the turret, and pulled the trigger.
An invisible ripple hit the turret.
The turret's blue light rapidly dimmed, emitting black smoke, and retracted back into the rock.
"Are you alright?" Stephen swung over to Chu Hang, his voice still tinged with lingering fear.
"I'm fine, Captain," Chu Hang gasped. "Good thing you reacted quickly."
"It was your intuition that saved us," Steve looked at him, his trust deepening. "Continue the descent! Everyone, stay alert!"
With this experience, Chu Hang became everyone's eyes for the subsequent descent.
"Fifty meters below, something under the ice on the right side," his voice echoed in the channel.
Logan swung over, his bone claws scratching the ice. Under the ice, a red sensor light flashed. It was a pressure mine.
"Continue descending twenty meters, three thin lines ahead."
Dugan stopped, took out his thermal imaging binoculars, and scanned. Three almost invisible laser tripwires lay across their descent path.
"Fuck!" Dugan cursed under his breath.
With Chu Hang's repeated precise warnings, the team narrowly avoided all traps.
Minutes later, everyone landed on the bank of the glacial river at the bottom of the canyon.
Above, the C-47 circled once and disappeared into the clouds.
Their retreat was cut off.
"Howard, can you hear me?" Steve asked into the communicator.
"Yes! My God, you actually went down there!" Howard's voice was filled with disbelief. "You lunatics! I saw you avoid at least twelve energy turrets! This isn't scientific! Can Chu's judgment be that precise?!"
"Where's the entrance?" Steve interrupted him.
"I don't know!" Howard was nearly frantic. "I told you, there's no signal here! Unless... unless HYDRA built their Base hundreds of meters underground and used some black technology to block everything!"
Steve frowned, instinctively looking at Chu Hang.
Everyone's gaze once again focused on Chu Hang.
Chu Hang said nothing.
He walked under pressure to the front of the enormous glacial waterfall.
The thunderous roar almost tore his eardrums, and icy mist assaulted his face.
He reached out and touched the seemingly impregnable ice wall.
Bone-chilling cold emanated from his fingertips.
But in his perception, this was not ice at all.
It was a holographic projection.
Behind it was an absurdly thick alloy door. Defense level? Indestructible.
It requires higher-dimensional energy... Chu Hang took a deep breath, his hand reaching for the "junk" condenser under his pistol at his waist.
He turned around, looking at his shivering teammates behind him, and spoke calmly:
"Gentlemen, don't trust your eyes."
He extended his finger, pointing at the massive glacial waterfall in front of them, a slight curve on his lips.
"Welcome to HYDRA's lair."
"This entire waterfall... is their front door."
Chapter 53 The Truth Revealed by a Shield
The entire waterfall... is a door?"
"What the hell kind of wild talk is this? Has this kid been in the ice and snow for too long, and his brain is frozen solid?"
"What a damn international joke!"
These old Soldiers would rather believe the enemy had become gods than believe that the natural wonder before them was a fake.
Among the crowd, only one person was an exception.
Logan.
The old monster, who had lived for over a hundred years, still leaned lazily against the cold rock wall, arms crossed over his chest. His Beast-like eyes, which seemed to penetrate people's hearts, scanned back and forth between Chu Hang and the giant waterfall.
There was none of the ghost-seeing shock in his eyes that others displayed; only a nearly tangible scrutiny and investigation.
As a Mutant with top-tier beastly senses, he smelled nothing amiss and heard no unusual sounds.
Everything here, in his perception, was perfectly normal.
But his intuition, honed through countless near-Deathexperiences and more accurate than any instrument, was screaming warnings at him.
—This mysterious Eastern kid named Chu Hang never did anything without certainty.
From the Normandy landings to now, deep behind enemy lines, how many "miracles" had this kid not created?
In the eerie silence, only Howard was still chattering incessantly in the communicator, like a frantic old woman, trying to pull Chu Hang back from the cliff of "feudal superstition" with pale words like "science," "logic," and "reason."
However, Steve Rogers completely ignored him.
Captain America just stared intently at Chu Hang, his eyes, bluer than the clear sky above the Alps, showing not a trace of doubt, only a trust so pure it was almost blind.
This trust was earned by Chu Hang through countless battles, with one incredible prediction and battle record after another.
"Prove it to me."
Steve spoke. His voice was not loud, but exceptionally steady, like a sea-stabilizing needle, instantly quelling Howard's roar in the command channel and the panic in the team members' hearts.
Prove it?
Hearing these two words, Chu Hang almost burst into laughter.
This was exactly what he was waiting for!
If he had said it out loud, he wouldn't be bombing a HYDRA Base tomorrow; he would be directly packaged and taken away by Howard Stark, tied to an operating table to be dissected and studied like a lab rat.
So, he needed a simple, crude, intuitive method of proof that would shut these guys up, especially the science fanatic Howard.
Chu Hang turned around, looked at Steve again, and grinned, revealing a set of teeth that appeared exceptionally white in the cold air.
"Captain, this way of proving it couldn't be simpler." He pointed to the iconic red-and-blue shield with a five-pointed star on Steve's arm, his tone as relaxed as if he were saying, "Hey, buddy, got a light?" to someone on the street.
"Use your precious pot lid, aim it at that, and hit it hard with all your might."
Steve was stunned.
The Howling Commandos team members were also stunned.
On the other end of the communicator, Howard exploded: "That's it?! Chu! Are you really crazy or just pretending?! His voice became hoarse with excitement, "That shield is made of Vibranium! It's the only miraculous metal on Earth right now! But it's still just a shield! You're telling Steve to throw it into the waterfall? Do you want our only super Soldier to lose his most important and only weapon before the mission even officially begins?! What if it falls into the deep pool behind and can't be found? Will you compensate for it?!"
"Why don't we try it and find out?" Chu Hang shrugged indifferently, a calm expression on his face that seemed to say, "You mortals just think too much."
Steve looked deeply at Chu Hang; from those dark eyes, he saw absolute confidence and a sense of control. He no longer had any questions.
"Everyone, step back!"
He let out a low growl, then silently retreated several large steps, leaving himself enough space to exert force.
He took the shield off his arm and held it tightly in his hand. The muscle groups, strengthened to human limits by the super soldier serum, instantly bulged under his tactical suit, like a cheetah poised to strike.
Twisting his waist, engaging his core, power transferred through his spine to his arm, his entire arm like a giant bow drawn to its fullest!
The next second, the bowstring suddenly released!
Whoosh—!
The red-and-blue circular shield instantly transformed into a phantom almost impossible to catch with the naked eye, carrying a air-splitting, teeth-grinding shriek, drawing a perfect arc of Death in the air, spinning, howling, and smashing fiercely into the seemingly soft, yet actually murderous, glacial waterfall!
Everyone present, including Logan, instinctively held their breath, their eyes unblinking, fixed on the spinning afterimage.
In their anticipation, the shield would pass through the water curtain without obstruction, at most splashing some water, then dropping into the deep pool behind the waterfall with a "plop," creating a ripple.
However, what happened next was like a heavy hammer from God, brutally shattering all the perceptions they had built over the past few decades.
Clang—!!!
A colossal metallic impact sound, unlike anything that should exist on Earth, echoing through the sky and sharp enough to pierce eardrums, exploded without warning throughout the entire canyon!
The sound was not the dull thud of a shield hitting ice or rock, but a... purer, harder, more terrifying tremor! As if it were the cosmic lament emitted when two neutron stars from outer space collided violently at the speed of light!
The vibranium shield, thrown by Steve with enough force to smash through a tank, upon contact with the waterfall's water curtain, was like a high-speed truck crashing into an invisible, absolute barrier forged by gods!
It was violently bounced back by an unimaginable, extremely furious force, with even greater speed and momentum than when it came!
At the exact point of the shield's impact, the originally surging, seamless waterfall curtain, that perfect holographic projection, experienced an instant of extreme energy turbulence!
The waterfall image in that area flickered and distorted wildly, like an old television set that had been kicked, covered in static and data corruption.
In that less-than-one-tenth-of-a-second flickering gap, a huge, pitch-black, non-reflective, mirror-smooth metal wall flashed past behind the waterfall!
Although it was only a fleeting glimpse, the cold, anti-human, anti-life metallic texture, and the huge, ferocious HYDRA emblem engraved on the wall's surface, seemingly mocking everything in the world, had been clearly captured by everyone's retinas!
"My... my God..."
In the communicator, Howard Stark's voice was like his throat had been strangled by an invisible hand, leaving only a half-whisper, filled with the bewilderment and horror of a shattered belief. "What... what material is that... that energy signature... impossible... absolutely impossible..."
The Howling Commandos team members, on the other hand, were as if they had been looked at directly by Medusa, collectively petrified. Each one stood frozen, their expressions evolving from initial shock, to mid-way horror, and finally to a deep, almost worshipful awe of Chu Hang.
Their gazes towards Chu Hang had completely changed.
This was no longer something that could be explained by "good luck" or "accurate intuition."
This was simply a miracle! A prophet!
Steve turned sideways and steadily caught the shield that flew back. The tremendous recoil from the shield made his tempered arm feel a slight numbness. He looked down at the edge of his precious shield; there wasn't even the slightest scratch on it, perfectly intact.
He slowly raised his head, looking again at the waterfall that had returned to normal, as if nothing had happened, his gaze extremely solemn, as if he wanted to see through it.
"How did you know again?" he asked Chu Hang in a deep voice. This question represented the unspoken thoughts of everyone present.
"I guessed."
Chu Hang uttered two words without changing his expression, while silently looking at the rapidly refreshing prompts on the system panel in his mind.
"Ding! Gained 100 Shock Value from Steve Rogers!"
"Ding! Gained 500 Belief Collapse Value from Howard Stark!"
"Ding! Gained 999 Awe Value from the Howling Commandos!"
Awesome!
Looking at everyone's frustrated expressions of "I don't believe you, you old scoundrel, but I dare not refute you," Chu Hang's heart was blooming with joy.
Steve: "..."
Everyone: "..."
Alright, big shot is awesome, whatever you say is right. Even if you say this door was made by your family, we'd believe it.
"Alright, gentlemen, stop standing here like wooden stakes, staring blankly." Chu Hang clapped his hands, breaking the awkward and eerie silence. "Now we're 100% sure this thing is a door. So, the new question is..."
He paused, then turned his gaze to Farnsworth, the demolition expert in the team.
"How do we get in?"
Farnsworth flinched at his gaze, suddenly snapping back to attention. He almost scrambled to the waterfall, pulling out a pile of strange, blinking detection instruments from his backpack, which was more magical than a bag of holding. He frantically scanned the spot where the shield had hit, muttering a string of data that no one could understand.
A few minutes later, he turned off all the instruments and turned around, his face paler than the millennia-old ice at the bottom of the canyon.
"Captain..." His voice was dry and hoarse, tinged with despair, "It's over. Completely over."
"Just now, my vibration sensor, metal density analyzer, energy spectrum analyzer... all went off the charts. According to the system's preliminary estimate, the thickness of this door... is at least thirty meters. The material... I don't know what the hell it is; its atomic density and structural strength are hundreds, even thousands of times that of any known alloy in my database."
He took a deep breath, as if expending all his strength, and delivered the most despairing conclusion.
"Forget about the little C4 explosive we brought, Captain. Even if you brought over the entire Allied European theater's explosives depot and bombed it for a year, you wouldn't even make a decent dent in it."
The small spark of hope that had just ignited from discovering the truth was instantly extinguished by this icy, bone-chilling reality.
Yes, the door had been found.
But it was a door they physically couldn't open.
How was this any different from staring helplessly at an entire mountain wall?
Whoosh—!
Everyone's gaze, once again, like a dozen high-powered searchlights, simultaneously focused on Chu Hang. The meaning in their eyes was obvious: Big shot, stop pretending, continue your performance!
Chu Hang felt like his forehead was about to be burned through by their stares.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't look at me like that," he spread his hands exaggeratedly, looking innocent, "I only guess riddles, I don't pick locks. Wrong profession."
Although he said that, he had already started walking, slowly strolling along the edge of the giant "waterfall door."
As he walked, he reached out his hand, pretending to grope the cold, frost-covered "wall," his brows tightly furrowed, muttering to himself, looking exactly like a charlatan performing a "psychic sensing."
Found it!
On the surface, it was no different from the surrounding rock wall, also covered with a thick layer of ice, unremarkable and inconspicuous.
"Hmm? Here..."
Chu Hang extended his finger and gently tapped the ice surface, producing a crisp "knock knock" sound.
"What's wrong?" Steve, like a loyal bodyguard, immediately followed, fully alert.
"I don't know." Chu Hang shook his head, a perfectly timed hint of confusion on his face. "It just feels like... the sound here is a bit different from other places."
Logan also came closer; his nose, more sensitive than a police dog's, sniffed hard at the air, then he frowned and shook his head at Steve: "No peculiar smell."
"Let me."
Steve didn't waste a single word. He extended his thick hand, clad in a tactical glove, and began to vigorously scrape away the ice layer from that area.
The strength of a Super Soldier made this task as easy for him as a normal person scraping paint off a wall.
Soon, the thick layer of ice was scraped away in large patches, revealing the dark brown, damp rock beneath.
The surface of the rock was still unremarkable.
Just as everyone thought Chu Hang's "charlatan's intuition" had finally failed, Steve's finger seemed to feel an extremely subtle seam on the smooth rock surface.
He increased his force, prying and digging at the crack with his fingertip.
"Click."
With a soft sound, a thin piece disguised as rock skin peeled off, revealing a palm-sized recess made of an unknown black metal.
In the center of the recess was a peculiar HYDRA symbol emitting a faint red glow, and below the symbol, there was a slot just large enough to fit a standard energy block.
"Entrance!" Dugan exclaimed in a hushed, excited voice.
"No, this isn't an entrance." Farnsworth examined the precise recess, immediately giving his professional judgment. He shook his head, "This is more like a... keyhole."
Keyhole?
Everyone looked at each other.
Where was the key? They couldn't possibly expect HYDRA to be so foolish as to hide the key under the doormat. They hadn't brought any HYDRA Base access cards for this mission.
Just then, Chu Hang, who had been mostly silent, seemingly uninvolved, slowly, as if performing a magic trick, pulled something out of his tactical pouch at his waist.
It was an energy block, entirely dark blue, with what looked like currents flowing inside, emitting a faint glow, and full of futuristic, sci-fi appeal.
It was the loot he had casually taken from the body of that unlucky HYDRA patrol squad leader earlier.
"You guys say..."
Chu Hang shook the blue energy block in his hand, then looked at the slot that perfectly matched the energy block in size and shape, a brilliant, mischievous grin spreading across his face as if he had succeeded in a prank.
"Would using this work?"